Chapter Text
(V's POV)
"Woo-hoo!" V cheered as she soared across the frozen city, laughing as she spread her arms and closed her eyes. "Ohhh, I swear I'll never get tired of this feeling! Having wings is the best!"
The female murder drone did a quick barrel roll, smiling as cool snowflakes tickled her visor. Her moment of peace didn't last long however when something moving very fast zoomed straight past her, causing her to yelp and open her eyes.
N turned and looked back at V, smirking smugly as he continued to fly ahead of her. "Come on V! Don't get distracted!" He called to her. "I thought you said you were going to give me a challenge?!"
V grinned and raised her wings high. "Oh, you want a challenge do you?!" She yelled before throwing her wings down, boosting herself forwards and flying straight past her startled friend. "Bring it on murder boy!"
"Hey!" N laughed as V soared past him, spreading his wings and throwing them down as he chased after her. "Okay, now it's on!"
V looked over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out playfully at the other drone, laughing as she fixed her gaze forwards again.
She couldn't even begin to express how grateful and happy she was to be able to do this with him again. It had been so long since N and her challenged each other to a race across the city. Years to be precise.
Before J had hacked her systems and erased her memories, V and N used to race each other all the time back in the day. They would spend hours chasing after each other over the rooftops, teasing and toying with one another until the sun was about to come up.
The last time V remembered doing this with N was a couple of weeks before J pulled that little hack stunt. But now that she had her memories back, the female worker drone was more than happy to accept her friend's challenge for a rematch when he'd approached her this morning.
Honestly, it had been far too long since the two of them had done something like this together. Sure, they'd hung out back at the spire and helped Uzi with repairs on the pod, but this was the first time the two of them had actually left the spire to do something fun for once.
V looked back at N, a fond smile on her face. She still couldn't believe she'd spent eleven years of her life without him. She hadn't realised it at the time but during the "break" between their friendship, the female worker had always felt like something was missing.
Having N back in her life and being able to interact with him like this again, made her want to cry tears of joy.
V looked back at the ground and smiled smugly when she spotted the spire approaching. She dove quickly, zooming towards the street before spreading her wings and gliding over the road before landing gently in front of the corpse tower's entrance.
V turned, folding her arms and grinning victoriously as N landed in front of her. "Ha! I win again." She said as she pointed her thumbs at herself. "That's what? One hundred wins for me and...three for you?"
N scoffed and lightly bumped V's shoulder with his own as he walked past her. "Okay okay, I get it. No need to showboat."
"Awww, but that takes all the fun out of it." V whined, jogging to catch up with her friend as he entered the spire. "I love showboating. You know that."
N chuckled and shook his head. "Do you have to turn everything we do into a competition? We could just race each other for fun y'know?"
"I know." V smirked as she folded her wings back inside her body. "But turning everything we do into a competition is fun. Especially when I always win."
"You do not always win." N argued as he folded his own wings away. "You're just lucky."
"Luck, skill. They're practically the same thing."
N smiled and stopped, turning to face V. "I'm...glad we can be like this again." He told her. "It's been so long since we've been able to just goof around like we used to."
V smiled and rubbed the back of her neck shyly. "Yeah. I had fun today N. We should definitely have another race soon."
"Oh yeah, for sure." Said N. "We could do it again tomorrow if you want. Then I'll prove that you don't always win every single race with have."
V chuckled and patted N's shoulder. "Yeah, whatever you say buddy. I'm gonna go find a nice spot to fall into recharge mode for a while. You coming?"
"In a minute." N said before turning to face the landing pod in the middle of the tower. "I want to check on Uzi first."
"Okay. I'll see you in a bit."
N nodded and began to make his way towards the landing pod.
(Uzi's POV)
ACCESSING MEMORY FILE 11.
FILE DESIGNATION (#832HY2)
BEGINNING MEMORY PLAYBACK.
The first thing Uzi saw after her vision went dark for a few seconds was flickering static. Normally her memories played right away when she chose to access them but this one was...older, than the rest so she wasn't really surprised it was taking so long to load.
The young worker sighed and leaned back in her chair. She was currently sitting in one of the seats inside the landing pod, her arms folded over her lap as she waited patiently for her file to play.
Uzi made sure to keep an ear out for the pod's door just in case N and V returned. The two disassembly drones were currently out hanging out somewhere in the city so she had the whole place to herself until they returned.
Honestly, she was glad they weren't here to see this. She didn't really want them to catch her rewatching an old memory from a lifetime ago. Not because she didn't want them to see the memory themselves, but because she didn't want the two older robots witnessing her breaking down into tears once the file finished playing.
That's why she was doing this now. Who knew when she'd get another chance?
Uzi sighed and rested the back of her head against the seat. "Come on, come on." She muttered impatiently. "Just boot up already. I just need to watch this once then I'll be fine next week...I hope anyway."
Truthfully the young worker did not know if she would be okay next week. She never was around this time of year because...well, next Thursday was her birthday.
For most kids the day their birthday arrived felt amazing. You spend the day around people who loved and cared about you. People who wanted to celebrate your existence.
But for Uzi, her birthdays were nothing more than a horrific ordeal that she could not wait to be done with for another year.
All she wanted to do was repeat the same process she'd done every other single time her birthday was just around the corner. Watch this one memory file before the day came round, and then move on and ignore her birthday. It had worked in the past and it would work again now.
The young worker drone was dragged out of her thoughts when the static in her eyes began to clear.
Suddenly, Uzi found herself sitting on the couch in dad's living room. She was three years old. Technically four now since it had only just turned midnight. It had been a common tradition in her family to celebrate one's birthday as soon as the clock struck twelve.
Or at least it had been. Back when her mom was still alive. After she died the tradition kind of died with her.
Uzi looked around the living room through the optics of her past self. She was having very mixed and conflicting emotions upon seeing her old home again. Part of her felt a little nostalgic and homesick while the other...wanted to burn everything to the ground and spray paint the words "screw doors" over the walls and floor.
"Urgh." Uzi groaned as she watched the memory play out. "I always forget how hideous our living room used to look. No wonder dad stuck with building doors instead of interior designing. I swear that drone has no taste."
The young worker drone watched the memory play out as her past self looked around the room. Then, her younger counterpart was suddenly lifted off the couch and placed on top of someone's lap.
"Happy Birthday sweetheart." A kind soothing voice spoke out beside her. "I can't believe you're four already. Pretty soon you're gonna be a beautiful fully grown worker."
Uzi's breath hitched, her visor flickering as her past self looked up at the woman who'd spoken. "Mom." She whispered, her voice filled with sadness and heartbreak as she subconsciously reached out to the older robot.
There on her left, looking down at her with fond glowing purple eyes, was her mother.
Uzi stared at the image of her mother, her visor flickering and glitching for a moment. She'd seen this image hundreds of times before but it always still got to her. Seeing her mother alive and well, completely oblivious to her future death and smiling down at her, left the young worker feeling very emotional.
A child-like giggle caught returned her attention back to the memory.
"Thanks mom." Her younger self said as she hugged the older drone's waist. "I'm getting bigger every day. Just wait, one day I'll be big and strong enough to take on those nasty murder drones."
Her mother chuckled and ruffled her hair fondly. "Oh, I have no doubt about that. Still, try not to rush with growing up so soon. I still want you to be my little girl for a while."
Young Uzi giggled and battered her mother's hand away. "Don't worry mom. I'll always be your little girl. So, is daddy going to join us?"
Her mother smiled sadly. "I'm sorry sweetheart but no. He wanted to but he had a hard day at work and I didn't have the heart to wake him. But he's taking the day off work to spend time with us on your birthday."
"He is?" Young Uzi asked sounding surprised. "Really? Daddy hardly ever takes days off work."
Her mother smiled. "Well for you, he would. And just wait until you see all the gifts we got you. Oh, that reminds me."
Uzi watched as her mother leaned over the side of the couch and grabbed a small black box with a purple ribbon wrapped on top of it from the ground.
"Happy birthday sweetheart." Her mother said as she pressed the present into younger Uzi's hands. "I know it's a little early but this one couldn't wait. I hope you like it."
Young Uzi eagerly ripped off the ribbon and removed the lid from the box, making her mother chuckle at her surprised gasp when she saw what was inside.
"Wait. Is this what I think it is?" Young Uzi asked as she reached inside the box and lifted out a large dark bennie cap.
"That's right." Her mother said with a fond smile. "It's my old hat. The one my mother gave me for my birthday. I was planning on waiting a few more years before I gave you this because it's still a bit too big for you. But I know how much you like this old thing so I figured why not give it to you know. Just...promise me you'll take care of it. I know it's just a hat but it has a lot of sentimental value to me."
Young Uzi turned toward her mother and smiled before nodding. "I promise. Thank you so much mom. I swear I will take really good care of it."
Her mother smiled and pulled her into a warm soothing embrace. "I know you will. Happy birthday sweetheart. I love you."
"I love you too mom." Young Uzi replied as she hugged her mother back.
Uzi flinched a little when the memory suddenly cut off and a line of purple text appeared in her eyes.
END OF MEMORY.
The young worker stared at the glowing letters for a moment, sighing a second later as her eyes popped back up on her visor.
Uzi folded her hands across her lap, fiddling with her fingers as she looked down dejectedly. That was one of the last good memories she had of her mother before she died. If she'd known back then that her mother was going to die a year later, she would have never let her out of that hug.
The young worker drone squeezed her eyes shut, grinding her teeth together in anger and frustration.
It just wasn't fair. Birthdays were supposed to be happy days. They were supposed to be memorable moments where you spend time with your loved ones. Where they showered you with love, kindness and friendship while celebrating your very existence.
Hers had been like that once. A long, long time ago.
But now? Not so much.
Now her birthdays were nothing more than cruel harsh reminders that she had no one. Her mother was gone, her father had abandoned her, and no one back at the colony seemed to care much about her.
At least she had N and V. She'd been living with them for at least a couple of months now and she'd already begun to love them like siblings. Even though she would never admit this to them, N and V were pretty much the only family she had.
But despite that, Uzi still didn't see much point in telling them about her birthday. It would just be an unnecessary distraction for a day she honestly couldn't care less about.
N and V's priorities should remain solely on finding more oil sources to keep themselves alive. Not worrying about trivial matters such as her birthday. A day that she intended to ignore and distract herself from in any way possible until it was over.
Uzi sniffed and wiped her face. She stood from the chair and was about to head for her room when suddenly, the door to the spaceship opened behind her.