A/N: Wow really took a while to update this. Sorry about that. Chapters will roll out a bit slow unfortunately, but hopefully they are good! Enjoy the show and reviews are always welcome!
The experimental ranger rolled through the hallways of Star Command, a smile on his mechanical face, humming a tune his group leader had played so many times on their travels around the known universe. It was another successful day being a Ranger at Star Command. The very same day they had foiled the plans of Evil Emperor Zurg, and rescued some defecting Grubs. Why does he even call himself that? XR shook his head, from what he had experienced and knew, Zurg's plans became less evil by the day since the others and himself rescued Buzz from being turned into some Zug clone, right before Team Lightyear was formed. The only other evi-doing Zurg did since then, in the views of the robot ranger, was the creation of the creature from his nightmares: NOS-4-A2, the energy vampire He visibly shivered at the thought of the energy vampire. Even though it had been years since he had first encountered his "Dark Master" back when he was brought aboard 42 after the freighter was blown up by Warp Darkmatter, the fear clung onto him. The area where he was bit tingled at the memory, the pain ebbing into focus one again, scaring the poor bot of out his skin. Quickening his pace, he sped off to the Mission control room where Buzz and Commander Nebula stood, discussing the latest endeavors of Team Lightyear.
"It was confusing sir," Buzz scratched at his chin, looking to the commander, "As we were getting the Grubs settled in the refuge sector I overheard one talking to another about the odd behavior of five other Grubs, as if they were distant, and plotting something, which is unusual for Grubs," Buss added, "They also mentioned nine others had gone missing a couple years ago as well." Commander Nebula crossed his arms, stroking his mustache, "We need more solid information, Buzz. If we are to confirm the rumors about that vampire being alive again we need to know as much as we can and get enough solid information to pursue it." Vampire?! XR nearly jumped out of his casing. Oh please don't be talking about him…
"It's almost confirmed sir, the defector said something about the other Grubs asking around for the specific AI used for NOS-4-A2 and parts specific to his build and make." Buzz frowned, his attention turning to XR as he heard the sound of shaking metal, "XR…" He trailed off as the fear in the robot grew, "W-what?!" The Ranger's metallic legs started to shake and clatter, "H-he's alive?!" Beside Lightyear the commander let out an annoyed sigh, mumbling "craters" to himself, and then spoke louder, "I thought you were out filling the mission report!" The commander shot a glare at Lightyear, "I got done early, dad." XR's voice was still shaking, "I came to see how things w-were, and then…" Buzz continued to frown, "You overheard us talking about NOS-4-A2." He lowered his voice as he saw the bot cringe at the name, "I understand your fear," clearing his throat his voice returned to his normal upbeat tone, "Ranger, you do not have to worry yourself, you are safe here at Star Command and around your team." XR's demeanor did not change at his leader's words, "Lightyear and the rest of his team will be keeping an eye on you," Nebula added, not as happy as XR would have liked it, "They will make sure you do not get out of their sight."
"You will have to stay behind on the next few missions though," Buzz looked down to his fellow ranger, his frown still plastered to his face, "I know you want to go out," he continued as he saw the look on XR's face that he wanted to argue about it, "But until we know these rumors are just rumors or true, we need to make sure you are safe. Until then you'll have to stay here at Star Command and help around the place." The robot ranger's face was long with a frown, not liking the idea of staying behind why his team went out to look for the creature of his nightmares. He wanted to help; he wanted to make sure the energy vampire was dead for good, "But Buzz!" He started to whine, being cut off by the commander, "No buts! You are staying here. End of discussion!" With that Nebula turned around and left the room in a huff, going to deal with the paperwork upon his desk.
Buzz leaned down next to XR, putting a hand on the bot's shoulder, "It's alright XR, we'll get things settled and before you know it you will be back in the ship and doing missions with us again." Lightyear smiled at his teammate, his smile said it would be fine, but deep inside the servo-pump, XR knew it would be a long time before he joined back with his team, especially if the creature was alive. He knew his dark master well enough that it wouldn't be any time soon; NOS would not let his presence become noticed easily, making it up to months before they got a strong lead on the energy vampire, if any lead at all. His optics lowered to the floor, staring down at the clean floors of Mission Control, "I can be of use in finding if NOS-4-A2 is alive or not…" Buzz placed his free hand onto XR's other shoulder, "Ranger, Commander Nebula and I agree it is too dangerous for you. Even if you can be an asset to our search, it also puts you in a lot of danger." He paused, making sure XR was looking in his general direction, to see the sincerity in his eyes, "If NOS-4-A2 was alive who would he go after first?"
"Me…" XR frowned even more, looking up at his team leader, "I know his frequency." Buzz shook his head, "But he knows yours, and he's still out for revenge against you, more than anything or anyone else." He patted the bot on the shoulder and stood up, "Besides, Commander Nebula wants you safe," XR's eyes lit up a bit, "He said he didn't want to be left with XL only." One last smile to his teammate and Buzz left the room, his communicator beeping as he left the room, "Lightyear here… Right. I'll be right…" His voice drifted off from XR's sensors, leaving the ranger in the room, the hum of the machinery the only sound around him. The commander didn't want me hurt? XR couldn't help but crack a small smile, maybe he really is warming up to me. Yeah, his smile grew, that's it. He doesn't want to lose a son and be only left with one. Nodding his head, XR decided that was the reasoning, not because he was a risk to the team if the energy vampire was alive. After a couple seconds to his thoughts, he rolled out of the room, heading to the mess hall. It was mid-day and he felt like getting a bit of refreshments before going to see his father and help him with anything.
The mess hall was not as busy as the robot thought; only a few rangers sat in the seats, talking to each other and eating the biomaterial they ingested. Odd, XR rolled over to the service station for robots, around this time there would at least be a couple dozen rangers in the mess hall, but today there was only about half a dozen. Perhaps they were off on missions, with Zurg being a bit more active than usual and all. XR had to reassure himself that was the reason to make sure his motherboard didn't go on a tangent thinking up horrible reasons for the mess hall being a bit more empty than usual. Gathering up a container of oil he glanced around for a ranger he knew well enough to talk to—most of the time he was in the mess hall was with the rest of Team Lightyear, usually sitting with Booster why Buzz talked with other rangers and Mira sat there rolling her eyes. Today he was alone, and all the rangers who were in the hall were ones he was not very familiar with, and other whom he knew disliked him due to the fact he was a robot, or the fact he was on Team Lightyear and they weren't.
Not noticing any familiar faces he decided to sit at an empty table, setting his canister of oil onto the table gently, placing his arms folded in front of him. It was annoying, not being around his team, flying solo. He had to do something soon, otherwise he might start to rip his wires out of his arms or torso out of boredom.
After a half a hour of sipping gingerly at his canister of oil XR left the mess hall and went to the science bay, hoping to help out or at least talk to the Little Green Men. Unlike his father, Commander Nebula, they enjoyed his company, and even called him son when he asked them to, since they were the ones who put him together initially, and put him back together every time he got into a bit of an accident. Rolling down the hallways he noticed the same small number, or more of the lack of rangers in the hallways. The lights were dimmer than normal, or was his optics getting bad? Blinking a couple times the light didn't change, in fact it became darker each time he blinked. In the distance he could swear he heard a faint hissing sound, not of pipes or of machinery, more like a savage creature's hiss. Speeding up, XR quickly dove into the nearest room, ending up being a service room for various robots, mostly the cleaning ones, or so he thought. Moving carefully through the various sleeping bots and the parts, XR made his way to the back of the room, towards a charger. He was feeling drained after hearing the hiss within the halls, and wanted to recharge a bit before heading out again. The drained feeling was too familiar, too dangerously familiar for his comfort. Taking a couple paces forward he reached out for the charger, resting his hand on it, "Get a grip ranger," XR mumbled to himself, trying to steady his shaking hand, "You just got tired after all the energy you used up talking with Buzz and going around the station. Just recharge here and once you feel better head to the science bay…" He had to nod to himself to reassure his words. Connecting himself up to the charger he relaxed, letting his motherboard go into a power-saving mode.
It was nice, once in a while just to take a moment out of his busy Ranger day and relax. The days were usually full of missions and rangers running up and down the halls, but today was more relaxed, and XR started to like those kinds of days more and more as he sat in a power-saving mode. As he started to drift into sleep, his sensor's started to pick up a familiar frequency, one that had not been sensed for years. Too far tired to respond, XR ignored the sensors inside him, screaming out danger, not noticing the shifting within the room. A couple seconds after hooking up, he realized he wasn't being charged. Was the charger busted? Quickly unhooking himself, XR glanced over at the charger to see what was wrong. To his surprise, the charger was not only empty, but it was broken. Huh, how did he not notice that? Looking around, this time paying attention to what was around him, he realized this was not a recharging station for the utility robots, but a graveyard.
"Craters…" XR mumbled, "Must have ran into this place in panic without realizing what it was…" Frowning to himself he could feel the room shift, "Craters!" he screamed out, falling onto the ground. The garbage ship must have came and collected the scraps, him included. Quickly wheeling to the door he had came through, he pounded on the metallic door, screaming at the top of his voice box, "HELP! Live robot in here!" No response came from the other side. Across the room a small robot sat up hearing XR's screams, looking in his direction. He was trapped, being send to Venus knows where, and had no way out. The small robot started to stand up, wanting to go see its new friend, but was cut short. Cold sharp claws wrapped around its small body, lifting it into the air, a hiss creeping through the room. XR's eyes lit up with fear, turning around to see the poor little bot being held well above the ground, held over the silhouette of a creature, the claws breaking through the bot's body. As it dangled above the creature, XR pressed himself against the closed door, hearing that familiar roar echo through the room as the bot was lowered into the jaws of the creature, biting down into its metal, sparks flying as it squirmed and let out small screams of pain.
"No, no, no, no, no…" XR kept shaking his head as the small bot screams died out into the sounds of the fangs ripping through the metal, the small body dropping to the ground, "This can't be…" His legs started to shake, making a rattling sound, alerting the thing of his presence, "No!" He grabbed onto his legs trying to make the noise stop. All attention was turned onto XR, a sadistic grin falling over the predator, "Well, well… Little one," the metallic voice cooed, "We meet again…~"