Resolution

A MLAATR-Inspired Fanfic

By Shvique

All Characters (except for the characters of Senator Wizner and Thurman Cutler) are created by Rob Renzetti and are property of Nickelodeon/Viacom, Inc. No copyright infringement is intended or to be inferred, nor is any profit implied from the following. This is merely a work of fan-fiction inspired by characters & situations referred to above, for purely entertainment purposes only, by a fan with too much imagination & too much free time…

Author's note: This story is based upon characters from the series "My Life as a Teenage Robot," created by Rob Renzetti, property of Nickelodeon/Viacom, Inc. Unlike the original series, there's not a whole lot of action in this story, and there sure as hell aren't a lot of laughs; but what can be found herein are the kind of intense, emotionally-charged interactions that tend to be my forte when it comes to fiction-writing. The inspiration for this story came from the ending of the episode "Agent 00-Sheldon," which I found very disturbing, for various reasons (which will become clear as you read the story), plus the fact that the implications and aftermath of that episode were never adequately resolved before the series was cancelled. The following story therefore is my way of "resolving" it or "fixing things," at least in my own mind. It is not "set in stone," so far as strictly following series canon is concerned; rather, think of it as a kind of "Alternate Universe" type of scenario, what I think could have happened, might have happened (and arguably should have happened) between these characters afterwards. This story was also inspired in part by the short story "Death of a Friendship" (recommended, btw), by teamchaotixheroes, which may also be found here.

As indicated, the emphasis in this story is not on humor. My belief is that, since I could never do comedy even half as well as the original creators could, there's no point in my trying. Instead, I felt that a better approach would be for me to play to my strengths and instead focus on the 'shadows' beneath the 'light' that normally pervades the original series. So with that preparation and that thought in mind, please read on and…enjoy(? If that's the right word…) Fasten your seat-belts folks; it's gonna be a bumpy ride… Comments/feedback welcome, so long as you keep 'em clean and reasonably constructive. (Cuss-words, insults or personally abusive comments get a quick bye-bye straight to the delete-bin…)

The time: Immediately after the events at the conclusion of "Agent 00-Sheldon"

Chapter 1—Fallen Idol

Sheldon Oswald Lee stood alone in his bathroom, as naked as the day he was born, trying to examine his bottom in the bathroom mirror. It was an awkward position to be in, as he twisted around, trying to examine the sore skin in that region.

His bottom was clearly sore & reddened, but so far as he could tell, the skin hadn't been broken. As painful as it was, it appeared to be no more serious than a bad sunburn (which he was used to, being as fair-complected as he was.)

He reached into the medicine-cabinet for the nearly-empty can of Solarcaine and sprayed the last of the medication onto his sore buttocks. He sighed in relief as the spray cooled the burning pain.

When he was satisfied that the last of the medicine was applied & the stinging abated, he took a deep breath…and let it out slowly.

Well… he thought bitterly. This is the end…definitely the end…

It was not, however, the can of painkilling medication spray he was thinking about.

He was thinking of something else, something much more important to him personally, that—he now realized—had come to an end.

Global Response Unit XJ-9—also known as "Jenny" to her friends—was the teenage robot protector of Earth, based in the small town of Tremorton, USA. She rocketed through the skies now, speeding her way homeward after a very trying day in particular.

Her life was nothing if not eventful. On practically a daily basis, she had to deal with everything from armies of hostile alien invasions from outer space, to giant monsters rampaging the town. It never ceased to amaze her how an otherwise small, quiet, sleepy-looking little town always managed to attract so many crises on so regular a basis…

But she had no time to ponder such matters today. On this day, she was angry. No, not merely angry. She was furious!

How could he?! She thought, silently fuming. How could he?! All this time…! All this time, he's been lying to me…deceiving me…keeping secrets from me and spying on me! And he claims to be a friend! Some friend!

So involved was she in her own private, furious thoughts, that she almost overflew her own home. She stopped short in her flight-path, then bent her head down, diving straight for her house, pulling up just at the last second before hitting the front step, to land lightly upon her feet. She held out a finger to the key-slot of the front door, her finger unfolding to reveal a built-in house-key inside. She inserted the key into the lock, opened the door and stepped inside, slamming the door loudly behind her.

"Did you get there in time to—" Jenny's creator, Dr. Wakeman inquired.

"Yes!" Jenny shouted.

"What's wrong?" Dr. Wakeman asked "What happened? Did something go wrong?"

"No! Nothing happened!" Jenny snapped.

"Well, something happened! Now tell me what—"

"I don't want to talk about it!" Jenny exclaimed, as she stormed up the stairs to her bedroom.

"XJ-9—" Dr. Wakeman pressed, elongating the "nine", as she always did.

"MOTHER! I said, I don't want to talk about it!" Jenny fumed, slamming her bedroom door completely off its hinges…and taking out a good part of the wall in the process.

Dr. Wakeman merely sighed to herself. Teenagers! She thought. Why ever did I have to build a teenaged robot?!

Jenny's 'sisters'—the remaining units of the XJ series, 1 through 8 arrived home a short while later, and when they arrived, they filled Dr. Wakeman in on the details of what had taken place at the secret Government agency compound. Her face turned as white as her hair, and her mouth dropped open in shock as they told their story.

When at last they had finished, Dr. Wakeman turned and headed up the stairs to Jenny's bedroom.

I need to have a talk with that young lady! She thought as she climbed.

After giving the sprayed-on Solarcaine sufficient time to dry, Sheldon began to dress himself, first pulling on his underwear, then slipping into his comfortable everyday wear: jeans, T-shirt and maroon hoodie. Trying his best to look at the bright side, he consoled himself with the fact that, at least now he could go back to wearing his old comfortable clothes & didn't have to wear that creepy black suit and tie anymore… But it was a futile effort, he knew; there was no 'bright side' this time. Not now. Not anymore.

And not ever. He knew that now, too.

As he sat on the bed, lacing his sneakers, he thought very carefully, and he knew what he had to do. It would be difficult, it would even be painful. But he had to do it. He knew that, before he could go forward, he had to let go of the past. He had no choice. The ties were cut, and there would be no mending them this time, no going back.

His shoes now firmly laced, he walked over to his closet, opened it, and looked sadly at the little shrine he'd dedicated to the 'Love of his Life,' Jenny Wakeman. Pictures, photos, newspaper-clippings, even a small plastic 'action-figure' in her likeness (now reprogrammed by himself, to make it safe & no longer able to be remote-controlled for malicious purposes by the likes of Krakus.)

He took one final look at the contents of the little shrine for just a moment longer…then very carefully began to remove the items, one by one. Every picture, photo, newspaper clipping about Jenny were all taken down, one by one, and carefully, deliberately torn into pieces, thereafter dropped into the trashcan. Tears filled Sheldon's eyes as he went about his sorrowful task. He told himself he wouldn't cry, but he couldn't help himself. With each item removed and destroyed, Sheldon silently repeated to himself, like a mantra: It's over… It's over… This time, it's really over… Occasionally, he'd pause and regard a photo or news-clipping a moment or two longer, a particularly poignant token of his devotion to his object of desire, recalling the occasion when he'd added it to his collection, a brief recollection of a happier time. The memory would last only a moment…before he proceeded to tear up and dispose of the item in the trashcan along with the rest.

The last item to be removed was the little plastic "Action Jenny" figure, from its top shelf of the shrine (a place of honor, he once thought.) His hands trembled as he carefully removed the figure and held it tenderly. As he held it, looking at it now, he recalled how happy he was to be among the first in line to buy the figure when it first arrived on the market, the joy he felt at being among the lucky first few to get Jenny's autographed photo, when she'd made a personal appearance at the store that day. Though she didn't have time to talk to him for very long (but then she never did), he still remembered the thrill and delight he felt, just to have her picture, her autograph, and to just be near her for even a few seconds. He looked at the pretty, painted-on smiling face of the figure, looking so sweet and adorable, just as Jenny herself seemed to be to him at one time, back in the beginning, when he'd first laid eyes on her…

…Before he had come to know her true nature, what she was really like underneath. Before he had come to realize that the deceptive-looking sweetness on the surface was all just a lie, a cruel joke meant to deceive.

The little action-figure, like all the photos and other memorabilia in his collection devoted to Jenny, now served only as a harsh reminder to him of just how foolish he'd been, and how woefully he'd allowed himself to be deceived by appearances.

He held the figure in his hands for only a moment longer, before dropping it into the trash with the rest of the discarded items.

With the last item now removed and disposed of, he closed the closet door, walked over to his desk and booted up his computer. Once the computer was up and running, Sheldon began going through the files on the hard-drive, as well as all the thumb drives and zip-drives that he'd retrieved from storage. Going through the various folders carefully, Sheldon began systematically deleting the files for all the plans, diagrams and design-specifications for the various gadgets, gizmos, inventions and attachments that he had in the planning stages for weeks now, all intended as gifts to present to Jenny someday. Gifts that, he now realized, would never be accepted or appreciated by her, just as she never appreciated anything he had done for her. With a heavy heart, he selected each file, one by one, and entered the command to "permanently delete." It was a painful task; all the work that he'd done on them purely out of love, now all going to waste.

When the last file was deleted from the hard-drive and backups, Sheldon powered down his computer, slowly walked over to his bed, sat down…

And had a good, long cry.

It had to be done, he reminded himself. As painful, as heartbreaking as it was, he simply had to delete the files. They no longer had any purpose, so there was no point in keeping them. Like the little "Jenny shrine," they were only painful reminders of what he now realized could never be…

Because he now knew, without question…

That Jenny Wakeman, the robot-girl Love of his Life whom he adored…

Hated him.

Jenny lay on her bed, her hands folded behind her head, staring at the ceiling as though she intended to burn holes in it with her lasers.

A timid knock sounded at the bedroom door. "XJ-9?" Dr. Wakeman's voice spoke from the other side. Her voice was soft, but firm. And serious. "XJ-9? May I come in…? I would like to have a word with you, young lady!"

Jenny remained silent.

Dr. Wakeman opened the door slowly, cautiously, and peered inside. She saw her robotic daughter, sprawled on the bed, her pretty face now hardened into a fierce scowl. For a brief moment, Dr. Wakeman marveled at her own ingenuity, in designing a robot-face capable of a full range of human expression. Then she recalled why she was there.

"XJ-9?" she repeated.

"Mother, please!" Jenny replied with quiet intensity. "I just want to be left alone. I don't want to talk about it!"

Ordinarily, Jenny appreciated her creator's concerns about her, but there were other times when she simply wished to be left alone. This was one of those times.

"Now you listen to me, young lady!" Dr. Wakeman began, her patience beginning to run out. "I have some questions I want to ask you about just what happened today, and I expect some answers! Is that clear?"

Jenny turned her face away from her creator, and stared at the wall.

"Now I know something happened out there! I've heard parts of it from your sisters—"

"Then I suppose they told you everything, is that it? Who told you? Was it XJ-6? It was, wasn't it! That tattletale!"

"It wasn't XJ-6—"

"Then who?! Who's the blabbermouth? XJ-5?"

"Nobody did any 'tattling,' as you put it. They didn't have to. Now, I don't know exactly what happened or what exactly you did out there, but the fact is that right now, your sisters are all scared to death of you!"

Jenny was stunned into silence by the words. She turned to face her mom directly. "They're what?" she asked, incredulously. "Scared?! Of me?!" She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"From what little I got out of them, they all thought you blew a fuse or something! They thought you'd gone nuts! They'd never seen you get so angry! Never! Right now, they're afraid to even come near you!"

Jenny continued to stare at her creator. She still couldn't believe it. "Even…" she began. "Even…XJ-8…?" Jenny couldn't imagine XJ-8 being afraid of anyone or anything.

"Even XJ-8," Dr. Wakeman replied. She paused a moment. "Now, I know something happened out at that compound today, and you're obviously upset about it." She paused again, waiting for her daughter to respond. "I've heard XJs 1 through 8 tell their version of it… Now I would like to hear your side of it…" She waited, again hoping for a response of some kind from her daughter; but Jenny merely turned away and stared at the ceiling again, the scowl returning to her face.

"Is this about Sheldon?" Dr. Wakeman asked quietly. "Did he do something to you? Did you get angry at him?" She paused; then, "Or did you do something to—"

"MOTHER!" Jenny barked, cutting her off. "I said, I don't want to talk about it!" With that, she turned away to face the wall.

Dr. Wakeman sighed. She knew from experience that it was useless trying to talk to XJ-9 when she was in this mood; but she also knew that Sheldon was somehow involved, so she had a pretty good guess as to the reason for her daughter's mood. She decided it might be better to simply give her robotic daughter time to cool her circuits, calm down and talk about the events that had taken place that day at a later time, when she was ready.

With that, she turned and walked to the door. "Well," she said softly. "All right. I'll leave you alone for now. But this isn't over, young lady! We are going to have this out! When you're ready to discuss this like a grown-up, then we'll talk about it, and I expect some answers. Do I make myself clear?"

Grudgingly, Jenny replied, "Yes, Mother…!"

With that, Dr. Wakeman left, carefully closing the shattered remnants of the bedroom door behind her.

She just doesn't understand how I feel! Jenny thought. There's no way she could ever understand! How could she? Has she ever been betrayed by anyone? By a so-called 'friend'? Someone I was stupid enough to think I could trust? She just doesn't understand…!

After a while, Sheldon's sobs began to subside, and he wiped tears away from his reddened, swollen eyes, as he pondered what it all meant, and the uncomfortable conclusions he was now forced to face.

It wasn't just the heartache he felt, of being rejected—once again—by Jenny. He was used to that; he'd been dealing with it right from the beginning, from when he'd first met her. So that was nothing new.

And it wasn't simply the fact that Jenny didn't like him, either; he was used to that by now, too. He knew Jenny didn't like him, he knew she certainly had no interest in dating him—she'd made that very clear a long time ago! Still, in the back of his mind, he'd always nursed a hope—a very small, very persistent, very stubborn hope—that, if she were at least willing to be friends with him, then maybe someday…someday…he'd be able to win Jenny over, to prove himself to her, prove that he was worthy of her, and win her heart.

He'd continued in his belief and his hope for the longest time. In the face of all obstacles, all the setbacks, and all the endless rejections and humiliations, he still nursed his private hope of one day winning the love of his heart's desire. He'd made a fool of himself, time and time again, in his pursuit of Jenny, making himself the laughingstock of Tremorton High.

Sure, they all thought he was 'strange' or 'weird' for being so strongly attracted to Jenny, the Robot Girl, but who cared what they thought? Naturally, they would think he was strange, just as they all believed he was only interested in her as a piece of technology. That just showed how little they knew. How could they possibly understand? They, who thought of Jenny as a "freak;" how could they possibly understand that, what they saw as a "freak," he saw as someone indescribably beautiful? How could they possibly know that the love he felt for Jenny transcended her physical form and appearance? True, her robotic nature—along with the fact that she'd defended him against bullies—was the first thing that made him take notice of her.

But over time, that sentiment gradually evolved into something else, something quite different, a sentiment much higher and more refined in nature. Over time, it was the girl inside the steel and circuitry that became the source of fascination to him; the girl beneath the steel exterior that he came to love and admire and care about. How could the other kids at school possibly know or understand of such things? And so yes, naturally they would laugh at him; just like they laughed at and mocked everything and everyone they didn't understand.

And it wasn't even anything like a sexual thing either, despite all the crude, tasteless jokes that he'd also endured from the other students. No, it was something much higher, more elevated; a more deeply-held, spiritual kind of love, a deep, deep affection and the absolute highest regard that Sheldon believed he could ever feel for any girl. Jenny had, at that point in time, seemed to him to represent all of his highest ideals in a girl, and at such a highly refined level, that the idea of anything sexual never even entered into the equation. She was strong, beautiful, appealing, and—at least in the beginning—she was kind, as in the way she had defended him against the bullies in shop-class.

How could those fools at school ever even comprehend such things, let alone understand them? He thought.

So let them laugh, he thought. Let them laugh their fool heads off. They're only displaying their own ignorance. And up until now, Sheldon didn't care, either. Up until now, the laughter and mockery of the other students didn't bother him in the slightest. All that mattered was the hope, the tiniest chance, that he could one day prove his worth to Jenny and win her love. That hope—however small it may be—was enough for him, enough to endure all the laughter and all the mockery.

But now that hope was gone. Forever. He knew that now. He knew that all his efforts had been in vain. He had tried everything to win Jenny's love…but it made no difference. It was hopeless…

Because he now knew something that he didn't before: Jenny didn't merely dislike him. She wasn't merely disinterested in him or even indifferent. No…Jenny hated him. Really, truly hated him.

It was the only explanation; the only one that made sense. After all, how else could he explain it? How else could he explain the outrageous, inexcusable cruelty of her betrayal of him? How could she do such a terrible thing to him? After all the things he'd done for her, all the kindness and concern he'd shown her the entire time they'd known one another, and now even after he'd fought in her defense at the agency-compound; after all that, for her to now turn against him and attack him the way she had! It was outrageous!

And it was bad enough that she'd turned against him; what made it worse—so much worse and so unspeakably cruel—was that she'd used her powers against him! That was the part that Sheldon found most unforgivable of all. He was completely and utterly defenseless against her, and yet she'd attacked him without mercy! How could she do such a thing? He wondered.

It was so obvious now, Sheldon wondered why he hadn't seen it earlier. He should have seen it from the beginning, but he didn't. Or rather, he wouldn't allow himself to see it. Now, he had no choice; the truth was so obvious that he could no longer blind himself to it. Ohhhhhhhhh! He thought in abject self-pity and disgust with himself. I feel like such a fool! Such an idiot!

And as he thought about it now, he recalled all the various ways that Jenny had been cruel to him in the past, which should have alerted him to her true feelings for him. The time when he'd stolen her blueprints, for example, and Jenny had used her superior strength and powers to pulverize him for it. She didn't have to do that. True, she had good reason to be angry at him for what he'd done, there was no denying that. Still, there was no excuse for her to be so deliberately cruel to him, either. After all, he knew that what he did was wrong, he admitted it and immediately apologized for it. So why did she have to be so vindictive about it? And to do it with such relish! He recalled with a shudder of horror.

Or there was that other time, when she'd abandoned him in outer space for 80 years, then, when he'd finally returned to Earth as an old man, she reversed him in age to that of a baby, and then abandoned him again, this time turning him over to those space-pirates! Without even so much as a thought or a care! How could she do such a thing? He wondered again. Has she no feelings at all?

That one incident alone, he now realized, should have tipped him off as to her true nature. After all, how else could she do something so heartless unless she really truly hated him?

He was so angry at her at the time for what she'd done that he swore he'd never forgive her. And at the time, he meant it, from the very bottom of his heart. And he told her so! Yet how had she reacted? After he had told her how hurt and angry he was, how did she react? She didn't care. She didn't show the slightest sign of remorse or regret. Instead, she simply smiled and thought he was joking. Joking! She'd ruined his life, cared so little about it, then acted as though it was all a big joke!

Heartless! He thought. Absolutely heartless!

Yet as angry as Sheldon was on that occasion, as ardently as he swore he could never forgive Jenny for what she'd done, in time he discovered that he was eventually willing and able to forgive her after all, and give her one more chance. He was a fool to do so, he now realized, but he forgave her just the same.

But not now. Not this time. Never again. This was the last straw. After this, there could be no forgiveness, no second chances. Not now. Not ever. This act of outrageous, unspeakably cruel betrayal was completely beyond the pale, as far as he was concerned; totally unforgivable.

So now there could be no doubt: Jenny hated him, of that he was now sure. But what he still found utterly baffling about it all was why?! Why did she hate him so? What had he ever done to her to make her hate him so much? Sure, he'd made stupid mistakes and had done stupid stuff; but he never did anything out of malice, spite or mean-spiritedness or ill intent of any kind. He was motivated purely by love, that's all. It was a misguided love, he now realized, but it was still love, just the same. Yet Jenny often treated him far more cruelly than she did her worst enemies. Even the hated Crust Cousins seldom—if ever—warranted such treatment from Jenny. Yet she frequently inflicted such treatment upon him almost as a matter of course.

So in hindsight, Sheldon realized that he should have realized a long time ago that Jenny hated him. There were so many indications, so many clues that should have awakened him to that fact, which he simply chose to ignore.

And yet, the most painful clue of all, the one that should have made him realize how little Jenny truly thought of him, was also the smallest, and most subtle; an incident that didn't even involve anything physical, yet it hurt him almost more deeply than if it had. To the casual observer, it might've seemed a minor incident. And yet, it hurt him so deeply at the time that, in many ways, he never really got over it.

It had happened when he and Dr. Wakeman had hot-wired Queen Vexus' spaceship to go to Cluster Prime to rescue Jenny from what they believed to be certain doom. They had worked so hard together, and had both risked their lives to go through a multi-lateral Cluster vortex to get there, facing terrible dangers along the way, never knowing for sure just what awaited them on the other side.

And then…when they finally arrived on Cluster Prime, and Sheldon had fallen to his knees and begged—begged!—Jenny to return to earth with them…

She barely even acknowledged him. She didn't even smile. She obviously wasn't happy to see him. She never even spoke a word to him. She merely stared at him, bewildered, as though he were some strange sort of crawling insect that appeared out of the ground near her feet.

Oh, Jenny was happy to see her mom, of course, and she was happy to see her friends Brad & Tuck, when they arrived moments later, from who-knew-where. She greeted all three with a big, friendly hug. Hugs all around, for everyone. Everyone was happy…

Everyone, that is, except Sheldon.

Sheldon was excluded. Sheldon was left out. Sheldon, as usual, was ignored.

He noticed it at the time of course, but said little about it. And deep down inside, it hurt.

And it was the same situation days later, after the threat from the Cluster had passed, and Jenny was presented with the special honorary "Jenn-Tennial" medal for her heroism. Upon receiving the medal, Jenny rejoiced with new hugs all around for her mom, and for Brad and Tuck. But not for Sheldon. Once again, he was excluded; deliberately excluded, it seemed to him. Left out and forgotten.

For days afterward, Sheldon rarely spoke a word to anyone. Everyone, of course, was so happy that the crisis had passed, and so proud of Jenny for all that she'd done to end the crisis, that no one ever noticed Sheldon's silence. Even though he had acted heroically himself during the crisis, in his efforts to help rescue Jenny, no one had ever even acknowledged his efforts. No one had ever bothered to say so much as a 'thank you.'

The incident on Cluster Prime and its aftermath was the first inkling Sheldon had of just how futile, how hopeless it all was, that all his efforts to win Jenny over had been utterly and completely wasted. Her opinion of him hadn't changed in the slightest from the time they'd first met. She still thought of him as nothing more than a geek and a loser, a pest and a nuisance to be ignored and avoided, just like she always had. Just like everyone else.

The incident should have told him something even then, he now realized. It should have prepared him for the inevitable which was to come. But it didn't. Maybe he could have seen it for what it was, but he didn't allow himself to see; he had been willfully blind all along. And he now felt like an utter, complete fool as a result.

Well…it doesn't matter now…he told himself. It's over now…it's all over… Never again would he follow Jenny around, either in or outside of school, chase around after her, try to win her affections or even seek out her friendship any longer. Never again would he waste time and energy presenting her with gifts, or doing favors for her. Never again would he make a fool of himself over her. That, he now knew, was pointless; time and effort utterly wasted... Moreover, as he thought about it more and more, he decided that she simply wasn't worth it…

But it could have been so good, so beautiful and so wonderful! he thought. He could have been the very best friend that Jenny could ever want; if only she had given him a chance. He would have done anything for her, anything at all to make her happy. But all he had to offer, she wouldn't even take. He tried so hard, in every way he could think of, in his own clumsy way, to win her over. He tried everything… But it didn't matter. It changed nothing.

If only she'd met him even half-way, he believed he could—and would—have proven himself to her in time, of that he was sure. But she never even gave him that chance. And his countless acts of kindness were rewarded only with indifference. Or, as now, with outright cruelty.

It could have been so good…he thought. But now…it was too late. It didn't matter anymore. Now…he no longer cared…

So from now on, he vowed, he would respect her wishes and stay far, far away from her, forever; never approaching her, never looking at her, never even speaking to her if he could avoid it. Never again would he give her a reason to call him a 'creepy stalker,' the very words he'd heard her use to describe him. He wouldn't come within a million miles of her if he could avoid her. And he certainly would never give her the opportunity to hurt him again. Never again. No more… It was over…

It was a painful vow for Sheldon to make, but he knew it was the only choice he had, the only thing he had left that he could do for her: to grant her wish to be left alone…which was all she ever wanted from him from the start.

He shuddered at the final thought, and clutched his pillow tightly, fresh tears flowing from his eyes. He continued to weep into the night until at last, he fell sound asleep where he lay, and never heard the phone ringing downstairs.

End Chapter 1