Chapter Text
For miles, footprints lay, quickly covered over by the looming storm. A lone Disassembly Drone walks in only one direction, pondering his thoughts and dealing with regrets that he shouldn't be feeling. In his hand, he holds the wrench of his best friends deceased father, believing he is the sole reason for his death. N had been away from home for 9 days, alone in the wintery wastes, following the cold wind. His other hand rests in his coat pocket, his eyes wince as the snow drops on his face. Guilt burns in his core, although emotional pain, it left more pain on N than any injury he had sustained in his life. Who even programmed him to feel guilt? He was designed to kill. His internal programming was screaming at him, calling him responsible for Khan's death, for the death of Uzi's unborn child, for the deaths that M caused at the wedding and for the injury to both Uzi and V. Despite how many times he told himself that Khan made the choice to sacrifice himself, something inside him kept forcing in the guilt. He had turned into the very thing M wanted; a guilty, grief-stricken and emotionally unstable wreck. Where did it all go wrong in their relationship? They used to be best friends. What actually happened?
3 Miles North-West of N's position;
A snowstorm rages, quick and rapid footsteps are quickly covered up, a mother holding a newborn in one hand, her 9 year old daughter in the other with her 18 year old son and 13 year old daughter trailing close behind. Behind them is the whaling of a siren and the shots of rifles, a platoon of 20 Worker Drones dressed as soldiers search the fog for the escapees, the thick snow was covering all tracks, making their overall job much harder to deal with. "Bravo Capture team Platoon Commander. We lost visual on the target. Please advice." A green eyed soldier speaks into his radio.
The radio buzzes back. "Central Command, find that target!"
The platoon commander nods to his men, signaling them with his hand to move forward. A short distance ahead, the mother and her 4 children hide inside the cylinder of an old cement mixer truck, she holds her newborn close to her chest as her children huddle and pray. Through the dark fog, they see flashlights beaming around the environment, luckily the heavy storm covered up all their tracks, the truck was in a very dimly lit area. "Clear!" a nearby soldier shouted.
The family waited for what felt like hours, until the final soldier cleared the scene. They waited an additional hour to be safe, the storm cleared out and the night sky was far more visible. The adult son was the first to emerge, looking to the left and right to ensure no soldiers were in sight. Everything was clear. "Ma, its all clear."
The rest of the family emerged, finally being able to stretch their legs. "We.. We finally did it... We're free..." The mother began to tear up with happiness.
"What now... We have nowhere to go." The teenage daughter asked.
The mother looked down at her older daughter, unsure on what to tell her. "I'll... I'll think of something... For now we just need to prioritize finding food and staying hidden from the Killer Drones. Little Jess must be starving..." she looked down at her newborn sleeping in her arms.
"What food is there to eat? All I see are corpses and snow. I know we can eat metal but eating a corpse of one of our own seems unmoral.. We need to find other Worker Drones." The adult son added.
"What survivors will be out there!? You see all the corpses here right? What chance is there that another colony exists! And if it does exist what are the chances it wont be like the one we just escaped from!" The mother began to cry, fearing for the safety of her family.
She held her newborn close and started to walk south east of her current position, her kids trailed behind. Without looking back on their pasts, they kept moving forward in search for food and for new life, not that they expected to find either. Food soon became an apparent problem, with both the newborn and the 9 year old daughters falling hungry. "Mommy... I'm hungry..." The 9 year old said.
"I cant do anything about that right now... Lets just keep going..."
Their hope began to waver, the adult son soon fell hungry, shortly after, so did the eldest daughter. In time, even the mother became hungry. Soon that became the least of their worries.
"Ma, I don't think we have a choice... We gotta eat something..."
"I'm not letting my daughters or son eat a rotting corpse! If we could just find some wires.. Or even some scrap metal.. Just nothing from what was once a sentient AI."
Something caught the 9 year old daughters eye, the silhouette of a Drone. A smile wiped across her face. "Mommy mommy look! Another drone!"
The mother looked to where the girl pointed, horror came across her face and to the worst of her fears she stared at N. N could hear the commotion and was ignoring it, continuing to go on his way.
"Is that...?" The adult son questioned.
N suddenly stopped, that voice... It sounded like Thad. It couldn't be, there was no way he would just follow him and leave Uzi behind. He turned to look and saw the terrified and starved family. The mother suddenly shrieked, grabbing her daughters hands and bootlegging it in the opposite direction. "Wait wait wait!" N yelled, he went sprinting after the 5.
In frantic panic, the family ran away from N, not daring to look back. The mother suddenly tripped and fell to the ground. The eldest son grabbed the three girls and started to run, but they slowed down as N approached the cowering and fallen mother, he didn't seem hostile at all.
"Are.. Are you OK?" N asked, his voice calm and soothing.
She looked up at him, was this even real? She had seen this same drone murder thousands of Worker Drones, yet here he was, asking if she was alright. "A..Aren't... Aren't you going... To kill me..?" She was too confused yet scared to react to anything.
"No.. I.. I gave up on the killing thing over a year ago..." He knelt down to her side, sitting by her head.
"I'm N. What's your name."
"Its.. Its Lizzy..."
An X glitched across N's visor, soon back to normal. Something inside of him was telling him to just end this girls life. She didn't have pink eyes, her eyes were white. It startled Lizzy, but considering how it was yet to attack, she kept her guard down around N. "You're.. Not going to kill me?"
"No.. Like I said, I gave up with the whole killing business over a year ago. I know you may not trust me considering how me and my squad were responsible for the almost genocide of the Worker Drones. But we have all changed... I'm a father... My former squad mate that hated me is now my wife and my former boss is now one of my closest friends! A Worker Drone is my... Best..." His mood suddenly switched, reminding himself of what he thought was his fault.
"N.. Nevermind... I didn't think there were anymore Worker Drones around. Where are you from?"
"A colony.. Not too far from here... But we left... It was some kind of armed military dictatorship that enslaved Worker Drones to be highly obedient slaves that construct military weapons. Our leaders intension was to recolonize the planet, take over any settlements and rule the planet."
The kids began to approach N and their mother. N caught notice of the family, it reminding him of his own. 3 daughters and 1 son. "Oh.. Where are my manners. This is Alex, my adult son. That is Tina, my 13 year old and oldest daughter. This is Meg, my 9 year old daughter. And this angel is Jess... She is only 2 months old... You don't have any food on you do you?"
N reached into his pockets, he pulled out a pack of stale biscuits. "I suppose you can have these.. They are my comfort food, I've already gone through 4 of them."
He watched as the family ate through the biscuits in minutes, it was obvious that they were absolutely starving. "Wow... How bad was that colony if you are all that hungry?"
Lizzy looked up, biscuit crumbs all around her mouth. "Bad enough for my husband to die getting us out. Its illegal to leave, illegal to speak out against the leader, most things are illegal. All is punishable by death... I had to escape."
He looked at the family, if they were in that state, god knows what the other Worker Drones living at that colony feel like. He couldn't just s it around and do nothing. That is when an idea popped into his head. He needed a way to feel better about himself, one way was to be useful and helpful. After deep thought, his goal was established. "Tell me where that Colony is."