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“Uzi?”
N stuck his head outside, gazing around the snow covered area. It had been a while since he had last seen the female Worker Drone, having gone out earlier to do… something.
N wasn’t sure what it was that Uzi had gone off to do on her own, though he was sure she would come back. She had too. She told him that she would be back and he totally respected her decision to go out on her own.
But… what was taking her so long?
The night was ending and the sun was going to come up soon. She should have been back by now, right? Granted she didn’t say how long she was going to be away, but she said she would come back. So why wasn’t she back? Should he go look for her?
N shook his head, looking around the area again for any sign of his friend.
It felt so odd being friends with someone he was sent to kill, yet exciting at the same time. It felt like he was breaking some unforetold rule or stepping into a new world that was right there in front of him but needed that extra push to go in or seeing a new perspective he was blind to before. It was such a rush yet oddly comforting because, well, he never really had friends before.
He… never really had a true friend before…
Biting his inner cheek, N debated if he should go out and look for Uzi. She said she was going out for a bit, but how long was ‘a bit’ for? A bit usually meant a small amount of time, and that was a long time ago. Uzi was usually good at coming back, but today she was taking much longer than usual to come back.
Maybe he was just worrying too much. Uzi was a capable Worker Drone. She was able to take him on in battle and she managed to kill J. She was a tough bot, she’d come back soon…
N gazed up at the sky. It was still dark out, with plenty of stars dotting the black night sky.
It… wouldn’t hurt to go check up on her, right? She had been gone longer than a bit, and she would understand that he was only checking on her because he was just concerned for her well-being. Friends have to look out for friends!
Spreading his wings, N took off to the sky. He circled the spire, trying to spy any sight of Uzi making her way back nearby. When he couldn’t see her anywhere, he took off in the direction he last saw her go.
As he flew through the air, N’s thoughts were in a jumble with questions swarming in his mind. Where had Uzi gone? Why did she say she would be gone for a bit and fail to show up? Did something happen? Was she hurt? Did she get lost? How far had she gone away from the spire? Why would she go out this far? Did she get bored of him and leave?
That last question made N falter slightly. Where had that come from? Uzi couldn’t have gotten bored of him. They were friends! … Right?
A small frown came upon N’s face. He had only known Uzi for a few days, which was much shorter than his time with J and V, yet he really enjoyed spending time with the female Worker Drone. Sure she was a bit edgy and a bit snappy, but she was still a good person once he got to know her. Plus, she treated him better than J or V ever did and she didn’t think he was useless… probably.
He never really asked Uzi what her view of him was. He just assumed that she saw him in a good light… she had to see him in a good light right? She didn’t see him as bad, could she?
N bit his lower lip, trying to reassure himself that nothing was wrong as he flew. Yet, no matter how hard he tried pushing the thought away, it kept jumping to the front of his mind, distracting him from the other thoughts and focus. It distracted him so much, he failed to realize he was heading straight for a building until he crashed right into one of the windows.
“Oowwwww…” N groaned, picking himself up and rubbed his tender head. It was lucky that he was used to hard hits to the head, or otherwise he would be in a lot more pain. Shaking loose bits of glass from his hair, N glanced around the room he was in. It seemed to look like an office, with desks, chairs, computers, walls sectioning off areas, and a large whiteboard strung up on the wall. He spotted a pair of frozen skeletons off to the side, one sitting in front of a computer somehow looking bored, and the other standing at full height with their arms outstretched and their mouth wide open.
N concluded that they must be best friends.
Standing up and tucking his wings away, N took a moment to explore the room. The place was pretty empty, save for the items and two skeletons. The whiteboard didn’t have much on it either, so N took a small moment to doodle a small smiley flower in one corner along with the message ‘Don’t forget to smile today! Smiles make everything better!’ above it.
Satisfied with his word, N continued exploring, leaving the office and entering the hallway. N had never actually taken the time to explore any place before. Being so focused on hunting Worker Drones in the past, he never took the time to look around and not overlook.
There were a lot of things he was beginning to realize he overlooked now that he thought about it. A lot of things seemed so new to him now that he wasn’t solely focused on trying to kill Worker Drones and being useful. Maybe Uzi could show him around and tell him about the different sights he could visit—
“ FUCK YOU! ” N jumped, taken off guard by a voice and jumped again when he heard something crashing mixed with angry screams. The sounds seemed to be coming from the next room, so N followed them.
The closer he moved towards the sound, the more angrier it sounded. Yet, it also sounded very… familiar.
“ FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU ALL TO HELL! ” N stopped, suddenly realizing why the voice sounded so familiar.
It was Uzi.
Smiling brightly, N ran towards a partially opened door, ready to burst in and hug his friend.
“ FUCK YOU DAD! ” N’s hand froze at the door. Despite his joy in finding his friend, N suddenly felt unease bursting in. Uzi sounded… really angry.
Peeking in, N saw her standing in a wrecked room, holding a long pipe in her hands and standing before a Worker Drone’s body. The head was missing as were most of its limbs, with only improved items taped and haphazardly thrown on, and was being held up by a chair and duct tape. N couldn’t tell what was on Uzi’s face since her back was turned to him, but judging by the way her shoulders shook and the deep growls she was letting out, it was clear she was angry.
But, why? She seemed fine when she left, and he even managed to get a small chuckle out of her. Why was she so angry right now? Was it because of the dead Worker Drone? Did they have a personal history? Were they old lovers? They didn’t seem to be her type.
N watched as Uzi lifted the pipe up, bringing it down with a heavy force on the Worker Drone’s body with a scream of rage. “FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU TO HELL AND BACK OR WHEREVER ROBOT SOULS GO! I HOPE IT ISN’T A GOOD PLACE!” She screamed, hitting the body multiple times over and over again.
Each hit made a small dent in the broken body, adding more and more damage that was already there and making it worse. This only seemed to fuel Uzi’s rage as her swings became faster and more deadly, hitting it in places that would leave a bot in serious damage if they were alive. One nasty blow hit the remaining arm, breaking it clean off the shoulder and dropping lifeless on the ground. Uzi paid no heed to it, reeling her arms back and letting out a shrill steam as she swung with intense force at the makeshift head, hitting it dead on with so much force that it ripped off the shoulders and was sent flying across the room.
N’s jaw dropped, impressed at the display of strength. Who knew Worker Drones were so strong? Come to think of it, there were a lot of things N didn’t know about Worker Drones. Maybe he and Uzi can share a few things with each other when they get back?
Uzi stood there, panting heavily. She didn’t move or say anything for a long while. N was about to make his presence known, but stopped when Uzi dropped the pipe, falling to her knees and bowing her head. It was soft at first, but N could pick up soft hitches of air coming from Uzi. Robots didn’t need to breathe, but they could still mimic and display human emotions. And N didn’t need to be a genius to guess that Uzi was crying.
N felt his heart twist, which was ironic since he was a robot and didn’t need one, but the painful twist of pity and empathy curled around his insides. It hurt seeing Uzi so sad. He didn’t understand what was going on, but he could tell she was upset.
Well, that wouldn’t do. N wasn’t going to sit by and let his friend be sad on his watch.
Pushing the door open, N reached out and touched Uzi’s shoulder. “Hey, Uzi, are you—”
Uzi let out a small scream, jumping to her feet with the pipe in her hands again, whipping around with it raised and ready to strike.
N let out a shrill scream, jumping back and raising his hand high in the air. “I SURRENDER! PLEASE DON’T HURT ME!”
The fury in Uzi’s eyes quickly vanished, widening in surprise when she saw who it was. “Holy hell, N! Don’t sneak up on me like that! I almost whacked your head off!”
“Heh. S-sorry.” N apologized, relaxing his arms as Uzi lowered her weapon. “Didn’t mean to scare you. Honest.”
Uzi glared at him a bit before sighing and shaking her head. “N, what are you doing here? I told you I was going to be out for a bit.”
“Oh! You did! You totally did.” N nodded his head. “But, uh, I’m not sure if we have the same definition of a bit. But it’s totally cool if it is! But uh…” N hesitated. Was this a bad time? Uzi didn’t seem to be happy to see him. “You’ve been gone most of the night. The sun is almost up.”
“What?!” Uzi’s eyes widened, dropping the pipe and headed towards one of the windows. N followed after her, watching as she stuck her head out the broken glass and gaze up at the sky. It was already starting to change color and the stars were disappearing.
“Whoa. I… I didn’t even…” Uzi slowly turned around to look at N. “Sorry N. I guess I lost track.”
“Ah it’s no problem!” N smiled, waving away Uzi’s apology. “We all make small mistakes sometimes.”
“Heh.” Uzi cracked a small grin on her face, shaking her head and stuffing her hands into her pockets. “I guess. I swear I was only out here looking for parts and… I guess I got…” Uzi’s voice trailed off, losing her smile as her eyes shifted to the side. “… distracted.”
N followed her line of sight, finding his gaze back on the Worker Drone body Uzi was beating the life out of moments ago. “… uh huh… can I ask why—”
“No.” The answer came out with a harsh bite, using a tone that told N to drop the matter quickly. He didn’t need to press more anyway. He saw and heard a good deal of it to know.
They stood there silently for a moment before Uzi sighed out a groan. “Uggghhh. So seeing as the sun’s almost up and how far we are from base, it seems like we’re going to be stuck here for some time till night comes.”
“Seems like it.” N agreed, rocking on his heels as he gazed around the room. There were too many windows in here, so N would need to find a different spot to rest for the day. “I hope V is doing alright on her own.”
“I don’t.” Uzi scoffed, moving past N who frowned at her remark.
He knew Uzi and V didn’t like each other. He heard them trading harsh words and swears with each other many times whenever they were in the same vicinity, though Uzi hadn’t killed V yet so that was a plus! Still, he wished that they could get along. It would make things a whole lot easier.
“Sooooo Uzi. Why did you travel out this far?” N asked. “You’ve been leaving the base a lot these past few days. Are you looking for something?”
“Just some supplies for a new gun.” Uzi shrugged, kicking at the ground. “Lost my last sick as hell railgun back at…” She paused for a moment, growing deeply before shaking her head. “I’m just looking for some parts to make a better version of it. A bigger. Badder. Dealer!” Uzi’s face twisted to a deal grin, looking to be on the border line of insanity. N flinched back, but luck for him Uzi calmed down. “And less charging time than the last one. Thirty minutes to recharge between each shot is a waste. I’m not sure where that flaw came from.”
“Maybe if the gun wasn’t so powerful it could recharge faster?” N suggested.
“Bite me. I like my guns to have a deadly kick.” Uzi grabbed her bag, one of the few items she brought back from one of trips of scavenging, and shrugged it onto her back. She looked briefly at the broken Worker Drone body, gazing at it with something that N couldn’t place before turning her head away from it. “Come on. Let’s go see if there’s a suitable place you can lay low till the sun goes down.”
“Sure!” N beamed, following after Uzi as they headed deeper into the building.
When N awoke, he found himself alone.
The lack of familiar team members nearby was somewhat startling to the Disassembly Drone. Having been around J and V so much all these years, N had grown comfortable sleeping with his teammates close by. So it was startling to see neither of them around, though he quickly remembered that J was dead now and V made it very hard for Uzi to get any sleep in the same room.
It suddenly dawned on N why he felt so alone right now. Uzi wasn’t in the room.
Dropping from the ceiling, N looked around, trying to spot his friend before spying the door was slightly ajar. “Uzi?”
N headed towards the door, peeking his head out into the hallway and grew worried when he couldn’t see her at either end. Biting his lower lip to keep his worry from surfacing, N headed off down the less cluttered path.
He first checked the room where he found her the first time. It was no surprise that he didn’t find her, but judging by the way the Worker Drone’s body that she was beating on earlier was a shambled mess on the floor, it was safe to say that she had been here again and practiced more deadly swings on it. But, where was she now?
“Uzi?” N called out, walking down the hall for any sign of the female Worker Drone. “Uzi!”
N searched the whole building, looking into rooms, pots, and even backtracked to the room they had hunkered down for night to come. His worry was skyrocketing, beginning to think that Uzi had abandoned him… when he finally found her on the roof.
Immense relief flooded N’s systems when he spotted Uzi sitting on broken machinery, staring up at the deep red sky with a blank face. The somber look on her face killed N’s voice, who wanted to call out to her but stopped himself. Something was amiss. Something that didn’t quite feel right. Whether she saw him or not, she made no sound as N slowly came over and sat down next to her.
Since the sun was low enough, N didn’t have to worry about his systems overheating and enjoyed the colors painted on the clouds. Silence surrounded them, with only the howls of the wind keeping the pair company as they sat there and viewed what little color there was in their surroundings.
“I don’t understand.” Uzi quietly spoke after a while. “I thought I did everything right. I though everything I did was… He was my dad. Why did he…”
N turned his gaze away from the colors to look at Uzi in surprise. It had been a few days since she spoke anything about her dad. Most of the time she deflected or shot down any talk about her dad or her life in the colony, not wanting to speak about her old life in any sort of way.
Robots couldn’t cry, but Uzi looked like she was on the verge of having a breakdown. Slowly, N held out his arms. Uzi briefly looked at him, then his arm, and after a moment of hesitation, scooted over and leaned into the offered embrace, sighing quietly as N wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close.
The first time N had hugged her, Uzi had thought he was going to attack her. It took some explaining, and a good distance from her punches, for her to understand that he was only hugging her. It shocked N to know that Uzi had never been hugged before, not even from her own dad, but despite offering them, Uzi turned them all down, stating that she wasn’t a big hugger and preferred not to be touched most of the time.
However, right now N could tell she needed a shoulder to lean on for support.
“He was my dad.” Uzi mumbled into his shoulder, pulling N close with her fingers digging into his coat. “I knew. I knew we didn’t get along all the time but… why?”
N didn’t say anything. What could he even say? He couldn’t exactly say ‘I’m sure he didn’t mean it’ or ‘Maybe the door was glitching’ and ‘I’m sure he really does love you’ to Uzi and expect her to appreciate it. Not if he wanted to wind up like the broken Worker body downstairs.
He couldn’t lie to her. He didn’t know much about Uzi’s dad, but he had seen from himself how the coward just left his own daughter to die without doing anything. And what bits he could get from some of Uzi’s ranting, the man would choose doors over his own daughter . N knew that he had killed a bunch of Worker Drones over the years, but even he knew that was one of the lowest things anyone could do.
Instead, the best he could do for Uzi was to hold her close to him. Her own kind might not have given her any care or support, but N would.
After all, he was her friend. And friends stick together through thick and thin.