Thank you so much to the people who have written reviews! Feedback is always wonderful :)

Also, www(dot)wordsfromarosebird(dot)tumblr(dot)com is a tumblr blog where I'm going to post this fanfic aswell incase anyone who has tumblr is interested... if you don't have tumblr you're totally missing out ;)

Oh and I'm going away for two weeks, so this Fanfiction won't be updated until after I come back :( I'm really sorry (and I'm a little upset myself because I'm enjoying writing it so much!) but I'm taking a notepad and pens with me so I can scribble down all the ideas I come up with while I'm away… and trust me, I have a lot of ideas ;) !

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoy :D

P.S. I promise Up and Taz will interact a lot more in chapter 3!

Chapter 2: Bare Feet

"Bree!" Tasanee screamed as loudly as she could. She'd been hurled into the air as a scream exited her mouth and entered her ears, and the fires of machinery blazed in front of her eyes.

"Brisa?"

"Tasanee?"

"Leo!"

She ran to him in realisation, his blonde hair ruffled and his once sleek suit now singed from the fires and ripped from the crash. She tried to ignore his appearance as she crouched next to him, face to face.

"Brisa is over there" he hastily pointed, "I've gotta go get help, and find Carlos"

Carlos. He was only twelve. Tasanee prayed to dead god that he was still alive.

"She's hurt, if you can take her home I'll meet you there. Keep her safe, out of the fight."

"I will"

He grasped her hand and squeezed it tight.

"A salvo mi pequeño amigo." She gazed into his glossy hazel eyes, feeling every ounce of his desperation.

Then he ripped his gaze away from her, and ran.

Getting up was difficult in itself, all her muscles were aching from her flight, but she knew she had to get back up. Just because she was little didn't mean she couldn't help. Looking down she saw her beautiful flowing dress had been torn and burnt a lot worse than Leo's suit had. She'd never be able to run anywhere like that.

Grabbing the bottom, she ripped it upwards then horizontally, revealing her knees but nothing more. Now able to run in the ragged remains of her pale blue dress, she sprinted towards Brisa.

The heat from the ground scorched her bare feet. Her mama had always made her wear shoes outside. The burning sun roasted the terrain making it unbearable to tread on. Tasanee tried to ignore the as she fixed her attention on Brisa.

She was lying on her back on the hard Mexican soil, clutching her side and shaking. Dark patches stained her red dress, and Tasanee gasped when she recognised the substance. Blood.

"Brisa…" She moved her sister's blood stained hands away from her hip, revealing the tear in her dress, the gash in her side and the bruising that had begun to form on her skin.

She had to be tough. Brisa would have been tough, determined. Tasanee's job was to keep her sister safe, and she was going to get the job done.

"Vas a tener que moverse de Bree, lo siento." Trying to hide the panic in her voice, Tasanee leaned her sister towards her attempting to help her up. Luckily, her legs weren't injured except for a few bruises that would gradually heal. She would be able to walk, as long Tasanee could lift her up.

Then a glimpse of crystal white caught her eye.

Tasanee had been so engrossed in helping her sister that she had neglected to look at her surroundings. She was facing the town hall. The town hall her Quinceañera was going to be held in. The town hall her whole family was inside, that was being torn apart by robots.

'Mamá.'

Her ears heard screams mixed with clangs of metal whirring and smashing together.

'Papá.'

Shouting from men, screams from women and children, and the unforgettable pew of zappers.

'Zappers?' Tasanee thought. Where would a small town in the heart of Mexico get zappers so quickly?

Then she realised.

Starship rangers must be here.

They were too late Dead God-damnit! Even before the rangers had stepped into the blazing Mexican sun, they were hit by the raging heat from the fires the robots had created. They had gained too much of a head start; the rangers didn't stand a chance.

But Up was determined to save as many human lives as possible.

Setting his zapper to pew, Up had followed his platoon shouting orders and shooting at the tin cans. The crystal white of their exterior stood out among the brown of the soil and houses in this small town. The first Mexican town to submit to the robot wars, and Up had no doubt it wouldn't be the last.

Reaching the town square, Up had witnessed what looked like a town hall being smashed by robot tentacles and blasted to pieces by their guns. He'd managed to take two of the giant ones down by targeting the week spots above their legs; his platoon was concentrating on the smaller ones.

Now Up was tackling a third.

Up screamed at two Ensigns fighting close by to tackle the giant robot's legs. Taking one each, they zapped at the joint between torso and limb as Up took a run up and jumped onto the machine from behind.

Climbing up its back, he knew its sensors would be able to feel him, if robots could feel at all. Thankfully, taller robots tended to compensate by having smaller arms. Up stayed parallel to where the machine's spine would have been as he climbed up, it arms smacking into its own sides trying to hit him as he climbed towards its head.

The Lieutenant wrapped both his legs around the robot's neck as to get a good hold, and shot the robot repeatedly through what would have been its brain.

Up knew the computer acting as the robot's mind wouldn't be in its head, but firing at the tin can's legs so it couldn't walk and its head so its camera 'eyes' couldn't see was a hell of a lot easier than piercing the metal concealing its chest.

He knew he'd achieved his goal when one of the robot's legs buckled. The machine could no longer see, and therefore couldn't keep its balance.

Swearing, Up realised the robot was about to fall backwards. It would crush him if he stayed in his current position.

Spinning round he managed to wrap his hands around where his legs had been, and pushed off the robots back throwing himself forwards. His feet and hands touched the Mexican soil only for a moment before he tore forward, the giant metal corpse landing at his heels.

"Take care of it!" He commanded the two ensigns. They knew what to do.

Taking a breath and surveying the area, Up saw a soldier without uniform standing by the side of the battleground, watching his encounter.

Wait, he wasn't a soldier. A civilian, a survivor of the attack; and he was running towards him.

"Estás piernas arn't dañado, eso es bueno." Tasanee frantically encouraged her sister to get up. Brisa had slightly moved one of her legs, but seemed to be in such a state of shock that she couldn't speak, let alone move.

"Vamos, yo sé que puedes hacerlo. Inclinarse para mí." Brisa leaned into Tasanee as she was able to push against her sister to raise herself upwards.

Shakily standing, she gave Tasanee a brief nod before steadily walking forwards.

"Okay, Bree we need to get home. Leo's gone to get help and he's going to meet us there. Entender?"

"Sí" Brisa's voice was shaky, but it was still a voice.

Putting her arm round her sister, encouraging her to lean her weight on her, Tasanee drove them forwards. Moving slowly made her feet feel as if they were alight, but Tasanee channelled her pain into focussing on her mission.

Fortunately her home wasn't that far away, but getting there before the robots realised they'd lost two victims could be a hard task.

Tasanee prayed to Dead God that luck was on their side.

Up was drawn to the young male sprinting towards him, and for a split second forgot the metallic threats that weren't far from them.

"Mierda, eso fue increíble! Que fuerte, que las llamas!" Up couldn't understand a word of what the young man was saying to him, but the admiration is his voice was unmistakable. Although flattered, Up kept his straight face. He wasn't one for compliments in the first place, but especially not in the middle of war.

"Look son, I don't understand you. You gotta run, away from here. You're lucky to be alive!"

And then something in the man's hazel eyes changed. Shock? Realisation perhaps? Almost as if he had forgotten something extremely important, and had now remembered.

"Por favor! Mi amigo, que está herido! y su hermana. Por favor, vengan conmigo! Rápido!"

Something was wrong, that was all Up could gather. He didn't understand the language. He'd never been to Mexico before now, and didn't plan to again if he could help it.

"English? You speak any English?"

Panting, he seemed to understand.

"Sí, English! Lo siento, English! Okay, Okay." He was obviously in a state of panic, struggling to get words out. "My friend, she's hurt. Please?"

The blonde man grabbed Up's arm, silently pleading him to follow. Turning his head, Up looked back towards his platoon. The fight seemed pretty equal, he should probably stay and help. That was his job wasn't it, to fight?

But then he looked back into the eyes of the man, glazed with tears, begging him to follow, to help his friend.

No, Up's job was to save human lives.

"Sí, take me to her."

"You would fit too Tazzy, eres pequeño."

"Not together Bree, just stay there okay?"

Managing to get Brisa into their small home, she'd removed the loose floorboard in their living room and reassured her until she'd climbed inside. It wasn't perfect protection, but it would at least keep her fairly out of sight until she could come back.

"Where are you going Taz? No me dejes aquí!"

"You have to stay there Bree, you're in too much pain to move"

"Eso no es cierto! I can move fine, I can help!"

"Brisa…" Tasanee kneeled down next to the small hole in the floor to face her sister.

"I know that's not true. I know you. You're determined and tough and everything I wish I was."

Tears fast approaching Tasanee's eyes, she held and squeezed her sister's hand hoping this wouldn't be the last time she looked into those brown eyes that looked so much like her own.

"Just stay here, I need you Bree."

Putting on her most convincing brave voice she promised, "I'll get help. Te lo prometo."

And with that, she left Brisa and ran. She ran toward the town hall, if there was any chance her parents had survived the initial attack she had to help them. But she knew in her heart she was too late even before she saw the explosion.

Robots everywhere, gleaming white in the burning glare of the sun surrounded the building. Everyone from the town had been invited to her Quinceañera, but they hadn't known that they wouldn't be going home.

Before the shriek could leave Tasanee's mouth, the robots zapped in unison at the building blowing it to pieces, the burning orange of the fires only meters away from her eyes. No human could have survived that. Everyone was gone.

She was a rabbit in the headlights. With both hands touching the earrings from Brisa, she stood and watched the vicious fires erupt in front of her, shock infecting her body and making it unable for her to move, making her an easy target.

She didn't see them coming.

Something grabbed her from behind, snapping back her focus. Pulling her hands away from her ears, she hit and screamed as she tried to break free from its grasp. Even though her burnt feet had broken contact with the red-hot soil, she would rather brace that agony than be in the clutches of a robot. She was lifted high up into the air and spun upside-down. She could hear the metal footsteps of two more machines coming towards her as the first swung her side to side.

She stood no chance against them, but if she could keep their focus on her then she knew they would be away from Brisa.

A metal claw fast approached her. Swinging her body towards it, she managed to smack it at just the right angle. If she had been stronger she may have broken its wrist, but she didn't. Although thin and healthy, Taz wasn't muscular at all.

"Yeah! You feel that toaster? I hit you!"

Scared and frightened, she had just enough time to wonder if robots could sense her emotion, before uttering words she hadn't even thought about saying.

"Hit me back!"

Frantically swinging from side to side as the second robot, as opposed to the one holding her up, tried to hit her, she attempted to dodge. 'This is sick' she thought. The robots were playing games with her. If they'd wanted to kill her they would have straight away with their zapper instead of holding her up like a piñata. 'Probably the closest they can get to fun.'

"Tasanee!"

It was Leo. Turning to face the voice's direction she locked onto, not Leo's hazel eyes, but bright blue ones. His bright blue eyes said so much, but yet so little. They were young, unlike his appearance. They were so alive and energetic, yet contaminated with the sadness of his losses and the anger at his enemies. Tasanee marvelled at those intriguing eyes, and in doing so lost her focus.

The crystal-white metal struck her straight to the head, taking her by surprise. She let out a small reflex shout, while everything went black.

Spanish (According to Google Translate)

A salvo mi pequeño amigo - Be safe my little friend

Vas a tener que moverse de Bree, lo siento - You're going to have to move Bree, I'm sorry

Estás piernas arn't dañado, eso es bueno - You're legs arn't harmed, that's good

Vamos, yo sé que puedes hacerlo. Inclinarse para mí - Come on, i know you can do it. Lean in to me

Entender? - Understand?

Mierda, eso fue increíble! Que fuerte, que las llamas! - Shit, that was incredible! You tough, you flames!

Por favor! Mi amigo, que está herido! y su hermana. Por favor, vengan conmigo! Rápido! - Please! My friend, she's injured! and her sister. Please come with me! Quickly!

Lo siento – Sorry

eres pequeño – you're tiny

No me dejes aquí! – Don't leave me here!

Eso no es cierto! – That's not true!

Te lo prometo – I promise