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[KNOCKED TF OUT]...\
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[REBOOTING]
Two pale-yellow eyes emerged from the black screen before they quickly hollowed. The claustrophobic, now buried, section of the cave was still shuddering from the cave-in. N shot up, instinctually gasping at the shock, his mind still fuzzy from the sudden wake-up.
“Uzi!?” he yelled out, giving a small grunt as he tried to get his entombed arm out of the debris that had fallen on it. “UZI!” his voice now echoed throughout the passage. What exactly had just happened?
Oh... right, what hadn’t happened? He had pushed Uzi too far, nearly hurting her in his desperation to unblock the elevator passage, and V was almost certainly-
That was no way to be thinking. At least, not in this situation. First, he had to assess the situation and find his bearings as fast as possible. Unfortunately, there was one slight roadblock to that plan.
N glanced over to the mangled arm. Oil oozed out from the surrounding rock, fingers twitching with no feeling. The drone’s arm raised and swiftly swapped out for a surgical saw. Judging from the tug he gave earlier, this was the only way out.
That didn’t mean this wasn’t going to suck. He gave himself a quick sigh before he muttered a mantra he knew all too well. He found it helped him take his mind off the task and persevere through even the most adverse of situations.
“ I deserve this. I deserve this. I deserve this. ” the boy clamped his eyes shut as he began the first sawing motion.
The top layer of snow violently spread out as the disassembly drone made touch down. The masculine figure hesitated momentarily before beginning the walk into the corpse spire. He did always find it to be a bit grotesque and an unnecessary show, but he would never admit that to his squad.
That wasn’t why he was hesitating, though. He had seen the spire hundreds of times before. The reason for his reluctance was because of what had happened just prior.
While out on what should have been a standard patrol, N happened to have crossed paths with J. She was cautiously looking around a dilapidated old human mall.
Since oil has been scarce lately, N decided he should offer to hunt with J. Maybe that way they could combine efforts to find some drones? It could even be like one of those ‘team bonding’ he had once heard J mention when she was going over the employee handbook again.
With this decided, N decided to swoop down to make this offer to his boss. Landing less than graciously nearby with a loud thud, he began. “H-Heya J, since I noticed we were both here and...” his voice quickly trailed off when noticing that her eyes had begun to bore holes through him with a violent glance. He much more softly whispered, “ I now realize that maybe I should've- ”
“ Stayed quiet? The toasters here better have not hear- ” it looked like she might have continued to deride him, but a shrill whistle echoed out, catching both of their attention.
“MURDER DRONES! SCATTER!” a worker drone’s voice reverberated throughout the mall. The source, accompanied by the pattering and clanking of metal feet, appeared to have originated from behind one of the countless walls. J’s eyes adopted multiple stress lines before she gave up any semblance of stealth. Wings sprouted, and she dove towards where the worker drone had started running.
N froze for a moment before an iconic X came over his visor. In the oncoming commotion, he managed to shoot one drone but let countless others escape. J had managed to track down more than he could, but it still paled in comparison to what should have been reaped from such an excursion.
“The spire. Now.” J hissed up at N, prodding him hard enough in the chest to leave a dent. N could only give a shaky nod in response.
The tall boy timidly walked into the spire, noticing J standing just outside the landing pod. She sucked on a mutilated worker drone arm, searching for any last drop of oil left. She tossed it aside with a shrug upon his arrival.
“N, just the drone I wanted to see.” she commented as she slowly pranced towards him. Eventually, she was within an arm's reach before she stopped.
“Are-are you not upset with me?” N managed to choke out after a second. Maybe she wasn’t as mad as he had thought?
“Upset? Of course not,” she said, examining the back of her hand. “I am beyond furious.” She quickly traded out the hand for a long, serrated blade. She ruthlessly plunged it into N’s lower stomach before ripping it out, taking chunks of metal with it.
N let out a quick gasp before crumpling to his knees before her. As he had fallen closer to her, J kicked the underside of his head, causing him to fall backwards.
“You have managed to show complete and utter incompetence in every single task that I give you. The JCJenson handbook only suggests that I give verbal reprimands, but those have clearly been shown ineffective.” she scolded him. She took another step forward, crushing his left calf now. “If anything, I should terminate you for insubordination. However, I am kind, so I will do my best to help you change.”
“ Th-thank... you...” N managed to squeak out, trying his best to ignore the shooting pain warnings his system was giving him.
“To make sure you really learn your lesson, throughout this entire punishment, I want you to repeat one phrase. ‘I deserve this’. Surely even you can follow directions this basic?” She said with a scowl on her face, changing out her hand again for a small chain gun.
“ Y-ye-” N didn’t manage to get out the entire syllable before the gun started unloading onto his body. He began screaming and writhing in pain as multiple bullets hit oil tubes and parts with heavier plating.
“Wrong words. Try again.” J corrected his behavior, giving him a small window for him to speak to make sure he understood the directive.
It took N a moment before he could attempt to speak again. “ I-I des-serve this...” at this, J gave a small smirk accompanied by a light nod. This lasted only a moment before the continued sounds of gunshots, blades, and occasional whimpers of defeat filled the air until his punishment had finished.
It had taken a lot of courage for N to approach V like this. Like she’d ever give him her time, but he thought it was at least worth a shot. No matter what happens, at least he can say that he tried afterwards.
“And yet, I still feel nothing.” V said after letting out a sadistic laugh. The freshly disemboweled kill lies right at her feet. N hesitated for a moment before realizing that this was his chance.
“So, V, uh...” he stumbled out. “I heard this planet-wide toxic death storm is supposed to be especially inhospitable tonight.” Alright, now time for the hard part. Now he just needed to ask her if she wanted to-
“Huh? Oh, God! Who are you?” V was shocked at this sudden appearance. Her wings sprouted, and she flew off before he could finish what he was saying. Snow tossed and turned about in the air at this rapid departure.
“U-uh, no worries! I’m N!” the shocked boy sounded out. “B-but a-a whole letter is a lot to remember!” V had long disappeared before he could finish this sentence, too. He let out a forced chuckle at the situation.
It couldn’t have gone any worse. He was prepared for rejection, but her acting like she had never seen him before in the first place? For some reason, it stung him more than he ever thought it should have.
He stood there for a beat, then two. Eventually, it had been well over a minute or two. The night was still young, so he decided that it was alright to stay for a while. J-just to get ready to patrol, though!
He slid to his knees before curling them in on his body. He let out an involuntary, shaky laugh—the first sound he had made in a while. Soon, light tears started to form on his visor, a continued laugh turning more into a sob.
What had he done to deserve this? Was she also unimpressed with his hunting capabilities? She never seemed to care about how others performed... He hadn’t done much to annoy or bother her, except exist near her at least.
N slowly started to rock himself back and forth. He felt his core ache, it was a far worse pain than any punishment J had used before. Only one thing came to his mind to help him come to terms with the pain and push it to the back of his mind.
“ I deserve this... I deserve this... I deserve this...” he pitifully whispered to himself. He continued the slow rocking motions as tears continued to fall like raindrops on his visor.
He thought he had gotten past this. He thought he had gotten better. He thought that he was better than this.
N lay near the cockpit of the shuttle. He was curled up into as small of a ball as he could. Her words continued to echo through his mind.
‘What... are you things?’ she had said. She looked so confused, hurt, and betrayed. His very existence had wronged her. Although that was no unfamiliar feeling to N.
Despite this, it still hurt just as much. He had cried his heart out before he entered the shuttle again, he couldn’t stand having V see him like that. It didn’t make him feel any better about the situation, though.
V’s comments didn’t help. “I hate your personality normally, but this is somehow worse.” He had flinched at that one. “What am I being punished for?”
He didn’t have the heart to say anything to her. Instead, he curled up on himself more, shielding his face from the outside world. He went back to what he knew just might help. Even in the face of pain, or hardship, his mantra did everything it could to keep him together.
“I deserve this. I deserve this. I deserve this.”