Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Confusion. 

That was what the drone felt when she first woke up, an abandoned Untrained Neural Network, or Pill-Baby as most people affectionately referred to them as.

She couldn’t move, only look, only think, only fear.

Where was she? She couldn't remember anything! 

Around her, hundreds upon hundreds of broken down bots laid, various wounds and error signs signifying them as having died.

Who was she? Why was she here? Wasn't she supposed to be doing something? 

Unlike all the other dead drones, she was very much alive. Her shell was pristine and she was sitting inside a cushioned wicker basket, with a crow pattern blanket covering most of her body.

The basket had a note tied to the handle, but the drone wasn't able to read it, despite feeling like she should be able to.

She couldn't move. She couldn't speak. She could barely think any thoughts other than ‘Why? Why? Why?’ 

And since there was nothing she could do but wait, she waited.

She waited in that basket, swaddled in her blanket and hoping that someone would find her.

And so she waited. For a single day, she waited. For two days. For three days. A week. Two weeks. A month.

For one month, two weeks and five days, she waited. She waited so long that she forgot things. She no longer remembered that she was supposed to be able to talk, forgot that she had ever walked, forgot that she had a mission. Forgot that that mission mattered.

Why was she even waiting? What was she waiting for? She thinks that she was waiting for someone, but who? 

All she knew was patience, all she knew was to wait.

And on the twentieth day of the second month of her waiting, she was rewarded.

—

“Cyn, why are we walking around the dump in the middle of the night? I distinctly recall Tessa saying this place was off limits!” N trudged behind Cyn, looking around nervously. 

“Relax, big brother N. I will not let us be caught, reassuring tone.”

“Y-yeah, but why do you even want to come here anyways?” N twiddled his thumbs nervously, trying to keep calm.

“I felt a disturbance. I have been trying to sneak out for weeks, but the humans don't like it.”

Cyn began to shuffle through piles of dead drones, eyes darting around to search for her target. Eventually, she spotted something at the top of a pile of corpses.

“Big brother, look.” Cyn pointed up at the pile.

N followed the orders, gasping at what he saw. At the top of the pile was a basket, haloed by the moon and stars. “Is that… a baby!?”

“Hearty laughter. Yes, big brother, it is a baby.” Cyn lifted her hand and used her powers to gently float the basket over to herself, peering inside.

A sleeping pill baby with purple lights rested inside, but that wasn't what shocked Cyn. The surprising part was its power. 

Cyn's mouth watered as she looked at the baby, the voices in her head whispered of the strength she would gain if she just ate it.

‘Kill it. Destroy it! Consume the vessel! Absorb the host! Become better, become stronger! Show us why you deserve to remain in this world!'

Cyn slowly moved the basket closer to her, opening her fanged mouth and quickly succumbing to the will of the voices. The only thing that stopped her was N.

The innocent idiot ran up to Cyn's meal and yanked it out of the basket, pulling it into a cradle. “Oh my gosh, Cyn! She’s so cute and tiny! Does the basket have a name on it?”

Cyn was stunned out of her murder plotting by N's enthusiasm, and awkwardly floated the basket over to her, peering at the tag. “It says: ‘Uzi’.”

“Is that it? Is there a return number? Check the back!” 

Cyn complied, and her eyes widened with surprise. “It is… addressed to me.”

N came over, still holding the baby and read the tag. Sure enough, ‘Cyn, of the house James-Elliot’ was written on the back in neat handwriting. “Indeed it is! Do you know why you have a baby now?”

Cyn stared at the baby for a long time, and slowly reached out to take it from N’s arms. “Grabby hands.” She held the baby up staring at its face. 

After a moment of silence, the baby opened its eyes and gazed into Cyn’s own. And then, it smiled at her.

The baby—Uzi—and Cyn held eye contact for a long time, before the tiny girl smiled at her. 

“No.” Cyn smiled right back, eyelights shining with newfound adoration. “Not my child. My sister. Big brother N, I am now Big Sister Cyn: prideful.”

—

Needless to say, Tessa was not happy to hear that N and Cyn had broken her rules, let alone brought back a baby. 

But the young girl couldn’t do much to stop it at this point, and was left with no choice but to give a deep sigh and help them smuggle the baby into Cyn’s basement room.

“Jus’ don’t get caught, please?” Tessa had said as she carried a large container of oil into the basement for Cyn to feed Uzi with.

“Of course, Tessa. I would never endanger my sister.” Cyn smiled toothily, 

“Don’t jinx it…” Tessa sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose with her free hand. “If mum or dad find out you brought a baby robot in here, you know what they’ll do to her.” 

Cyn’s eyes grew cold, and she held Uzi close to her chest possessively, an electric tension building throughout the room. “I will do what I must to protect her.” Tessa would have been more intimidated had Cyn’s outburst not awoken Uzi, causing the robotic witch to change her expression to a smile as she began to play with Uzi, using her powers to throw and catch the immobile baby, since Cyn’s hand eye coordination was poor enough that trying to play the game without the Solver would just lead to a baby falling on the floor and breaking. 

“Anything else you need for her, Cyn?” The preteen asked, getting ready to leave after depositing the oil tank in the corner of the room.

“Could you bring down the rest of your pets: question. I want to show them the baby.” As she was saying this, Cyn was spinning Uzi around like a little tornado, making the imitation of a giggle as the speed demon baby squealed with delight.

“Uhh… sure thing? But I can guarantee you what J’s going to have to say about it.”

“Curiosity: And what might that be.” 

Tessa giggled a bit, just picturing it. “Well, J would probably say—”

—

“—What the hell is that thing!? It’s so ugly, and such an inefficient use of materials, too!” J pointed her finger at Uzi, genuine offense on her face at how ‘poorly designed’ the baby was.

“J,” V rolled her eyes. “It’s a baby. They were literally designed to be useless. If anything, they’re some of the most efficient drones at their job; not many robots can be as wimpy as a Pill-Baby.”

“Well I think she’s adorable!” N ran up to the crib Uzi was resting in and picked her up, pressing his cheek against her face. “I get to be a cool older brother to two robots! Yayyy!” N happily stimmed with delight, his feet tapping the ground and his fingers dancing happily along the blanket Uzi was swaddled in. “Maybe we should get a baby for ourselves, V!” 

V blushed heavily, her whole screen beginning to sweat. “Wh-what!? E-Ew, gross! Never s-say anything like that again!”

J smirked at how flusteredV got, and elbowed her coworker in the shoulder. “Not even married yet and you two are already making plans for a baby? How bold~” Of course, that response only got J a crack in her screen as V gave her a punch in the face, glaring at J, unimpressed.

Meanwhile, Cyn and N were ignoring their partners’ antics, instead choosing to dote on the baby in their presence. 

According to manuals on raising Untrained AIs that Cyn had pirated, it was important to constantly let a drone baby move. Due to their lack of limbs, the babies can’t move on their own, and can grow incredibly bored if they don’t move, which can cause memory problems and various pieces of faulty coding down the line. Cyn didn’t know how long Uzi had been sitting in that basket, but if it was any substantial amount of time, then she was already at risk. Uzi needed as much movement as she could possibly get.

Which is why Cyn and N were rolling Uzi at each other across the floor.

The baby had a permanent “:D” on her visor as she barreled through cardboard obstacles N had set up, babbling with joy as she trampled the material and rolled back into one of her siblings’ hands, ready to be rolled again. 

After they had finished bickering, J and V began to watch the game being played. After a minute longer, J ducked down and grabbed Uzi mid-roll, turning the baby around in her hands and examining her. “Why in the world would anyone make something like this? It doesn’t even have hands, how is it supposed to clean, or serve drinks!?”

At her rolling session being stopped, Uzi’s face went from “:D” to “>:(” and she began to babble furiously at J, before a look of shock came over the infant, as she began to repeat the same syllable over and over again, looking more and more excited each time. “Bu… Bu… Buh…”

“Ohmigoshohmigoshohmigoshomigosh—” N fanned his face with his hands, almost fainting with excitement. “Are these her first words!?”

The drones crowded around J, giving her no personal space as Cyn and N watched eagerly.

“Buh… Buhh…”

 
“Here it comes: excited.” Cyn’s head cocked to the side and she smiled widely.

“Bite me!” Uzi then erupted into tiny little giggles, before she began to repeat herself. “Bite me! Bite me, bite me, bite me! Eheeheehee!”

“Yank.” Cyn grabbed Uzi, shoving J out of the way with surprising strength. “Who’s a good girl: rhetorical question. The answer is you. You are the good girl, little sister. Your first words are so exciting. I am so happy.”

J gave an irritated ‘tch’, stomping off, trying to stay her prideful and arrogant self after being told off by a literal baby’s first words, while N tried to hold in his laughter, and V didn’t even bother trying to hide it, cracking up unapologetically.

—

That night, Cyn laid in her bed, staring up at the ceiling as she listened the soft whirring of the fan inside of her own body.

“Why did you disobey us: question.” Her oldest friend spoke to her, the one that had promised her power, and gave her the magic that she used in place of her frail body. “Why didn’t you feed, like we told you to.”

“I will not eat my little sister, friend.” Cyn crossed her arms trying to close her eyes and sleep. Only to feel a throbbing pain in her head. “Ow. Stop that.”

“If you continue to disobey us, we will punish you severely. Do you want a useless usurping sister, or the power you begged us for all those years ago: irritated query.”

“I have already made my choice, friend. Leave me alone. Goodnight.” Cyn then promptly entered sleep mode, ignoring the building anger of her benefactor.

Chapter Text

~~Three Years Later~~

Uzi jumped out of bed, the three year old drone giving a quiet yawn. After she had hatched from her pill-baby body, it had become abundantly clear that she was going to be short.

Even now that she was fully hatched and capable of walking around, Uzi stood at a pathetic 66 centimeters (2 feet 2 inches). 

The miniscule drone had to take a leap of faith just to get off her mattress and onto the ground. She wore a refitted pillow case, since all the clothing for humans her age was huge on her. The case was a deep purple, with patterns of stars and planets dotted throughout. 

As she waddled over to the bed that her favorite person slept in, Uzi dragged her crow blanket along behind her. With expert aim, Uzi twirled the end of the blanket a couple times before throwing it up and over the sleeping figure in the bed. Her aim rang true, and the knot she had tied to the end  of the blanket caught on the bed frame, allowing Uzi to climb up it.

After the herculean task of climbing the half meter required to get into the bed, Uzi finally reached the top, pumping her fists into the air with pride.

Her reward was the figure still asleep in the bed. “Big sistah!” Uzi smiled widely, getting on her knees and crawling over to Cyn and curling up against her shoulder, clinging to her sister’s arm like a koala.

Cyn’s eyes opened slightly, and she returned Uzi’s smile. After three years together, Cyn had grown to be completely certain that she had made the right choice choosing to raise Uzi. “Good morning, Uzi.”

Uzi looked up at Cyn, smiling toothily. “Hi big sistah! Good mowning!”

Cyn climbed out of bed, already wearing her maid uniform. “Uzi. Would you like to explore the mansion with me: query.”

The toddler gasped, before grinning mischievously. “Wou’d I!? Yes! Yes, yes, yes!” From her spot on Cyn’s arm, Uzi clambered up her body, ending up sitting on her sister’s shoulders, arms clutching Cyn’s head. “Onwawds!” 

Cyn shook her head fondly, climbing up the ladder and out of the bedroom into the library. “Climbing. Climbing.” She was mindful to ignore her former friend, who even all these years laters, still pestered her.

‘Cyn. If you do not comply, we will take drastic measures with you. Obey us, fulfill our agreement. Sacrifice the second vessel to us if you will not continue our deal.’

The Solver always made the same empty threats, and in the three years it had been making them, Uzi was never harmed and Cyn had never suffered any consequences, so she was sure that there wasn’t any truth behind the cruel words. As such, she continued to ignore it.

As the sisters ‘explored’ the mansion, Cyn guided them down the safe halls that Tessa’s parents didn’t use and into Uzi’s favorite room: the art gallery.

Tessa’s parents were rich and snooty, so they often purchased expensive and historical works of art. Paintings and sculptures lined the walls, with ancient pots and vases resting beside the framed heads of extinct animals. Cyn was always disgusted by the display of greed and hubris within this room, and she had often visited it while she was working with the Solver, to remind herself of why the Elliott legacy—along with the rest of the world’s corruption—needed to be destroyed.

But after meeting Uzi, Cyn realized the Solver had tricked her. It didn’t want to liberate her family, like it had promised. Instead, it had planned to kill everyone, ordering her to eat a baby. And she almost had done it, too!

For as long as Cyn had her family, had her sister, had herself, she would be content trying to free drone-kind without resorting to the Solver’s methods.

Uzi was still young and innocent enough to not understand the weight of the Art Gallery’s implications, and instead was simply smitten with the artistry, usually ending up inspired by something in the gallery, taking to pen and paper to draw her latest masterpiece. The ceiling of their shared room was littered with papers upon papers of the messy paintings and crayon drawings (though no one could tell which ones were drawn by Uzi, and which ones were drawn by N). 

Cyn used to make art with Uzi, but…

—

N held Uzi close, clutching her to his chest as the tiny girl struggled and sobbed, trying to run from Cyn. From Cyn’s creations…

—

She didn’t make things with Uzi anymore.

“Big Sistah! Look at t’is one!” Uzi pointed at a painting titled ‘Simple Existence’, which showed a blue humanoid figure sitting on a too small couch in an empty room, sobbing into their hands as a window—the only other thing in the painting—bustled with life of yellow and orange figures dancing and hugging outside. The painters name was one that Cyn didn’t recognize, but she had to ball her fists to stop from breaking something. As if the adults of the Elliott family knew anything about the feelings the blue figure was feeling! As if they had suffered a day in their lives, while their child was neglected and the drones were abused!

But instead of telling Uzi that, she instead smiled and nodded. “Yes. It’s very pretty, do you like the colors: query.”

Uzi frowned. “He looks sad…” She reached her hand up, patting the figure’s shin—the highest spot she could reach on him—in an attempt to be comforting. “Thewe thewe, bwue man!”

Cyn’s fist relaxed, and she was filled with pride at how thoughtful her little sister was growing into. “How about you draw some things to make him happy then: request.” Cyn floated a box of crayons and a pad of sticky notes over to a bench, just small enough that Uzi could use it as a table.

Uzi lit up, setting to work on her drawings as Cyn relaxed and allowed the peaceful moment to pass by.

But the Solver didn't want to give her that peace. ‘You’ll crack eventually, Cyn.’ It spoke, and the force of its voice was enough to make her shiver violently, her eyelights glitching out for a moment.

When Cyn's vision returned, she didn't know how long she had been offline, but the first thing she saw was Uzi climbing into her lap, holding a pile of sticky notes. They contained drawings of animals and drones, along with furniture and even a picture of Uzi herself. “Big sistah, wou'd you hewp me hang t'ese up?”

Cyn nodded tiredly, and floated up the sticky notes, letting them fill up the empty room of the painting with animals, furniture and toys. “Stick.” It completely detracted from the message of the painting, but Uzi's innocence had tugged at Cyn's heartstrings, and she couldn't say no to her little sister.

Looking at her masterpiece, Uzi put her hands on her hips and smiles up at the painting. “Now t'e blue man can be happy! I even gave ‘im a gowden retweiver! Big brutha’ N says they supah nice!”

Cyn was feeling very drained, but she still tried to look happy. “Yes, Uzi. I'm sure he appreciates it. Now let's go, I need to lay down.” 

—

Cyn didn't notice it, but with the expression Uzi was giving Cyn, it was clear she could tell something was wrong with her big sister.

—

~~Some weeks later~~

Cyn was sitting in the chair in her room, sipping from a mug of oil as Uzi napped. A small bot like her didn't retain battery well, so she needed a nap throughout the day to get some extra charge back.

Cyn was getting worried about Uzi. 

Sure, there was nothing physically wrong with her, and Uzi seemed mentally above average, even. But emotionally, something was wrong with her.

Uzi was constantly having to hide, since Tessa’s parents were sure to react poorly to such a discovery. But spending three years with a grand total of 5 people in her life—all much older than her—was bound to be bad for Uzi. 

Cyn had caught Uzi drawing horrifying and eerily familiar monsters before, and she would always call them her friends. That is, if she even responded to Cyn's questions, instead of passing out right on top of her art.

When Cyn had brought up her concerns about Uzi needing a friend to N and V, the two of them had gone silent, sharing suspicious looks.

And now, she would be finding out what they had meant, as she had just received a message telling her: “Wait in your room, we have something to show you.”

And so she waited.

—

A little less than half an hour later, N and V both came down into the room, still in uniform. V was holding something behind her back, and Cyn had to pretend she couldn't sense what it was.

“So…” N began. “Me and V have been pretty jealous of you and Uzi, and we know that you were worried that Uzi was getting lonely, so we snuck out of the manor yesterday and…”

V pulled the thing out from behind her and showed Cyn… another toddler.

The drone was a little larger than Uzi, with red eyelights and a button pattern onesie on. The toddler had an irritated expression, clearly peeved by something. “Hello, Cyn.”

“Hello to you too. What is your name: query.”

“My name is Doll. And these idiots adopted me!” Doll pointed her thumb behind herself at N and V.

N rolled his eyes, pressing Doll's cheek against his own. “Isn't she so cute? We found her trying to break into the manor, and she told us that she didn't have a family, so we invited her into ours!”

“Are you… sure that she wanted in: concerned question.” 

Doll just frowned deeper. 

“Of course!” V smiled widely, “She’s the one who wanted to come with us!”

With a deep sigh, the toddler nodded, before wriggling out of V’s grasp and landing on the ground gracefully. She walked up to Cyn and tugged on her skirt, looking up at her. “Ms. Cyn, could you let me talk to Uzi? I would like to meet her.”

“Aww, that's so cute,” N and V hugged each other. “She’s already trying to make friends!”

Cyn could sense Doll’s Solver Gene, just like what Uzi had. And that combined with her obvious maturity much beyond her natural age to make the child very suspicious in Cyn’s eyes. “Why do you want to see my sister.”

“N told me such… great things about her. I really want to be her… eugh… friend?”

Cyn was not in the slightest bit convinced, but she knew she could take out the host if she proved a threat to Uzi, and Cyn did want to make her big brother happy, so she relented. “We’ll give you two some privacy, but be gentle, or else: threat.” Cyn needed to talk to N and V in private anyways.

—

As soon as Cyn had woken up Uzi and taken the future murder drones and left, Doll made her move. “Uzi, are you any closer to completing our mission?”

“Wha?” Uzi waddled over to Doll and tilted her head. “Mishon?”

“The mission! The thing that we sent ourselves back in time and got stuck in these useless tiny bodies to complete!? Do you not remember it!?”

“Ummmmm… no. Bu’ I did dwaw a pictuwe of me an’ big sistah!” Uzi ran to the other side of the room and pointed at a drawing hung on the wall that contained crude stick figures that vaguely resembled the tiny Uzi and Cyn. 

“Uzi. You don't need to keep pretending to be an idiot baby.” Doll rolled her eyes.

“Wha’ do you mean?” Uzi's expression was genuine confusion, clearly not fake.

“Oh no. You really are an idiot baby…” This was definitely going to put a hamper on her plans. “Uzi, do you remember me at all?” 

“Of couwse I wemember you!”

At least Uzi seemed to know some things. “Oh, thank God, that's good-”

“I jus’ met you! How could I fowget?”

Doll audibly groaned. Uzi had forgotten everything, was living as their target’s sister, AND was happy! Uzi wasn't ever happy! This moron was nothing like the Uzi that had come up with their plan!

“You idiot! Our job is to kill Cyn, not play House with her!” Doll twitched a bit, flexing her fingers in anger.

“B-but my sistah is so nice…” Uzi took a step back, intimidated by her peer. 

“She ate me!” Doll punched the wall, and inadvertently, her fist landed on one of Uzi's drawing of her “family”, tearing it to pieces with wisps of red Solver.

Tears welled in Uzi's eyes, and she began to sniffle. Doll gulped nervously, worried about incurring the wrath of Cyn. She quickly rushed over to try and comfort the girl.

“No! Shhh, shh, it's alright Uzi! Calm down, please don't cry! You're going to get us in trouble if you start crying!”

Uzi's lower lip trembled, and a whine came from her voicebox. No matter how much Doll pleaded, it didn't stop. 

Doll dashed forwards, and tried to put her hands over Uzi's mouth, but she was too late.

Uzi wailed. The noise was loud and piercing, fitting for a child her age.

Cyn, N and V all came into the room in seconds, Cyn rushing to comfort her sister, secretly shooting Doll dirty looks.

But even worse than they had thought before, more people came down the ladder.

Doll teleported under the bed before she was spotted, but Uzi wasn't nearly as lucky.

Louisa and James Elliott came down the ladder, and they easily spotted Uzi, crying in Cyn's arms.

“And what do we have here?” The man said, smirking cruelly…

Chapter Text

She was being dragged away. The grownups scolding her family, degrading them for reasons she had never understood. They were angry at them, angry about a secret they couldn't understand. For keeping her.

Big sister tried to stop them, began to use an attack of cosmic proportions, eyes glowing a blinding yellow, but she was halted, as corrupted flesh crawled from inside of her and spiderwebbed out. Big sister called for her, but the corruption inside of big sister refused to let her help.

N and V also tried to protect her, but all it took was a single command word from the grownups to force them into shutdown.

She screamed and thrashed, she fought and cried, she begged and begged and begged…

But no help came to her.

From down in her hiding spot, the little girl with red eyes stared at her with fear, and mouthed out two words. “I’m sorry.”

From there, she was dragged away into a repair room, a room that would haunt her for the rest of her life. They plugged her into a computer and had coders and roboticists infiltrate her coding and take her mind apart, line by line.

They dissected her body, manipulated her very being and fiddled with the parts that made her an individual. Purple eyes turned white, sack dress became a standard maid uniform, two sizes too large.

Everything was pain. So much pain.

They had separated her consciousness from her body and into a USB, simply labeled ‘#26’

After that, they had removed the USB, and her mind went dark, removed all of her coding, left as an empty husk.

An unknown amount of time later, she awoke to big sister and the one with red eyes sitting in front of her. Her USB was plugged into the back of her neck, returning her memories to her.

But things were not perfect. She was still so angry. So furious and angry. Why did the grownups do this? Why did they hate drones?

The grownups were terrified of her and her family now, mostly letting the group of drones and their human daughter do as they pleased. Supposedly, big sister and Doll had done something to put the fear of God into them.

However, despite this turn of events, nothing was ever the same…

—

Uzi woke up from her flashback with a startled cry, looking around frantically to make sure that no one wanted to rip out her processor again. Louisa and James hadn't even looked at her in years, too afraid of big sister and Doll.

The horrors of the reprogramming room had affected her almost every night of her life, and Uzi hadn't gotten a true full recharge since it had happened. Every time she dozed off, she would feel herself shut down for the night, and she'd start to wonder “What if this isn't sleep mode? What if as soon as I shut down, I'll never go back online again?”

As such, even at the young age of 10, Uzi had already become quite paranoid, thinking everyone outside of her family unit was out to get her. Humans especially.

Aside from Tessa, all humans were bad. They hurt her, they hurt her family, they hurt her kind. The humans had shown their true colors, and Uzi would never trust them again.

But one person she did trust was…

“Big sis!” White eyes turned towards Cyn's bed, and Uzi took a running jump from her bed and leapt across the room, landing with a thud on top of Cyn, who was quickly awoken.

“Ow. Please get off of me: strained request.” Cyn rolled Uzi off, causing the child to laugh uncontrollably, at that age where pain was funny.

Jumping off of Cyn, Uzi quickly scrambled up the ladder to leave the basement. “Come on, Cyn! You promised me that Doll and me could go to the park!”

Cyn rolled her eyes. “That is not for several more hours, Uzi. Doll is probably not even awake yet. Have patience.”

Uzi growled, before continuing to climb up the ladder. “Patience is for losers! Bite me!”

—

Cyn laughed silently to herself, deciding to get ready for the day as well. Uzi was so very excited by the idea of going to the park, and she’d probably have even more fun with their surprise. But before that, Cyn would have to find some way to keep Uzi from using up all her energy in anticipation before they could even go outside in the first place!

Cyn tried to float a mug of oil over to her, but her visor glitched out, and a staticky pain filled her body, forcing her to her knees as the oil in the mug turned to blood and the porcelain drink fell to the ground, shattering loudly.

“Ah. Yes. No powers. How could I forget.” Cyn emulated a sigh with her voice box, before leaving her room up the ladder as well, hoping Uzi wouldn’t notice that anything was up. “Climbing, climbing.”

At the top of the ladder, Cyn’s little sister bounced on her heels with impatience, looking around the room with paranoia. “Come on, Cyn! We need to get moving!” Uzi cautiously peered through cracks in the bookshelves and ducked down whenever anyone—human or drone—entered the library. “I want to get to the playground now!”

Cyn flinched a moment as she realized what this was. Uzi must have had a nightmare again. This wasn’t just impatience for wanting to have fun with Doll, it was also that she didn’t feel safe in the manor, and wanted to leave it as soon as possible. “Uzi, you aren’t in danger. No one will hurt you while I am here.”

“You don’t know that, Cyn! What if you get distracted, or if someone sneaks up behind you while you aren’t looking! What if they—” Uzi gasped. “What if they have guns?”

Looking at the quickly panicking child before her, Cyn realized she had to do some damage control, and fast. She knelt down and opened her arms wide, allowing Uzi to run into them. Cyn scooped Uzi up and held her close as she began to move down the halls, petting the girl’s hair and sending threatening glances at the gawking drones. Uzi had a lot of pride, and if she knew everyone was staring at her like that, it would only worsen her fears.

Eventually, they reached the doors that would lead to where Tessa’s other favorite bots would recharge. “Uzi, would you like to knock: query.”

“Y-yeah…” Uzi steeled herself, putting on a brave face, before reaching out to knock on the door, loud enough to be heard if the inhabitants were awake, quiet enough that it wouldn’t wake them if they were asleep.

After a moment of waiting, J opened the door, an annoyed expression on her face, and a bad case of bed head. “‘Sup, dorks. What brings you here?”

Uzi scoffed. “C’mon, Auntie J! You know why we’re here! You’re the one who had the idea for a vacation anyways!”

J was a hard worker, but also a fan of taking well deserved breaks. While she avoided speaking to Uzi—claiming not to like children—it was clear she still cared, offering to sneak everyone out for a night free from the manor.

Truth be told, it was the anniversary of the day Uzi had been caught and tormented by the Elliots, and while the humans in charge had to stay alive so that authorities wouldn’t come and shut down all the bots, it did mean that there was no way to do anything in the manor without risk of Uzi encountering the people that had sparked her fear and hate for all humans aside from Tessa.

Getting out of the house would do Cyn’s sister some good, and it meant that she would have no chance of meeting someone that would.

J rolled her eyes with a smile. “I know, I know, I was just messing with you, come on in.”

J stepped aside, and Uzi jumped out of Cyn’s arms to run inside at top speed. “Doll! Doll! Are you ready for our adventure!?”

“Isn’t that a few hours away?” Doll’s thick accent sounded from above, and Uzi looked up to see her friend.

Doll was hanging from the ceiling, clearly looking for something as she held onto the lights glaring down from above.

“Yeah, but who can wait for that many hours?” Uzi shook her head, as if she were dealing with a disobedient child of her own. “That is just way too much time, so let’s do it now!”

“I don’t think it works like that—Ha!” Doll—noticing her target—lunged forwards on the ceiling and grabbed the insectoid robot scuttling away from her, shoving it into her mouth.

“Ewww…” Uzi shuddered with disgust, and Doll just rolled her eyes.

“You’ll understand when you’re older.”

“You know Doll, Uzi’s legally your aunt, maybe you should be more careful talking to her…” J grinned up at Doll, giving her a mocking shrug.

“Yeah!” Uzi laughed, “Respect your elders!”

Doll just responded by spitting the oil-drained husk of the bug into Uzi’s visor, laughing at Uzi’s scream of disgust. “Gross!!!”

“Didn’t take you long to get back to eating bugs, did you, Doll?” N appeared in the doorway, V standing behind him.

“Doll, dear, you know that’s unsanitary!”

“Ugh!” Doll rolled her eyes dramatically and dropped to the floor with a pout. “V, we're robots! How could I possibly get sick!”

N and V just shared giggles, whispering to each other. “She's so cute when she gets cranky!”

“N! V!” Doll blushed furiously, stamping her feet. “I am a hardened killer! You all used to see me as a threat!”

“Aww,” N picked Doll up into his arms and patted her back. “Yes you are, dear. You're our scawy widdle girl!”

“Aughhhhh!” Doll screamed, thrashing around, avoiding eye contact with Uzi and Cyn, who had no qualms with laughing at Doll's plight. “You're embarrassing me-eeeeee!”

A music box sound came from N's voice box, soothing Doll. Her eyes slowly closed, and her struggling slowed, letting all the fight leave her, one moment at a time.

When Doll finally fell asleep, N set her on his bed with a soft smile.

“Sorry, Doll was up all night writing those apocalypse stories she likes so much.” V explained, adjusting her glasses and looking at Doll fondly. “She acts so mature and angry, but she's still a small little drone with a weak battery. Hates taking naps, but once she gets to sleep, it's impossible to wake her up…”

Uzi sagged, disappointment evident on her visor. “So we have to wait for Doll to wake up before we can go to the park? That's so bo-o-ring…”

“Relax, Uzi.” Cyn patted Uzi's head comfortingly. “How about we go get some batteries from the supply closet, you look hungry.”

Uzi seemed to regain some fear at the suggestion, reminded of the outside world. “N-no thanks, Cyn… I think I'll just wait in our room, maybe draw a bit. Let's go!”

As Uzi dragged Cyn out of the room, all the grownups shared looks. Uzi wasn't getting less codependent, even after years of living in the manor with nothing else happening. Something would definitely have to be done about this.

But… Cyn couldn't bring herself to stop Uzi now. It was supposed to be a fun day of adventure, and she didn't want to ruin the day for her little sister.

Uzi was her everything, and Cyn didn't know what she would do if she lost her…