I do not own GR.

Holiday barged into the medical room. Caesar and Beverly jumped away from each other. Rebecca could see her sister's face turning red.

"Bev, are you all right?" Rebecca pretended to be too busy with Kenji to notice their juxtapositions. "Bobo said you were injured."

"Yeah, I'm okay. Caesar patched me up." She lifted her bandaged arm to show her.

"I'm sure he did a good job." Rebecca acknowledged. "I think you should stay here with Kenji until the AI has been put down."

"What?" Beverly cried indignantly. "I'm capable of taking care of myself! I'm not abandoning my family."

"You're not abandoning anyone. Watching Kenji is just as important. You're just not trained for combat." Rebecca tried to reason with her.

"Oh, and you are?" Beverly asked pointedly.

"I was trained in hand to hand combat and in the use of most military weaponry." Rebecca replied wryly. Kenji feeling the tension began to fuss. Rebecca bounced him to keep him quiet.

"Sure, bring that up." Beverly grumbled. "You forget, Kenwyn also trained me in hand to hand combat, and I manage to take out a whole mess of drones… before they took me out." She added the end reluctantly. "You can watch Kenji and I'll go help the others."

"No, Bev, you stay with Kenji." Rebecca said firmly. "You both will be safe."

"Come on sis, you can't protect me forever. I know I can be of help. And it's better for Kenji to be with his mother." She looked pleadingly at Rebecca.

Rebecca was already shaking her head. "No, Beverly. It's too dangerous."

"Well, too bad! I'm an adult now. You can't keep telling me what to do. I can make my own decisions." She said forcefully.

"Your physical age may be an adult but you were an EVO for three years… you lost three years of your life, Bev." Rebecca argued.

"You're always hanging that over me!" Beverly's voice wavered. "I know I turned EVO when I was 13! I know I lost three years. But I've been working hard to rebuild my life and I almost have it back together… except someone keeps reminding me that I'll never be normal."

"Oh Bev." Holiday's voice also began to shake. "It's not that… I just… I just can't lose you again. Not again."

"But that's not for you to decide… is it?" Beverly calmed down when she realized what her sister was trying to do. "You know how you hate it when Six left to protect you? Well, you know, you're doing the same to me. You can't tell the future. You can't protect me from everything."

"I know. I know. But there are some common sense things I can do… like not expose you to giant rampaging monsters with AI's in them trying to destroy the world." Rebecca said.

Caesar cleared his throat. "Not the world, just all the nanites in the world… which I guess amounts to the same in the end."

Rebecca looked at him with annoyance while Bev looked at him in amusement.

Caesar shrugged. "Just wanted to make sure we're all on the same page.

Rebecca turned to Beverly and jerked her head to Caesar. "Are you sure about…?"

Beverly smiled and nodded. "Yeah, he's a little weird but I like that in a guy."

Rebecca sighed. "I guess I can't complain too much, considering who I married."

"Nope." Beverly agreed.

"Are you done fighting?" Caesar asked.

"Yes, Caesar, we're done." Holiday tried not to sound exasperated.

"Good because I think Zag has activated the nanite destruction code it downloaded from the hard drive in my lab." Caesar said calmly.

"What?" Holiday grabbed his collar and yanked him to her eye level. "What nanite destruction code?"

"I was working on a program to terminate rogue nanites naturally and stumbled on a way to speed up the lifecycle of a nanite, thus aging it rapidly so that…" Caesar explained in his usual rambling way.

"You're making the nanites self-destruct!" It was not so much a question but an expletive from Holiday.

"Well, not self-destruct exactly more like decaying muy rapido. And since every cell has been bonded with nanites… well… they too will decay muy rapido." Caesar replied.

"And how do you know Zag activated it?" Beverly asked.

"My internal scans have revealed the unauthorized download of that code… and White Knight has been yelling at me through my comlink for the last minute." Caesar winced as he tapped the device in his ear.

Holiday realized she had turned down the volume on hers. As she turned it back up, she heard White Knight's loud explanation of their current predicament.

"Oh dear lord," Holiday quickly rushed to leave.

Caesar grabbed her arm. "If you go out there, you'd also be subjected to the same code. Oh, and it's probably a bad idea to expose the baby to the nanite destroying machine."

"Beverly, you have to take Kenji. I have to get out there." Holiday held out her son. Kenji started crying.

"No, both of you stay here." Caesar interrupted her. "Zag is my creation. I will take care of it."

"What?" Holiday looked at him in surprise.

"If anything happens to us, at least you two will survive to fight another day." Caesar said. "Zag is probably delivering the code by frequency waves which my suit is impervious to… I think."

Holiday was not reassured. "Caesar…"

Beverly put a hand on her sister. "Caesar, go help. We'll stay here."

Caesar nodded. Beverly tiptoed and gave him a light kiss. "I know you can do it." Caesar gave her a small smile and grabbed his helmet. He placed it on his head. Giving a salute he quickly left.

"Really? I tell you to stay and you give me an attitude. He tells you to stay and you're all right with it?" Rebecca asked.

"Don't start with me, sis." Beverly groaned.

Baby Kenji gurgled happily.

0o0

Adult Kenji and his group could barely keep on their feet. As Zag-RS slowly destroyed the nanites in their bodies, their bodies twisted with pain.

"Nanite annihilation commencing." Zag-RS announced

"Like fun you will!" White Knight raised his arm. A laser popped from his wrist. Running at the machine he opened fire. But his laser didn't do much damage. White Knight swore vehemently. "Caesar! Caesar! Where the bloody blue blazes are you? Your monstrosity is killing everyone!" When there was still no answer, White Knight powered up the booster attached to his feet. "I guess I have to do this the hard way."

He flew around the head of the robot trying to get it to stop transmitting the deadly code. He shot his lasers to no avail. But he was apparently annoying the AI.

"I fail to see why you would fight me. You have no nanites. You will be spared." The AI said to him as it tried to swat him.

White Knight dodged the attack. "It was never about the nanites." White glanced at the people on the ground. "It was always about friends." He turned again to the robot and began shooting it.

White flew around avoiding the hands. Then unexpectedly, the metal remains of Bobo at the center shot a projectile at White. It was Robo Bobo's hand. It tore into one of the rocket boosters causing White to come crashing into the ground. He slid to a stop in a crater of rocks and dirt.

"Your sentiments are irrational." Zag-RS said. "I must complete my protocol. If you stand in my way, you will be eliminated." It tried to crush him with the palm of its hand.

The hand was blasted back by a sonic scream.

"Leave him alone." Rafael yelled furiously. He ran in front of White before doubling over in pain. But he still kept his eyes on the robot.

"Rafael!" Circe limped over to stand next to her son from the future. She blasted the robot to push it further away from them. Six staggered up and charged the robot making a deep cut into its foot. Jade not to be left behind followed her father and continued the cut until it almost severed the foot. Kenji slammed his hanbo into the opening and tried to pry it bigger. He almost succeeded in breaking the foot off when metal giant kicked his off. Kenji did a back flip and landed on his feet. The he collapsed as the pain seemed to worsen.

"You have distracted me long enough." The AI announced. "The job must be completed."

"No, it doesn't." It was Caesar. "Zag-RS, protocol 3737-4 was never meant to go beyond the lab environment."

"Dr. Salazar, You programmed my prime directive. I must destroy all stray nanites that have escaped the lab. This includes all nanites outside the lab." Zag-RS replied.

"No, Zag-RS, your prime directive was never intended to hurt people." Caesar countered.

"It matters not what the intent was, I merely follow my programming." Zag insisted.

"You are not following your programming. You programming did not include destroying nanites at all cost." Caesar argued.

Meanwhile Rex was cradling Violeta. When the destruction code hit them, his daughter had taken it harder than the others. She whimpered as her body shuddered in pain.

Rex, not knowing what to do, rocked her back and forth telling her she would be all right. He had no idea what was going on in her body right now.

Inside both Omega-1 nanites were generating an excess of nanites to combat the loss of her current ones to Zag-RS's onslaught. But they themselves were not immune to the code. They began whispering to Violeta.

"No, I can't." She whimpered. Rex didn't know what she was talking about. "I can't… I can't… I can't…" There was a long pause and her eyes flew open, bright white. "But I have to." She broke from her father's embrace. From her back she grew turbines that lifted her up into the air. She flew directly at the robot and when she got close, her Smack Hands formed.

Her Smack Hands rammed into the center of the robot. Zag-RS let out an inhuman cry. Violeta's Smack Hands began turning becoming the Combat Drill. But because she was so close to the destructive frequency, she started dissolving. Her Boogie Pack fell away. Her Smack Hands also broke apart. She accomplished her goal, however. Leaping into the gaping hole that she had formed, she faced the back of Robo Bobo's head. It turned 180 degrees. It's eyes glowed red. Violeta reached out her hand and touched the metallic head.

"Hello, Zag-RS." Violeta said to the AI. "I'm shutting you down."

"You do not have authorization." The AI said simply.

"NO! You don't have authorization! You don't have authorization to change the future! You don't have authorization to take over the planet! You don't have authorization to kill us! You have gone beyond your programming! And now I'm going to wipe you out!" Violeta seethed.

"The destruction of your nanites has already started. The longer you remain the quicker you will cease to exsist." Zag-RS told her.

"Blah, blah, blah… you forget who you're talking to… I'm Violeta Salazar, daughter of Rex and Circe Salazar. Now thrill me!" She closed her eyes and blue lines flowed from her hands to the AI. Red lines from the metallic head fought back. Each colored line pushed the other trying to gain position. All the while dust particles were blowing off Violeta. The others from below could see a cloud of dust accentuated by a bright purplish light coming from the hole.

"What's going on in there?" Circe asked worriedly.

Rex gritted his teeth. His Omega-1 nanite had told him that anyone getting near Zag-RS would start to disintegrate into sand particles like that time in the desert when he and Van Kleiss had to work together to defeat Zag-RS. He tried to get Violeta's Omega-1 to join him but his decided to join with Violeta instead. He felt helpless and angry. His Slam Cannon grew from his arm. He grabbed a chunk of rock and blasted the robot being careful not to hit the hole.

"Come on you worthless pile of junk!" Rex yelled. "Get wrecked!" He blasted it again. Everyone joined him. Jasmine and Bobo opened fire. Circe and Rafael blasted it with their sonic scream. White Knight, Angel, and Caesar were using the lasers on the wrists. Six, Jade, and Kenji attacked with their weapons.

Violeta struggled to force Zag-RS to shut down. Zag-RS was fighting back. But the combined power of the Omega-1s was slowly wearing down the AI. With a primal yell, Violeta gave it all she got. From the center of the robot, a bright light grew. There was no sound, just a light brighter than the sun bursting from the middle until it engulfed the whole robot. The people below were forced to shield their eyes. When the light finally dimmed, all that was left was a husk of the former menacing robot. The robot teetered precariously before it tipped forward. Everyone scattered to avoid being crushed. As the robot fell, it broke into pieces of twisted metal.

"Violeta!" Rafael scrambled onto the debris. He was joined by the rest of the team.

All were calling for her and shifting through the metal pieces.

Kenji was pushing a control box out of the way when he saw red fabric sticking out from between two metal sheets. "Violeta!" He used his hanbo to pry the pieces apart. Violeta was lying in the center unmoving. Her long hair was now cropped close to her head. There were bruises and cuts to her face. Her clothes were ripped and torn. "Hey, Violeta. It's Kenji. It's over you did it." He felt a lump build in his throat. "Come on. Get up."

"Kenji?" He heard his father.

"Over here dad!" Kenji yelled. Everyone crowded around. Rex formed his Smack Hands and removed the metal around Violeta. Circe carefully lifted her out and cradled her gently on the floor. Rafael knelt next to them.

"Violeta, come on. Wake up. You can't go yet. We still have things to do." Rafael said tearfully. Rex placed a hand on his son's shoulder.

Violeta coughed. Then she looked around. Meeting Kenji's eyes, she cleared her throat.

"Can we go home now?" She asked wearily.

With relief, Kenji smiled. "Yeah, squirt. We can."

Violeta nodded before closing her eyes again.

Happy New Year! This is one of the hardest stories I've had to write. So many false starts and re-edits. Hope it was interesting. One more chapter to go to wrap up all loose ends. Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing. Thank you 00RaiserGundam for proofreading.