dreamsforthefandom

“Aah! JENNY!!!”
Jenny instantly dropped what she was doing to fly to Tuck’s rescue. Unfortunately, the thing that she dropped happened to be Mrs. Wakeman’s newest monitor.
The scientist shook her head disapprovingly. “XJ-9, those boys are a terrible influence on you. . .“
She sighed, talking to herself. “If only she would forget about those children and concentrate more on fulfilling her primary function - saving the Earth!”

“I’ve got you, Tuck!” Jenny hovered just below where the boy was hanging by his shirt from a chimney. She got a firm grip on her friend as she descended. “How’d you get up there, anyway?”
Tuck blushed. “I was playing with my plane and it landed . . . my plane! I slipped before I could grab it!” He stared in dismay at the roof.

Jenny laughed. “I’ll get it for you.”
She flew back up and plucked the toy off of the roof, returning to Tuck’s side and handing it over. She blinked at his dismayed groan, then spotted the cracked wing.
“Here, let me see it. . .” the robot asked, taking the toy back. She held a finger out, watching as a small nozzle emerged and an intense heat melted the cracked plastic, repairing the damage.
She carefully retracted the welder, noting the storm clouds overhead. It was going to storm soon.
Tuck’s face lit up. “Wow, cool! You’re the best, Jenny!”
Jenny affected a modest stance, hands behind her back and one foot behind the other.
“Aw, gee. . . I’m not THAT great. . .” Tuck bounced happily. “Are you kidding?! I’m friends with a super powerful, crime fighting robot! That’s the coolest!”
Jenny laughed. “Come on, I’m just an ordinary gir!”
She was cut off by a loud cracking sound as a blast of lightning caught the tip of one pigtail. Jenny went rigid and actually jumped into the air before landing on her back, smoldering.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“XJ-9? XJ-9!” A familiar voice, full of urgency commanded Jenny to rouse.
She gave a little groan and sat up, turning to find three worried faces peering at her.
“Jenny!” Brad brightened and hurried over, only to find Mrs. Wakeman in the way. “Don’t touch her!”
Brad blinked in surprise.
He knew that the scientist disapproved of her creation’s friends, but to forbid him to see if Jenny was okay? Mrs. Wakeman was wearing gloves as she held a small chain out. She touched it to Jenny’s chassis, surprising everyone with the resulting spark.
“The XJ-9’s outer chassis was still charged from the earlier electrical overload.” She explained knowingly.

Jenny stared blankly, then swung her legs over the side of the table that she had been laying on to better face her friends. “I think that I’m okay now. . .”
Brad gave her a thumbs up. “Glad to hear it, Jen!”

Jenny beamed at such energy, charmed. She sobered and turned to her “mom.” “Just what happened?”
Mrs. Wakeman smiled, but it was Brad who answered.
“You got hit by lightning! They say you have just as good a chance of winning the lottery . . . hey, maybe you should buy me a ticket!” Jenny smiled. “You know that I’m too young. . .”
Mrs. Wakeman nodded. “Indeed; both physically and mentally.” She smiled as Jenny scowled, taking offense.

Jenny decided to drop it. “I feel like I was struck by lightning . . . how’d that happen?”
She blinked as Brad and Tuck shoved past Mrs. Wakeman to reach her. “You don’t remember?!”

Jenny’s face fell. “No, I don’t. The last thing that I remember is. . .” Her eyes widened in shock. “Is . . . oh no!”
From the panicked look in the robot’s eyes, it didn’t take a genius to figure out what was wrong.
Tuck gasped. “She lost her memory?!!”
Jenny wailed loudly at the thought, and Brad gave his brother a gentle kick. “Ixnay, Tuck!” He smiled at his distraught friend. “It’s okay, Jenny, really! Isn’t it, Mrs. Wakeman?”

Mrs. Wakeman nodded, unconcerned. “It’s only a minor case of amnesia. Your memory banks were damaged by the lightning, but they should reboot. You’ll be good as new in no time!”
She blinked as she found her “daughter” staring at her as if she’d grown a second head, then begun speaking in tongues. “Er . . . what is it, XJ-9?”
Jenny frowned, upset. “Will you stop calling me that?! My name is Jenny! And what are you talking about?!!”

Brad smiled. Now THAT sounded like the Jenny he knew! Well, except for the last part.
“Robot stuff, eh?” He blinked as Jenny stared at him as well.

Mrs. Wakeman seemed to be concerned again. “Oh my . . . could you please tell us your full name, dear?” Jenny blinked. “Jenny Wakeman. Why?”
“Manufacturing date?” Mrs. Wakeman continued.
Jenny pulled away. “Manufacturing . . . what do you think that I am, some kind of robot?!”

Jenny couldn’t understand why Mrs. Wakeman, Brad, and Tuck all scrambled to the far side of the room, looking as if they were in shock.

“Um . . . are you okay?” Jenny blinked, wondering why everyone was staring at her in such horror.
Brad gulped. “Jenny . . . you really don’t remember . . . anything?” He winced as she dropped her gaze, upset.
“Here. . .” Brad snatched Tuck and held him out like a puppy. “What’s his name?” “Hi, Jenny.” Tuck smiled cheerfully.
Jenny blinked and frowned, concentrating. The information existed, she knew, but she just couldn’t access it!
“I don’t know!” She wailed, holding her tightly clenched fists despairingly over her chest plate.
Brad blinked and set Tuck down. “Okay . . . what about me? You wouldn't forget your best bud, right?” He blinked at Jenny's frustrated wail. “Okay . . . maybe you would.”
Jenny shook her head. “It’s no good, my head’s empty!!! MY LIFE IS RUINED!!!” Wailing, the teenage robot ran out of the room.
Brad blinked before turning to a stunned Mrs. Wakeman. “I think she's handling this well.”

Mrs. Wakeman scowled. “Bradley, XJ-9 is malfunctioning.”
”Malfunctioning?!! Jenny's gonna turn evil and take over the world?!” Tuck screamed, diving behind Brad.
Brad stepped away. “Come on Tuck, this is Jenny we’re talking about! She'd never do anything bad.” Mrs. Wakeman nodded.
Brad smirked. "She's probably off crying her little . . . er . . . main motor . . . thingie . . . out somewhere." He chuckled. "I'll go talk to her."

Jenny was sitting in the center of the hallway when Brad nearly tripped over her. He blinked, having expected her to be outside or somewhere . . . further away. "You didn't get far. . ."
"I didn't know where to go. . ." Jenny admitted sadly. "I'm so confused . . . I don't even know why I'm telling you this. . ."
Brad struck a pose. "Hey, you can tell your best buddy anything, Jenny! The Bradster is in the house!"
Jenny brightened. "Really?! That's great! Where is he?" She blinked as Brad sagged, taken aback.

"Er . . . that would be me, Jen." Brad explained in a lower tone. Jenny looked embarrassed. "Oh. . ." She made a mental note of that. Somehow, that made her feel much better. "That must be why I feel like I can tell you things . . ."
Brad shrugged. "Could be. Now how about you go back and let Mrs. W see if she can fix you?"
That got a bad reaction. Jenny got up in a hurry, looking absolutely terrified. "Fix me?!! Brad, that crazy lady thinks I'm a machine! She'll probably try to take me apart!!!"
Brad blinked. "But you are . . . er, nevermind. You see, Jenny . . . I'll agree with the crazy part, but Mrs. Wakeman is your Mom!"
"But she's so . . . old. . ." Jenny couldn't help but make a face at that observation. "And I'm what, fifteen? Aren't I a little young to have a Mom that age?"

Brad shrugged. "Five, actually . . . but that's beside the point. You can't save the world or do any of that cool robot stuff until you get your memory back. Do you really want to hide out in your house for the rest of your life?"
"No. . ." Jenny sounded like a child being scolded. Brad smiled. "You want to come out and play with me'n my brother, right?" Jenny nodded. "I guess so. . ."
Brad beamed, Jenny was still Jenny, despite not having all of her memories. "Well, the only way to do that is to let your Mom fix you up! So how about it, Jen?"
Jenny jerked away, afraid again. "No!" Brad sagged, this was going to be harder than he'd thought. . .

Later on in Mrs. Wakeman's kitchen, Tuck cleared his throat. "Now, Jenny, we're going to unscramble your totally messed up brain by proving that you can't possibly be human. Okay?"
Jenny couldn't help it, Tuck looked so cute and full of himself. She started to giggle.
Tuck raised one eyebrow, not seeing what was so funny. "Yeah . . . now look. The clock says 12:00 noon. Right?"
"That it does." Agreed Jenny.
Tuck smiled. "12:00 is the universal lunchtime, right?" He blinked as right on cue, his stomach rumbled. "Yep! See that? I'm hungry!"
Mrs. Wakeman nodded. "As long as you boys are here, why don't we have our lunch?"
Jenny blinked as Brad strode up to the fridge. "Sounds good to me, Mrs. W. Let's see what you've got here. . ." He blinked, peering inside. "Peanut butter, regular butter, buttermilk . . . prune juice?"
He blinked at the woman. "Wow, that explains a lot. . ."
Mrs. Wakeman frowned and walked over, pulling lunch meats out of a drawer and handing them to Brad. Brad blinked. "Bologna?" He mispronounced the word to sound the way it was spelled.
"Bah Low Nee." Jenny corrected, smiling innocently. Brad blushed, then brightened. "Hey! You corrected me!"

Jenny blinked. "Yeah, so?" Brad grinned triumphantly. "So, that's a robot-like thing to do! Explaining difficult words!"
Jenny frowned. "Am I really friends with this weirdo?" Mrs. Wakeman nodded. "Unfortunately. . ."
Tuck shrugged and ate a piece of meat. "Yay, lunch meat! See, Jenny? Robots don't eat, so you won't want any."
Jenny shrugged. "Big deal, lots of people hate lunch meat!" She blinked as Tuck suddenly gagged and ran out. Brad blinked at the bag. "Robots don't get sick on month old lunch meat, either. . ." He glared accusingly at Mrs. W.
Jenny was clearly uninterested. "Look guys, just because I'm not hungry doesn't mean anything. Can we let it go?"
She turned to go, but Brad caught her by the arm. "Not a chance, Jen."

Later still, Jenny frowned as she stood in the yard. "Why are we here again?"
Brad pointed, smiling. "You're a global defense robot, so naturally, you can fly around the world! Go on, give it a try. Fly to the moon or something!"
Jenny gave a little hop, humoring him. "Whoosh." She said in a low voice.
Tuck ran by, arms wide. "Whoooosh! Pshoooooo! Voooooom!!!"
Jenny pointed, feigning astonishment. "Wow, your brother can fly, Brad! Better than me! He must be a robot!!!"
Brad glared. "That is so not funny, Jen."
Jenny sighed. "Look, I don't fly anymore than you do." Brad smiled. "Sure you do! I've seen you do it a million times! Your pigtails turn into little jets and wings come out of your back and your feet turn into rockets!" He stopped as he saw Jenny staring at him, freaked out. "Well, you do. . ."
He gave her a smack on the back. "Off you go, Astro-Girl! Fly for me!"
Jenny rolled her eyes. "And now he quotes ancient Japanese cartoons.. . Did anyone ever tell you that you're obsessed?"
Brad laughed. "Well hey, Jen! How do you think we met?!"
"Indeed. . ." Mrs. Wakeman came out with a cup of cocoa for the boys. "He vandalized the house and crept into your room via the window." Brad looked away, embarrassed. "Hey, is entering someone's house without permission a crime?"
He blinked as everyone gave him a funny look. "Nevermind. . ."
As the looks continued, he pointed to Tuck. "Well Tuck did it first!" Tuck glared, then blinked as Jenny stepped protectively in front of him. "That's real nice, blame your brother for your problems!"
"Brad's busted!" Tuck sing songed playfully from behind Jenny's leg.
Brad sagged. "Let's move on. . ." He sipped his cocoa, then noticed Jenny watching him.
Mrs. Wakeman noticed as well. "I'm sorry, dear! Were you thirsty, too?" Jenny looked embarrassed. "A little. . ."
She grinned at Brad. "Ha! Robots don't eat or drink! I'm thirsty! In your face!"
She blinked when a can of oil was placed in her hand. Brad smirked. "Haha, in your face."

Jenny stared at the offending can, then threw it to the ground and stormed away.
Mrs. Wakeman gasped in surprise. "XJ- . . . I mean, Jenny? Where are you going?" Jenny never turned back.
"Where teenage girls belong. The mall!" She hurried away before anyone could stop her, never noticing that she was running at a speed superior to that of a human.
Brad winced, then turned as Tuck spoke up. "A super, crime fighting robot . . . who doesn't know that she's a super crime fighting robot . . . is going to the mall? Alone? And not to mention, in a bad mood?"
The three humans shared a disturbed look. This wasn't going to end well.