Stars in Xanthu

War was cruel.

No one would argue that unless you were a slimy squaj that profited off of it. Even then, you'd probably still think of it as cruel, even if you were to turn a blind eye to the screaming victims of it. Or maybe if you were truly ruthless.

Something that Jenni now firmly believed the Roboticans were.

The thing about having robot invaders was that one day everyone was going about their usual business and then the next, the technology that they now relied on were turned into weapons or made useless. They took out everything: communication systems, transportation, including vehicles with weapons. Like that tank, over there.

It fired missiles at her, which she dodged with ease.

That was way too obvious of an attack, though, what they were really aiming for was –

Whoosh!

Projectiles came up from behind her, and this time she barely just sidestepped them.

See, she was a speedster. What that meant was that her superpower was running. You can't do that very well when there's debris all over the floor. At some point, you were sure to –

"Oof!" She tripped.

Absolutely perfect. The invaders were smart, of course. They didn't have to communicate verbally; due to the network, they were all connected to.

Lucky for her, she didn't need to communicate either.

"Take that you robot-head!" Star Boy activated his powers, adding mass by a factor of 20 to the clunking Roboticon drone, squashing it down to a thin sheet.

The powers took a bit of time to control, she was told but Thom has had a lot of practice with it, battling the robots. Ironically, the non-sentience of these drones meant that he was allowed to flex his powers a lot more than he might usually do.

XS herself had to expand the use of her speed excessively, too. She was running low in energy.

Seeing that Thom started to make fine work of the tank, she took a deep breath.

Whoosh!

In one breath out, she kicked at and dismantled the other three remaining Robotican drones.

They were done with the battle.

For now.

xxx

With the fall of Xanth Prime, they were left to fend for themselves.

It was a decision that they had made, but it didn't mean that it was easy.

Food and water were more difficult to acquire, though Jenni just about managed it, by speeding past any of the sentries that were scouring the fallen cities. Once she acquired the next few days worth of rations, she sped back to the base she and Thom had made, a spot in the city, that was very much hidden away. It wasn't anything close to a home but having found sheets to lay down, they at least had a place to rest. Rest was definitely something she needed, soon.

"Sorry, Jen."

She sits up from her pile of sheets, looking around. That was certainly Thom's voice but she had never heard it so…down.

He was sat up too, back against the wall of their hideout. Shadows were obscuring his face from any expression she may have been able to read from it.

"What are you sorry for?" she asked.

There's a beat of silence that worried her. If he was going to follow up with a joke (a bad one, of course) then he would have done so by now.

"I'm sorry that you're still here. You should have been evacuated, too." There's a silent 'with Nura' there that Jenni knows that he doesn't want to say aloud.

"Don't know if we've fought too many bots today but you know I chose to stay," Jenni reminded him. "What was I supposed to do? Let yourself get killed by the Roboticans? No way."

The second pause is heavier. She didn't like saying that, knowing full well that was probably what would have happened if he was alone.

"Of course not, it's just." It seemed like he was struggling to find the right words. "It's my planet, you know? My home. You shouldn't have to fight this war. Xanthu isn't even apart of the United Planets anymore."

"Thom," she said sharply, enough to make him sit up straighter. She raises her fist and holds it in his direction. Though she can't clearly see his face, she can tell that he is looking at her. "This ring, right here? This is the ring that you're still wearing right now. And as long as you and I are wearing it, even if the Legion is officially disbanded, we're still Legionnaires. We protect our people, especially our own, and that includes protecting your home planet and its people."

Again, he didn't reply right away, and she wondered if he was convinced. She wouldn't have said that she and Thom were even the closest of friends before the invasion of Xanthu but she at least thought that their bond of being Legionnaires would get through to him.

Eventually, she heard a quiet, "Long live the Legion."

She smiled. Good.

"Exactly, Star Boy. Long live the Legion."

After that, she insisted that she took over lookout duty for tonight. Thom argued against it before she shushed him, saying that they would attract the Roboticans if they spoke too loudly at this time of night. Eventually, she won the argument (of course) and he settled down into his own pile of sheets. It wasn't long until she heard the sound of deep breathing, indicating that he had fallen asleep.

Now sitting in the spot that Thom had occupied, she felt the tiredness envelope her again. She stayed awake, though. In a few hours, Thom would be recharged and back to his usual self, usually. Then they could resume their battle, alongside all their usual banter.

Of course, not before she got some shut-eye of her own.

Thom, after all, was only one of the stars in Xanthu and Jenni was prepared to blaze through the dangers of war right alongside him.

A/N: Tadaa! Week 6 of the Twelve Shots of Summer Hexa-Code Kernel is here and the prompt is "Link()". And uhhhh I love Reboot! Legion a lot. So here you get friendship fic with Jenni and Thom because dang they were fighting a war for how long? Also, Thom was separated from Nura for such a long time but look at that strength of mind he has…(Jo could never, in regards to Tinya, hahahaha, [sorry Jo]). I kinda wanted to try and work having Jazmin in here somehow, since she returned only to find Xanthu at war, later on, but I think it wouldn't have flowed well with the rest of the fic. Anyway, The Legion deserves more fic and I can only try and deliver.

Thanks for reading!