Chapter X
Humanoid
"Life will break all of us, cracking and splitting our stained glass future. Remaining strong at these broken places for a lifetime is a burdening task...Becoming more than your fractured sum? That is the ultimate test."
R.D.M.
The remains of Tremerton
Misty and Vexes both watched intently as Melody retracted the spike back into her hand and took a step back. A small, black drop of oil dripped to the ground from her finger. Jennifer's lifeless body fell to it's knees for a brief moment before continuing forward to the ground in a limp heap, "Melody! What have you done?" Misty questioned the action of her presumed ally. Vexes's face twisted with anger, she pounced on Misty's momentary distraction and produced a powerful burst of white energy from her body. The shock-wave blew apart the purple cloud that was struggling to subdue her and carved out a crater around her feet.
"YOU PIECE OF HUMAN CONSTRUCTED SCRAP!" Vexes focused her immense rage on the bronze colored robot girl, "She was MY kill! MINE!" She disappeared and reappeared right in front of Melody, "She was supposed to know pain of every emotional and physical aspect before I destroyed her! You've stolen my victory!" Vexes grabbed the left side of the bulge of metal that formed Melody's breasts and crushed it, "I'll destroy you for that!" With the twisted metal still firmly in her grasp, Vexes spun to her right, pulling a large section of Melody's breast plate off. With her back now facing Melody, Vexes released a devastating rear kick straight into Melody's abdomen. She slid backwards across the wet ground on her heels for fifty feet until, the momentum wore off. Melody came to a stop, doubled over and clutched the foot shaped dent in her stomach. Misty reformed herself next to Jenny.
"Oh, no..." She knelled down beside her fallen friend, "Ancestors no...Why would she do this?" She asked the damp air around her while she rested her hand on Jenny's metal head, "I don't have enough time left to beat her...I can't believe its going to end like this...I-" Suddenly, Misty's bright, white eyes lite up. She sensed something, something deep inside of the lifeless pile of steel. She closed her eyes and concentrated, searching for a dim path leading to the small flicker of hope she felt. Down she went, through the wires and circuitry, deep into the microchips and quantum processors, to the place where the line between human and machine blurred. She found herself in a vast white void, an odd energy seemed to fluctuate around her, reaching out to her yet, apprehensive and fearful, "Telllll me your fearssss..." She asked the force she sensed.Immediately, she watched the blank white world around her change. She suddenly found herself standing on firm ground, positioned at the center of a ruined city. As she slowly took in the site, the sound of far off laughter caught her attention. She flew towards the source. She came to a relatively flat section of the destroyed city and saw the silhouette of Vexes, covered in darkness, cackling madly upon a large pile of shaded debris,"Your fear isss...failurrre..." Misty concluded and quickly began gathering her words to reassure her friend when suddenly, the black clouds above parted, and an eerie light illuminated the dark figure. Misty gasped in horror at the sight. It wasn't Vexes at all, it was Jenny, covered in blood. The body's of her loved ones lay at her feet while she howled with laughter, enjoying every second of it. The vivid imagery shocked Misty deeply, but also told her exactly what she needed to say, "You fear yourself...The power you have...Your afraid of losssing control...Of who you may become...Jennyyy...The difference between you and Vexessss...Is like the difference between humans and machinesss..." Misty felt a shift in the energy around her, "A machine is built for a single purpose, and I've seen you grow and change...A machine destroyed my ancestorssss, and I've watched you make choices to risk your life to help others, even if they hated you..." The energy began to build, and an overwhelming surge of positive sensations washed over Misty, "Your mind is shutdown...I'm speaking directly to your essence, your soul...A machine has no soul for me to communicate with...You can do thisssss! Think of all the people depending on you..Think of all the loved ones she's taken from you...They deserve better Jen! Get up! Fight! Fight for those lost! Fight for those who deserved to live!" Misty's consciousness zipped back into her own mind in a blinding flash as she lost her connection with Jenny. She opened her eye's to see Jenny's body begin to vibrate beside her. Misty stood and floated back a short distance. The vibration grew into a loud hum, and the ground she stood on began to shake. Jennifer's body glowed bright red and started to melt but, the droplets dripped upwards, as if they were falling into the sky. Misty watched the individual drops coalesce into a ball of white hot metal. Jenny's melting form rose from the ground into the air and assumed a fetal position, all the missing pieces of her body were drawn back to her and melted back into their proper places on her body. After a few seconds, her entire form began to ripple and all the dents and holes of her body began to fade away. Sparks of blue electricity flashed across her periodically and the Earth cracked around the entire area. An invisible mass of swirling energy began pulling massive chunks of rock out of the ground and into the air around her. Across the battle field, Melody's sensors suddenly alerted her to a rising energy level. She smile to herself as she looked up towards Vexes, just in time to see her hands out in front of her. A small spark of white blinked into existence between Vexes's palms and then exploded into a powerful, focused beam of immense energy that struck Melody like a run away train. The impact ripped the outer layer of her metal skin from the front her body. Melody managed to remain standing, as firmly as she could, her body left a glowing bright red from the heat. All of her internal mechanics became exposed, and dripped with melted hoses, wires, and sizzling oil.
"I want your oil pump..." Vexes stated as she calmly and confidently strode towards Melody. The ground exploded beneath her feet with each step, "I want to pull it out, and show it to you...And just before your systems shut down...I'm going to crush your head..." The way she carried herself and calmly spoke, as she strode towards her target, told Melody everything that her destroyed sensors couldn't. Vexes meant exactly what she said. She stopped a few feet before Melody, "And a Queen always gets what she wants!" The mad vixen reconfigured her left arm into a long sword. A quick swipe with her new weapon, and Melody lost both of her legs just above the knees. She fell on her back and propped herself up on her elbows, "Now...About that oil pump..." Vexes returned her arm to normal and reached down towards her victim.
"Enjoy it...Bitch...Because you wont live long enough *zzzzz* to destroy anything else..." Melody said as she closed her optics. She mentally prepared herself for what was about to happen, content with the the thought of accomplishing her final mission. Vexes's hand softly landed on her exposed oil pump. Her lips twisted up into an evil, gaped, grin as she slipped her finger around the throbbing part, "I'm so sorry Brad..." Melody thought to herself and, as Vexes began to tighten her grip, an alert appeared in her H.U.D. Indicating that an unusual energy build up had been detected from behind.
"That energy..." Vexes suddenly released her grip and slowly turned to the point indicated by her sensors. She almost couldn't believe her optics when she zoomed in on the source, "Impossible..." She said with hate while the power level indicator widgets number's began to rise in her H.U.D., "IMPOSSIBLE!" She whipped back around to Melody, "YOU! YOU DID THIS!" She snatched Melody up by the throat, "You've had your father's code this entire time!" Vexes bared the talons of her free hand, preparing to end Melody for good when, a massive bolt of blue energy struck them both. The ground exploded around them, sending a massive plume of mud into the sky. When the debris cleared, Melody was gone, leaving Vexes alone on a steaming section of damaged ground. Vexes's sensors couldn't detect a trace of Melody anywhere. It was at that moment, that the gravity of the situation began to weigh on her processors, "No...NO!" A large, blood white aura erupted around her, the shock-wave ripped apart the ground around her. She used her rifting ability and suddenly appeared beside Misty, catching her off guard.
"UH!" Misty gasped in surprise. She turned to her left to face her foe, "Oh, no you don't!" Misty dropped down and tried a leg sweep to trip her opponent but, her leg exploded into a cloud of mist when it connected with the aura surrounding Vexes. Vexes didn't budge. Misty exploded into a mist cloud and reformed behind Vexes. Misty solidified her hands and feet and let loose a blindingly fast barrage of martial arts style attacks. The blows carried the weight of an oil tanker yet, her limbs exploded as they collided with the barrier with little effect. Misty, simply continued the cycle of reforming her appendages and pressing her assault. Growing tired of the distraction, Vexes clenched her fist, spun on her heels and drove it into Misty's chest. The cloud offered little resistance, Misty gasped momentarily but quickly calmed down, "Ha! Can't touch this!" Misty gloated about her intangible body. Vexes looked coldly upon her.
"Fool. I don't need to touch you." Vexes spoke with a hate filled voice. A blinding explosion erupted from her fist, engulfing the three of them in a blinding flash of immense solar energy.
The wreckage of the U.S.S. Johnson
Nora, the XJ's, Bradly, and 23 of the survivors, were all making the most of the ships wreckage, building make shift beds for the more seriously injured. Nora focused on tending to those in need, not slowing down long enough to allow her emotional ties to the situation around her to weigh on her mind, "Nora..." Mogg called out to his old colleague as he cautiously approached her work area, "Nora?" He pushed aside the cloth acting as a door to their makeshift infirmary.
"Hm?" She replied as she turned around to face him, pulling a stethoscope from her ears.
"I just came to check in..." He said.
"He's going to lose his leg, of that I'm certain..." She spoke of the officer on the makeshift operating table, "Without proper medical supplies...His life as well..." She wiped her brow and walked over to Mogg, "How's your leg?" She asked. Mogg briefly glanced down at his rudimentary knee brace. It was the best they could manage after finding him pinned beneath a portion of steel.
"I'm fine, I...Actually came to check in on you...How...Are you OK?" He asked. Nora opened her mouth to speak but, found herself chocking on her words when she tried to reply. She tried to fidget with her goggles to cover the momentary lapse in strength but, her emotions welled her and two small tears fell from her eyes. She turned her back and mentally scolded herself for cracking. It was just the first sign of genuine concern anyone had shown her since the whole ordeal had started, and from Mogg of all people.
"I...Miss them...You know?" She heaved out, suddenly, between sobs. Mogg knew all to well the pain of lose that she spoke of, "Jobs help me...Even Sheldon..."
"I know..." Mogg approached her, spun her around, and pulled her in for a hug. The two had seemed to find equal comfort in one another through their shared pain, "I lost a son...I know I may not seem like the person you can confide in, but...I'm here...If you want to talk..." Nora just sobbed into his shoulder without responding, "We can help each other through this." At that moment, XJ-4 burst into the room bearing news.
"MOM!" XJ-4 shouted, "Sheldon and 8! We found them!" She exclaimed. Nora nearly knocked over Mogg as she ran out of the door. The small man preformed several awkward maneuvers before regaining his balance to pursuit the others. Once out of the wreckage, Nora observed a small group of survivors, the XJ's and Bradly forming a crowd around them. Nora pushed her way to the center. She was taken by surprise by what she saw.
"Uh...H-Hi, No-Nora..." Sheldon said when he spotted her. He nervously scratched the back of his metal head as he spoke to her.
"You..." Nora scornfully spoke and clenched her fists. She found herself momentarily speechless at the sight of a fully restored Silver Shell, "YOU BASTARD!" She ran at the metal beast and pounded her fists against his steel legs until she tired and feel to her knees, crying.
"You shouldn't be here!" A voice cried out from the crowd, "We know what you did!" Cried another, "Get out of here traitor!" Yet another. The crowd grew angrier and more hostile with each insult.
"I Know! I know! Please! Just...Just listen!" He tried to plead his case but, his words fell on deaf ears.
"Go on! Leave!" Brad shouted. He stepped from the encircling hoard, a rock in hand. He hurled it into Sheldon's metal chest, causing a loud thud as it bounced off and to the ground. Sheldon held his hands out, trying to seem as harmless as possible and backed away from the angry mob. The rest of the crowd followed suit, grabbing whatever debris they could and throwing it at him. XJ-4, boldly stepped forward. She dropped down to one knee, pointed her left arm straight at Sheldon and braced it underneath at the elbow with her right. Her left hand retracted into her body and her arm formed a cannon.
"This is for 5!" XJ-4 exclaimed.
"Yeah! Lay'em out sis!" XJ-6 yelled in support of her siblings action. Just as XJ-4 began to charge her cannon.
"Cease and desist!" Elena commanded while placing herself between Sheldon and the group, "I am responsible for the Silver Shell exo-suit's repairs." A collective gasped resonated from the crowd, "The ships emergency generators went online when the main power shut down and charged my systems." She grabbed the cable attached to her head for infasis, "As long as I remain tied to the ship, I can function at normal capacity. When my systems achieved an efficient charge, I reactivated underneath the wreckage. While pushing the obstructions out of my vicinity, I detected a weak bio-signal near by and traced it. That is how I located Sheldon. He was in an unconscious state. I processed his life force would soon deactivate without the advanced life-support systems inside the Silver Shell." XJ-4 deactivated her weapon, "After I placed him inside the suit and activated it, I waited for him to regained consciousness. I listened to his personal log of the events. He indicated that his actions were do to Vexes enforcing her will onto him through mental manipulation. I believe in my...Processing...heart, that his accounts are true." Small murmurs filled the air as the survivors whispered among themselves, "He also indicated to me his intentions of accepting the consequences of his actions after the situation is contained." Nora, stood again, her face still holding an ice cold stare.
"Do you truly believe his actions were not his own?" She asked Elena, still eying Sheldon, "Do you trust your heart?"
"Affirmative Mother." Elena answered.
"So...You want to accept the consequences of your actions? You can start by looking around you!" Nora decreed. As she finished her sentence, a sudden and powerful blast of energy struck a short distance behind Sheldon, causing Nora, and a few others, to loss their balance and fall. Nora quickly jumped back to her feet and adjusted her goggles, "Hawkins hologram! What the hell was that?" She shouted.
"Stay back everyone! I'll check it out." Bradly offered. Nora stopped him as tried to sprint to the dusty crater.
"Not so fast! Your in no shape to "Check-out" anything!" She informed, "I'll investigate this development..." She turned and proceeded to the site of the explosion. XJ's 4 and 6 followed her. The three stood at the rim while the dust cleared away.
"OHMYGOD!" XJ-4 exclaimed, "Melody!" Brad heard the name of his love and sprinted to the site.
"Oh no...God no!" Brad tried to jump into the crater with her but, XJ-6 stopped him, "Let go!" He struggled for freedom against her steel hands, "LET GO OF ME!" He screamed as she pulled him away.
"XJ-4! We need to get her inside immediately!" Nora informed. XJ-4 jumped in the hole and scooped her up and ran to the wreckage. Nora trotted behind as quickly as she could, giving Sheldon a sideways stare as she passed.
"It's your fault!" Brad screamed at Sheldon while XJ-6 pushed him towards the wreckage, "Get a good look! This is what you caused! You want to take the high road and ask for redemption? From where I stand, it looks like your down in a hole! Eye for an eye!" His voice faded into the ships remains, but the words hung heavy in Sheldon's mind. Elena starred him down for a few long seconds.
"Go ahead...Say whatever you want...I deserve it..." Sheldon said. She and a small portion of the crowd, continued their stares.
"I have nothing further to add or detract from Bradly's statement..." She droned out in her digital monotone before turning and making her way to the wreckage. The crowd slowly dispersed behind her, leaving Sheldon alone with his thoughts.
"An eye...For an eye..." He thought to his self as he turned and gazed in the direction of the battlefield. Suddenly, a realization struck him, "The Nightmare power cores!" He raced towards the area that Melody was taken. He peeled back the cloth curtain and entered the room, "Melody!"
"Mister Lee! Get the hell out of my operating area!" Nora demanded. All the XJ's, aside from 6, stepped in-front of him, blocking his passage.
"Melody! The power cores! What did you do with them?" He asked loudly while being forced back outside.
"*zzzzz* In orbit..." Melody hacked out, "Awaiting my signal..."
"10 minutes!" Sheldon exclaimed before being pushed out of the room, "Detonate them ALL in 10 minutes!" He ran from the wreckage and blasted off into the sky.
"What do you suppose he's up to?" Mogg asked Nora.
"Redemption..." She replied.
The remains of Tremorton
Vexes's vision slowly came back online as the static of background radiation from her own explosion faded. She scanned the area, to her surprise, she found a crater 10ft in diameter beneath her. Her scans determined that it reached a depth of a mile and there was no sign of any damage outside of the hole's perimeter. There also seemed to be no sign of Misty. She scanned above her, the force and radiation of her entire blast had been funneled into space. Quickly processing that this was the least of her concerns, she preformed a wide spectrum scan of her surroundings, trying to locate Jennifer, "Where have you gotten off to?" She asked herself.
"Behind you..." A womanly voice answered over her shoulder. Vexes snapped around, swinging her claws at the sound. All she managed to slice was the air. She scanned around again. Her sensors detecting nothing, "You didn't let me finish...Behind you lies centuries of death, hate, and cruelty." Vexes turned around again, slowly this time, "And in-front of you, stands me." Vexes was quite shocked by the site. Before her hovered the golden form of a women. Jennifer's shape had become more representative of her age. Longer legs, sleeker physique, a more prominent bust and shapely legs. Her entire surface still seemed to ripple and flow like thick syrup. Her pigtails seemed to wave in the air like images distorted by rising heat waves and her solid, blue eyes glowed brightly and gazed judgmentally upon Vexes. The air around her bent, forming an invisible aura that distorted the scenery behind her, "You have a lot of sins to atone for Vexes..." Jennifer's slightly deeper voice landed on Vexes's audio receptors. The witch clenched her fists and snarled, "I can't offer you salvation...Only an end."
"HAHAHA!" Vexes laughed obnoxiously, "Bold words..." Her own aura swirled around her, "I offer you the same! An end!" Bolts of thin blue lightning flashed around Jennifer's body.
"So be it..." Jennifer spoke. The titans charged at one another. The impact of their auras sounded like thunder across the sky and ripped a mile long crack into the Earth beneath them. Jennifer and Vexes traded blows evenly, rising higher into the air as they fought. Despite their even exchanging of attacks, this time, a noticeable amount of metal shavings and paint chips flew from Vexes's chassis after each strike, leaving shinny spots of fresh metal exposed. Her knuckles became a dull red due to heat transfer from merely touching Jennifer. A final blow from each connected heavily on the others cheek. The force blow the clouds from the sky and leveled a two mile tract of land on the ground. Jennifer and Vexes both streaked through the air for a few miles before stabilizing themselves.
"You've grown so much..." Vexes mocked while rubbing the small, paint-less dent in her left cheek, "Do you really think you can handle the task of ending me?" In the blink of an eye, Jennifer vanished, reappearing a few meters in-front of Vexes. The Queen hovered backwards a few feet in her surprise. Jennifer balled her right fist. Vexes focused on the action, trying to process what she was doing so she could properly counter. Jennifer's hand slowly changed from it's yellow hot color until it turned a light blue. Subtle details, not found on robots, emerged as it cooled. Human shaped joints in her five fingers, knuckles and wrist, all covered in light blue, smooth skin, even darker blue finger nail shaped plates at the end of her digits. The light blue color went halfway up her forearm, where it slowly faded back into it's golden hot, flowing form. Vexes aimed her gaze back to Jennifer's eyes.
"I'm capable of far more..." Blue energy sparked around the reformed hand. She raised it at Vexes and fired a powerful blast at her. The attack caught Vexes off guard but, the action was slow. Vexes clasped her hands together and swung them upwards, batting the energy away into space. Detecting a spacial distortion, Vexes fell downward into one of her rifts, narrowly missing a vicious back hand from Jennifer.
"Nice trick! Copying my rifting technique!" Vexes used her on teleportation to appear behind Jennifer, "But you are far from a master!" Jennifer detected the movement and had already assumed a defensive stance as Vexes appeared. The queen preformed an uppercut with her claws extended. Jennifer leaned backwards, just missing the attack. Jennifer countered with a straight forward kick to the abdomen. Vexes teleported again. Jennifer froze for as split second to read her course but, she reappeared in the exact same place she left from, leaving Jennifer stunned, "And that is why you will lose today!" Vexes released a powerfully intense beam from the aura around her, right into Jennifer's chest. There was no time for her to block. The beam slammed into her yet, see held her position in the air. Parts of the beam reflected off in all directions and slowly pushed her backwards, "YOU! WILL! FALL!" The witch cried as she pushed out a final burst at the end of her attack. The blast was like another nuclear explosion. The force of it even carried Vexes backwards a few miles. She stabilized herself and adjusted her vision to see Jennifer through all the radiation, debris and light of the explosion. She smiled to herself as she watched her opponents lifeless form tumble through the air and impact hard with the ground. She teleported to the site of her foes crash. She folded her arms and smiled, she detected that Jennifer was still alive but, her sensor readings were acting strange, "No, matter..." She processed to herself. Though her readings may not be 100% accurate, she processed that they were close enough. She waited patiently for her opponent to arise. Soon, a light blue hand landed on the craters edge, then another. Vexes's jaw hinged open at the sight of what emerged from the hole. Jennifer pulled herself out and stood defiantly in-front of Vexes. Her eyes had turned into a beautiful shade of blue with black iris's, surrounded by white. Her head, no longer a simple, round design, had become closely human shaped, complete with a nose. Her tell-tell pigtails were gone, replaced by deep blue and slightly wavy hair foil that reached just past her shoulders. Her shoulder and elbow joints disappeared, a smooth, seamless form took their place. The more Vexes scanned the being before her, the more incalculable it became. Her eyes fell to Jennifer's chest, two prominent, and separate, bulges of soft material. Tinted the same shade as the main portion of her body and tipped with deeper blue nipples, matching her nails, eyes, and hair. Her stomach would be the envy of any professional athlete, presenting a six pack of muscle, just well enough defined to be noticed and attractive. The hourglass like figure continued to her posterior and hips, a voluptuous hind end leading to long slender legs and feminine feet. Vexes scanned the sight hundreds of times a second, trying to figure out just exactly what it was she was looking at, her sensors continued to give her error laden information. She detected metallic materials and compounds yet, covering organic designs, mimicking them, down to complex cell structures and chain linked DNA like strands. A robotic body yet, no lines in her outer armor, "Wait...Is that?" She questioned to herself as her optics landed on the most curious feature of all, "No! Th-that's...It just...Can't be!" She couldn't believe what her scanners read. Nestled between Jennifer's thighs, at the apex of her slender legs, set two folds of skin separated by a thin line with a deep blue dot atop it. A small, triangular patch of blue hair foil adorned the lips of Jennifer's genitals a few inches above, "What...What the fuck are you?" Vexes, angrily confused, questioned. Jennifer let a smile cross her lips. She brought her arms upwards and extended them out to her sides. Blue, digital lines formed around her forearms, hands, shoulders, chest, lower legs, feet and crotch. The lines turned into bright lights then slowly faded, revealing rectangular and squarish styled armor plating with rounded edges. Arm guards started at her wrist and covered her entire forearm, with a slight overhang to protect her elbow. A thicker version of her old style of chest armor covered her chest and wrapped around to her back, a slight v in the front allowed a small bit of cleavage from her new assets to show and left her midriff and belly button exposed. A skirt appeared around her waist, made from sections of metal extending half-way between her crotch and knees and ending in points, linked together by pieces of chain to provide protection and flexibility. Her feet became clad in heavy duty boots with a single large hinging joint in the middle. From her ankles to her knees, her legs were covered by thick leg guards. Her hair foil raised and separated, the two sections condensed into two separate pigtails, identical to her old ones.
"I am your fears made real..." Jennifer lowered her arms, "Neither human or machine...Not organic...Yet alive..." She balled her fists and the ground began to tremble, "You are just a robot, built and designed with rudimentary programming...Remove competition, consume resources, build, repeat. You've been following those same basic programs your entire life, never really developing outside of them." Jennifer proceeded forward, leaving indentations in the ground with each step, "You've spent your entire existence removing competing lifeforms and consuming resources to build your armies. Your only real attempt at outward development was Vega, and you removed her in your competition for control of Cluster Prim, then consumed all available resources to build DV-2. I wish you were capable of seeing that there is no robot or organic distinction, only an existence that we make for ourselves, but you are just a machine...Only capable of a linear thought path of little variance...Pitiful..."
"You would dare speak down to me?" The evil Queen cursed, "The only reason your still active is because I wanted to savor my revenge! I created the technology that made you what you are!" Vexes began making her way towards Jennifer.
"Another testament to your faulty programming...You could have defeated me long ago, but then, you wouldn't have a purpose would you? What do you do when there is no competition for you to try and remove? As for your technology, what you see before you is nothing like anything you have seen before." Electricity sparked vividly around Jennifer's form.
"I'm going make a trophy from your exoskeleton!" Vexes angrily boasted.
"You have my permission to try." Jennifer countered and tightened her fists. Their auras connected and the world stopped. It seemed as if the hands of time froze, daring not to move for fear of their effect on the outcome. Jennifer began with an expertly executed roundhouse kick, Vexes spun out of the way, dropping down as she spun, she countered with a leg sweep. Jennifer hover upwards a few inches, avoiding the attack and planted her left boot into Vexes face. Vexes rode the momentum, flipping over backwards and landing on her feet in a crouched position. She gave a quick smile and configured her left fist into a foot diameter ball, 6in long spikes jutted out from it in all directions and it fell to the ground with a heavy thud, trailing a length of chain back to Vexes forearm.
"Isn't it exciting XJ-9!" Vexes joyfully yelled as she jumped to her feet and began circling the weapon above her head, "The ultimate battle! The final showdown!" Jennifer stood firm, "Our final act!" She flung the ball of death at Jenny, who, side stepped the attack. Jennifer formed a heavy ax with her right arm, about to cut the chain, when suddenly, Vexes whipped it, up and down, violently. The action snapped the chain in half just past Jennifer, and the momentum caused the severed end still attached to Vexes's arm to wrap around Jennifer's ax arm. Jennifer snarled, surprised at the Vexes's action and disappointed in her own underestimation of her opponent. Vexes launched herself into the air and snatched Jenny up with her, "Keep your eyes on the birdie!" Jenny looked at Vexes above her when she yelled yet, something pulled at the back of her head, like a sixth sense, telling her to turn around. She did, only to spot the deadly spiked ball hurdling at her from behind.
"She's trying to distract me...Let the ball hit me and explode while she's at a safe distance." Jenny quickly reasoned to herself, "Not today!" She changed her entangled arm back to normal and firmly gripped the chain, "ENOUGH!" She yelled. She stopped herself instantly, rippling the air around her and causing Vexes to slam to a halt, flinging her legs out in-front of her as she was snatched around to see what was happening. Jennifer pulled the chain towards herself, flinging Vexes straight at her at an incredible speed. Vexes could only focus on Jennifer's ever increasing chest as she hurled uncontrollably at her. At the last moment, Jenny turned, allowing the spike ball and Vexes to pass, simultaneously, around her. She grabbed both chain ends as they zipped by and began to spin, turning both objects forward momentum, into centrifugal force. She spun a few times, deciding on a proper angle of release, before finally letting go of both. Vexes streaked across the North American hemisphere, slamming into and skipping across the Pacific Ocean, all the way to the Hawaiian island of Ni'ihau. The impact, cracked the land mass in half, leaving Vexes planted firmly in the center of the island.
"That...Little...Witch!" Vexes growled lowly to herself. She clawed her way through the crumbled rock until she reached the surface. Her sensors sounded off as she pulled herself halfway out of the debris. She looked in the direction indicated to see her own spiked bomb hurdling at her. Her eyes widened in shock and she threw up her hands at the last second before impact. The ball struck her, penetrating her forearms with it's long spikes then exploded. The explosion destroyed what was left of the island yet, Vexes remained, hovering in the same location. Her arms were badly damaged, large holes in various locations on both with sections of armor missing. Her systems were still trying to repair her shield generators. She dropped her arms to see XJ-9 hovering in-front of her.
"I have to hand it to you, your still the smartest enemy I've ever faced, but I'm much smarter than I use to be." Vexes's oil boiled with anger, "I'll give you one final chance, leave this planet and live the rest of your life cycle out alone, in the void of space. All of your Nightmares have been defeated, Smytus has been destroyed, and DV-2 has been deactivated." Vexes Snarled at XJ-9, trembling with her hate, "Your entire plan has failed, the Earth will recover, you ruined my old image but, I have a new one now that will give mankind hope again, and renew their trust in artificial lifeforms. I am far more powerful than ever, and the humanity in me that you hate so much still remains. Go...Live with the screaming processes of your short comings inside your C.P.U., forever alone in the cold silence of space." At a glance, One might infer that Vexes was about to explode, the way her body shook and her teeth ground together, her aura expanded and the ocean beneath boiled and steamed. Then, suddenly, she calmed, and regained her composure.
"For a moment there...I almost believed that you might be a threat to me, but then I realized, your just the product of an insignificant, infertile, organic creature of pure filth!" Jennifer's bio-mechanical muscles flexed tense at Vexes words of her creator, "You and your sisters were all manufactured for monetary gain! The only reason you exist at all is because she lost the ability to conceive, by my hands, in the first Galactic war! Your existence is a contradiction to the very ideals you protect!" Jenny's eye twitched, giving away the intense rage she was holding inside, "I can't lose to you because your Mother is a less than average functioning organism that programmed you with all of her ownfrailties!" Now, Jennifer was seething with anger, "She was a weak women who built a weak robot! And I'm going to show you just how weak you are!"
"I WONT LET YOU GET TO ME!" Jenny yelled, it was all to obvious her human emotions were seeping through her hard exterior. Vexes activated her rifting systems at that exact moment. Jennifer, blinded by her emotions, could not see her movement, she only noticed that Vexes instantly blinked out of sight at the same time a crushing blow smash into her lower back. She coughed out a splotch of brownish colored liquid as she nearly doubled over backwards from the attack. She recovered surprisingly fast, spinning around to face her ambusher but,Vexes was gone. She moved around Jenny with expert precision and deadly speed, hitting her from all sides instantaneously. Jennifer could not keep up. One attack shattered her shoulder armor, another ripped the plating covering her teeth from the right side of her face, yet another cracked the armor around her ribs. Numerous dents appeared rapidly on all areas of her body before Vexes suddenly appeared before her again.
"You might be able copy my techniques, but you can't possibly hope to keep up with me!" Vexes gloated. Jennifer huffed out a bit of exhaust, her left arm dangled from the shoulder were Vexes destroyed the joint. Jennifer smiled, the dents in her body popped out, the shredded skin seemed to melt back together, and her arm snapped back straight. Vexes snarled.
"You were saying?" Jenny remarked. The verbal assault was to much for Vexes to take. She pushed out every bit of spare power she could muster into her rifting system. Her body melted into one of her multicolored portals but, Jennifer saw it and activated her own version. The two met face to face inside a kaleidoscopic tunnel. Vexes was shocked to see her rival there, "What's wrong? Didn't think I could catch you?" This was more than Vexes could take, she charged at XJ-9, pouring out everything she had as she flew through the strangely colored tunnel.
Back in Tremorton
"Initiating rebooting sequence... … ...Waiting for OS response... … Received... OS Loading... 17%... ...46%... ...87%... ...100%... … Complete... Start up cycle Initiating... … … … Error 249... … Processing... … … …. …. … Previous activation cycle aborted... … Internal power source interrupted... …Restarting... ... ...Error 323… Containment field breached... … … External damage 43%... … … Starting recovery process... … Priority: Containment field... Routing nanites and available power... ...Containment field activated...Status: Critical... … Recovering previous data... … … … Complete... … … Restoring last session... … Error 318: Programming unstable... … … Restoring in recovery mode... … …. … Complete but with errors... ... HAVE A NICE DAY!
Axle's optics snapped open, he found himself lying on the ground, "Wha...Happened?" He asked himself. He executed a search through his memory files. They only revealed bits and pieces of the mystery, "Jenny...I remember..." He recalled fleeting bytes of data that showed him fighting alongside and against her. He immediately preformed a wide perimeter scan, trying to find more clues. What he found was two immense radiation levels far off in the distance, "Vexes..." One he recognized instantly, the other felt familiar yet, different, "That has two be Jenny..." He pushed his damaged body to it's feet, activated his flight systems, and plotted a course straight for the powerful energies.
Just outside of the Earths atmosphere
"Whoa...It's a lot bigger than what I thought..." Sheldon pondered to himself while taking in the sight of all the nightmare power cores welded together. The ball of metal was an impressive 150ft in diameter, consisted of at least 400 thermonuclear devices. Sheldon sighed, he prepared his mind for what he was about to do. He raised his hands to the ball and pushed against it. The action caused the mass to move easily enough. He guided it towards the earth below and locked onto Vexes's energy signature. Turning up his engines, the entire mass picked up momentum. The silence of space only seemed to compound his inner loneliness, such quietness would cause anyone reflect upon themselves, "I hurt so many people...I took the lives of Jenny's sisters..." He sniffled to himself inside the suit, "I've done...Terrible things, I hurt the people I care for...And the one I love the most..." The deafening sound of a sonic boom alerted him to realness of the situation, and the rising temperature gauges assured him of the fact, "I'll never be able to repay my dept...The only way to make it right is to rid the world of the causes...Myself and Vexes!" More determined than ever in his life, Sheldon Oswald Lee made his decision. He cemented his conviction with a single tear that rolled down his deformed face, "Active self-destruct sequence. Code: Captain Crush."
"Self-destruct activated. Please specify countdown timer." The pleasant voice of the Silver Shell's operating system asked.
"Keep open. Run in background. Execute program on custom command...Lonely heart." Sheldon sat in his on hell, watching the fire of reentry through the Shell's optics. For the moment he pondered about his life on this beautiful blue plant. He found no comfort in the thought that his actions were a means to an end, and an end with meaning.
AURTHOR'S NOTE
Some of you may have noticed a change in aura color of the characters accompanied with a letter and number. There is a reason for this, I am a major nerd. Especially when it comes to astrology. I wont give any details but leave you with a challenge, learn more about Morgan-Keenan stellar classification. Learn something, I dare you.