Chapter Text
(Uzi's POV)
"Ow!" Uzi yelled when she accidentally hit her hand with her hammer. The young worker drone quickly stood up, discarding the hammer on the snow and cradling her throbbing hand to her chest. "Son of a-"
"Language!" N called from somewhere above her. "Use your inside voice."
Uzi lifted her eyes to the top of the landing pod, shooting N an annoyed look when he leaned over to the top of the broken spacecraft. "Bite me. You're not my dad. I can swear if I want to. Have you finished up there yet?"
"Almost." N lifted himself back to the top of the ship and looked down at the open panel below him. "I've just got a few more wires to reconnect. Are you sure this is going to work? The company never said anything about these things working on land."
"You mean the same company that never taught you how to land this thing?"
"Okay, touche." N looked back down at Uzi. "But J never said anything about this thing being able to walk on land."
Uzi knelt against the ground again to continue working on the ship's outer hull.
"What do you think the big orange spider legs are for?" She said, picking her hammer up from the ground and bashing it against one of the broken panels. "Nobody gives a spaceship legs if it wasn't designed to travel across ground as well as the sky. I'm thinking this landing pod is meant to be some sort of ground to air expedition vehicle."
N finished reconnecting the last set of wires on top of the ship and sealed the panel shut before jumping down to Uzi. "We'll need a way to power it. Got any ideas?"
"Not yet." Uzi bashed her hammer against the ship three times before continuing. "But I will. Just give me some time."
N nodded before opening the landing pod's door and stepping inside. "Have you thought about what we'll do once we reach earth?"
"Not really." Uzi replied as she stood up to follow him. "Why do you ask?"
N walked over to the ship's control console and knelt down in front of a small storage unit built into the floor. "Well, it's just...I'm not too sure if travelling to earth is a good idea." He said as he opened the hatch and reached inside.
Uzi groaned and leaned against the doorframe, folding her arms in front of her chest. "This again? If you're gonna start yammering on again about how some humans may not deserve killing, I swear to god I'm going to drop kick you."
N rolled his eyes before retrieving a large metal canister. "It's not just that." He said as he stood back up and turned around. "Look, let's say we go through with your plan. Let's say we manage to make it to earth and somehow kill all humans. What are we going to do after that? Where would we go and how would we survive? I just can't see a future for us on that planet."
"But you can here?" Uzi jabbed her thumb towards the snow falling just outside the spire's entrance. "We've been doing okay so far but eventually our luck on this planet will run out. Between the unpredictable weather and the possibility of other disassembly drones coming for us, there are only so many days we can make it out here. I'm not saying earth won't have its problems but at least there we won't have to worry as much about those two things."
"Well, what about my overheating problem?" Asked N. "Without a steady supply of oil my systems would eventually shut down."
"Hey, you know I would never allow that to happen." Said Uzi. "If your systems were on the brink of shutting down I would give you some of my oil. You know that."
"We can't keep doing that forever." Argued N. "I don't want you tearing into your own skin all the time just to keep me alive."
"It won't be forever. It's just until we find a way to remove that function from your programming. Which by the way would be much easier to do on earth considering there's a lot more oil over there than there is here."
"Only if you know where to find it." N sighed and held up his hand. "Look, all I'm saying is that maybe you should reconsider this whole going to earth plan. We have a good thing going here and throwing it away just so you can settle the score with humanity may not be the smartest move. Especially when there's no guarantee you will find a way to wipe them all out."
Uzi frowned. "Watch me. I'll kill them all with my bare hands if I have to."
N rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Listen just...think it over, alright? I'll be back in a little while."
"Back?" Uzi lifted her brow as N walked past her. "Where are you going?"
N lifted the cylinder-shaped canister up for her to see. "I'm going to scavenge up some oil before the sun comes out."
"Why?" Uzi asked as she followed him across the snowy ground. "You just had some yesterday and you've still got plenty of leftover oil stored away in the ship. How come you already need more?"
"It isn't for me." N said as he stopped at the entrance of the spire and turned around. "It's for V, remember? It's my turn to feed her today."
Uzi snapped her fingers. "Oh shoot that's right. Today is Tuesday isn't it?"
N nodded and lifted the canister up to examine it. Ever since they had captured V, he and Uzi had been taking turns to keep the female disassembly drone alive. They'd worked out a system where they would each take turns feeding her three times every week. Uzi would find some oil and feed V every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday for one week and then N would swap over with her for the next.
This week it was N's turn to feed V. However, there was just one small problem. He hadn't confronted V since he and Uzi got trapped inside that diner last week and after reliving some old memories about his former friend, N wasn't sure if he was ready to face her so soon.
Uzi frowned when she noticed how dim N's optics had become and stepped forwards. "Hey. If you're not ready to see her yet, I can do it." She offered. "I don't mind swapping shifts with you."
N smiled. Ever he'd revealed his past with V to Uzi, his worker drone companion had been a lot more understanding about his complicated relationship with the other murder drone. She still wasn't a huge fan of V but at least now Uzi wasn't constantly trying to convince him to forget about her and move on. In fact on some occasions, the young worker drone had even encouraged him to remain hopeful that V would someday decide to join them.
Though that hope wasn't as strong as it used to be.
"Thanks for the offer Uzi but don't worry." N assured his friend as he stuffed the canister inside his pocket. "I've got this."
Uzi cast N a concerned look. "Are you sure?"
"No problem ever gets better by avoiding it. I may as well just go see her and try to convince her to change."
Uzi looked like she wanted to protest but bit her tongue. She knew better than to try and argue with N. Once her friend had set his mind to something trying to convince him to do the opposite was like trying to stop breathing and survive. Impossible.
"Alright." She said. "But just remember to be careful. She may be tied up but she's still dangerous with that tail."
"I know." N said as he turned and walked out of the spire. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll see you back here in an hour or two."
Uzi crossed her arms as she watched N walk away and down the street, chewing on her lip with worry. She looked up at the night sky, accessing her built-in alarm clock to check the time. It was currently 3:30pm. She knew it was silly to be worried about N. After all he had done this millions of times already. But the thought of him not making it back home before the sun rose up would always come back to bite her whenever he left on his own.
Uzi sighed as she walked back inside the spire. She was still new to this whole "friendship" thing but one thing she had managed to learn rather quickly was that having someone she cared about in potential danger sucked.
"Come on you stupid toaster." Uzi mumbled to herself as entered the spaceship again. "Stop acting so worried. N knows how to take care of himself. He's not a baby. He'll be back long before the sun comes out."