Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Uzi wasted no time in trying to get back into the ship, N was able to find a way to chain V by the chair. It wasn’t perfect and worried consistently that she would just pull her way out, but she never seemed to do much more than try to intimidate Uzi.
Hissing at Uzi and N himself for the pure fact that they got too close but within a ship that barely fit three people in the first place that was a bit too often and V soon lost her bite. Somewhat accepting her situation.
Daylight was coming and rather quickly Uzi found the small place stuffy. She headed out to look about since the first time had been in a rush. She looked up at the mass of bodies, if looked too closely then she could have come to feel ill but otherwise there was a sick beauty to it all. N watched from the doorway of the ship, worried about her thoughts but he found himself looking up as well. As it twists into the darkness with the occasional space of an entrance.

‘So,’ Uzi said all of a sudden and N looked down to see her glancing over. ‘Do you guys still add to it or.’
N scratched at his face in a frown.
‘No, not really,’ he could only say. ‘I think we stopped a few years ago, that it can’t take anymore weight.’
‘Huh,’ Uzi simply said and looked to the closest wall, the few red lights that still shone from the body's hands or visors. N followed her gaze for a moment before looking away to the outside, sunlight was starting to come up.
Uzi walked into his gaze to head outside and N panicked, jumping off to rush after.
‘Uzi where are you going?’ he asked and she stopped, looking back with an eyebrow raised.
‘Well I have never seen the sun rise and I want a break before I go back to work,’ she said, waving her hand back to head out. She just left and N knew that he couldn’t follow after, he could at least give some words of encouragement from the archway.

Uzi had her important character growth outside in the sun with only N to still hear within the nest her maddening laughs. Made worst that he hardly heard what she had said just before hand.
‘I am sure that will be fine,’ N said simply and flew up for bed. ‘Sure that won’t cause any sort of future problems.’
He went back to the same spot he always used for rest, it was the closest to the ground he could get. Less of a fall if he slipped, not that it happened too often but it was safer. It also meant that he was in a greater risk of someone finding him in his sleep. But at the current moment it was closer to the worker outside.

Uzi finally finished laughing into the air, she would wage a war if need be to stop the human causing more problems. Everything stemmed from them after all. Plus it was nice to have somewhere to aim her anger for once, some sort of goal. Honestly she could start being proud of herself finally.
It was time to get to work, the sooner she could get off the planet the sooner she could actually do something with her anger. The sun had settled into the sky and she jumped off the car to make her way back in.

She wished the colony had known that the disassembly drones couldn't leave in the daylight then maybe they could have had far more ability to defend themselves.
That she would have gotten here as they slept.
Just as she currently stood in the archway looking in and found N hanging off a supporting cable.
He would have been such an easy shot to take, just asleep and still.

And she would have ended up very dead with two others in the same nest, where she would have been left defenseless after finding out then that there was a wait on the gunshots.
Or.
Maybe it was better the way things had turned out. After all, if all three had been here then she could have just been stuck right in their territory without ever getting the part for her sick ass rail gun in the first place, just torn apart by the three of them.
Uzi walked in and came to a stop just below N, he didn’t seem to have noticed her.
She shook her head before she felt tempted to test him and continued for the ship, something wanted her to just turn back around and stay outside. One way to stay safe and away but then her plans would never be done, there was a perfectly good ship right in front of her.
Plan first, worry about possible current danger later.

Uzi understood why V was in the ship, it was the only sort of area to hold her in the entirety of the spire. But she still didn’t want to see her on her own without N about.
No.
She didn’t need to be protected.
Uzi pulled herself in and climbed down. She got to the bottom and looked right to where V was in the chair. Being over the arms in a way to lay down to enter sleep mode, she wasn’t able to hang out in her current situation.
No sort of comment or sound came from her, Uzi walked around and also found her asleep. Uzi glared for a time, trying to catch any sign that she was faking it.
Eventually she left it be, maybe she could just get the work done without a problem.

Chapter Text

N hadn’t slept for long, he set himself for two hours because he was worried that if he was out for too long then there would be a dead worker drone by V’s feet.
It was silent as he awoke, almost too much that in a spike of panic cause him to release at his tail and fall to the ground. Only just getting a wing out to slow his fall somewhat. It was still a crash but better then some other times and he doesn't doubt that it would be the last. The day light outside was still strong and he checked the time, worried that he hadn’t overslept somehow but no it was as he had planned. He looked around in worry, as if the night before had been nothing but a dream.
There was no J at the top of the spire like she liked or V anywhere else in her favourite spots.

Then came the string of curses on the faith of humanity coming from the pod, N’s chest soared. He got up quickly and came back to the sinking feeling, that he had gone against everything that he knew.
Which wasn’t much to be fair, his existence only seemed to begin years ago but something about that wasn’t correct. It didn’t feel right. The team had been on the planet for at least ten years but his memories only really felt as if it had been a few.
He already felt like he was overheating with the amount of thinking he had just done.
Maybe it's just best to stop.

‘Will you shut up, I need my sleep you stupid toaster,’ V’s voice screeched out. Jolting N well out of his thoughts and he rushed over to the pod with a wing beat, landing hard on it and crawling for the door. He popped his head in and got smacked square in the face with the toolbox. He fell back purely from the shock of it all.
‘N?’ Usi called out and he looked back to find her head popped out from the doorway. She found him still laid out on the ground.
‘I’m alright,’ he answered.
‘If I had my gun I would have blasted your head off, again,’ she huffed out and leaned forward. ‘I can’t believe I left it behind.’ she got ready to go back inside and looked down to N one last time.
‘Okay from now on no landing on the pod like that,’ Uzi spoke out and went back in.
N spent a bit longer looking upwards to the spire above, he never did spend much time like this.

He could hear J’s voice telling him that lying about was being useless and he sat up with a huff. He shook himself off and started to climb the ladder once again but far slower.
‘Uzi, I am coming in,’ N called out and she looked up at his face only just coming in.
‘I know it’s you now,’ she said and turned back to the panel she had been working on. N climbed in and sat in the doorway with a frown. V looked over.
‘Her annoying ass woke you up too huh, honestly N why haven’t you killed her yet?’ she asked and Uzi glared back at her.
‘Oh bite me,’ she snapped out.
‘I would if you just came over here,’ V said and rolled her eyes. She looked at N, gesturing with her head for him to do something already. When he did nothing but look away then she glared.
'I understand you being upset with J but come on,' she hissed. When he still hadn’t looked up she finally swivelled away with the chair.
N watched Uzi hissed about some sort of circuitry, underneath the main dashboard.

‘So, this whole kill all humans thing you have,’ N asked slowly only to pause as Uzi shot a glare at him once she pulled out. ‘Why exactly do you want to?’
‘Duh, whose fault is it that you are here?’ she said and N blinked.
‘Humans?’ he tried.
‘Yes!’ Uzi yelled out. ‘Without them then we could have had this planet all to ourselves, but nooo. The humans couldn’t just leave us be and had to leave the three of you stranded.’
N looked conflicted and V leaned over to him.
‘Guess she likes you cause you're going to be useful to her,’ she said and laughed. ‘Otherwise she would probably just blast you like J.’
‘That's not… true,’ N said and lost his fight rather quickly. He looked at Uzi again, she was still rambling on about hating humans. The reasoning was rather thin, no solid reason in waging a war. He took in a breath he didn’t actually need and stepped closer.
‘How can I help?’ he asked instead and V rolled her eyes. Uzi looked back with a grin.
If the laughing before hadn’t made him nervous then the grin was that of possible evil. A moment of regret crossed his mind.
‘We are going to pimp up this ride,’ she exclaimed and pulled out plans that she found for the pod, now with many improvements drawn in and the new paint job all drawn on with notes attached. She spread it out onto the dash to show it to the two of them.
V started laughing right away.
‘Aww how cute,’ she said with a grin. ‘You’re almost as skilled as N.’ She dug in, leaning on the arm of the chair.
Uzi jumped forward into a lunge, only to have N block her, trying to keep them apart as V hissed back with her mouth wide open. Ready to bite down on anything that came close enough.

Uzi moved away first in a huff. Turning away as V grinned at her small accomplishment.
Uzi went back to the plans, tapping her hands on it for N to bring his attention back to it.
‘Of course this is as we progress, repairing it is far more important than painting.’ Uzi said slowly and looked to N at last.
‘What do we need first?’ N asked.
‘Wires, everything is fried and I will need enough to replace most of it. I want to fix the communication relay first,’ she said and pointed to the small section that N didn’t even know was a thing they had.
‘You all got power but nothing in here even works,’ Uzi hissed out and kicked onto a wall panel. Barely making the lights flicker above.
‘Egh, how much time till the sun goes down?’ she asked out and pulled the plans to her, going by N to pin it up on a clear wall.
‘Another four hours, around this time of year there is about seven hours of daylight,’ N informed her and she groaned in response. Not only for the time but at her realisation that she is too short for where she wanted the plans to go.

Another loud groan rang out before she had to cross the room again for a box to use.
‘Shut up,’ V groaned out herself, waiting for Uzi to come by and try to trip her up by kicking out a leg.
N watched the two of them go back into a glare contest, he considered jumping in again but they did nothing but glare at the other. He could only wait for one to finally pull away.
It had to be Uzi, which she hated. Especially as V grinned as if she had won something proper.
She just went on with pinning up her plans, nodding to it all once it was up.

Chapter Text

‘Ugh, what are we going to do before nighttime?’ Uzi sighed and N considered going right back to sleep; he fought against it for now.
‘How about telling me about the people you knew in the bunker?’ he suggested and she made a face.
‘Eh, who cares about them,’ she quickly dismissed and N frowned.
‘What if they come out here looking for you, then I will know if I see them from a distance,’ he said and Uzi opened her mouth to talk but no noise came out.
‘There is like only one that might,’ she said at last and crossed her arms.
‘Your dad wouldn’t?’ he asked and jumped at the glare that Uzi gave him this time, it wasn’t one of general annoyance. This was pure anger.
‘You mean the guy that left me to die as you had me pinned against the wall?’ she asked and glared off to the ground. N raised a finger to try to talk only for her to huff and continue.
‘All he had to do was aim and shoot, it wasn’t that hard of an idea. The doors didn’t even work and he was lucky that I lived, that we got to the point before everyone else was killed. He should have been grateful to me for coming to save them all.’ N waited for her to calm a bit.

‘For the record, you know I wouldn’t have let him shoot me again,’ N pointed out and it was the wrong thing to say.
‘So what, are you telling me that the few minutes he gained by closing the door is a better plan than attempting to shoot you?’ Uzi hissed out and came closer.
N’s mind was blank, was he meant to agree to killing a bot. V rolled her eyes before turning in the chair.
‘It's not our fault that your dads a big baby,’ V spoke out, Uzi’s attention snapped on her. ‘Your dad acts like all the others do when we kill. You're such a drama.’
‘Oh yeah, I want to hear what you think when your dad leaves you for dead.’ Uzi bit back.
V started to laugh at that and that only made Uzi far angrier.
‘What’s so funny?’ she demanded and N tapped his fingers together, she still didn’t get it and N had to say something.
‘Um Uzi,’ he called out and she snapped her gaze over. ‘We don’t have dads.’ With the words came more laughter from V, to the point she fell off her chair as she hunched forward. Uzi stood firm, she wanted to be mad still but nothing but shame filled her systems. N saw how she looked. ‘It’s not your fault, you couldn't have known.’

‘Yeah well,’ Uzi hissed out crossing her arms to try to regain her stance. ‘Consider yourselves luck then. No one to disappoint you when you need them.’
N wanted to say something comforting but V pushed herself upright to look at Uzi.
‘I have been thinking of ways to kill you all day, how to get away but I think I might just stay since you’re so funny,’ she called out and Uzi turned away.
‘You’re supposed to be a prisoner, you’re only alive because N wanted you to be.’ Uzi scowled. ‘Yes my life is such a joke, it's not supposed to be funny.’
Silence dragged on as V sat herself in her chair, still giggling every so often. N looked between the two of them.
‘So, what is a dad?’ N asked out and Uzi wanted to glare at him but he had genuine confusion that she couldn’t truly be mad at him for asking.

Uzi fell to sit onto the floor, her knees already at her chest. N followed after, sitting himself down.
‘Fine, you want to know so bad I’ll even tell you about the others in the dump,’ she said and N shuffled forward a bit. At least eager to learn something new, or even learn about new people.
His world is rather small in terms of people. Uzi is only the fourth of people that have stuck around longer than a few minutes of a hunt.
No, that didn’t seem right either. But he couldn’t think of why. He looked over to V, she was watching Uzi with a bored expression. He looked away quickly.
V could barely remember who he was let alone willing to talk about anything in depth, like the main problem of barely having a memory to think back on.

Uzi had already started talking, he only noticed as her hand swang out and she looked over.
‘He is supposed to be there for me, no matter what,’ she hissed out and N could only nod along to it all. ‘I have part of his code and that means he made me with my mom, you would think that would be a good enough reason to not abandon me to someone trying to kill me.’
‘I thought he was just trying to protect the rest of the colony,’ N said and Uzi huffed.
‘So what, you all got in anyway,’ she said. ‘You’re supposed to protect those who are important to you first.’ N took a moment to think.
‘Parents are people that are supposed to take care and protect you because they made you, and you name them dad and mom?’
Uzi nodded to it all.
‘Pretty much, they make and raise you from a little pod thing to adult.’ N’s eyes narrowed.
‘How do you make a baby?’ He asked and Uzi frowned.
‘I am not explaining to you how babies are made, its a process and not a fast one,’ she said and rolled her eyes. ‘Lots of materials and upkeep, it's why no one has more than two or why hardly any get made for a few years now.’

V sighed out loud from her seat.
‘Wow, so you hate humans yet you all do a similar things to them, you are all just copying them with this family stuff,’ V said and Uzi glared. ‘Didn’t humans all hate their parents, so you're not really so special?’

N blinked.
‘You know about parents?’ he asked and a smug smile covered her face. ‘How?’
‘Hah, I know far more than you. That's not my fault you don’t know anything,’ she said and lifted her head a bit.
‘Then how come I don’t?’ N asked and something crossed V’s visor before she looked away.
‘I don’t know, I only know that parents are stupid and so were humans,’ she said and turned her chair, N looked up in disappointment only to look back to Uzi.
‘How about distracting me by telling me about some of the others that live with you?’
‘First off we don’t all live together, we have rooms unlike this,’ she said and gestured to the room. ‘And second off, I am telling you about them so you will tell me and we can scare them off together.’
N nodded to it and turned fully to her to listen.

She had at least gotten through the main cast of people who have been nothing but a problem to her but she saw as N started to slump forward with his display showing closed eyes.
‘Are you falling asleep?’ Uzi accused and N sat upright quickly. He had to suppress a yawn.
‘Sorry, I am awake,’ he said and looked at her. She had a face he couldn’t recognize at the moment.
‘We can sleep for a bit, I forgot about the day sleeping thing,’ she said slowly. She started to lay herself down, reaching out a arm for a cable nearby that she set up for her recharging.
‘Do you need to sleep upside down?’ she asked as she settled, N looked over to V. Who had a while ago settled into sleep mode.
‘No, we don’t. I wanted to try a few times but J saw it as improper,’ he said and looked back to her, she patted out into the space between her and V.
He took a breath before filling in the space, the metal ground wasn’t considered comfortable but in the moment it was far better then being upright sitting.
Uzi stared up at the ceiling and N copied by being on his back. It was weird being there but N found it comfortable being at least close to both Uzi and V.
‘I think we are meant to hang to keep the most oil in our heads,’ N spoke out as silence sat in the room. He knew she wasn’t asleep and she frowned as she traced the lines of the panelling of the roof.
‘But isn’t it everywhere already, what would it matter, I would think its so you are ready right away. You can drop right into action.’

‘It's lonely,’ N didn’t mean to say out loud but the word filled the room. Uzi looked over in a frown before returning, before he would see her looking.
He already saw it, he wanted to look over as well but stopped himself.
‘Are we friends?’ he could only ask, something about being on the ground and vulnerable made his mind want to speak.
A sound came from Uzi, some sort of agreement but she turned it into grunt by the end.
‘Friend is too loaded,’ she said back and N looked over then.
‘You don’t have any?’ he asked but shook his head. ‘You didn’t mention anyone from the bunker, you only talked about them being classmates.’
‘No one will come looking, I just told you about them. They aren’t my friends.’ She sounded so sure about it that N frowned in worry.

‘Can I call you my friend, you don’t have to for me,’ he said and Uzi looked over, meeting his face still looking over.
‘Whatever makes you feel better,’ she said and rolled away onto her side. ‘Good night.’ N looked at her a while longer before also rolling away, he looked at V while he was on his side. He needed to do something with his tail, noting that even V had wrapped hers around the base of the chair she was on. He just navigated the tail around his foot, making sure not to stick himself with the point.
He ended up with his knees pulled upwards and crossing his arms in front of him in a sort of hug.