Chapter Text
Crack.
The cackle of thunder emanates through the land, rumbling both in the sky and in the ground as endless teardrops pelt the surface, drenching pavements and wood alike as the storm continued to unleash its wrath on the world. Despite the audio, no sight can be gained from the darkness.
And then, through the night, a voice, unfamiliar but at the same time, so familiar.
"You and I both know that this won't stop me forever."
A flash, and the rain is now sliding down the metal surface of a drone body, hundreds of them to be more exact, all dumped in a huge pile and left to rot under the rotten yellow glow of the Moon up above. In front of this pile of remains stand two living bots, one female maid with pigtails, and a male butler with short hair.
"Look at it," Jessica, the female, said to her partner as she gestured at the worker drone graveyard, "Think of one word to describe the scene before you." The male thought for a moment, his gaze still locked onto the corpse pile, blissfully unaware of the structure that he would contribute to that would far and away surpass this.
"It's death," he finally said, prompting Jessica to scoff in mild amusement. "Wow, gotta say, that's probably the first intelligent thing I've ever heard from you," she said, flicking her wrist in the direction of the pile.
"Why did you take me out here anyway? It's so cold, and wet? Shouldn' t we be inside?" the boy asked as he faced Jessica, only to see her angry white eyes meet his own.
"I took you out here to show you what will happen to you if you keep being the way you are! You're clumsy, unreliable, useless! If you don't pick up your act," Jessica got in the face of her hurt and frightened coworker, "You'll be sent here, to rot like the rest of them-" she was cut off when another voice piped up, that of a young girl.
"What are you two doing out here?"
Jessica and her coworker spun around, only to see their master, also known as Tessa, standing there, one hand on her hip and the other holding onto a plain black umbrella which she used to shield her dress and hat from the downpour. Sheepishly, Jessica put her hands behind her back and adopted her cutesy maid act in order to hopefully not piss her handler off, even though deep down she thought she should do something about Mr. Useless over here.
Another flash, and the trio are back inside the mansion, now sheltered from the torrents of rain that were just assaulting them a few moments ago. While Jessica was grilled by Tessa for why she took the boy out there, another maid was drying him down from his time outside in the constant storm.
"My goodness, you should really be more careful!" Vanessa said as she adjusted her glasses, patting down his chest with a hyper-absorbent rag, "I don't want to see these perfectly good clothes ruined! Oh but I must admit I enjoy going down to the store to buy some, or even ironing out wrinkled up clothes. Eh, probably just my programming," Vanessa continued to ramble as the male drone blushed upon feeling her briefly brushing over you-know-what. Was that on purpose? He wondered to himself before Tessa suddenly strolled up to him, Vanessa backing away out of respect as she looked him intently in the eyes. The boy felt his core race in fear, was he about to get punished?
Then, she yanked out a small stuffed bear patterned like a Panda and presented it to him, like a mother giving its kittens a new mouse to play with. "Bear." Her voice was assertive, dominating. He was going to take this bear.
"I-Uh-thanks? It's cute, like, adorable!" he said as he took the bear and felt it in his hands, soft, squishy, like any good bedtime toy should be. No doubt Tessa had a lot of bears, she often gave them to guests at the mansion as a parting gift, especially for kids around her age. He liked it, he could get much more sleep with this little guy by his side to keep the monsters in their closets or under the beds. Jessica meanwhile just pouted in the corner, why did he get the bear?
"Ah! Come along now everyone! Dinner is ready! Your father is already in the dining room waiting for you Tessa! Tonight, it' s Pumpkin Pie, using your mothers old recipe!" Vanessa suddenly remembered this important fact, causing everyone, even Jessica, to jump for joy and cheer. No matter how bitchy or angsty you were, nobody could resist Tessa's late mothers Pumpkin Pie. As far as they knew, if food was heaven, it would be god.
"Race you there! Last one there is a rotten egg!" Tessa giggled before charging down the corridor, making sure not to pump into the small tables along its length containing family photos or precious vases carved out of the finest china in the land. The male charged after her, followed by Jessica, and then Vanessa, who was desperately trying to get them to stop running in the goddamn hallways! Inside speeds only!
The boy rounded the corner, huffing and puffing but still going. The dining room was just up ahead. Tessa had halted, for some reason, and wasn't moving, instead being more focused on what was poking its head out from the doorway leading into the dining room. He walked up to Tessa's side and looked, only for his optics to hollow out.
"Hey guys! You should really pick the pace, y'know. Better hurry before I devour the rest of the Pumpkin Pie! I guess I have the munchies, hehehehe!" she said as she poked her head out of the doorway, locking onto the boy's eyes and smiling slightly. He kept his gaze on her, feeling his core begin even faster. It was her, the new maid drone only introduced a few days ago. It was..
Thwack!
N jolted out of his sleep, rocking in his seat and smacking his head against the back window. "OW! BISCUITS!" he yelped, stars clouding his vision for a moment as he rubbed his head in a daze. He had once again had one of those nightmares, where he was a worker drone at a mansion with a human and the rest of his squad as maids. The strange part was, they all ended the same with, with that girl. They only had three members of the squad, there was never a fourth member. It was concerning, but he first put it up to a strange vision as a result of the many weird things happening lately. At least, that's what he did at first. Now, they weren't so easy to debunk.
Looking out the window, he could make out the faintest yellow glow, barely pushing through the torrents of snow that were raining down in sheets, that of the colony. Good, they were almost back. After what happened at camp, they all needed some time to regroup. It had been so unexpected, her transformation and rampage, scary too.
Speaking of which,
N looked down onto his lap upon feeling the warm sensation on it, seeing Uzi curled up like a kitten, snoring away. He smiled and patted the sleeping worker, she had had a rough night, losing control to the solver and being forced to kill her classmates. It wasn't her fault, but she blamed herself for it, no matter how much N tried to convince her that she couldn't have prevented what had happened, that it was out of her control.
Next to Uzi's head, was the VHS, 'Zombies Drones', written in bold red lettering as if it was one of those 1000 year old slasher films the humans made. N had picked up the tape and taken it with them after finding it in that one random building. He didn't know why, but upon first touching it, it caused some sort of error in his CPU, causing multiple highly vivid images to pop up in his vision. One of the girl from his dreams pointing to a human hand in her mouth, another of a human arm in a chandelier, and last being a shot of outside the mansion, the Moon replaced by a large black hole-like structure with the word 'Null' at its centre. He got bad feelings from it, but it also would be integral for figuring out just what was truly going on here. Besides, Uzi wouldn't mind. She always liked some more evidence to add to her conspiracy board.
Another jolt, and Ronathan eased on the whips, making the bus stop in its tracks. They were back. "Good girl," he said to the machine, the bus puffing out a few satisfied plums of smoke in response. The doors opened with a whirr, and the remaining students began to exit the vehicle where a group of worker drones stood outside, looking to be WDF in origin. Perhaps they had caught wind of what was going on at camp and chose to interrogate the survivors?
N sighed to himself and shook Uzi in an attempt to wake her. "Uzi, come on buddy, wake up, we're back," he said softly, being met by a low grumble as Uzi's optics flickered on, digital bags still under her eyes as she raised herself up and yawned, stretching out the cricks in her arms.
"Are we there yet?" she asked in a tired, raspy tone.
"Yup!" N said cheerfully. Immediately, Uzi snapped out of her tired state and switched out for a more excited look. "FINALLY! Ugh, I was so done with that stupid camp! Glad we're finally home so we can relax properly, nothing more to harass us tonight!" she said, N standing up and allowing her to exit from their row. He briefly glanced down, and picked up the Zombie Drones VHS before taking his leave.
Stepping outside onto the snow, he was immediately met with not only the constant pelting of snowflakes but also the glares of multiple WDF members, piercing into him with silent accusations of murder. Despite him having saved the colony alongside Uzi multiple times, he still wasn't trusted by everyone, especially not Uzi's father. Speaking of him, Khan Doorman pushed in front of his colleagues and quickly ran up to his daughter, concern in his eyes.
"UZI! You're okay! Thank robo-god, we caught wind of some kind of massacre going on over there! What happened? Which one of you did this?" he said quickly as he embraced Uzi, the angsty teen quickly pulling herself out of the hug and directing her gaze down at the suddenly very interesting snow. Despite how much N insisted it wasn't, she felt as if it was her fault for what had happened over at camp. She didn't like any of her classmates, but she would never have wanted to kill them. They were just kids, mean ones, but still kids. The guilt was unbelievable, and it pulsed in her gut and threatened to tear out of her stomach.
Digital tears welled in her eyes as she looked up at her father, taking in a shaky breath. "It-It was.. m-me-" Uzi was cut off when V suddenly butted into their conversation, "Me! I get hungry, idiot!" she said to Khan who took an instinctual step back, he hadn't seen a murder drone so close in forever. It was weird, standing so close to a creature meant to kill him, only for it to not do so.
"V? What are you-" Uzi stopped when V quickly moved her gaze to her, teeth clenched in anger. "Shut it toaster. I'm doing you a favor," she hissed before Lizzy elbowed the female disassembly drone in the side. "Yeah, that was cringe of you! Luckily, I don't really mind, but you are a diva," the bitchy cheerleader said while taking multiple selfies of them with her phone, V sighing but not resisting her advances.
Uzi was about to try and say something else, only for another voice to emanate through the mist, masculine and tired.
"HEY!"
Everyone at the scene turned to see none other than Thad himself charge up to the group, exhaling smoke out of his mouth as he placed his hands on his knees and huffed, as if he had run multiple miles non-stop with a huge weight on his back.
Oh wait, that's what he just did.
"You assholes," Thad took a moment to breathe, "Left me.."
A moment of silence, before,
"Oohh! I felt like we were missing something!" Lizzy said, before a flashback suddenly started.
Thad walked out of the dark forest, a pile of wood in his arms as he strolled back into the main campsite. "Hey guys! I got firewood! Let's tell some stories!" he said, only to receive the screeching of wind as a response.
He awkwardly looked around, seeing nobody in sight, only a few stray splatters of oil and tire marks where the bus should have been.
"Uh, guys?"
It then snapped back to the modern day, with Thad finally managing to catch his breath and rise up to his full height, anger still evident in his green optics. "And then, I had to run 5 miles back non-stop! I nearly busted my limbs! It's a good thing I'm athletic, or else I would have died! Thanks a bunch guys!" He groaned, at least he was finally home.
"Uhh, oops? Honest mistake!" Uzi called out nervously before her eyes caught onto N, who was too busy examining what looked to be a VHS tape. "Whatcha got there buddy?" she asked, snapping N out of his trance and causing him to yelp in terror. "AH! Oh, Uzi! Uhh, just looking at this totally not suspicious or dangerous VHS tape! It could have a few answers, for, y'know, what happened back at camp?" he winced, but Uzi's attention was now fully grabbed. A potential new lead?
"Let me see," she suddenly said as she swiped the tape from N, looking at it in full detail. It had the logo, "Zombie Drones" and appeared to be some kind of classified company tape. Could this have answers as to what happened at camp?
What she did not notice was V's mortified expression upon seeing the tape in her hands. It was impossible, how was that thing back? How and WHY was that tape here? Did the humans leave it here after the core collapse? It couldn't be, she thought it was destroyed years ago.
"This, looks strange," Uzi agreed, looking to N, "It might give us some more clues for our investigation into this whole 'Absolute Solver' and its shenanigans." N nodded in agreement, the aura the tape emitted was just too much to resist.
N took the tape back from Uzi and then strolled up to Khan, who looked the murder drone in the eyes. He had his suspicions about N, but despite his previous experiences with murder drones, he couldn't deny how he had protected his baby girl from harm many times, and even technically saved him. Despite this, he was still nervous about having Uzi so close to a drone like him. What if it was all an act? To gain their trust?
"Mr. Uzi!" N began.
"It's Doorman," Khan interrupted.
"Okay, Mr. Doorma-Wait seriously? That's your last name?" he quickly turned to Uzi, who groaned a long, annoyed sound. "Yeah, blame dad, he changed it before he married mom," she said, Khan only nervously chuckling and rubbing the back of his head in response. Yes, it was a bit of a weird choice, but doors!
"Okay then? Right, well, uhh, I know this is a bit of a weird question, but," N giggled in embarrassment, "Would any of you happen to have a working TV or video player? It's just I really want to know what's on this tape! Please, pretty please?" Khan looked at N with a puzzled expression for a moment, as did Thad and Lizzy. Was this murder drone really asking to be let into the colony, to a VHS tape? In his dreams, Khan would lie and tell him no-
"Oh yeah N! We have a TV!" Uzi said cheerfully as she popped up in front of her panicked father. "UZI NO-" Khan was cut off when N jumped for joy and wrapped Uzi up in a tight embrace. "WOO! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!" N yelped. Maybe now he could finally figure out who, or what, he was! After a few seconds, he placed down a madly blushing Uzi, the purple lines almost entirely taking up the bottom of her visor. In the background, Lizzy snapped a pic of her. Perfect blackmail opportunity.
"Hey N! Can we come along?" Thad asked, all anger forgotten at the mention of his friends watching a 'movie' together. "Yeah, we should make it a watch party! That'd be so cool, in a casual way!" Lizzy said as she clasped her hands together at the thought. Uzi looked up at N, seemingly leaving the decision to him. Whether it was a watch party or not, she was so watching it with him, to get more information, and also because it would almost be like a date-I mean casual friend hangout. Hehe! Yup! That's all! You didn't read anything! SHUT UP!
"Uhh, sure! I love doing anything!" N spoke, immediately causing the two workers to cheer in excitement while Khan facepalmed in the background. He really just wanted a coffee.
"I'll get the popcorn!" Thad said as he charged into the bunker, the doors still hanging wide open. "I'll get the makeup, for us girls to make ourselves fabulous!" Lizzy followed up before running after Thad. V, however, was not in the same celebratory mood. Dear god, she thought to herself, they're gonna watch it. She knew that she had to prevent N from putting the tape in the TV, but she had to do it discreetly, not to give away what she knew.
As N and Uzi walked cheerfully up to the bunker, the snow crunching under their feet as they talked while Khan and the WDF trailed behind them, V suddenly popped up in front of the first door, a nervous grin on her face.
"N! Buddy old pal!" she began, wrapping an arm around N's shoulder and shaking him a bit, "How about you, uh, don't play that tape?" N raised up a digital eyebrow, now very confused. What was V going on about?
"Uh, why not? It's just a VHS tape!" N said before shrugging her arm off him and continuing forward, Uzi keeping a cautious eye on V in case she tried anything.
"Because, uhh, it's not ours? Privacy and all that?" V realized just how terrible she was at lying, so much so that even N saw through it.
"Since when did you care about that? I'mma watch it!" N said again, determined to see what was on the tape. V however was not making it easy. She got in front of him again, holding her arms out in an attempt to block N from going inside the colony. "Move V!" N yelled as he tried to get around her, only for the female to move with him, as if she was a sentient roadblock preventing a car from going around.
N was at his wits end. What was V's problem? With a growl of effort, he shoved V out the way, causing her to tumble onto her side with a thud, hat sliding off her silver hair and across the metal walkway leading up to the bunker. "Sorry V, but I need information. If you don't like it, don't watch," he said with a tone of spite not commonly heard from him before he disappeared into the darkened confines of the bunker's main hallway, Uzi and Khan in tow.
V shook her head in order to get stray bits of snow out of her hair and snatched up her hat, placing it back on her head before getting to her feet, looking down the corridor leading into the bunker, seeing the faint glow of the end of N's tail disappearing behind a corner. She sighed and looked at the group of worker drones standing behind her, having watched this entire scene with a mix of shock and fear. "What are you looking at?" she barked, prompting the workers to quickly drop their gazes and move away from her. An angry murder drone was a deadly one.
She began to trek after the group, hoping to manage to convince N to not watch the tape. Was she going about this all wrong? How did she even know that was the tape? It could have been just a replica. Yeah, that had to be it. Calm yourself, V! There was nothing wrong with it, she was freaking out about nothing.
There was nothing wrong with it,
Right?