Work Text:
“Nori? Uzi?”
“Nori, honey!”
The worker drone's voice echoed through the dark hallways, nervously glancing around the bunker’s corridors. The faint buzzing of flickering lights filled the rooms as he clutched onto a flashlight, as if holding for dear life. The flashlight illuminated a bright path, making the darkness surrounding said path feel more ominous, fearing that if his light went out once, he’d disappear alongside it.
He took a moment to breathe, making sure he didn’t have his finger over the tiny switch that turned the flashlight on and off. Khan tried to reassure himself- sure it wasn’t everyday your wife and daughter go missing in the middle of the night- but maybe Nori wanted to take Uzi down a scenic walk in a dimly lit hallway! Khan sighed, realizing just how ridiculous that sounded, no sane worker drone would do such a thing.
His breathing was as steady as he could manage as Khan forced himself to keep on going, there was a sinking feeling in his core with each step he took, each and every looping cycle echoed loudly in his head. A small little virtual sweat bead went down his screen, this wasn’t him- He wasn’t going to actually try to find his wife in the middle of the night? No, he should just turn back- She’d come back in the morning, Uzi in hand, her smile bright and warm as ever.
Yet his body forced him forwards anyway, just keep walking. Ignore the buzzing, ignore your echoing footsteps, ignore the scraping in the ceiling.
Something came into view of the flashlight’s range. Khan yelped, seeing something odd had gathered on the floor, like some swarm of ants near a piece of candy, like a red icicle made of sewage water had melted.
It dropped from the ceiling with a loud splat as if it was ripped off a vine. Its landing made a nasty squelch sound as it came in contact with the floor, steam emitted from the organic blob, Khan jolted seeing the small object.
It was a soft little red thing, his scans didn’t pick up what it was. Even just being in its presence made Khan uncomfortably warm- this is Copper-9, nothing should be warm. Khan backed away, just about to run off, legs fully positioned and prepared to sprint, when curiosity had gotten the better of him. What if it was a leak? Sure it wasn’t anything he recognized, but better to be safe than sorry.
He’d much rather be sorry.
It took him a moment to process it, for a second he thought he was imagining it. The familiar purple hair, the mandibles colored black.. Until he heard the horrible screech of scraping metal. Khan let out a bloodcurdling scream, he didn’t just yelp like he usually did when frightened, he screamed. it echoed through the dark hallway as he dropped his flashlight, Khan landed on the floor as he desperately looked through the darkness to find it again, it landed against the ground, light flashing in every direction. He scrambled to pick it back up with animated eyes wide and filled with confusion, he grabbed onto the flashlight without a second thought, the light going right into his sensitive vision and making Khan recoil in shock, still holding onto it like a lifeline as he waited for his screen to stop hurting, he wiped it as if it’d help, whirring his head to face the thing once the brief pain stopped and vision loss subsided.
Her- no, it was up there. The wild purple hair with that little strand, the black dress, the ID hanging on her neck.. It was all her, the drone he loved so dearly.
But it was that.. Thing. Puppeting his wife in a grotesque, insectoid-form, long metal roach droid-like limbs stabbing into the metal wall like it was shredding paper. She made a low grumble, the soft red stuff leaked out of her mouth like oil dripping out of a freshly opened wound. Between what looked to be her actual arms, she held a round little ball of metal, two lights glowing purple on its small face.
Uzi.
Every wire in his model froze still, he couldn’t move, he could only watch as it began to notice him, picking up on Khan’s anxiety. Its head turned unnaturally, it looked stiff yet it was able to turn all the way around. He swore he heard a snapping sound as her neck turned more and more.. It stopped, staring right into the eyes of Khan, her screen flickering and buzzing. His breathing was all that could be heard. It let the moment linger for an uncomfortably long time.
The creature clacked its robotic mandibles together, rubbing them together slightly, as if disappointed at Khan’s lack of movement, opening translucent wings as if trying to get a reaction out of him. The rest of her body turned, loosening the metal claws from the ceiling, making a long and loud screeching as it was dragged out of the roof. ‘Nori’ landed with a booming thud that ricocheted along the metal walls. Slowly, it turned its head upwards. It faced him again, making Khan shiver at the mere thought of knowing this thing knew for a fact who he was.
She wasn’t bothered by the bright light emitting from Khan’s flashlight despite having been completely shrouded by darkness just a few moments ago. Symbols flashed upon her cracked visor, though it was too far to properly read.
His eyes turned to Uzi, his and Nori’s precious “darling”, as she liked to call her, cradled in the arms of a monster. He shivered, he so badly wanted to just take Uzi and run, but he suspected from the moment his eyes realized Uzi was there that she wouldn’t let her go so easily, it would be a suicide mission if he tried. Khan tried to scan the area for something, but his silent panic cut off the scan, the mere presence of that thing overpowering the system.
He took a step back, holding the flashlight towards Nori as if it was a weapon.
She stepped forward.
Khan froze- damnit! Why couldn’t he just run? He didn’t dare try to look up, whatever the thing was, it wasn’t his wife, and whatever happened to Uzi.. He pushed those ideas to the back of his mind- was he that selfish!? He grumbled to himself, that was all he could do as he saw the drone steadily approaching, Khan closed his eyes, He could already feel the stabbing pain of those spindly limbs, why not just brace for it?
A slight jab at his chin and a huge wave of warmth forced him to look up, directly into the face of something. The middle section of her head was split open, a single row of sharp, yellowed teeth gleaming in the light of Khan’s flashlight. What remained of her mouth twisted into a crooked smile. She twitched, like some sort of bug, fly-like wings flicked as his breathing became louder, his core buzzed with anxiety as he got a good look at its face. Where normally it was pitch black in a drone’s mouth, there was just flesh, it didn’t look like she could speak. He flinched when the metal mandibles snapped at Khan, backing away just slightly to avoid being scratched.
She broke eye contact at last, looking down at Uzi. The little round ball blinked, not looking even slightly terrified, she was just created a few weeks ago after all. She held her a little closer, looking up at Khan as she heard him move even just slightly farther back. She moved in, closing the distance between them.
Khan could only muster out a few words from his shaky self, a shiver running down his artificial spine.
“W-what do you want..?”
She seemed confused at his question, like this was some regular occurrence. It tilted her head. After the awkward silence, she began to move, gently scooping up Uzi in her hands, presenting her to Khan, trying to smile wider with its shattered, already grinning face.
Khan, without a second thought, took Uzi, stepping back as soon as he had gotten a hold of her. It reminded him of the day they’d gotten their family photo, Nori giving Uzi to Khan for whatever odd reason, but that had made him happy.
And here he was, reliving that day with anxiety leaking into his oil, his core heavy and buzzing loud enough for someone to hear from just a room over, trembling with pure fear at the thing in front.
Something finally snapped within the worker drone, and he bolted, why he hadn’t done this sooner he’d never understand, he didn’t realize he was holding in his breath, letting himself hyperventilate as the echoing became louder and louder- Nori was getting closer, that thing that had her form was getting closer, he whipped his head around and-
Nothing.
Nobody was following him.
The worker fell dead on his tracks, before falling to his knees, his eyes felt heavy, his screen fading black and back again. He just sat there, in defeat, on the metal flooring of the outpost. The warmth was gone, any chance of getting an answer, gone as well, like the sun during an intense blizzard.
He got what he wanted, to get his daughter back and run. But he wasn’t sure if that was the right thing to do, Nori would come back, he knew that, and like a “gut feeling” the humans called it, that sinking feeling in his core, he’d never be able to talk about this.
Khan’s breathing was unsteady, his anxiety levels worsened, too tired to even move an inch. His screen finally blacked out, his breathing quieter and quieter, Uzi held gently in his arms was the only thing letting him feel safe as his vision faded out, and he leaned against the wall, ceasing movement for the night at long last.
…
[Force Shutdown initiated]
[Memory wipe progress: 0%]