CHAPTER XV

The Fated

"Individual destinies can, and often do, clash and entangle one another. Over time, the chains that seem to weigh us down, can become the very same that held us together."

R.D.M.

The Destroyed U.S.S. Johnson

"JOBS DAMN IT!" Nora cursed aloud at the dire situation unfolding around her. A sporadic spark flashed from her area of focus, popping out bits of orange and white hot metal. She reflexively jerked her hands from the jagged, oil dripping steel cavern, "3! Insulate those generator output lines before they ignite a fire!" XJ-3 followed her creators orders, immediately excreting a thick foam from the tip of her clamp shaped hand onto the chard wires. Nora nervously ran the back of her hand across her sweaty brow. Exchanging the clear moisture beads for a swath of brownish fluids, smearing a vivid stain across the upper portions of her face. Melody's original power system was failing, and with it, her containment field, "Suction!" XJ-3 halted her excretion and extended a tube from the very same claw into Melody's open chest cavity, cleansing the area for her Mother to work. Melody twitched and convulsed unnaturally on the operating table, sloshing bites of fluid about as she squirmed. XJ's 6 and 8 held her down against the table, as best they could.

"FA*zzzz*! WHY FATHER?!" Melody screamed out, expelling a large glob and fine mist of oil that managed to land on everyone nearby. The entire scene had broken down into a gruesome, oily sight. Violent seizures plagued the artificial girl, forcing out guttural sounds through her damaged vocalization apparatus.

"Her systems crashing!" Mogg exclaimed. He rapidly hot glued two oil spraying rubber tubes together, "She's going to loss her files if we don't get her power-core stabilized NOW!" His goggles covered in fine droplets.

"I'm trying! I can hardly see through all this OIL!" Her hands moved hastily through the tangled and mangled mess. Splicing wires and removing debris, "If we don't get the containment field generator online and fully functional, then we'll all be missing far more than files!" The power-core vividly blinked at an increasingly periodical rate. Everyone could feel, and detect, the rise in ambient temperature.

"BRAAAAD!" Melody cried out. This time, she managed to break free of XJ-6's hold, rearing upwards, she knocked Mogg to the ground.

"Stabilize her this instant!" Nora ordered, with evident frustration, while XJ-6 clambered to subdue her arm.

Meanwhile, in another part of the ship

"That's her!" Brad jumped to his feet, "She's in pain! I have to-"

"No, Bradly!" XJ-4 quickly rolled in-front of him, blocking his path, "Please remain calm. Mother and the others can handle it."

"You think I can just sit here while someone I care about is dieing?!" He asked rhetorically, "I can't do that 4. It's not in me." He tried to maneuver around her, she placed herself in-front of him again, resting her hands on his shoulders.

"Please, there's nothing you can do for her in there that you couldn't do out here." She tried to explain and reason , "Your presence in the room could cause more harm than good." Silly things, such as logic, are often lost on humans when in distress, something XJ-4's limited human relations software was not programmed to deal with. Brad grabbed her wrists and leaned his weight towards her.

"There's nothing I can do out here!" He retorted as he tightened his grip. XJ-4 looked back at him with processing eyes. In his angered state, her blank stare only seemed to mock and fuel his anger.

"The data I have on emotions suggests that; praying to a higher power often soothes distraught humans..." Brad's face fell blank in surprise at her words, "You could try that." His left eye twitched. Recognizing that her sound reasoning's fell short of her goal, she shifted tactics, "You would be better off trying to fight Vexes by yourself, than disturbing the operation, but that's not an option either." Brad's mind raced. In his enraged state, the idea of getting his hands on Vexes was the next best thing. Like a bursting levee in a river bend, all of his anger exploded into a new direction, and so did his body. He heaved himself towards XJ-4, to both's surprise, her depleted power offered little resistance. She stumbled backwards and fell. Brad quickly reached down and grabbed the small bow-tie upon her head, turned it counter-clockwise, and pulled. A small panel came off with it revealing a red button, "Hey! What are-" Her words went silent as the light in her optics blinked out, and her head fell flat to the ground.

"Emergency reset..." He spoke aloud, rubbing the sweat beads from his face, "Dale's hunch was right...I do have a thing for computer stuff..." He dropped the panel covering, "When I was at my father's station back at the base, I went through all of his old files. Man he was good at his job...Had a lot of information on all of the XJ's..." He looked around, trying to reference his location in the destroyed ship, "I'm sorry about that 4. I know your audio receivers have kicked back on, that's one of the first things that do...Tell them...I'm going where I belong. Beside my best friend!" After determining his position, Brad jogged off, "All I got left is Jenny an Mel..." He thought to himself while slowing to check the room numbers of the destroyed hallway he was in. Finally, he located the room he was searching for, "4 was right, I can't do anything for you here Mel..." He entered the room. Skyway infantry equipment lay scattered about, "But I'm not just gonna sit by, not again!" He grabbed a standard issue black and red helmet and a anti-gravity pack. He dawned the mechanical device on his shirtless form like he would his school satchel, placing the helmet on next which immediately began displaying information on it's H.U.D. He ran back through the ship, straight to the operating room . It was not to see Melody. Instead, he quietly slipped in and took Nora's Gravity Gauntlets. He glanced briefly to the operating table, immediately regretting the decision, "I'm so sorry Mel..." He whispered the words while turning his back, "I'm no good to you here..." He shoved his hands into the mechanical gloves and paused amidst the screams of his love. A tear rolled down his cheek, he could not wipe it away due to his new hardware. He simply mustered his courage and left the room.

The Operating Room

"BRRRRAAADDD! NNNOOO!" Melody called out with even more vigorous distress.

"We must get her secured NOW!" Nora barked, trying her best to keep composure, and mind her hands. XJ-6 slithered her arm around Melody's left, like a massive python. Together, her and Elena wrenched her body back down flat against the table.

"She's pretty strong!" XJ-6 commented as she and her sister units servos grunted. Mogg grasped the tables edge and pulled himself to his feet.

"We're losing her! She's cycling through her files! Her C.P.U. will start dumping everything but operation code if we don't hurry!" He boastfully reminded, a little more enthusiasticly.

"Oil pressure is declining at a steady and predictable rate." Elena stated.

"I'm aware Elena, thank you!" Nora, aggravatingly replied, "Mogg! I need that pump circulating now!" Nora demanded. The poor man had only just gained his stability. He non-the-less grasped a wrench and continued on with his previous endeavor.

"The filter's clogged with metal bits!" Mogg answered, "The...Damn thing...Wont...budge!" He pulled hard against the wrench, trying to free the main shaft. The shear power of will against steel, he applied to all of his strength to force the mechanism to work, "HHHUUUUNNNNN-GGGAAHHHH!" He strained with all his might, until finally, the part broke free, and the gears slowly and jerkily turned. The pump let out an audible screech as it ground through the metallic fragments lodged inside.

"You *zzzzz* it...Can win..." Melody began with her static laden voice. Everyone gave her a curious glance as they carried on with their tasks, "Je*zzzz* your...Not like...Her...You *zzzzz* a heart..." Nora thought about the statement in the back of her head but, with the looming threat of a micro-nova, she had not the luxury of time, "Destroy her...J-Jenny...Destroy her!" Melody's last words resonated through the Johnson's shattered hull, fading into a faint echo, and falling silent.

Somewhere, between dimensions

In the eternity of milliseconds before her nemesis reached her, Jennifer's left eye twitched, ever so slightly. For reasons she couldn't readily explain, rather disturbing images of her friends ran through her mind. Visions of Melody's violent struggle for survival, Brad's reckless heroics and Sheldon's scornful tears. She would even swear that she could also heard their words, feel their emotions. The vicious growls roaring forth from her opponent seemed to melt away, and while her lunging form still grew closer, it seemed to be at a increasingly lethargic pace. Oddly enough, she found Melody's voice, echoing loudest through her mind amongst the scattered flashes of her loved ones, "You *zzzzz* a heart...Destroy her...J-Jenny..." It seemed so strange. She thought on it all for a moment then refocused her gaze to the fight. Vexes's extended claws had reached within arms length. In a nearly pure, reflexive action, Jennifer snapped her hand out, matching and clasping Vexes's. The witch hesitated for an instant, long enough to receive a hefty blow to her metal gut. Jennifer released her grip and Vexes clutched her new dent but quickly recovered, throwing a perfect round house kick. Jennifer saw the attack and placed her forearm defensively in it's path. Unfortunately for her, the attack carried enough power to override her balance. She slammed into and through the side wall of the kaleidoscopic tunnel. Before she could stop the momentum from the impact, Jennifer found herself plowing through the Eiffel tower and burying into the foundation of a building that hence collapsed upon her. She burst through the dust and debris into the open air, angered for not holding her footing. Her expression quickly changed when she saw the cloud of metal beams raining down from the destroyed monument. She grit her teeth, thrusting her arms outward, she knew not what might happen but, felt in her heart that she could stop the debris fall. A kind of bio-magnetic field encompassed the floating shrapnel, halting the potentially deadly objects. Jennifer sighed in relief, "We were in Hawaii a few seconds ago..." She thought aloud for a brief moment. A sudden and strange sensation rippled in her brain, "There must be at lease 37 injured..." She could somehow feel all the individuals maimed in the buildings collapse, and their bio-energy. Minor variances in these signals corresponded appropriately with the the injury type and severity. She began to descend to the ground with the entire mess and plan out a course of action but, an awestruck crowd refused to budge, causing her to stop, "Come on guys! Move it!" She shouted in frustration. The locals held fast, some confused by her English, others gawking with their various recording devices, "Uh, I mean...Uh...Courez pour-Damn it! I can't speak French anymore..."

"Problem, Jennifer?" The raspy voice of her rival cut her ears as well as her heart, for she knew in the back of her mind that this would not end well for the bystanders, "Here you are...Trying to save their lives..." Jenny looked up at Vexes, hovering just a hundred feet or so above and in-front of her, "And they line up for death..." A note of glee could be ascertained from her tone, "It is their nature to die. Tell me...Have you ever heard the Earth tales of Sodom and Gomorrah?" Jenny tensed in nervousness. She had of course, against her Mother's wishes and away from her prying eyes, learned much of human religion, even sitting in on a sermon one Sunday morning, at the suggestion of Brad's parents that he go. She just wanted to keep him company. She had breezed through the entire Bible before the closing prayer. Making matters worse was the rising air temperature coupled with the clouds fading from the evening sky, "They are as children! All guilty of terrible crimes against our kind!" The hovering metal chunks closest to Vexes began to turn red and grew brighter by the second, "I will punish them! I will end their retched filth with fire and brimstone! Just as god did the sinners of those cities!" The metal reached it's white hot melting point and began raining down globs of molten death. Jennifer was left in an awkward predicament, she could not concentrate hard enough to catch all of the thousands of metal droplets and hold up all the steel, doing so would leave her completely vulnerable. Perhaps she should release her grip on the debris and try to save as many as she could before it all crashed down or engage Vexes directly, and hope that the humans would find safety before casualties occurred. Her mind raced as the first few blobs neared the people. She briefly glanced at Vexes who she found was eying her back from the corner of her optics with a smile. Obviously anticipating her decision.

"It's all part of her plan. She's setting me up..." Jennifer thought. With moments to spare she made her decision, "This is going to be tricky, she's fast..." She squinted her eyes and Vexes's smile deepened, "I'll just have to be faster!" Instantly Jenny disappeared and the tons of death hanging above the Earth began to descend. Vexes faded into her portal as she calculated Jennifer's most likely point of return. Jennifer appeared just as she predicted only, much sooner than she anticipated. Jennifer had reached the nearest civilian instantaneously. Vexes rushed at her, claws bared and struck with enough power and intent to kill the human at least but, her fist connected with and erupted the ground. Frustrated, she leaped at the next closest person and they too vanished before her hands could do their deadly damage. Infuriated, Vexes scanned the humans with her optics, what she witnessed was a multitude of light blue flashes, each one blinking a human to safety. In the span of a second, the entire crowd had vanished. Vexes steamed with anger as the hot metal chunks rained around her, a few even bouncing off of her chassis. Jennifer blinked into reality before her, Vexes didn't give her a chance to remark or prepare. She lunged at Jenny, and the entire mess that use to compose the world renowned landmark came down upon them yet, slowed to a stop, not because either had actually halted the event, rather it was due to the laws of physics. You see, the closer one approaches the speed of light, the more time seems to drag. Vexes flung out her right leg, attempting to connect with a kick. Jennifer caught her ankle and used her attackers own momentum, spinning and hurtling Vexes through a brick building behind her. Vexes plowed through the third story wall and the levels above crumbled down on top of her. She retaliated by bursting out, using her powers on the loose masonry, she fired them off like bullets, pelting Jenny like a machine gun as she closed the distance between them. Jenny erected a shield of pure heat around her, evaporating the make shift rounds a foot before they touched her. She waited until Vexes entered the original debris field and, relying on her new found abilities, took control of one of the I-beams with her mind alone. Using it as a bat, she slammed it into Vexes's lower back and drove her into the ground. Vexes rose from the dust, shrugging off the blow and the massive piece of white hot steel bent around her.

"I almost felt that...Do try harder next time..." Vexes mockingly dusted off her left shoulder. The Eiffel tower's remains descent slowly picked up, returning to a normal falling rate in the momentary pause of action. With the hot steel pounding out deep ruts in the ground, Jennifer eyed her opponent closely, knowing that Vexes's calmest moments, are often her most dangerous, "You need to kick it up a notch!" An I-beam fell level with Vexes's waist. The witch planted her foot hard on one end of the massive 20ft, 2 ton metal shank, sending it hurdling towards Jenny like a helicopter blade. Jenny threw up her arms instinctively. The beam struck her, bending into a V shape around her body. It carried her across the grassy field, slamming her through a city bus an 8th mile away. She could hear the cries of panic coming from pedestrians as she ripped the steel from around her. After a quick check for human causalities, she let out a burst of energy that cleaved the remains of public transportation in two.

"There's to much at risk here. I've got to get her away from the city!" Jenny thought out loud.

"HHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAA!" A bloodthirsty cry from above alerted her to late. Vexes raced towards her at mach 3, her fingers dug deep into a massive beam for maximum grip, she slammed the hard metal into Jennifer's shoulder blades. A sonic boom thundered out for miles, shattering every window in sight from the force of the strike. The side walk gave and Jennifer was driven into the sewer system. The road way above cracked, buildings shifted, their now damaged foundations threatening to shed their weight. Vexes tossed aside the shattered stump of hot alloy she now held.

"Oooowww..."Jenny rubbed her head. Pain, though she had felt it before, was still an uncomfortable experience, made damn clear by no longer being able to shut off her receptors. A subtle pull in her mind pointed in a particular direction. Jenny turned towards the feeling in time to see Vexes burst through the thick concrete and land in the sewer before her.

"Cowering in the sewers?! Licking your wounds in the filth of filth?! Your precious humans wont last long...Much less this planet!" Jennifer grit her teeth, "Indeed, you are powerful now...But you can't see the big picture..." Everything around Jenny seemed as though it began to tremble slightly, "Allow me to remind you how fragile this mud-ball really is!" The rumblings grew louder. Pieces of the sewer system began to fall from above. Jenny jumped to her feet. The ground split and broke. Jenny could somehow sense what Vexes was doing, see it inside her mind. Using her vast powers, Vexes was forcing her energies into the Earth, digging deeper by the second, trying to crack it's mantle.

"Stop this Vexes! Your fight is with me! Leave them out of it!" Jenny proclaimed.

"HAHAHAHAAAA! Foolish girl! My fight started with them! You've just been in my way!" As the planet heaved, Jennifer came to terms with her naivety. Vexes's words echoed in her head.

"She wont stop...She'll never stop..." A brief memory of all the images and words of her friends flashed through her brain, "You were right...You were all right..." Jenny tightened her fists, "I've stopped Vexes numerous times, but I never put her down..." She ground her teeth harder, making an audible noise, "I thought she would change...I thought...I could save her from herself..." Jennifer's energies began to rise, "I can't make that mistake now. There's to much at stake!" She squinted menacingly at the evil metal women.A white aura began to form around her, Vexes took note, but when the energy began to turn a few shades towards blue, Vexes's optics nearly popped.

"There's NOWAY you can produce that much POWER!" Vexes yelled. Her own energies swamped by Jennifer's, she was forced to pull her power from the Earth, rerouting it all to help her remain steady through the tidal fluctuation of Jennifer's power. The sewage around them vaporized and the the streets above started to collapse. The concrete itself began to melt and boil.

"I'm sorry, but you obviously don't know me or the power of the human spirit!" Vexes took a few steps back, for the first time in millennia, true fear crept into her circuits, "And I am sorry...That I can't save you...Or allow you to remain active." In the blink of an eye, Jenny had struck Vexes squarely in the chest, the kinetic energy of impact plowed through the maze of tunnels, destroying the sewer system, and collapsing a full city block above them with the shock-wave. Jennifer had of course teleported all lifeforms within ground zero to safety. Vexes found herself a mile above the Earth a mere moment later, leaking oil from her cracked breastplate and working out the static in her optics. A notification alerted her to an incoming projectile, her automated processes kicked in and she instinctively let loose a powerful beam of white energy in Jennifer's direction.

"UH!"Jenny stopped abruptly in the air, the beam a few mere feet away. She sneered, blue electricity arching around her body, "YYYAAAHHH!"She spun, backhanding the energy with her right fist. Thunder echoed across the horizon, the attack deflected out into space, passing rather closely by Vexes. The fallen Queen watched her energies disappear out into the void with wide optics. She turned her gaze back to Jennifer in time for a right optic crushing blow. Before the momentum of the strike could carry her away, Jenny grabbed a hold of her long pigtails.

"This is for Brad's family!" Jenny sunk her fingers into the metal and yanked them from the Queen's head. A burst of sparks, a few spurts of oil and her pale blue fists were filled with crumpled alien alloys. Vexes's systems nearly froze trying to process the onslaught of data flooding her C.P.U., "And Misty!" Jenny cupped her hands tightly together, bringing them to her side and then thrusting them back out quickly, striking Vexes squarely in the abdomen. She released a burst of blue energy from her palms that exploded a fist sized hole through the Queen's stomach plate which, she immediately grasped in her shock, "AND MELODY!" Jenny performed a forward flip, bringing her left heel down upon Vexes's cranium, connecting with a titanic force. Vexes sailed across the hemisphere into the Himalayan mountains, careening through the Everest peak and embedding in the valley below. She forced her grinding gears to pull herself upright once more, Jennifer was waiting for her, anger seething from her very soul. The snow steamed around them both. Vexes spat out a few more of her teeth, "And this...Is for what you did to Sheldon!" Jennifer forced the words out in a near growl through clenched teeth. She held her left arm perpendicular to her chest, the appendage rippled at the elbow and seemed to flow towards her hand. The waves flatted and elongated her forearm into a long blade. Vexes calculated millions of scenarios in her C.P.U., trying to find the best solution to her new predicament. She was outmatched, badly outmatched. Suddenly, another notification alerted her, and a new variable was added to her equations.

"Not today!" Vexes forced a dense ball of energy into the ground through her feet, in-turn, a three foot thick piece of rock jutted out from the Earth right in front of Jenny. She was not impressed. Hopping backwards, she easily dodged the lackadaisical attack. She refocused her gaze and found Vexes hovering in the air above her previous locating, a portal opened behind her, "The battle is yours! But there is more than one way to win a war!"

"You can't run from me!" Jenny responded. Vexes realized that her boast should not be taken lightly.

"Who said I didn't want you to catch me?" Vexes retorted crypticly as she disappeared. Jennifer tensed and began her pursuit, vanishing instantly. Tracking Vexes was fairly easy, even though she was traveling between dimensions, Jenny could feel her movements. What wasn't easy, was dealing with the site upon reaching her enemy, "Don't. Move. A. Servo." Vexes greeted Jenny's arrival coldly, "Not unless you want your beloved human's fluids everywhere!" Poor Bradly hadn't made it very far in his prideful endeavor. Vexes caught him mid-flight, just outside of Tremorton. Her right arm was seated under his, with her claws tight around his neck. One sharp digit from her left hand tapped against his face, menacingly close to his eye.

"Jenny!" The familiar voice called out to her.

"Brad!" Jennifer called back to her old friend.

"Silence!" Vexes tightened her grip around the red heads throat. Brads face took on a maroon tint, veins bulged across his face, "A good General knows how to win battles. A great General knows when to retreat!" She snarled at Jenny through her gaped teeth, "I'm aware that Melody has disable the Nightmare power-cores. SO...I am taking this human as insurance! And I will leave this planet without resistance!" Brad let out a strained grunt, "Or else!" Jennifer desperately mulled over the situation in her head. Every scenario concluded the same, she couldn't do anything faster than Vexes could squeeze. The site of Bradly's laboring breath and futile attempts to pry away the deadly talons slowly chocking off his air supply, were a heavy distraction. Jenny's mind raced, she couldn't think clearly, Brad's watery eyes seemed to swallow all hope of his salvation.

"Yerrr...Fennniss..." Brad abruptly gurgled out. Vexes, as well as Jenny, adverted her eyes to the squirming life form pulling at her arm.

"Is there something you want to say human?" Vexes questioned, loosening her grip somewhat. Brad gasped in a few lungfuls of oxygen.

"I...said..." A subtle click came from his gauntlets simultaneously, accompanied by arks of pinkish energies, and a low but building hum. He grabbed a hold of her forearm, Your! FINISHED!" The hum peaked, and the powers collecting within the mechanical gloves transferred into Vexes's arm.

"GAAHH! YOU FILTH!" The sudden jolt of electricity, equivalent to the gravitational pull of the Earth, caused her arm to lose it's strength momentarily. Brad wriggled free. Jenny was as surprised as Vexes when Brad, instead of taking the opportunity to run, whipped around to face his capture.

"And here's a little love, from ME! TO YOU!" He slammed his metal clad fist against Vexes's jaw. A small pink shock-wave emitted from the impact. Vexes was forced backwards a few feet as her head cocked sideways. She turned back to him, a small scuff of fresh, paint-less metal gleaming from the strike.

"I hope it was worth your LIFE!" She viciously thrust her right arm towards him. Burying her four talons, all the way to her palm, into his rib cage around his heart, knocking the Skyway helmet from his head. The thick, cracking, wet crunch seemed to linger in the air. A brutal look of deep, horrific shock splashed across Bradly's face. The paralyzingly fearful moments of knowing that ones mortality hangs by a thread not your own, stunned Jennifer into a brief state of shock induced in-action, "SUFFER!" The bare, bloody flesh around her hand sizzled, Brad convulsed, thousands of volts arced through his body. The borrowed Skyway tech and gloves glowed red hot, melting into his skin. The entire action had only taken a split second. Vexes promptly flung Brads limp form towards the Earth, violently tearing her claws from his body, "His heart still beats!" Vexes turned back to her enemy, "But not for long!" Jenny glanced back and forth from her falling friend to Vexes, "Fight me! And watch your human die! Or flee to him! The choice is yours!" Just as she had made the decision to save him, a welcomed guest swooped in, and caught the crippled human.

"Take care *zzzz* bitch! I'll get him to safety!" DV-2 boasted as he returned to the field of battle. Jennifer's entire body tensed with rage but, could she not take away her eyes until Axle had landed successfully with her friend.

"YOU!" Vexes hissed aloud at her son. She was as shocked to see him active, as she was to see him at all. Their eyes locked for the briefest of instances yet, one could indulge that Vexes would have smiled, if circumstances were different.

"HHHAAAA" Jenny, not willing to waste a second longer, raised her hands above her head and clasped them together. Vexes barely caught the movement, she threw her arms up to defend but, her forearms were no match for Jenny's strength. The strike shattered Vexes's arm plating, and sent her hurdling into the ground, only a hundred yards or so from Brad and Axle, "Bout time!" Jenny spoke with a hint of harsh sarcasm, glancing slightly towards Axle while descending back to the Earth. He glared back at her. Realizing now that his force restart was part of her plan all along.

"He's nearly dead..." Axle informed after a quick scan. Jenny landed close by and attempted to speak but, was stopped.

"No! NO!" Vexes spat back from the dusty crater, regaining her footing from the hit, "I can not lose!" The ground trembled, "I WILL NOT LOSE!" A high pitched sound started to grow from her body, "You'll deactivate! YOU WILL ALL DEACTIVATE!"

"No one else dies today!" Jennifer drew Vexes's attention, "I can't promise the same for a machine!" The two locked eyes.

"Abomination!" Vexes fired her eye lasers, Jenny deflected them with her left hand. She rushed at Jennifer, ramming her shoulder into her abdomen. Jenny dug her feet into the soil, stopping the momentum. She grabbed Vexes around the waist and lifted her above her head.

"HHHUUU!" Jenny power slammed her opponent into the ground hard. A Fifty foot plume of dust and debris rocketed upwards. Axle shielded Brad's body from the ground level shock-wave, "Get up! GET UP!" Jenny commanded the damaged robot at her feet. The broken Queen slowly retrieved her footing. Jennifer exploded, letting loose a blurry, barrage of boxer style blows upon Vexes face plate and upper body, each seemed to ring louder than the last.

"Ha.." Clang! Vexes chuckled between hits. Clang! Clang! "Haha!" Jenny's fist were inflicting a heavy toll, leaving behind a dent with each with-drawl, CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! "HAHAHAHAH!" The sound coming from Vexes still grew in octaves, reaching the point of becoming annoying, even to Jennifer.

"Why are you laughing!? What's so DAMN FUNNY!?" Jennifer demanded an answer to her query, "What the hell is that noise!?" Vexes's giggling slowly petered off. She turned her mangled head to the right and spat out the majority of metal teeth and oil from her damaged face.

"Don't you feel it...? In your main structure?" She smiled as best her crushed face could allow. Jenny had ignored the feeling that sweep her moments before Vexes's words. It was as if her entire being was a nearly imperceptible amount heavier, "The weight of the world on your shoulders...Crushing you flat?!" The wind picked up, the ground shuttered. The high pitched racket suddenly stopped, "Do you feel it?" Her cracked eyes gazed deep into Jenny's, piercing her soul. A sudden, odd pattern of radiation rippled through the air. The feeling it carried chilled Jennifer to her core, she couldn't explain why but, it seemed to reek of death. Vexes's body sunk an inch or so, cracking the ground. Axle felt it too, a rush of realization ran through him, "The all consuming feeling of failure!?" As the words left her mouth, a thunderous roar resonated across the sky. Sheldon lee, and his cargo, pierced the clouds. It seems that Murphy's law was in full affect on this day.

"Jenny!" Axle called out, "She's activated self-destruct! Her core is collapsing!" Jenny cringed.

"But that means-!" Jennifer's eye site automatically changed, she suddenly found herself gazing through Vexes's chest, allowing her to clearly view the growing threat. She witnessed the final moments of the flickering mini-star as it's mass shrunk to a pinpoint, then erupted out a blue shock-wave that nearly knocked her back, leaving behind a tiny Black hole. Her mind raced, "Think Jenny!" Gravity shifted, Jenny found herself much heavier, "I can't fight her here! Even if I win, the Earth is gone!" Vexes's containment field failed, the ground cracked and rose towards the incredible pull, "I have to get her off the planet!" Simultaneously, Axle came up with the only means he could calculate on how to save Brad.

"I don't *zzzzz* this will even work on a human..." He produced a hypodermic needle from his remaining index finger and injected a small amount of metallic liquid into Brads neck. He retracted the tool and laid the young man fully on the ground. The building threat of his mother pulled his optics from his old friend. He watched, as a hole sucked into Vexes's chest, fully exposing the swirling pit. Jennifer focused on Vexes's head, locking onto her main C.P.U. She fired a small, bright blue dot of energy, hoping to shutdown the catastrophe. To her chagrin, the energy bullet curved downward, arching from it's intended path and vanishing into the vortex.

"This is it XJ-9! Your DARKEST day! The Earths final hour!" Vexes boasted.

"It's always darkest, before dawn!" Jennifer reached out with here mind, contacting Sheldon, "Brace yourself Sheldon! Things are about to get hairy!"

"J-Jenny? Is that you?" Sheldon asked the new found yet, familiar voice that entered his mind.

"Yes...I have a plan, but I need you to trust me." The sweet angles voice gave him more confidence than ever, "Can you do that?"

"O-oh yeah!" He replied.

"I need you to make sure that you hit Vexes with that ball! No matter what! You have to hit her!" Sheldon gulped. He knew that, she knew that, he could not survive the resulting explosion. Jenny felt his apprehension, "I promise I wont let anything happen to you. I swear it!"

With little hesitation, he agreed,"Alright! Anything for you, my love!" Jennifer smiled inwardly, the reason seemed to escape her at the moment.She belted out the power, pushing her new body to it's limits. Blue energy and sparks swirled around her. Her teeth clenched, she prepared herself for the arduous task at hand. The final ushering of her lifelong enemy into oblivion was not to be taken lightly. Trillions of variables most be calculated to ensure the safety of the Earth, even when factoring in a slim margin for her own survival. The ground split as her power rose, lifting her into the air. Vexes was unimpressed, she rushed at her foe again, dragging large chunks of rock in her wake.

"YYAAARRRHHH!" The mechanized witch collided with the humanoid angel. An eruption of blue energy rippled out. Jenny braced herself with her energy and held her position,even as Vexes rained thunderously heavy blows down upon her, "You may have the power of a star! But I have the power to CONSUME THEM!" The hits continued, Jenny received them as best she could, all the while her aura grew brighter, "A few moments more XJ-9! And I will consume your very soul!" The Queen screamed. Her attacks cut into and broke Jenny's flesh, yielding small trickles of a maroon fluid from the wounds, still she remained, tensed and unmoving, blocking those she could without losing concentration and weathering the rest. A few organic snaps emitted from her sides with some of the body blows yet, still she remained. The pull of gravity had become immense, ripping trees up by the root, reaching out to the fallen town, pulling the homes from their foundations. The atmosphere above buckled, a visible dip could be seen from space. The angrier Vexes grew, the more voracious the vortex seemed to become, Vexes's voice rang out through the cloud of debris collecting around them, "Fall damn you! FALL!"

The U.S.S. Johnson Wreckage

Sharp wit and quick action had finally won out in the tension thick moments. Melody's containment field had been stabilized and her herself placed in a recovery state. All involved sat and leaned about the area, their minds adrift in a sea of thought. No one dared call to the triumph, momentary instances of celebration had become a luxury, even for the slightest of victories. Nora flicked a smoldering butt to the floor and began to clean the muck from herself with a piece of torn cloth. Suddenly, Elena received an alert, "Processing..." Everyone immediately snapped their eyes to her, "My sensors are detecting a gravitational anomaly within XJ-9's vicinity, coupled with falling barometric pressure, and a noticeable shift in ordinary wind direction towards a large scale cyclonic pattern. All seem to be emanating from a finite point." A cold chill ran down Nora's spine, people whispered amongst themselves behind her, "Evidence seems to suggest a gravity vacuum." Mogg joined in with Nora's shocked expression by displaying one of his own, "With a 99.999999% certainty, I state that a black hole is present on Earth, it is actively consuming and growing. Estimated time until it reaches Earth mass...Processing...three minutes." News such as this dwarfs any progress made towards an achievable victory. The small crowd turned in audience towards the small, white haired women. Nora seemed to soak in the ramifications of such knowledge before bowing her head.

"We walked in the path of giants, and in their footsteps...Fell..." Failure is a normal part of the scientific process. Dealing with it, a basic principal. But failure on a scale such as this, with the staggering amount of lives at stake, incalculable.

"What are you saying?" One spoke up, "Are you just giving up?" The mind frame of the crowd heavily hinged on the question asked.

"Don't you fools get it?!" Mogg asked, half angered, "WE'VE LOST!" At that moment XJ-4 burst into the room.

"Mom! Brads gone!" She shouted.

"What?!" Nora jolted.

"He found my reset button-" She was silenced by Nora's interruption.

"Oh whats another ember on the inferno? We're already dealing with powers far beyond the comprehension of the average mind...Jennifer, even in her current form, could never hope to stand to the titanic might of a black hole..." Nora steadied herself against the wall, "All was for nigh...And nigh for us all..."

"That explains one of the energy anomalies." Elena spoke up.

"One of the anomalies?" Nora turned and asked, "What other anomalies?"

"I have detected an organic signal in close proximity to ground zero, most likely Bradly Carbunckle's. I also detected two separate and distinct bio-mechanical energy signatures. One closely matches Axle's energy though, slightly off. Most likely his weakened power-core and deteriorating containment field has skewed the signal somewhat. However, I am 93.87% sure it is him." Elena informed.

"And the other? Is it Jenny?" 4 asked.

"Affirmative." Elena responded, "Her signal has been fluctuating rapidly since Melody input the algorithm into her C.P.U. but, the signals baseline matches that of Jennifer Diane Wakeman." Nora's heart skipped a beat.

"Are the signals at the event horizon stable?" Mogg propped. Elena remained motionless, electronic components whirred inside her C.P.U.

"Affirmative." She finally answered, "My sensors indicate that Jennifer is still active and withstanding the devastating forces at play." The entire room peaked with the latest sliver of hope, even Nora looked to her 8th daughter in shock.

"That's not..." Nora thought upon the information briefly, "I-I can't even explain-! She should be-!"

"...Processing...Her form should be broken down at the molecular level, and the data of her very being smeared across the surface of Vexes's power source." Nora blinked, still reeling, "You taught me standard model black hole theory while developing XJ-9."

"That doesn't make sense! How is she still alive!" XJ-6 asked.

"...Processing...We are indeed dealing with forces far beyond our own comprehension. I suggest a spiritual gathering, with the mutual benefit of our world at heart. Perhaps we can replicate the results of our previous attempt?" Elena more or less asked her Mother. Everyone looked upon her, awaiting her response. Nora had always regarded religion as a comforting crutch, only leaning against it in the past to support those around her rather than herself. But the look in everyone's eye seemed to beg for her to try.

"Then for my daughters, and for our world...We shall pray..."

Ground Zero

The maroon fluids, leaking from Jenny's wounds themselves began to draw towards Vexes's chest, even small bits of her tattered clothing pulled away from her body. It was now or never. With the fate of billions at her back, and the ruin of all at her front, the time to act had struck. Vexes shot towards her again, Jennifer countered by grasping her arm. She pulled her in and planted her right knee solidly into her abdomen, increasing the diameter of the hole in her stomach in the process. Jenny then spun around and hurled Vexes towards the massive ball of nuclear bombs Sheldon was pushing into the Earth. Vexes easily halted herself, a mile or so, before connecting with the deadly sphere, "You think you can be rid of me so easily?! I've been around for a thousand years! I'll devour the power that foolish boy is hauling!" The gloating of the Queen was lost on Jennifer as she prepared her final attack, "All is lost to you! Even if you destroyed my body, my core would still grow and consume your world!" Suddenly, DV-2 materialized behind his creator, quickly snapping his arms under Vexes's, settling into a Full-Nelson, "Aarrhhgg! YOU?!" She gasped in surprise. The old, pleasant sensation suddenly flowed through her mind again, totting with it words that seemed to hurt something new her chest.

"It's time...I'm sorry, but I must go." Jenny was torn by what she wanted to do, and what she must. She knew he was right, and it could only be moments before the writhing witch broke free. It was now or never, and never will be to late. With her welling emotions fueling new levels of power, she clenched her teeth to her foe.

"Consume it..." Jennifer growled lowly, "Consume it!" Then boasted loudly. As the words echoed, a thin red line began to draw in her skin, vertically, between her breast. Slowly, it spread apart, tearing a moist, reddish tunnel through her organic muscle tissue to a metallic, bone-like plate, just before her heart. With great and obviously painful effort, the bone-plate broke and split, folding outwardly to reveal a magnificent sight. A bright blue, pulsating, fist sized mass of energy. Each beat that resonated from the humanly shaped organ rippled the atmosphere for a mile, "TAKE IT ALL!" She spate loudly. Vexes could only look on in shock as the massive wave of white energy over took her. The initial strike shredded Vexes's body paneling, her arms shattered and broke away at the elbow hing. Her eyes melted. Axle's arms turned a cherry red, sections of his outer armor, not covered by Vexe's body, boiled off. The Queen still remained, her power-core began to swallow up the titanic amount of power pouring onto her.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Vexes gurgled out through a bottom jaw-less oil spewing hole, "I told you, there is nothing that you can do!" The mad tyrant's boast fell on deaf ears, Jennifer poured out power that she herself, had no idea she was capable of producing. All the while, the energy flow pushed her foe further towards the ball of thermonuclear weapons. Axle held on with his melting arms, not allowing her to deflect or defend the attack. Jenny concentrated hard, the next step would be difficult. The instant Vexes and Axle made contact with the power-cores, she teleported herself, Vexes, and the ball of weapons to the out skirts of the solar system, far away from the Earth. Leaving behind a shocked and bewildered Sheldon.

Pluto, just off planet

Jenny was fairly certain that she heard Vexes scream as the power of all her dismantled Nightmares burst, wedging her between their energies and Jennifer's, though she knew it could only truly be her imagination in the vacuum. Jennifer's vision adjusted to the the blinding light as she stopped her energy beam, allowing her to see the horrid, twisted remains of Vexes's body and the black hole absorbing the explosion into her chest. Axle still clung to her. His arms had been fused to what remained of her, his body had been disintegrated from the waist down, and half of his face was gone. Jenny looked to her friends eye, knowing that there was only one way to left to stop the vortex and end the madness.

"I...I know what I must do..." Jennifer thought. The only option left was for her to sacrifice herself, detonating her core to ensure that the deadly vortex was scattered to the heavens, or at least pushed far out of the heliosphere. She briefly glanced in the direction of her home world, "For them...For their lives..." She paused to prepare herself mentally, "I wounder...Do beings such as us go to heaven?" She pondered the old thought numerous times in the past but, the far side of this final moment seemed to finally hold the answer.

"No." Axle's voice stated flatly. Jenny froze, "I've been lucky to know life as you have. I've felt love and hate...Passion and pain...I am grateful for the moments I shared in your life but, mine was but a fleeting moment of time...You have so much to live for." The weight in her chestfelt heavier with each word, "My time has come...Let everything she wrought be gone, and in time fade..." Jenny watched, as Axle forced the remainder of his power through his chest, punching a hole clean through Vexes. Her power core eagerly soaked up the energies, even though little remained of her body. At the peak of his release, Axle ejected his damaged core into her. His eye flickered as the Queen doubled over, her vortex sated, for the moment. Jenny reached out to him, praying the action would somehow stop the events. The sweet sensation entered her mind once more, "I will always-" A sudden burst of blinding light enveloped all of her senses as his core went supernova. Jenny struggled against the clash of incalculable forces as the momentum of the searing energies peaked then, rushed inward. She found herself trapped inside the time space distortion with no way to escape as one black hole collapsed onto the other.

The U.S.S. Johnson Wreckage

A sudden, odd buzz drew XJ-4's attention to the split ceiling of the twisted ship's hull. Mid prayer, she announces, "Look you guys!" The entire group turned in unison towards her indication, bearing witness to a breathtakingly beautiful phenomenon. A brilliant dot of multicolored light blinked into existence, filling a 3rd of the sky, then, vanished as quickly as it came, "It's her! She did it!" XJ-4 exclaimed again. Everyone smiled and mumbled to themselves, quietly celebrating the thought of a victorious conclusion, "I know it's her!" All, except Nora. The old woman turned to Elena amongst the crowd of jovial people. Her creation could glean her creators questions purely by expression. Elena expanded her sensors range and sensitivity. The crowds noise faded in Nora's mind, her complete attention now on her daughter.

"Processing...Weak life sign detected. Signal matches pre-installed patterns of Bradly Carbunckle's biological processes. Condition: Sever...Scanning further..." Nora flinched but, patiently waited for further news. The group had heard them speaking and turned to listen, "I am detecting a vast, expanding sphere of energies correlating with recorded energy patterns of Vexes...Signal seems to be dissipating in direct relation to expansion rate. Traces of matching energy patterns for Axle detected within background radiation of explosion..." Her heart sank, and everyone's face seemed to reflect Nora's feelings, "Slight shift in Neptune's orbital path...Planetoid designated Pluto could not be found...No matching signal detected for Jennifer Diane Wakeman." The news hit hard, straight through the heart and oil pumps of the Wakeman family. XJ-4 fell to the ground sobbing, XJ-6 kneeled down beside her, placing her one arm on her shoulder to try and comfort, a digital tear formed in the corner of her monitor face's eye. The somber mood slowly filled the room, stifling the voices of everyone. Nora clenched her fists, a twinkle formed in both her eyes. Mogg placed his hand on top of his watch, gazing, with obvious regret, and rubbing the screen gently with his thumb as a digital puppy frolicked underneath, "Processing...Approaching bio-mechanical signal detected." The crowd perked, "87% match to Sheldon Lee's bio-patterns...47% match to previous models of The Silver Shell."

"H-he survived?!" Mogg questioned. The sound of highly charged particles roaring forth from a high tech flight engine exclamated his question. The entirety of the tattered room rushed outside to greet the return of the one that they shund only a short time earlier.

"BRADLY!" Nora ran to the unconscious form dangling from Sheldon's metal arms. The young man inside the metal giant heaved out a sigh. They were not as happy to see him as they were Brad but, at least they seemed to forgive his previous transgressions for the moment.

"He's out cold, hurt pretty bad to but, his vitals all suddenly stabilized along the way." Sheldon informed. The crowd kept their distance from him still, he pretended not to notice. Nora examined the burns and bloody wounds while Sheldon lay the teen on the ground.

"My god...His skin seems to be bonding with the metal components..." Nora observed as she tried to pull off the gloves.

"Processing...Vital signs are fluctuating. Patterns no longer match Bradly Carbunkles." Elena stated. She prodded a particularly bloody chest hole with her cold index finger and scanned the red fluid intently for a few moments, "DNA analysis indicates that this is indeed one Bradly Carbunkle. Foreign bodies in the blood stream appear to be...Rearranging the organic structure at the cellular level, incorporating the technology he is wearing. Vital signs are, in-fact, stable."

"That's a relief." Mogg placed a hand to on the young man's forehead, "Little warm..."

"What about Jenny?!" XJ-6 interjected, "Where is she?!" The air seemed to grow still, while the question echoed through all of their minds. Sheldon prepared himself to answer.

"When I left earlier...I made the decision to..." Sheldon stumble on his words, "I didn't want to live anymore...Not after all I had done." Nora seemed to softened towards him somewhat, "I chose to end my life in an attempt to destroy Vexes...A selfish act I know but, It was the only way I could see to help and...To make amends for my actions." He scuffed the ground with his right foot nervously, "As I broke through the atmosphere with the Nightmare power-cores, I heard her voice ring out inside my head..." The sobs were becoming harder to stifle, "Af-after all that I did...She..She still saved me..." Until the could be held back no longer, "She sacrificed herself to save me..." The heavy tone of the Silver Shell poorly conveyed the tear-filled eyes inside the hollow chest cavity. The mighty robot, dulled, dented, and scrapped, fell to his knees, covering his optics.

"What do we do now?" Mogg asked, gazing at the destruction around them. Nora turned her eyes to sky, peering at the section in-which the massive explosion took place.

"The only thing we can...We move forward. We must attend to our wounded...Rebuild our cities...Repair our lives, and...Remember...T-the fallen..." Two small droplets trailed down her tired face, dripping from her cheek to the ground. Everyone took the moment to pause and silently reflect upon the actions of a young robot girl before slowly making their way back to the shattered lives they have left. Nora stood her ground, setting her gaze on the young genius, wrapped in metal. With her children approaching from behind, Nora's mind began to imagine. She couldn't help but smile through the tears. The present, no matter how dark, was the end, and the light of the future, a future brought about by her own daughter, was just beginning to shine.

"Your still alive...I know it...You didn't give up on me...And I wont give up on you. I'll wait for you my love...I'll wait...No matter how long..." Sheldon looked to the stars, pondering the future and what to do with his angels gift of a second chance on life.