7Boot-Up (Part 2 of 4)
Trash? Taken care of. Check! Daily system / weekly crime reports? Check, check, check… Polish ~? Check ~.
"Hah! Now nothing can stand in the way of me enjoying my Sunday with my friends!"
Current time: 6:46am. Estimated time until Brand and Tuck Carbunkle wake up: 4 hours.
…Yeah, on Sundays, Brad would only get out of bed around 10-11am. He needed his ' beauty sleep ' and after seeing Brad without it just once she had agreed to never wake him up early ever again.
As for who ' she ' is… why, it's none other than Jenny Wakeman of course, aka XJ-9, aka the Robotic Global Response Unit and world record holder in destroyed meteorites in a year. The trophy should be somewhere under a pile of clothes she once bought but never found any use for, yet.
That trophy fit right in.
Jenny flopped down on her made bed, surveying her sparkling room… everything was spiffy clean, she almost felt proud. But that left her with the exact same problem as before… there was nothing to DO for the next few hours! She groaned, but would remind herself of the horror she'd have to witness if she dragged those boys out this early…
"Well… at least I don't have just two friends!"
Happily, her hand transformed into a handheld phone, which she blankly stared at for a while. Who, at this hour, would be willing to talk for the next 4 hours? Someone who wouldn't be too busy and wouldn't mind…
…well that was an easy one.
Arctic Circle.
"Gah! Hands off fiends! I just buffed this out yesterday!" Yelled a pompous voice, a metallic tone scraping along at the same time. Orange beams lit up in the sky, with the occasional explosion giving the arctic's few lifeforms a scare.
Drones, shaped like disks gathered in large numbers on a single spot, their dim orange colors sticking out of the pure, unforgiving ice of the arctic.
Making them easy targets for the Silver Shell, whom blew up yet another of the disk shaped drones. But what was the second robot hero of Tremorton doing in the arctic circle? Why, it's an easy and quite weird answer: His creator and 'pilot' (currently sweating and fighting off a panic attack) Sheldon Oswald Lee may or may not have hijacked the frequency at why XJ-9 receives her 'orders'.
Originally his thought was to take off some of Jenny's workload so she could have more time to spend… with him! But as usual, Sheldon's plans backfired on him. Now instead of Jenny being busy with superheroics, it was the Silver Shell who was busy 24/7. Which in turn meant Sheldon never had time for Jenny…
But not all of it was so bad. With recent upgrades to the Silver Shell (thanks in part to some scavenging of whatever mechanoid menace he faced), Sheldon found out that… he was pretty good at this! Really good.
As for his suit, oh the upgrades were far more than just life improving: Heated seating, a far more comfy chair, seatbelts, cupholder, a digital-holographic interface and best of all:
CHOOM !
Weapon improvements! It was no "Repulsor Beam" which his idol Iron Man fancied, but a concentrated blast of molten steel did the trick. It was just real messy in the end, which is why Sheldon only used it as a last resort in populated areas. Out here however… "AT-AT-AT! And where do you think YOU'RE going?!" The Silver Shell shouted triumphantly, grabbing one of the orange flying disks as it was in midst of darting around. Firing another round of molten metal, it was quick to melt in his hand.
This was way too easy! Holding the smoldering piece of quickly cooling metal, Sheldon's eyes sparkled from within the mech.
"Oooooh, I can't wait to crack you open back at home!"
And then maybe he could finally figure out where these things were coming from. It was the third group in the last two months which he had intercepted, but nothing ever seemed to come of it. Sheldon simply figured they were scouting drones, but for who…? That remained a mystery.
Their firepower was miniscule, perhaps to safe whatever energy it had for surveillance. Making it all the more easy for Sheldon in the end.
So much so, that within the Silver Shell, he had his feet up on the console and was mainly pressing his index finger on the targets as they came up.
The excitement had turned into a slow burn at this point, and the drones were now reduced to a handful in number. It'd be over quite soon, and then-
* BWAA-BWAAA- BABABABA-BAAA- *
Reaching for his phone in order to halt the loud noise of the intro to each "Space Wars" movie, Sheldon held the phone up to his ear without even looking at who called him.
Oh yeah, another luxury build into the Shell: Worldwide net connection.
"Uh- hello?"
"Sheldon! Boy, am I glad you're up!"
"J-J-J-J-"
JENNY?! Immediately the heat of the seat rushed up to his face, an audible 'gulp' travelled down his throat instantaneously.
…
"…Am I calling at a bad time?" Jenny questioned, worried that she might have to face boredom again. "Uh, no, no, not at all! Youuu know I'm always here if you need me, haha! I was just uh, preoccupied. A bit." A moment of silence, in which an explosion went off in Sheldon's background.
"Videogame." He explained, which earned a sigh from Jenny. But not one that carried animosity, but more so an adoring one. "You know what we told you about staying up so late playing videogames Shel'."
"Y-yeah, you- I mean, you guys did…"
Unbeknownst to Jenny, Brad, Tuck and the school body, Sheldon's recent string of falling asleep in class or being tired in general was not the new 'mysterious' videogame he supposedly waited all of his life for to play, it was, as previously mentioned, the increase in his Silver Shell activity. Something he chose to still keep from Jenny.
Painfully so.
"B-but I'm almost done anyway. So, uh… what'd you call for? Got some news for me?"
"I was hoping you did." Jenny muttered, extending her arm to turn on the TV she recently acquired for her room. "Because I'm boooored Shel'! There's been no alerts in weeks! And if there is, someone else already took care of it!"
The female robot bemoaned, switching through the Channels as fast as technology would allow her to, skimming the news as quickly as she could.
"You mean like those weird events that happened all across the globe? Like uuh…. those weird blue lightning storms above China? And I think some old creep was reported to have lived underneath Norrisville's highschool…? A-and everything that's been going down in New York and Amity Park…"
With everything Sheldon recounted to her, Jenny would miraculously land on each channel reporting on exactly that.
Ghosts, reports of dragon sightings, aliens(obviously) and whatever else was happening on the wacky planet Earth. Jenny sighed and muted the TV, as the current news outlet reported of yet another mission the world's leading hero, Ben 10K, was conducting out in space.
Speaking of, she's only met the guy once, when he and his Revonnahgander partner had made a stop at her house to have something looked at by Dr. Wakeman.
But obviously, that was all the way back when Jenny's mom still sheltered her from the outside world, so she had no way of talking to either of the two adult heroes.
…
Whatever, Jenny thought. That Ben guy was too cocky for her liking. Probably too old too. And wasn't he married…?
Sheldon suddenly snapped her out of it then.
"…but that doesn't really beat the rumors around Spider-Man, you know?"
"The rumors? What rumors?" She hissed into the phone, feeling like he was talking about her. She had only been partially listening to him.
"…Jenny did you just tune me out while I was talking?"
"…oh." A faint blue blush appeared on Jenny's porcelain white cheeks. "Sorry…"
She then said in a cutesy tone, knowing Sheldon wouldn't get mad at her if she poured it on a little extra. And she was right.
"I was talking about the Oscorp scandal. It was really big in the news, remember?"
"Oh, yeah! I remember. Gee, if I was there, I'd probably have taken down that crazed maniac before you could change my oil!"
"I could?"
"SHELDON!" Jenny yelped, with her entire face now lighting up in blue. "N-NO YOU CAN'T!"
"Oh-" Jenny grumbled in frustration, leaning her back against one of her many fluffy pillows. Muttering something about it 'being alright' and 'her fault', Sheldon took it as a sign to continue with their previous conversation.
"Anyway… the rumor, right? Well, some fellow geeks are theorizing that someone within Oscorp might put a bounty on Spider-Man's head now that-"
"How much?"
…
Sheldon carefully sat one of the destroyed drones down on the pile with the others, putting all of his attention to the call at hand.
"Sorry?"
"I said 'how much'."
That was… odd. Sheldon never pit Jenny to be greedy, or out for bounties. But then he, again, had painfully come to the conclusion that he had been wrong about many things when it came to his crush…
Those stung.
"Uhmm… well, it's just a rumor anyhow, so I can't -heh- really t-tell you… but… can I ask why you're asking?"
The reply was swift.
"So that I have a good reason to bring that spider creep in. Earn some pocket money on the side while bringing that criminal to justice."
"Huh?" Sheldon was honestly confused at this point. For him, Spider-Man was a superhero / vigilante as all the others were, prowling out there in all the corners of the world.
Jenny could apparently sense his surprise and would promptly explain herself with the same, cold tone that made Sheldon shiver more than the arctic did.
"If you read New York's Daily Bugle, you'd know. Spider-Man is a masked freak running around, TRYING to be a hero!
And now he's a cold-blooded killer! You saw it on the news how he destroyed Osborne's glider to fly directly into those bombs! That's not dumb luck Sheldon, that was planned!
And not to mention how he drags civilians into his problems on a constant. Remember when the whole world was convinced by some alien freak that this…"
She lost her words for a moment, but Sheldon patiently waited for her to continue onwards.
"Harker guy or whatever, was Spider-Man! Only to be proven wrong, obviously.
Not to mention how he keeps appearing in the papers. Have you seen the pictures?! He's a glory hound, corrupt at that."
…Sheldon whistled, slumping into his seat.
That was… that was a lot to take in. "You think so?" "I know so. When have my instincts ever been wrong?" More times than he'd like to mention, Sheldon thought. But he was far from having a perfect record either. Though, he had to say, with his new inventions, upgrading and fighting as the Silver Shell, he kept a relative distance from Jenny these days and wasn't following her around like a lost puppy anymore.
He cringed then and there. Sheesh… he should start reflecting more, huh?
"W-well, I'm sure if anyone can get him it's you….. and maybe the Silver Shell."
"Silver Shell? Oh please, as if. That pompous silver blowout hasn't shown his face in weeks."
"Yeah, since he's picking up your slack…" Sheldon muttered under his breath.
"Sorry, what?"
"I said maybe he's just looking for cracks. In… the Earth. Or whatever you robot heroes do on patrol."
"Ooookay…?"
"Yeah, uh… -yaaaawn- boy I'm tired! Talk to you later Jenny!"
"Wait, wh-" beep.
"She. Is. Going. To be soooo upset…" Sheldon muttered to himself, overlooking the Silver Shell's brilliantly built control console.
Why'd he just hang up on Jenny like that…?
You are tired moron. His inner voice told him.
Tired of her ignoring your efforts. It followed up. Sheldon sighed, picking up one of the destroyed drones. He'll ignore that tiny voice for now. He couldn't ever tell Jenny.
It was too late, he crossed a point of no return long ago. If she were ever to find out… Sheldon felt a stinging sensation near his butt. The last time she felt betrayed by him, he had to blow most of his pocket money on ointment for his sizzling hind…
(…)
"Well, that was weird." Jenny said to herself, staring at the ceiling. Sheldon hung up on her. Her, of all people. An uneasy feeling spread itself within her circuitry the more she thought about it. And the more she thought about it, the more it annoyed her.
So, she did what any responsible teenager did in that situation: She grabbed a pillow and screamed all of her frustrations into it.
WHY did Sheldon hang up on her?!
WHY did it sound like he supported that annoying red and blue menace?!
WHY did both of those facts bother her THAT much?
Sheldon's nothing but an annoying, creepy stalker. ..whoooo she was still friends with, Jenny realized. She lifted the pillow just slightly.
Good friends, in fact. She hadn't felt annoyed by Sheldon for some time. "UNTIL NOW!" Back to the pillow she went. "Iiii hope I'm not interrupting, XJ-9." Jenny slowly peeked out from behind her pillow, only to see her creator (and by that technicality mother) Nora Wakeman standing in her doorway. "Uh… no mom. Whatsup? An emergency?! Boy oh boy I'm ready!"
"Well its rather-" "-difficult?! No problem, just point me at the creep and I'll deck him!" "Dear, it's not-" "-that?! OH! A criminal gang then?" "N-no, but if I may-" "Are we going to New York to hunt Spider-Man?!" Jenny asked, excitement being not only present in her voice but also mannerism, as she summoned as many weapons from her arsenal as possible.
Nora Wakeman sighed, leaning her head against her hand. Ooooo why did I have to base her on a teenager…? "No, XJ-9." Jenny landed back on the ground and retracted her weapons and flight gear. "oh… sorry mom." "I do have to say, you are right on one aspect. You and I shall be going to New York-" Jenny's face immediately lit up. "-to NOT hunt Spider-Man. I will be officially conducting business with what is left of Oscorp. I've already made the calls XJ-9, you will be attending Midtown High during our stay. Can't have a week of school missing from your academic records~."
Jenny looked at her mom, a little dumbfounded. Unless it was a robotics convention, she's never been taken along… "But… why do I have to come along?"
"Have you not been watching the news XJ-9?" "….." "I'll take that as a no." "Take it as a yes-" Jenny said rather quickly, and rather annoyed to have been asked this twice. It also reminded her of Sheldon.
"I see… well, then I assume you know that New York is, plainly said, a hodgepodge for all manners of creatures, mutants and villainy alike. Now, usually I'd rather leave those matters in the hands of… 'local' heroes, but nowadays you cannot be too safe. Which is why I am officially (and for this week alone) extending your parameters to New York."
"GAAAASP thanks mom!" "UNDER ONE CONDITION." "eep-!" Jenny covered her mouth, turning a light shade of blue at the startled noise she had released. "Noooo hunting vigilantes young lady."
"But mooooom…! What if I run into him?"
"But nothing XJ-9! You are meant to protect the people. Your main directives are NOT to be an aggressor! And even if this Spider-Man individual has become a dubious character due to the incident, as long as he does not outwardly attack anyone or break the law, you are to leave him alone!"
There was a silence between mother and daughter, the first keeping her expression steadfast.
Eventually, Jenny gave in with a groan. "Yes mom…" She raised her right hand while putting her left onto her chest plate. "I promise to do all the things you said…" Unbeknownst to her mother however, a panel on her back would open up, and an additional hand extended out from within- crossing its fingers.
"Atta girl. We will be leaving early tonight, you do have a new school to get to dear! On time, might I add."
. . .
Jenny hadn't even considered that bit of information. Much less processed.
"Wait-" "See you at 8 dear! Don't forget to pack your polishing kit~!"
Oh jobs. A new school? Even for a week, but- a new school? New teens, new people, new ways to either become popular or make a total idiot of herself! Or maybe she could even meet a cute guy there….
"Ooooo~, someone going abroad?"
"AAAAAA!"
"AAAAAAH!" crash.
"BRAD! DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT!"
"SORRY JENNY! I'M OKAY THO! TUCK BROKE MY FALL!"
(…)
Someday I'll break that stupid ladder in half, Jenny thought, bitterly remembering the scare Brad had given her- he had just APPEARED in her window on that stupid ladder of his.
But that wasn't really the only reason for her sour mood. She managed to say goodbye to everyone, aside from Sheldon. He was asleep in bed when she knocked on his window the other day- Sunday. Brad promising to dish one out from Jenny to the ol' shel'head did lift her spirit a bit…
How dare he ignore her?
"Hmph…" Was Sheldon upset about the phone call? But she was clearly right, even the Daily Bugle agreed! "Something the matter dear?" "No mom, I'm fine." Jenny answered, crossing her arms as she turned away towards the window, watching the view outside passing by. "If you say so."
Closing her eyes, the teenage robot was glad that her mom respected her personal space for once… "How much longer until we're there?" "Ooooooh… I'd guess about half an hour. I'll still be in time to check us into the hotel." "Mhm… wait, you?" "Don't you want to 'bust some criminals' before school begins?"
Jenny let out a gasp, and went to hug her creator- who did her best to keep the steering wheel straight. "OOOOTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU-!" And before Nora Wakeman could manage to form a reply, the teenage heroine had already left through the passenger side window. "Teenagers…" She muttered, steering the car correctly onto the road. But at the very least, she was glad to have given Jenny an assignment to leave before they arrived at the hotel…
Anything so that they wouldn't lay eyes on her yet. It was a risky move to bring her own daughter along, but in her own words- you can't be too safe these days.
With a bad feeling dwelling up in the doctors' gut, she opened up the glove box to drop the files and blueprints she had taken along with her onto the seat XJ-9 had occupied earlier.
"Emily Osborn…." She thought, a solemn expression washing over her face as the big apple came into view. "I hope you are aware of what you are doing my dearest…"
Nora Wakeman side-eyed the files. Stacks of blueprints slightly poked out of the folder, labelled:
Project Spiderslayer.
(…)
"HELLOOOOOOO NEW YORK!" Jenny shouted atop the clouds, flying corkscrews in the air as she approached the Empire State Building first.
She was really here! She was really really here!
The hotspot of super- heroes and heroines alike! And a cesspool of (awesome) villains.
Beats fighting the Cluster and whatever odd nutjob Tremorton spit at her.
"And with one hour left to go before my first day at Midtown! All the makings of a good day… now…" Jenny's eyes shifted into a pair of binoculars as she crouched down on the edge of the famous skyscraper.
"Where are you, you webbed freak…"
(…)
Alright, she was bored. Jenny groaned, looking through her binocular eyes at the now upside-down world, since she was lying on her back. It's been… what, 30 minutes? She better get to class soon…
The teenage robot had to admit, she was feeling a tad nervous about visiting a new school- even if it was for just a week. So many possibilities to embarrass herself… but then again- she is a superhero, and New York was more or less receptive of those in their city.
Hey yeah, maybe she'll automatically be one of the cool kids in class the second she joins! It'd definitely be an improvement from her social standing back in Tremorton!
Before Jenny could head off however, her keen hearing picked up the squeal of tires, gunshots and police sirens. In the opposite direction of Midtown…
…
"I got enough time left…
And enough time to show this city what a real hero looks like!" Activating both thrusters in her feet and pigtails, Jenny zoomed down from the Empire State with a resounding 'WOOOOSH!', causing several tourists to turn their heads in the hopes of potentially spotting who they thought to be Iron Man.
"There's a classic scene…" Jenny thought, straightening herself to slow down and get a better view on the situation at hand. Seems as though the two criminals she registered in the vehicle had shaken the police officers for the moment.
Not on her watch.
THUMP.
"THE HECK WAS THAT?!" One of the masked men shouted. "I THOUGHT YA SAID THE WEBFREAK AIN'T AROUND AT THIS HOUR!" "AN' HE SHOULDN'T BE!"
"I'll show you 'freak'!" Jenny thought with a smirk, crouched atop the speeding vehicle. Her landing had left a dent on the roof- a dent which she now aimed her fist at, ready to punch through to tear it out. Already with a one-liner quip in mind to.
But before any of that happened, the car suddenly swerved around, causing Jenny to lose her balance. "THAT FREAKS A BLASTED SPIDER YA MORON, HE'LL STICK TO THE ROOF ANYWAY! GAAAH, JUST CONCENTRATE ON DRIVING YA IDIOT, I'LL-!" As the masked man leaned out of the window with his gun, his facial expression turned from 'rather angry' to 'rather confused.' "Where'd he go?!"
Jenny in that very moment, activated her feet thruster again to stabilize herself and avoid causing a wreck- or becoming one. Her feet thrusters blasted the pavement on full blast, leaving behind scorch marks- she barely avoided the oncoming traffic with that.
"That's it-!" Throwing subtlety out the window, Jenny raced overhead the morning traffic of New York and towards the speeding vehicle that was weaving it's way through.
The two men shouted in confusion as the blue and white robot landed in their pathway, smashing it's fist into the hood of the car. The metal folded in like paper under Jenny's strength.
"Eeeeew…" Was her only reaction in response to what occurred: She had gotten some of the motor oil on her hand after her fist had gone through the engine.
No matter, she can wash it off at school and give it a quick once ov-
"OH JOBS, I'M LATE FOR SCHOOL!" ZWOOOOSH! She left the scene as quickly as she had entered it, leaving behind a white trail behind her. Passerby's and onlookers fumbled for their phones, only able to record a blur of blue…
(…)
"DANGIT!" Jenny thought. "Couldn't even stick around to gloat…!
…Oh well." She calmed herself as Midtown High finally came into view. Looks like she made it on time after all.
"It's only going to get better from here!"
/
AUTHORS NOTES
The long awaited Chapter 2 is here, and with it, so is "Upside Down"!
Strap in folks, this is just the first of what I plan to be a long series of crossovers, with my next fic "The B-Team" entering production soon. See this as aaaaa sort of prelude, on Jenny's and Spidey's side, as well as what else might lurk in the shadows of the big apple.
Obviously some stuff was teased by Sheldon, but allow me to elaborate on some.
The Tony Stark / Iron Man spoken of, is the one from the "Armored Adventures" series. In this timeline of events, he's a young adult and since his identity is known to the world, obviously this takes place after the series had ended. Some stuff will be moved around here and there to fit the settings of this Universe. After all, there's a Ben 10K here! More on him later.
Other than that, y'all got Randy Cunningham, the American Dragon, Danny Phantom and the Monkie Kid revealed too.
With that out of the way, Part 3 of "Boot Up" will finally kick off the main meat of the crossover, starting where Part 1 left us off. With Jenny's determination, she'll obviously find the red and blue menace she so wishes to take on. Peter will have his work cut out for him, as dubious experiments are undertaken in the shadows of Oscorp at the same time.
Part 3 of Boot-Up: "Poison Pursuit" is coming soon!