Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

BOOT UP SEQUENCE . . . READY

FIRMWARE . . .
LATEST VERSION (2112.08.06)

CALIBRATION . . .
RECENTLY UPDATED

AUDIO . . . OK
VIDEO . . . OK
MECHANICS . . . OK

ALL SYSTEMS OPERATIONAL
LOADING STATUS UPDATE . . .

STATUS UPDATE:

MACHINE ID: V1
LOCATION: SOMEWHERE IN HELL
CURRENT OBJECTIVE: FIND FUEL

MANKIND IS DEAD.
BLOOD IS FUEL.
HELL IS FULL.

V1 wished it had infinite fuel. Like his shotgun and it's infinite ammo. He had massacred everything in the upper layers, Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed. All have been cleared of life. With mankind no longer around to give hell a steady flow of inhabitants, fresh blood is a commodity. It hadn't entirely run out of options. Since hell energy could work as an alternate fuel source, albeit not quite as energy dense as blood. But the only way he had of obtaining enough at once to make a difference was if he grabbed one of those fireballs that were lobbed by most things down here. So that's pretty much off the table. For a time now, he'd been using his nail gun's alternate overcharge. Didn't work as well as hell energy or blood. But it was better than nothing.

Knock knock knock

“Open up, V2.”

“One second. I'm watching a cybergrind recording.”

“V2, I swear I will break this door.”

“It's freezing out there. We don't have enough antifreeze to keep us warm forever.”

“Then open it.”

“Fine”

V1 walked inside the cabin, setting his vast arsenal of weapons down on a table.

“Look at this guy. He keeps charge pistol spamming. No wonder he didn't make it past Greed.”

“Is his ID Mayo? What kind of name is that?”

“Yeah, he's not even using the whiplash. Or parrying. Just charge pistol and knuckleblaster spam.”

V2 pressed a button on the side of the terminal and turned off the video.

“Damn. You got pretty banged up out there, Huh?”

“Yes. I hate mindflayers. And their homing projectiles. They suck.”

“I like them. They look cool.”

“...”

“Relax, I'm just joking.”

“Better be.”

V1 sat down in a chair they had found. It was a little beat up, but hey, better than nothing. The light coming from his optics dimmed in order to save power, keeping a watchful eye on the door. Didn't want anything to break it down again. Even if he did threaten V2 with that, he was just bluffing. It knows that they wouldn't last a day in that cold.

“Where's Gabriel at?”

“I don't know. Left around 1300 hours. Said he was going to get something.”

V1 idly flipped a coin in the air, over and over. He calculated each result and compiled them together out of boredom.

“This coin is uneven. The odds are split 48 to 52.”

V2 ignored him. She had started taking apart and reconstructing her vast array of weapons sometime since he started flipping the coin.

“I'm going back out.”

V1 declared, standing up and picking up his weapons. He carefully attached each one to his wings.

“Good luck out there.”

Chapter Text

After his very unfruitful search for Gabriel, V1 decided to return back to the shack. V2 left the door unlocked this time (thank goodness) so it didn't have to argue with her anymore. If this is what it's like to have siblings, then he's happy that it's a robot.

“Is Gabriel home?” V1 asked V2, scanning the room for any sign of him.

“Yes. He's in the kitchen, making something.” V2 was repairing her nailgun, probably just routine maintenance.

“Gabriel. You in here?” V1 walked towards the kitchen.

“Machine? One second.” He was making grilled cheese, 2 of them. And using a lot of butter. “Need something?”

“Got something for you.” V1 reached over to his right wing, grabbing a box of chocolate. “Thought you might like it. Also, there's not really anyone else to eat it.”

Gabriel grabbed the chocolate, placing it on the counter. “Thank you, Machine. I'll eat it later, after I eat this.” He motioned to the grilled cheese, which was on the verge of burning.

“No problem.” V1 gave Gabriel a thumbs up, before he returned to the living room.

V2 had begun watching a movie as she maintained her nailgun. He walked in after the title sequence so he didn't catch the name. It was an old Japanese monster movie, where this lizard-dog thing fought Frankenstein.

“Of course you're watching another one of these. Didn't you finish them all the other week?” V1 sat down on the couch, only half-watching the tv as it waited for a response.

“I finished all the Godzilla movies the other week. I'm watching all the others now. I'm on Frankenstein Vs. Baragon right now.” V1 continued rambling on and on about these movies.

V1 had decided to go to bed. He stood up and began to walk on over to his room.

“Goodnight.” V1 waved at V2, before shutting the door.