Chapter Text
Darkness. That's all J could see.
Good. Her low/high exposure filter still works. She powers on the soldering torch. The light would be blinding if she hasn't swapped out of her standard vision, but with the filter now on, she can clearly see her work.
A straight line, slowly melding together the external plates of the landing pod.
Very, very slowly.
J couldn't afford to rush. To waste material and energy. To damage the pod even more.
She couldn't take that risk. Even after being snapped in half and dragged from orbit by Tessa/Cyn/the boss/ one of those tendrils, this one was still the less damaged pod left in all of Copper 9.
It was an investment she couldn't afford to lose.
Her only ticket out of this stupid planet and back to -
A lag spike causes her servos to swerve violently to the side, the soldering torch going off course and burning a zagged line across some exposed wiring.
A pause.
"Pending lawsuit plummeting stock unionizing son of a -!!!" J raised the soldering torch high above her head, ready to smash it into the wall.
But she stopped herself.
Instead, she took a deep and slow inhale through her vents and gently, carefully, leaned the torch against the pod.
She had to scavenge four wrecked factories in various states of collapse to find the damm thing.
She was not damaging such a valuable asset over a tantrum.
So, as soon as she made sure that the torch was nice and steady, she turned around and fired a missile to the far wall of the spire.
Seeing a few worker drone's corpses blowing up in a ball of fire and shredded metal did bring her a small amount of satisfaction.
But her mood immediately soured once more at the unnecessary waste of ammo.
It was hard to get used to the idea of a finite amount after all.
As soon as she swapped her hand back, the by now very familiar and very much hated error message showed up in the corner of her vision.
//ERROR/:SolverAccess/=DENIED//
//ERROR/:AutomaticAmmunitionRestoration=FAILED//
//MatterStorageServer/:connection=LOST//
//Admin:Cyn/:connection=LOST//
//NewAdmin/:available//
//Set/:newAdmin:darkXwolf17/=?
Y/N
And as every time that blasted message showed up on her HUD, she aggressively selected //N.
J would not accept it. Ever. She worked tirelessly for years under Cyn/Tessa The company. She would not waste all that experience just to end up under new management.
All she had to do was fix the pod.
Just fix the pod.
Don't think about it.
Just fix the pod and go back to -
Don't think about it.
Back to -
DON'T THINK ABOUT IT.
...
A lesser drone would have collapsed in an undignified heap on the ground. Screaming and thrashing and crying like a spoiled toddler.
J was better than that.
So J calmly sat down, making sure to straighten her skirt so as to avoid any unnecessary wrinkles, took a deep, simulated breath, and very professionally resisted the urge to rip the pigtails out of her head. (She would never. Not the pigtails)
She can't fix the landing pod. She can't fix the landing pod because she doesn't know how to.
Through the years on Copper 9, J had walked (and flew) in and around the pod thousands of times. Her memory had a dozen views of every possible angle she could want. She can fix and recreate every inch of the pod until it looked exactly as pristine as it did the day they landed here.
But that only accounted for the visible parts of the pod. The internal components? The wiring? The circuitry?
J had never seen it. Not in detail.
She couldn't fix the landing pod because she lacked the schematics.
She searched for them, both in her internal database and near the wrecks, hoping to find some kind of user maintenance manual of sorts, but it was to no avail.
So no, J could not fix the pod.
But it didn't even matter, didn't it?
Because J wanted to go back to the mansion. Back to Tessa's room.
But there was nothing to go back to.
Cyn saw to that.
She used Elliott Manor as the epicenter of Earth's takeover.
Carved a giant hole right through the polished floors (did Cyn have any idea how hard those were to maintain? Of course she didn't, because she was a terrible worker.
Lazing around the manor while J and the others, but mostly J, kept the place in shape) all the way to the Earth's core.
By the time Cyn took over the planet, Elliott Manor was nothing but a gaping maw of twisted flesh and metal.
J sometimes wonders if Tessa's favorite stuffed cat toy is still there, buried somewhere under the rubble.
How many washing cycles would it take to make it clean again?
J leaned back, letting her head hit the landing pod behind her, the hollow thud bouncing around her.
Perhaps J could just forgone the pod. Just fly upwards on her own anti grav thrusters and wings.
Ha! As if. Even with a full tank, she would run out of oil way before breaking the atmosphere. And even if she did manage to get so far, there's only so long she could keep the planet between the sun and herself.
Who knows, maybe if she gets high enough, a charred piece of her chasis could drift all the way back to earth.
She slams her head back again. Harder this time. She stares upwards, not to the sky, but to the inside of the spire's distant tip.
Even after the world split open, the spire still stood tall.
Of course it did. She built it.
Every single disassembled worker was placed according to her instructions, her management.
Even when she had to endure hours and hours of V complaining and trying to just toss them in random piles.
V.
Without giving it much thought, J hand turned once more into a missile launcher. She ignored her HUD warnings about only having seventeen left.
What's that annoying thing V used to say whenever she got bored during missions, when she tried to turn their work into some childish competition?
"Loser eats a missile, right, V?"
And J lost.
J lost everything.
She stares at the explosive in her hand with dim optics.
She stares at the finished spire. At her work.
She's proud of it, proud that it's still standing.
Her work. J was always the best at her work. And yes, the spire was already complete.
But...
J angles her weapon towards her torso. Towards her core.
A good worker always does more than the bare mimimun. Always give their 110%.
One more corpse for the spire -
"J? Hello? You here?"
Her combat protocols activate with a start. She leaps to the air, clearing the landing pod, and fires the missile towards the intruder's voice.
//ERROR/:SolverAccess/=DENIED//
//ERROR/:AutomaticAmmunitionRestoration=FAILED//
//MatterStorageServer/:connection=LOST//
//Admin:Cyn/:connection=LOST//
//NewAdmin/:available//
//Set/:newAdmin:darkXwolf17/=?
Y/N
//N
Sixteen left.
There's the sound of impact, but the explosion comes much later and much farther away than it should.
"Whoops, that was close! Hi, J!"
Mhm. Seems N's reflexes haven't dulled after these few months of unemployment, if the ease in which he redirected that missile with a single hit was anything to go by.
J lands, now standing between N and the pod.
She frowns at her ex-coworker, ready to call him an idiot, before a dash of color gets her attention.
As soon as she processes what she's seeing, her eyes hollow in rage. She summons a new missile on her arm and aims at him threateningly.
"What. Is. That?"
The idiot blinks, obviously confused.
"Oh. I'm N? Remember? We -"
"Your head, idiot. What in the uniform protocol infringement dammed world is on your head?!"
He blinked before brightening up, smiling and blushing of all things.
"Oh! This?" And he pinchs the small tip of his hair that has been dyed purple.
"It's, um. It's just a cute thing Uzi and I did? She got a bit of silver on her hair now, ha."
She grits her teeth, seriously considering emptying every remaining bit of ammo she has left on the idiot's lovesick face.
He changed his hair.
He. Changed. His. Hair.
Tessa chose their hair. Gave it to them, and stylised it herself. She could still remember her hands tying up her pigtails for the very first time.
And N dared to change it.
After a few tense seconds, J swapped her weapon back for her hand, putting it on her hip.
"What do you want, idiot?"
"Oh! Well, now that Cyn interference is, like, gone, Uzi had been helping me slowly recover more of my memories? There's still a LOT of blank spots and a bunch of permanently corrupted files, but, um."
"Stop rambling and spit it out, N. Unlike you, I'm still on the clock here."
J just wasn't entirely sure on who's clock, exactly, but she wasn't going to tell N that.
"Ha, right. I... I remember a lot more about us three. And the manor. And... and about Tessa."
J's hand clenches. Servos creaking under the pressure.
"And, um. V and I have been talking about it, and... we are going to throw a funeral, for her? Just, you know. A small thing. To say goodbye -"
J can't help it.
She starts to laugh.
A funeral. For Tessa.
She laughs and laughs.
It's such a stupid, ridiculous, childish, and pointless idea.
She laughs so hard her voice box starts glitching. Between laughs, she fires another missile at him.
//ERROR/:SolverAccess/=DENIED//
//ERROR/:AutomaticAmmunitionRestoration=FAILED//
//MatterStorageServer/:connection=LOST//
//Admin:Cyn/:connection=LOST//
//NewAdmin/:available//
//Set/:newAdmin:darkXwolf17/=?
Y/N
//N
Fifteen left.
N doesn't bother to redirect it this time, opting to just jump over it. J meets him in the air, sword arm at the ready.
He meets her blow for blow, easily keeping pace with her, but staying on the defensive.
The moron has the nerve to look at her with pity.
A funeral for Tessa. Such a stupid idea. J would know.
She threw a funeral for Tessa years ago.
Well, she tried to. It was before Cyn upgraded them into disassembly drones. Before the manor was completely gone.
J had sneaked into Tessa's room, with nothing but a candle she managed to grab from what remained of the ballroom and an old family portrait, with Mr. And Mrs. Elliott carefully cut off, so only Tessa remained.
It was supposed to be a small, private affair.
She didn't even tell N and V about it. And why would she even bother? V was only lucid half the time in those days, nothing but a rabbid guard dog most of the time. And N... N was Cyn's favorite. Telling him was a sure way to get Cyn to find out.
Not that it mattered, anyway. Cyn had eyes in every room, every square inch of the manor. The only reason J made it far enough to light the candle was because Cyn thought it was funny. She barged in the room, tumbling and staggering, still not fully used to -
To Tessa's height.
The sutures hiding the modified drone limbs that had replaced most of Tessa's skeleton were only days old, but they were holding strong.
Cyn told her that the funeral was a great idea and turned it into some sort of macabre party.
She forced J to dance with her. To hold and spin Tessa's corpse as Cyn's yellow eyes bore down on her.
When Cyn thanked her for the party using Tessa's voice, J jumped off the window.
Cyn didn't try to stop her. In fact, she followed her lead. She laughed all the way down.
J isn't sure when she stopped laughing at N's stupid idea and started screaming instead. The entire fight has been a low resolution blurry mess. N didn't have a single scratch on him. Of course he didn't. His healing was still in perfect working condition.
He wasn't starving and falling apart, like her.
She swings down with all her strength. N's blade meets hers in a block.
J's sword shatters on impact.
She stands there, gasping for air, trying to cool down her overheating body. Fighting spirit now as broken as her blade.
N is just staring at her, eyes still full of pity.
And even worse, understanding.
N gives her a moment to compose herself before pointing at the distance.
"We found a very pretty spot south of here. I think it was a public park, or maybe a very big garden? We are going to hold the ceremony tomorrow after sundown."
He put his weapon away, summoned his wings, and turned his back to her.
"It... it would mean a lot to us if you came."
J stares after him until he's nothing but a pixel in the distance.
A moment later, yet another explosion hits the side of the spire.
//ERROR/:SolverAccess/=DENIED//
//ERROR/:AutomaticAmmunitionRestoration=FAILED//
//MatterStorageServer/:connection=LOST//
//Admin:Cyn/:connection=LOST//
//NewAdmin/:available//
//Set/:newAdmin:darkXwolf17/=?
Y/N
//N
Fourteen left.
The spire still stands. Of course it does. J built it, after all.