Chapter Text
Uzi and V carefully landed. The upper floor. If there was going to be any real information about the place, it was here. The upper area was much different than the endless corridors of the first floor. It still had that rundown and claustrophobic aesthetic, but at least there were signs. While the main floor had generators, monitor rooms, freezers, labs, and some more maintenance related sections, the upper section was almost entirely cubicles and offices.
“Well, time to get searching, toaster.” V patted Uzi on the back.
“Huh!?-” Uzi was pushed a bit forward. “You’re helping!”
“I am,” V scoffed, “I’m making sure we don’t get killed by whatever is in here.”
Uzi wanted to get upset, but the psycho robot had a point.
“They do not get along at all.” Abraham sipped his mug of coolant, watching. He had barred his door to prevent another one of his creations from conspiring against him. Not like they could, anyways. He felt disappointed in how easily the girls took out the beastly monstrosity. Yet again, that thing was starting to get out of hand. It didn’t need any more corpses to add to itself. A blur made its way across the screen. He had almost forgotten about that one. It was one of the first few experiments he conducted with these creatures. Hopefully it could outlast the previous would-be assassin.
Following the signs, the girls made their way to find the offices of the higher ups.
[Dr. Victor Abraham, PhD. Chemistry]
V bashed open the door with a loud “BANG” followed by the crunching of paper. The floor was littered with different notes and sketches. Uzi took one step inside, feeling a glass frame shatter beneath her feet. Picking up a now broken picture frame, it displayed a semi-ruined photo of a man in a familiar tan coat. Looks like this is how Abraham got his attire. The bodies must have been cleared out long ago, but neither Uzi or V cared at the moment.
Uzi checked if the computer could even turn on. Luckily, it did.
“Password Pin? Really?” Uzi smirked and mimicked cracking her knuckles. Then she reached for her backpack and started breaking through the security protocols. Uzi considered it child’s play, Hell, the pin wasn’t even that complicated! It was 1897-
Wait.
Uzi took out the piece of paper she found from that freezer room.
“ELEVATE 1’M S8RRY I’M SO SORRY1 PL8ASE.”
“SCREEN HE1P ME M8 DAY N9T 7.”
1818 and 1897?
Uzi swore this whole experience was a horror game. Missing friend, confusing timeline, creepy corpse creatures, mad doctor archetype, abandoned laboratory in the middle of a dangerous storm. Even some jumpscares and a chase segment which the two beat with brute force than the traditional way of running.
But all that doesn’t matter now, Uzi had access to the files- And a majority of them were corrupted. Great. Just great. Well, what do the functioning files say?
“Worker Drone Production, Repair and Testing Facility. West District. A shipment of resources meant for the East District had somehow made its way here.” Uzi mumbled out loud. “Blah blah blah… Legal stuff… Huh.”
V raised a digital eyebrow.
“This talks about… Some sort of lab…” Uzi prodded deeper. “Cabin Fever?”
Now V got interested.
“And notes from… Abraham. The worker Abraham.” Uzi remembered the crazed worker’s serial designation from their first meeting. “Villain origin story: Just a normal worker… Sudden shockwave and every human died… Murder Drones attacked… And they… Hunted them...”
V shrugged. “You toasters are our main food source, how is that a surprise?-”
“The workers hunted the disassembly drones.”
…
…
…
“I’m sorry… What?”
[Playing: first_catch_22123059]
The monitor displayed a first person view on top of a building, staring down. At what? A murder drone. Quite a large one at that. These psychopathic creatures were said to be larger than workers, donning dark uniforms with burning gold lights with metal wings and acid tail. But this one was large and seemingly smoking. It’s hideous maw hidden behind a gasmask, which was not a feature people talked about. Maybe it was different? No. They were all the same. All monsters.
Uzi sped up the footage as it was mostly waiting for… Something.
And that something came with a bear trap in the deep snow clamping on the disassembler’s leg. The worker pulled out a crossbow and fired a bolt into the stuck hunter. Two workers got out of their hiding spots, one equipped with a makeshift rifle attached to a car battery and the other had a wire net. The murder drone blew off more smoke, viciously ripping its leg from the trap. The worker with the wire net tossed it at the hulking beast. It easily grabbed the net and threw it to the side, only for the worker with the rifle to fire at it. Several darts connected to a cable struck the murder drone. The rifle worker flipped a switch and the murder drone collapsed with a sudden surge of electricity flowing through him. The other worker tossed the net over the stunned prey with the crossbow worker taking aim and firing more bolts to subdue the opponent and lock the net in place. The worker raised their crossbow and bashed the smoking disassembler on the head.
The video ended with the worker tying up and dragging the unconscious disassembler.
“That… That wasn’t the same one in the ic-”
Uzi’s voice of concern was immediately cut short by the sound of something fast moving by. It had been too quiet and the two were starting to make progress, so of course something was coming. What else would happen?
“And that’s our cue, toaster!” V snatched the short worker drone and pulled her away. Uzi quickly nabbed whatever hard drives she could get her hands on. She wasn’t the first worker to rebel against the disassembly drones…
But why is Abraham the only one here? Uzi could put the pieces together that the thing she dismantled with her purple powers was the built up remains, but how did that all start?
V was honestly still processing what she saw in the freezer. L… Wasn’t the best. At least V wasn’t fond of her. Never have been. But… L did try to clear some things. But that was years ago. She never did see her since, everyone just assumed she went out in the sun. Same with the rest…
Of…
Oh…
…
Oh.
Oh no.
At the chance of freedom with the gate open, it flew out immediately with one goal in mind: Kill that worker. While its goal was as plain as the other ghastly characters that consume the corpses of the building, this one could still see what it was. What it was meant to be.
And it was angry.
Uzi and V went on high alert. The visions of Eldritch J returned to Uzi’s mind. While the worker abomination wasn’t the same, it was similar enough for her to spark red flags and connections. There were cores in the building. Multiple. Foxtrot was one… But it didn’t have a core. It was missing. So many questions. Not enough answers and not enough-
A cabinet was launched at the pair. V tackled Uzi for them to get low and narrowly dodge out of the way. The sound of hissing echoed around them. Metallic blades fluttered and went from one shadow to the other, leaving behind a trace of a red glow before it disappeared. If her powers could work on the other one, it can work on this one.
Uzi raised her hand, the purple symbol flickering and manifesting.
Then a hooked sickle pierced through Uzi’s hand.
“FRICK!-”
The hook proceeded to yank and drag Uzi into the darkness. V swiftly followed, muttering as many swears as she could under her breath. Of course. Of course if L was here then the cynic and pirate would be as well. While the dislike between L and V was more one-sided, the scorn between F and V was very mutual. C wasn’t as horrid as other disassembly drones, still having a sense of care for their squad. V readied a rocket and fired away.
That voice… That wasn’t from one of its captors… No, that was a new voi-
A rocket struck it right in the face. “Okay,” it thought, “ow.”
During its daze, Uzi managed to rip the hook out and make a run for it. V continued giving some suppressive fire to keep whatever it was at bay. She didn’t feel like getting all up close to another one of these franken-toasters. On her way back, Uzi was shoveling whatever she could into her backpack. Paper files, small hard drives, some random boxes of stuff, whatever. Behind her was more fluttering and shuffling with the occasional flash of a red light. A rattle of chain and whistling of steel signaled V to leap forward and tackle Uzi out of the way. This wasn’t the Foxtrot. For one, it used an unfamiliar hook. Two, it fluttered . Foxtrot made scuttling sounds, like it was on all fours. Then it would pounce-
“More freaking monsters!” Uzi groaned as the thing flew overhead straight past them. She looked at her hand, noticing that it healed back to normal. Once against, she raised her hand to stop it in midair. That worked for the bullet at Doll’s place. With a purple flash, the new creature illuminated in the shadows with the violet light. It was still shrouded in darkness, but the symbol around it shined on the rusted metal and casing. It had a somewhat dronelike structure, not as large as the Foxtrot. In the few seconds of silence, Uzi and V had a chance to breathe. Of course, that wasn’t the right option.
V managed to block the hook, sinking it into the floor. It was sudden enough to break Uzi’s concentration for a fraction of a second, and the cord started pulling. V slashed at the cord. It snapped back with a loud crack and hiss of pain from its owner. That got rid of its main attack.
Uzi and V quickly snuck behind a cubicle, keeping low and quiet.
Uzi scoured her backpack. “We have to kill it!”
“Oh Hell no! We’re leaving!” V growled. “We’re leaving!”
“Keep it down!” Uzi hushed in a stern tone. “It’ll just chase us like the other one.”
V glared, but the thought of two scrap heads wanting to carve out her organs like she did with workers wasn’t pleasant. “Well what plan do you have, toaster?”
Uzi pulled out a can of spare oil. “If it was a murder drone, then it should be attracted to oil. You have missiles and I have my sigil-”
“Stop using that thing.”
Uzi glared back, with a hint of interest in why V was so against the ability. Sure, it was unnatural, but it could incapacitate a disassembler. It proved useful against the centipede thing on the middle floor. It worked on the beast currently with them.
“Doll was able to do so much stuff with it, so bite me. I’m using it.”
V’s complaint was interrupted once again by the beast firing a missile near them. The girls took cover, and despite all better judgment, went with the half-baked plan.
No hook. That’s fine. It still had other measures. These weren’t its captors. It could try to… No. They were enemies. They were hostile. Even if it wasn’t itself, it still had a job. A purpose it gave itself. These were threats. The time for talk has far passed… Even if it couldn't talk. The beast could feel the hook regenerate again, this time with a neon yellow glow.