Chapter Text
The sound of creaking metal could be heard as the blizzard raged on just outside the pod.
Inside, Uzi sat working on the pod's main control panel, desperately attempting to fix the central computer. However, it was proving to be more difficult than expected, as the internals looked like they had been completely torn and fried. She groaned in frustration as she realized she’d likely need to find entirely new parts to get this thing barely working.
The drone currently throwing a wrench at her wasn’t helping either.
Annoyed, she turned back to see V staring at her amusedly. She was tied to the chair, so there wasn’t much she could do other than annoy Uzi for fun. And with Uzi stuck in the pod trying to fix it, she had plenty of opportunities to do just that. “Really?” Uzi asked with an annoyed look on her face. “Oh come on, it was just a wrench. It’s not like it even hit you that hard.” V joked, her smile never leaving her face. “Though if you want something to complain about, I could start putting some extra effort into this.” a screwdriver was picked up from the floor as V tossed it from hand to hand, a more menacing expression on her face.
Uzi just rolled her eyes at this point. It had been nearly a month since she had banished herself from the colony and moved in with N and V, and she had gotten more than used to just ignoring V at this point, which only served to make V more determined to get a reaction out of her. Thankfully, N was normally there to keep V from taking things too far. Though speaking of N…
“Shouldn’t N be back by now?” she asked V, a hint of worry in her voice. He had gone out to collect oil from the broken worker drones to keep him and V going, but he had been gone a while at this point. “Don’t know, I didn’t pay much attention before, but there were a few times when he’d go out and not come back for days. Drove J insane every time since she could never find him.” V responded honestly, a smile creeping on her face as she remembered the rage outs J would have. Though there was a small strain on her smile, she did a good job keeping it hidden.
Now Uzi was worried. She could understand why N would leave when J was around, probably needed a break from her to keep himself sane. But now? Why would he leave now? Was it something V said? She hadn’t exactly been the friendliest to either of them, but she hadn’t done anything nearly as bad as what J had done. Was it something she had done? Had she said something wrong?
With the pod now quiet, Uzi picked up her tools and put them back into a rusted toolbox, before opening up the pod door. She looked back at V, who was seemingly lost in thought, “I’m gonna go look for. Don’t try ANYTHING while I’m gone, got it?” she told sternly, daring V to talk back.
When all she got was an eye-roll, she decided to just head out.
Uzi had to brace herself against the wind as she walked through the snow. The blizzard had somehow gotten worse from the time she had left the pod till now. Thankfully, worker drones were built to withstand harsh conditions like this, so it wasn’t too much of a bother. She had been searching for N for what seemed like hours though, and she was starting to get even more worried. He hadn’t wandered away this far during her time here. Had he gotten hurt? Had she done something wrong? The questions kept repeating themselves in her head.
Honestly, she couldn’t help but let out a chuckle the more she focused on her thoughts. After all, it seemed like only yesterday that she was making it her goal to wipe out the disassembly drones, and now she was worrying over one. But she just couldn’t help it.
N had wormed his way into her heart. His nearly endless positivity and support just broke down all her barriers. He never treated her like a freak the way her classmates did, listened to whatever she was saying instead of flat-out ignoring her, and always seemed to fret whenever she even seemed the slightest bit down. If it had been anyone else, she likely would have responded to him as she responded to Thad back in the nurse’s office. But hating N was like hating a puppy, it was flat-out impossible. (Unless you were J apparently). And so she made sure to put the few social skills she had into overdrive for him. But of course, the guy had just been too much, and now she could feel a blush slightly come onto her visor every time she thought about him. Although, she wouldn’t say it was a bad feeling.
She was snapped out of her thoughts as the sound of scraping metal made it to her audio receptors. Looking for the source, she found the noise coming from inside a building, where she could faintly make out a dim yellow light. So putting two and two together, she walked inside to find N.
When she entered, she noticed how everything around her seemed, oddly maintained. The walls were old but seemingly clean, the floors were spotless, and the shelves around her which housed various nick-nacks were devoid of any dust. 'Does N clean this place?' She wondered.
Said drone in question soon appeared as she turned a corner, leading to a small, yet cozy room with a bed near a window. N was sitting on it, looking out at the sky, seemingly lost in thought. Uzi wondered if he had even heard her come in at all. However, she noticed that one of his arms was twitching slightly, almost as if something was wrong with it. “N?” her answer came a second later as N slightly jumped in place at her voice before calming down when he realized who it was. “Oh Uzi, you startled me, hehe…” The strain in his voice was palpable, and Uzi immediately knew something was going on.
She walked up and sat beside him on the bed, hoping to get some answers. “N, what’s wrong?” she asked, worry creeping into her voice. “Oh-h, nothing. It’s nothing. It’s just I got a little claustrophobic inside the pod and… I just didn’t want to disturb you.” the strain was growing more prevalent, both in his voice and body as it seemed like he was on the brink of snapping. She knew exactly what was going on, so she decided to ask about his arm later.
“Is it about V and J?”
N froze as his teammates were mentioned. His breathing got faster, and his eyes darted around. Now Uzi had her answer, and so without a second thought, she pulled him down so his head was on her lap before stroking his hair. If the relaxed muscles and calmer breathing were anything to go by, it had the desired effect.
N simply laid there thinking. Ever since Uzi had come to live with them, he found himself thinking about everything he had gone through, especially what J had done to him. V had ignored him for years, but he always gave her the benefit of the doubt, thinking it was just memory issues.
But now?
He was slowly realizing what they had been doing, and sometimes he could feel his core heating up from the anger as the memories came back. And it scared him. He didn’t even know he had so much anger within him, but bottling up your thoughts and feelings for years did take its toll on anyone. And he could slowly feel those walls of positivity breaking down as the anger kept coming back.
But laying here now, it began to seep away. With every feeling of Uzi running her fingers through his hair, he could feel the boiling rage simmering out. She seemed to be the only one who could do it, as even being around V at this point made the metaphorical blood boil.
He silently thanked the universe for sending her his way.
It was funny in a way, both had their problems, and both had dealt with some awful drones, and yet they both seemed to have what the other lacked. Uzi had confidence and determination, fueled by N’s endless support and attention, while N held positivity and optimism, which was now being healthy and maintained by Uzi giving him the affection he had desperately craved for so long. They helped each other out, so it was no wonder they had bonded as much as they did.
“The sun’s coming up.” N looked out and saw Uzi closing the curtains to prevent him from burning, “Guess we’re gonna have to stay here for the day. Mind if I lay down?” N simply shook his head as he moved over, letting Uzi lie down beside him. He wrapped his wings around her before pulling her close, determined to keep her warm. Uzi only smiled and blushed at his actions, but hugged him back. It wasn’t the first time they had done this, as Uzi had fallen asleep in his arms before.
But it was purely platonic! And she didn’t want to overwhelm N with everything he was going through.
And so, as both began to drift into sleep mode, a single thought ran through their heads.
'I wish I could do more for you.'
And thus both fell asleep.
ERROR: A virus has been detected in MAINFRAME.
CURRENT STATUS: Unable to repair.
SOLUTION: Pending…
Only a few minutes after both had fallen asleep did N’s visor show a virus warning, alongside him letting out a grunt of pain, alongside his arm twitching again. It had been showing it for weeks, but he hadn’t wanted to worry Uzi over it. His best guess was that it was some piece of whatever virus J had infected him with back at the bunker, but he was sure that his system could fight it off.
Now though, it seemed the virus was spreading too far for his system to simply keep fighting, and so it was now desperately attempting to find a solution to get rid of it. It sent out a help request to the administrator.
And it would soon receive an answer, but not from who it was expecting, but rather from the purple-haired drone laying next to N.
Uzi’s visor had turned on, displaying a message:
REQUEST RECEIVED.
SENDER: SD-N
REQUEST: SYSTEM CLEANSING, REPAIR AND IMPROVEMENT
AWAITING INPUT FROM HOST.
Inside her mind, Uzi awoke in what appeared like an empty void. It was deafeningly silent as she stood up. She looked around, wondering where she was.
And she had the worst feeling that she was being watched.
But before she could think about it, she heard N’s voice calling out for her, panic and fear laced within it. She looked around frantically, N's voice coming from all sides. “N! N!” she screamed out hoping desperately to hear a response. And before she could continue to scream, a message appeared in front of her.
DO YOU ACCEPT REQUEST FROM SD-N?
(Y/N)?
Uzi looked at the message confused, and somewhat worried. But as another one of N’s screams came out from the void, that worry was replaced with determination as she looked back at the message and made her choice.
YES SELECTED.
THANK YOU.
And then Uzi blacked out.
Back in the real world, Uzi’s body went limp as she made her selection. Her visor now displayed a brand new message:
REQUEST ACCEPTED.
AWAITING RESPONSE FROM SENDER.
N’s system had received the acceptance request and was now considering the options. There was one program that could potentially fix things, as well as improve their host. But this ‘Uzi’ was a worker drone, and that could cause a multitude of problems. But it was their best shot, as SD-V wouldn’t be as compatible and would likely cause even more damage due to its host's thoughts on her.
And thus, it was decided.
ASSISTANCE ACCEPTED.
INITIALIZING FUSION PROTOCOL
RESPONSE FROM HOST: ‘Uzi’
PROTOCOL ACCEPTED.
Suddenly, nanites began to spread out of N's body as they began to incase both him and Uzi. They rose, beginning to form a sort of cocoon around them. The last thing appearing on their visors as the cocoon closed, was a symbol of a square with three arrows.