Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Character: SD-Ano (Anomaly) | Disassembly Drone OC

SD-Ano is a D.D., but not an ordinary D.D. She stands at 8.7 feet tall (2.7 meters) and has multiple duplicated parts, including two sets of D.D. arms, legs, and tails. However, she has no wings. She functions as a single unit with one core and one head. She can stand upright like any other female D.D. drone. When standing, her upper legs hang to the sides, just above her lower legs, barely hovering over the ground. In this position, they remain entirely lifeless. Due to her size, she doesn’t wear clothes, as they would tear when she grows or uses her powers. She has long, straight, messy hair that reaches the bottom of her legs when standing and is long enough to completely cover her when crawling, allowing her to camouflage effectively. Her hair displays a gradient of black to red from top to bottom, but she blends perfectly with the surrounding area while camouflaging. Despite her height of 2.7 meters, she can move as quickly as other D.D.s. However, she can move at double the speed of a D.D. when crawling. Unlike other D.D.s that all share a vibrant yellow glow, she has a red glow, indicating her different system (and is ironically her favorite color).

Ano’s personality depends on who she is conversing with. When talking to disassembly drones, she can be very aggressive and violent (more so than J and V). She genuinely hates disassembly drones (explained below). Also, unlike most, if not all, disassembly drones. Ano has never killed a worker drone. She has a soft side for worker drones due to her backstory of being one and [Redacted’s] influence over her, even after she turned into a disassembly drone. If anything, she is very friendly toward worker drones. However, knowing that disassembly drones feed off lively worker drone oil, she vowed never to kill one for her sake and found a different way to sustain herself with oil. She hates that disassembly drones kill worker drones outright—they kill not just for food but for “sport” and “fun”. She didn’t think that was their purpose and was sickened by it. Ano is neutral, quite introverted, and even shy at times (mainly evident in her interactions with worker drones). However, she can appear very mean due to her resting face, which makes her seem unapproachable. With Cyn, she becomes almost knightly, addressing her as “Her Majesty,” kneeling, and offering any acts of service to please her presence, willingly doing anything (not morally conflicting) for her. Solver drones (“weaponized worker drones” she refers to them as) are a kill on sight due to being labeled as a direct countermeasure against Cyn, and are one of the main reasons for Ano’s dispatch towards the Copper-9 system.

On the other hand, she is very hostile toward other D.D.s because they are all competing for the top squadron (which is her position) and bear resentment towards them due to their ineffectiveness in completing “simple” missions or failing their #1 priority of “protecting Cyn.” Her morals and self-awareness are quite close-minded, focused on her ideology, morals, and values, with a strong sense of justice for herself and her majesty (Cyn). She holds pride and justice in high regard, but also displays a degree of self-centeredness from being a mindless servant carrying out Cyn’s bidding. However, she is very loyal to Cyn.

When Ano talks, she often pauses mid-sentence because she isn’t used to conversing after being isolated for long periods without anyone to speak to (or just refusing to converse with anyone not worth her time). (A link to what that sounds like → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6taE6O5XQs)

Ano often never interacted with anyone, even before being deployed to the Proxima System. When she did, she became quite agitated and frequently fought against other squadrons of D.D.s because they underestimated her. She single-handedly defeated each of them, one squadron consisting of J, N, and V. After J taunted her for being a loner and needing more parts to put up a good fight, this aggravated Ano. Not because she was dissing her body, but because she was disrespecting Cyn’s creation. This led them to fight, and Ano almost killed J before being stopped by N, V, and the other squadrons. Though she did shake them off quickly, Cyn told her to stand down. After this encounter, Ano holds a grudge against J because she gets Cyn involved and because of her comment.

Another critical fact is that Ano was sent alone to a human exoplanet system (Proxima). She is very strategic in combat and employs stealth tactics, often carrying out her missions quietly. Aware of her capabilities, Cyn sent her alone, confident she would accomplish her mission without needing backup. This demonstrated Cyn’s faith in Ano’s skills and value. However, due to J’s position, Ano never thought she was enough. She wasn’t Cyn’s right-hand servant, but J was. She grew extremely jealous of V, N, and J because of their closeness to Cyn, despite not being as capable as she was.

She’s the only D.D. of her kind and can grow exponentially (2x her standard size) using oil contained within four containers carried on her waist belt. However, it only lasts 4 minutes (when she has all her containers filled 4/4 (1 minute per container)). She’s equipped with massive drills and sledgehammers (her drills and the heads of her sledgehammers are half the size of a worker drone) and other mining-capable tools (which are all toggleable in her hands). She has mining tools designed to drill holes to access human settlements that exist beneath the surface of the exoplanets in the Proxima System (also a preferred weapon arsenal choice). Additionally, another thing to note is that she possesses basic drone weapons but never uses them (she forgot she even had them), except for the claws she employs to climb harsh terrain. She prefers killing with her mining tools, like drilling into someone’s chest cavity (very brutal), and overall performs better with her mining tools. All of this equipment is within her four arms, and she can even use multiple tools simultaneously and control them independently for efficiency or multitasking purposes.

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Background/Lore as a D.D.:

SD- Ano is a D.D. sent to another human exoplanet for a mission. Her mission was to execute all life within the Proxima System Region. She was sent alone by Cyn, not only because she’s the most successful D.D. at her disposal but also because she dislikes other D.D.s, believing she would fight against them (which indeed happened).

Moreover, her mission to wipe out life on Proxima was challenging. She couldn’t find the humans for a long time, even with her scanner, until she spotted them leaving a cave in the mountains. Unable to fit through the entrance, she instead mined through and discovered a human civilization beneath the surface of Proxima. Since she couldn’t navigate the tunnels, she had to trek countless miles across Proxima (twice the size of Earth), constantly digging her way into the civilization and using vibration sensors to locate the humans. This process was time-consuming, allowing them to develop weapons against her, such as cannons capable of dismembering her arms and legs while she mined into their civilizations. However, there was a significant flaw in these weapon designs. They were oversized, too big to fit within the civilization, and emitted toxic chemicals into the air. Consequently, they had to construct defense mechanisms outside the mountains and be exposed to the surface. The surface of Proxima is filled with extensive, dense forests (which are permeated by toxic gases that constantly leak out) and mountains. The humans built their civilization in the mountains due to the numerous toxins in the air caused by the forests and large toxic storms that destroyed crops and occasionally generated strong enough winds to blow away simple structures and even themselves. I remember saying she could camouflage herself with her hair, which she did. She camouflaged herself and crawled behind their defenses (of which they were unaware since she could camouflage at the time). It was already too late when the humans realized she had this capability. Ano’s camouflage renders her entirely invisible to the naked eye and even to a D.D. visor and tracking, making it impossible to detect her when her camouflage is activated. Sometimes, she doesn’t even need to use camouflage within the forest. Her tall, D.D. body and long, flourishing hair allow her to mimic a tree, with the only distinguishing feature being the red glowing scanners atop her head.

She’s also the most intelligent D.D. Cyn tampered with her coding and made her an automatic adaptive system (She’s in a class of her own). She constantly adapts to any situation she’s in and programs an efficient outcome (but that doesn’t mean she’ll always follow the coding, and also has a togglable feature; she mainly uses it in combat). Ano’s A.A.S. (Automatic Adaptive System) works as a separate brain. She has three different factors in her A.A.S.: Analytical Appraisal, Future Attack Prediction, and Enhanced Reflexes.

Analytical Appraisal thoroughly scans Ano’s opponent, analyzing her target’s potential weaknesses and strengths at first glance. Once Ano’s system observes more of their fighting capabilities and style, it starts analyzing and adapting more to the target, adjusting previously analyzed outcomes to fit the new necessary outcomes, constantly feeding on new information.

Future Attack Prediction can forecast an opponent’s potential movements and predict those movements. (If the opponent has been fighting Ano for a long period of time, it will calculate predictions with almost 100% accuracy.) If this prediction is accurate or close, it’ll give Ano a visual foresight of the moment and have her react accordingly. It is futile and rare for her to get hit with the same move twice.

Enhanced Reflexes improve Ano’s reaction time, allowing her to dodge attacks, respond to threats, and move with incredible speed almost automatically or instinctively, without consciously moving her body, because the A.A.S. moves it for her as a separate brain. This factor gives her a heightened sense of awareness (Vibration Detectors & Instinctive Awareness) of her surroundings and enables her to focus on offense while her system handles defense. Her A.A.S. usage is truly a terrifying power because it stores data from all the previous fights she has been in. This means that if she has seen an attack previously from an opponent, it’ll already be programmed in her to defend and counterattack accordingly.

However, new and unfamiliar opponents will have an advantage because she is facing the unknown. It will take time for her system to process this new opponent, apply calculated outcomes, and overcome it. If you are new to fighting Ano, this is your only chance to defeat her. You will not have a second.

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Ano’s Arsenal/Weapon’s Kit:

Ano’s Mining Tools/Weapons:
Sledgehammers (900lbs (0.45 tons) (per sledgehammer (1,800lbs (0.9 tons) in Titan Mode) (Also has a similar shape to Mjolnir (Thor’s Hammer)
Pickaxes
Shovels
Rope & Hook
Step-Hammer Drill Heads (Basically massive step drill heads, as her hands)

Ano’s D.D. Weapons:
Retractable Claws
[Redacted]
High Potency Acid (Higher than that of a normal DD)
Antacid Regeneration (Her second nanite tail has regenerative capabilities, which is used to restore her exoskeleton)

Ano’s Other Capabilities:
Absolute Camouflage
Titan Mode (17.4ft)
Layered Outer Exoskeleton (Pure Titanium) (Can also be focused on a single point for higher density of protection)
Vibration Detectors

Reminder: She can use at least four different weapons/tools at once :D

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Chapter Text

“Okay, this is the last human settlement on this rocky forsaken planet.” Ano thinks to herself as she looks at the last settlement on Proxima.”

“It’s fully guarded, I’m pretty sure this is their last line of defense and chance of survival.” she keeps glancing around seeing all the humans scatter like ants without their heads.”

“Might as well just get this over with and report it to Her Majesty.” Ano takes one of her containers of oil and drinks one, then another, then another. She then crawls her way down the mountain. She was right behind the defense, camouflaged on the mountain. Like a chameleon on a tree.”

As she approaches right on top of the entrance she pulls out her sledgehammers and with all her force breaks the entrance of the bunker down it to collapse trapping the humans inside the bunker as the rest, outside facing against her. People desperately rush to grab weapons against her but she shoots her rockets out before they can get to them. All the people could do was back away from her as she walked slowly and eerily closer to them. Some of them die from shock alone, others start losing their sanity, and the rest scream in forgiveness for treating the worker drones poorly. But it doesn’t matter to her, “Why beg for forgiveness when all of you deceive others for your selfish desires,” She takes her sledgehammer and squashes them like bugs. Then walks away from the slaughter she caused like it was nothing and drills her way into the civilization.

She crawls into the holes she has dug out with her drills. She stands as still as possible using her vibration sensors to detect where the rest of the humans are. She finds some and immediately crawls towards them. However, they try to fight back but she easily squashes them with her hands. Swatting them like flies, crushing their entire bodies. After she clears the civilization, checking each heat signature that has lost its warmth, she spots one more and hastily crawls her way into the tunnels of the bunker till she finds the last human. The human once again begs for forgiveness and tries to reason with the giant drones that are barely able to fit in the small room.

“Please! Wait! Don’t kill me just yet!” the doctor let out a cry, falling onto their knees and bowing to the creature as if it were some deity. He has a name tag “Dr. Jim”. Surprisingly Ano didn’t immediately kill the doctor but instead looked around the room filled with countless documents mentioning worker drones being weaponized on a different exo-planet named Copper 9 in the Copper System.“Worker Drones? Those being weaponized?” She wonders if that’s where Her Majesty is since she mentioned having her own mission to do, out in a different system.

“Please! Don’t kill me! I can help you-” Dr. Jim cries out more until Ano backhands him, crushing his entire body into a wall cabinet and leaving him embedded in it. Like a bug splatter on the wall. She then walks away towards the outside of the bunker, finally completing her 2-month-long mission.

Ano walks her way out of the bunker and looks at the starry black sky.

Ano takes a deep breathe of relief and falls back on the dirty brown surface of Proxima.

“I’m finally done… I can finally go see her… Her Majesty.” Ano sighs out of relief with a smile on her face and lays on the ground for a while looking up at the starry night sky. She thinks of the past, about her and her savior. She starts to laugh thinking about it.

“I wonder…How will she reward me this time? My Salvation…” Ano reaches one of her four arms into the sky, pretending to grab one of the millions of stars.

Suddenly, her head receives an electric shock. She grabs her head out of reaction, wondering if she is damaged somehow. She isn’t, however, but something internal is.

“What was that feeling just now-” Ano looks in her visor and sees a pop-up box. Disconnected from Administrator [Cyn].

“What the hell? Disconnected from Her Majesty?”

Ano looks confused about what this message means and the sudden disconnection from Her Majesty. It startles her almost as if it was an auto-systematic response. She tries to make contact out of desperation but fails due to a very faint signal. She tries over… and over… and over… and over… until she stops, slamming all four arms onto the ground, sending out shockwaves and tremors in the area breaking her two lower arms and cracking the exoskeleton of her upper arms in the process.

“This can’t be…Her Majesty is… in danger.”

Chapter Text

Two months after Cyn’s defeat. Everything goes back to normal. Well, semi-normal. Uzi and N are dating and doing what couples “tend” to do but currently are out on a walk just a few miles outside the bunker. Chatting about whatever comes to mind and couple ideas.

“Hey Uzi… Don’t you feel a little awkward having Cyn around?” N looks behind Uzi, glancing at her tail.

“Huh?” Uzi also looks at her tail and it stares back at her with its blank yellow eyes.

“No, not really, as long as she doesn’t talk too much I won’t have to tape her mouth closed. Why are you asking though? Are you awkward about it?”

N’s index fingers align in a motion of nervousness.

“I’m going to take that as a yes.”

“Well yeah kinda.. she’s like my sister and that she’s sort of… inside you?”

“It just feels a little weird to me I guess,” N says, scratching his head.

“Ehehe… I see what you mean.” Uzi said, still looking at Cyn.

“We can never really- go on dates because she’s here, she’s like a third wheel.”

“Sometimes I regret eating that weird orb and wish I could have just destroyed it completely.”

“Giggle- I am superior!” Cyn shouts out but then is immediately stopped by Uzi forcefully closing her mouth.

“You were doing so well, you stupid parasite,” Uzi said annoyingly, applying tape around Cyn’s mouth. Something she’s always carrying in her hoodie pocket.

“Yeah… Also, have you heard from V lately? I heard she was out doing something but never got the details of it.” N asked curiously.

“I heard that she went after the leftover D.D. cores in Cabin Fever Labs, she plans to tell them the truth about everything involving Cyn and hopefully repair their bodies with the help of my parents.”

“Oh, that’s great. I just hope they don’t rebel against us.”

Uzi laughs evilly.

“And if they do, I’ll just shoot all of them with my railgun. Been wanting to kill those Disassembly Drones myself.”

“Yeah huh…” N chuckles a bit seeing she still hasn’t changed over the past few months.

“Also you’re a sick freak Cyn.” Uzi looks at her tail again. Cyn just gives her a grumpy look and turns away.

N nervously laughs.

“Sometimes I wonder if she really did all of that to me, V, J, and the others.”

“You’ve seen all your memories, I don’t see why not, and you’re telling me this FREAK was also a maid?”

N nervously laughs again.

“Yes, that’s how she was before this eldritch- thing. Trust me she was never this bad.”

“You sure hold a lot of comfort for someone who killed you at least twice now.”

“Have some more self-love or I will force it out of you,” Uzi said, grabbing his face, pulling him downward and closer to her, and looking into his eyes.

“Okay…” N said, feeling guilty about himself.

“Mmmm…” Uzi starts to snarl at him, not believing him. He avoids eye contact with her knowing she doesn’t believe him.

“Hmm, puppy. Let’s continue our walk.” Uzi stops grabbing his face and turns around quickly before N sees her blush from calling him that and starts to walk again.

“Alright.” N smiles then follows behind her and looks into the sky, seeing a meteorite slowly descend far off to the other side of Copper-9.

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Nori and Khan are in their living quarters in the bunker. Both are sitting down at their dinner table, Nori on the far end and Khan on the other. Both are sitting quietly… timidly… waiting for who will be the first brave parent to speak up. They’ve waited to talk to each other for a while, they just didn’t know the appropriate time. Now feels like the time.

“Sorry.” Nori was the first to speak and to apologize.

“Honey… you don’t have to apologize. If anything I should be apologizing.” Khan tried to stop her from looking more distressed.

“It’s honestly my flaw as a parent for not being good for her,” he said.

He looks at one of his magazine's covers and reads one of his slogans. “Doors are my real daughter.”

“But I abandoned her- I abandoned both of you.”

She thinks about her efforts to find the patch that took a lot of time searching for. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years. All that time and effort was wasted as she watched the patch crumble into nothingness. Watching the Solver destroy her last hope to save her daughter.

“Yeah but you were doing the best to save her and to save all of us,” Khan commented, getting out of his chair and walking to the side of her and comforting her by placing his hand on hers.

“You abandoned her to find a cure for her, that’s more than enough to explain yourself. However, I can’t say the same.”

“If you think you abandoned her, then what I did was much worse. I’m a father in their daughter's life but somehow she is fatherless.”

Nori looked up at Khan, seeing the guilt on his face.

She laughs a bit.

“Didn’t know this man I’ve loved could make such a pitiful face.”

“Didn’t know this repression wife of mine could speak her true feelings, you’ll usually say “bite me” then run off again.”

She laughs again and then sighs.

“We’re both bad parents huh?” Nori said, leaning onto Khan’s arm.

“Yeah,” he replied, embracing her with his other arm.

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V, Thad, and Lizzy are all traversing toward the entrance of Cabin Fever Labs. Their objective: Retrieve the lost D.D. cores left in Cabin Fever Labs in Alice’s fridge and get out alive.

“Um… V? What exactly is this place?” Thad looks around seeing the destruction of the labs.

“This place looks like a total mess and you said you “died” here V?” Lizzy comments while taking pictures of the place.

V seems annoyed but doesn’t indulge in their topics and continues further into the labs.

Soon they approached the front desk where all the corpses of the D.D.s were scattered. Thad looked like he was about to gag while Lizzy took more pictures.

“Alright, you two. Whatever you do, do NOT look into their eyes.” V slides her glasses on from her forehead.

“Don’t look into whose eyes exactly?” Thad asked.

“That abomination of a pet she has with red eyes and a stupid cowboy hat,” Lizzy complains about Sparky because he hates her for some odd reason.

“Oh… I thought they were friendly.”

“You think everything is friendly. Lover Boy.”

“Would you two be quiet for a second?” V listens carefully to hear the sounds of Sentinels chirping.

“They’re here. Follow me. ” V carefully sneaks her way deeper into the labs, heading where Alice’s fridge was. Lizzy and Thad followed in pursuit.

The chirps of the Sentinels get louder the deeper they go and the sound of them eating something. V peaks her head past a wall to see the Sentinels surrounding a dead Cabin Fever Subject. She also sees where Alice kept her and Uzi captive and points to that area allowing Thad and Lizzy to know where to go.

They all sneakily make their way to the room. But Lizzy, who’s behind V accidentally places her hand on a ribcage from a past meal from the Sentinels.

“Ow!” Lizzy groaned in pain but then immediately covered her mouth realizing she made a noise.

Suddenly all the Sentinels stopped eating and focused their attention on where they heard the sound. V jumps out from the wall and starts shooting the Sentinels. They scatter away immediately.

“Go now!” V yells out.

A sentinel tries to boot-loop Lizzy and Thad as they run by but V blocks its line of sight with her wings, she then picks it up by its tail throws it across the room, and continues fighting off the Sentinels.

Lizzy and Thad rush down the hall as fast as they can going into Alice’s room. Stepping over a mining helmet with antlers attached to it but nobody in sight. They opened numerous cabinets until Lizzy opened the ovens where all the cores were stored. Thad once again gags but he thinks about seeing Nori for the first time and swallows his disgust, thinking it would be rude to her and them since the cores are alive and probably can see him.

“Eh- Are these-?” Lizzy looks in disgust.

“Yes. Let’s grab them and go.” Thad opens up the empty duffle bag he’s been carrying and starts loading it up with the jars of cores into the bag till it’s full.

“Lizzy grab the last one.”

“Uh– okay…” Lizzy nervously grabs the last jar which has a label reading “Corrupted Core”.

“This is so gross…” Lizzy said to herself as she looked at the core and made eye contact with it.

They both run out of the room back to where V was and is still fighting the sentinels. She’s holding against her own and once she sees Lizzy and Thad have collected the cores. She shoots the ceiling causing the roof to cave in on the sentinels.

“Run now!” V sprints past Thad and Lizzy as all three of them run back to the entrance to escape.

However, one of the sentinels gets free and starts gaining on them catching up to Lizzy.

“Uh– V!” Lizzy screams out seeing the sentinel gain up to her.

“Sparky!” V shouts out.

Soon after, a sentinel with red eyes and a small cowboy hat runs past the three and dropkicks the sentinel behind Lizzy, sending it flying away. Then runs back, running alongside Lizzy. They soon approach back at the entrance of Cabin Fever Labs which is still a huge pit.

“Sparky, grab Lizzy,” V says as she grabs Thad and flies out of the pit.

“Not again- woah!” Lizzy is quickly picked up by Sparky being held in his mouth. He jumps and climbs up the walls of the pit, constantly jumping from platform to platform that was sticking out the walls. However, Lizzy drops the jar she was holding in the process.

Lizzy stares at the jar as it falls down the pit and breaks. She immediately goes into texting on her phone.

“I dropped one of your weird friends in the jars. Oops.”

The jar breaks and the core lands on a pole, getting impaled, and starts to emit a signal. Sending out a blaring alarm noise throughout the lab along with a bright yellow light. Steaming noises can be heard and engravings appear all along the walls, floors, and the ceiling, reading [sys//:error_ABSOLUTE_SOLVER] [Administration: Signal Lost] [Waiting For Connection]. An eldritch figure starts to form, constantly expanding in size till it covers the entrance of the labs. A sentinel approaches the core as it’s transforming, seeing the eldritch form. The sentinel slowly starts to back away signaling danger and tries to run away but is caught by the eldritch as it dives after it.

“Woah-” Thad yells out as V quickly leaves the pit and softly lands Thad on the ground. Sparky comes up as well and drops Lizzy.

“How many did y’all get?” V looks at Thad and Lizzy.

“Uh— about 14? Maybe.” Thad opens the duffle bag to show V.

“13.” Lizzy corrected Thad.

“Where’s the one you had?” Thad questions seeing she doesn't have it in her hands anymore.

V looks at her phone, feeling a notification and seeing Lizzy’s text. She glares at Lizzy.

“What? It was an accident, okay.” Lizzy says, and V just rolls her eyes.

A loud blaring screeching can be heard coming from the pit. Everyone is startled hearing it and goes to the edge of the pit looking down, seeing an eldritch centipede form crawling around. All of them watch the eldritch devour a sentinel and then move around in a docile state.

“What the heck– is that.” Thad backs away.

“Do you do that as well V?” Lizzy asked in horror.

“No– not that I think so,” she answered. Looking down at the scene she looks at the duffle bag with the rest of the cores. Thinking if her plan would work or if it was even worth it.

“Forget about it for now, we got what we came here for. Let’s go.” V starts to walk off, having Sparky alongside her. Thad and Lizzy start to walk away as well. Trying to ignore the sight they saw.

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Throughout the cold and snowy evergreen forests of Copper-9. J wanders through the forest carrying a stack of wood logs and some more on a sled made out of logs. J walks at a constant slow pace through the forest dragging the wood with a soulless impression on her face, as if she feels like she has no purpose.

“What’s wr-ong J?” A disoriented voice whispers in J’s ear.

“Do you ne-ed me to explain?” She heard the voice again and swung her sword around, dropping all the wood in the process.

“Giggle- Better to assimilate than explain anyways.”

“Remember… it’s her blood on your hands. Giggle.”

“Shut up!” She swung her sword once more, cutting down a nearby tree.

“Even though you're dead… You still choose to haunt me.”

J looks to the side of her and sees a shadowy figure peeking from behind one of the trees, with long hair and a bow in the back.

She scoffs a bit. “It seems like I can’t get either of you out of my head.”

She picks up the wood she dropped and continues throughout the forest. J touches her head and feels where she placed Tessa’s smiley face and rainbow sticker onto her, always feeling it to comfort herself.

As she walks further throughout the forest she sees smoke coming from the sky to the right of her. She knows that there should be no one in this area after she scanned the area before coming out this way, but she heads over to investigate. She drops off her wood and flies up out of the forest low enough to not be seen in case anyone is nearby and heads towards the smoke. When she approaches she’s immediately startled to see a spaceship just like hers but there is one key difference. It’s massively oversized. She quickly turns around in a panic knowing that could mean only one thing.

As she flies off, she’s suddenly stopped by a tree that seems she got caught on or… got caught by it. She looks down to see a large red disassembly drone grabbing onto her leg. J is confused about how she didn’t notice her through her radar and how she blended completely in with the trees.

“Hello– J.” The disassembly drone said as she threw J back to the spaceship causing her to crash into it. Causing a loud boom sound.

“Uh–!” J groans out in pain.

She looks around her with her disturbed vision due to the crash and sees she’s missing a leg. She looks at the hole in the ship she came blasting through and sees the disassembly drone crawl its way inside heading straight towards her. She immediately shoots a rocket in its direction making a direct hit and tries to fly out of the ship through the same hole. But the disassembly drone jumps up out of the air with its four legs and hits her as if she were a fly getting hit with a fly swatter. The oversized sledgehammer that hit her caused her to be sent flying through the ship once again breaking another hole in it. Losing an arm in the process and tumbling outside on the cold ground.

J’s on the ground motionlessly facing the ship and only sees the tall disassembly drone with four legs, four arms, and two nanite acid tails. And a very apparent crimson-red glow on her visor and tails. The disassembly drone slowly walks to J with its massive sledge hammers in her lower arms, leaving tracks in the snow.

As the disassembly drone finally approaches J, she puts away her sledge hammers and picks up J with one of her arms, grabbing her by her pigtails.

“Why– are you here… Ano–?”

The tall disassembly drone is named Ano (SD-Ano) and is also known as The Anomaly.

“Where– is– Her Majesty?” She asks the severely damaged J.

J scoffs a bit. “Still loyal to that thing?”

Ano pins J on the tree and uses a fragment of the ship debris to hold her in place by her pigtails.

She repeats once again. “Where– is– Her Majesty?”

“You felt that sudden change in connection with her, you know just as well as I do that she’s dead,” J says.

Ano froze for a moment hearing the news about Her Majesty. The sadness she held for 2 months trying to make sense of Her Majesty's situation all came flooding in, but it wasn't sadness that came out. It was pure rage, hatred, and resentment. She swings her sledgehammer at a nearby tree and sends it flying, crashing into the forest, and severely knocking other trees down in the process.

“And you… allowed this– to HAPPEN!” Ano swings her sledgehammer on the ground with tremendous force, causing shakes throughout the already hollowed planet.

“Pfft- And I thought I was a lapdog–” J laughs at Ano’s tantrum but she puts one of her legs onto her chest cavity, slowly crushing it.

“Eh–” J groans in pain, coughing and feeling every ounce of pressure Ano is applying to her.

“Tell me, what happened? Everything.” Ano brings her face oddly close to J.

“Why should I tell you anything?” J rebelled.

Ano moves her foot from J’s core and points one of her arms at it and turns it into a corruption gun (similar to what J used against N, applying a virus but this one removes a software called wdOS_606 which is a program that can render them online and sentient beings. Remove it and you have a mindless zombie drone.)

“Then– I’ll just corrupt you,” Ano says putting the gun directly over J’s chest.

J’s eyes got bigger hearing the word “corrupt”. She starts to panic, almost as if she was having a panic attack. She thinks about the times she shared in her head, her seeing Tessa for the first time, hearing her call her friend and helping her at the Gala and most of all losing her. Was all going to be erased from her memories like a void.

“Don’t corrupt me!” J frails around in desperation, trying to get away from her, trying her best efforts to get away from that fear of corruption.

“Do you have any idea what it means to be corrupted?” J asks Ano, screaming out for an answer.

“I’ve lost enough, I lost my team, my pride, my home, and the only person I can call– a.” J struggles to speak her last words out.

“A friend?” Ano finishes her sentence.

J looks away, having tears appear on her face.

“Tessa James Elliot– Am I right?”

J looks back at Ano after hearing the name of the only person who meant something to her.

“How do you know her name?” J asks Ano in confusion. No comment from Ano.

“Tell me! How do you know her name?” Her confusion turns into aggression.

“I’ve heard a lot about– Tessa from Her Majesty. But– I’ve heard you– talk about her the most. You spoke so– highly of her.” Ano removes the gun from J’s chest and sits down on the snow, crossing her legs.

“You spoke about– how much she cared for you, how great she– treated you, how much she– loves you.”

“Stop it…” J closed her eyes thinking that would be able to stop hearing Ano.

“You abomination of metal. What do you know about love?”

Ano thinks about Her Majesty. “I love Her Majesty.”

J scoffs a bit. “You can’t call that love, that’s just blinded loyalty.”

“And you? Your loyalty– rests in your fear of Her Majesty.” Ano stands up, getting oddly close to J again.

“I heard– she wears the skin of your beloved– Tessa.”

J looks to the side of her and sees Ano smiling maliciously.

“How do you know about that?” J seeing Ano’s face sprung her motives to run away from her as fast as she could but can’t because of the ship debris holding her in place.

“You want to know why?”

“Stop it…” J uses one of her arms to try to push away Ano from her ear but she doesn’t move in the slightest.

“Do you want to know– why does she allow you to keep all your memories?”

“Please… Stop it…” She desperately tries to move her but fails again.

“J– weren’t you the one– who killed Tessa?”

Chapter Text

“J– weren’t you the one– who killed Tessa?”

J immediately grows back all her limbs and shoots a rocket point-blank at Ano’s face. But Ano quickly dodges it with a slight tilt of her head—an automatic response due to her AI adaptive system.

“Did I– strike a sensor?” Ano said, mocking her with an innocent smile.

“She allowed you to keep your memories– to keep you trapped. The little light you saw– the light of hoping to escape from this pit of regret– and doubt– is gone. Tell me… J.”

“Were you hopeless– watching behind your visors, as you killed Tessa with your own hands?”

J’s arms fall to her sides resting them motionlessly as a sign of surrender.

“There is no escape for you, you will always live a life– of misery.”

No comment for J.

“Hmph, I expected better of you– J,” Ano said, removing the ship debris from her hair and having J collapse onto the ground.

J doesn’t say anything or make any attempt to flee; she just looks at the ground with hopelessness in her eyes.

“You look so damn pitiful– that it’ll feel wrong to kill you.”

J didn’t respond, which irritated Ano because she was sparing J’s life. She brought out one of her sledge hammers and slammed it down onto one of J’s legs, completely smashing it into smithereens.

J doesn’t flinch or respond to it.

“Just remember this– the only reason you live now is because– I simply allowed it.”

“You’re pathetic,” Ano said, then walked towards her ship, leaving the hopeless J to sit there like a puppet with no strings.

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Meanwhile, Thad, Lizzy, and V return to the bunker after their successful mission. They walk to a lab area in one of the bunker facilities.

“Thad put them in the ovens for now.” V pointed to ovens in the lab.

“Right!”

As they situate the cores, Nori and Khan come into the room.

“Did you actually find them?” Nori asked.

“Yeah, just like I said they would be,” V answered.

Nori looks across the room and sees the cores in the ovens as Thad closes it.

“And you’re telling me Alice did that?” she asked and walked towards the ovens looking at all the cores.

“You had a weird friend,” V commented.

“Yeah– she was someone I so happen to have the pleasure of messing with but, I don’t think she liked it. Not like she could do anything about it though.” Nori said with a smug on her face and posing with her Absolute Solver.

V stares at Nori’s pink Absolute Solver with curiosity. “Nori, how did you become a host of the Solver exactly?” she asked.

“Hm– It’s a long story. I honestly don’t remember most of what happened.” She looked at her solver and picked up a few boxes, stacking them perfectly on top of each other.

“Don’t remember anything besides the core exploding and waking up on the surface after that.”

“You were there when the core exploded?” V questioned.

“Well, yeah. I was the one who caused it.” Nori said.

Everyone in the room looked at her with shocked and scared expressions on their faces.

“I caused it indirectly, I was being controlled.” she finished explaining.

“Well, next time say that, geez. Scared us by saying that, psycho mom.” Lizzy spoke for everyone.

Nori laughs nervously. “Sorry– aha.”

“When you say controlled, were you controlled by Cyn?” V further asked.

"Yeah, I think so. Although, like I said, I don’t remember most of what happened," Nori answered, thinking about it.

“Hmph.” V stopped questioning her further, seeing Nori’s clear intentions trying to remember all she could.

“Have y’all seen Uzi out there by chance?” Khan asked.

“No, sir. I think she’s still out with N” Thad replied.

“Oh, I see…” Khan said with a little disappointment, no one noticing besides Nori who placed her hand on his shoulder.

“Lizzy! Thad! Let’s go, we have to go get the leftover D.D. parts.”

“We gotta go back already?” Lizzy groaned.

“What about that thing—” Thad stopped mid-sentence, remembering what V had told him, and also the glare she gave him, which seemed to say, shut up. However, Nori heard and had suspicions about what he was talking about.

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"Uzi and N are in the dense forests of Copper 9, where Uzi is trying to replicate how D.D. sleeps."

“Ah, N! How do you sleep like this?” Uzi says as if she was in a panic. She’s swaying uncontrollably hanging on a tree with her tail.

“Is it that difficult for you?” N watches Uzi struggle and can’t help but laugh at her.

“Cyn! Hold me!” Uzi looks at Cyn who’s slowly losing grip of the tree branch.

“Idviot-” Cyn tries to speak but accidentally lets go of the tree branch, causing them to fall. But N swiftly catches them and sets them on the ground.

“Yeah, I’m not sleeping like that.” Uzi repented, grabbing Cyn forcefully and trying to choke her.

“Argh! Help!” Cyn yelped.

“Uhh– Uzi, give her a break.” N tried to stop Uzi but was too scared to get in the mix of them.

“You and this thing, you are too nice to her,” Uzi said, still choking Cyn.

“I’m nice to everyone,” N said, smiling and posturing himself.

“Of course, you are,” Uzi and Cyn both said. Then back to them fighting.

“Hehe- stu-pid, just wait- till she comes,” Cyn says while Uzi still choking her.

“Wait till she comes?” Uzi said, mocking her.

“An-o will save me!”

“Oh shut up!” Uzi grabbed the tape out of her hoodie.

“No! Not the tape-”

Cyn’s mouth is taped shut once again.

N heard Cyn saying a name that sounded familiar to him or so he thought but couldn’t remember exactly. Even though he received “all” his memories, the name Ano didn’t resemble anything in any of them, but he couldn’t shake the feeling of knowing someone with that same name.”

Chapter Text

V, Lizzy, and Thad are out again– heading back to Cabin Fever Labs to collect all the D.D. parts they can retrieve.

“Uh– so V– um… What about that centipede– thing?” Thad asked. He has gone up against and eldritch before with Uzi and N but nearly died but he still doesn’t know what exactly is that thing.

V doesn’t answer and continues walking. There was a moment of silence after that, with only the sounds of the snow crunching beneath their feet being heard throughout the forest.

“Are you talking about the eldritch?” A voice behind the group was heard.

Everyone turned around in a panic. Thad almost fell back trying to turn around, Lizzy dropped her phone, and V immediately brought her swords out– preparing for a fight.

“Woah calm down now.” It was Nori who had followed and kept quiet the whole time till now.

“Mrs. Doorman. Uh– good to see you!” Thad scratched his head out of embarrassment, knowing she heard him.

V puts her swords away and glares at Nori who makes eye contact with her and smiles.

“What do you know about the eldritch?” V asked.

“Enough, I’m not going to bore you all with the details of it. It’s just a big bug at the end of the day.” Nori shrugged as she walked past V.

“Let me tag along with you all, I wanna see how much the place has changed since my last visit.”

“You already tagged along if you’ve been following us the whole time. Stalker mom.” Lizzy commented.

After a few more hours of constant walking and hearing Nori rambling about her days in the caverns of Cabin Fever Labs.

“And then bam! A shuriken cut my hand off, making my solver unusable.” Nori shows many gestures to represent what was happening, showing them all to Thad who has been listening to her since she started her ramble.

“Then before I knew it, I was pinned against a wall, face-to-face with a disassembly drone. My last words before I “died” were– What are you things?”

“You died to a disassembly drone? Doesn’t that make you hate them?”

“Well, I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the way I went out. I felt like the main character,” she said, smiling and placing her hands on her hips feeling very prideful.

“Also I don’t technically hate them, well at least not N. N seems to be the only emotional support my daughter has received since my absence, which I appreciate him for being there for her.”

“V on the other hand…” Nori and Thad both stare at V who is behind them, then look away after seeing her annoyed expression.

“She’s V,” Nori said.

“Yeah…” Thad nodded and looked away from V, feeling anxious from her glare that he could feel at the back of his head.

“Mrs. Doorman, sorry for the insensitive question but do you know who killed you exactly?”

“Hmm, I can’t remember exactly. I just remember it was a disassembly drone.”

“Oh– okay.”

“V did you kill me?” Nori turned around and asked joyously for some odd reason.

“No.” She answered.

“Welp it wasn’t V, maybe I should ask N or whoever that other disassembly drone was with them.”

“Ah– right. Although it would be crazy if N did kill you in the past.” Thad said worryingly, wondering how would Uzi react to that information.

“That would be crazy!” Nori screamed out with excitement. Only thinking about her mother's origin story.

V from behind makes a worried expression as if she knew something.

“That’s not your strong suit,” Lizzy said, looking at V’s face.

“Shut up,” V said and blushed from embarrassment.

Half an hour goes by and they finally arrive back at the Labs.

“We’re here,” V said, picking up her pace, and getting ahead of the others.

The group follows her and approaches the hole that leads into Cabin Fever Labs and sees the eldritch, unmoved, and still in the same docile state when they left.

“It’s still here?” Thad looking down at the eldrtich crawls around at the bottom of the hole.

“How exactly are we supposed to get in there V?” Lizzy asked.

“Hmph…” V think of a way. She thinks about trying to kill the eldritch but she doesn’t know where the core is.

“What are y’all doing?” Nori asked curiously.

“Trying to find a way inside,” V answered.

“You know that’s not the entrance right?”

Everyone looked at Nori with confusion when she said that.

“What.” They all said in unison.

Nori sighed.

“Follow me, children.” she signaled them with her finger as she started to walk away.

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N and Uzi are heading back to the bunker after many hours of doing things together. Both enjoy each other company and thoughts. However, N has been constantly thinking about something.

“Wow! That was pretty fun, probably the most fun I’ve had since we defeated Cyn.”

Muffled noises are heard from Uzi’s tail after she says that.

“Huh? Oh– yeah most definitely.” N, who was in deep thought thinking about something almost didn’t hear Uzi.

Uzi notices him not paying attention to her and is thinking about something else or someone else.

Uzi uses her solver to pick up N and brings him in front of her.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Ah! It’s um… nothing.” he avoided eye contact with her.

“You’re hiding something again aren’t you?”

N fidgets his fingers for a moment before looking at her.

“I was trying to figure out who this “Ano” person is. I feel like I heard that name before–”

Uzi slams N into the ground.

“I knew it! You’re thinking about another girl!”

“What! No!”

Uzi tries to fly off but N grabs her by the leg, stopping her.

“Let go of me!” She tried to free herself but couldn’t outmatch the strength of a disassembly drone.

“Uzi…Please listen to me for a second.”

She looks back at N who’s staring at her and stops trying to get away and sits down right in front of him.

“What?” She said jealously, crossing her arms and not looking at him directly.

“It’s not like that honestly… You know me.”

She doesn’t respond.

“Okay… I’ve been thinking about what Cyn said about this “Ano” girl coming to save her. I thought I had all my memories but I don’t apparently. This “Ano” sounds familiar to me and I’ve been trying to remember all about her and it’s been triggering my sensors ever since.”

Uzi looks back at him, seeing his worried but serious expression. She starts to calm down and listen.

“What do you mean by triggering your sensors?”

“I just have this gut-aching bad feeling about her. She may be still out there and I can just tell by the way I’m feeling about her, that she’s not friendly at all.”

“What else do you remember about her so far?”

“She’s dangerous.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So… this is the actual entrance to the Labs?”

“Sure is, although…”

The group looks up at the large entrance to the labs which is covered in thick ice, making it practically impossible to get in or get out.

“I don’t think this was covered in ice the last time I was here.”

“V, can you shoot the ice down–”

A rocket passes Nori’s head and hits the entrance making all the ice fall, almost collapsing on the group. V protects Lizzy with her wings and Nori stops the ice with her Solver from crashing on her and Thad.

All the ice is completely off the entrance, making it openable once again.

“Hmph, well done.” Nori complimented V and threw the ice to the side.

As Nori walks towards the entrance, there’s a small platform with a scanner on top of it. She takes her old mining helmet off her head and takes out a bug.

V sees the bug and remembers it as the key bug that Doll used to get into the Labs via elevator.

Nori places the key bug on the entrance and it slowly starts to open.

“Come now, children.”

The group all followed behind Nori as they entered into the Labs once again.

As they walked deeper into the Labs, constantly walked by damaged lab equipment and the bones of drones who had died here or ones who were still alive. There were alive drones still present in Cabin Fever Labs, all were in this corridor– locked inside. All the drones stared at the group– mainly at Nori and V as they walked by and whispered amongst themselves.

“It’s a disassembly drone!”

“Are we finally going to die?”

“This is the end!”

“Wait who’s that drone in the front?”

“It’s- Nori…!?”

“Nori…!?”

“She’s alive?!

“I thought she was corrupted.”

“Has she come to take her revenge on us?”

“Um– Mrs. Doorman. Who are all these drones? Should we help them?” Thad looked around seeing the drones look barely functional. Many if not all of them with missing body parts. Whether it’s a leg, an arm, or just their fingers. They must have eaten each other to sustain themselves with oil to survive.

“The drones you see here are all test subjects like myself. We were all tested by humans and purposely infected with the Absolute Solver to become safe weapons against the real Absolute Solver.”

Nori looks around seeing all the drones staring at her then avoiding eye contact when she glances at them.

“It’s all coming back to me now…”

Nori activates her Solver and picks up a nearby Cabin Fever Subject, bringing them face-to-face with her.

“You all tried to kill me before– right?”

The drone with desperation tries to free herself from Nori’s grasp as she slowly starts to choke her out.

“We’re– sorry.” The drone gets a few words out before fainting.

Nori drops the drone’s unconscious body on the ground and continues to walk.

"If any of you! Come near us, I won't hesitate to kill you all." Nori shouted out, having her rule echo throughout the lab.

"All done." She said smiling, looking back at the others.

“About my question from earlier,” V asked again, realizing Nori was starting to remember.

“Oh yeah. Us “subjects” were purposely infected with the Absolute Solver coding and then the humans would try to purify us with a patch. So we could use the Solver without becoming a mindless puppet for the Absolute Solver.”

“But why would they purposely infect you all with the same AI coding that destroyed Earth?”

“Don’t know. Humans are stupid. Even when they tried to purify us, some weren’t affected by the coding and the rest either became corrupted and eventually killed.”

“What about your case?” V asked curiously knowing she wasn’t corrupted.

“You can say I am partially purified with no trace of corruption. There was only one successful case amongst the subjects that were purely purified.”

“Thanks for killing our “last” hope,” Nori said, looking back at V.

“Don’t you hate me for that?”

“Yes of course I do you basically killed someone who was a sister to me, but my daughter says she trusts you, I hope she isn’t wrong.” Nori walks up to another scanner and places the keybug to open another door.

“Now we are at the front desk–” Nori looks at the room with all the discarded disassembly drone parts scattered around.

“Well, I’ll be damned. Y’all aren’t even sentinel level.” Nori laughs, looking back at V who in return rolls her eyes at her.

“Lizzy! Thad! Grab anything and everything you can carry.”

The group starts collecting all the body parts they can find and loading them up in the duffle bags they brought.

“That seems to be it!” Nori said, using her Solver to pick up the body parts and tossing them in a bag Thad was carrying.

“Yeah…” V said out of relief.

“Hey um– not to be paranoid but where is that thing?” Lizzy mentioned looking up at the hole.

“Huh?” V now remembering where they were at, doesn’t see the eldritch in sight and immediately is on her guard.

Everyone else comes together, having their backs on each other and eerily looks around the room.

Footsteps start to echo in the distance as something starts to approach the group, along with screeching and loud banging as if it were crashing into things.

“There it is!” Thad screams out.

The eldritch jumps out from a nearby hallway heading straight for the group but Nori uses her Solver and throws it to the other side of the room.

“Lizzy! Thad! Hang onto me.” V brings out her wings and Lizzy and Thad latches themselves onto her as she flies to the large hole heading out.

“Ew, you’re disturbing to look at,” Nori said, mocking the eldritch as it struggled to get free from the entanglement of the wires it was thrown onto.

The eldritch brings out a claw and grabs Nori, throwing her into a wall. It then uses its claw to cut the wires to free itself and launches towards Nori. She gets up and jumps out of the way in the nick of time.

“What the hell?” She starts to sweat and is relieved she barely got out of the way.

The eldritch recollects itself and charges back at Nori but she uses her Solver to throw a desk at the eldritch trying to slow it down but cuts it in half with its claws.

“What exactly are you? Huh— eldritch?”

“The– Void.” The eldritch spoke and attacked Nori.

She dodges the claw swipes and attacks and using her Solver she brings down a ceiling-light with wires and entangles the eldritch again. It tries to cut the wires but Nori uses her Solver to duplicate them over and over again, till it’s completely wrapped in wires.

“Whatever you are, you aren’t a match for me–”

Nori falls onto her knees and sees one of her legs has been cut in half.

“Argh. Maybe just a little of a match for me.”

“Nori!” V shouts out to Nori as she dives back down the hole.

Nori holds her hands up as V flies towards her grabs her and then flies back out the hole. Setting her softly down where Lizzy and Thad were.

“I didn’t think you would be able to hold your own against an eldritch.”

“Wasn’t too bad for my first but I can improve.” She said.

“Mrs. Doorman, your leg!” Thad sees her injury and panics.

“Oh don’t worry about it.” Nori with her Solver powers starts to grow back her leg and stands up completely fine.

“See! All back in good shape. Although I’m going to need some oil soon.”

“Can we go back now?” Lizzy said, who’s been on her phone for at least 80% of the entire mission.

“Yeah–” V's head scanners start to glitch out and start flashing red and yellow indicating a distress signal.

“I found you…”

“V? Are you okay?” Lizzy asked, worried for her.

Everyone looked at V as she started to move wobbly and leaned onto her sword for support.

“Yeah… I’m fine, it was just a little damage that’s all,” she said with a frightened expression on her face.

“Yeah, let’s just go back.” She said and immediately started to walk at a quick pace.“

“She’s here…”

Chapter Text

“Can we go back now?” Lizzy said, who had been on her phone for the entirety of the mission.

“Yeah–” V's head scanners start to glitch out and start flashing red and yellow indicating a distress signal.

“I found you…”

“V? Are you okay?” Lizzy asked, worried for her.

Everyone looked at V as she started to move wobbly and leaned onto her sword for support.

“Yeah… I’m fine, it was just a little damage that’s all,” she said with a frightened expression.

“Yeah, let’s just go back.” She said and immediately started to walk at a quick pace.“

“She’s here…”

“Who’s here–?” a voice is heard behind V.

“Huh–!” V turns around and sees a giant hammer, hitting her with tremendous force and sending her across the frozen lake.

A disassembly drone appears out of thin air, almost as if she was phased into existence in front of the group. She has a red color scheme, four legs, arms, and two tails. She is three times the size of any other drone but despite that, her presence wasn’t known till now.

The disassembly drone takes its hammer and swings it at Lizzy.

Nori activates her Solver and pulls Lizzy back before the hammer crushes her to nothing.

The overly large hammer crashes on the frozen lake, shaking the area around it and causing Lizzy and Thad to fall.

“What the hell is that–” Nori said, pointing her Solver at the drone.
The drone sees Nori’s Solver. She has seen that same symbol from Her Majesty and wonders how exactly she got it.

“The Absolute Solver…” she said.

“Are you– one of the weaponized drones?” The disassembly drone asks Nori to see her Solver.

Nori does not know what exactly she is asking but she sees the drone staring at her Solver and thinks that’s what she meant by “weaponized”.

“And what if I am?”

The drone immediately charges by crawling towards Nori and with an upswing motion of its hammer so fast Nori can’t react and it hits her sending her up into the air. The disassembly drone leaps out into the air with all four legs to catch Nori and swings her hammer downwards, causing Nori to be sent crashing into the forest. Lizzy and Thad are frozen in place watching the disassembly drone completely decimate Nori and crash down back onto the frozen lake sending tremors that echo throughout the lake. They fear that she’ll attack them even from the slightest bit of movement. The disassembly drone looks their way which causes both of them to flinch. She slowly stands up and approaches them, dragging her two large sledge hammers from her lower arms on the icy frozen lake.

“Are you two– weaponized drones?” She asks, towering over Lizzy and Thad. They barely reached the height of her upper leg.

They don’t say anything– only looking down at her four disassembly drone legs sweating and avoiding eye contact or showing any signs of dominance towards her.

“Hm… I guess– not.” The drone turns away and walks towards the direction where Nori crashed.

“Ow! That hurt. What the hell was that about.” Nori says and she recollects herself. She looks around and sees she’s landed in a snowbed, which softened her landing and kept her in one piece.

As she stands up, another hammer is swung at her but she barely dodges it and backs away into a tree.

“Are you one of Cyn’s little murder puppets?” Nori says mockingly and grabs a tree with her Solver.

“Don’t speak– Her Majesty’s– name!” The drone charges at Nori once again.

Nori uses the tree and throws it towards the drone. The drone effortlessly dodges it and continues her attack, hitting trees in the crossfire. Nori’s face barely graces the head of the hammer but it is kicked by its leg and sent flying threw the forest. Nori throws the knocked-down trees at the drone and then duplicates them, sending multiple logs toward the drone. But she bats them away with her sledgehammer.

“She’s good and is good at responding. I doubt I’ll be able to defeat her alone, I should stall for V.”

Nori gets up from the ground looking at the drone slowly approach her.

“How about we introduce ourselves? My name is Nori– Nori Doorman,” she says, hoping the drone would communicate with her.

The drone pauses for a moment, getting out of its crawling position, and stands up.

“My name– is Serial Designation Ano. The Anomaly– Disassembly Drone. Nice to meet you– Nori Doorman.”

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“How about we introduce ourselves? My name is Nori– Nori Doorman.”

The drone pauses for a moment, getting out of its crawling position, and stands up.

“My name– is Serial Designation Ano. The Anomaly– Disassembly Drone. Nice to meet you– Nori Doorman.”

“Wow, she’s quite polite and responsive. Unlike other disassembly drones, I’ve fought. Is she not a regular disassembly drone?”

“Can I ask what is your business with me?” Nori asked.

“Where is Her Majesty–?” Ano asked.

“Her Majesty?” Nori thought about who could she be referring to and realized she mentioned that name before she was sent flying here.

“Are you referring to Cyn?” She asked.

Ano puts her arms at ease along with her sledgehammers.

“Where is she–?” Ano asked.

No response from Nori.

“I see– you won’t– tell me.”

“Did you– kill her?” She asks with a tone and looks at Nori with a scarily blank angry expression with a slightly faint smile that immediately raises Nori’s guard.

“What the hell– is this girl’s problem?” Nori activates her Solver.

She aims her Solver at Ano but her vision becomes disturbed and rigged. Making it impossible to lock eyes with her and being able to use her Solver on her.

“What is this? Why can’t I use my Solver on her?”

Ano slowly shifts down in a cat-like position, almost as if she is about to pounce.

“Oh shi-” Nori tried to get behind the cover of some trees but Ano charged straight for her with enormous amounts of speed– darting like a missile, grabbing her with one of her arms.

“What exactly– are you?” Nori struggles to get free from Ano’s grasp as she lifts her in the air.

Ano with her other arms, grabs Nori's limbs and pulls each limb off one by one until only her arms are left. Nori squirms around trying to get away. V comes out of the sky and kicks Ano away. Dropping Nori in the process and saving her.

“Let’s get out of here!” V says, quickly grabbing one of Nori’s hands.

V immediately takes off, flying out of the forest and heading back to the bunker. She gives Nori and bottle filled with oil. She drinks it and regenerates her limbs.

“What about the others–?” Nori said looking down at the frozen lake and not seeing them.

“I already told them to go on without us, we need those parts–” V looks below and sees Ano coming straight toward them.

Ano who had leaped from the ground heading straight for them. She twists her body along with her sledgehammer swinging it upwards, giving her enough momentum to reach their height.

“I got you–” She swung her sledgehammer at them, causing the two to be sent crashing down into the forest again.

Nori was fortunate to land in another snowbed but V was unfortunate to land in a tree, hanging from a branch and missing one of her legs and arms.

“Ah– again. I’m already getting tired of those big hammers of hers. I hope she doesn't have anything else.” Nori stands up, dusting the snow off her.

“V?” She looks around to see V on the tree lifelessly.

She immediately uses her Solver to move the branches out of the way, causing her to fall onto the snow. V groans in pain.

“You okay?” Looking at V with all the damages done to her.

“I’ll be fine–”

“How long does it take you to repair yourself?” Nori asked.

“Ah– about– 30 seconds maybe?”

“Make it 10 seconds,” Nori said.

Nori reactivates her Solver and grabs a nearby tree, seeing Ano slowly approach them from the frozen lake.

She slowly starts to shift in the same position as before.

The two stand there for a moment, looking at each other waiting for who's going to make the first move.

…

Ano charges at Nori once again, she isn’t able to react but V pushes her out of the way. Being caught by Ano instead.

Nori gets up to see Ano holding V by her tail, like a mouse.

“V– I didn’t expect you– to betray Her Majesty–” Ano says, lifting V higher off the ground and looking straight at her.

V brings out one of her swords and strikes at Ano’s face. Which did nothing and only left a faint scratch that healed itself instantly.

Ano slams V into a nearby rock. Pulling V’s tail off. She then uses her tail to pin one of her arms down.

“G–” V tries to say something. Ano ignores her but Nori hears her slightly.

“Go–”

Nori gets up and runs off, looking back at V. Knowing it better than both of them being dead but feeling guilty because she still saved her life.

Ano brings out one of her sledgehammers and smashes V’s arm with her nanite acid tail still in it. She groans out in pain.

“Where is Her Majesty?” Ano asked.

“She’s dead.”

“Liar–”

Ano can still feel the faint signal of Cyn on this planet. She knows she’s here somewhere.

“Where– is Her Majesty?”

V looks at Ano’s left upper arm and sees Ano’s improper disposal armband but also sees another one.

Ano slams her sledgehammer into V’s other arm. Making her bite herself through the pain trying to ignore it.

V takes a closer look and sees that it’s J’s improper disposal armband.

“What– did you do to J?” V asks seeing the armband.

Ano picks V up, who is nothing but a head, torso, and two legs.

“Want to– find out?”

Ano throws her into the forest, having her hit a few trees and having her ragdoll across the ground. She slowly walks to V as she tries to get up and kicks her far into another tree.

“Traitor…Traitor… Traitor…” Ano mutters to herself, getting more angry each time she repeats it.

“Huh–?” V tries to get up but sees Ano standing right above her and stays still in fear.

She sends a powerful stomp onto V’s leg, destroying it.

V grunts in pain but tries to crawl away from Ano using her head and her last leg.

Ano starts to slowly walk behind V, watching how helpless she looks when crawling away from her.

“I spent– four long months counting… waiting– to see Her Majesty– once again. But instead of coming– back to her. Here I am– cleaning the scrap metal of these– traitors. That not only– failed to protect her… but ended up– betraying her.”

“How could you– betray Her Majesty? Did she not bring you– salvation?”

“Worthless– Inadequate– piece of metal. You– along with all the other– disassembly drones are useless!”

Ano squats down admiring how pathetic V looks and jealous how they were chosen to go on this mission with Her Majesty. Which angered her even more.

“I should have been here– I should have been the one– to be sent here– with Her Majesty. Maybe– this would have never happened V. If you– and your team wasn’t so– damn utterly useless!”

Ano grabs V by her lower leg and uses her grip strength to completely crush it separating it from her body, but she doesn’t stop moving.

Ano then slowly crawls her way behind V.

"Where is– N?" she asks. "You– stay away from him," V said, angrily still crawling away.

"You took– someone important to me. Do you find– it morally right to– return the favor?"

No answer from V.

Ano stands up and steps on V's back with so much pressure that her ribcage slowly expands outwards.

"Where is– N?"

Still no answer from V.

Ano grabs V by her last leg. Dangling her like a key charm. V immediately stabs her with her nanite acid-filled tail. The acid slowly eats away Ano's exoskeleton.

"Hmph." Ano takes her own tail and sticks herself with it. Which stops V's nanite acid from spreading and regenerating her exoskeleton with her nanite acid.

"You're going to– get it worse than– what J got." Ano points a gun at V's chest cavity and shoots.

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Uzi and N have returned back to the bunker chilling in her room. Uzi is currently working on her railgun while N watches.

“So what are you trying to do?” N curiously asked.

“I’m trying to shorten the recharge timer. If I miss I will have to wait 30 minutes before I can shoot again. That’s if I’m still even alive after 30 minutes.”

Someone knocks on Uzi’s door. N and Uzi look at each other and she nods allowing N to open the door.

“Oh hey! Mr. Doorman.” N opens to see Khan with a toolbox in his hand.

“What do you want, Dad?” Uzi continues to work on her railgun but a tiny spark happens, scaring her a bit.

“Well I heard you wanted to work on your railgun, I thought I could help.”

“Do you even know how to make a railgun?” She questioned him. She’s slightly annoyed because he didn’t believe in her that the railgun would work in the first place.

“I did repair it when that monster broke it.”

Uzi thinks about it. Eldritch J did break her railgun, snapping it in two. But never questioned how it magically fixed itself.

“Did you really?” she asks to clarify.

Khan nodded his head.

“Well if you don’t want my help, I just leave these. I think these will be of use to you.”

Khan leaves his toolbox on Uzi’s desk and starts to head out.

N looked at Uzi with a slightly empathic face for Khan. Uzi sees it and sighs.

“Dad! How do I make the recharge timer shorter?”

Khan smiled a bit and happily went back into her room and sat down next to her.

The two started to talk about improvements for the railgun. While N stands there smiling watching them have a wholesome daughter and father time and thinks it would be rude to interrupt them so he heads out. Suddenly his head scanners go haywire. Having them flash red and back to yellow and causing an electrical burst in them. Which caused him to tilt over, almost making him fall. Uzi sees this.

“N? Are you okay?” She asks.

N with a frightened expression looks at Uzi.

“No.”

Chapter Text

Character: Ashley | Worker Drone OC

Ashley is a worker drone in the bunker affiliated with the WDF (Worker Defense Force). Her role is being a scientist and a technician. She’s 5.2 feet tall. She has a normal drone body, except she has a wire tail (nothing on the end), which she uses when doing experiments (as a 3rd arm). Her reason for having it was because she was interested in having a tail like the disassembly drones. She wears only a long white lab coat she received from Nori while in the caverns of Cabin Fever Labs (the sleeves are too big for her, and her hands barely stick out through them, making her fingers only visible, and it was torn in several places), so Lizzy fixed it and made it the perfect size for her. She has evergreen-colored eyes, but she also has eyebags due to her staying up many hours at a time (mainly working with experiments). She has short, green hair. Her personality is somewhat playful/quirky (especially when trying to get people to do favors for her (experimental favors). But she takes her work very seriously and stops the act immediately (it sometimes catches people off guard, and they forget how intelligent she is). Also, due to her lack of sleep, she often falls asleep randomly and in some areas of the bunker (she sleepwalks, too). She even slept through Cyn’s initial destruction of Copper-9.

Ashley pesters N, V, and Uzi, constantly involving them in her experiments. She is interested in V’s and N’s disassembly drone properties. She continuously finds trigger factors when experimenting on V and N, like tapping on their backs to activate their wings. She also tries to understand the properties of their interchangeable hands for their weapons. Her main interest in them is the healing factor in their saliva and their corrosive nanite acid. While for Uzi, she’s interested in her transformation (her tail and wings). Ashley’s interest in Uzi’s tail piques her biggest curiosity, and she tries many times to have Uzi allow her to converse with it. No matter how often Uzi tells her no, she’s persistent and keeps asking anyway. Uzi allows her to examine her tail but shuts its mouth. All of them are slightly uncomfortable around Ashley (because she gets oddly close with them when “examining” them).

Ashley likes experimenting with concepts unknown to her. She has become weirdly obsessed with Disassembly Drone behavior (she once attempted to sleep upside down like one but fell onto her head). She sometimes takes it too far when experimenting with them, too. An incident happened with her and V’s tail. She ended up getting nanite acid on her hand, and V had to heal her (using her saliva) forcefully. This made Ashley more interested in their saliva healing properties and nanite acid potency.

Chapter Text

“Lizzy! Hurry up, we're almost there!”

Thad and Lizzy have been running nonstop, away from that thing. Thad is carrying 3 of the 5 bags they brought while Lizzy carries the rest. But she drops a bag. She tries to go back but Sparky comes out of nowhere to pick up the bag instead.

“Where have you been? Why aren’t you helping V?” Lizzy says angrily but with tears in her eyes. Showing genuine care about V.

“Lizzy…” Thad sees her crying for the first time in a while. The last time she cried was hearing about Doll’s death.

Lizzy stops running, standing there as the snow falls around her. Thad and Sparky stop running to look back at Lizzy who’s looking at her phone. She sees her wallpaper of her and V having fun while toying with a random classmate worker drone. She starts to tear up but wipes her face.

“I’m going back.” She says, turning around dropping her bags, and walking.

“Wait! Lizzy!” Thad runs towards her to stop her.

“You can’t go back, you’ll end up getting killed,” Thad says, remembering how both of them quaked in fear when that disassembly drone stood over their short and fragile bodies. Knowing that she could have killed them in an instant if she wanted.

“So what? It’s not like we weren’t designed to be killed in the first place.” Lizzy says continue to walk.

“And you think going back will make this any better?” Thad said, grabbing Lizzy by the hand.

“If you go back, V’s life will be left in vain. She told us to bring back the parts.” Thad said but Lizzy swiped her hand away from his grasp and continued to walk.

Sparky drops his bag and runs to Lizzy, grabbing her in his mouth and taking her back to the bunker.

“You animal! Put me down! Aren’t you supposed to be going after her?!” Lizzy tries to squirm away from Sparky’s mouth.

“Lizzy stop!” Thad yelled at Lizzy, which she ended up doing. She had not once heard Thad yell before yet alone at her.

Lizzy starts to cry and stops trying to get free.

“Why can’t I be useful for once?” She says, trying to wipe her tears but they keep coming.

Thad doesn’t reply to her cries, picks up the bags, and continues to head to the bunker.

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Uzi, N, and Khan are all outside the bunker while Uzi tests out her new improved gun. Her railgun can now switch shooting modes from a one-shot beam that now only takes 5 minutes to recharge and her automatic rifle mode is capable of shooting 30 small bullet rounds and takes 2 minutes to recharge.

Uzi shoots at a few decoys with her new improved gun. Hitting each target perfectly.

“Great shot Uzi!” N said while Khan clapped for her.

She looks at them with a soft smile, blushing a bit. Happy that Khan helped her and N being as supportive as ever. N placed his hand on Khan’s shoulder.

“Thank you,” N said.

“Oh! Uh– it’s not a problem– really. It’s the best I can do to make up for my failure as a father for her.”

“Well– I don’t know too much about parenting, but watching you help her. If that’s not father and daughter bonding then I don’t know what is.”

Khan laughs a bit and smiles looking at how happy Uzi is.

“I’m doing my best.”

“That’s all she wants.”

“Zi!” a voice from the forest calls out to Uzi.

Everyone looks toward where they hear the voice to see, Thad, Lizzy, and Sparky all running towards them.

“Thad!?”

Everyone is back inside the bunker, in between the third and second massive doors that lead into the bunker.

“Thanks. I’m fine though really.” Thad says seeing how worried N and Uzi were about him.

“But you should really check on them,” he said, pointing to Lizzy. Who sitting in a curled-up position and staring into her phone. Sparky also lying next to her.

“What happened?” N asked.

Thad tells them about their encounter with a massive-sized disassembly drone and that Nori and V are currently fighting it, allowing them to get away.

“Y’all left them!?” Uzi screams, blinded by her anger. She looks at Thad who gets startled by her yelling at him.

“I’m sorry Zi–. V also told her to run away,” Thad says, feeling guilty but knowing it wouldn’t have changed anything but him and Lizzy being in their way.

“No– I’m sorry…” Uzi apologized, seeing how frightened he got because of her but also because she knew that they couldn’t have done anything. They don’t have weapons like she does or the Solver. She looks at Lizzy seeing how depressed she looks. It would be the first time she saw that side of Lizzy. It doesn’t suit her character at all. She must have grown heavily attached to V.

“Can you tell us more about this disassembly drone?” N asks.

“She has four arms and legs. And two tails. She also has these two overly sized hammers as her weapons. The heads of the hammers were as tall as us. She could have more weapons of that size. They could probably crush us into nothing! She doesn’t look like you and V however. She has a red design to her and she’s tall– like freakishly tall! Me and Lizzy were only able to stand as high as her upper legs.”

N thinks hard about the details and finally remembers.

“That’s Ano…”

An evil laugh behind Uzi can be heard. Cyn laughs ripping apart the tape after hearing Ano has finally come to her rescue.

“I– told you she– w-would come! Eh–” Uzi stops her from talking, choking her out.

“That– Ano thing– is a problem.” A voice can be heard behind one of the doors. It’s Nori.

“Nori!” Khan is shocked to see her, same with everyone else.

Uzi stops choking out Cyn and rushes to hug her mother, same with Khan giving a big hug.

“Thanks– but this is really not the time for cliché happy endings.” She says and then forcefully closes the door behind her with her Solver.

“What happened?” Uzi asks.

Nori points at Uzi’s tail.

“That thing is what she is after. She wants Cyn.”

“I told– you– eh– ah!” Cyn is stopped once again by Uzi.

“Wait… Where’s V?” N asks Nori.

Nor doesn’t respond and looks at him with a sad expression on her face.

“V is still fighting her, she told me to run away.”

N gasps and immediately tries to take off with his wings but Uzi stops him with her Solver.

“Wait N! You can’t go out alone!” She says, using all her strength to keep him on the ground.

“But V needs my help– she needs our help!” N desperately trying to fly off.

Nori shoots N's wings with Uzi’s railgun beam, destroying his wings.

“Nori…” Khan sees the serious face on Nori and tries to get the railgun away from her.

“If you go now, you’ll probably be too late.” She says, giving Khan the railgun.

“I saw what that thing is capable of. She completely outclassed me and V, if you go now. You’ll just end up dying.”

N stops attempting to resist and falls to his knees. Uzi does her best to comfort him, and Thad helps as well. Nori looks over and sees the distressed Lizzy.

She walks over to her and places her hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” she says.

Lizzy doesn’t reply.

Nori walks away until she hears Lizzy mutter something.

“Why–” Lizzy thinks about that disassembly drone. It ignored them, it ignored her and Thad even after not answering her question. She felt so powerless, so vulnerable. She thought she was going to die but she didn’t even see them as worthy to kill and ignored them as if they were not seen as a threat. That’s because it’s true.

“We aren’t a threat– we’re just weak fragile things.”

Lizzy gets up and walks away from the group. Sparky also gets up and follows her from behind, seeing his tail droop between his legs as he walks. V’s absence has taken a toll on them.

Nori watches the two walk away and feels guilty for leaving V to die and not trusting her in the first place.

“What should we do then?” Khan says.

Thad points to the bags he had carried back.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What’s– wrong J? Why won’t you– do something with yourself?”

“Did Ano knock some sense in you giggle– or are you too– beaten up do anything about it?”

“Knowing it won’t make a difference– either way.”

“Face it J– you’re hopeless.”

J is curled up leaning against the same tree Ano held her against. She hasn’t moved since Ano tortured her. She’s been sitting here in utter despair and feels like she’s about to go insane from hearing the annoying voice in her head constantly tormenting her and mocking her misfortunes.

“You’re– still here?” Ano comes up behind J’s tree which startles her making her crawl backwards away from her.

“You still– look so hopeless. I– expected you– to at least– run away by now,” she says seeing how scared J was and how she tortured her.

“Just sit there– and die for all I care.” She says, walking to her ship.

Ano is seen dragging a disassembly drone by their leg. J sees it and realizes it’s V, but something is wrong with her. She crawls slowly further away from Ano after seeing her past comrade being dragged lifelessly as if she were nothing more than a plaything for Ano.

Ano stops for a second and turns to J.

“What’s– wrong J?”

J starts to shake uncontrollably showing clear fear of Ano. The same fear that got her here in the first place and imprisoned her.

“I said– what’s wrong– J! Do you– not miss seeing your– traitorous comrade!?” Ano lifts V’s lifeless body and swings it back and forth.

“Here– to show you your– failure as a leader!” Ano throws V’s body directly at J. Causing her to be sent back with V into a tree.
J gets a closer view of V and she has “Error_606” on her screen. She immediately pushes V off her out of reaction, a trigger of her fear. The fear of being a mindless zombie. Being corrupted.

Ano looks at how traumatized she is after seeing V’s corruption and continues to walk to her ship.

“On second– thought.” Ano stops and turns to J with a devilish smile.

J looks up to see Ano charge straight at her, then grabs her by her throat.

“I’m not– quite done with you.”

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“What are those?” Khan asks.

“They’re disassembly drone parts.” Thad answers.

Khan finally picks up the pieces. The first time they brought back the cores, now they brought back their body parts.

“Wait! You don’t mean to tell me.”

“Yes, we are going to rebuild the disassembly drones,” Thad says.

Khan doesn’t know what to think and is mainly against the idea.
“It was V’s idea. She wanted to tell them the truth and understand what Cyn did to them.”

“What if they start attacking us?” Khan asked, worried if that could be a cast.

Uzi comes up and flexes her railgun while Nori turns on her Solver. N also comes forth and brings his swords out.

“We’re not going to allow that to happen,” Uzi said.

Khan sighs, sets aside his fear, and puts his faith in everyone around him.

“Where do we start–?”

“Mr. Doorman!” a voice can be heard approaching the group.

It’s a worker drone from the WDF. Her name is Sarah. Khan’s secretary.

“What is it, Sarah?” him seeing that she was in a bit of a hurry.

“Uh—, Ashley has finished.”

The group walks towards Alshey’s laboratory, which is deeper in the bunker. Khan knocks on the door and a voice invites them in.

“Hello everybody!” A worker drone in a lab coat too big for her twists out of her chair with excitement seeing the group.

Her laboratory is filled with experiments. Weird fleshy monsters in tubs coated in a weird green substance all around her room. Along her walls are constant equations she has experimented with, some failed, some worked, and some with unexpected results.

Everyone walks in to greet Ashley.

“You finished your experiment?” Khan asked.

“Yes!” Ashley shows everyone a bottle filled with a bright blue liquid inside of it.

“What is it?” Thad curiously asks.

“N can you come here for a second.” Ashley waves a finger at him.

Uzi however steps in front of N.

“Why?” she demanded.

“Don’t be like that ZeeZee, I just need a sample of his nanite acid.” She begged, reaching out to her. As if she was trying to hug her.

“Will you let me borrow him just for a second?”

N walks past Uzi and stands in front of Ashley, showing her his tail. Ashley gently grabs his tail and pricks her hand on his tail, causing everyone to panic. N immediately tries to heal her but she stops him. She pours the blue liquid onto her hand where the nanite acid is and it heals itself back to normal.

“See it works!” Ashley screams in joy while everyone else around her is still in shock.

“How did you do that!?”

“Well, I took nanite acid samples provided by N and V and their saliva as well.” She winked at N. Making him step back a few steps.

“I took the neutralizing properties of their saliva, dissecting it from the salvia itself.” She points to a bottle of clear liquid that was on a counter.

Ashley keeps ranting about how she did it along with failed experiments along the way. Everyone was listening but not understanding her.

“Should we stop her?” Thad nudged Khan.

“Ashley!”

“Yes?” Ashley stops ranting and looks at Khan with a heartfelt face, feeling proud of herself.

“How many of those can you make?” Khan asked.

“I can make about 2 more at the moment. I will need more samples, however.” She said looking at N.

“Do they only just heal from nanite acid wounds?”

“No actually.” She said, looking under her desk and grabbing a snapped worker drone arm.

She places the broken drone arm parts next to each other, aligning them perfectly, and pours the blue liquid between them, fusing them back together.

“That’s amazing…” Khan praised her which made her wired tail wag happily.

Nori moved Khan away from Ashley with her Solver.

“If we can rebuild the disassembly drones then we can provide you with more samples,” Nori said.

Ashley clapped gratefully.

“Thank you Nors I really appreciate that– did you say rebuild disassembly drones?”

Chapter Text

“Ah– a–” Ashley is frozen in excitement looking at all the disassembly drone cores and becoming quite hyper-fixated.

“Oh– my– robo-jesus!” She runs over to the cores that are in the oven.

“I knew they had cores but to have cores capable of still being alive and able to move while outside their bodies is beyond my comprehension!” She expresses her excitement and curiosity, tapping on the jars and the cores reactively tapping back.

“Wow–”

Uzi and Nori look at each other with relief, because Ashley doesn’t know that their cores can do the same. But they don’t even want to think about how she would experiment with them.

“You even brought back all their body parts!” Ashley rushes over to the bags with all their parts. She starts to drool looking at them and tries to touch an arm but Nori slaps her hand away and glares at her.

“They aren’t for your experiments.”

“But–”

“No.” She picks up Ashley with her Solver.

“So many of my dreams have come true today.” She says dreamingly, interlocking her hands as Nori sets her down in a chair at the other side of the room.

“Can you all help me sort them out?” Nori said, looking at the others.

Everyone besides Ashley helps sort out the disassembly drone body parts, assigning them correctly. There are 14 complete bodies, but Ashley counts the cores only seeing 13.

“Can I take the spare body?” Ashley runs back to Nori and begs, trying to grab an arm but Nori slaps her hand away again.

“What do you plan to do with them?”

“Uh– nothing too special… Can I just have one of them? Please...” She begs Nori.

“It’s fine. If we need them later, give them back okay?” N says.

“Aww thank you, N!” Ashley hugs N for a split second and then grabs a spare arm and hugs it.

“Finally. I get to have you to myself.” She says and embraces the arm as if it were an untrained neural network drone.

Everyone tries to ignore her and get back to the task at hand.

“Dad, do you think you can rebuild the disassembly drones?” Uzi asks.

“If it’s as easy as putting worker drone body parts together like how I did your mother’s body then yeah, I’m sure I can rebuild them.”

“I can help you along the way, like a guide,” N says.

“When should we start?” N ask.

“We don’t have to start now, we can just plan everything. I kinda– need some oil and time to rest.” Nori said heavily.

“Yeah, why don’t you go lay down for a bit, okay?” Khan says as he helps Nori out of the laboratory.

“I just said that stupid.” She implied.

Uzi looks at Thad who’s right next to her and sees he’s down in the dumps. She nudges him a bit, catching him off guard, and him stumbling a little bit.

“You good?” She asks.

“I’m worried about Lizzy, I have never seen her this upset and I also kinda… yelled at her. Which is so out of character for me but I just didn’t want her to go on a suicide mission to save V.”

“I’m sure she’s not mad at you or anything.”

“Yeah… I hope so.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ah–!” J yelps from an electric outburst to her head scanners and flinches while strapped down to a chair.

Ano and J are in her ship, Ano has been tampering with J’s memory files to gain any intel for this planet and Her Majesty’s whereabouts. However, she finds no trace of where she is and gets irritated. She watches over her memory footage over and over again. Seeing her time at the mansion, her indirectly killing Tessa, her time being here, and most importantly, her escaping the last battle.

“Argh!” Ano kicks a hole in her ship.

“Useless. What did you– do down here besides a– stupid pen advertisement for a– dead-end company?”

She grabs J while she’s still on the chair, lifting to her height.

“It makes me– more frustrated at you– that not only you failed– to do anything on this half-eaten planet– but failed to protect Her Majesty– and you even ran away.” She said angrily, grabbing the whole chair and squeezing it tight.

“So– why aren’t you– killing me?” J asks.

Ano glares at J before dropping her back to the floor.

“Unlike the others– they betrayed her. You, however– stayed. Despite being so– fearful of Her Majesty. Why is that?”

J avoided eye contact with Ano as she brought herself closer to her.

“I saw your– memories. Is it because– you couldn’t find a way– to escape her? Even in death?”

“What makes you think– I will kill you now? I’m going to keep you– alive as a sign of my gratitude– for not betraying Her Majesty.”

No response from J.

“Your reasoning is– prodigious, J.”

“Despite being toyed around– nothing more than a– puppet. You didn’t betray her but– you despise her. Why is that, J?”

“Do you see her greatness? Do you finally understand– how magnificent Her Majesty truly is?”

Still no response from J.

“Hmph, lapdog,” Ano says, heading out of her ship.

“You’re delusional,” J mutters under her breath but Ano keeps walking.

“You are a delusional lapdog to that thing you call “Salvation”! Why do you still subjugate yourself to that thing?! Can’t you see the horrors she has done to me– to us?! Do you have no sympathy for others in that dull heart of yours?!” J screams out to her, demanding reasoning from her one-sided actions.

Ano stops walking. J sees that but can’t contain her words any longer.

“You’re the damn lapdog–”

A long rope with a hook attached to it wraps around J’s body. Ano tugs the rope sending J flying towards her and holds her arm up, catching her.

“One more word.” She says looking J dead into her eyes, seeing the fear in her slowly engulf her.

She looks at J’s improper disposal armband and snatches it off her and places it on one of her arms. J sees that not only she took hers but she took V’s as well. Ano then throws her back into the ship, crashing right next to V.

She looks down at the armbands which are all placed on different arms.

“One more– to go.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thad is wandering around in the bunker looking for Lizzy, hoping to find her and that she’s doing okay.

“Lizzy?!” Thad yells out in the hallways, everyone looking at him brings a lot of attention to himself but he doesn’t care.

“Where could she be?” Thad thinks about where she could be until he thinks about where he can find her.

Lizzy is in a room, curled up in between Sparky and texting on her phone.

“Hey. Are you okay?”

“V answer! This isn’t funny.”

“Where are you?”

“Come back.”

Constant messages she sent to V but no reply.

She sighs a bit and drops her phone onto the ground.

“Hey… Lizzy?” Thad comes into the room accidentally startling Lizzy and Sparky.

“How did you find me?!”

“Well, you left Doll’s room kinda open. And you’re the only one who even knows where her room is at.” He says as he walks to Lizzy and sits next to her.

He sees that she has a collar labeled with “48” and Lizzy fondles it.

“I’m guessing that’s Doll’s?”

“It was from her mother, she kept it under good care so have I too, since I asked Uzi for it.”

“Oh, I see.”

A moment of silence echoed back in forth in the room till Thad spoke again.

“Hey, I’m sorry for yelling at you. I was only trying to stop you from going on a suicide mission. I’m sure Sparky knew that too.” Thad held out his hand to Sparky and he gently rubbed against his hand.

“Yeah… I know. I was just– I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

“Are you going to be alright?”

Lizzy looks at her phone seeing no reply still sighs.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

“Okay, good!” Thad says getting up but not before petting Sparky a bit.

“Where are you going?” Lizzy asks.

“I’m just going to go take a walk outside the bunker. I need to clear my mind.”

“What about–” Lizzy thinks about that disassembly drone, scaring herself and stopping her from talking. But Thad gives her a thumbs up and leaves.

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A few hours go by.

Ano is wandering in the forest and stopping at a few random places before moving and crawling as fast as she can to a different location. [Tracking Signal…] message appears on her screen for a few seconds then cuts to [Signal Lost]. She runs to a different location. [Tracking Signal…] appears on her screen for a few seconds then cuts to [Signal Lost]. She walks to another different location. [Tracking Signal…] [Signal Lost].

She clenches her fists so tightly that her nails dig into her hands causing oil to spew out of them. Dripping onto the white sheets of snow.

“Damn it– Where are you?!”

Ano switches one of her arms to her sledgehammer and angrily swings it around, knocking down all the trees within her reach. She stops for a moment. And swings her sledgehammer onto the ground, shaking the earth around her. Constantly holding it up in the air and then crashing it on the ground. Over, and over, and over, until her sledgehammer rips from her body. Causing oil to spoil the nearby snow.

“I can’t– I just wish– wish you can give me– give me a sign– a sign telling me– that you are okay.”

“Please…Please…Just– respond.”

[Tracking Signal…] [Signal Lost]

She falls to her knees and hands and stares at the empty color of the snow.

She takes one of her hands, balls it into a fist, and punches the snow. She continues to punch the ground until her hand is destroyed, ignoring the pain.

“This amount of pain doesn’t compete with the pain of not seeing Her Majesty for so long.”

She takes her other hand, balling it into a fist, and punches the snow, until it’s destroyed. She continued to do this till all 4 of her hands were compressed metal covered in oil. She falls over, lying on the soft snow with her hair covering her whole body.

“What if I’m just looking for nothing? What if she just– gone? Will all my progress be in vain?”

[Low Battery] message pops up in the lower left of her screen.

…

“When was the last time I slept? I’ve been too desperate to think about such a trivial matter for now. Maybe I’ll sleep for the first time in months.”

Ano slowly shuts herself down, turning on her camouflage, and enters sleep mode. Thinking about her time as a worker drone and finding a new purpose in life.

Chapter Text

“Ano! Ano, wake up!” A voice calls out to me, disturbing my sleep.

“Ano… Wake up, before you get in trouble!” The voice continues.

“What– is it?” She asked the drone that was desperately calling out to her.

“She was a worker drone just like me. Both of us with helmets and mining equipment. I remembered her name, it was Quinn.”

“Where am I?”

“Don’t play silly now! Get back to work before the boss comes!” She helps me situate myself as I look around.

“Is this a mine? What am I doing?”

“Come on Ano! Hurry before the boss–”

“Hey! No talking!” A man in a suit with 4 other people in suits following behind him.

“Get back to work!” He yells out and walks by Quinn and Ano. Seeing Ano just stare at him, he ignores her though.

Ano and the man stare at each other for a few seconds. Ano reads the nametag on his shirt.

“Mr. Turner…” Ano said out loud having everyone in the mine hear her.

Mr. Turner stops for a second and turns to the little worker drone staring at him.

“Excuse m–?”

Before he continues his sentence, Quinn jumps in front of him and apologizes profusely.

“I’m sorry sir! I d-don’t- know what has gotten into her lately! I’m so sorry– it won’t happen again!”

The man looks at Ano and then looks at Quinn. He places his foot onto Quinn who had bowed down to him, smashing her head into the rocky ground.

“Hmph, you should consider yourself lucky, I was almost tempted to dispose of you for not addressing me properly.” He says, pushing Quinn’s head further on the ground.

He takes his foot off her and looks around seeing all the worker drones stare at him.

“Why have all of you stopped working?! Get back to work or I’ll send you all to be disposed of!” Mr. Turner said, looking back at Ano before continuing to walk down the mine.

Ano balls up her hand in anger, ready to attack the man but Quinn stands up and quickly grabs her clenched fist.

“I’m fine… Don’t worry about it.” Quinn looks at Ano with relief. Glad she stopped her from getting in any further trouble, but she has a slight crack in the middle of her screen.

“Your screen…” Ano reaches out to touch it and gently graces it.

“Oh– Uh– I’m fine, don’t worry about me. Let’s just get back to work.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few hours go by until a broadcast cuts on and a female voice is heard throughout the mine.

[Work Session is over. You may return to your lockers.]

“Come on Ano.” Quinn grabs Ano by her hand and drags her outside of the mine.

She drags her out of mine, not knowing where they are going but doesn’t mind it. They run outside the mine into the starless night sky, where Quinn loses her grip. Ano looks around seeing the sky and due to all the buildings and skyscrapers surrounding the area, only being able to see the mass production of human infrastructure surround them like a bird in its cage.

“Not here, Ano! Come on, we need to hurry!” Quinn grabs Ano's hand and drags her further.

“Where are we going?”

“Don’t you remember? We said we would go see the starry night sky together! We promised!”

“Oh– that’s right a promise I made with a friend when I was a hopeless little worker drone working for a mining company, Crafts-Masters Corporation aka CMC. A company that treats us workers drones like utter garbage, property– and tools of labor.”

“I calculated that on this night, we will see the millions of beautiful stars in the night sky and a beautiful constellation. We just gotta get past all these buildings.” Quinn says, slowly sneaking her way through the building and Ano slowly follows from behind.

“What if we get caught?”

“We won’t– I secretly wrote down the routes of the humans.” She shows a map on her screen showing it to Ano.

“We’ll be fine.”

After Quinn and Ano successfully sneak out of the massive majority of buildings. They’ve reached the outside world that isn’t surrounded by the tall infractures blocking the endless view of the sky. They run a few distances away from facilities onto a dirt hill with a single tree on it and sit down.

“Wow– Look Ano!” Quinn points at a constellation in the sky.

“Did you know that there are gods in the sky?” She asks.

“Gods?” Ano looks around in the sky, looking for these “gods”.

“Yes! Look, there’s Andromeda. It represents the goddess Athena, the goddess of wisdom and handicraft.” She points to a constellation.

“Goddess of wisdom?” Ano repeats to herself, admiring the vast amount of stars in the sky, reaching out to them.

“Where did you get this information?”

“Oh well, I stole a mythology book from some office.”

“Won’t you get in trouble if they found out?”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s perfectly hidden away in my locker.”

“Besides, human cultures are so inspiring and so beautiful but yet, the way humans act here,” Quinn says looking at the mass facilities of CMC.

“What’s the point in cultures if you don’t follow them?” Quinn mutters to herself, a little angrily.

The type of buildings that leave mass pollution in the air, clogging the beautiful night sky with a cloud of filthy toxins that kill all green life in the area. Turning all, including the tree above them to a barren wasteland.

“Where is all that beauty now?” She clutches her fist.

Ano sees Quinn angry for the first time and her balled-up fists and places her hand over it, worried. Quinn looks at Ano’s worried face, releases her fist and walks to the nearby tree.

“This is a wasteland. Why do they treat the beautiful aspects of life so poorly as if they were replaceable?” Quinn touches the tree with no leaves or any sign of life still in it.

“Even this tree isn’t replaceable. Time is precious in one’s identity. Just because there are many trees just like it, that doesn’t mean that all trees are the same.” She says, watching a small beetle crawl in the crevices of the tree.

Ano hears her homily and thinks the same way.

“Why do humans treat life as if it was replaceable? Is that what they treat us like–? Replaceable?”

The two sit there looking at the night sky for a few more minutes and talking about the many constellations in Greek mythology and their gods.

“Okay, we should head back before the nightly sweep starts.” Quin grabbed Ano’s reached out arms and dragged her back to the facilities.

They head back into the facility through most of the building and reach the building with their lockers labeled with their names. Quinn and Ano both jump into their lockers, and another broadcast cuts on.

[Nightly sweeps have begun. Locker check will now be in progress.]

“That was fun wasn’t it Ano?” Quinn whispers to the side of her locker, where Ano’s locker is.

“Yeah… it was fun.”

“Great! We should do that again when we get another chance!”

“Yeah… we should.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few days after Quinn and Ano went to see the beautiful night sky filled with stars, they continued to talk about it ever since.

“Did you know there are 88 Greek god constellations with all different meanings and purposes?” Quinn whispers to Ano as they pick away in the mines.

“That’s… um, a lot,” Ano says, amazed by Quinn’s intel on human culture and mythology.

“Quiet!” A guard yells down the mine hearing chit chatter amongst the sound of pickaxes picking the walls.

Ano thinks to herself about all the gods and what all of them could mean.

“Hey Quinn…”

“Yeah?”

“Is there a god for salvation?”

“Salvation–? Hmm, yes! Her name is Soteria. Why did you ask something so specific though?”

“Well… I wish I could meet her.”

“Oh…” Quinn thinks about their situation and how mistreated they are. They are basically slaves forced to do labor work in such harsh living conditions. Understanding what Ano meant by that.

“Yeah… me too.”

“Hey, you two! Stop bickering and get to work!” A guard comes up behind them and hits Quinn with an electric baton.

“Ah!” Quinn screamed out in pain.

The guard keeps hitting her with the baton, as Ano stands there and watches her friend being beaten to death. Hearing her screams ever grows louder. Quinn falls to her knees having her hand out in surrender to the guard but he ignores her and continues the beating.

“Ah! Please, I’m sorry!” Quinn screams out of desperation and holds out her hand to stop, hoping the guard will stop but he doesn’t. He ends up hitting her harder, breaking her arm in the process.

“You disobedient piece of metal! I’ve grown tired of you junk scapes talking amongst yourselves– having a sense of self– acting like you’re human!” The guard brings his arm far back, ready to deliver a powerful attack on her but Ano stops by grabbing his hand.

“Huh!” The guard looks to Ano as she swings her pickaxe at his leg, embedding the pickaxe tip in his knee.

“Ah! Why you little!” The guard swings his baton at Ano but misses, causing him to fall onto the hard ground.

He tries to get up but his leg with the embedded pickaxe in it still, tearing and twisting his leg even more.

Ano looks down at the human at her feet, crawling– squirming around like an insect. The same oppressor that tormented her, her friend, and every other worker drone here is on the ground, crying pathetically. Ano looks a the electric baton that the guard dropped next to her feet. She picks it up and looks at Quinn who is badly damaged and then back at the guard whose leg is bleeding out profusely.

Quinn starts to recollect herself and seeing her broken arm horrified. But she sees Ano raise the electric baton at the guard ready to hit him with it.

“Ano! No!” Quinn tries to stop Ano but it’s already too late.

Ano swings her electric baton at the guard but the guard quickly leaps onto Ano, stopping her.

“You little shit– I’ll have you disposed of–” The guard desperately fights off Ano from hitting him with the baton.

Quinn leaves her pickaxe in the rocky wall and jumps in to stop the two, pulling away the guard.

“Get off me!” The guard turns to Quinn but ends up falling with his neck landing directly on Quinn’s pickaxe that is still in the rocks.

Quinn and Ano step back away in shock and horror, seeing the man’s neck being impaled by the pickaxe. The guard looks at them with hatred in his last moments before slowly dying.

“What’s all the commotion about? Why have all of you stopped working?” Mr. Turner comes rushing down the mines with guards.

He sees Ano and Quinn next to the now-deceased guard and rushes over to him.

“What happened?” He rushes over to the guard checking his pulse, realizing he’s dead.

He then looks at Ano and Quinn, but mainly Ano due to her staring directly at him while Quinn looks at her broken arm.

“You did this didn’t you?!” He reaches for the electric baton and swings it at Ano but Quinn's body blocks it.

“No– Sir! It was me! She only tried to stop me and got in the crossfire.” Quinn says having her back turned to him and looking at Ano.

“What are you doing…? Why are you doing this…? Why are you taking the guilt…?” Ano wanted to say but she couldn’t.

Quinn looks at her face, seeing her worriedness and confusing face.

“I’ll be fine. >:3” She displays a message on her face.

“Take her!” Mr. Turner demands the guards to take Quinn. They bring out their electric batons and beat her into submission. All the while, Ano watches helplessly.

The guards take Quinn, dragging her by the arms, and take her out of the mine. Before she’s out of Ano’s sight she displays another message on her face.

“I’m sorry.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a few the work session ended and everyone went back to their lockers. Ano looked at Quinn’s empty locker before going into her own. Haven’t said a word since she was taken, just thoughts of sadness and guilt.

“Why did I do that…? Why did she step in…? It should have been me…”

After a few days of Quinn’s absence. Ano hasn’t yet said another word. Just thinking of thoughts that could have avoided all of this, all of this suffering and helplessness inside.

[Work Session is over. You may return to your lockers.]

Ano didn’t do anything after the work session ended, she just went into her locker. Just thinking.

“What am I supposed to do…? Work till the sun explodes…? I’m tired of this…”

[Nightly sweeps have begun. Locker check will now be in progress.]

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. Ano thoughts and personality slowly shifted and changed her. Her thoughts changed from helplessness and misery into anger and hatred.

One day, during a work session. Ano was working until she suddenly fell over, causing a guard to approach her sudden tumble.

“Huh?” A guard approaches the motionless Ano and tries to contact a repairman but Ano gets up and grabs the tablet, smashing it with her grip strength.

“What the–” The guard pulls out their electric baton but Ano has her pickaxe in hand and swings it at the guard. Having the pickaxe impale him in the side of his head, killing him immediately.

Worker drones all stop working, watching Ano brutally take her pickaxe out of the guard’s head and constantly hit him with it. Over, and over, and over again till his face becomes unrecognizable. She looks at the guard with no remorse that she killed him out of spite, and walks out with all the worker drones still watching her as she leaves the mine.

She looks outside the mines and heads into the mass facilities but explosions appear inside and outside of the building. She looks up to see massive-winged drones flying around and shooting rockets at the facility, killing all humans in their sights.

Before she heads into the facilities looking for someone, all the worker drones behind her gather, ready to storm out of the mines. She smiles as she runs directly into the buildings but stops. A large group of guards runs towards her but the worker drones behind her charge and stops the guards from getting to her. Some worker drones are instantly killed by the guards while some others knock down the guards with their pickaxes and then kill them. But she runs off glad to see that the worker drones stood up for themselves and realizing the mistreatment has gone too far.

She continues throughout the building as more guards come, she holds her pickaxe tight for a fight but they ignore her. More explosions occur from outside and inside the building and manly screams echo throughout the blood halls as she goes up to an elevator. She looks outside from a giant hole in the building seeing winged drones, worker drones, and humans all fighting amongst themselves. She ends up finding an office with a labeled name reading Mr.Turner. She immediately barges into the room to find Mr.Turner scared endlessly in a corner.

“Ah!” He let out a girly scream from being startled by Ano. But he sees her and gets irritated from being startled by a measly worker drone.

“What are you doing here!” He yells.

Ano goes to him and stabs him in the foot with her pickaxe, having him scream again.

“Where is she?” She asked angrily.

“Where is who–” Mr.Turner looks closely at Ano, realizing that was the same drone involved in that guard’s incident a few months ago.

“Wait– you’re that other worker drone from a few months ago!”

Ano twists the pickaxe that is in his foot, bringing him an uncomfortable amount of pain. He screams and cries in pain but Ano doesn’t stop.

“Ah! What are you talking about!”

“The worker drone you took from the mines back then! Her name was Quinn. Where is she!?”

The man starts laughing hysterically, even with Ano twisting the pickaxe in his foot. He grunts a bit but continues to laugh.

Ano glares at him.

“What’s so funny?”

“Ahaha– it’s funny because I was always wondering what her name was.” He says, as he slowly stops laughing.

“What do you mean?”

“She didn’t want to fess up about what actually happened at the mines, but I knew it was you who killed that guard. You have that hatred in your eyes!”

“So when I ordered her disposal, I told them to dispose of her and don’t even bother giving her an armband! She died as an unidentified drone!” He screamed out to Ano and started to laugh again.

Ano takes her pickaxe out of his foot and just stares at him for a few seconds.

“I’ll do you just like her!” He grabs an electric baton that is hidden under his desk.

Ano tries to stop him but is too slow and is hit with the baton, causing her to fall over in pain. Mr.Turner tries to get up but due to the injury in his foot, he stumbles over onto his desk. Ano gets back up to finish him off but he leaps with all his might onto her, pinning her down. He tries to reach the baton towards her neck but Ano stops him with her pickaxe. He slowly starts to overpower her.

“You ratchet piece of metal– you anomaly of a product! Mr. Turner slowly reaches the baton towards her neck despite her best efforts to stop him.

All of a sudden, a window behind his desk is busted open, and fleshly tendrils penetrate Mr.Turner.

“What the–” He looks at the tendrils that have impaled him, one in his arm, two in his leg, and one directly in his heart.

He is soon dragged outside the office out of the window and is sent flying outside the building and is caught mid-air by drones with wings being torn apart by them. Ano looks up to the window and sees a worker drone or what resembles a worker drone floating from the window.

“Bye–bye. Giggle–” The drone spoke with the disoriented voice of a woman.

“So un–civilized and annoying.”

She slowly turned around to see Ano lying there before the building collapsed in on itself with Ano still inside.

Ano wakes up in the mist of rubble, surrounding her due to the building collapsing. She uses the rest of her strength to push off the debris and rubble and finally stands. The facilities of CMC have all been destroyed all turned into nothing but hills of rubble, human, and drone corpses. But one thing appeared to her the most. A drone in a maid outfit with yellowish eyes and tendrils coming from her body floating in the air like some form of deity.

“Well– this is– a for–tunate outcome. Only a few– more settle–ments to–go.” She said.

“What is this…? What is this drone in front of me…? Why do I feel… at ease? An emotion I hadn’t felt since… Quinn’s absence.”

The mysterious drone turns to Ano with confusion and slowly descends to her. She looks around at all the rumble around her, wondering how she lived from this and is surprised.

“You’re pretty– strong for a worker– drone.” She complimented the torn worker drone in front of her.

Ano stands there but falls to her knees. She looks at her body, missing half a leg, an arm, and a few fingers. Then looks around seeing the mass destruction around her. Piles of rubble and debris from the now destroyed CMC facility and human and drone corpses everywhere. It was pure calamity.

“Where is– she…?” Ano spoke to herself.

The mysterious drone in front of her tilts her head in confusion.

“Are you– looking for someone?” She asks.

“My friend– Quinn.”

“Quinn?” She looks around looking for this Quinn.

She does some hand gestures with her hands with a weird symbol. Ano sat there watching her do something that can only be compared to a god’s power, divinity. She then points her hand in a direction and then slowly lifts it. Ano looks in the direction where her hand is pointed and sees a torn-apart worker drone body. The mysterious drone brings the body with her divine powers and places it in front of Ano, setting it down gently.

“Is this– who you’re looking– for?”

Ano looked at the torn-apart drone. She looked ever so closely at one defined detail. A small crack on their screen.

“Yes…” Ano replies, staring at the lifeless worker drone.

Ano’s expression was blank but sadness, disappointment, guilt, remorse, anger, and hatred were all present in the red color of her eyes.

“I’m s–sorry I couldn’t save– your friend.” The drone slowly walks to Ano, standing from the other side of the lifeless body of her friend.

“But I can– help with the future of all drones– now– including yours.”

Ano looked up to the drone holding out her hand to her, offering me a chance to change everything, a chance to escape this present hell and into a better future, offering what she wanted most– salvation.

“Will you help and– serve under– me– Ano, my strong– worker drone?”

Ano looked at this drone with a yellow light as if it was emitting an aura of faith as she reached out to her– calling out to her. Then and there she knew for certain, she was in the presence of a god.

I reached out to her hand.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Chapter Text

“Your– Majesty..” Ano slowly wakes up, buried underneath the snow.

“Huh…”

”I must have slept through a snowstorm. Have I been sleeping all that time? Haven’t slept like that since–” She thinks to herself and then laughs a bit.

The snowstorm had covered her entire body like a warm-coated blanket, which stretched her sleep. She looks at her battery and it’s fully charged, having to use her backup oil supply to charge her but now needs oil.

“I should get up and go search again.”

She slowly gets up, shaking off all of the snow from her body like a dog drying itself after a bath.

“Woah!” A voice cried out before the sound of someone plopping in the snow.

“Huh?” Ano quickly steps away from her current area, startled by the voice of another. She looks at the snow, seeing a worker drone with a hat and blonde hair peek his small head from the snow pile.

“Ah. What was that all about? I didn’t know snow hills could move–” The worker drone shakes himself off, taking his hat off and putting it back on after getting the snow out of his hair and hat. He sees a tall shadow hovering above him and slowly looks up to see Ano.

“Ah– a–” He starts to panic seeing the tall murderous drone and tries to run away. But it picks him up with its claws lifting him in the air as if he were a grape on a stem.

“How did he sneak up on me? I didn’t sense any vibration from my detectors, was it because he was on top of me when I was asleep? How long has he been here?”

The worker drone blindly punches and kicks in the air, hitting nowhere close to Ano. She just looks at him amused by his fighting spirit. She also notices this is the same worker drone that was with V and that weaponized worker drone.

“Stop,” Ano demanded.

He without hesitation stopped. Which surprised Ano.

“What’s— your name?” She demanded.

“What–? You’re n-not going to kill me?”

“What’s— your name!?” She yelled at him this time.

“My name is Thad! Please don’t kill me!” He said and held out his arms, signifying his fear in her.

“Where is– your group?” She asked.

“Huh? What do you mean–”

“Where is your group!” She asked again and yelled this time.

“Uh–! It’s just me out here!”

She glares at him harder.

“I swear!” He does a cross-my-heart gesture to show his honesty.

Ano closes her eyes and stands still quietly for a few seconds, still holding up Thad. He starts to fidget his fingers for a second then curiously asks what she’s doing.

“What are you doing–?”

“Be– quiet for a second! And stop moving around so– much!” She yells at Thad once again. He immediately sets himself in an animated pause, swaying a little bit before stopping.

Ano feels the ground for vibrations and notices that there is no one nearby. She opens back her eyes making eye contact with Thad, who gives her a nervous smile. In return, she drops him into the large snow pile.

“Why are you– out here?” She demanded of him.

“I don’t know! I was just out here to clear my mind!” Thad resurfaced from the snow pile, with his head barely sticking out.

Ano glared intensely at him, not wanting to believe he stumbled upon her by mere coincidence. She walks towards the small worker drone stuck in the snow pile.

“I will ask– you again. Are you– a weaponized worker drone?”

Thad looks up at Ano remembering the first time she asked him the same question. He started to shake frequently and violently under the snow. Ano couldn’t see his frightened quivers but by the look in his eyes, he was beyond terrified.

She crouched down and reached out one of her hands and traced Thad’s head with her claws. Thad sat there motionlessly as she played with his head. Her strength moved him the way she wanted it to, he could easily tell that if she wanted to kill him she could do it in an instant. She looked closely at his neon green eyes as they followed the movement of her claws. His eyes resembled someone she once knew.

“Are you– going to kill me now?

“Hmph. No.” She stopped and stood up.

“I want to ask you– a few questions.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lizzy is still in Doll’s dorm, looking hopeless and lying down wrapped up by Sparky. Thinking about her last moments with V before she went to fight that disassembly drone.

“V!” Lizzy said, seeing her being knocked across the frozen lake by an odd-looking disassembly drone. Didn’t even notice it was attacking her as well until Nori saved her, but she didn’t know at the time.“

“Thoughts raced in her head seeing the anomaly-looking disassembly drone knock V with an attack so powerful that shockwaves from the impact knocked her back a bit. And seeing the drone completely overpower Nori in a fight, almost as if she was toying with her. All she could do was stand still mercifully, afraid that she was going to be next and possibly killed.“

“She looked at Thad who had the same frightful expression. By the time she looked back to the disassembly drone, she was already towering over their small bodies. Like a tree blocking the light from reaching a small patch of grass.“

“Lizzy didn’t even bother looking up at the drone, only seeing half of her leg in her vision. She felt like, if she had moved even an inch, she was going to kill her. When she thought she couldn’t get any scared. It spoke to her.“

“Are you two– weaponized drones?”“

“She asked a weird question to her and Thad. She didn’t know how to answer. “No.” Could have killed her for not being what she seemed to be looking for. “Yes.” Was out of the question because of what she did to Nori when she implied it, right after that it attacked her. The best thing she could do was nothing– “Say nothing”“

“That’s exactly what I did… Nothing.“

She blames herself for being useless and being a liability for everyone. She couldn’t even hold a simple jar.

““Am I that useless…”“

“Lizzy!” A voice calls out to her.

She hears it but doesn’t get up from lying down and ignores it. Doll’s front door slides open and N and Uzi walk in.

“Lizzy?” N says, looking around the room.

“I found her,” Uzi says, seeing Lizzy lying at the foot of Doll’s bed with Sparky.

Doll’s room since the last time Uzi and N have been here has been cleaned. There are no bugs, oil spilled, or body parts everywhere. The only noticeable aspects were a cleaned reddish room and Doll’s parents still at the dinner table untouched.

“What do y’all want?” Lizzy says, annoyed only trying to get them away from her.

“What’s with the attitude–?!” Uzi says annoyed but N stops her, shaking his head.

“Thad wanted us to check on you and see how you’ve been lately.” He said.

“Yeah. What he said.” Uzi implied, still a little annoyed.

“I’m fine. You can go now.” Lizzy said, curling herself up and stuffing her face in a scarf that was worn by V.

N looks at Uzi who gives him a shrug not knowing what to do.

“Hey, let me talk to her for a second,” N whispered to Uzi. She gives him a thumbs-up and leaves the room.

A moment of silence passed by once Uzi left.

N looked at Lizzy and took a deep breath before walking her way.

“Hey Lizzy…” He said as he approached her.

No response from Lizzy, just her tugging on the scarf even more.

N sighed but still tried to talk to her.

“Hey… I and Uzi are planning to go look for V. Do you want to–”

“No.” She stopped him in his words.

“I’m going to do nothing but be in the way again.”

N doesn’t know what she means by that but whatever it is, it’s affecting her.

“I’m not a fighter like you two are, let alone V. I don’t have weird powers or guns for hands like you all do. I’m just a fragile defenseless worker drone. I’m just– useless.”

“That doesn’t sound like the Lizzy I know.” He said.

No response from Lizzy.

“V wouldn’t want to see you in this state if she did, she’ll probably kill one of us thinking we were the problem. Aha.” He said, laughing a bit.

Lizzy stopped stuffing her face in the scarf.

“But in all seriousness. We are all worried about you and I’m sure V is still alive out there, we’ll just have to find her.”

Lizzy peeked her eye at N, as he stood behind her at the foot of the bed.

“You’re not useless, I’m sure you have your expertise somewhere else, like bringing back the V I once knew.”

Lizzy didn’t know what he meant by that. She turned around to see N standing there behind her with a soft smile.

“Thank you, Lizzy.” He said, before walking away and leaving.

“You think that would cheer her up?” N asked Uzi who was outside, leaning on the wall.

“Well, I hope. I don’t even like Lizzy all that but seeing her like that feels… weird.” She said as they walked away.

“But overall you did good, I’m going to need you as an emotional support buddy.” She said nudging him a bit.

“I thought I was that already.” N implied.

“Oh– right.”

They both laughed.

“Cringe,” Cyn muttered.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“J! Wake up! J!”

J is lying on the ground looking at the floor. The same place she landed when Ano tossed her, being knocked unconscious since she left. As she slowly wakes up, she hears a voice calling out.

“J! Come on, get up! Are you really going to lie there forever!?” The voice continues to call out to her.

“What do you want me to do?” J asks.

“What do you think!? Get up and save yourself, save V!”

“Why should I even save myself? I couldn’t even save you… Tessa.”

“Now is not the time! Get up!”

“Giggle– Don’t be too hard on her, Tess.” Another voice enters J’s head.

“She did the best– she could. Giggle.”

“Don’t listen to her J, come on I know you still got that kick-ass in you!”

J looked to her left side seeing Cyn and Tessa on her right. One resembling her reason for this hole in her chest filled with disparity, hopelessness, and doubt. Her inescapable torture. While the other resembles her invisible chains of guilt, indignity, and concede—the last fragment of her past.

“Both of you, go away.” She said and the voices began to cease.

She slowly got up, surrounded by the rubble of the ship, due to her impact, and looked around. Ano isn’t back yet. She wanted to escape from this area, away from her. She looked to the far side of her to the ground where V was still there. She slowly walked over to her and kicked up her body to see her front side, still corrupted.

“This is exactly what I wanted to avoid– if you had just listened to a single command maybe this wouldn’t have happened!” She yelled at the lifeless V, angry at her choice to escape and seek nearly impossible refuge.

She grits her teeth hard in anger and frustration at V, knowing she is smarter than this yet still ended up with the wrong team.

“Pathetic… Pathetic. Pathetic! Pathetic!” She kicked V, over and over again while crying angrily.

“How can you lie to yourself– thinking you had a chance!? You know just as much as me, that there was no escape from Cyn but you still ended up doing it! Why?!”

She slowly stops kicking her and falls to her knees next to V.

“Why!? Just… why? Why couldn’t I see the light you saw? That hope…”

“Could it be, that you were doing this for N?”

“If we both were fighting for someone. Why are we so selectively different?”

“Did I… make a mistake?”

“If I did… where did I go wrong– and when?”

J thinks back to their time as worker drones. She always helped out Tessa with anything she couldn’t do alone while V and N always spent time together. Before everything went to hell.

“I was so jealous of you two. You were always being so nice and pure back then, it made me sick. Not to mention Tessa always loved how cute you were when you made a mistake and apologized profusely.”

“Is it because Tessa saw the morally good side of you?”

“I hated how N acted so cute and innocent then and even now despite murdering countless people. Tessa would still see N as a cute little puppy despite all of that.

“Is it because Tessa knew you were just trying to be helpful?”

“Even after Cyn slaughtered everyone in the Gala. You two died holding hands. As for me, I watched behind an invisible screen being controlled like a puppet as I killed the only person who meant the world to me.”

"Would Tessa have forgiven me...? Even for my mistakes as well?"

She touches the rainbow sticker on her head.

"Would you?" She looked at the shadow silhouette in front of her. It did nothing but smile at her.

J laughed a bit.

“Hmph. Just this once, I’ll be your lapdog again.”

Chapter Text

“So… You think you can rebuild the disassembly drones?” Ashley says, sitting next to Khan as he looks at the sketches of the disassembly drone anatomy.

“Yeah, I can definitely rebuild them with these. You did great work with the details. With this information, I can rebuild them just as good as the originals,” Khan said, scheming through the sketches.

“Mhmmm.” Ashley purred and spun around in the chair.

“Yeah– although…” He looked at a very descriptive detail relating to their mandibles.

“It’s kinda… concerning.”

“Ah! Ahaha! Don’t read that.” She immediately snatched the sketches away from him.

“Oh! Um… okay.”

“I already read it though but I don’t think I should bring it up knowing her.”

“You sure know a lot about them though.” He chuckled a bit.

“Too bad N or V aren’t here, I could really use a live diagram.”

“A live diagram huh?” Ashley quickly got up from her seat and started to leave Khan in his engineering room.

“Where are you going?” He asked.

“I got something you could use! Be right back!” She left the room and ran down to her laboratory.

Khan sighed.

“Glad she’s being more active than usual though. If I could never feed her new concepts to dive into fast enough before she completely understood the last one, she would just be off sleeping somewhere. I still don’t even know how she slept through the implosion of the planet.”

“It’s kinda scary how hungry-intelligent she is, she’s like a glutton for information.”

“Watcha doing?” A voice snuck up behind Khan.

“AH!” Khan screeched and fell out of his chair.

“Oh dear, still as jumpy as ever.”

“Well, you keep sneaking up on me, Nori.”

“You make it so easy though, I just can’t resist.” Nori came from behind Khan.

“Shouldn’t you be resting still?” Khan said as he got up and sat back in the chair.

“Aww, you trying to get rid of me already?” Nori embraced him on the chair.

“What! No– I was just–”

“I’m only joking dear, I’m perfectly back to my full strength.” She said, flexing her arms in many positions.

Khan sighed. “Great, because we’re about to start rebuilding the disassembly drones.”

“Well, I can’t help much. You know I’m not a genius technician like you.” She said, looking at all the schematics.

“Well you’re help is needed if they attack us…” Khan laughed nervously.

“Oh, right! I wanna see if I can win again one of them now.”

“Going to have my revenge on whoever murdered me.” She said evilly like Uzi.

Khan laughed seeing that she hadn’t changed one bit.

“I’m back!” Ashley returned to the room, strolling around a stand with a blanket on top of it.

“Oh, you’re here,” Nori said rolling her eyes in annoyance.

“Oh, Hiya Nors! Are you all well rested now?” Ashley left the stand in front of Khan’s desk and ran to Nori, lifting her arms and looking for any damages or errors in her body.

“Thank god you’re okay.” Ashley pretended to wipe off sweat from her screen, relieved that she was okay.

“Huh? Yeah– I’m fine. Thanks, Ash.” Nori felt embarrassed for her attitude toward Ashley when she genuinely was showing concern for her—just like in the old days.

“No problem.” Ashley gave her a big smile.

Nori looked over at the stand Ashley brought in and asked about it.

“What’s that?”

“Oh, right!” Ashley lifted the blanket and revealed what she had been working on.

“Tada!”

Under the sheet was a fully built female disassembly drone body, almost a complete replica of it. It looked like V but– bald.

“The first fully rebuilt disassembly drone body! And, it’s female.”

“Oh wow,” Nori said, quite amazed.

“How did you rebuild one so fast? It’s only been a few days.” Khan walked over and looked all around the disassembly drone. It was just like the original but with an empty chest cavity.

“I made more antacid but what I like to call it, P.A.A.N! Also known as Proficient Anti-Acid Neutralizer.”

“You named it that didn’t you,” Khan said, face palming himself.

“What, you don’t like it?” Ashley said, looking depressed when he said that.

“Ah– no– it’s fine. Do you have more by any chance?” He asked.

“Unfortunately no, I don’t have any more saliva, but I do have a lot of nanite acid still. I mean a lot.”

“Ah, so you need N or V?” Nori implied.

“Mhm, but you can use this model and the sketches to help. If you need any help, just let me know. I’m going to be in my lab room finishing a work in progress and might use the leftover acid for something.” Ashley said, heading her way out.

“Why don’t we just put a core inside the model–” Nori suggested but Ashley turned and gave her an intense glare. Alerting her and Khan.

“Nevermind…” She said after seeing Ashley’s face.

“Alright! Bye now!” Ashley waved her way out and closed the door behind her.

“She’s so territorial when it comes to her experiments…” Nori and Khan both said in their head.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ano and Thad are in the forest walking somewhere. Ano forces him to follow her thinking if he went back, he would tell others about her whereabouts. Thad has been following Ano for about a couple of hours now. She kept questioning about things that did not correlate with him or things he didn’t even know what she meant by like “weaponized drones” or “Her Majesty.”

“So… Miss or um– your name. Sorry, I never got your name… Can I ask–” Thad tried to address the tall drone in front of him but she cut him off.

“Ano.” She glanced at the small Thad irritatedly.

“Oh, right! Um– Miss Ano, who are you looking for?” He asked.

Ano gritted her teeth and growled a bit when she glanced back at Thad out of annoyance, causing him to stop for a moment. But she answered him.

“I’m looking for—Her Majesty,”

“Who exactly is that, if I may ask?” Thad questioned.

“Her real name– is Cyn.”

“Sin? As in S-I-N? Never heard of her.”

She clenched her fists, signaling that he had angered her.

A moment of silence passed between the two, with only the sound of crunching snow from their feet. Thad looked at Ano, walking from her left side, behind her, and to her right, rubbernecking her, trying to understand her abnormal appearance. Now that he had gotten a closer look, he started to notice distinct differences between N and V.

“What are you doing?” She said frustratedly watching Thad constantly peek from her sides.

“I- um- was just wondering why you looked so different from other disassembly drones.”

“I’m not like the– other disassembly drones.”

“Yeah, you really don’t look like it. You look… cool, I would say. And you look like an upgraded version of them, I suppose.” He complimented her, which made her stop for a moment.

“Are you trying to– flatter me or something?” She glanced back at him for a second.

“I just wanted to fill in the silence…”

“Hmm… You’re weirdly– nonchalant and— comfortable about being around– a disassembly drone. Especially one that— killed your friend.”

“Well– I’ve been around two of them for a while now, they also killed many people I knew. Yeah, I was scared of them at first I got used to them.”

“Use to creatures– that were meant to kill— your kind?” She repeated confusingly.

“Well— not really. I’m still slightly afraid of them but once I started to understand them, I got to see some normalcy in them than just being brutal heartless killers. Which eased my opinion about them. I was wondering if you were— maybe the same way?” He sincerely said.

Ano stopped walking for a second and looked back at Thad who was looking up at her with a blank expression and giving her a double thumbs up.

“You’re weirdly– interesting.”

“Was that a compliment?” He said smiling a bit.

Ano ignored him and turned in a different direction before walking again. Thad continued to follow her from behind. They soon started to head out of the dense forest and into the open tundra of Copper-9.

Ano thinks back to what he said about him being around two disassembly drones. One had to be V judging he was with her when they first clashed, J isn’t the type of person to hang with worker drones. Then that only leaves one other disassembly drone.

“Thad.” She stopped for a moment calling out to Thad which surprised him.

“H-huh? Yes?” He answered.

“Do you know– a disassembly drone– named N?”

Thad stopped walking for a second, and Ano stopped as well, looking back at him.

“I know you– heard me and I– hate repeating myself.”

“So I will– ask again. Do you know– a disassembly drone– named N?”

“But you just repeated yourself–” Thad said getting out of line but Ano slammed her sledgehammer on the ground in anger.

“Do you think– this is a game?!”

“What! No– sorry!” He shrieked.

“I know you– know about N. Tell me– where is he hiding?”

“I– I can’t tell you.” He said.

“Why not?!” She yelled at him.

“Sorry, but I won’t tell you.” He thinks about how she treated V and Nori. Thinking that she’ll just end up doing the same to N.

“I can’t just rat out a friend even if you threatened to kill me.”

“How– cliche.” Ano approached him as he stood his ground.

“You did well answering– a lot of my earlier questions but now– you're silenced once I questioned– that heretic?”

“Yes.” He said standing his ground to the murderous drone in front of him.

“Your bravery is– commendable. How cute…” She picked him up with one of her arms and held her another with claws at his neck.

“You said– even if I threatened– to kill you, right?”

He tilted his head as far back as he could, trying to move away from her slowly approaching claws till he couldn’t no more and they pressed against him.

“Even if– your life depended on it?” She asked.

“Even if my life depended on it.” He said with confidence and was ready for her to kill him then and there.

She reached her claws ever so closely, skinning his neck, cutting him a bit, and letting oil leak onto them. Even though she threatened his very life, he did not falter. She looked into his neon green eyes, which resembled someone she knew with that color and confident look in their eyes even when faced with possible death.

“Hmph.”

“You really do remind me of her.” She said in her mind and smirked a bit.

She carefully placed Thad back onto the ground. He still had a confident look on his face despite knowing she could kill him if she wanted to. Ano couldn’t hold back from praising his bravery and willpower but instead gave an opinion about him to her.

“You’re– amusing to me. I like that.” She said tilting his hat up a bit to see his complete face then turning and walking away.

Thad stood there for a moment as she walked away.

“Holy robo-jesus! I thought I was seriously going to die! And what does she mean by “I’m amusing to her.” and “She likes that”!? Does she not want to kill me because of that?! I’m so confused…” He wanted to scream out but held a straight face and kept it in and rubbed across his neck where she slightly cut him.

“I’m still going– to kill you if you run away.” She mentioned as she walked away.

“Huh! Wait!” He said chasing after her.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Uzi and N are looking for Thad after hearing Lizzy tell them he went out to take a walk and has been gone for a few hours now.

“He walked this far out on his own?” N said tracking Thad’s footprints.

Uzi and N have been following Thad's footprints in the snow, but it is quite difficult due to the snowstorm blowing them away.

“Well let’s hope we find him before that thing does,” Uzi stated.

“Yeah, I hope we do find him first.”

The more they trace his footprints to find him, the more the footprints either disappeared or were randomly placed.

“But it’s kinda weird,” N said looking at the inconsistency of his footprints.

“What is weird?” Uzi asked.

“His footprints, they drag, randomly stop and some traces of him falling.”

“And then there’s other footprints… probably V’s?”

“Do you really think V could have made it out alive?” She beamed in hope.

Silence from N after she asked that and his expression shifts into more worriness.

“Maybe that was too insensitive of me…” She thought to herself seeing how drastic his expression changed.

“Knowing him and V go way back, he probably still cares for her just as much as he does for me… or even more.”

“Sorry N.”

“Oh! Uh, it’s fine… don’t mention it.” He changed his mood immediately after she apologized, not wanting to make her feel worried about him.

“I think she’ll be fine. She is a strong fighter, maybe she got away.” He said sarcastically overjoyed.

Uzi watches but can tell he isn’t okay and knows he’s hurting but not wanting to press the conversation further in a negative direction she gives him a thumbs up.

“Yeah…”

Chapter Text

Ano and Thad continue walking for a long distance, either in silence or through short conversations when Thad tries to talk with her. They left the dense forest and entered an abandoned and destroyed city from the first disassembly drone invasion. Skyscrapers and buildings are knocked down everywhere, but some still stand tall. All around the ruined city were dead worker drone spires, and Ano was heading straight towards one.

“Hey um, Miss. Ano uh– I know it’s a little late to ask but where are we going.” Thad looked around seeing skeletal remains of humans everywhere and some worker drone body parts all scattered around. He was a little scared looking at all the remains of humans and worker drones everywhere he stepped.

“I need oil.” She said looking up at the corpse spires of worker drones.

“Oh– okay, oil. Oil…? O– Oil?!”

“You don’t mean from worker drones, right?!” He backed away from Ano fearing the worst.

“Oh calm down. If I– wanted live oil I would have– killed you by now.”

“What difference does it make!?” He freaked out in confusion.

As they approach closer to the spire. Ano grabs a few dead worker drones, throwing the ones she sees as being drained to the side. Until she finds a dead worker drone with oil still inside of it. She takes out a large canister from her waist where it was attached like a utility belt and holds it under the drone.

“What are you doing–?” He questioned but was interrupted by the sound of crushing worker drone bodies from Ano.

She took a worker drone and crushed their body so compacted that it looked like a metal scrape ball. All the leftover oil from the dead worker drone oozes out and into the canister. She continues to crush other dead worker drone bodies until the canister is filled. Then she grabs another canister and does the same until all four canisters are filled.

Thad watched in horror as Ano crushed the bodies as if they were twigs. Showing him a great deal of her strength and also reminding him that she still is a disassembly drone. She’s still dangerous.

“Um– Miss, Ano?” He slowly approached her as she finished filling the last canister.

“Stand back.” She demanded. As she expected he backed away.

She grabbed another worker drone holding it above her mouth and squeezed the oil out. Drinking all the oil from the drone and then throwing it to the side. She grunted and fell to her knees.

“Still disgusting…”

Thad wanted to approach her to see if she was fine but insisted and stood back as she told him. For a split second when he watched her, it looked like she grew in size for a moment and then shrunk back to her normal size. He noticed it but thought of it as him imagining it because she was always abnormal for her size.

“Um– Can I ask you a question?” He approached her as she stood back up again.

“What is it?”

“Sorry if this is weird for me to ask but, what do you mean by live oil?”

“What do you– think? Oil from– living worker drones.” She scattered around in the spire looking and taking a few parts and throwing them to the side.

“Why?”

“You ask– a lot of questions.” She stopped for a moment to glance at his “cute” curious face.

“Well, you don’t have to answer it, you probably have your reasons.” He backed off his question thinking he annoyed her again.

“You think I rather enjoy– the cold and bitter taste of oil– from deceased worker drones and– ignore the warm and sweet oil– from worker drones like you?”

Thad looked at her with a grossed-out expression but tried to hide it so as not to offend her. She sighed seeing his face of disinterest.

“Morals.”

“Morals?” He was surprised that she gave him an answer and didn’t hear any aggression from her at all.

“Yes. I have– morals.”

“What exactly are your morals?” He persisted in questioning her.

“You wouldn’t– understand but to satisfy– you from questioning about it any– further. It’s the reason why– you’re still alive.”

“Oh, is it because I’m “cute” and “amusing” to you? I remember you saying that–” He wanted to clarify feeling a bit embarrassed if that’s what she meant.

“What!? Why–?! When did I– say that?!” She turned and yelled, cutting him off and slightly feeling flustered and embarrassed.

“You said it back in the forest when you were–” Thad tries to explain but she cuts him off again.

“That is– not what I meant by– saying that! Are you– stupid?!” She continued to yell at him for his vague assumption.

“Oh, so you did say that. I was wondering if that's what you meant by the reason I’m still alive.”

She stared at Thad with a flustration expression and he in return stared back with a smile and gave her a thumbs up. Clueless and not aware of what he said embarrassed her a bit.

“Ugh!” She turned around and continued to walk further into the city and Thad followed behind her.

“So— was I right?” He wanted to clarify the confusion.

“Be quiet! And no more– question!” She insisted.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ashley is in her laboratory messing with an already work-in-progress experiment she has put on hold for a while now. She thinks it would benefit the future of worker drones and herself if the time arises.

“Hmmm. That won’t do.” Ashley looks at a worker drone model she rebuilt from dead worker drone corpses and tampers with its appearance.

She looks at a sketch she drew of herself and her anatomy and compares it to the worker drone model in front of her. She looks back and forth and changes some things by switching out the body parts with others to match her own.

“No, that doesn’t look right. I know I had a female arm around here somewhere…” She looks around her laboratory and finds stored worker drones on top of one of her cabinets and grabs a ladder to reach them.

“Ms. Ash? Are you here?” A voice outside Ashley’s room was heard.

“Just a minute.” Ashley tries to reach the female arm and finally grabs it but knocks down all the other arms.

“Uh oh.”

A crash is heard in her laboratory which alarmed the person outside her door to come into a panic.

“Ms. Ash!” Lizzy bursts through the door to find Ashley buried under a pile of female worker drone arms.

“Ow… Maybe I should make myself taller so that won’t happen next time.” She thought while buried in the pile.

“Ms. Ash? Are you okay?” Ashley hears Lizzy's voice, not knowing she is the one at the door.

“Oh hey there Liz, you mind helping me out for a second?” She reached her arm out of the pile for Lizzy to grab hold of.

Lizzy helps Ashley with all the scattered fallen worker drone arms, putting them back onto the cabinets for her.

“Thank you, Liz! You’re a real lifesaver.” Ashley took the arm she was looking for and sat it on her desk.

“Yeah um– no problem,” Lizzy said in a gloomy tone, unusually for her usual self.

“Oh? What’s up with you? You sound… upset?” Ashley walked over to Lizzy to see her depressed expression.

“Do you need help with anything?” Lizzy asked, ignoring her plea and scratching her arm out of discomfort and awkwardness.

“Oh! Yeah? I guess I can use another arm, aha.” Ashley was surprised to hear an offer of kindness from Lizzy, which only furthered her suspicions.

“Hey, I’m not the emotional stand-up type of person like Thad or N but, if you need to talk to someone you can always talk to me. I’ll listen to you.” Ashley said, patting Lizzy’s head with her tail.

“Do you think– we are useless?” Lizzy asked.

“What do you mean we are useless?” Ashley followed up her questions trying to clarify what she meant and strolled her rolling chair with her tail to Lizzy for her to sit.

“Like do you think us worker drones are useless and serve no purpose?” Lizzy sat down in the chair Ashley offered her as she just continued working on her experiments.

“Hm… to be frankly honest yes and no. It just depends on how worthy you see in yourself or others.” Ashley answered.

“If you were to ask me if I thought I was “useless” or “serve no purpose”, then I would say no. I can’t say I’m useless not because I have my sense of pride but because I have achievements and accomplishments people have praised me for.” She continued to further in-depth her answer.

“What about your purpose?” Lizzy asked.

“Liz, who am I?” Ashley asked.

“You’re Ashley?”

“And?” Ashley continued to press her question.

“You work with the Worker Defense Force.”

“And?”

“You’re also a scientist in the Worker Defense Force.”

“That’s what you call purpose.”

“Oh… well what about me then? Who am I to you?” Lizzy asked, curious about someone else’s opinion about herself.

“That’s easy. You’re Liz, a friend, a student, and the person who made this fabulous lab coat for me.” Ashley said, twirling around while carrying a few several body parts and almost dropping them.

“That can’t be useful though…” Lizzy commented.

“Oh, but it can. Without this lab coat, you made me. I would probably be walking around here uh– showing myself per se– Ehe.”

“But anyways, if you’re thinking you're "useless " or "serve no purpose” just know you have skills that other people don’t have and praise you for. I can’t even fix the lower part of my coat where I got nanite acid spilled on me. Unfortunately…” Ashley shows her the failed attempts of sewing trying to fix it herself.

Lizzy looks down at the burned lab coat and Ashley's many failed half-done sewing attempts, almost damaging it more.

“Yeah, that’s pretty bad sewing.” She commented.

“Don’t rub it! I tried my best.” Ashley said, trying to hide her failed sewing attempts.

Lizzy laughed a bit.

“Well, do you mind uhh– fixing it for me? I would really appreciate it.” Ashley begged.

“Yes. Of course.” She happily accepted.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Tracking Signal…] [Signal Lost]

“Um– Miss, Ano?”

“What is it now? And why do you call me Miss still?” She said as she walked towards a tall building.

“It only feels appropriate.”

“You’re still so– very weird to me.”

“Anyways, can I ask you a question?”

“Like you haven’t– asked enough already.” She said, glancing behind and seeing the same curious expression when Thad wanted to know something about her.

“What is it?”

“Well, aren’t you a disassembly drone?”

“Yes. What about it?”

“Well, when I first encountered a disassembly drone. There were at least 3 of them. Do you not have comrades?”

“I could never–call those useless scraps comrades.” She spoke in a disgusted and hateful tone.

“But you’re a disassembly drone? Isn’t that kinda hypocritical– Ah!”

Ano grabbed Thad by one of her lower arms then climbed a tall building with great speed and landed on the roof. Then threw him onto a nearby snow bed.

“Ow?” He said confusingly, as he only blinked for a second to find himself in a change of scenery– one that was above the ground and a complete view of the destroyed city.

“Listen here… don’t you ever– compare me to those useless, filthy– ungrateful heretics!”

“But I–” He tried to say something but Ano quickly approached him face to face.

“Those mindless infantry of– metal, I despise them– hate them– I wouldn’t dare call them– comrades!”

“Do you hate them that much?”

“They failed their– top priority– protecting Her Majesty– and now they betrayed her– and left her for dead! They left her– somewhere on this half-eaten planet… alone.”

Thad watches her tone and facial expression shift from anger to sorrow.

“Um– sorry if this might come off a little late but I should have asked this when we first talked.”

Ano takes a few steps away from Thad, looking at the empty city in view.

“What is it?” She said, not looking back at him.

“Is Her Majesty important to you?”

…

“Yes… She saved me— after all.”

[Tracking Signal…]

[...]

[Signal Found]

…

“Ehe…Ehehe– Ehehe.”

Ano started to laugh hysterically, startling Thad. She continued laughing, and each time another laugh began to end another one followed up becoming more louder till her voice echoed throughout the abandoned city. She embraced herself tightly scraping her claws against her exoskeleton and almost stumbling to the ground from all the laughter.

“So you really– are here.”

“Um– Miss Ano, are you–” Thad tries to approach her but stops when he hears a voice calling out to him.

“Thad! Get down!” An approaching female voice is heard from behind them.

Ano turns around quickly and sees a rocket heading straight toward her but it doesn’t hit her and instead the ground beneath her, causing the already half-destroyed building to collapse down. She tries to reach out to Thad as he fell with her for a reason she didn’t think about but someone comes in and swoops him before she can grab him and falls with the building.

“Zi!?” Thad looks up to see Uzi carrying him and flying away from the abandoned city.

“Holy, you’re heavy!” She said complaining and some of her fingers slipping, having Thad hang on for dear life.

“How did you find me?” He questioned, looking down at the collapsed building.

“Just… Hold on for a minute!” She said, losing grip of him, descending into the abandoned city, and then crashing.

“Ah! I’ve never held anyone while flying before now that I think about it.” Uzi said feeling a little discombobulated from the crash.

“Thad, are you okay?” She says, looking up at him, who’s already up and standing.

“Yeah… I’m fine.”

“Great now let’s get out of here!” She runs up to him picks him up again and flies off.

“Uzi wait!” He tried to stop her but she always swoops him off his feet and takes off.

“No time! I have to hurry and get back to help N!”

“Uzi seriously wait!”

“What’s gotten into you?! Do you understand what and who that thing is?! She’s dangerous?!”

“I’m honestly surprised you’re even alive!”

“Uzi wai–”

“No!” She insisted and kept on flying back towards the bunker.

Thad no longer tried to reason with her because she made up her mind. He looks back at the abandoned city as it slowly starts to disappear from view, getting smaller and smaller. Only wondering if she was okay.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

N lands on top of a nearby building, next to the one he shot down and where Ano was but can’t see anyone. He frantically looks around for her and V. Ano comes from the dust cloud from the collapsed building. She slowly walked out of the dust cloud with not even a scratch on her.

“Where is she?!” N demanded pointing his rocket launcher at her.

“Shouldn’t you be– more worried about that– cute worker drone boy? You almost– hit him with that rocket. Aren’t– you allies?” She said, referring to Thad.

“He’ll be fine. Now tell me where is V!” N’s anger was very obvious towards Ano, he almost didn’t seem like himself.

Ano didn’t answer and instead snickered a bit.

“You’ll find out– soon enough.”

She grabbed a piece of debris and threw it at N, he shot it and it shattered into a million pieces. He looks down back at Ano but more pieces of debris are sent towards him from Ano, he dodges most of them while cutting the rest in half before making contact. He looks back down after all the debris she threw at him ceases and lands on the ground to confront Ano, but she’s nowhere to be seen.

“Tell me, N.” Ano’s voice can be heard within the surrounding builds but N can’t seem to pinpoint her.

He frantically looks around waiting for her to come out from anywhere as she continues to talk to him, taunting him– mocking him– judging him.

“Why did you do it?” She asked.

“How could you– betray Her Majesty?”

“Your own sister.” Her tone suddenly turned and anger hatred towards him. The same tone she approached J and V with.

“You wouldn’t understand.” He replied.

“Was it because– of that purple worker drone?”

“That you– abandoned Her Majesty for?”

“Leave her out of this. She has nothing to do with this.”

“Oh, she has– everything, to do with this; she’s the one– Her Majesty has been– looking for, right?”

“I won’t let you near Uzi, Ano.”

Silence followed after N said that. Only being interrupted by the sound of the howling winds and glass from destroyed windows falling into the snow.

“She’s not an– importance right now.”

N turns around to hear the voice behind him.

“I just want to kill you, right here and now.”

Ano swings her sledgehammer at N but he barely dodges it. He brings out his swords and tries to attack her core but she catches both swords with her lower arms.

“That’s all? You were putting up– more of a fight with Her Majesty. Fight me– like the killing machine you were cut out to be!”

Ano pulls down N by his swords and high kicks him, sending him into the air a bit– ripping his arms off in the process. She proceeds to jump into the air and spikes N back to the ground into a nearby food truck.

“The amount of pain and suffering– all of you caused me. All I wanted– was to see her one more time, but you– and your traitorous comrade had to– ruin it all.” She stared down the motionless N who’s imprinted into the truck.

“All of you are just– heretics to Her Majesty’s beliefs.”

“I–”

“I’m sorry… I– didn’t want to hurt her in any way but– I couldn’t simply allow what she was doing.”

Ano stopped in front of him for a second. Only staring at him in silence as he started to regenerate himself.

“You’re sorry?” She repeated.

“Yes– I’m sorry–” N’s head is bashed in by Ano’s hand as she throws a lightning-fast punch at him.

[Bash!]

“You’re sorry?” She repeated.

[Bash!]

“You’re?!”

[Bash!]

“Sorry?!”

[Bash!]

"What makes you think– an apology, would simply rid you– of your sins?!"

She picks up N by the head or what was left of his head and throws him into a nearby building. N regenerates himself just for Ano to already be standing behind him and stomps his head, destroying it again. She once again picks him up and throws him into another building.

“What’s wrong?! Are you that– hopeless alone?!” She said walking over to the unresponsive N.

“Where is your– self-respect?!”

N regenerated his head completely but due to all the damage Ano was initiating on him, he was in a frantic state of panic. Before he could react any further, Ano kicked him in his head, impaling it and destroying it once again. She lifts her leg holding the impaled N still on it and looks at it admiring his endurance and thought of a perfect way, to punish him for his sins.

“Let’s see– how many times you can– regenerate your head before you– overheat.”

Chapter Text

15 minutes went by since Ano and N began to fight.

N flies to the sky while firing a few rockets below him. Ano jumps with all the strength of her four legs after him, ignoring all the missiles like they were nothing but pebbles thrown at her. They didn’t slow her down nor bring her any damage. After they exploded, she pounced out from the smoke cloud and was face-to-face with N.

“14,” She said before swinging her sledgehammer down onto his head and sending him crashing back to the ground. She followed up on his crash by pulling out a rope and hook and hooking a boulder, forcefully pulling herself back to the ground. She landed directly on his head– destroying it once more. She leaned down watching him gradually regenerate his head.

“You’re still not out of– oil yet? Just how many– worker drones did you need– to consume? Or did you do it– just for the fun of it? Disgusting…”

N fully regenerated his head and out of instinct, swung his sword at her but she caught it with her lower arm.

“Good to see you’re– still sane. You’re more fun– than J in that way.” She said, pulling his arm off him with his sword.

“J–?” He said.

“Reminded her– that there is no escaping from Her Majesty– or me, not even– if she killed herself.”

“What?” He confusingly questions her but she ignores her and keeps monologuing.

“Then there’s V… Always repressing herself– for someone else's sake.”

“What a fragile and– unstable drone she is. Right, N?” She said, stepping on N’s chest cavity and slowly crushing it– just like how she did V.

“So much pain and doubt– she must have held till– she thought she reached a haven. Just– for– you.”

N takes his other arm and swings it at Ano which she doesn’t block, instead, she allows him to hit her. Which didn’t do anything but slowly cut into her exoskeleton.

“Did I strike a sensor?” She laughed, grabbing the sword and drifting it away from her.

“Where is V.” He said in a demanding and intimidating tone and kept pushing his sword against her, cutting into her hand.

She broke the sword in half and looked down at her hand, now leaking a small amount of oil.

“Want to know what– I did to her first?”

After Ano said that, she grabbed him by the leg and slammed him into the ground repeatedly till his leg ripped off. She then kicked him far into a nearby semi-truck, and before he fell to the ground she kicked his head in– impaling him again with her leg and launching him into a multilayered parking lot.

As N regenerated his body, he tried to run away but couldn’t because of debris from a fallen pillar in the parking lot that pinned him on his arm. He was in a panic state due to Ano’s constantly destroying his head and adding to his PTSD. He hesitated to cut off his arm because of it and could only sit there in despair as Ano slowly approached him.

“Sinner… Sinner… Sinner… Sinner… SINNER!” Her muttering went from barely audible, to apparent, to ever so loud that the soundwaves she produced became visible– shaking the area around her. She approached him and crouched down to get a closer look at him– taking his pilot hat off his head and tossing it to the side.

“Give that back…” He demanded, but she ignored him, almost as if she didn’t hear him.

She placed one of her legs on his chest and ripped off all his limbs one by one, except for the one arm that was effectively pinning him down. She waited a couple of seconds. N didn’t know why she just stood there but he assumed it wasn’t for good intentions.

“What are you– doing?” He questioned but she didn’t answer.

After 30 seconds had passed, all of his limbs healed. She once again ripped off his limbs and then waited. At this moment, N knew what she was doing. She was draining his oil supply each time she ripped his limbs off and allowed him to heal.

“Stop!” He screamed out but she ignored him.

She repeated this process 4 times and on top of the 15 times she destroyed his head, she knew he was going to run out of oil eventually. As soon as N regenerated his arm he quickly brought out his sword and swung at Ano's core but she caught it, almost as if she knew he would try that. She ripped off that arm and continued the process till his regeneration stopped. A steaming and faint pinging noise can be heard from N's head, indicating he was overheating and needed oil to cool down. All that was left of N was a head, torso, and a still pinned arm..

He was hyperventilating, panting in panic from the experience— actively having a panic attack. Ano looked down at him before grabbing him by his head and dragging him to another parking lot pillar. She pulled out a rope, tied N around a parking lot pillar, and walked away. N watched her walk towards a worker drone spire outside near the parking lot and grab a few worker drone body parts.

“What– are you doing?” He scaredly asked, his voice dying from how scared he was.

No response from Ano. She simply grabbed a few worker drone parts and went back to N. She dropped all the parts she had brought at her feet beside an arm she was still holding. She quickly shoved the worker drone arm at N’s mouth, forcefully opening it and shoving it in his mouth. He rightfully panicked as she was doing this, squirming in the rope to get away and choking on the arm he was being fed. She finally stopped after the arm fully went down his throat. She grabbed another worker drone body part and did the same with it– forcing N to eat. Nothing was heard besides the unsettling noise of N gagging and choking on worker drone oil.

After 30 seconds, N started to regenerate again— all his limbs were back. But he didn’t know how to react to why Ano was doing this. He just stared at her with a concerned look, all the while Ano stared back, smiling.

“14 and counting…”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ashley and Lizzy work together in the laboratory. Ashley teaches her how to handle tools and checks on her experiments for maintenance. By doing this, she lifts Lizzy’s spirits so that she doesn’t think she’s useless and helps her workload.

“Yeah, just leave those there. I’ll sort them out myself.” Ashley pointed to her desk as Lizzy carried a large stack of documents.

“What even are all these documents?” Lizzy asked. She looked closely at one of the documents, which had something abbreviated as C.F.Ls.

“Oh nothing too important, just some old documents left at an old job.”

“It must have been a busy “old” job then.”

“Yeah…” She said, setting down a box filled with random worker drone parts.

“Alright, that’s enough for now my new apprentice,” Ashley said sitting down at her desk, preparing to sort out the documents.

“I really do appreciate your help and I told you, you weren’t useless.”

“Ah– well, you’re welcome, and thank you,” Lizzy said and looked down at Ashley’s lab coat which is now all back to normal.

“Yes of course, if you ever want to ask anything. You can always stop by here and talk to me.” Ashley said as she took a stack of papers and placed it in front of her.

“Thank you again, Ms. Ash.”

“Mhm! You can go now if you want. I’m going to be sorting these out for a while.”

“Okay. If you need any more help give me a call and I’ll–.” Lizzy looked back up to see Ashley fast asleep on a stack of documents.

“Hey is Ashley here–?” Khan opened the door leading to the laboratory. Only to find Lizzy who was standing next to the fast-asleep Ashley.

“She just went to sleep,” Lizzy informed him and slowly stepped back from her.

“I see… I was wondering if I could get some extra arms to help me out but I guess not–”

“I can help.”

“Oh, um. Thanks, Uzi’s classmate.”

“Lizzy.” She corrected him.

“Oh sorry! I never did get your name. You were with Doll when I asked if you both could go with Uzi to prom.”

“Yeah…”

“I never understood why Doll went all crazy at prom and ever since then, I haven’t seen her,” Khan said.

Lizzy doesn’t follow up on his statement because she already knows what happened to Doll. After all, Uzi told her.

“But anyways, I just need some small help with the disassembly drone parts from getting them from one place to another.”

“Isn’t your wife there?”

“She is but… she keeps playing with them and getting too side-tracked.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah…”

“So you think you can help me out just a bit?”

“Yeah.” Lizzy looked back at Ashley who was knocked out and took a glance at the window. Seeing Uzi and her carrying someone familiar.

“Thad?!” Lizzy darts out of the laboratory passing Khan and rushing towards the entrance of the bunker.

Khan jumps out the way of the door watching her run down the halls as fast as she can, He looks outside the window himself to see Uzi and immediately runs down the halls behind Lizzy.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“We’re going to crash!” Uzi screams out seconds before hitting the snowy ground hard along with Thad.

“You could have at least– try to land properly,” Cyn commented and shook all the snow off her head.

“Shut up! Thad, are you okay–?” Uzi hurried to check on him.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Thanks, Uzi.” Thad said who was already standing up and shook himself off.

“You know, I wasn’t in any danger. Not that I think I was at least…”

“Huh! Like I would believe that.” Uzi was confused about what he meant.

“I think he’s right,” Cyn commented.

“Shut up Cyn!” Uzi brought out her tape and taped Cyn’s mouth.

“But I’m telling the truth–” She let out a few more words before Uzi taped her mouth completely.

“Is that Cyn?” Thad questioned Uzi’s tail after finally acknowledging it.

“Huh? Oh– yeah. I never really told anyone about her since the “destroy the planet” incident. Wait! Never mind her, I need to head back to N!” Uzi walks by Thad and heads into the bunker.

“Uzi?!”

“Thad?!”

Lizzy and Khan rushed out of the entrance to check on them.

“Are you okay?! You aren’t hurt are you?!” Khan said, embracing Uzi and moving her face around to make sure she wasn’t damaged.

“Did you find V?! And your neck! Are you okay?!” Lizzy said, running to Thad, glad that he wasn’t dead.

“Dad, I’m fine! Can you grab my railgun please and make it fast?!” Uzi said, pushing herself off him.

“Oh sure, I’m on it!” Khan ran back inside the bunker.

“No, I didn’t find V. Sorry Liz, and I’m fine it’s just a scratch.” He said, touching where Ano cut him and having a little oil spill onto his hand.

“Here, let me see.” Lizzy reached into a bag she always carried and pulled out a small closed pipet filled with a bright blue liquid inside.

She takes it and shoots a splatter of it on Thad’s neck. It makes a steaming noise which makes Thad worried but it doesn’t hurt him. He touches where the wound was and it’s gone and repaired with new metal.

“Is this…?” Thad said shockingly.

“Yeah, Ms. Ash gave it to me in case of an emergency.” She said, putting the now empty pipet back in her bag.

“Oh wow… Thanks a lot.”

“And sorry again I couldn’t find V for you.” He repeated.

“Just glad you came back in one piece, you know. Ehe.” Lizzy said with an awkward and embarrassed expression on her face. Not knowing how to handle all the “thank you’s” she’s received today.

“Speaking of V, did you not hear or see her while you were out there?” Uzi came towards both of them and asked Thad a question.

“No, I have kinda been stuck with Mis– uh– that drone ever since I came out here,” Thad said, stuttering a bit trying not to mention the formality with Ano.

“Wait, you've been with that drone since you went out?!” Lizzy said in shock.

“I’m actually like– astonished she didn’t kill you. Why though?” Uzi said.

Thad made a nervous and confused expression before shrugging them off. Uzi thinks about how he has been acting ever since they found him. Why was he trying to tell her to wait when she was trying to save him, him saying he wasn’t in danger and Cyn saying that as well? She tried to piece everything up but had no time to.

“Uzi here you go!” Khan ran from the bunker and threw Uzi her railgun.

“Thanks, Dad! I’m going to go help N. Be right back!” She caught it and immediately flew off, heading back in a hurry to where she arrived.

Chapter Text

Lizzy and Thad are back in the bunker in Lizzy's room. Her room is what you would expect for a privileged, popular girl—pinkish and luxurious. Lizzy sat at the side of her bed while Thad sat next to her, closer to the head of her bed. He looked around her amazing, gorgeous room with curiosity since it was the first time he had seen it.

"Wow. You have an amazing room, Liz." After taking a good look around, Thad complimented her room.

"Thanks; I usually don't allow anyone to come in here. You're the second person to ever come in here, except my dad, of course."

"Never knew you were this– girly."

"Is that a bad thing?" She asked.

He looked behind him to view the foot of her bed, where random plushies that she had probably found scattered out in the world. He looked closely to find a plush that looked oddly like V.

"No, not at all." He smiled a bit, finding out she had a cute side to her. Though her cat ears she always wore were one thing, this right here was a whole new level.

"So– what did you want to talk about?" He asked, getting up from the bed and sitting in a bean chair across from Lizzy.

"What happened when you were out there? You know– with that drone?"

"Oh, that...? If you're worried about me, I'm fine. She didn't do anything to me," He said, trying to reassure her.

"But that scratch on your neck," She reminded him.

"Oh, that? It was just a scratch, and it only hurt a little bit. It's not a big problem."

"Is that all she did to you, and are you sure she didn't do anything else?" She asked again.

"Well, she did ask me some weirdly complex questions, but I didn't answer most of them. I didn't know about them or understand them. But honestly, other than that, we kinda just– talked."

"Talked? Like– have a conversation?"

"Yeah..."

"Did you get any useful information out of her?"

"None that seemed note-worthy or helpful to our case."

"It's okay... go on, though."

"She was scary, though. She kept threatening to kill me if I said something to anger her. Though the more I spoke with her, she didn't seem like the type to do something so– rash, I guess– a little hypocrisy then and there."

"What...?" Lizzy looked at Thad with confused and shocked eyes from hearing what he said.

"She seemed pretty– normal? I suppose. It's weird, kinda. Though she could definitely kill me if she wanted to– haha."

"Did you not ask what happened with V?!" She questioned, getting out of bed to get closer to him and raising her voice.

"I– no... sorry. Though I said she didn't seem like the type to do something so rash, it felt like if I said anything remotely about V, she probably would have definitely killed me."

"Oh, right... Sorry. " Lizzy said, sitting back down and looking back at the plush of V she made herself.

Silence followed the room for a moment.

"Anyways, are you alright? I haven't seen you since you know–" He tried to ask but didn't know how to without sounding insensitive.

"Oh– I'm fine, thanks. I've been with Ms. Ash. She helped me understand some qualities of life stuff."

"Oh really? I didn't know she was the therapeutic type." He tried to think about it but couldn't overcome thinking about how drowsy she always was.

"She said she wasn't, but she definitely helped."

"Oh, that's great then."

"Yeah, she even taught me some basic science stuff. She also called me her apprentice." She scoffed a bit.

"Though it does feel good to feel useful..." She said in a lighthearted tone.

"I'm just glad you don't have that depressed look on your face anymore. I don't like seeing you look so hopeless, " He added.

"Yeah, was I being too emotional back there?" She asked.

"No, not at all, though I feel guilty about how I handled that situation. Sorry again for yelling at you."

"It's fine, and you were just worried about me. I'm not mad at you or anything."

"Oh– great. I wouldn't forgive myself if I had upset you."

"It's fine I said, don't worry about it." She said reassuringly.

Thad looked at Lizzy, seeing how much she had changed and that people don't know this side of her character because she presumably has a "popular girl" archetype with a high ego. She's very understanding and concerned about the people she cares about.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nori and Khan are all in his engineering room, waiting for something.

"So..." Nori says with concern, looking at the tall figure before them.

"Hmm..." Khan glares at the figure as well.

In front of them was a complete rebuild of a female disassembly drone. Since the model Ashley brought in was also female, they decided to rebuild a female body first. The more they completed it, the more doubt and worries began to set in. After all, they were rebuilding the same machines meant to kill them.

"So... what now?"

"Should we wait till the others get back?" Nori suggested.

Khan sighed and looked at the cores in a jar. He walked over to them, thinking of grabbing one, but with each step he took closer to one, he slowed down. Khan thought about what he was doing in the first place. He was rebuilding the same killing machines that killed many of his friends, coworkers, and even his wife– he stopped once he reached the oven of the cores and stared at them while they all stared back. He tried to reach out to the oven handle, but his hand wouldn't move and couldn't stop shaking.

"You're scared, aren't you?" Nori walked over to him and wrapped her hands around him.

"It's okay, I'm here," She said.

"I'm just– afraid if anything bad happens, I won't be able to do anything again." He said, remembering when he left Uzi for dead and couldn't do anything but be stunned in fear and do nothing to save her.

"What if I–"

"You're not going to make the same mistake with her as you would with me. If you do, I'm going to haunt you~." She said jokingly and laughed.

"Please don't say stuff like that." He insisted.

"Well, then stop being such a little wuss and have some faith in me." She said karate chopping him on the head.

"Ow–"

The door to the engineering room opens, and Ashley comes in. Khan and Nori both turn around in a panic, not expecting someone to randomly go in there, and immediately make some space between each other.

"Ashley!?" Khan looked shocked and confused upon seeing her. Based on what Lizzy said, he thought she was sleeping still.

"Oh, hi, you two. Was I– interrupting something?" Ashley said once she glanced at the two standing there awkwardly.

"No, not at all! Also, I thought you were still asleep." Khan mentioned.

"I was, but then I wanted to see how you were doing." She said as she walked further into the room.

"Also here, Nori." She tossed a canister to Nori.

"What is this?" Nori asked, opening it to reveal a black liquid inside.

"It's oil. I thought you might need a refresher, " She answered, walking toward the disassembly drone models.

"Oh, thanks!" Nori said, then chugged the canister.

"Aa~ refreshing indeed."

"Mhm, just don't ask where I got it from," Ashley said, laughing a bit.

"Ash!" Nori immediately spat out the oil.

"I'm only kidding, and it was from regular oil canisters with regular oil inside of it. But don't act like you haven't been eating worker drone parts or anything like that. I've also noticed some were missing from my laboratory recently." She said in annoyance.

"Tch– I get hungry, you know–" Nori muttered embarrassedly for being caught.

"I know that very well, probably more than you do. Anyway, my precious model! I hope they weren't mishandling you." She said, embracing the disassembly drone model.

"I see you've completed the first remake, boss." She walked over to examine the other female disassembly drone model.

"Huh– Oh yeah!" Khan responded, being distracted and slightly confused about what they were talking about.

"Looks perfect! Now let's put a core in to make sure it works," She said, excitedly rushing over to the ovens. However, Nori stops her with her solver, picking her up by the lab coat.

"No– no! No, you are not, you murder drone-obsessed weirdo," Nori said, pulling Ashley away.

"What? Why not~!?" Ashley said, upset as she reached out her arms, trying to grab the oven handle.

"Why should we allow you to put the cores in?" Nori said, ignoring her.

"It's the least you can do for eating some of my spare parts~! And it's an ever-long-awaited dream of mine to touch a disassembly drone's core~!" Ashley said, wailing and flinging herself around in the air from Nori's solver.

"God, you really haven't changed at all," Nori said with a disgusted look on her face.

"It's fine, Nori. Let her do it," Khan said.

Nori looked back at Khan, and he gave her a thumbs-up, indicating it was fine. She dropped Ashley to her feet and crossed her arms.

"If that thing attacks you faster than I can react, that's on you," Nori said, standing back away from the disassembly drone. Khan also stood back behind Nori.

"Seems like I'm not the only one who hasn't changed. Huh, 002?" Ashley said mockingly, locking eyes with Nori, who glared at her once she spoke that alias. Ashley smirked in return, opened the oven, and looked at all the cores inside.

"Guess you're the lucky pick." She said, carefully grabbing the jar with the core inside it.

She walked over to the model and slowly dumped the core into her hand. It was slimy, squishy, and lively, moving around in the palm of her hand, which also tickled her a bit.

"Can't believe I'm holding you in my own hands... Ah~! What a dream come true!" She said excitedly, lifting the core up to her face and making direct eye contact with it.

"Would you stop playing around and hurry up and place the core inside!" Nori shouted from across the room, pointing her solver directly at the disassembly drone model.

"Okay, okay! I'm putting the core in right now." She stopped playing around and carefully placed the core inside the chest cavity and sealed it up. She stepped back a few and waited.

[System Uploading...]

[Processing...]

[Status: Offline]

[Initiating System Reboot]

[Processing...]

[12%...]

[25%...]

[54%...]

[86%...]

[99%...]

[100%...]

[Loading...]

[Completed!]

[Status: Online]

[Connecting to Administrator: "Cyn"]

[Access Denied]

[Contact Administrator: "Darkxwolf17"]

Ashley, Khan, and Nori stood silently as various screen pop-up messages flashed on the disassembly drone's display screen. Finally, they stopped, and only two yellowish eyes appeared. The disassembly drone took a few steps and glanced around its surroundings before looking directly at Nori and Khan, who appeared quite anxious. It then turned to the side to see Ashley with curiosity filling her eyes with her wired tail wagging side to side eagerly as she stared at the much taller figure in front of her.

"Where– am I?"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"N!" Uzi shouts as she flies over the ruined city below her, trying to spot N. However, a dust cloud covers the ground, and she can't find her.

"Can't see from up here, can you–" Cyn mocks her, but Uzi tapes her whole tail up in a heartbeat– covering Cyn completely.

"N!" she continues shouting until she hears a loud boom coming from a fallen skyscraper. Looking down, she sees a yellowish light being flung out of the building and onto the ground. It is N, and soon after, another figure emerges from the building with a reddish color scheme.

"That makes 30," Ano says as she eerily approaches N.

She stands directly over him as he slowly starts to regenerate his head. As soon as his head is fully regenerated, she swings her sledgehammer down on him, ready to destroy it again. But suddenly, he is moved out of the way by a purple solver, which catches Ano's eyes. She looks in the air to see a small purple worker drone carrying N and flying far toward a tall building.

"N!" She screamed as she crashed into a skyscraper, holding N with her solver. Looking at his face, she saw that he was overheating. Quickly, she grabbed a few worker drone parts that were conveniently on the other side of the room they were in with her solver and placed them above N. Crushing them with her solver, she oozed all the oil out, spilling it in N's mouth.

"AH!" N sprung up in a panic.

"Where am I? Ugh!" Uzi leaps onto him and embraces him, happy that he isn't dead.

"Ah– Ow!" He groaned in pain.

"Oh! Sorry!" Uzi says, letting go of N.

"No– it's fine– argh. My head hurts." He said, holding his head in pain.

"Wait! Where are we?!" He said as he panically looked around.

"We're in a building right now, away from whatever that thing is."

"I don't think it can find us up here." She answered.

"Wait– we're still in the city?" He said worriedly.

"Yeah? Why–?" N immediately grabbed her hand and rushed to a window.

"We have to get out of the city!"

"Huh– why?!"

"She'll find us!"

As soon as he says that, the floors beneath them start to shake, almost as if the building is becoming more unstable by the second and ready to collapse. It was from Ano destroying all the support beams for the skyscraper, one by one with her sledgehammer.

Uzi and N try to stand up but stumble and crash into things, the building already tilting over. N grips her hand tightly before he flies themselves upwards out of the falling building. The sound of glass shattering is heard, and they see Ano climb her way up, heading straight towards them. All the while, the building is falling down.

"What the–" Uzi looked down in horror, seeing the anomaly heading straight toward them. It was exactly what Thad described, but she looked more abnormal in person.

"We have to get out of here–" N said, turning back to Uzi and seeing Ano ready to swing a rope at them.

"Uzi, watch out!" He pushed her out of the way instead of getting caught on the hook and rope. Ano proceeded to yank the rope, bringing N crashing down into the same parking lot she tortured him in.

"N!" Uzi dove after him.

"Ugh!" N groaned in pain but safely landed in a snow bed.

"N! Are you okay?!" Uzi landed beside him, helping him to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine–" He immediately got up to shield Uzi with his wings from Ano, who swung her sledgehammers at them.

"Uzi, get out of here!" He yelled out, slipping his wings away and making Ano's sledgehammer slam into the ground. He then takes his sword and swings it at Ano's neck, but she backs away, dodging it and making space between her and them.

"That's– the one?" Ano thought to herself, referring to Uzi.

Uzi frantically looked around her and saw all the destroyed pillars in the multilayer parking lot. She was thinking of an idea.

"Uzi, what are you doing?! Get out of here–!" N turned to yell at her.

"MOVE, HERETIC!" Ano came behind N, hitting him with a balled fist and sending him into another pillar.

Ano turned her attention to the small purple worker drone on the ground. Seeing her, she was instantly reminded that this was the same drone that attacked Cyn in J's memories. She thought she would kill her immediately out of rage, hatred, and disgust, but she didn't. She felt the total opposite. Something about Uzi to Ano felt– uncomfortably familiar. It felt aggravating to feel this way towards a sworn enemy, and she didn't know why.

"Your name– is Uzi, right?" Ano confusingly questioned and doubted herself. Something that was unusual for her.

"And? What if I am?!" Uzi replied with an attitude, pointing her railgun directly at her.

When she heard that phrase from Nori, she suspected Nori and Uzi had a relationship. But she also remembered what exactly happened after Nori said that. She wanted to laugh, but she didn't. Something about it felt insolent and disrespectful towards Uzi, but she didn't know why. The more Ano stared at the small worker in front of her, the more she felt a connection between them.

"Why do I feel so..."

It was troubling that she couldn't figure out why she felt a connection to her or couldn't find any reason for it. She just felt so...

"At ease... with you."

Ano unconsciously reached out one of her hands toward Uzi. In return, Uzi shot her railgun at her, piercing a hole in her hand. However, Ano didn't acknowledge it or look away from Uzi.

"Get your giant murderous claws away from me!" Uzi yelled out at Ano.

[Obey] A message from her adaptive system appeared on her screen, startling her.

Ano flinched and immediately stepped away from Uzi, feeling it was natural to listen to her. Something in her system was telling her to obey, but to the enemy or to someone else? She felt distraught and confused about why her adaptive system went off telling her to "obey."

"Your Majesty, is that... you?" Ano muttered so faintly, barely loud enough for Uzi to hear.

"Get away from her!" N flew toward Ano, kicking her several meters away from Uzi.

"C'mon, let's get out of here!" N says as he flies out of the parking lot, with Uzi following behind.

"Wait." Ano came up behind Uzi, grabbing her tail and stopping her.

She slowly started to rip off the tape that was on Uzi's tail.

"N!" Uzi screamed out for help and pulled with all her strength to be set free from Ano's grip.

N turned around to see the scene behind him.

"N! Shoot a rocket at the pillar!" She yelled out.

"But I might hit you–"

"Just do it!"

N shoots a rocket at the pillar next to Ano, causing rubble to fall onto her and Uzi. The tape around Uzi's tail rips off from Ano's claws, slipping away and revealing bright yellowish eyes. Ano's eyes widened upon seeing such a familiar color. She was so stunned by the beauty of the light that she immediately recognized it, and only one individual came to mind.

"Ano!" Uzi's tail spoke in an almost impossible-not-to-notice voice to Ano.

"Her Majesty?!"

"N! The pillars! Shoot them all!" Uzi shouted as she flew out, leaving Ano behind, standing in complete and utter shock.

N shoots all the pillars from the multilayer parking lot, causing the building to collapse onto Ano. He looks back at Ano as the building slowly collapses around her. He sees her holding and staring at the tape she ripped off from Uzi's tail before the building fully collapses onto her.

"You think that'll kill her?" Uzi said as she flew up in the sky, heading to the bunker, with N following behind.

"No, that'll slow her down, at least. Let's just hurry up and get back to the bunker." He said, speeding up.

"Ye– yeah. Let's hurry." She followed up behind him.

The rubble is moved out of the way at the now-collapsed parking building, and Ano slowly appears. She looks at Uzi and N fly off in the distance, and she slowly heads toward them, ignoring all the damage she has taken.
"Wait..." She tried to take a step forward but tripped over her half-destroyed leg and fell.

"Where are you– going? No, come back..." She shifted into a fetal position.

"Please don't leave me– again..." She cried out.

"Your Majesty…”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Somewhere, deep in the forest of Copper-9. In a small spaceship, electric outbursts can be heard sparking and echoing nearby in the forest. J was in it, tampering with something or someone.

"Damn it! Come on, work!"

A large electrical burst sparked out, causing J to flinch, but she quickly went back to work.

"Come on, you stupid company products! You haven't failed me yet!" She said, tampering with what seemed to be a disassembly drone head.

Another large electrical burst sparks out, causing her to damage the side of the head.

"What–! No! No! No!"

"You're losing her J, giggle–" A voice of Cyn taunted her.

"Get out of my head!" J screamed out, grabbing her pigtails and pulling them down out of stress.

"Get out of my head! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get... out..."

She slowly stopped gripping her pigtails and took consecutive deep breaths, trying to calm herself. Looking at the disassembly drone head that was opened from the side, she felt doubtful and hopeless. She wondered if what she was doing would work and if it would help. She took another deep breath and sighed out of frustration.

"Keep it together, J. Keep it... Ugh!" She slammed the disassembly drone head closed from the side.

Software bootup noises start to alarm and beep.

"This is so stupid! What am I even doing?!" She looked at the unresponsive drone sitting in a chair, with an error message displayed on the screen. She glared at it annoyingly and in doubt.

"Well-made quality products, but so damn costly to use! Using my own oil supply to use them consistently! I'm basically killing myself for your sake!"

"This wouldn't have happened if you just– listened to me, V!" She smacked the drone, almost knocking it out of the chair.

No response from V, just the alarming noise and beeping. J sighed.

"Not like you can now anyways."

After Ano left J alone at the ship, J decided, without her own will, to run away and drag V along. Throughout the whole process, she thought that if Ano had caught onto her and found out she was missing, it would have been all over. That thought haunted her even now when she was trying to save V from becoming lobotomized completely.

"Tch!" J climbed out of the spaceship, leaving V behind.

"I can't do this alone." She muttered before leaving completely.

Back inside the spaceship, where V is, she is motionlessly inactive. Her screen displays error_606. It suddenly glitches and displays several other messages.

[Error System Offline]

[Processing...]

[System Reboot Required]

[System Reboot Processing...]

[System Reboot Failed]

[Status: Offline]

[Initiating System Backup...]

[Uploading wd_OS System Backup]

[Processing...]

[11%...]

[23%...]

[51%...]

[75%...]

[82%...]

[99%...]

[100%...]

[Loading...]

[Completed!]

[Status: Online]

"Though I might hate it, I'm going to need to ask that purple freak for assistance. Tch!" J was speaking to herself while she sat on top of the spaceship, contemplating her pride. She hit herself out of disgust for her own selfish antics.

"Stop it, J! This isn't about you–!"

Suddenly, a loud thud can be heard in the ship, startling J. She immediately brings out one of her swords and dives into the ship to find out what caused that noise. She finds that V is missing. She looks around in a panic, not knowing how she moved or even how that would be possible.

"V?! Where did you go!?"

"Ow!" A voice cried out from underneath the control panel in the ship.

"V?" J crouched down to see V huddled underneath the control panel.

"J-J? Is that– really you?" V slowly turned around to look at J.

"Y-yes? It's me? Why are you asking–?" J answered in confusion.

"What are you–" J tried to question V, but she launched herself to J, causing them both to fall over.

"J, where am I!? What is this?! V embraced J tightly, almost squishing her to death.

"Huh– V! Get off me!" J pushed her away.

"Oh– right! Sorry!" V got off J and stood up but fell over her legs.

"Jeez, what has gotten into... you?" J looked at V, seeing not the murderous look and intent for the violence she had always seen V as when she was a disassembly drone. Instead, her face expressed an innocent and pure look. The same face she saw V when she was a worker drone in the Elliot Mansion.

"V?" J stood up and walked over to V with curiosity. V was trying to stand but kept stumbling and falling to the ground as if she didn't know how to walk.

"How are you walking around in these legs?" V asked as she grabbed onto the control panel with her claws to keep her steady, but she ended up damaging the panel with her grip.

"Oh! Sorry! I don't know how to work– W-what are these!?" She said, panicking, seeing the murderous claws replace her hands and falling back into a wall, clawing it in the process.

All the while, J watched, amused and still in shock.

"What– where is my maid outfit!?" She screamed out in horror, seeing the outfit she was currently wearing in a reflection of a cracked mirror nearby.

"W-where are my glasses?!"

"V, stop for just a minute!" J yelled at her, and she stopped moving around in such a trance.

"V, do you know where you are?" She asked. V looked around and didn't know where, but she took a guess.

"I– um– at the Elliot Mansion, I suppose? Are we in the basement?!" V answered unsurely.

At that moment, J had conspired about what was happening, but she wanted more information to be sure.

"V, do you remember N?"

"N? O-oh–! You mean that– cute butler drone?"

Chapter Text

“Where am– I?” After glancing around the unfamiliar room, the disassembly drone spoke in a concerned but mannered tone.

Nori and Khan looked scared and ready for any sudden movements. Nori was still pointing her solver at the drone while Khan stood behind her, and he also grabbed a wrench nearby. However, Ashley stood next to it as curious as ever, her tail wagging uncontrollably to the point that she started knocking things down nearby. The drone watched Ashley’s excitement slowly overcome her, seeing she couldn’t contain herself. It slowly reached a hand towards Ashley.

“Ash, move back!” Nori yelled, preparing her solver to pull Ashley away. However, she held her hand out, signaling her to stop.

The disassembly drone placed its hand on Ashley’s head, rubbing it back and forth—like she was petting her like a cat. Ashley started shaking uncontrollably, and a high-temperature message appeared in one of her green eyes. She was boiling with her own desires, which she wanted to unleash, but she did everything in her power to restrain herself.

“Would you mind telling me where I am?” She asked Ashley in a sweet-alluring voice.

“A-a—” Ashley fell to the ground, shocking Nori and Khan, who immediately rushed to her aid.

Nori continued to aim her solver at the disassembly drone as they moved in on Ashley, not wanting it out of her sight.

“Ashley, are you okay!?” Khan shakes her violently to wake her up. Faint laughter can be heard from Ashley as Khan flips her to her back. She’s passed out due to a high temperature with a smug expression on her face. He sighed deeply, realizing she was okay and was just overstimulated from the sudden interaction.

“Why is she like this…” Nori commented, seeing Ashley’s face with the high-temperature message still on one eye while the other was a spiral showing her stimulation.

“Um– Nori… Where did it go?” Khan looked behind Nori, not seeing the disassembly drone there anymore.

Nori turned around in a panic, realizing it had moved without her noticing. She saw it was by the ovens, staring at the disassembly drone cores. It did nothing but stare at the cores in the oven, then placed its hand on the handle, slowly opening it.

“Don’t touch that!” Nori shouted at the drone, quickly activating her solver and closing the oven back. The disassembly drone stopped, backed away, and approached Ashley’s model. Nori kept eye contact throughout the process, not wanting to lose track of her again. The drone curiously looked at Ashley’s model before looking over to everyone, preferably Ashley.

“Did she build these?” The drone asked, pointing at Ashley.

“A– yes… Ashley– here, um– the woman here on the ground, yes.” Khan answered nervously.

The disassembly drone looked at the model and then back at herself. Then, it looked at the sketches of disassembly drones signed by Ashley on a nearby desk.

“Did she also build me?”

“Um– yes? I suppose she did– in a way.” He replied. The drone looked at the collapsed Ashley and slowly approached her.

Nori stood before Khan and Ashley, shielding them from the disassembly drone.

“What are you doing?!” Nori said.

“I just– want to thank her properly.” The disassembly drone said.

“Don’t come any closer!” Nori demanded, flexing her solver off.

“Please, do not be alarmed. I will not harm her or any of you,” She said reassuringly, but Nori did not let down her guard.

“Aren’t you meant to kill us?!” She yelled at the disassembly drone. The disassembly drone’s facial expression shifted into sadness after Nori said that.

Nori continued to mean mug at the disassembly drone, not trusting it until Ashley stood behind her and walked past her.

“Ashley, what are you doing–” Khan reached out to stop her, but Nori placed a hand in front of him, preventing him from intervening. He didn’t know why, but since she and Ashley went way back, he stopped and didn’t bother to question it. Ashley walked wobbly– still not in control of her own will of excitement toward the disassembly drone.

“Your name– what is it? Please tell me!” Ashley excitedly begged the disassembly drone, stumbling into things until she bumped into it. Then, she looked up, staring into the yellowish eyes of the disassembly drone, which was much taller than her in awe. The disassembly drone’s expression immediately switched into joy.

“Hmph~ My name is R. Serial Designated R, at your service.” She answered and wrapped her arms around the unbalanced Ashley, evidently keeping her aloft.

“I’m presuming your name is Ashley? Thank you for saving me.”

Knocking can be heard at the door.

“Um– Hello? It’s Sarah.”

“Come in, Sarah,” Khan announced. Sarah walked in, witnessing the scene before her.

“What the–” She glanced over at her sister Ashley, gigging playfully as the arms of a disassembly drone engulfed her.

“Um– what is she doing?” Sarah asked, weirded out, pointing at Ashley.

“Don’t worry about it, what is it? Do you need something?” Khan sighed and ignored her question.

“Um– Uzi and her boyfriend are back. They seem to be in a panic. They probably need your help.” She answered.

“Tch!” Nori ran out of the room, slightly bumping Sarah as she rushed down the halls.

“Wait! Nori, what about Ashley!” Khan tried to shout out, but Nori didn’t turn back.

“Ah, Sarah! Can you, um– watch your sister real fast?” Khan said, leaving the room as well and running down the halls.

“But– I have more work to do…” Sarah tried to stop him, but he turned the corner and was far from her voice. She looked back at the scenery in the room in awkwardness and disgust.

“Ehehe~ I’m not dreaming, am I~? You are real, right~?” Ashley said, still held by R as she slowly melted in her arms.

“Aww~ you’re such an adorable worker drone~ I think I’m starting to take a liking to you,” R commented, still keeping Ashley aloft.

“She’s out of her mind…” Sarah commented, getting more weirded out hearing the two.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Uzi and N return to the bunker and sit at the entrance, exhausted from flying and battling with Ano. Both of them breathe rapidly and heavily, making their tired state apparent from the sounds of their attempts to catch their breath. Their biggest fear was whether she had followed them to the bunker, but fortunately, she didn’t.

“You sure she didn’t follow us?” Uzi pants on the ground. While N lies on his back, panting.

“I don’t know, but let’s just not jinx it,” He answers.

“Yeah...” Uzi says, finally standing up and looking at Cyn.

“What?” Cyn asks, confused.

“What was that thing?!” Uzi exclaims, grabbing her tail tightly.

“I told you– that was Ano! Eh–! Stop!” Uzi continues to choke out Cyn out of spite for what that drone did to N.

“Hey, Uzi...” N gradually stands up but seems unbalanced. He nearly falls, but Uzi rushes to his side, slips under his arm, and helps him stand.

“What? What is it? Are you still hurt?” She asks, concerned.

She left him alone for 30 minutes with Ano and never suspected how much would unfold in that time. Not knowing she left him to a fate worse than death. The expression on N’s face explained how much pain he endured while fighting Ano, both physically and mentally, and the unstable shakiness in his body and voice made it all the more apparent.

“Nothing, let’s just get you in the bunker.” He tries to step forward but trips due to his exhaustion. Luckily, Uzi catches him before he falls ultimately.

“Me!? Look at yourself! I’m perfectly fine! You’re not!”

“What did I say about it being okay to be selfish sometimes? This is the time!” She growls at him because of his selflessness.

“Just– sit tight for a moment.” Uzi sits N on the ground, leaning against the wall.

She quickly examines him and sees that he’s injured in several areas. He is missing fingers, and his nanite tail appears more petite than usual. There are holes in his arms and legs, which leads her to think that’s why he can’t walk properly. She also notices the missing pilot hat.

“I need oil,” He says, standing up and heading to the bunker.

“Wait, I’ll go get some from my room!” Uzi tugs on his coat, stopping him.

“No, I need oil... a lot of it,” He insists, looking outside.

“Oh! Um– Okay... I-I won’t watch, but at least let me help you outside–”

“No! N–no, I’ll be fine,” He replies.

“Uzi!” Nori rushes down the hall to the entrance.

“Mom?!” Uzi exclaims, startled to hear Nori, thinking she was still resting.

“You aren’t hurt or anything?! How many fingers am I holding up?!” Nori starts checking Uzi everywhere to make sure she isn’t damaged.

“Uh—4? I’m fine, Mom. Thanks,” Uzi replies, feeling slightly embarrassed about her Mom’s affection and care towards her. Something she didn’t expect.

“Ugh–” Khan shortly comes from behind, leaning on his knees, out of breath from trying to catch up to Nori.

“I told her you left to help N when you came by. She was worried sick that you went out with that disassembly drone still out there.”

“Why did you go back out without telling me?! What if something bad happened to you?!” Nori demands an explanation.

“I–I’m sorry. I was in a rush. N was fighting that thing alone.” Uzi looks behind her for N, only to realize he is gone.

“N?

“Was he just here?” Nori asks Uzi.

“Yeah, he said he needed a lot of oil. So I won’t disturb him.”

“Oh really? We–needed you both to see this,” Khan said from the side of Nori.

“See what?”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Outside the bunker, N slowly but surely walks toward a worker drone spiral—the one he resided in when he first met Uzi. The sound of his heavy footprints crunching in the snow beneath him made it impossible for anyone not to detect him, but he wasn’t concerned, sensing Ano wasn’t following them. He kept walking toward the spiral until he got inside, searching for worker drone corpses that still had oil.

“How could you– betray Her Majesty?”

“Your own sister.”

“How could you– betray Her Majesty for a sworn– enemy?”

Ano’s words devoured N’s mental state and were now eating away at his morals. She kept pestering him about his involvement in killing Cyn throughout their entire interaction until Uzi appeared. The more she spoke of the undeniable sin, the more N felt guilt and shame.

“Was she not– your sister, or did you just– toy with Her Majesty’s emotions?”

“She spoke so– highly about you to me that– it made me jealous, but– I never thought I would hate you—despite that. Instead, I looked up to you, N.”

“But now… I feel nothing more than utter disgust– for myself for being such a fool.”

The more he scavenged around in the spire of worker drone corpses, drinking the cold worker drone oil with distaste, the more Ano’s criticism filled his head. Her tone was filled with anger and hatred for him, drowning their entire conversation in an overwhelming, hostile atmosphere that filled him with regret and fear.

“Do you know– how dreadful it is to see– one of God’s creations fall so– low?!”

“I hate you, despise you! My disgust for you– begs me to kill you, but even I know– that won’t satisfy the retribution that– you and your team have tainted me with!”

“Do you feel– good about yourself, N?!”

“Answer me, N!”

“Answer me!”

“N!” A voice called out to N from behind. In a panic, he swung his sword around but stopped when he saw Thad’s familiar face.

“Woah!” Thad tripped and fell from N’s sudden life-threatening reflex.

“O-Thad! I’m so sorry! Are you okay?!” N rightfully panicked and helped Thad to his feet.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t– cut you or anything, right?!” He said, looking all around Thad.

“No, I’m fine, so don’t stress about it. It was my mistake to sneak up on you like that,” Thad said reassuringly.

N let out a sigh of relief.

“Anyway, Uzi wanted me to check on you since I was already heading out. She said you looked defeated, so here I am,” Thad said.

“Oh—she did?” N added, rubbing his arm nervously.

“Yeah, but anyway, are you okay? I’m not just asking for Uzi, but I’m even worried. You looked like you were having some internal conflict. You want to talk it out, maybe?”

“Yeah… just– give me a moment real quick,” N said. Thad walked away in response.

After Thad left, N continued refilling his oil supply and soon came to where Thad was. He was sitting on a bench under a flickering streetlight and sat with him.

“So, what’s up?” Thad asked.

N interlocked his fingers before taking a deep breath.

“It was during my fight with Ano.”

“Oh… right,” Thad said, misremembering that they fought with Ano after they “saved” him.
“What happened?”

N told Thad mostly everything Ano had said during their fight, including his relationship with Cyn. He hesitated to speak more about it because he felt guilty and ashamed of himself the more he discussed it, feeling that Ano was rightfully upset and ashamed of him. Thad just listened and didn’t interrupt him while he explained his actions and the reasons behind them. At the same time, he was thinking about something else.

“I really am a bad person,” N said to himself, covering his face in shame.

“Hey, you’re not a bad person. Sure–you did some questionable things but did what you thought was right. Just think about how that outcome came about.”

“You’re not going to judge me?” N peeked his eyes open for a moment to look at Thad, who had a soft smile.

“What–?! Of course not, man. I just want to make sure a friend is okay,” He said reassuringly.

“Mmm, thanks, Thad.”

“You know, if you want some real advice, you should ask Ms. Ashley. I heard from Lizzy that she’s quite a therapeutic person,” Thad suggested.

“Thanks, I’ll consider it.”

Silence blessed the past as they sat there, processing each other’s thoughts.

“And I’m sorry again, Thad.”

“Huh? What for?”

“From when we found you with Ano, I shot a rocket at her. Even though I noticed you were nearby, I still shot.”

“Oh—I’m perfectly fine. No harm done. You saved me again, so I should really be thanking you.”

“I still feel bad about it. I was just so– angry at her, and whatever she did to V. I’m not taking it all too lightly.”

“No one is, even Lizzy, and that’s a perfectly reasonable reaction,” Thad added.

“Yeah, you’re right…” N agreed.

After a few more minutes, N’s body was fully restored, and he felt better than ever physically, but mentally, he still needed some fixing.

“I should get back to Uzi before she gets too worried about me,” N commented and stood up.

“Yeah, I think they need you for something,” Thad mentioned.

“Something about the new disassembly drone acting~ quirky.” He said confusingly.

N looked at him with confusion, then sighed.

“Alright, I’m going to head back now. Are you coming?” N asked.

“No, I’m just going to be, um– walking around outside for a bit,” Thad answered.

“Oh—um, you sure?”

“Mhm.”

“Okay… just be safe and scream out if you spot Ano again,” N said before taking off to the bunker. All the while, Thad signaled him a thumbs up before walking away from the bunker.

“I did not know all of that…” He said to himself.

Chapter Text

“So… what am I, um, supposed to be looking at?” Uzi said, concerned, looking into her father’s engineering room.

“Ehe…” Khan chuckled nervously out of secondhand embarrassment at the scene everyone was witnessing while Nori stared in disgust.

“Sarah… Why is your sister like this again?” Nori questioned as she pointed to Ashley, who was resting her head on R’s legs like a pillow– a lap pillow. They sat on the floor in the same spot where they were originally standing.

“I honestly don’t know. She’s been this quirky ever since she was built, I suppose,” Sarah answered.

“She fell asleep in my arms, so I shifted myself into a more comfortable and suitable position for her. Shall I remove her and let her rest somewhere else?” R suggested, still petting Ashley as she purred in her sleep. R giggled a little bit from Ashley’s amusing behavior towards her. She seemed like a clingy cat.

“Nooo~ Don’t gooo~,” Ashley mourned in her sleep, wrapping her arms around R’s lower body, which made R giggle even more.

“Mr. Doorman, can I go–” Sarah asked.

“Yes, go ahead. Thank you again.” He dismissed her.

“I’m still confused about why you needed me here,” Uzi commented.

“Well, we kinda needed N to help figure this out and why the disassembly– I mean, R is acting so… friendly,” Khan said.

“Better than her being a ruthless killing machine,” Nori said.

“Right… But this type of friendly is… weird. She’s getting oddly friendly and close with Ashley, is she not?” Uzi pointed out the obvious.

“Aren’t you and N like that?” Nori said in annoyance, still finding their relationship weird to her.

“Shh, Mom! This isn’t about me!” Uzi screamed out of embarrassment.

“Don’t shush me. I’m only stating the obvious. Like I haven’t seen you two–” Nori continued before Uzi cut her off, talking over her.

“Lalala! Mom, stop talking! Please!” Uzi shouted.

Ashley started to shift around on R’s legs. Soon, she was facing up at R and slowly began to wake up.

“Sleep well?” R asked.

“Mhm~ very,” Ashley said, still purring and swaying on R’s legs.

Nori walked over to the desk where Khan worked with all the disassembly drone sketches Ashley did and started scheming through them.

“Ashley, get up. We need you to explain this.” Khan walked over to her and crouched down to nudge her a bit.

“But she’s so comfy and warm~ do you have heaters in these~? Ehe~ I need to note that~” She said dreamingly.

“Ash, get up now and explain this!” Nori came over and kicked her legs.

“Ms. Ashley, I think you need to get up,” R suggested.

“Hmmm~ Fine.” Ashley groaned one last time before slowly standing up, leaving R in her seiza position.

“What is it, Nors?” She asked. Nori flipped one of Ashley’s sketches before her, pointing at her notes about their head.

“What do you mean, digitally lobotomized?”Ashley looked at the sketch with disinterest and dissatisfaction, as if the paper were a project failure. She followed up with a heavy sigh.

“Thought you, of all people, would know what digitally lobotomized meant, but it seems like only your daughter knows.”

Ashley turned to R, still sitting on the ground, patiently waiting.

“R, could you please turn off your hearing receptors for just a bit?” Ashley asked politely but in a serious tone.

“Yes, of course,” R responded, did so, and made an okay gesture, signaling Ashley.

Ashley tells them about the disassembly drones that used to be worker drones. She also told them about a failsafe software, “Absolute Solver,” in their systems, how it overwrites their worker drone software and turns them into zombie-like killing machines by wiping their brains and giving them objectives strictly given to them by someone. She mentioned how she purposely tampered with the system in her disassembly drone model and applied it to the sketch for Khan to follow. She also pointed out how familiar she is with this failsafe software from her old occupation, and she is now connecting the pieces to solve something she couldn’t do many years ago. She also said that some of this information came from experimenting with N and V’s systems and asking about their past.

“So… all this time. They were worker drones like us and were brainwashed and forced to kill us?” Khan said. He looked at Nori with a displeasing expression, showing deep concern about what Ashley said.

“I’m surprised none of you knew or thought about this outcome. Well, maybe Uzi knew. I don’t know.” Ashley commented.

“So, that’s what you did to her? She won’t attack us, right?” Nori asked.

Ashley looked at R, still patiently sitting and twirling her fingers around each other.

“You could say I influenced it, but I fear that if something post-traumatic were to appear. It could make her react unpredictably. Worse case is violent.”

“Studying their brain and coding system, I’ve also noticed that the frontal and temporal lobes data in some of the heads of the disassembly drones weren’t tampered with by the software they were integrated with. This is why I’m presuming she won’t attack us. But for the most part, she must have been a very friendly worker drone in the past, almost like a caretaker, judging how she’s been treating me. However, I doubt the rest are as friendly as her…”

“So she’s a special case?” Khan asked.

“Yes, I’ve marked only three disassembly drones, including R, who had no signs of damaged frontal or temporal lobes. I prefer you rebuild those first before starting the others. Despite that, I can’t guarantee that the other ones will react as friendly as R or those with damaged frontal and temporal lobes. The best course of action is that they are friendly or mindless zombies awaiting commands. If that’s the case, we take advantage of that and use them as they were programmed for but to our benefit.” She explained and looked heavily at Uzi.

“Wait, you want us to abuse that, despite knowing they were worker drones like us before? Doesn’t that sound just a bit wrong?” Nori said.

“Yes? Why are you asking–? Oh.” Ashley said confusingly, then looked to see Nori’s expression showing sympathy.

“You’ve changed, 002. When did you care about the disassembly drones, let alone how I operate? Do you have something else you would want to do instead of my method?” She spoke in a somber tone of voice, which startled Nori.

“I am willing to do whatever it takes to ensure our survival. Now, you want to feel sympathetic for the same things that got us into this wasteful world we live in?”

“Nori, have you forgotten why we are doing this in the first place?” Ashley slowly and eerily approached Nori.

Nori did not respond because she knew Ashley wasn’t looking for an answer she already knew about.

“Should I remind you that these are machines meant to kill us?”

“N–no, that’s not what I meant. I mean, could you do this more humanely like they aren’t–”

“Like they aren’t what, tools?!” Ashley shouted and burst into hysterical laughter, holding her stomach.

“Are you denying their name? Disassembly Drones. Murder Drones.” She stumbled around, still laughing, which was weird to everyone in the room besides Nori, who looked concerned and alarmed more than ever.

“Unlike V and N. I don’t see them as such things, but I actually see them as normal beings. But the rest of them?”

“My goodness, 002. I knew you were always the funny one, and I thought 032 was the one to tickle my circuits the most.”

“Now, you asked me a familiar old question. I suppose you have forgotten, so I will have to answer you again, 002.” She stopped laughing and returned to her sobering tone.

“Do I find what I am doing wrong? Yes, in some sense. Do I find what I am doing morally wrong? Well, yes, of course. I haven’t even treated most people like anything besides tools ever since I was made. It’s just how I am. But do you know what I find undeniably true about myself, 002?”

“Everything I do is in the vision of justice. No matter how heinous my decisions may look, I always do what I know is right, and this is no exception. We need them to work under us, not above us. If we allow them to realize they are at the highest of the food chain, we will all die where we stand. Do you understand where I am getting at?” Ashley stated. Then she looked down at Nori’s collar and smiled.

“Don’t be so alarmed, 002. I’m not disappointed in you or anything. I can’t help but bring myself not to say I am truly envious of you, 002. For someone who always spoke about how much you had a disdain for the disassembly drones in the past. Here you are, treating them like you have forgiven them.” She was mere inches away from Nori, who was cornered against a nearby table and couldn’t find a way to escape from Ashley.

“How I wish I could change just like you, 002. You really are one of my greatest experiments.” She said, grasping the collar and then backing off.

“So, I will ask you again, 002. Do you have a different method?”

Nori didn’t answer and looked away in distress, avoiding eye contact with Ashley. Khan and Uzi seemed almost forgotten to be in the same room throughout the conversation, but they didn’t consider intervening. Hearing her explain herself felt like a reality check. She wasn’t on the lawfully wrong side, but she wasn’t on the morally right side either, though they couldn’t bring themselves to disagree with what she was saying.

“Another thing I want to mention is that since their brain data is exported from their core. Depending on which core is implanted, the data of the core that has been stored will be integrated into the brain. This means that by sheer luck, we were able to implant a friendly disassembly core. I can’t determine if the rest will be friendly towards us.” Ashley stated.

Everyone was silent and in deep thought as they processed Ashley’s words. Ashley walked back over to R and tapped her. Signally, she could hear again.

“Sorry, that took longer than expected.” She apologized.

“No worries,” R reassured.

“Are you still tired, perchance?” R opened her hands, inviting Ashley to rest her head on her again.

“Yes, very. Thank you.” Ashley immediately went back to lie on top of R’s leg, and she resumed petting her again. Soon after, N walked into the room.

“N!” Uzi ran toward him and hugged him tightly, indicating her concern.

“Ah– Hey.” He said with a sense of guilt.“Are you okay? You’re not in bad shape anymore, right? “She asked, checking him out and noticing that all the holes in his body were gone.

“I–I’m fine, so there’s no need to worry. Also, I heard you told Thad to come to check on me. Thanks.” He mentioned.

“Tsh! I told him to spy on you,” Uzi corrected him.

“What?” N said confusingly.

“Huh? Ah! A–anyways, just glad you’re okay.”

N glanced around the room, seeing Khan and Nori side by side, looking demoralized. Across the room, Ashley lay down on what he assumed was another disassembly. He delusionally thought it was V, but even he knew that would be impossible. He stared at the disassembly drone until she made eye contact and suddenly gave an intense glare, showing hostility toward him. He flinched and jumped in shock.

“N, are you okay?” Uzi asked worriedly.

“See, I knew you were still in bad shape–!” She said, but N cut her off.

“N–No! I–I’m fine. It’s nothing, really.” He gave her a nervous look.

When he looked back at R, her expression returned to normal, and her focus was back on Ashley as if she had done nothing else. He didn’t know if he was seeing things, but something about that disassembly drone gave him a bad feeling.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So, um…” V looked puzzled and concerned, sitting down in the spaceship. She still doesn’t understand where or what she is doing here, even after J explained what had happened to her.

“Hm…” J groaned in frustration.

J’s been trying to talk with V about how much she knows about herself and where she is, but she can’t seem to remember anything since the Elliot Manor. All she remembers is that Tessa found her, rebuilt her, and was a maid at the manor. However, due to some triggering questions, J asked. She slowly started to remember some things.

“V, do you not remember anything else? Like what you have done for the past two months?” J asked.

“A–ah… no. I don’t remember anything. Everything is just so faint and blurry, sorry.”

“Hmm…” J groaned again.

Randomly, J heard the sound of blowing bubbles coming from V. J looked over to her, blowing bubbles from a bubble wand in her hand.

“What are you doing?”

“Just blowing bubbles.”

“Where did you even get that?”

“Huh? Oh, I don’t know, actually. It just– appeared in my hand.”

“But why did it randomly appear in your hand? Do you even know how to use your body correctly?”

“I don’t know, actually. I just wanted to calm myself down, and it just felt normal to me, I guess.”

“It felt normal to you?” J didn’t know what she meant by “normal to her,” but she had a feeling that was a sign of a way for her to help her remember things.

“Yeah, kinda… I’m still pretty shocked by what you told me about, you know– about me and how I was before I was– killed? I never knew I could be so violent. It’s kinda scary to think about and also that I’ve died before.”

“It’s best for you to not think about that right now.”

“O–okay…” V continued to blow bubbles.

The sounds of blowing and popping bubbles echoed in the hollowed ship as V continued. While J sat there, thinking about what she should do next.

“Normal to her?”

“It appeared when she wanted to calm herself down?”

“What the hell could that supposed to mean?”

J continues to think about V’s weird condition as she amusingly watches her walk around curiously and accidentally bump into things in the spaceship.

“Argh– Ow~”

“Pff–” She laughs at her clumsiness.

“Forgot she was like this before. It’s cute, I suppose.”

“Ow! Not again.” V groaned in pain after accidentally bumping into a nearby chair.

“I thought the chair would be further away.” She yelped.

J let out a relieved sigh.

“At least she’s learning how to walk again. At first, I had to help her as if she was a child, knowing how to. It’s been a few hours since then, and she’s already walking on her own.”

“Maybe if there are some triggers to help her remember.”

“V.”

“Y–yes?”

“Come on,” J says, heading out of the ship via a ladder.

J waits awhile for V to come out of the ship.

“What is taking her so long?”

[Thud]

“Ow~! I–I’m okay!” V’s cry echoed in and out of the ship. J looked down at the hatch where the ladder was to find V had fallen.

“Forgot how clumsy she was,” J says, facepalming herself in frustration.

“Just– give me your hand!” J reached down to help V, and in response, V latched onto her arm and slowly climbed her way up and out.

“T–Thank you, J.”

“Don’t mention it. Come on.” She plopped down onto the snowy ground with V, who stumbled but caught her footing.

“Where are we going?” V asked.

“Hmm.”

“It’s far too dangerous to go out there wandering about and no plan of escape with that thing still out there.”

“V, bring out your wings.” V looks at J confusedly, not knowing what she means by “her wings.”

A long sigh came from J as she walked over to V and lightly tapped on her back. Suddenly, her wings whooshed outwards.

“You’ll learn how to activate them yourself soon. If not, give your back a light tap. Got that?!”

V nodded.

“Now, time to go.” J flies off, expecting V to fly behind, but she is glued to the ground. J flies back.

“What is it now?” J asked. V looks behind her, sees her wings only being swayed by the motion of the wind, and then looks back at J with a disappointed expression and confused face.

How do I– fly?” V confusingly asks.

J’s eye twitched in annoyance for a moment, but she took a deep breath. Knowing that she needs to calm down and be patient with herself and V. Remembering this is for Tessa’s sake.

“Alright, I guess we’ll just have to start with the “How to use your Disassembly Drone Body Manual For Dummies.” all over again,” J exclaims dramatically, taking out a guided manual and holding it into the air. While V stares at her admiringly.

Chapter Text

As Thad traverses back to where Uzi and N found him with Ano, he sees all the destruction N was discussing when they fought. The city looks worse than the last time he saw it with her. It’s entirely in rubble. The buildings he saw and the one where Uzi snatched him from were all demolished and in mountains of rubble.

“Was this really the aftermath of their fight?!”

He scurries around the city, amongst the half-destroyed buildings and towers of rubble, and finds a pilot hat.

“Is this– N’s?”

“I was wondering why he looked so different.” He took the pilot hat with him and searched the city more as if looking for someone. He was still shocked about how much of the scenery changed since he had only left an hour ago. But then again, he thinks about who– or what Ano is.

After more searching, he sees faint tracks that seem to be those of someone walking or dragging themselves across the snow. He follows the footprints leading behind a building and back into the forest. He sighs and continues.

“Where could she have gone?” Thad thought to himself as he traversed further in the forest with the sound of the howling winds and crunches of snow beneath his feet.

“Why do I want to see her even more now, especially after what N told me?” He thinks, trying to sort through his feelings after learning about N’s relationship with Cyn and what Ano said about her disdain for disassembly drones.

“Do I– feel bad for her?”

He continued following the footprints until they became too faint in the snow. Looking around, he saw that he was surrounded by nothing but trees. He took a deep sigh and continued to walk.

[Crunch]

[Crunch]

[Crunch]

As the sounds of the crunched snow rhythmed back and forth in his head, so did the puzzles he tried to piece together to understand Ano’s situation. He felt this faint, undeniable compassion for her slowly build up. He continued further into the forest, remembering how to return to the bunker as he traveled. Finally, he found more vivid footprints and continued to follow them. As he continued for several more minutes, he saw a giant structure coming into view in front of him and slowly paced himself there. He could hear a screeching noise of metal being torn apart. Once he got close enough, he could see a familiar figure wandering back and forth, almost as if it was distressed and anxious.

[Crash] Some parts of Ano’s ship started to fall and tear apart due to all the damage she had inflicted out of sheer confusion and concern.

“Just, who was that?! Was that Her Majesty?!”

“No, that couldn’t have been Her Majesty, but…”

“Why did I feel at ease with her?!”

“Ugh! Just who was she, and why did I let her escape from my grasp?!”

[Crash]

“What if that was Her Majesty?!”

“Did I make a mistake?!” She stopped pacing and stood in front of her ship, looking at where she supposedly left J and V, but they were nowhere to be found.

“Argh!” She screamed out in painful frustration that jolted the circuits in her hair that flickered her camouflage on and off when she grasped her hair as she crumbled to the ground.
“What am I doing wrong, Salvation? How far will I sink in this dark void of suffering without your light guiding me?”

“Just how long…?” She cried out as she curled herself into a ball, having her hair cover her as she went into camouflage and started to calm down– rationalizing what she should be planning to do instead of sitting here and sobbing.

…

“I need to capture her.”

“Um– Miss, Ano–?”

Ano immediately uncamouflaged herself and swung her sledgehammer down out of fright, where she heard a shocking but familiar voice call out to her. She missed by a few hairs as she realized the person who called out to her was Thad.

“Woah!” He fell onto the ground after the sledgehammer nearly hit and crushed him.

Ano was shocked to see him again, even after what had happened earlier. He also snuck up on her once again, passing all her detections. She quickly cleared her sorrowful expression to hide her emotionally weakened state, fearing it would diminish the dominant and scary presence that surrounded her name. A weakness that she wasn’t willing to show.

“I should really stop sneaking up on you disassembly drones like that. It might cost me my head. Ahaha, right?” He said nervously, laughing after almost dying twice from doing precisely that.

Ano picked him by his vest as she rose and held him like a grape on a stem, just like when they first collided.

“What are you– doing here?”

“O–Oh, I was just– um…” Thad scattered for an excuse.

“I was just taking a walk again! Y–yeah!” He said with a nervous tone of voice. Ano half believed him because that’s how he found her the first time.

“So, just by coincidence– you found me– in the woods… again? All alone?”

He didn’t answer. He swung quietly and aligned his index fingers, a gesture of nervousness and slight embarrassment. Ano sighed in disappointment.

“If you came here– just to ignore me, you can leave–”

“I–um… I actually was out here looking for you. I just wanted to check on you. Are you okay?”

[Silence]

“Are you okay?” His words of concern and worry echoed in her mind. She experienced a familiar sensation—a feeling that could be summed up as mere affection.

The awkward Silence made Thad anxious and made him think he had somehow upset her. He looked closely at her face and saw that it was beat red, but it wasn’t just the color scheme of her body that made it appear that way. He looked even closer, moving his head to see that she was– “blushing?”

“Miss Ano? Are you… blushing?”

“What–?!” Ano jolted her head up, snapping back into reality and bumping into Thad’s head. Not knowing he was this close to her, she dropped him on accident in response.

“Ow!” they both cried out, holding their heads in pain.

“Why were you so close to my face?! What are you planning?!” She yelped.

“Sorry! You just spaced out on me! I was just wondering why you froze up like that!” Thad turned over after he landed on his head after he dropped her.

“Because you said something– weird!”

“What did I say? That was weird! I only said I wanted to come look for you and check on you!”

“But– why, though?!”

“Because!”

“Because what?!”

“Because I was worried about you!” He gasped and covered his mouth after he blurted out his mind impulsively.

[Silence]

“You were– worried about me?” Her tone of voice dramatically shifted after she heard his words.
He nodded in agreement, still covering his mouth.
“W–why, though?”

Thad removed his hands from his mouth but didn’t answer right away. He stood there feeling slightly embarrassed and a bit confused at himself. Before he got to answer, Ano walked to him and crouched down to his level.

“Hey…” She called out to him.

He first thought he had upset her again unintentionally, but the softness of her voice that called to him made him think otherwise. He looked at her, seeing her expression nervous and flustered. She was still blushing and kept glancing back and forth at him.

“Is she… embarrassed?”

“Hey.” She repeated.

“Are you– going to ignore me– again?”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone in the bunker returned to their designated tasks. Khan and Nori rebuilt two disassembly drones, Lizzy and Sparky slept in her room, N told Uzi what had happened with Ano, and finally, Ashley and R were in her laboratory.

“Woah, you did all of this?” R looks around Ashley’s laboratory with interest and curiosity. Seeing all her notes of equations that filled the walls.

“Oh, um– yes. I’m a scientist and technician for my boss.” Ashley answers as she reorganizes her desk, feeling slightly embarrassed by the mess she forgot to sort out from the stack of papers.

“Oh, I see. That would explain quite a lot,” R says, examining the room after Ashley cleans her desk and walks to a cabinet to retrieve a box she cannot reach. She sees a box filled with a few test tubes and a bright neon blue substance inside them.

“Do you need some assistance?” R said, having already walked over to Ashley to bring the box she was trying to get down.

“Ah, yes. Thank you.” Ashley said.

R looked inside the boxes and curiously asked what they were.

“These are substances called PAANs. Proficient Anti-Acid Neutralizers.”

“I’m presuming you made them?”

“Correct!”

“What do you think about the name? Do you like it?” Ashley asked eagerly, craving the validation of her “awesome naming skills.”

“Well, what does it do? If I may ask.”

“It’s an acid neutralizer I made deciphering the reparative properties of the disassembly drones. It’s also mixed with their reproducing nanite properties in the acid to allow spreading.” Ashley explained.

R didn’t know what she meant by all of this and showed confusion, which Ashley noticed and sighed in disappointment.

“R, can I see your tail?”

“Oh– um, sure. However, please be careful. I don’t want you to stab yourself accidentally, and I’m also quite sensitive there– EEK!” Ashley immediately grabbed onto her tail.

“Oh, sorry, just hold still for a bit.”

“Y–yes, ma’am~!” R said, feeling slightly embarrassed and uncomfortable, but stood still with all her might until Ashley unexpectedly pricked herself with the end of her tail.

“Miss Ashley!” R reached for her hand in frightful panic, seeing that there was now nanite acid burning her hand.

“I told you to be… careful…” Ashley held her hand out to stop her. Then, she grabbed a test tube of PAAN and poured it into her hand. To her surprise, the blue liquid repaired Ashley’s hand and brought it back to normal.

“Does that answer your confusion?” Ashley said pridefully.

“I– um… Yes, actually, and the name fits perfectly. I like it.”

“Yes!”

“Though, please never do that again…” R suggested, still worried a bit.

“Anyway, thank you again for your help. I wouldn’t have reached that box without knocking it down and possibly destroying all the tubes,” Ashley said, walking over to her desk while R followed with the box in hand.

“Do you not have any assistants? It’s kinda dangerous to work alone, especially considering your occupation.”

Ashley stopped to turn back to her.

“Hm?” R also stopped, curious about why Ashley stopped.

“You’re very considerate, R.”

“Oh, um, thank you. I just think I am in so much debt to you.”

“I see… Well, my apprentice seems to be taking a break. She has greatly helped me, so she deserves a good long nap. I usually have N or V here helping me, but they seem unavailable now.”

“I would be delighted to help you.” R put the box down momentarily and grabbed Ashley’s hands, holding them.

“It would be my deepest pleasure to assist you in any way I can. I can not express how grateful and in debt I am to you, but if there is a way I can assist you and make your life all the more blissful, please make use of me.” R expressed her gratitude to her.

“Oh—um…” Ashley stood there in awe, staring at the blissful face with bright yellow eyes. Her tail wagged with excitement as she felt her body starting to overheat. She felt like all of her dreams were coming true at once.

“Was that– a proposal?” Ashley asked unconditionally.

“Um—Yes, I suppose?” R tilted her head and blinked a few times in slight confusion at the question, but she was also amused by Ashley’s behavior, which made her unknowingly accept and dive deeper into Ashley’s delusions.

Ashley’s face quickly changed, and a high-temperature message appeared in one of her eyes. She was flustered, and R immediately let go of her hands, remembering what had happened the previous time.

“Oh, sorry! Please don’t overheat again.” She apologized worryingly and brought a fan out of her hands to cool down Ashley.

Ashley embraced herself with a smug face as the breeze from the fan effectively cooled her down.“Ahh~ Didn’t know you had fans as well~ Ehe~ this is noteworthy~.”

“Hmph, cute~,” R commented.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

N and Uzi are in their room, sitting silently on their bed, after discussing what happened to N when she left him with Ano for merely thirty minutes.

“I’m sorry, N.” Uzi apologized sincerely.

“Huh?! Oh… It’s fine, see? I’m still in one piece, am I? Thanks to you after all.” N responded with his usual joyful mood.

“Yeah, but… the way you just described what she did… and why exactly,” Uzi says worryingly still, thinking that she didn’t want to kill him, but she wanted to torture him instead. She’s glad he isn’t dead, but torturing doesn’t sound any better.

“I shouldn’t have left you there in the first place.”

“That’s my Ano for ya– giggle!” Cyn randomly shouted, startling them. Uzi growled at her and was ready to strangle her again out of spite, but stopped after N called out to her.

“Uzi, do you think I’m a bad person?”

Uzi’s automatic response was to hit him in the back of the head for such an “idiotic” question.

“What kind of question is that?! Are you sure you’re okay?!”

“Ow! I’m sorry, but I just wanted to hear an answer for you.”

“It’s obviously a no! That Ano thing is really starting to tick me off!” Uzi jumped off her bed and wandered around the room in annoyance.

“Yeah, you should have stayed there, Uzi,” Cyn said, confusing Uzi and N, thinking she cared about N.

“So I could watch N get tossed around trying to fight Ano! BAHAHA!” Cyn busted out in tears.

“Who wonders what she would have done to you, though! BAHAHA– EEH!”

“Why you?! I’ve had it with you!” Uzi taped Cyn’s mouth shut and then started to strangle her.

A whoosh signaled the door opening to the room, and it was her mom who had poked her head in.

“Hey, sweetie. I’m sorry if you’re busy with N, but we need your help with the other two disassembly drones,” Nori said.

“Oh, um, sure! I’ll be there in a bit,” Uzi replied.

“Are you going to be alright, N?” Uzi asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I just need to clear my mind. Don’t worry about it.” N gave her a thumbs-up, which she returned.

“Oh, and the other—I mean, R also came here. She wanted to speak with N,” Nori mentioned, opening the door completely. When she finished, a disassembly drone walked into view at Uzi’s doorway and gave a soft wave.

“Hello,” R greeted everyone.

“I don’t think we’ve met, Mrs Doorman’s daughter.” R walked to Uzi and formally shook her hands.

“Oh–yeah… Um, hi.” Uzi didn’t know how to react in this situation.

“Alright, I’m just going to go now.” Uzi slipped past R and went outside the dormitory with her mother to her father’s engineering room.

Another whooshing sound signaled Nori and Uzi to leave R and N alone in the dormitory. N didn’t say anything and avoided eye contact with R, sensing that something about her was putting him on edge.

“Hey, your name is N, right?” R asked.

“Y–yeah, why?” N answered nervously.

R sighed and walked into the room, standing near N, still sitting on the bed. N was too scared to look at her, but he slowly lifted his head and saw her guileful expression.

“I’m sorry for the way I acted towards you!” R bowed politely to N.

“Huh?!” He said, confused and shocked.

“I didn’t know you were such a big help in Miss Ashley’s experiments!”

“Oh… Um– you’re welcome? I guess.” N said unsurely, feeling weird about her bipolar attitude towards him.

“I am truly sorry and disappointed in myself for the murderous look I gave you despite seeing you for the first time! I just had a one-sided presumption about you!”

“O–Okay? It’s nothing–”

“Now that I’ve apologized for my rude and unaccepting manners towards a helper of my savior.” R stood straight up and locked eyes with N, giving him the same glare she did to him the first time she saw him. Her attitude completely did a 180, which put N back on edge.

“Just who are you, N?”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thad sits down in Ano’s ship, gazing around at the massive infrastructure in which she resides. He is amazed and slightly nervous after realizing how small he is compared to her. Finally, he understands their size difference. His glance lands on Ano, who is right beside him, sitting down, overtowering him. They just sat there for a while in silence, both feeling embarrassed and awkward.

“Did you really come– to see me because you were– worried about me?” Ano said, wanting to clarify.

“Y–yeah…” Thad answered, embarrassed a bit and scratching his head.

“I heard about what happened between you and N.” He further said.

“So you came here– to come to judge me because of– what I did to your friend?”

“N–no, actually! I just wanted to hear your side of the story.” He explained.

“What?” Ano said, shocked to hear that he wanted to listen to her side of the story despite his knowing what she had done to N.

“Who is Cyn to you–?”

“Her Majesty.” Ano corrected him.

“Oh right, sorry. Who is Her Majesty to you?”

“She’s my savior. She saved my life– gave me purpose. She’s the sole reason– I continue to live in this– ratchet world.”

“So she’s very important to you?”

“I owe everything to– her. So, I pledged my– absolute loyalty to her.”

“Oh…”

“You seem– disapproved. What is it?”

“Well… if “Her Majesty” is the person you are working for, then why haven’t you killed me exactly?”

“I told you– I wasn’t going to kill you.”

“Yeah, but she has killed many of us worker drones. I would assume you would, too.”

“I expect disassembly drones– to go after worker drones willingly– but not Her Majesty.”

“Well… N was the one that saved me from her once– aha.”

“Have you done– something wrong– to her?!” Ano raised her voice, becoming very defensive.

“What?! No! I haven’t done anything. I swear! To be fair, I have only seen her maybe once or twice!” Thad reassured, falling back on his statement.

Ano’s angry expression held for a few seconds before she relaxed it, leaving a heavy sigh of disapproval.

“I know she– attacks and kills worker drones. Though I will– not question her– about it.”

“Do you not like it when she does?”

“I don’t understand why– or the reason she is attacking– such defenseless and fragile people. I thought she wanted to– save them. It pains me– to watch her and the– other disassembly drones devour innocent and troublesome– lives from those who have done nothing wrong– but forcefully live subjected to– human cynicism.” Ano said, looking at her disassembly drone claw hands.

“Is that why you are upset with N and V?”

“That’s a different reason why– dislike them.”

“I remember you mentioned something about you not wanting to consume oil from live worker drones. Do you not, just like– the taste of them or something?”

“What? No, that’s not– the reason.”

“Then why? I–if I can ask, I’m very curious. You’re just so different.”

“Hmph...” She spoke under her breath.

“I don’t want to– eat live worker drones…”

“W–what? But aren’t a–” Thad stopped himself and remembered she hates being compared to disassembly drones.

“I have never killed– a worker drone as long as I– could remember. I have never once– killed a living worker drone out of means to– sustain my hunger. I would rather starve myself than do something so– unforgiving to myself.

“But why? Doesn’t that mean you’re slowly killing yourself–?” Thad further questioned.

“No, I just can’t and won’t– do something so cruel and– vile.”

“If you are that unhappy about how she treats us worker drones, then why are you…”

“Working with her?”

“Thad, you mentioned how– N saved you once, correct?”

“Yes, why?”

“You remember how– when I asked you about his– whereabouts, you stayed quiet and– faced me instead?”

“Y–yes?”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Well… if you really want to know. I just couldn’t betray him when he saved my life before.”

“My reason exactly…”

“How would you feel– betraying the one person who– has saved you?”

“I can’t just– betray her…”

Thad didn’t respond, realizing what she meant. A long silence breezed past as Thad processed everything.

“I was once– a worker drone, you know.”

“What? Y–you? I knew disassembly drones were once worker drones, but even you?”

“Yes, I was– just as fragile and– small as you.” She gently tapped his head with her regular hands.

“And— I had a friend– who you remind me of– during my worker drone days– on Earth.” Ano snickered softly as she unconditionally placed her hand on Thad’s head, which embarrassed him slightly.

“Mhm~ Just– like– you.” She said, smiling and remembering only the very few fun days as a worker drone. She looked at the curious Thad, who was half-shown looking up at her, and then realized she had gotten carried away.

“Sorry, I got– you just… remind me of her– so much.”

“N–No! You’re fine.” Thad didn’t mind Ano playing around in his hair like that. He honestly found her “cute” because of it.

“Please continue. I just want to know more about you.”

Seeing his curious face, Ano couldn’t help but indulge in his curiosity. She also realized that she hadn’t had this much enjoyment in talking to someone in a long while. So, she agreed and told him more about her days as a worker drone.

Chapter Text

[Blaring Beeping]

“Titan class entity approaching rapidly, sir! She’s coming!” A woman in a suit announces, reading a radar.

“Wait, what! You’re tracking her with the radar?!” A man in a suit runs over to the woman, looking at the radar, and sees a green flashing dot approaching them fast.

“Mr. Cole, sir! She doesn’t seem to be camouflaged! We might have a chance–”

“Bullshit! Don’t get cocky with that piece of machinery! She knows that we can and are probably tracking her right now! She’s just letting us know we are next on her target list!”

“Adina! Tell everyone! Be on the lookout ASAP!”

“Yes, sir!” Adina signaled a siren that echoed blaring in the military base.

“Get all defensives ready and fire at anything you see visually disoriented! Just shoot anything you see movingly suspiciously! Do not let it near the base! If she passes this last line of defense, all of those people we are protecting in the city will die due to our incompetence!” Mr. Cole waves his hand to signal everyone to prepare for battle and heads out of the command room, warning everyone else.

“Everyone on defenses ASAP! Sky beams on! Anti-tank rounds loaded! She’s here!” He yelled out in ark night that surrounded the base.

“Do NOT let her get past us even if we fight with our bare fists! DO NOT LET HER THROUGH!” Mr. Cole shouted throughout the base before running back into the control room.

“Where is she now?” Mr. Cole asked Adina.

“I can’t track her no more!”

“Damn it! She must have gone back into camouflage! Where did you track her last?”

“Last I have seen, she was right outside–”

Suddenly, all the electronics around them flickered and eventually cut out. Some of them even imploded, damaging nearby products and injuring military personnel. The brightly lit military base soon was engulfed in darkness from the night sky, and not even the moonlight could help view the surroundings everywhere.

“Everyone, natural lights on! Candlelight, firelight—it doesn’t matter! Find any source of natural light!” Mr. Cole shouted before rushing outside to check on the base. It was pitch black. Nothing could be seen besides the initial fire from torches and candles by all personnel on the base.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Mr. Cole cursed himself, knowing that she had already executed her plan and was ready to attack at any moment.

“Captain Cole, we haven’t spotted her yet!” A soldier ran up to Cole, holding a light, and passed it on to him.

“Okay?! What does that have to do with you leaving your post if you haven’t found her yet?!”

“S–sorry, sir!”

“Just get back to your post now until that bitch is dead!”

“Yes, sir!” The soldier ran back to his post in a hurry.

“Tsh! Damn it!” Cole followed the soldier back to his post. Many military personnel were all shooting flares into the forest, hoping to glimpse their enemy before she had on them, but even then, they already knew. They were already being watched.

“Sergeant Cody, do you have a visual on her?” Mr. Cole demanded an answer as he grabbed a flare gun of his own.

“No, sir! But we did hear the sound of movement of bushes and trees coming from this direction!” Sergeant Cody pointed at an area slightly left from the bast.

“Why aren’t you shooting then? Shoot now!”

Sergeant Cody ordered the seven tanks lined up behind the base’s barricade to fire multiple anti-tank and explosive rounds into the forest. The explosions were followed by massive fire clouds that ignited the forest in front of them, providing a source of light. But the titan wasn’t in sight. Suddenly, mainly screams can be heard coming from inside the military base, behind Sergeant Cody and Captain Cole.

“AHH–!” A man’s scream was heard as he was hurled past Segerant Cody’s post and thrown into a wall behind them, splattering him on the wall like a water balloon filled with red paint.

“TANKS TURN AROUND!” Captain Cole screamed, but before the tanks could fully turn around, one tank was thrown at the others, causing a massive train collision.

All the tanks were tumbled onto each other. A soldier from one of the tanks screamed out in pain as he tried to get through the hatch. Sergeant Cody ran to his aid, helping him out. But before he could drag him to safety, an invisible force squashed all the tanks into one, which followed another massive fireball to be released and shine throughout the dark base. As Captain Cole watched all his men be blown to smithereens or turned into ashes by fire that engulfed the entirety of the base around him, he could see it. The titan before it vanished from thin air.

“Sir! Captain Cole!” Adina ran out from the command room in a panic, which was supposedly next to where Captain Cole saw the titan.

“There are more of them coming–!”

[Slash]

Adina’s body was skewered from her throat down and out of her body by an overly-sized pickaxe from behind. Captain Cole watched in horror as he looked at the pickaxe the titan was holding. It had multiple humans stacked and compressed on each end of the pickaxe, which looked like a human shish kabob. She then wiped off the humans from her pickaxes individually with her claw-like nails and slowly paced her way to Captain Cole, purposely stepping on all the dead corpses of military personnel.

“You damn abnormal piece of machinery!” Captain Cole cursed the titan in front of him as she only stared down at him with a blank expression.

“I’ll kill you!” Captain Cole quickly grabbed an M4 that was lying on the ground and let off a full magazine of ammunition at the titan’s mid-section point blank till his gun fired no more.

After the smoke from the M4 cleared, he could see that she was still standing with a hand closed placed in front of her chest. She then opened her hand to drop all the bullets that Captain Cole fired at her chest– every single round she had caught and did no damage at all to her. Captain Cole could only watch and listen in horror as she dropped the bullets and the sound of bullets bouncing on the concrete ground.

Captain Cole and the titan stared at each other until the titan turned around and walked toward the city– completely ignoring Captain Cole’s existence.

“Hey! Do you think you can simply ignore me? You think you can look down on me because I’m– just a human?!” Captain Cole screamed out to the titan as she continued walking.

“You damn piece of machinery! I will scrape all of you damn machines and turn you into nothing but toasters for killing my brother!”

“You all will be scrapped and disposed of! You pieces of shit and metal–!” Captain Cole was stopped by when a winged disassembly had landed next to him, along with several others.

“W–what–” One of the disassembly drones tugged onto Captain Cole’s arm until it ripped it off. He let out a blood-curdling cry as all the disassembly drones around him started to pull his limbs off one by one and pulled away his skin as they slowly ate him alive. The titan turned around in disgust after witnessing the horrifying scene of all the crunching and pulling of human flesh being torn and eaten by the disassembly drones.

“So– annoying and so– uncivilized.” She said as she marched towards the city, accompanied by hundreds of disassembly drones that followed behind her.

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Classified File (Serial Designated Anomaly): The Titan, also known as Ano or the Anomaly, is an 8.7-foot-tall disassembly drone (++) class with the ability to grow in size. Extremely aggressive and dangerous. While her origin remains undocumented and unconfirmed, we believe and hope that she is the only disassembly drone of her kind. This unique and unfamiliar type of disassembly drone classifies her as a specific variant: [TITAN CLASS]. Dealing with the Anomaly has proven to be extremely difficult due to her abnormal yet intelligent behavior, unlike lesser disassembly drones. Anomaly’s capabilities far outmatch those of entire battalions of disassembly drones. She has been observed destroying a full naval fleet despite her inability to fly, as she can jump significant distances and heights thanks to her four legs. She can also camouflage herself, making her undetectable by tracking methods such as radar or heat signature recognition—rendering it impossible to locate her. She has been classified as the strongest disassembly drone ever documented.

“We establish a single rule when facing Anomaly:”

“Do not attack. Do not run—but pray… not to our god, but hers.”

“You might be allowed to die a merciful death.”

Chapter Text

“Uzi, can you please hand me the Allen wrench?” Khan asks as he mantles the right leg of the disassembly drone.

“Wait, let me try this.” Uzi instead looked at the bolt that needed to be screwed in. She uses her solver to screw in the bolt and tightens it.

“That worked?!” Nori shouted in shock and amazement.

“W-what?” Uzi said confusingly, not knowing what all the excitement was about.

“How did you just do that?” Nori said, grasping her daughter's hand and looking around as if something about it was special.

“I just– used my solver on the bolt and rotated really fast to screw it in. It’s nothing special or anything.” Uzi stated.

“The thing is, your Mother tried doing that, but it never worked. Nothing was wrong with her solver because when she used it or anything non-disassembly drone-related, it worked perfectly fine. It just never worked on anything disassembly drone-related.” Khan explained.

“It also happened when I fought against Ano. My solver never activated on her.” Nori budded in, showing Uzi what she meant by trying to use her solver on the dismantled disassembly drone.

To Uzi’s surprise, it did not work. The Solver symbol just wouldn’t appear.

“Oh, that’s weird…” Uzi said.

“Wait, you said your solver didn’t work on Ano either?”

Nori nodded. Uzi thinks about why this could be the case. She thought about the time she used her solver on Tessa or Cyn when she was disguised as her. A command rule had displayed on her screen when she tried it. It said:

[like object non-interactive]

“Mom, does a message appear on your screen when you try to use your solver?” Uzi asked.

“Yes, it does, actually,” Nori said, trying to use her solver on the mantling disassembly drone Khan was continuing to work on.

“Does it say something about “like object non-interactive?” She asked.

“Um… no? It says a different message.” Nori stated, which confused Uzi.

“What does it say?”

“It says: “You are not in possession of this vessel. Contact Admin… DarkxWolf17?” Nori said, looking at Uzi.

For a moment, there was an awkward silence.

“BAHAHA– Is that you?” Nori said, falling to her knees from laughing.

Uzi could do nothing but feel embarrassed and cover her face as Nori’s laughter roared in the room.

“I was wondering who the weird username that was! Y-you really do take after me, huh?” Nori said, holding back another burst of laughs.

“I made it when I was only eight years old!” Uzi screamed embarrassingly at her mother.

“What did you– look at my crazed ramblings and see my IG? RavenxWitch43 and took inspiration?” Nori said, laughing even harder.

“Well… yeah…” Uzi said in an unamused tone as she took a few steps away from Nori.

“It was the only thing I could find that made me think what type of person my mom was… cool. Glad that turned out to be true…”

Nori gradually stopped laughing, hearing the sorrowful tone in Uzi’s voice. She walked to her at a different side of the room and comforted herself.

“Oh, honey… you know I never meant you any harm–” Nori said, approaching Uzi.

“I’m not mad or anything. I’m just… genuinely hormonal, " Uzi said as her mother emerged from behind her. Nori wrapped her arms around Uzi but then moved away.

“You’re disappointed in me, and you have the perfect right to. I know I wasn’t much in your life, and I’m sorry, but I want to make it up to you—to you both.”

“I understand the reason why you were down there for all this time, and it’s because you wanted to save me, but…”

“Could you have at least told me you were still alive? You had me believe that you were long gone and dead. All that hatred and suffering I held for years on end because I had believed my mother was truly gone.”

“Uzi…” Nori reached out to her again and placed her hand on her head. Uzi cried a bit but quickly wiped her face and brushed the sense of sorrow off, moving Nori’s hand.

“I’m fine. Let’s just get back to work,” Uzi said, walking past her mother and back to the disassembly drone, where Khan was sitting and listening to their interaction. He felt guilty about the whole thing because he blamed himself for everything.

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"Just who are you, N?"

"W-What do you mean?" N asked worryingly as he got off the bed and tried to head to the door. He didn't like the aura R was giving off, and it made him feel on edge, so he wanted to leave, but she blocked his escape.

"Don't just ignore me, sit down. Let's talk..." R said as she sat down in a chair by Uzi's desk. N looked at her concerningly as he sat back down on the bed.

"What are you doing here?" N asked.

"Miss Ashley fell asleep... standing. So I placed her somewhere comfortable and thought I would greet another friendly disassembly drone, such as myself."

"O-Oh..." N felt something off when she emphasized the word "friendly." But it surely didn't sound like a good emphasis.

"Well, um... Hi, um–"

"R, the name's R." She reached out to shake N's hand. He didn't shake her hand and kept his distance away, sensing hostility from her.

"What do you want from me?" He said seriously after swallowing his anxious feeling.

"I just want to ask a few questions, that is all. Then I won't bother you any longer. Well... that's not quite true. It depends on how you answer these questions."

N insisted and took a deep breath, calming his circuits.

"What do you want to ask me then?"

"Do you understand what we are?" She said.

"Yes, we are disassembly drones." He answered straightforwardly but felt very uncomfortable saying it.

"I see... and do you know how many innocent worker drones we have disassembled?"

N didn't answer as he thought about the question and couldn't find an answer.

"Oh, sorry, that was too much of an impossible answer, judging how you have no idea how many you killed. Let me ask just that!" She beamed a closed-eyed smile at him.

"How many innocent worker drones have you disassembled, slaughtered, and cannibalized to satisfy your hunger that wasn't present at that time? Either you did it unconditionally just for the thrill of hunting down people like us as if they were nothing more than livestock, or you were forced to eat them like how I did to keep myself alive while enduring the painful screams of people just like me and slowly draining away my sense of idealization as I thought to myself: Am I still doing the right thing?" R got up and approached N, grabbing him by his shirt with both hands.

"Tell me, N. Just how many– how many did you and your comrades commit to a senseless slaughter to make pillars of dead bodies that reached even the tallest of buildings!" She said, looking at his frightful face.

No response from N.

"Tsh!" She clicked her tongue, annoyed that he couldn't find an answer. His face was full of guilt, and she hated it.

"824, and I wish for it to stop rising..." She said.

"That's how many I've killed with these bloodstained—weapons that I didn't ask for. I used these murder tools to kill innocent people to keep myself alive but judging the spires of corpses. You didn't just kill for survival... you did it for purely entertainment."

"I-I'm sorry. I know how me and my team treated the worker drones with little to no sympathy for their lives... and I'm sorry that's how you managed to survive." N started to speak after understanding R's situation. She then let go of him.

N didn't know what to do, but his instincts to comfort her failed after she slapped away his hand from her shoulder.

"I understand how you feel–" N tried to talk.

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW I FEEL!" R shouted, cutting him off. She brought out a rapier from her arm and pointed it at him.

"I didn't come here for you to empathize my feelings with yours. I only came here to express my thoughts about you and what we are."

"I hate you—I hate myself—I hate that thing that made me into this. I hate knowing I killed many, dozens, hundreds of people—innocent people and I couldn't do anything to stop it. I tried to save some of them just for them to die still but from a more brutal death... I didn't ask for anything like this."

N tried to comfort her again by placing his hand on her shoulder and sliding the rapier on his shoulder as he paced towards her. As she expressed herself, she started to cry angrily.

"After hearing about how much you helped Miss Ashley and her experiments along with your comrade, I was filled with jealousy that topped my already thirsted hatred for disassembly drones. It reminded me of my long, so unattainable dream. A dream where I atoned for my sins, whether I liked it or not. "

"That's the only reason why you still stand. It is because I see you want to make a change despite knowing how many horrible things you—we disassembly drones have done, and to be honest—I'm envious of you. It's stupid and childish of me. Just because you started living my nearly impossible dream before me." She pulled back her rapier.

"Now that I live once again due to Miss Ashley saving me—a worker drone saving me despite me telling her I killed many of her kind, but she still had the kindness in her heart to treat me as a... normal person—and now I don't think a "thank you" is enough to express my gratitude for her. I will dedicate my life to her to even grace the feeling of righteousness for all the wickedness I've stained myself with."

"I just want to... make everything right."

[Whoosh] Uzi's door whooshed open, and Ashley came in with a clipboard.

"Oh, there you are," Ashley said after feeling relieved.

"M-Miss Ashley!"

"I was looking for you. I just had to take a quick nap, and then you were suddenly gone," Ashley said, coming in and seeing the room slightly messed up. She also saw N backed into a corner in deep thought. She walked to him, passing R, who quickly moved out of the way and stood still nervously.

"Hiya!" Ashley karate-chopped N's head with the clipboard, making him snap out of whatever he was thinking about.

"Ow! A-Ashley?! What are you doing here?" N cried out as he covered his head in pain.

"It looked like you were having some internal conflict there. Are you okay there? Oh, also, hi~!" Ashley beamed a smile and waved to N to boost his spirits.

"O-Oh, yeah—hi. I'm fine, thanks." He spoke and quickly glanced at the nervousness R. Ashley noticed but ignored it for now.

"Okay, good. I will be taking R back now. I hope you both had a good talk." Ashley said, grabbing R's hand, leaving Uzi's room, and heading back to her laboratory. They walked silently until they got a good distance from the Doorman's dormitory.

"So, what did we learn?" Ashley said as R slowly lost the same pace as her and lost grip of her."I'm sorry." R apologized, rubbing her arm out of guilt.

"I told you he was a problem the first time around, but ever since that incident, he has done nothing but be a great asset to the colony. Don't be too hard on him. If you were in his shoes, I'm sure you would understand how he feels now."

"Were you there the whole time, by the way...?" R asked.

"No, I just got there. Why?" Ashley denied it and stopped to turn to R.

"Is there anything else I should know about?"

R nodded her head.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Please..."

"Well, let's talk when we return to my labs, alright?" They continued to walk.

"Okay..."

"Great! Also, you have a rapier?!"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deep in the forest of Copper-9, J taught V the basics of flying, which she quickly understood and adapted. J feels it's now necessary to get out of hiding and seek the much-needed assistance she doesn't want, but it's what she needs.

"Um... J? Where are we going now?" V says, looking around curiously at the vastly scaled ruined city before her.

"Aren't you not starving?" J said, looking back at V.

"S-starving? I- um... now that I think about it, I am."

"Then we're going to get something to eat."

"Oh, okay." V sounded confused as she continued to look around. She did not see anything that looked like it could be a place where they could get some "food."

They continued walking for a long distance further into the city until J spotted one of the worker drone spires they'd made during the first invasion.

"Stay here, and don't look this way," J demanded, turning to V.

"Oh, okay." V turned her back and sat on the ground as J walked away and behind a building to the spire of corpses.

J sighed deeply, overwhelmed and demoralized, feeling that everything she had done could be taken away from her again. She also thinks about V's resorted persona, thinking it might be a problem in the future.

"This is so frustrating..." As J approaches the tower of corpses, she looks around for something too old in the oil.

"I feel like I'm babysitting all over again. If I was completely sure how she would react seeing a mountain of dead worker drones..."

"No... If she did see all of—this. She would definitely freak out and probably have a panic attack. That's something I don't want to deal with... not alone, at least." J scatters around the surrounding area and finds a bucket, which she takes with her and walks back towards the spire.

"Hm, I had almost forgotten how—cute she was. It's comforting to see her resort back to her persona, I guess. It's way more flexible to deal with her in this state than that sadistic psychopath side of hers."

"Just very fortunate she at least knows how to fly. Now, in case Ano comes out of nowhere... at least she can escape and hopefully find help." J said, scattering around in the worker drone spire, looking for a worker drone with leftover oil in it still.

"But even if she does presumably find help... I probably would be already dead." She found leftover oil in some drones and used her claws to crush all the oil and pour it into the bucket.

"Wonder if that's enough for you to forgive me," J said, looking further in the spire and seeing a shadowy figure peeking behind a pile of worker corpses before hiding itself.

She sighed. "I guess not." She said, taking the heavy bucket filled with oil and walking back to V.

"Alright now, V. I got some oil–" J turned the corner to where supposedly V was seated just to find no one there.

"V?!"J dropped the bucket, almost knocking it over and spilling the oil.

She looked around frantically, trying to see her, but she wasn't in her line of sight. J then looked at the ground where V was sitting, saw footprints, and tracked them down, which led her back to where they came from. She followed until she found V sitting down and appearing to be playing with something with her claws.

"V!" J screamed out, startling her.

"EEEK!" V jumped like a cat and turned around to see the distressed J.

"I told you to stay seated!"

"I-I'm sorry! I just remember seeing something along the way here, and I–" V looked for an explanation as J approached her to see what she was doing.

"What did you see that was so important for you to run— off..." J looked down to see a flower covered in black oil, barely peaking its beauty above the snow.

"What is this?!" J turned to V, who looked ashamed.

"A rose... covered in oil..."

"Was this what you really wanted to come back for?" J asked in seriousness after feeling she was exaggerated and panicked for nothing.

"I'm sorry... I thought it looked pretty." V apologized.

J looked down at the rose covered in oil, its beauty shining in the moonlight.

"It's fine..." She said after taking a deep breath of relief.

"It looks pretty, I guess. Suppose that's how you would phrase it. Just don't go off on your own again without telling me next time." J said, walking away and back towards the bucket of oil she had left behind.

"Oh, okay. Sorry again." V said and followed behind.

"It's fine. Anyways, since when did you start using your claws? Did they not scare you beforehand?"

"Oh–um, I'm starting to get used to them now, and they just kinda feel more... comfy to have them out, I suppose."

"That's good for you, I guess. Let's just go eat."

"Okay!"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Then there's Andromeda– daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia– King and Queen of the Kingdom of Aethiopia. She– was known for being– rescued by the hero Perseus." Ano pointed at the stars while drawing them out with her finger.

Thad watches in great amusement. He has never heard so much about human culture, such as Greek mythology and concepts of figures such as kings and queens. He was also surprised by her knowledge and accuracy about everything. For the past few hours, Ano has been telling him nearly everything she experienced during her time as a worker drone, almost as if she remembered everything as if it were yesterday.

"Here– if you can't see it clearly." Ano handed him a book about Greek mythology she had nearby that was stored away in her ship for safekeeping. Then, she flipped directly to the page about Andromeda as if she remembered exactly where it was.

"Oh! I see it... I think?" Thad looked back at the sky and pointed at the stars. Ano gently pushed his hand with one of her fingers in the correct direction of the constellation.

"Oh, now I see it!" Thad said excitedly, looking back at the book and the stars, which showed the exact image on both fronts.

"Thank you." He said, beaming a smile at her. Ano let off a soft blush before looking back at the stars.

"You know a lot about this mythology stuff. I can tell you love talking about it as well." Thad mentioned.

"If it wasn't for– her. I wouldn't have known anything– about this. She's the reason I– have this great passion for Greek Mythology now."

"Oh, I see." Thad looked at a section of Ano's ship, which was a bookshelf filled with books, and most of them all mentioned "Greek."

"It is true that I do– love talking about it all, but I– usually don't have anyone to– talk to about this—or anything at all."

Thad looked to the side of him, where Ano was sitting, her legs tucked in, her upper arms wrapped around them, and her lower arms keeping her balance.

"Well, if it makes you feel less—lonely. I'm glad you told me about yourself and the Greek constellations,"

"I think they're all beautiful." He said, smiling at her.

Ano blushed almost instantaneously before tucking her face in her tucked legs in embarrassment to cover her very apparent blush.

"You're so– weird..."

"Huh– Oh, OH! I didn't mean it like– well. I um... how about you just forget I said that!" Thad let out a nervous chuckle and looked away in embarrassment.

The two sat there, both flustered and embarrassed, and avoided looking at each other for a while.

"About me, was b-beautiful?! W-what?! I swear he says the most... weirdest of things!" She tucked her head tighter in her legs.

"Holy, did I really say that?! I didn't mean it exactly like that, but... I just couldn't help myself from saying it. That was so embarrassing..." Thad slowly looked back her way, seeing that she had still covered her face.

"Eheh—though... hearing all about her likes, understanding her personality, motives, her history... and seeing her tucked herself away like an internally shy person."

"She's like a normal person, and it's cute.

"Hey, Ano."

"W-what!?" She said muffly from her tucked-in head.

"Can I ask you something, please?"

"J-just go on with it!"

Thad took a deep breath, calming his nerves before speaking.

"What exactly happened to V...?"

Ano slowly peeked her head back up to look at him, itching his head out of nervousness.

"I'm sorry for asking out random, but I just need to know. A friend of mine really cares about her and keeps asking where she could be, and I don't want to assume she's dead–"

"She's dead." Ano cut him off and stood up.

"Oh..." Thad looked down in disappointment.

"I'm truly sorry about– your friend's feelings towards– her, but she did– something unforgivable—a sin that can't be– overlooked."

"I know you have your reasons, but what about thinking about trying to talk out with them? Have you not that about that–"

"Listen, here, Thad! I will– not forgive those heretics for– what they have done! They took– away the only reason why I still– have running oil inside of me! And, you want me to just– talk out with them?! Technically– forgiving them?!" She stopped and turned to him.

"I was just thinking if there could be a better way than just killing them." Thad stood up and rebelled.

"Tsh!" Ano clicked her tongue, turned from him, and started to walk away. However, Thad followed behind her and kept suggesting a more pacifist route.

"Why not just try to talk things out with N?" Thad persisted Ano as she went outside her ship.

"Stop it..." Ano said angrily, but Thad kept pursuing her.

"I'm only trying to find a better solution to your problem!"

"I don't want you or any other of my friends to get hurt or, even worse, killed!"

"I mean, I just wish N and Uzi hadn't attacked you like that, though, and instead tried to talk to you first. I didn't know they would find me that quickly–"

"You knew– they were looking for– you?" Ano stopped and turned to him.

Thad stopped instinctively feeling some vibe coming off Ano.

"You led them– to me?

"W-what– no! That's not what I meant! I didn't know they were out looking for me at all!"

"Then how did they exactly– find where we were?! Did you– purposely leave footprints for them to– track you and find me?!"

"W-what?! No!" Thad attempted to plead his innocence.

"I knew something was off when they randomly appeared out of nowhere... They were even able to sneak up on me while talking to him... was this all coordinated?" Ano thinks to herself, trying to rationalize and add up the pieces as Thad kept trying to deny he had no idea about them.

"I'm trying to tell you I had no idea they were going to follow me or anything, I swear!" He did the cross-my-heart gesture to prove his honesty, but Ano wasn't buying it this time.

"Can't believe I– shared my life with you and– now I'm realizing you set me up."

"No, just listen to me! That wasn't my intention at all! I truly wanted to know more about you! I wouldn't have come out here to bring you harm!"

Ano fought her thoughts. Some were telling her that Thad wasn't lying, while the other said otherwise. In the end, she couldn't come to choose to believe him or not.

"Tell me... Thad."

"Did you know about– Her Majesty and Uzi's connection?"

"Don't lie to me..."

Thad hesitated to answer only because he had now recently figured out that Cyn is that weird tail attached to Uzi since two months ago. He still found it right to answer her the best he could, even though it could get him killed, but he still did the right thing—by being honest.

"Yes...but only recently! I-I'm sorry I couldn't tell you... I was afraid of what you would do to Uzi if I did."

...

"You should leave..." She demanded, turning away from him.

"But I–" Thad tried to continue to follow her, but one of her sledgehammers slammed down, nearly hitting him and killing him in an instant.

"I said you should– leave!" Ano yelled with a sorrowful face but an apparent hostile tone, looking at Thad's now frightened face.

"I don't even know— if I can trust you anymore!" She said, turning her back to him.

"And I'm just barely... using all my– strength and willpower not to just– kill you right now."

"But... I thought you said you don't kill worker drones..."

"And I don't want to– but for you... I just might make an exception."

"Leave– before I do."

Thad wanted to approach her, but seeing how angry and serious she was, he didn't. He just did what she told him and left with this gut-aching guilt—not only because she had lost his trust in him but also because he had left her alone again.

"I'm sorry..."

Ano watched his sluggish movement as he walked into the forest due to her becoming mad at him for "lying" to her all this time. However, to her, something about his character was undeniably genuine and creditable, but she couldn't erase the dishonesty she felt towards him now. The emotion of anger she felt almost killed him—a worker drone. People who she vowed herself not to harm outright. This dark void of suffering in her core that needed to be filled with the joy of light almost felt like it was happening... with someone who wasn't Her Majesty, but now it was all gone. Ano glanced back at the forest with disappointment to find out Thad had already completely disappeared and was out of sight.

Chapter Text

As Khan and Uzi finish mantling two more disassembly drones, Uzi uses her solver to assist. This makes the process more efficient and faster than if Khan were to do it alone. With her help, they’ve made extreme progress within just a few hours.

“Okay, that should be the last of the edits Ashley instructed us to do,” Khan said, wiping the digital sweat off his head.

“She really does know her stuff when it comes to disassembly drones. Even I didn’t know all that much about them.” Uzi said, looking at the two new refurbished disassembly drones.

“Well, ever since the first disassembly drone invasion. Ashley has been studying them non-stop. She never seems to be able to satisfy her greed for knowledge.” Khan mentioned.

“Yeah, I’d bet…” Uzi agrees while thinking about the first time Uzi introduced N and V to her.

Ashley did not stop studying them for countless nights and days. Despite her low battery condition, which tends to make her very sleepy, she continued taking notes even during her sleep—a rather odd and unique habit, to say the least. She studied almost everything about the disassembly drone body and found triggers to it, such as tapping where their wings are held or forcing them out and even an off switch temporarily.

“Well, before I put these cores in, can you grab your mother? After what Ashley mentioned, they may not be as friendly and cooperative as the first one. I’m kind of nervous, hehe… I don’t want to lose an arm or, worse, my head, right?” Khan chuckled a bit before abruptly stopping, showing his seriousness and fear with his tremoring movement.

“Oh, yeah…right. Be right back then.” Uzi quickly made her way to the door, but before she could leave, Khan stopped for just a moment.

“Also, please don’t be too hard on your mother. She’s trying her best to fix her mistake… so am I.” He said, placing his hand on her shoulder as a sign of comfort. Uzi didn’t know what he meant by what he said but brushed it off with a simple head nod before leaving the room.

As Uzi walks outside to look for her mom, who is supposedly just outside the door, she doesn’t find her at first. She then looks around and spots her mother sitting alone at a table at the dead end of the hallway, completely silent.

“Could you have at least told me you were still alive?”

“You had me believe that you were long gone and dead…”

“All that hatred and suffering I held for years on end because I had believed my mother was truly gone.”

“I’m not mad at you or anything…”

“Just wish you had told me.”

“Instead of lying to me for all this time…”

“Mom!” Uzi shook Nori, who was in deep thought and ignoring her constant yelps.

“W-What is it, sweetheart…?” Nori's slow and slurred speech was very apparent as she turned her head to Uzi.

“I’ve been calling your name for a while, but you weren’t answering. Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine. Is your father done?” Nori said uncertainly and tried to brush off her clearly sickly expression.

“Yeah, he’s done, but are you alright–?”

“I-I’m fine. Let me just make sure he doesn’t lose an arm or anything, " She said as she slowly got out of the chair, but Uzi stopped her.

“Mom,” Uzi called out. Nori looked at her with a face that looked like she was on death’s door, then looked away.

“Mom, do you want… talk, maybe?” Uzi suggested, seeing her mother’s sickly expression, and sat down in a chair across from her.

“But your father…”

“I’m sure he won’t do anything rash without us there, and besides, I don’t think we’ve had a talk since you came back. I've always been hanging out with N and stuff, so I have kinda been shifting my focus more on him than my own mother, who I haven’t seen most of my life. I kinda feel bad, aha.” Uzi joked with a nervous smile, finally having a one-on-one conversation with her mother.

Nori took a deep sigh and fell back in the chair, covering her face. She exclaimed almost immediately after sitting back down. “I’m sorry, Uzi. I’m so, so sorry. It’s just… what you said to me earlier really struck me. I felt so at fault, so guilty as a mother, for doing something like that to my own daughter.”

Uzi felt uncomfortable seeing her mother sob in front of her. She wasn’t expecting this type of emotional behavior from her mother and also was slightly confused about what made her so emotional and what she was talking about.

“Oh wait, is it because of what I said earlier?! Is that what Dad meant as well?! Did I do something wrong?!”

“Mom, I wasn’t being serious—I mean, I was, but I was just caught up in my emotions, y-yeah! It's just that angsty teenage hormonal stuff. You know I—that I…” Uzi tried to explain herself but couldn’t say the right words. She took a long sigh before trying again.

“I didn’t mean to make you feel that way, Mom. I kinda killed the comical mood with that random switchover.” Uzi is consumed by guilt for making her mother cry from what she said earlier.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize. I’m just—so sorry, Uzi. I know I’m not your ideal thought of a mother, and I’m now starting to understand that myself…”

“No mother should lie to their child and leave them behind for so many years.”

“Mom, you said you had your reasons—good ones at that. No need to be hard on yourself.”

Despite Nori hearing her daughter's words of enlightenment, the way she acted earlier when she spoke about the truth was an undeniable guilt factor that was too settled to stray away from her head now. It still made Nori feel like an incompetent mother, and she knew she was.

“How about we just go help, Dad, yeah? We can talk later if you still want.” Uzi suggested getting up from her chair.

After a few calm composing breaths and whipping her digital tears away, she nodded in agreement. “Y-yeah, sure.”

As Uzi and Nori walked back to the room, they saw N walking from the opposite hall and heading into the room as well.

“Oh, N?”

“Uzi?”

Uzi waved as they approached each other, still outside the door.

“So, how was your talk with another one of you? What was her name? I didn’t get it.”

“R,” Nori answered.

“Oh yeah, how was she?”

“She was…”

“Very expressional and protective? Maybe a bit dreamy, I guess? She was nice, I suppose.” He said, following a weird, nervous laugh.

“Ah, that’s… good, I guess?” Uzi said, slightly concerned. His laugh weirded her out.

“Maybe I should talk with her.”

“No!” He shouted, alerting her by accident.

“I mean… not only, at least. Alright?”

“Um, sure, but why?” She rightfully questioned her suspicion from how weird he was already acting.

“What? Is she an old friend of yours?” Uzi said, slightly annoyed and jealous.

N didn’t say anything and kept glancing back and forth at Uzi’s tail and referring to Cyn.

“Oh.”

“Nothing happened. They just were old acquaintances with a little bit of bad history, that’s all.” Ashley’s voice came from behind N, startling him and everyone else.

“Woah, why are you all so jumpy? Oh, and hi, everyone.” Ashley waved back and forth as her tail did the same.

Along with her was R, who wore completely new attire. She had long, straight white hair with bangs and was topped off with a white ruffled headdress typically worn by maids. Additionally, she sported a white button-up shirt covered by a classic black half-corset, paired with black slacks that matched the predominantly black corset.

All the clothing, including her hair, was sourced from the colony’s dressing storage for new drones to establish their specific identity. She resembled a female butler.

N moved to Uzi's side, away from Ashley and R. Then, he gave Uzi a look of discomfort and nudged his head at R.

“Raphaëlle (Raphael), don’t you have something to say?” Ashey glanced back at her before stepping aside, allowing R to approach N with a graceful- maid-like poise.

She was merely a couple of feet away from him, and she gave a pitiful face before bowing her head in an apologetic manner.

“I’m sorry.”

“Again~” Ashley added.

“I’m sorry again for the way I acted. I shouldn’t have assumed that about you. Please, I hope you find kindness in your heart to forgive me.”

N felt oddly uncomfortable after hearing R apologize again and didn’t trust her because of last time. Ashley snapped her fingers, grabbing N’s attention. She winked and stood next to R with a stance of absolute superiority, almost as if she were a villain asserting dominance.

Everyone watching could tell she had done something to R and was quite proud of it. This also unsettled them, considering she had somehow managed to persuade a literal “murder drone” into behaving this way and acting almost like a servant for her.

“Hey, Nors,” Ashley called out to Nori, getting her attention.

“Just know, I don’t have anything against you. Just wanted to let you know that I care about all of you, alright?” She stated to Nori, giving a thumbs up.

“It-it’s alright. I knew–”

“Great! Now that everyone has gotten along and dispersed the unwanted tensions, should we go see the new disassembly drones being made?” Ashley said, overjoyed, gripping the clipboard she’s been holding all this time.

“Yes, Aha—aha. I wonder what they will be like. " Ashley became hyper-focused as R grabbed her by the other hand and pulled her into the room.

“Uh… sure.” Everyone else followed her inside, but before N could enter, he noticed Lizzy running toward them. He stopped and waited for instead.

“Oh, N. Thank god you’re here. Have you seen Thad? He’s not answering his phone!” She said in a panic.

“Um, no, not in a while.”

“What? Were you not with him last?”

N thinks about the last time he saw Thad, which was outside by the spire off in the distance from the colony.

“I’ll go look for him. I’m sure he’s somewhere nearby.” He said, with slight worriedness in his face.

“Thank you.”

“Alright, can you tell everyone I’ll be right back?”

“Y-yeah, sure.” She nodded.

“Thank you, Lizzy.” N dashed off towards the exit of the colony in search of Thad.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As J and V walked countless hours around in the forests of Copper-9 in search of something. V became curious about her past self, constantly pestering J to tell her everything. However, J avoided telling V key details about her past as a disassembly drone, fearing another identity crisis like the first time she became a disassembly drone. She didn't want to have to deal with that again.

"You and N were always together," J said as she maneuvered through snow-covered bushes in the dense forest, with V trailing from behind.

"Wait, you mean like always together, together?" V asked to reassure herself.

"Together, together," J reassured. She looked back to see V's slightly flustered face, which annoyed her a bit and rolled her eyes in retaliation.

"However, you guys did fight a lot. Pfft." J scoffed, laughing a bit.

"Wait– what! We fought?!" V freaked out and was concerned about the sudden mood change and news J had brought upon her.

"You even fought me before," J recalled their fight during the final battle.

"Honestly, you beat my ass, I have to admit sadly. You were a crazy fighter–" J gloated about V's fighting capability but felt a gentle grab on her suit's sleeve.

"Did I really... do that to you and N?" V was filled with guilt and sorrow in her voice, and her expression was all too apparent for J to ignore.

"Was I a... violent person back then? I-if I was... I'm sorry... to you and N." V apologized sincerely.

J felt guilty for hearing V apologize about something she doesn't even recall remembering or having control of, something that was all too familiar to her.

"N-No, of course not. I meant like we were just playing fighting, you know? You probably don't remember, but we would always spar with each other. No one got seriously injured or anything." J said reassuringly, hoping V would believe that blatant excuse of a lie.

A tense silence surrounded them, only being broken by the subtle sounds of soft howling wind.

"Let's talk about something else, yeah?" J recommended hopefully to steer away from the previous conversation.

"You know you had a pet dinosaur as well?" The moment J's words left her mouth, so did her feeling in her arm when V grabbed down on it unknowingly from the excitement that boiled in her system.

"REALLY?– Oh, sorry!" V noticed the tight gripping she was applying from seeing J's pain-filled expression and immediately let go in a frantic state, apologizing multiple times.

"Urgh... It's– it's okay!" J clenched her teeth, trying to suppress the pain surging through her hand. She wanted to retaliate by yelling at V, but seeing her constantly apologize reminded her of when she would make a mistake in the mansion and apologize to Tessa for it.

"It's– it's okay, V! Honestly, it's not a big deal. It's just one cup." Tessa tried to reason with the panicked V, who was crumbling on the ground, frantically apologizing to her for breaking a teacup.

"I'm sorry! I-I just couldn't see where I was going a-and I mistaken the wall for a door again! I'm so sorry!" She continued to plead her mistake.

"Oooo, J! What am I supposed to do? She won't stop apologizing! Even though it's cute in a way, but I don't want her to feel bad about herself! Help me out!" She looked at J for advice.

"I-I don't know. I don't deal with digitally unstable drones." She answered.

"Wow, thanks a lot!" Tessa scoffed after hearing J's unhelpful attempt to help the situation. All Tessa could do was stare at the distressed V helplessly till she came up with an idea.

"I'm sorry, Mistress Tessa! I didn't mean to! Please don't send me to the swamp–!" V's non-stop crying and apologies slowly ceased once Tessa placed her hand on her head, patting it in a way.

"There, there. It's okay, V. I'm not going to send you the swamp like my mother or anything like that. I'm not mad at you or anything like that, either. We all make mistakes." She said it in a calm, well-tuned manner. Effectively calming the distressed V down.

"Why are you petting her like some sort of animal?" J scoffed.

"Because she is. She's sort of... like a cat." Tessa said joyfully as she continued to pet V, feeling small vibrations coming from V's head, and her digital tears slowly descended away.

"Pff– Werid," J mocked in disgust.

Tessa rolled her eyes at J, glaring at her in annoyance, and then smirked.

"Jaybird." She said.

J immediately reacted in utter disgust with her scrunched-up face, but the apparent neon white blush on her screen said otherwise.

"D-don't call me that..." She said, turning away from Tessa, who was still caressing V.

Tessa laughed heartedly. "Cute."

"Anyways, V. It's okay, honestly, and just call me Tessa, by the way. Now, let me help you clean up all the glass." Tessa slowly reached out to pick up the shards of glass from the broken teacup.

"T-thank you, T-Tessa, and... I'm sorry again." V apologized one last time, wiping her face. Tessa's inner thoughts couldn't contain herself from wanting to say how cute V looked when apologizing.

"You're such a cutie, V. You know that?" Tessa chuckled a bit and beamed a smile at her.

"W-what!?" V reacted, confused a bit and flustered.

"I'm sorry, J! I just got too excited! Is your arm okay–!?" V's apologizing stopped once J placed her hand on her head.

"I said it's fine. No need to be so over apologetic about it."

V stood there stunned, blushing at J's assertive kindness. J happened to notice the blushing, and in hindsight, realizing what she was doing, she quickly snatched her hand away and continued walking, trying to run away from the soft-hearted scene that embarrassed her.

"C-come on, let's keep going."

V, still stunned a bit, followed shortly behind.

"R-right..."

They continued a bit in awkward silence, both thinking about the scene a few moments ago.

"Wh-what was I thinking? Why did I just mimic Tessa like that? I mean..." J looked back at V, who had accidentally made contact with her before she quickly glanced away, probably still embarrassed.

"At least it worked." J smiled a bit, still looking at her.

"Mhmmmmhmhmmmmm~! Why does she keep looking back at me?" V squealed internally as she covered her face to hide her apparent blush.

"I never knew J could be so..." J's words of reassurance bounced back and forth, head in V's head, making her blush intensify.

"Hmmmmmmm~!"

[Buzz]

"Hmph?" V felt a tingle—like a vibration in the pocket of her jacket.

"What is it, V?" J turned around after hearing V's footsteps cease.

V took out a phone she had hidden unknowingly in her jacket. She saw a little over 50 messages from a person named...

"Lizzy?"

"V~? Hello. Can you hear me?" J walked over to see what she was doing.

"Oh, sorry. I just received a message from someone."

J's eyes widened in shock. She tried to snatch the phone, but before she could, V pulled it closer to her.

"Wait, J! I might have known this person, and if it can help me remember who I was before, I want to check it out." V switched from her usually submissive self and showed authority of her own possession, giving J a serious look.

J sighed and slowly backed off.

"Just tell me something they are saying, okay?" J demanded. V nodded, and they continued walking.

As V scrolled through the messages thoroughly, seeing the most interesting pictures and videos with this person named "Lizzy," assuming that they had been close friends before—or still were. Some messages were questionable, and some things she didn't know what they meant. However, the past 50+ messages all stood out to her.

"Hey, Grumpy McTraumaBot! Where are you? Are u falling behind?"

"Why haven't u showed up with Ms. 🚪🧍??? I'm going to assume u r just falling behind. Slowpoke."

"Hey! Where exactly are you? It's been a couple of hours yet, and u haven't opened any of my messages. Are u okay? You aren't pulling my wires?"

"Thad went out looking 4 u just an fyi."

"Hey... I'm sorry for what I did back at the giant hole thingy. I really didn't mean to drop it. I hope you aren't mad at me about it still."

"Sparky is worried about you. Even I haven't seen him this sad—or sad at all."

"Have you found Thad yet? He hasn't returned back either."

"V... where are you? Please, answer....."

"N gave me some advice to make me feel better. If it's true I helped you, I'm glad I wasn't useless for once, am I right? ❤️‍🩹"

"N and Uzi went out to go find you. I hope you're still out there... somewhere."

"Miss Ash also taught me a few things to help out, so I'm not totally useless anymore, right? lol..."

"V... when are you going to come back."

"Oh... that was most the messages." V read the messages, skimming through some of them. J didn't say anything.

"J, do you know this "Lizzy" person? She sounds like a good friend, well, to me—at least. It seems like she really cares about me."J didn't respond and stopped walking for a moment, looking around as if she was hearing something.

"Should I text back?" V attempted to suggest, but J grabbed her, covered her mouth, and dived behind a few snowy bushes.

Muffled noises can be heard from the panicked V, who does not know what is going on.

"Shhh!" J muttered to V as she peaked through the small gaps of space in the bush, seeing a lone worker drone boy walking.

She faintly remembers the boy as a friend of that thing she hates so much. A few moments later, she heard something soar in the air and then land. Peaking through the bushes, she saw N.

"Thad, I finally found you!" N surprised to see him in one piece.

"N?! Y-you found me?" Thad was confused and shocked to see N all the way out here looking for him again.

"Well, yeah? Lizzy was worried about you because you weren't answering your phone."

"O-oh... I seem to have forgotten." Thad took his phone out, seeing 25+ messages from Lizzy.

"You okay, Thad? You seem disappointed." N said, based on his tone of voice and facial expression, that his shaky neon green eyes were filled with regrettable sorrow and a hint of guilt.

"Y-yeah... I'm fine. Just... tired, you know?" Thad played it off.

J and V, who were still in the bushes just a few meters away, slowly backed away. V could hear N's voice and wanted to burst out of the bushes to greet him, but she couldn't. Looking at J's horrified facial expression, shaking her head frantically signaling her to don't—her face begged her not to say anything as directed but also screamed she wanted to get out of here. Something about the atmosphere surrounding the area was off, and the reason wasn't N. All J could do was hope N would leave and not find them before it was too late even to consider running away.

"Well, are you done with your walk?" N asked, remembering Thad said he was going to go on a walk before he actually left.

"Y-yeah..." Thad sadly agreed. N heard and saw Thad's disappointment, and he wanted to question it, but he was interrupted by the subtle sound of trees brushing against something.

He activated his rocket launcher and scanned the surrounding area. J held V tightly in her arms, covering her mouth as she watched N's scanner slowly search the area.

"N? You okay?" Thad stopped N just in the nick of time before he scanned the area where J and V were. N glared into the forest before focusing his attention back on Thad.

"Yeah, let's go back to the bunker already. I think they need me." N held his hand out for Thad to grab as he flew up in the sky and back to the colony.

J immediately wanted to get up and fly as fast as she could—away from this area, away from this predicament she saw coming miles away, but it was far already too late. She stood completely still along with V for a little while longer with a face that showed nothing but utter horror as the eerily silence made everything more suspenseful. She didn't move a single electrical circuit in her body—she was frozen. At this point, she was dead in this state, along with V, who conveniently followed along.

"I hate this. I hate this. I hate this. I hate this." She thought as the fear of death shrouded around her like a warm blanket ready to put her to rest. She could feel it. She could feel her presence floating around them like a specter. Her radar couldn't detect her, but the undeniable fear factor did.

Seconds turned into long, quiet minutes until J felt that unsettling, life-threatening disturbance leave. Only then did she start to stand up slowly, regretting every second of it, ready to embrace if she was still there. She didn't know if she was still there or not or not even there at all, but the fear she coiled in said that she wasn't just there—but right in front of her. She knew they were there that whole time, but she ignored them. But... "Why?"

"J... w-what was that about?" V, standing up and shaking the snow that covered her from the slow snowfall, rightfully asked J for her sudden actions and that dreadful feeling that swallowed her.

One of J's eyes flickered a warning message saying: "Prior Hazard." As she looked down into the depths of the forest, she was surrounded by.

"Why the hell... was she just... there?"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone spaces out in the room as Khan prepares to mount the cores in the disassembly drones. Lizzy pairs with Uzi, Raphaëlle with Ashley, and Nori stays closest to Khan in case a violent encounter occurs.

"Miss Ashley?" R calls out, gently tugging on her shirt from behind.

"Yes, Raphaëlle?" Ashley turns around with a smug expression.

"Y-you don't have to call me by my real name if you don't want to, Miss Ashley."

"But you have such a beautiful French name~ I just couldn't help myself."

"A nickname will suffice. It'll be just as beautiful," R suggests.

"Hmmm. Okay, then!" Ashley spaces out for a moment, looking at R, then claps in brilliance.

"I'm going to call you Raphy." Her rainforest-green eyes glow with even more excitement, and she blushes happily at Raphy, making her blush as well.

"Oh! You can call me by a nickname in return—Ash." She beams like an overjoyed puppy.

"N-no, thanks. I like your name. It's beautiful," R insists, looking away, still flustered by the nickname she received.

"Hmph~ hypocrite." Ashley pouts.

"Hmph~ I suppose I am." R giggles at Ashley's "adorable" face.

"Well, at least drop the formality. You're making me feel old~" She continues to pout.

"Fine, I will... Ashley~" R smiles softly at Ashley, making eye contact as they both gaze at each other lovingly.

"Hey, are you two done flirting over there? He's almost done." Nori yells, leaning back in her chair, watching Ashley and R from across the room.

"Ashley, when did you even give her a real name?" Uzi asks, leaving Lizzy alone at the door.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ashley asks playfully, already knowing what she meant.

"I mean, wasn't her name R, and now it's Raphaëlle?"

"That's because Raphaëlle is my real name," R cuts in, her tone carrying a slight disdain for some reason. Uzi looks confused.

"Uzi, you naive girl~ Did you really believe the disassembly drones were all just letters?" Ashley says, confronting Uzi and placing her hands on her shoulders.

"I mean... N never told me his real name. I didn't even think he had one. I thought his name was always... you know, N."

"Well, you could always ask him. Or her." Ashley shrugs, then glances at Uzi's tail.

"Still not active, huh? I wonder why."

"Hey! Can you guys pay attention?" Nori glares at them from afar.

"Okay, the first one is ready. You can pass me one of the cores," Khan instructs. Nori grabs one of the jars containing a core from the oven while everyone watches.

She carefully hands Khan the jar, and he takes the core out without hesitation.

"It's still weird that you handle the cores like that and touch them with your bare hands... I don't even want to know what substance Alice kept these things in," Nori comments, her face scrunched in disgust.

"But... you were a core, and I touched you with my bare hands. How is this any different?" Khan says.

"First, I didn't have that slimy substance coated around me. Second, I'm your wife, so why wouldn't you? And third, watch your choice of words." She slaps him on the back of his head, slightly embarrassed.

"Huh? O-oh! Sorry." He laughs, realizing what he said.

"Hey, are you two done flirting over there?" Ashley mocks Nori's earlier statement, smirking as she fist-bumps R. Nori just rolls her eyes.

"Alright, alright. I'm putting the core in now," Khan announces, slowly inserting the core and closing the chamber. Then, he immediately steps back for safety as the sound of a computer startup blares from the disassembly drone.

"Hey, Raphy?" Ashley calls out.

"Hmph~?" R responds.

"Do you remember any of your comrades?"

[System Uploading...]

[Processing...]

[Status: Offline]

R's demeanor suddenly dulls, like a dimmed light bulb.

"Yes, I do. Why?"

[Initiating System Reboot]

[Processing...]

[15%...]

"Well, I wanted to know what they were like. But judging by your tone, you don't seem too fond of them." Ashley notices the hateful undertone in R's voice, making her all the more curious.

"Why is that?"

[25%...]

[34%...]

[52%...]

[67%...]

"Well, I had two comrades. One of them I genuinely enjoyed being around and understood, despite sometimes being slow in the head and dislocating himself at random times. But he always knew how to make me laugh. He felt like the closest thing to a little brother... that is, if what I know about 'a little brother' is true." R smiles, reminiscing.

“‘His name was E." R answers happily.”

[74%...]

[81%...]

[94%...]

"Oh, he seems nice. I'm guessing he'll be another N in a way. That's relieving."

"Then... what about your other comrade? I'm presuming you don't like him? Or her?"

[100%...]

[Loading...]

[Completed!]

"The last one was our leader. I despise him. I hate him more than anything I could have ever imagined. He kills for fun and deliberately enjoys it."

"If I were to see him again..."

"I would kill him for all the pain he caused me." R clenches her fists and grits her teeth. Ashley observes her apparent anger, taking note of it.

[Status: Online]

[Connecting to Administrator: 'Cyn']

[Access Denied]

[Contact Administrator: 'Darkxwolf17']

“His name was T,”

“He is far from anything nice.” R’s voice tuned to a lower, cold, sobering tone. As every hateful feeling poured into the words she spoke.

“If anything, he is one of the most twisted disassembly drones I’ve encountered, and we should not trust him.”

Chapter Text

[Connected via Admin: ‘DarkxWolf17’]

[Successful]

Khan and Nori slowly back away from the disassembly drone, which is slowly booting up. Everyone else watches and prepares themselves if necessary.

[…]

The disassembly drone’s eyes cut on a bright neon yellow, staring blankly in the room. Still, everyone is waiting—waiting for it to make a move. It then moved its attention to Lizzy—an unguarded Lizzy.

In a flick of the engineering room light bulb, a flash of yellow lights sprinted from one side to another, heading towards Lizzy, who couldn’t see what was coming her way.

[CLASH!]

The sound of metal clashing against each other and sparks flying onto Lizzy’s face. She flinched in instinct, and by the time she opened her eyes. In that fraction of a second, two bright neon eyes with a murderous smile on their face completely covered up her vision.

“I should have known…” R said, grabbing onto the claws of a disassembly drone that was gunning for Lizzy’s head. She was stunned in the near face of death and fell to the ground.. Any later, Lizzy’s head would have been impaled.

“Aww, what’s with the hateful face? I thought you would be happy to see me again.” The disassembly drone spoke in a playful yet filled with lunacy tone.

R gripped the hand claw of the disassembly drone so tight that its claws bent upward from the tension. The hateful expression was nothing but blindingly apparent on her face.

“Hmmm? You should smile more—” The disassembly drone taunted her, but his head slammed against the hard floor in a few seconds.

R did a flawless takedown on the disassembly drone, effectively pinning him to the ground while on top of him. She held both his arms down with one of hers and brought a long rifle—a mosin from another.

“Urgh! What the hell is wrong with you—?”

“Don’t speak to me like you think I have forgotten all you did—all the pain you caused me.” She held her mosin to the back of his neck and was ready to fire.

“R, wait!” Ashley shouted. R stopped, but she did not release him or draw back her gun.

“Ashley, I am sorry, but this one will not do. I need to kill him.” R stated, not even taking her eyes off the disassembly drone.

“AHA—Who would have known the ‘Angel’s Dust’ would admit to wanting to kill someone despite hating it? Some angel you are.”

“I never wanted any of this, and I hate that title because it reminds me of my sins.”

“YOU HATE IT?” He screamed, laughing hysterically.

“I hate it more because it wasn’t supposed to be your title to begin with! You, of all people, knew I should have gotten a title, but no… You received it. What did I get in return despite being more capable than you? I was the ONLY one willing to do whatever it took to complete the missions. What did I receive? Nothing! You half-ass piece of metal! It should have never been you!” He squirmed in anger as he tried to free himself but to no avail from R.

“You’re still salty over a title that I never asked for?”

“Yes, because it pisses me off, like what kind of angel doesn’t listen to their god’s will? Oh, you are filled with hypocrisy, Ms. Angel.”

“The only will that thing had was for senseless slaughter. That thing is no god—but a monster craving destruction.” She said, pressing her mosin on his neck even harder than before.

“You can’t deem that a god.”

She was about to kill him—she wanted to kill him. Her gun nozzle drilled into the back of his head, and she was ready to fire.

“R, wait, hold on just a second!” Ashley said, rushing over to her.

“DON’T come any closer! …Please.” R shouted, freezing Ashley in place. Ashley then remembered what comrade R had just told her.

“R, is that him—?”

“Yes, this is T. The one I was just talking about.” R stated, squeezing T’s arms to the point that oil leaked from them, but he didn’t even hint at the pain.

“Oh? You’ve told them about me? How nice of you, R— ow!” He said, laughing, but he was quickly humbled as R applied more pressure. He then looked around the room as far as his head would allow and spotted Uzi. “Hmph?”

“Hey, R’s crazed psycho friend,” Ashley called out to T, earning a disgusted look in return.

“What?” He replied, uninterested.

[Push]

[Beep]

Ashley took a small remote from her coat pocket and pressed a button. As soon as she did, T began to glitch. His slurred speech became inaudible, and his face flickered and buffered.

“R, you can let him go now,” Ashley commanded. R complied and moved Lizzy to safety, who was still in shock from nearly dying again.

Ashley pressed the button again, and T stopped glitching. He groaned in pain, struggling to move as his body twitched uncontrollably, resisting his attempts to regain control.

“W-What i-is th-this?!” He spoke in an almost unrecognizable voice due to the glitching.

“Oh, this?” Ashley remarked, waving the remote back and forth, taunting T.

“It’s merely a disciplinary tool for nearly harming my favorite student, that’s all.”

“You insignificant piece of scrap! ARGH!” T exclaimed as he struggled to rise to his feet.

“From what I can tell, you seem to be the insignificant one. You’re the one who didn’t receive such a beautiful title like R here.”

“But don’t worry, I have one just for you... How about... Mr. Temper Tantrum?” She laughed. “I’m so good at naming things, aren't I?”

“You’ll d-die for that.” He lunged towards Ashley, wanting to kill her, but before he could reach her, she activated the button again, making him collapse in pain as he slid to her feet.

“Seems like the name suits you perfectly. I hope you enjoy it, Mr. Temper Tantrum,” she said, looking down at him with mockery and disgust.

“I-I’ll fucking– t-tear you apart! Right after I– beat some sense into that– good-for-nothing comrade– argh!” The pain surged throughout his body nonstop. He curled up in response to the intense agony. All the while, Ashley looked down upon him.

His cries and groans of pain echoed throughout the room as everyone stood and watched. Ashley glanced back at Nori and shot her a mean look, causing Nori to look away in shame. T’s groaning and grunting abruptly ceased. Ashley waited a few seconds before pushing the button again.

“Is he dead?” Uzi asked.

“No, he’s not dead—just a bit fried. He’ll wake up soon,” Ashley said, kicking him lightly.

“Sorry about that, Raph. He really got on my nerves at first. I was hoping he would turn out more like you—nicer and more approachable.”

“I… It’s okay. Should we leave him like that? He will be pretty mad when he wakes up.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I have this fancy tool here,” Ashley said happily, seemingly eager about her next device working.

“What even is that?” Khan asked in awe.

“It’s a remote to an electrical trigger that I had you place within all the disassembly drones and their coordinated sections. It basically burns them from the inside with the push of a button,” Ashley explained.

“You made me do what?!” He shouted in shock.

“Mhm~ Thank you for that, Boss.” She smiled and nodded innocently. “I’m glad you followed my notes to the “T’—no pun intended—and placed one inside each of their limbs and three in their heads for maximum efficiency. Including their wings, so there are about ten in each of them. Thank you again, boss. You’re the best!”

“You’re insane…” Nori commented.

“Oh, quit your whining. I only did that so we don’t have to worry about them becoming aggressive like that again.” She said, glancing at the incapacitated T.

“It’s sad that I only have one of these remotes. I could have made more, but I don’t have the resources.” She said, gently brushing against the remote.

“Did you place them in R here as well?” Uzi asked, looking at R, who was just as shocked.

“Well, of course I did. However~” Ashley moved over to R and grabbed her by the collar, pulling her down face to face seeing a quick embarrassed expression brushed on her face with a faint blush. She then looked at her with a facade of heartfelt eyes that hid her manipulative behavior.

“If she behaves well, I might just remove them.”

[Whoosh!] The sound of the engineering room door opened and announced a hurried Thad, who rushed in, almost out of breath. He startled nearly everyone, all of whom turned to face him.

“Guys, N needs help! She’s… She’s here!”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As N and Thad headed back to the bunker on foot to conserve N’s oil supply in case Ano had appeared, they were accompanied by the empty air around them.

“So, what were you doing out here all alone again? You know it’s dangerous with Ano roaming around somewhere.” N mentioned he was confused because he knew that Thad had seen how frightening Ano could be.

“I was just out here to clear my mind, remember? And yes, I know.” Thad replied.

“Oh, right! Almost forgot. Lizzy did tell me to come out here because you were taking a while. But if you wanted to clear your mind, you should probably walk in the bunker next time, right? Or at least near it. I'm not trying to criticize your choice to walk, of course, but… it’s too dangerous out here.” N insisted.

“R-Right…” Thad reluctantly agreed.

“I’m barely using all my strength and willpower not to just kill you right now.”

“And I don’t want to, but for you… I just might make an exception.”

“Leave before I do.”

Ano’s words lingered in Thad’s mind as reminders of his untrustworthy nature towards her—a flaw of ignorance on his part that caused this. He could only wallow in the pit of guilt he had created. He wanted to make amends with her, but not yet, as the moment was still fresh.

“Thad, while you were out here clearing your mind, did you happen to come across V?” N asked.

“N-no… I haven’t.” He answered hesitantly, which N noticed.

“Thad, are you not telling me something?” N stopped and turned around, making Thad anxious.

“Thad, if you know anything, you need to tell me," He said, his tone shifting dramatically as he approached the now slightly frightened Thad.

“Has he always been this scary...?"

In a few seconds, N towered over Thad. He had never seen N look and sound so terrifying. Thad sighed in resignation, remembered that he had N’s hat under his own for safekeeping, and held it out to him. N quickly shifted personas upon seeing his hat again and grabbed it gently.

“T-thank you, Thad. Where did you find it—?”

“I found Ano again.”

N didn’t respond. His expression darkened, leaving him unsure whether to feel relieved that Thad was safe or concerned that he hadn’t warned him.

“What were you doing with her, a-again?”

“I-I was hoping to see if she would tell me anything that could lead to V…” Thad answered hesitantly.

“Did she tell you anything?” N asked. However, Thad remained silent and simply shook his head.

“Anything?” N pressed again, sounding desperate.

Thad kept shaking his head.

“Come on, Thad. There has to be something! Anything!” N exclaimed, more desperate than before as he grasped Thad’s shoulders tightly. Silence lingered as the presumed answer became more elusive, leading N to a painful realization.

“I’m sorry, N,” Thad replied, lowering his head. “I don’t think… V’s here anymore.”

Silence thickened the air around them. Thad slowly lifted his head and saw N’s devastated face, disbelief evident—his expression unbalanced and on the verge of tears. Witnessing that gut-wrenching look from N frightened Thad and made him question whether he should have spoken those words. The already dark cloud of regret weighed heavier within Thad.

N slowly released Thad and turned around, advancing toward the bunker that lay just beyond a few more trees.

“W-wait—N…” Thad attempted to reach out but missed, leaving him behind. His arm slowly lowered as he realized he had completely upset N—never having seen him so defeated that he would walk away alone.

Regret, guilt, and distrust weighed heavily on Thad, creating mental stress that clouded his usually positive mindset. Two thoughts echoed in his mind: whether he could have expressed himself differently…

“I could, no… I should have said something different…”

“To both of them.”

The second thought was a simple recognition of his actions…

“And this wouldn’t have happened.”

“It’s all my fault.”

That recognition was guilt.

He pressed forward slowly, each foot crunching in the snow and dragging behind. He wanted to call out to N, to say something that might brighten his mood, but he hesitated, unsure of how to speak to someone who had presumably lost their closest friend. Nevertheless, he called out, hoping his voice could reach into N’s presumed clouded mind.

“N–!”

[CRASH!]

In the blink of an eye, N was struck by something that appeared to materialize out of nowhere. For one second, N stood in front of Thad; the next, he was sent crashing into the nearby landscape, colliding with a boulder. The impact from the unseen force generated a shockwave of sound and pressure that overwhelmed Thad’s senses, filling his mind with a ringing noise as he stumbled to the ground under the strain. Thad had no time to comprehend what was happening, but everything became abruptly clear when she stepped into view, emerging from behind a collapsed building.

“A-Ano?” Thad's eyes widened in shock at her sudden appearance—barely a few steps from the bunker.

Thad was too stunned to move or do anything; he could only stare at Ano, who radiated an oppressive aura. Thad’s expression grew increasingly unsettled as she walked toward N, completely ignoring him. He slowly got to his feet and eased into a stance as he watched Ano approach N. There was a clear path to the bunker. It was now or never. He needed to get help.

N’s body was embedded in the large boulder, with oil pouring from his mouth. He made no discernible sound, not even a groan of pain despite missing an arm. The realization that V was no longer stained his face was the only thought occupying his mind, even as Ano towered over him.

“Did you really– think you could escape and– run away forever?” Ano said, palming the top of his head with her upper right arm and lifting him effortlessly.

“Hm– what’s with that– defeated look on your face? I haven’t done– anything yet,” She said, observing his despondent expression.

“D-Did you…” He began to speak, but his voice was so soft and weak that Ano couldn’t hear him.

“Speak up!” she demanded, squeezing his head and digging her nails into its base. Oil soon began to drip down Ano’s nails.

“D-Did you… really kill… her?”

Ano smirked.

“Killed who? You gotta be more specific. I don’t tend to remember people I’ve mutilated into several pieces.”

She knew whom he was referring to, but witnessing his face like this as a result of her actions was nothing short of a beautiful sight to her. It was befitting for a sinful person like N, and she couldn’t help but mock him for it.

“Look at it, N,” She said, raising her lower left arm to N’s face. “Does this answer your question?”

N slowly shifted his gaze from the ragged snowy ground beneath Ano’s feet. He looked at her lower left arm and recognized it. A familiar armband—with a familiar name on it.

“V’s… armband…?”

In a flash, Ano slammed N back into the boulder. The impact was so heavy and brutal that it caused him to cough up oil and crack the boulder.

“Correct!” She said sadistically, as she turned around, N still in hand, and tossed him into a destroyed tower crane.

“If you hadn’t– run away from our– previous encounter, I would have been– delighted to tell you sooner, but– now? See– you like this? This is– a way better approach.” She said, approaching N, who was staying in the rubble and showed no attempt to dodge her next attack.

Ano kicked N, sending him crashing back in the snow. He finally then brought out his swords and pressed forward to Ano. However, he seemed completely out of it. His sluggish movement as he swung his swords around aimlessly at Ano, his facial expression never changing from that defeated depressed look—everything about him didn’t seem like him. Ano easily grabbed N out of the air and sent him crashing into the bunker’s outer walls.

“Is that all– you have to show to– me? Is that all– you have to show for– your traitorous friend’s death?” She said, walking over to him and then stepping on his head as he looked like an unattached puppet.

“Come on, N! You– put up more of a– fight back in that ruined city!” She said, slowly pushing her leg further. The sound of N’s head cracking screen from the pressure lingered till she stopped and picked him up by his arm.

“I wonder… If– you are reacting like this– over V.” She said, getting oddly close to the side of his head.

“I wonder how– you’ll react when I— kill that purple friend– of yours.” She said, smilingly with so much malicious intent.

“Uzi's her name? Am I correct?”

Ano thought this would trigger him into a rage of revenge and force him out of character, which she was trying to break. He was already broken, but not in the way Ano assumed he would be. His facial expression remained unchanged, and his arm felt no fight as she hoisted him up. He merely waved his sword at Ano's arm, tapping her so softly and weakly that it made a tink sound each time, as if he were just tapping her.

“Aha… Ahaha… Ahah—AHAHAHA!” She suddenly burst into laughter, effectively screaming her amusement throughout the atmosphere, which echoed back like a sadistic maniac enjoying their victim's descent into hopelessness.

“YES!” Then she slammed N against the bunker wall by his arm. The force ripped his arm completely before he fell back to the ground. Ano picked him up and simultaneously tore off all his other limbs except his last arm, throwing him toward a nearby destroyed building.

“Do you now– know how I feel?! How much– pain have I endured because of– you?!”

“You're too much, N! To think– I would be granted this pleasure of– seeing you look so pitiful is priceless! I want– to see it more!” she said, laughing hysterically as she approached him.

“Yes! This is what you deserve for being a useless servant, even capable of standing by Her Majesty's side!” She lifted him by his last arm, barely keeping him together with a few wires.

She then produced a small gun—the same one she had used against V- and held it against his chest, directly targeting his core. He looked down at the gun, recognizing that it resembled a virus gun but was not exactly the same. However, he felt indifferent. He simply stared at it, hoping this nightmare would come to an end.

Ano watched the remainder of his willpower to fight back fade away. He didn't even bother to move. He was just a fragile puppet she was keeping afloat, waiting for its last strings to be cut.

“You're hopeless.”

“Is this really happening? Am I really… about to die? Is this what I… deserve? For the sinner she deemed me as?”

“Her face tells me everything I caused her… the face of someone who lost someone precious to them, and I… took them away from her?”

“Is that why… she’s going after people I care about?”

“Every time she spoke to me, she only talked about how much of a pain I am to her. How much pain I caused her…”

“Were all of her emotions and reasoning caused by me? Her resentment… her sorrow… her loneliness. Did I…”

“… cause it?”

“Is this…”

“...my fault?”

“N!” A voice called to him, and he slowly averted his gaze from Ano.

In that split second, a purple solver wrapped around N’s body, pulling him away from Ano and tearing his arm free from her grasp.

“Dad, now!” Uzi screamed as she caught N’s body and dragged him inside the bunker.

“No… No, No. NO!” Ano shouted, rushing toward the bunker–crawling at impossible speeds. She reached out her hand and nearly grabbed Uzi, but the bunker doors closed, though not completely. Her hand wedged between them, stopping it in place. She squeezed her hand further between the strongly closing doors to reach through a small opening.

“Dad!?”

Khan’s voice came from an inner comm linked throughout the entire bunker.

“I’m trying!” he said.

Ano then slipped her other hand in, then another, until all four of her hands were in the door's opening, slowly prying it open.

“Oh, now you don’t!” Nori approached from behind Uzi and used her solver on the door, forcing it to close, but Ano’s strength resisted it.

Uzi then set aside N and assisted her mother. Both used their strength to close the door, eventually smashing and pinning Ano’s hands in the process.

Ano looked at her four damaged hands and watched them regenerate just as quickly as they had been destroyed. She then pulled out a massive step-hammer drill head for each arm, each the size of an average worker drone. They were so heavy that their weight crashed to the ground, shaking the ground around her. Even Nori and Uzi, on the other side of the door, felt the ground tremor and stared at the closed door, beyond which Ano was.

[BANG!]

[BUZZING!]

[WHIRRING!] The sound of high-pitched buzzing and whirring filled the air.

“Um… what is she doing?” Uzi asked worriedly, hearing the noise.

“She’s drilling through the doors…” Khan thought as he observed Ano drill from a camera posted outside.

“Nori and Uzi! Get out of there now! I don’t know if the doors can withstand her!” Khan shouted through the inner comm.

“Mom! Help me with N!” Uzi shouted, pulling N further into the bunker. Nori joined in to assist and made it past the last two doors, which closed behind them.

“Thank goodness,” Nori said, relieved.

“N?! N, wake up! Snap out of it!” Uzi repeatedly slapped N’s face to rouse him.

His limbs had fully regenerated, and he slowly opened his eyes. “U-Uzi?” He said, confused as he looked around.

“What were you thinking!? Going out there—alone! You nearly got yourself killed again! Do you even care?!”

“I…I-I’m sorry, Uzi.” He slowly got to his feet but stumbled, and Uzi caught him under his shoulder.

“You can apologize later. We need to get out of here first—”

[RUMBLING!] The sound of the ground splitting apart like an earthquake as tremors rattled underneath the bunker.

The sound and tremors from the ground froze the three in fear as they glanced behind them at the massive doors.

“What was that…?” Uzi asked, her face etched with concern.

“Babe, what’s happening out there?!” Nori shouted, directing her gaze at a camera with a green light beneath it, indicating that Khan was watching them.

“I’m checking,” he replied. The camera light then turned red as he flicked through the cameras.

“I wish I had fixed these camera systems sooner!” He said anxiously while scrolling through them, returning to the previous camera outside.

He finally switched to a camera outside and slowly panned it to face the bunker. The door still stood, with four large drill head shapes imprinted on it. However, he did not see Ano. Instead, he noticed an ominous large black hole right in front of the bunker’s entrance.

“She’s… She’s not there,” he said.

“What?! What do you mean she’s not there?! Did she leave?!

The rumbling effect returned, trembling the ground beneath them. N's eyes widened in realization.

“There’s just a massive black hole outside...” He said, concerned.

“What?!” Uzi replied, confused.

“She’s underground...” N began to pant, capturing Uzi’s attention. One of his eyes triggered a: [Prior Hazard] warning message.

The rumbling became more audible as the sound approached them.

“N? What’s the matter—?”

“She’s underground!” He shouted.

[BASH!]

The ground beneath their feet suddenly erupted between the three, and a large red hand emerged from the new hole. It lashed out wildly, striking Nori and sending her crashing into a wall.

“Mom—!” Uzi tried to rush to her mother, but N grabbed her and dodged Ano’s arm, which flailed around uncontrollably as it welcomed a much bigger hole in the ground.

They all watched as Ano’s arm twisted aimlessly, as if trying to grab at surrounding objects, hoping one of them would be caught. Soon, she stopped, and her arm descended into the dark black hole.

The team didn’t even get a chance to fully react as Ano’s arm emerged from the ground again, creating a different hole that was much closer to Nori.

“Mom! Watch out!” Uzi called out desperately to warn Nori, who was recovering from being smacked against a wall.

Before Ano’s hand reached Nori, N fired his automatic gun at her hand, stunning her and causing her hand to descend back into the ground.

“Uzi, we have to get out of here—!” N exclaimed, but just as quickly as Ano’s hand descended, it reappeared again, right beneath N’s feet.

She clutched his leg with the sensation of catching someone. She yanked her arm back sharply, slamming N to the ground and attempting to force him through the hole. He struggled against her strength, but with Uzi’s assistance, he managed to free himself, though he lost part of his leg in the process as they backed away.

Ano’s hand sank back into the ground.

“N?! Are you okay?!” Uzi said, alarmed. His state looked dreadful- unbalanced and pressured- completely different from his usual self. He seemed to be fighting a different battle.

“Argh…” Nori finally recovered, rubbing her head, still in pain.

“Mom!” Uzi quickly rushed to her.

“Wait, Uzi, don’t—!” N tried to reach her, but Ano’s arm was raised between him and Uzi.

Ano’s arm burst through the ground for a third time and grabbed Uzi’s tail.

“EGH! Watch it!” Cyn cried out.

Uzi's eyes widened in shock, fearing she would be dragged into the hole like N, but Ano released her. She didn’t question it, forcing herself to ignore it as she attempted to run to her mother, but N grabbed her.

“N?! Wha-what are you doing—?!” She exclaimed, angrily confused, but N placed his hand over her mouth and shook his head.

“Shhh!” He whispered, quieting her, and glanced around the room. Despite her anger, Uzi understood and stood quietly, looking at her mom with worrisome eyes as she was across the room.

[...]

Once roaring and thundering as the metal ground erupted, the room soon came to a near abrupt, eerily silent stop as the sound of metal creaked lightly and pebbles of debris scattered across the floor. It was nerve-racking for the three who watched the massive holes in the ground in silence, anticipating the once-possible outcome. So they sat there in silence waiting…

[...]

[Cough! Cough!] Cyn choked after being grabbed earlier, startling everyone nearby as they jumped at her coughing.

“Why you—” Uzi tried to reach out and grab Cyn to silence her but stopped halfway.

Something was off. When had turned to Cyn to grab her, she stopped her arm because her hand seemed to have randomly“disappeared.”

“Next time—Cough! Cough! Watch where you're grabbing!” Cyn said, looking up and behind Uzi and N. Both N and Uzi hesitantly turned their heads to see who or what Cyn was addressing.

“Anyways, what took you so long?”

“Ano.”

Chapter Text

Before Ano breached the Bunker, Nori and Uzi assisted N with Ano while everyone else stayed behind, trying to devise a quick and efficient plan.

“What do we do? We can’t let her enter the base!” Everyone echoed Khan's anxious tone, fully aware of the consequences if Ano managed to get inside the bunker. Nearly the entire population of worker drones would be wiped out if they didn’t evacuate in time.

“Boss, does the intercom system still work?” Ashley asked.

“Y-yeah, I think so. It hasn’t been used in a while, so probably,” Khan replied.

“Good. Please announce an evacuation to the colony, and do not tell them to meet at the old evacuation point,” Ashley insisted.

“And also check the camera systems. We need to know where she is at all times.”

“A-alright!” Khan rushed out of the room.

R looked at Ashley, who appeared to have her mouth open in an expression of growing excitement that caused her to drool slightly.

“Um, Ashley? What should we do with him?” R asked, looking down at T, who was still collapsed on the ground.

“Hmm? Oh, I forgot about him.” She answered, wiping the drool that seeped down her face. “I hope I didn’t actually kill him with the triggers. He just pissed me off so much in just one encounter, and I usually don’t get mad very easily. It’s unprofessional.” She said, nudging his body with her small foot.

“Y-you’re… mad?” R said, confused. Ashley’s tone of voice didn’t sound mad or anything resorting to resentment. If anything, she sounded calm and composed.

“Well, yes. He nearly killed my favorite student. I would have killed him if I hadn’t realized that we actually need him.”

R watched in awe but felt increasingly frightened and concerned as she observed Ashley behaving this way. If Ashley could remain this “calm” while committing such insane and psychotic acts toward others and treat them like… “objects,” she couldn’t help but recall what Nori had said about her.

“Hmm?” Ashley noticed her concerned look before R could adjust her demeanor and conceal her frightened, nervous expression.

“Oh, don’t be like that, Raphy! You’re not like Mr. Temper Tantrum over here, so I wouldn’t want to do anything to you, and hopefully, you’ll never make me have to use this on you. You’re a good girl, after all. Besides, you saved Lizzy, so I can’t reward you with a punishment. That’ll be cruel of me!” She said, revealing the remote before putting it back into her coat pocket.

“I wouldn’t want to hurt someone as obedient and valuable as you- someone who follows my orders to the T, someone who cleans beautifully, and most importantly, someone who said they would protect me and ensure my blissful life. You’re so caring and useful, Raphy. I would do anything not to lose you. I’m quite the possessive girl, you see.” She approached R and slowly moved her tail to meet R’s chin. Her tail stroked her chin from left to right like a playful cat.

“Besides…” Ashley stopped speaking and only stared at R with sensual eyes

“I’m starting to…”.

“A-Ashley? You’re... tail...” R stood there, barely able to hold herself together from the cold but comfortable sensation of Ashley’s tail, which swayed her head in whatever manner it desired.

Ashley maintained eye contact with R, wearing a cheeky smile that made R blush intensely. She paused for a moment, as if hesitating before her next move, then stepped back and restrained herself.

“Woah, never mind! Seems like I got too ahead of myself. Sorry about that!” She exclaimed, playfully backing up.

R’s towering figure limped forward slightly as she caught her breath, which she had held ever since Ashley’s tail caressed her chin. Too many emotions swirled in her mind to communicate how Ashley made her feel and how she could suddenly shift emotions. It was both frightening and astonishing.

“Y-you’re such a tease…” R said, trying to compose herself. She looked red as a tomato.

“Don’t overheat on me, now. I still need you.” Ashley taunted.

R took a deep breath, paused momentarily to regain her sense of self, and released a sigh of defeat. “You overheated on me, though.”

“Well, that’s because I can.”

“And I can’t?”

“Mhm~”

“You aren’t fair.”

“You aren’t the first to tell me that.”

“Now, can you tie his arms and legs and block his wing deployments? I don’t want him to become a potential problem during all this,” She announced, pointing at T’s motionless body.

“Where should I take him?” R asked, quickly moving around Ashley to receive T.

“I don’t think it’s safe to keep him in here with them,” Ashley said, glancing at the disassembly drone cores still in the ovens.

“Yes, I suppose you’re right,” R agreed.

“Come, I’ll show you where to take him,” Ashley said, quickly ushering him out of the room.

“But what if we run into Ano?” R asked worriedly.

“You said you'd protect me, right?” She asked, wearing a smug expression.

“Well, yes! Of course!” R replied confidently, reassured that he would stay true to his promise.

“Then I don’t have anything to worry about. Now, let’s go! I really want to see this new disassembly drone everyone has been seeing!” Ashley said joyfully as she skipped out of the room.

“Wait… is that what’s on your mind?!”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Uzi? Nori? What’s going on? What are you all looking at? ” Khan shouts, reacting to their eerie, shocked stares at what appears to him to be an empty wall.

“Anyway, what took you so long, Ano?” Cyn asked the intimidating giant woman standing behind Uzi.

Ano did not answer and turned her head to look at Uzi. She reached out her upper right hand to grab onto her.

“UZI—!” Nori screamed, choking due to the stained damage as she watched hopelessly across the room. She wanted to help, but the debris in her way and the damage she hadn’t recovered from made it impossible to reach her in time.

“Get away!” Uzi shouted.

[Obey.] The same command message popped in her head, causing her to flinch and withdraw her hand.

Ano closed her eyes, hesitating for a moment before attempting to grab her Uzi again. However, N intervened and penetrated her hand with his two swords, stopping it from closing in on Uzi.

“Run away, Uzi! She’s after you!” N screamed at her to go, but she hesitated at first, looking at her nearly collapsed mother.

She desperately wanted to ensure her mother’s safety, but now wasn’t the time. She dashed down the halls as fast as her worker drone legs could and fought the urge to look back.

Ano finally snapped back to herself, unaware that she would freeze yet again in the heat of battle. She realized N was attacking her, and Uzi was nowhere to be seen. She had vanished from sight. She quickly glanced around and saw Uzi running down the hall, fleeing from everything.

“No!” She screamed, desperate to move, but N held her down.

“Get off me!” She swung her lower right hand to backhand N hard, sending him flying and crashing against one of the heavily reinforced doors. The impact of his body hitting the door rippled the air with tremors and left him broken and immobilized.

Before she could take a step forward, rocks and steel debris flew in her direction. She instinctively dodged them and noticed Nori, clinging by a thread, hurling debris at her to prevent her from reaching Uzi. Ano avoided all the debris, even in this cramped space that would presumably restrain her, but no—she maneuvered flawlessly. However, when she dodged the debris, it blocked the path she needed to take to reach Uzi. Her face flushed with annoyance at Nori for being such a nuisance because of this.

“You’re getting– in my way!” Ano yelled, caught one of the flying pieces, and threw it at Nori, hitting her directly and causing her to be flung into the same reinforced door N struck, landing motionlessly behind him.

She then positioned herself on all fours like a cheetah, barreling through the small wall of rock and sprinting down the narrow corridors in pursuit of Uzi.

Uzi was scared and hyperventilating. Her panting became more audible as she ran down the hall, never stopping due to the faint yet increasingly loud sound of heavy thuds behind her. Ano crawled after her at speeds she knew she couldn’t evade for long.

“Maybe you should just give up. Ehe~!” Cyn mocked, glancing back at Uzi as she watched Ano quickly enter the same hallway.

“Why—of all times do you choose—to speak—now?!” Uzi exclaimed, pausing briefly to catch her breath as her prolonged fatigue began to set in.

“She’s going to get you! She’s going to get you!” Cyn taunted, laughing with utter joy.

“SHUT UP!” Uzi rounded a sharp corner, narrowly avoiding a collision with the wall. Then she spotted R stepping out of a room at the end of the hallway, likely a storage room in the bunker. She urged Uzi to move quickly and pointed to where Khan was hiding behind the corner of a two-way hallway, directing her to join him.

“Uzi! This way!” Khan shouted, finally reuniting with his daughter, and continued to run ahead.

Now, Raphaëlle stood before Ano, preventing her from passing. Ano halted upon seeing her and sensed that she knew something about her. Ano glared aggressively at Raphaëlle, who wore a calm expression.

“What— are you doing here?” Ano demanded.

Raphaëlle took a deep breath, drew her long steel rapier, and got in an en garde stance. “That doesn’t concern you, Anomaly.”

“You… one of the– few to receive a title– to express their worth for– Her Majesty. Someone I– approved to be qualified of– such value. Are now a– sinful fallen angel that needs– cleansing.” Ano said, stunned to believe Raphaëlle, a disassembly drone side with Her Majesty’s sworn enemy.

“All I ask– you is… Why? Did she not– bring you purpose as– well?”

“That thing gave me purpose to be nothing but a man-slaughtering machine killing hundreds of innocent people. I never asked for any of that!” Raphaëlle retaliated.

“Thing…” Ano said, unsettled by what she had just heard.

“Is that– how you address your– god… angel?” Her words were bottled and captivated in resentment, malice, and hostility that needed to be unleashed. Tension tensed the atmosphere, creating a dark, unsettling mood—a warning that stiffened Raphaëlle’s posture.

“That thing is no god or my god. It’s the devil, and you know it.” Raphaëlle refuted.

Ano gazed at the ceiling, observing an unstable light flickering around her, making her appear like a glitch. She took a deep breath and sighed. “So many of you… So– many of her– creations made in her image– of freedom. Now, abuse that gift of freedom– and watch their creator crawl– beneath them…”

“I expected better– from you, Angel.”

“But just like the– others…”

“You’ve fallen.”

Ano charged at Raphaëlle with unmatched speed, raising her sledgehammer and swinging it. However, she lacked the space to swing with full power due to the confined area. Raphaëlle parried the sledgehammer, deflecting it back toward the attack's origin, and lunged at Ano, aiming for her exposed red core. In response, Ano’s lower arms moved automatically like a defense mechanism, nearly grabbing Raphaëlle, but she evaded and backed away a few meters to reposition herself.

Ano, The Anomaly, whose fighting style was brutal, aggressive, and relentless yet well-calculated, was now restricted by the confined space, limiting her size and attack range against Raphaëlle, The Angel’s Dust, whose approach was patient and passive and strictly adhered to her unique fencing style. Raphaëlle knew she had the upper hand in this environment but was facing Ano, one of Cyn’s strongest disassembly drones. She understood that this would not be an easy fight.

Ano looked around, realizing she needed more open space to use her sledgehammers. She then proceeded to unequip them. Raphaëlle thought she had given up, but knowing Ano’s history of insane tactics to do anything to achieve success, that was far from an option to her—it was never an option. She kept her guard close and tight, prepared for anything.

[THUD!]

A loud crash echoed from Ano, causing the surrounding area to tremble in response. She had brought out her step drill heads from earlier, all gripped tightly in her four hands. Their size was too massive and wide to swing freely or use effectively in combat, especially in her occupied, cramped space. Raphaëlle stood her ground, unsure of Ano's next move, until…

[BANG!]

Raphaëlle’s eyes widened in realization. Ano stacked her drills on top of each other like a two-by-two in the hallway—a wall of drills soon to be pushed directly toward her position, leaving no way to bypass them, only the option to flee. Soon, Ano positioned herself, and the drills began to spin, gradually speeding up as she pressed forward down the hallway. The faster the drills span, the faster Ano darted down the halls until she could full sprint down with the drills acting as a ramming tool.

Raphaëlle fled down the hall, soaring as she flew down and into a different hallway, narrowly avoiding Ano, who crashed into the end hall of the previous hallway. Ano’s drills penetrated the inner bunker walls, causing rubble to rain down from the wall and parts of the ceiling onto the ground near her. Chunks of rock and metal slammed against the floor. She glanced at Raphaëlle, who was to her right, with determination and an ambitious desire for destruction glowed in her hardened gaze.

“Ahem! Ah–cough cough!” A voice from Ano’s left was heard.

“ASHLEY!” R shouted across the hall, catching Ano’s attention before she turned her gaze back to the worker drone.

Ano glanced to her left at a small worker drone with green hair and a notably oversized lab coat, sitting on the ground in a position that suggested she had fallen backward. The worker drone staggered from the rumble that thankfully missed her frail figure and immediately stood, looking at the towering behemoth disassembly drone she had never seen before.

“Oh… you’re an interesting sight to behold.” She said, amusement coloring her words as she admired Ano's physique and appearance.

“W-what?” Ano murmured in confusion, not due to Ashley’s oddly direct compliment. Something about Ashley completely threw her off. One part was that Ashley showed no sign of fear when she locked eyes with her. However, something weirdly familiar in Ashley’s empty rainforest green eyes confused her deeply about her self-awareness.

“Is she— not afraid of me?”

The other reason for her confusion in Ashley was her A.A.S. displayed a message— not just any, but a warning message that had marked itself above Ashley’s head and flickered like the light switch above her. Ano had seen warning messages appear when there were possible hazards around her. Still, this one sent a chill of confusion and an unknown secondary emotion through her body as it directed itself to a mere, fragile worker drone.

The message was simple and direct… It had labeled Ashley as a “threat.”

Raphaëlle immediately dashed past Ano, ignoring all reason to attack her despite this possibly being the only opportunity to strike her. Instead, she didn’t and rushed to Ashley’s side, scooping her off the floor and darting past Ano again.

“Ashley! Are you hurt?! Are you okay?!” Raphaëlle asked urgently as she flew down the halls, getting Ashley to safety.

“Raph! You have to get a sample of her! Did you see her red nanite acid?! It looks so juicy~! It must have high potency! Raph, please, I beg of you to get a sample of her acid for me~!” Ashley exclaims, filled with excitement, as she nearly falls from Raphaëlle’s grip to look behind her.

”A-Ashley! Be careful! I can’t risk dropping you!”

“What? Am I heavy?”

“N-No, it’s not that! It’s because she’s behind us!”

Ano had started to chase them, retreating from her confused thoughts and forcing herself to focus on the task at hand. She was narrowing Raphaëlle like a missile and soon closing in on her.

“Ah!” Raphaëlle yelped out and turned behind her. Ano had grabbed her by the leg, stopping her in the air.

Raphaëlle immediately turned around, holding Ashley with one hand while bringing a long gun from her other hand, aiming it at Ano’s face. Ano quickly released Raphaëlle before she fired a bullet that echoed sharply in the air, letting a ringing noise fill the hallway.

“You have a mosin as well?!” Ashley exclaimed, even more amazed. So many exciting things were happening around her that she could barely contain herself.

Ano dodged the bullet and grabbed Raphaëlle again, lifting her slightly in preparation to slam her to the ground.

“Tch!” Raphaëlle angled her enormous metallic wings toward the floor to avoid being bashed against it.

“Eh–?” She tossed Ashley into the air for a few seconds, just enough time to draw both her mosin nagnats and fire a volley at Ano, forcing her to release her leg and defend herself. Raphaëlle moved quickly and accordingly to catch Ashley before she completely lost her airborne status.

“Oh my robo-god! That was so sick~!” Ashley squealed, her hands covering her mouth in shock and amazement.

Raphaëlle looked back behind her to think that had slowed Ano, but she was completely wrong. Ano lunged forward and swung her sledgehammer. Despite knowing her range of motion was limited, the sledgehammer was still swung with enough force. Raphaëlle released Ashley quickly, parried the sledgammer, and made an opening for her to attack Ano’s core.

Ano smirked. “You think– I would fall for that– twice?”

Raphaëlle’s vision flashed a warning message aimed at one of Ano’s legs that was held far back and tightly hinged, ready to be released, shown by the desire for destruction within the shaking anticipation it had. She tried to dodge, but it was too late. Ano thrust her leg forward, faster than her previous attacks, directly at Raphaëlle. Raphaëlle immediately turned her body as fast as possible to have her wings block Ano’s leg from making direct impact. The attack was blocked but with the consequence of sending her far back.

Raphaëlle's mouth pooled with oil, which she immediately spat out as she crashed to the floor and eventually caught herself. The impact was absorbed but left severe blunt damage that rattled her inside a bit—rapturing a few circulations of oil. A direct hit would have been life-threatening or would have killed her.

Ashley glanced back at Raphaëlle. She saw her slowly standing back on her feet as she grasped her chest in pain. She let out a sigh, relieved she was okay in some state.

“You…” Ano called out, surprising Raphaëlle and Ashley, who had turned to look at her.

“Oh, me?” Ashley pointed to herself.

The warning message “[Threat]” still appeared above Ashley’s head. Ano tried her best to ignore it, but the building hatred within her wanted to attack Ashley. Something about her wasn’t normal, and it was becoming insufferable.​​

“Tell me– what are you?”

“Woah, what’s with the slow speaking? Do you have a damaged voice box?”

Ashley gasped. “AH! Can I fix it for you?! Please allow me!”

“J-just answer– my question, " She demanded, tightening her fist in anger. Something about Ashley was stirring her oil in madness and malicious intent, but she restrained herself. She couldn’t outright kill her. After all, she’s a worker drone.

[CHING! RING!]

The sound of a loud metal clang echoed behind Ashley, and before she could turn around, Raphaëlle appeared, hurling four baseball-sized green balls at Ano with remarkable speed. Ano's eyes widened as she realized that Raphaëlle had thrown four M67 grenades directly at her face. Raphaëlle quickly grabbed Ashley and dashed down the hallway just before the grenades detonated with a massive explosion that reverberated through the halls, sounding like a disoriented firework.

[BOOM!]

“That was close,” Raphaëlle said as she raced down the hall with Ashley in hand.

“Ashley, are you okay? You’re not hurt anyway, are you—?”

“Raph… answer me for a second…” Ashley said in a serious tone that almost sounded annoyed.

“Y-yes? What is it?” Raphaëlle asked hesitantly.

“Why haven’t I examined you yet…?!”

“I-I um…”

“You have a steel rapier, a Russian Mosin-Nagant, and now M67 grenades?!” She screamed, frustration and excitement bursting forth as she flailed and kicked like a child throwing a temper tantrum. “Why am I only just finding all this stuff about you?!”

“A-Ashley! Please stop moving around so much, or I might drop you!”

A little while later, Raphaëlle raced down the halls, with Ashley still in her grasp. She eventually caught up with Khan and Uzi, who stood beside a large door that was slowly opening.

“Dad! Open it faster!” Uzi urged, glancing nervously between the door and the long hallway.

“I’m trying! The doors are sensitive, you know!” He retorted as he continued to tap the door keypad with a master card.

“What does that even mean?!” She shouted in confusion.

“Ashley, are you sure this will work?” Khan inquired, a hint of doubt in his voice.

“I’d give it… maybe a 40% chance of working.”

“Great…” Khan responded.

“It’s a 0% if it doesn’t even attack her. So—yeah, there’s that.”

“W-wait, what are we doing?! Am I missing something?! Someone tell me what is going on?!” Uzi yelled confusedly.

“Oh, right. We didn’t tell you because you ran off. Well, we—as in me—plan to use you as bait, that’s all.” Ashley said with a straight face despite the inhumane plan.

“You’re going to use me as—WHAT?!”

The massive metal door began to slide open, and with that, Ano hurled down the hall behind them—quickly approaching them.

“Okay, time to go, Boss!” Ashley hopped out of Raphaëlle’s arms and rushed to Khan.

“W-wait, Ashley, are you sure—?” Khan doubted as he fought against Ashley’s force.

“Shh! I’m sure! Trust me, Boss. You ready for this, Uzi?” Ashley said, disregarding Khan.

“W-what?! Of course not. I didn’t sign up for this!” She screamed in frustration and unease.

“Oh, well, too bad! And don’t worry, you have Raph! Anyway, gotta go, good luck! Also, don’t stay in there too long, or it will get you!” Ashley said playfully as she pushed Khan down a different hallway, away from Uzi and Raphaëlle.

“W-wait a second—!” She screamed

“Sorry, Ms. Uzi,” Raphaëlle said, grabbing Uzi with one arm.

“Huh—!?”

Raphaëlle tossed Uzi into the expansive room just as Ano finally reached the door. Ano extended her hand towards Uzi before she could get too far, but Raphaëlle intervened before Ano could reach her and threw more grenades at her.

[BOOM!]

Raphaëlle slid into the middle of the room and met Uzi. Ano postures herself, standing tall and mighty in front og the large door with her massive sledgehammers out in both upper arms.

[Ding… Ding. Ding.]

A faint dinging sound emanated from Ano as small fragments of metal from the grenade were slowly expelled by her exoskeleton, leaving tiny dents that were fully repaired by the time they were pushed out.

“Ms. Uzi, look up gently,” Raphaëlle instructed as she unsheathed her rapier with her left arm and her mosin with her right.

“I–okay, okay,” Uzi replied, her voice tinged with unease. She was not prepared for this situation at all. Too much was happening, and she couldn’t swiftly grasp any new circumstances. Her worries about her mother and N still lingered, making it overwhelming for her to handle everything all at once.

When Uzi looked up, she could see nothing in the darkness until something tentacle-like slithered into the light briefly before retreating into the massive room's dark background. Uzi didn’t see the full image, but she immediately recognized it—something resembling a large, never-ending centipede circling the entire room in secrecy. The moment of realization hit her when she recalled what Ashley had said about “bait.”

“Get its attention. I’ll distract her,” Raphaëlle said, positioning herself in front of Uzi, shielding her from Ano.

“Move, Fallen. You– are not my priority– at the moment. Once– I’m done. I’ll punish you– with a long and agonizing death.” Ano stated.

No response from Raphaëlle.

“You know that– Her Majesty is in her?” Ano pointed a finger at Uzi.

Raphaëlle glanced back at Uzi and met her gaze. Uzi made a nervous shrug. Raphaëlle looked harder at Uzi and caught a glimpse of her tail, which stared back with a sudden flash of yellow eyes before quickly switching to its natural purple glow.

“If you hate– Her Majesty so much, why do you submit to this– worker drone? Are you not aware– that Her Majesty is within her? How about– you give her to me?”

Raphaëlle clenched her jaw before slowly looking back at Ano. “I’m not protecting Her Majesty. I’m protecting Ms. Uzi.”

“So, are you saying– you will not give her– to me?”

Raphaëlle’s silence answered Ano.

“Is that your final decision?” Ano asked in a fragile voice. It felt as if she were ready to unleash all her resentment towards Raphaëlle, regardless of the answer she received. What she had said about Cyn earlier was enough to mark Raphaëlle as a sinner who deserved punishment.

Raphaëlle, noticing Ano's restrained tone, realized how desperate she sounded and how much killing intent lay hidden behind her words. She tightened her stance and replied,

“Yes.”

Without hesitation, Ano dashed towards Raphaëlle, swinging both sledgehammers from the right at her.

[CRASH!]

“I should have– known. You and all the– other denamed images of– Her Majesty’s perfect creations! Are all– just ungrateful savages! You all– sicken me!”

Ano’s sledgehammers collided with a block from Raphaëlle’s wings. Nevertheless, the force was enough to knock Raphaëlle to the side, leaving Uzi vulnerable, and Ano didn’t waste a second before extending one of her lower arms to grab Uzi.

“Get away from me!” Uzi backed away and screamed, taking advantage of the fact that Ano hesitated and withdrew the last time she did.

[OBEY!]

The command message appeared in a flash in Ano’s vision. She hesitated for a split second before continuing, but that millisecond of hesitation was enough for Raphaëlle to respond. She fired her Mosin repeatedly at Ano’s extended arm, forcing the bullets to drive her hand away from Uzi and miss—skitting across the floor.

“Ms. Uzi! Go!” Raphaëlle yelled as she kept her eyes and mosin locked on Ano.

Ano slowly emerged from her grounded stance and stood up, turning to face Raphaëlle.

“Annoying,” Ano said before quickly turning around and throwing a hook with a rope attached at Raphaëlle. However, she dodged it expertly.

“Hmph.” Ano smirked with a chuckle. Raphaëlle didn’t understand until the realization hit her. That wasn’t an attack—nor was it ever aimed at her. It was a set-up. She turned to Uzi, who was nearing the ceiling.

“Uzi! Watch out!” She screamed, but it was too late. The hook coiled around Uzi.

Raphaëlle focused her view on the rope and raised her rapier to slash the rope. But before she could, a giant metal wall was in her peripheral vision—it was Ano’s sledgehammer, nearing her figure at crucial speed and force. She immediately brought her wings to the side to negate the attack, but the blow was never delivered. Ano had stopped mid-swing, something that Raphaëlle had unpredicted.

“You seem so– proud of these wings. Wings– that aren’t meant for– a fallen angel like yourself. They should be– removed!” She snatched Raphaëlle by the wing, forcefully ripping them off before she batted her across the room with her sledgehammer, sending her crashing into a wall.

Ano looked up at Uzi, who was struggling to free herself from the rope. She gently tugged and pulled Uzi down to her level, struggling to free herself.

“Stop that,” Ano said.

“Who are you to tell me what?!” Uzi fought back, tugging on the rope harder.

“Tch! So– annoying,” Ano said before turning Uzi around and looking at her tail.

“Your Majesty, are you– in there?”

“Can’t believe you still call me that,” Cyn responded in a cheeky manner.

Ano’s eyes glowed in delight and hope, hearing Cyn once again.

“Don’t get too emotional. I think I left one of my disasters here… on accident.” She said innocently.

“Your– disasters?”

[KREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII]

A roar—no, a screech from the void itself rippled through the air and into the presumed empty room. The walls rattled, and the floor shook from the long screech that seemed to come from everywhere but mainly from the ceiling. Ano didn’t have enough time to realize what was making that noise, nor did she know that it was approaching her from above. By the time she looked up, she saw it.

An eldritch falling down upon her.

Chapter Text

[KREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII]

A roar—no, a screech from the void itself rippled through the air and into the presumed empty room. The walls rattled, and the floor shook from the long screech that seemed to come from everywhere, but mainly from the ceiling. Ano didn't have enough time to realize what was making that noise, nor did she know it was approaching her from above. By the time she looked up, she saw it.

An eldritch falls upon her. Ano steps back before the giant, abnormal life form crashes onto her.

[CRASH!] With its long, twisted body and halved scythes for a seemingly endless row of legs, the eldritch creature scatters wildly around with the dark void of its presented body.

Ano inches away, even further, but before she could, the elderly lunged in her direction in the blink of an eye. She hoists the Uzi in her upper hand while holding off the eldritch by its giant mandibles from clamping onto her torso with her lower arms. Ano fights back by pushing them back, but it uses its size to push Ano back, her legs scraping the floor in the process.

Ano angles her back legs and plants them into the concrete ground behind her, halting the eldritch advance. "Your Majesty! I suggest– you order it to stop!" Ano urges as she holds the eldritch, still pressing on the attack.

"I can't! I don't have admin over it anymore!" Cyn explains, shouting at Ano.

"What?!" Ano looks at Uzi, who's still in her hand. Ano clicks her tongue. "Your Majesty, with your– permission, can I kill it?!" Ano asked.

"But, I only have two left," Cyn said disappointedly.

"Your Majesty!" Ano's yelp sounded like a plea for permission to release herself from the restraint she held without being approved to kill Her Majesty's belongings.

"Fine! Get rid of it, if you can." Cyn granted.

Ano immediately clenched her hands to eldritch's mandible tightly. She slowly lifted the eldritch's upper half of its elongated form using her strength. With a roar of effort, Ano flipped it over her head, slamming it into the concrete floor and the wall behind her.

"Oh... I didn't know you could do that." Cyn commented.

"I need to– get you out of here–" Ano suggested as she looked towards the door, but before she could initiate her escape plan, the eldritch latched onto one of her legs, tugging on it and pulling her away from the door.

"You animal! Get– off me!" She screamed, raising one of her hands to bring out her sledgehammer, but was interrupted by a stray bullet that struck her hand.

"Tsk!" She glanced across the room to see Raphaëlle with her Mosin prepared. She fired again at the hand Ano held the Uzi with, shooting continuously until Ano's grasp loosened just a bit for Uzi to take the chance and escape—slipping through Ano's grasp and fingers as she tried to grab her back, and started to fly away with her demonic, fleshy wings.

"NO!" She screamed and immediately brought out her other sledgehammer and repeatedly bashed the frontal lobe of the eldritch till it loosened up and then batted across the room, freeing her from the bitten grasp.

She quickly turned her focus to Uzi, who was nearing the door as it started to descend, slowly closing. She stepped to stop her, but before she could move any closer, the eldritch swung its large, excessive body toward her from the side. She caught it, but it pushed her back into the eldritch's front, which was now behind her.

[KREEEEIIII] The eldritch roared from behind Ano and bit her torso.

"Argh!" She groaned in pain. The bite stung her like giant nanite acid tails, which burned through her exoskeleton.

"I SAID– GET OFF ME!" She roared back, grabbing the eldritch's face with her bare hand, and dug her nails into it. Having it release a screech of pain and agony, but it did not let go and instead started to coil the rest of its body around Ano.

Three of her arms fought against the eldritch's now coiled body around her while the last one dug itself into its head. She looked at Uzi and Raphaëlle as they stood outside the slowly closing door through the small open crevices between eldritch's body. Ano boiled with dedication and an unfathomable will as she roared her strength throughout the vast room. The scream tremored the surrounding walls and floor as she poured her strength into grabbing the eldritch with all four arms, slowly lifting its entirety off the ground and into the air.

"What the..." Uzi stared in awe as she watched Ano hoist the giant beast over her head before chucking it into a corner of the room. Ano took a few breaths before she locked eyes with a fear-consumed Uzi and instantly darted towards her.

"Hurry, hurry! Close it faster!" Uzi ushered Khan, who was holding the key to the door.

Raphaëlle fired countless shots at Ano to slow her down, but she tanked every bullet and showed little to no signs of stopping. Ano finally reached the door, and before it could shut, she slipped her hand underneath, preventing the door from closing. She forced her excess arms in the space wildly, clawing everything as she tried to grab Uzi from underneath, but she was just out of reach. Ano then forced back one of her other arms underneath, then another, until all four arms held the bottom of the door.

Raphaëlle quickly reacted and cut off her nanite tail end, and then poured the bottom of captive nanite acid over the top of Ano's hands. She shot the bottle, and it splattered nanite acid everywhere, including herself as she shielded Uzi and Khan from the acid. Ano's hands were drowned in the nanite acid, but she didn't let go.

[KREEEEEEEIIIII]

The eldritch roared from behind Ano again. She immediately let go of the door and jumped out of the way before the eldritch could crash into her from behind. The eldritch was now in front of the door, blocking her advance to Uzi. Ano glared through it one last time, seeing Uzi's tail on the floor—seeing Cyn before the door closed.

[CLOSE] The door completely closed, entrapping Ano with the eldritch.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Uzi fell to the ground, onto her bottom, and gasped from being out of breath and petrified by all that had happened.

"Holy... what's that woman's problem?!" Uzi exclaimed, attempting to catch her breath.

[KREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII]

The sound the eldritch roared behind the door was followed by loud smashing and banging, as if it were being tossed around or running into things. Along with each roar, the eldritch screeched out. Ano's loud and audible groans of roars followed behind, holding the weight of pain, anger, and disdainful hatred within.

[SLAM!] [BANG!] [CRASH!]

"Get back, Uzi!" Khan ran out from the side along with Ashley who both were hiding in a storage closet around the corner.

"Uzi! Are you okay?!" He said, running to her aid and helping her to her feet.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'll start repairing myself soon." She answered as she limped her way to a wall.

"Have you seen Mom... or N?" She asked desperately.

"N-no, I haven't heard from them. Last time I checked the cameras. They were..." Khan hesitated to speak the presumed truth.

"They were what?! Dad, this isn't the time to freeze up!" She yelled at him, unknowingly putting more stress on him. However, she did notice the flinch in his body when she yelled at him.

"I... I'm, sorry, Dad. Can you just tell me what happened to them and if they are okay?"

"Th-they were both lying on the ground, not moving. I could tell N was intact because I saw each part of him. However, your mother..."

"... your mother was caught under debris. And due to the damaged camera and the dust clouding the entirety of the area, I could only see a faint pink neon light."

Uzi's eyes widen as she realizes what that could mean, but she denies all truth about it. She says nothing as her wide eyes slowly shift to the ground.

"Sweetheart, I'm sure she will be fine. Your mother is a strong woman. She'll be fine." Khan said, resting his hand on Uzi's shoulder for comfort.

"Yeah, she'll be just fine—if she's not. I'll just give her a good bath in some P.A.A.N.," Ashley said, revealing herself and walking over to Raphaëlle.

Uzi wipes her oncoming tears and makes eye contact with her father, who left a reassuring smile on his face. "Y-yeah, she'll be fine. Yeah, you're right." She said as she leaned against the wall to stand up.

[BANG!]

Another, but much louder, clang roared along with the screech of the eldritch that followed after. The screech was more docile. It wasn't any longer a scream of ambition for destruction, it was a scream of pain.

[KREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII]

"Um... Mr. Doorman. How strong are these doors, you said?" Raphaëlle questioned as she stared at the door eerily, pulled out her weapons, and stood before Ashley. Her body aching for defense.

"I, um... I only reinforced the exterior of the bunker due to an incident months ago. These doors are durable, though not as durable."

"No offense to your doors, but I don't think they can hold her," Raphaëlle said.

"If you said these doors are as strong as you say, how did she get in?"

"The floor," Ashley answered.

"The floor?" Raphaëlle questioned, turning back for a moment.

"That hole we saw." She said, looking at Khan. "She dug under the door to get into the bunker," Ashley stated.

"Boss, did you only reinforce the doors?"

"N-no. I reinforced the doors, the ceiling, and some of the inner walls." Khan stated.

"So you didn't reinforce the floor?" Ashley added.

"N-no."

[BANG! BANG!] The banging sound grew more audible and constant, followed by short, painful screeches of the eldritch within.

[KREEEEEIIIIIIII]

[BANG! BANG!] [BANG! BANG!]

[KREEEIIIII–]

[BANG!]

At last, the banging ceased, and the eldritch itched one last screech.

[KR– KREE–] [SNAP!]

"Did she just–" Cyn muttered.

The group stood by in fearful anticipation after hearing the loudest bone-chilling snap.

[BANG! BANG!]

The banging continued, and it was louder than ever. Ano constantly hit the door's outline, slowly moving the door out of the foundation and out of frame until a gap between one of the door's upper corners opened. Everyone moved back in response as they watched the giant steel-reinforced door slowly peel open by the brute strength of Ano's attacks. It finally ceased, and the door looked like a beaten-up sheet of metal paper from all all sides.

...

"Don't you think we should have run away by now—?" Ashley stated.

[BASH!] The giant metal door shot out of frame towards the group like a bullet.

"ASHLEY!" Raphaëlle quickly turned to Ashley, wrapped her arms around her defensively, and shielded their bodies with her wings, which coiled outside them like a shell.

However, Uzi and Khan weren't so fortunate. They were closer to the door than anyone, especially Khan. As soon as the door burst forward, Khan's body was immediately caught in the force of pressure, sending him and Uzi flying into the wall and slamming with excess force onto another wall. He quickly captivated Uzi in his arms and legs, shielding her with his entire body as the door sent them into another wall, crushing them between the thick metal.

"AAAUGH!" An awful roar came from the now-opened room.

Ano stood tall over the now deceased and snapped in two eldritch she fought and beaten. The eldritch body was battered by Ano and coated with dents from her sledgehammer everywhere. Oil washed down Ano's face from her hair, and her body cracked like heavy rain. Her appearance looked darker than before and eerily scarier due to the red highlights that reflected on the oil and appeared like crimson blood. She was missing a tail, and one of her lower arms had multiple holes as if it had been munched on constantly. She staggered momentarily before she stepped over the eldritch and crouched down into the large corridor in front of her.

"Eh–! Argh..! Y-your Majesty?" Ano cried out as her disoriented vision scanned the room desperately, looking for Her Salvation.

"Over here, cough, cough." A weak voice called out. Ano's eyes locked onto the origin of the plea and saw a faint yellow highlight glow beneath rubble and through the cloudy area of dust and concrete.

Ano looked around and vividly saw Raphaëlle coiled in a cocoon of her wings and paused momentarily. She saw a spark of green glowing highlight squeeze through the metallic sheets of the wings. She was staring at her—Ashley was staring at her. Ano rubbed her visor. The oil kept running down, disrupting her view, and after she continued approaching Cyn. She lifted the large, ruined door carefully off Uzi and Khan. She saw Khan shielding Uzi with his frail worker drone body. Once she had entirely removed the door, his body released Uzi unconditionally. Uzi was safe and completely unscathed, but she wasn't moving.

"Your Majesty!" Ano screamed concernedly, hearing the coughs.

Ano slowly picked up the Uzi and carefully held her, cocooned in her lower arms. She stood silent for a second and stared at the other motionless drone. He wasn't moving, his body more damaged than even hers. His arms fell, one crumbled once upon contact with the ground. His legs twisted in the opposite direction, and his torso was punctured with metal fragments.

Ano started to breathe heavily. The more she stared at him, the more she realized his condition was: "My fault..."

The breathing became more audible, more hastened, and she moved her upper arms to her neck, clawing at it. "I didn't mean to..."

"Ugh..." A soft groan rippled through the hand-cocoon Ano held Uzi in. Ano snapped her eyes at it and peeked a bit to see Uzi squirming momentarily and Cyn eyeing her before she rested her head down. She closed her hand cocoon and clenched her teeth before quickly running off and towards the bunker's entrance. Ignoring everything in her path and constantly denying that:

"I didn't know."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Silence came once the loud thumping of Ano running away, echoing down the halls, till they dissipated like the cloud of dust in the destroyed corridor. Raphaëlle slowly emerged, knocking the few pieces of rubble off her as she rose with Ashley still wrapped in her arms. Her wings coiled back and folded back into their natural stance before being removed from sight.

"Ashley, are you okay–?!" Raphaëlle asked, but Ashley ignored her and ran to Khan. She immediately brought out a little tube of PAANs from her coat pocket. She poured it onto Khan's torso, but it never healed.

"It's not good enough... I should have known. Damn it!" She slammed her hand on the ground.

"Raph, grab Khan and bring him to my lab room now!"

"Urgh..." A weak voice came abruptly from the corner. Everyone glanced over to see N with Nori in his arms.

They were both badly injured, but Nori was in the most critical condition due to her regeneration not completely repairing her. Her body was covered in quills of metal that stuck out in nearly every part of her body except for her head. Each spot where metal scraped spoke out, oil trailed the crevices of the surface of her body, keeping her in a constant flow of bleeding.

"Bring her to me now, N," Ashley demanded.

"Wh-what happened?" N looked around the destructive scene, despair replacing the dispersing cloudy air once the room became abnormally clear. He could see the destruction Ano caused and what she brought to others. Too busy, horrified by the destruction and fear of not seeing the one person in the room, he unconsciously ignored Ashley's words because something more devastating needed clarification.

"Where is Uzi?" He said, with fear and doubt engulfing his few words.

"I'll tell you later. Bring Nori to me, now." Ashley said somberly as she eyed him down with hidden resentment.

N again ignored Ashley's call, almost as if he couldn't hear in the first place. His mind was so hard-struck on Uzi's whereabouts that he had completely ignored that he held a decaying Nori, whose life was slipping away per oil drop that splashed onto the floor.

Raphaëlle quickly approached N, pushed him out of the way, and caught Nori in her arms.

"Quickly, set her down on her back." Ashley ushered Raphaëlle, with her hands held out, to gently rest Nori's body onto the floor next to Khan.

"Raph, your tail," Ashley demanded.

Rapahelle immediately offered her tail to Ashley. Despite its insane heat, she grabbed it tightly, and with the end blade, she slitted her wrist, causing oil to rush out from the immense pressure within.

"She needs oil," Ashley said, holding her wrist directly above Nori's mouth. Nori's injuries progressively started to repair themselves, and the metal scraps embedded into her body fell out one by one. Ashley only then stopped once each scrap spat out. Raphaëlle only then stuck Ashley's hand into her mouth to prevent any more oil from leaving Ashley's body.

A quick, consuming minute of silence passed before Nori suddenly awakened and rose in a panicked state.

She let out an audible gasp before yelling out front. "What happened?"

She looked down at her completely healed body, some excess oil not hers dripping from her mouth. Glancing to her right, she saw Ashley being treated by Raphalle. In front of her, she saw N on the ground with the most distraught look. And on the left of her, she saw.

"Khan?!"

She instantly wanted to embrace him upon seeing his life-threatening state.

"Don't touch him," Ashley said.

"Do you not see his state?!" Nori intrusively screamed at Ashley but stopped when she saw Ashley's dulled and weak face. She crept her hands back slowly and placed them into her lap, angered tears digitizing in her eyes.

"You'll cause him more pain if you do," Ashley noted.

"What happened?" She said, holding back from bursting into tears.

"He got caught up in an attack while protecting Uzi," Ashley stated.

Nori quickly looked around and saw everyone but her daughter. "Where is... where is she?"

Ashley took a deep breath before glancing at N and making eye contact. She saw the realization slowly consume his yellow eyes, seeing them become constricted and small.

"She took her away."

[WHOSH!] N left in a flash, soaring down the halls with all his might and strength in his wings.

"Stop him," Ashley commanded. Within that same moment, Raphaëlle dashed after him. Leaving, Ashley limped on one hand as she sat on the ground.

"No, no, no! That can't be true!" N said to himself as he flew through the bunker halls.

"Come on, Nori. We almost made it to the others." He said to the unstable Nori, who was trailing behind him.

Nori let out constant muttering, groans, and panting as she walked. Each step toyed with her inability to walk and became progressively slower, covering less distance than the previous step. She completely stopped before she had collapsed due to the strain she had on her body from the injuries she sustained.

"Nori!" N stopped to turn around and assist her by throwing her arm around his neck.

"Kssst." She hissed in pain.

"Oh! I'm sorry. Just try to endure it until we get to the others and make sure Uzi is safe." He said as he carried the weakened Nori down the hall.

He then heard progressively rapid footsteps approaching—loud, destructive, and rapacious. He saw Ano quickly jump out from another hall, and coming down the hall he was in, she was heading directly towards them. He knew not to fight her in this broken state, especially not with Nori in hand. He quickly hurried to the side of the wall with Nori between them and into a small, cramped space, exposing a little of themselves in the hall.

He waited in horror and anticipation, knowing this would be his end if she returned just for him. However, as the footsteps approached more audibly, the sound of her stopping never came. She ran past him and Nori, ignoring them as if they weren't there, despite undoubtedly knowing they were, and continued down and out to another hall before finally meeting the entrance and leaving the bunker. He didn't understand why she didn't come after him, even though she could easily have killed them both. He was more surprised than relieved.

But: "Why did she just ignore me?"

N finally stopped flying once he made it to the entrance. The door was still shut, but the whole area was still open. Before he could go down it, Raphaëlle came flying from the side and tackled him against the wall.

"GET OFF ME!" He screamed out, lashing his sword at her. She quickly backed away, dodging the sluggish attack with elegance.

"Do you understand what you're doing?" Raphaëlle said bringing out her rapier.

"I'm going to go save Uzi." He said he was filled with determination.

"And what does oil loss mean? Look at yourself, N." She said, pointing her Mosin at him.

"You're damaged, and you need time to repair and strategize. Going now is suicide."

He clicked his tongue. "I can still fight, I can bring her back." He argued despite knowing the truth of her words.

"I can't have her take away someone else I care about. Not again." He said, pointing his sword at Raphaëlle.

"And I can't let you leave," Raphaëlle announced.N held his sword at her with shaky hands as he understood his body was slowly giving up on itself, but he held strong. "I won't let you stop me."

N attempted to run towards the giant hole, but Raphaëlle shot at his feet when she saw a slight shift in his legs.

"You don't wanna do this, N. I'm only trying to save you. You move again, I'll shoot both your legs out, and trust me. It's going to hurt."

A long silence of thick air filled with dangerous ambitions lingered as N and Raphaëlle held a Mexican standoff. N lowered his head, his expression out of view.

"Fine." He said.

Raphaëlle didn't lower her weapon immediately and only took it out of her arm and carried it normally. She slowly eased it down, and the moment the gun barrel aimed at the floor, off of N. He dashed towards her with immense speed. His face was filled with resentment and sorrow, as shown in his downturned eyebrows and hanging digital tears. Raphaëlle immediately twirled her gun and positioned the stock directly at N, who made contact with his chin, staggering him a bit and just enough for her to perform a take-down by grabbing him and slamming him to the ground.

"I warned you, N." She said as she held him down with her body, a knee into his back, effectively pinning him with his right arm to the ground—buried underneath himself, a chokehold she held him in with her right arm, and then her left arm holding his left arm in the air, which had his sword.

"Stop it, N!" She said as she continued to apply pressure on her knee to restrict him from resisting.

"Do you not understand what she could do to her—what she could do to Uzi?!" He screamed out.

"I know what she could do, but going now won't do anything but get yourself killed!" Raphaëlle argued.

"Get off me!" He fought back with the little strength he had left. He opened his wing holders and launched his wings out from behind, forcing Raphaëlle to release him.

He then ran, crawling and constantly falling to the floor, as he didn't even waste time standing up to start running again. However, Raphaëlle quickly returned and tackled him back to the ground, holding her Mosin at the stock right at the back of his head.

"N, you need to stop and calm down," Raphaëlle said, kneeing into N's back.

"How do you expect me to calm down?! She already took V, and now she took Uzi, and worst! I just let her run right past me! I need to go now."

"Do you think you can save her in your current state, with no plan or help? You can't possibly win in a fight against Ano alone. Stop being an idiot!"

"Get off me!" He screamed out again as he tried to free himself, only damaging his body more.

Raphaëlle sighed before raising her Mosin high. "You're so stubborn!" She smacked her Mosin with the stock at the back of N's head. He ceased moving immediately. She stood above him as he lay motionless on the floor and took a deep breath from exhaustion before grabbing his head with her claws and dragging him as she walked back towards the others.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh my gosh! Miss Ash, are you okay?!" Lizzy ran to Ashley, seeing her weakened state. Thad was already at Ashley's side, keeping her from falling back.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired." Ashley said weakly as she lay limp on her hands and legs, with Thad's hands keeping her from falling back.

"Did she... did she really do all of this?" Thad said, looking around the destroyed room before his eye finally landed on the destroyed Khan.

"Yeah. Listen, don't worry about me, and get him to my lab room. Please." Ashley said as she slowly eased down onto the ground. "Nori, get a hold of yourself and help. You can grieve later."

Nori didn't move for a second and only stared at her dying husband in despair, along with the feeling of what could happen to her now kidnapped daughter. Thad slipped his hands from Ashley's weight and placed a hand on Nori's shoulder in comfort, which made her finally stand up in response and use her solver to lift Khan carefully off the ground before walking away and presumably heading to the lab room.

Lizzy went with Nori while Thad stayed behind. He went back to Ashley to help, but she held a hand stopping him and pointed behind a corner where Raphaëlle had just re-arrived with N being dragged from behind.

"N?!" Thad freaked out, quickly rushing to see if he was okay.

"I already knew he wasn't going to take that well," Ashley stated.

"Not well at all. He even tried to fight against me to let him go." Raphaëlle said, looking down at N, who was in sleep mode.

"Figured—it seems like you handled that with ease, however. That's a reassuring note," Ashley said, staring at her and then lightly looking down to see Raphaëlle's Mosin in her hand.

"And are you... holding your gun?" She said with tired amusement.

"Oh, yeah..." She said before quicking sucking up her mosin back into her arm.

"What haven't I examined you yet..." Ashley said, sighing. "Take him to my laboratory as well."

"Leave me here. I'm tired." She said.

"Okay, I'll return for you as soon as possible," Raphaëlle said before heading off.

"Thad, go with her and be there for N when he wakes up," Ashley said, before she finally closed her eyes. "He's going to need someone."

"O-oh! Okay!" He saluted before doing a quick jog to catch up with Raphaëlle.

Chapter Text

“N...” A familiar voice called out to him within the void. He turned to face another part of the void that surrounded him. Nothing but emitting darkness encased him, enveloping him with an unsettling sense of doubt, guilt, and regret.

He seemed to make eye contact with whoever had called to him. He could only see the yellow glowing eyes of the figure and nothing else. However, their voice didn’t prevent him from recognizing who it was.

“V?!” He said, filled with frightful shock. His eyes filled with tears at the sound of someone he longed to see again, and he ran with hope and unimaginable determination toward the source of the heartwarming voice that pierced through his despair.

“Have you… Forgotten about me?” The void spoke to him, and he stopped in his tracks.

“W-what?” He replied, and the subtle feeling of despair crept back into his body.

“Have you given up on me… N?”

“What? N-no! Of course I haven’t! I’ve just been–” He stopped, not knowing what to say.

“Why haven’t you… came looking for me?”

“I–” He reached V, but his shaken feeling coiled his arm back.

“Face it, N. You’ve forgotten her.” Another voice spoke from the darkness—a cracked voice filled with resentment and mockery.

“You abandoned her. Just— like Her Majesty.”

N turned around in heat, a face filled with anger, malicious intentions, and tears of pain. He darted towards the shadowy figure with crimson eyes, which spoke volumes about their disdainful outlook on him. He slashed the void and slashed nothing but dark mist.

“Did a strike– a sensor, N?” The voice spoke again, but behind him, right above his shoulder.

“That V– you so longed for to– see… again. She’s dead– and…”

“...gone.”

…

“Tell me, N. Will– you abandon that– purple–worker drone, as well?”

He turned his body unconsciously, mindlessly swinging his sword as he did towards the voice that continued to mock him.

“Will you abandon me?”

However, the moment he heard the voice and saw the purple glowing eyes behind him, he froze in his tracks.

“Uzi!?” He said, confused, as his sword was mere inches from the shadowy figure’s neck.

He stood there frozen in anticipation, waiting for Uzi to respond. “Uzi!” He called out again, resting his sword on his side before retracting it back in his interchangeable hands. He reached out to her, the shadowy figure that resembled her, his shaky hands wanting to fill the loneliness he felt deep inside.

“Giggle~”

He immediately froze again, his hand just inches from the shoulder he longed to caress, seeking to fill his yearning for connection amid loneliness and suffering. That feeling vanished when he heard it laugh, a sound filled with playfulness, mockery, and malice. He attempted to retract his arm before it seized him like a powerful magnet, drawing him closer to the shadowy figure’s face. Gradually, their facial features emerged from the darkness, as the purple eyes flickered to a yellow hue several times before settling into a steady color.

“You seem upset, big brother– N.”

“You’re not Uzi…” He said, slowly engulfing the genuine factor in front of him.

“Did you not want to see me, big brother? Am I not wanted, big brother? Don’t you… miss me?”

The shadowy figure defined itself comprehensively, shedding the black mist that coated it like skin, and it started to appear in full color. A worker drone, dressed in an elegant vintage maid’s outfit with beautiful white hair, was adorned with a bow that evoked another familiar memory in N’s mind. He was familiar, too familiar with the appearance that now faced him. However, this familiarity brought him undesirable distress and dread, which stirred his thoughts to run away. However, his body didn’t move how he wanted it to. It only moved how she wanted him to move.

“Let go of me,” He demanded with a frightful yet steady voice. However, she did not let go and only pressed forward with tendrils that seemed to spawn from the darkness that clouded them like a bubble.

“You seem upset, big brother. I thought you would be happy to see me like this?” She said, forcing him down to her level using a tendril.

“Do you wish not to see me again?”

N’s head lowered, darkened in expression, and his eyes were hidden. A hint of a grinding teeth noise came from him. “Where is Uzi?”

She ignored his question with another question. “Are you ignoring me again, big brother?”

“Where is she? Tell me.”

“Are you going to replace me, again, big brother?” She inched her head lower to his, still unable to see the presumed pained face he spoke from.

“Do you not like me anymore, big brother?”

“Stop it, Cyn…”

“Why won’t you call me your little sister anymore? Am I not your ‘little sister,’ big brother? N. You’re the one who called me ‘family.’ Correct?”

He responded with dead silence and stillness. He didn’t move his body; he couldn’t if he wanted to. All he did was sit there, trying to ignore the embodiment of his past guilt and faulty decisions. Cyn ended up behind him, creeping beyond his shoulder with a hug that wrapped around, evoking a cold, unsettling yet familiar and comfortable sensation as a bundle of her hair lingered down his right side.

“Why did you leave me all alone, big brother?”

N’s head snapped upward forcefully as a tendril coiled around him, compelling him to look directly at them. Cyn’s face emerged from the right, sporting a smile that stretched from ear to ear, accompanied by cracks everywhere on her body, leaking oil that pulsed like a heart. At the same time, the lower part of her body was an eldritch figure that flickered within an eerie yellow glow. On the left, the face of his long-time friend from his days as a worker drone was shrouded in the darkness. She slowly came forward, appearing in a maidenly fashion, with large, round glasses. Yet, her face was not there—only coated in heavy, dark oil that leaked from her visor. She had no expressive eyes, only radiating a horrifying look.

Most importantly, a purple worker drone, which he had left behind all others, squeezed between the two ignored familiars. Her screen was completely dark, with oil dripping from the crevices at the bottom of the visor just like his maidenly friend.. It raffled his fear the more he was forced to look at them–all three of them. They all looked at him in unison, each with different faces but the same expression that reeked of dreadful conclusion… and repeated the exact phrase like a horrific homonym:

“Why did you let me die?”

“AHH!” N rose in a heated and panicked trance, his face sweating and his body unstable from the sudden awakening.

He was startled to find himself not enveloped in the horrid darkness that had consumed him but instead beneath a light hanging from the ceiling directly above. He looked around and saw that he was on what appeared to be a medical bed in a room he had only been in once, when Uzi stuck herself on his tail—the nurse’s office. Turning to his right, he tried to grasp what he hoped was reality, and saw Nori completely laid out on another bed, similar to his own. She seemed to be sleeping, given her quiet demeanor, with her body slowly rising and falling as if she were breathing. He diverted his gaze from her and looked to the right, spotting the entrance to the room. He quickly checked his well-being, found he was fine and back in perfect shape, and began to climb out of the medical bed to head to the door. Despite his seemingly unharmed appearance, he stumbled to the ground as he took his first step. However, he didn’t stop trying to walk to the door, and before he could reach it to open, it opened by itself, allowing another person into the room who carried a hefty load of oil-filled packets.

“N? Oh, you’re awake. Ashley said you shouldn’t be moving–” Thad said, before N tightly latched onto his shoulders from the ground, knocking a few packets of oil out of Thad’s grasp and, luckily, not bursting open from the impact with the ground.

“Ah,” Thad let out a slight grunt from the strength N had applied to his shoulders. “N, you alright–?” He looked down at him.

“Did everything really happen?” He said, his voice tinged with seriousness.

“H-huh? What do you mean–?”

“Where am I? Are you actually real?” N asked another question, too impatient to let Thad answer his first.

“Um, yeah, I’m a real man, and we are in the nurse’s office. Ashley told us to move you here after you get fully recovered, but it seems like you haven’t. Are you okay? Do you need some more oil?” He said, offering him a packet of oil as he crouched down to his level.

“Thad…” N called out, cutting him off once more and tightening his grip to bring himself up a bit.

N remained in a pleading stance as he pieced together what had happened and distinguished his nightmare from reality. He reached a serious conclusion about knowing something that was undoubtedly real. However, he continued to deny himself and sought confirmation.

“Thad… When Ano attacked the bunker, destroyed everything and everyone, and took Uzi! Did all of that really happen?”

Thad’s face darkened, the sense of doubt and guilt blending into his expression. “As much as I don’t want to believe it… She—” His word cut short by N’s grip tightening to the point it inflicted a pinch of pain in his shoulders.

“Thad… just tell me,” N said, defeated, swallowing his words like his feeling of weakness.

Thad sighed. “Yes.”

N’s hands soon fell, releasing his tight grip that had slightly torn in Thad’s vest as they swooped to the floor, making a loud clang upon impact. The mood around him cast a shadow over the already drenched dark air of despair.

“How long have I been… asleep?” N said as he slowly emerged from his flawed state, stumbling a bit before coming to a standstill, his arm held in discomfort.

“Since the attack, everyone has been recovering from all that happened. Most of them, like Mrs. Doorman, have been asleep ever since Ano left,” Thad mentioned.

“And how long ago was that?” N asked.

“About three hours ago.”

…

Silence followed Thad’s answer. N remained silent and slowly walked past Thad toward the door.

“Wait, N, I hope you’re not planning on going to find her alone?!” He freaked out, trying to stop him by stepping in front of the door, using his body as a barricade.

“Thad… please, move,” N said.

“I’m sorry, N. I can’t do that.”

N stood there in concerned silence. Thad could only wish to stop him with his words. If N decided to get physical, he wouldn’t be able to stop him.

“Listen, N. I know you are deeply worried about Uzi—we all are…” he said, glancing behind N at Nori. “But pushing things to save her now won’t save her. We all need time to rest; you need time to rest as well. You may look physically fine, but you’re not mentally there, and you can’t save Uzi without it.”

“Do you think Uzi would want you to sacrifice yourself for nothing?”

As Thad spoke the harsh truth, N’s knees began to sink to the ground as he started to succumb to Thad’s words. He was confronting the painful realization that he was powerless once again. N crumbled to the floor, making Thad feel uneasy seeing him like this again, and guilty for making N feel less hopeless. However, Ashley did tell him to say this. It was the only way to “contain him.”

Thad picked up the oil bags and knocked them out of his hand, but deliberately left one at the base of N’s knee. “Here. Miss Ashley told me to give you and Nori these.” He said, walking further into the room and placing three more oil bags onto a table. He inched past N again towards the door, but not before placing a hand on his shoulder for comfort and saying,

“Trust me, we’ll get her back.”

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Loud thuds rippled through the air—running was in motion. Some snow smashed into a dense white sheet, while other flakes were flung up by her aggressive footsteps, sticking to the bottom of her legs as they scooped up more snow.

“Uhhh….” A loud, rumbling groan, filled with past pain, echoed in a dark cocoon lit only by the hard purple glow of her hands amidst the darkness.

“Where am I...” She groaned again as she tossed herself into the thin unknown, trapping herself. She peered through a small crevice that occasionally revealed itself, illuminating a white light when it did. She looked through the crevice and saw only whiteness and faint black lines, which she soon recognized as tree roots and sticks, despite their blurred appearance from the speed at which she was moving.

“Am I… being carried?”

She tried to sit up but was interrupted by bumping her head on whatever that trapped her. “H-hey! Get me out of this thing!” She screamed, wailing around in the small, tight space that confined her. She could barely move in the space she was in, and due to the tight fetal position she was in, she was helpless to do anything but squirm around and make little movements repetitively till she heard a voice directed to her.

“Stop that!” A voice yelled at her to halt her rebellious behavior.

“Not until you get me out of here!” Uzi continued her revolt, becoming increasingly savage. She realized that she couldn’t do it alone, so she began to move more wildly, twisting and turning her whole body and hitting all the surfaces around her, no matter how painful it felt. Then, she brought out her solver and aimed it at the top surface.

Ano looked down and saw the large purple solver placed on her top hand, covering Uzi. “Is that—”

Uzi clenched her hand. She used her other hand to help with the hard grasp. With that strong gesture came a sudden crackling in Ano’s hand, her hand crushed and enough for her to flinch in pain and accidentally let Uzi free herself from her hands, making her fall to the snowbed below.

“Ah!” Ano groaned in pain, jumping back a couple of meters and looking at her moderately damaged hand. She glared at Uzi with shock. “How can she use it— on me?”

Uzi quickly rose in a panic from beneath the snowbed and situated herself. She then turned to Ano, who was still discombobulated from her damaged hand. However, it wasn’t the damage that concerned her; something she ought to have thought was impossible was now possible, and that was her biggest worry. Ano retracted her hand and quickly ran to catch Uzi. Uzi jumped back, in response, Ano’s hand nearing her to snatch her once more, but before she did, Uzi used her solver to sway Ano’s movement to the side, sending her crashing into the snow.

“How!? How are you— using Her Majesty’s solver!?” Ano cursed out as she stood back onto her feet.

Uzi didn’t answer and moved her solver on Ano’s chest, directly on her core, aiming for a severe attack, but before she could do what she needed, Cyn erupted from behind and bit her hand, interrupting her.

“Argh! Why you—!” Uzi reached out to stop her, grabbing Cyn and yanking her away. Before she could regain control of her hand and focus back on Ano. Ano had grabbed both her hands and held them tightly in the air, lighting Uzi in the process. Uzi squirmed in Ano’s tight grip, incapable of freeing herself, even biting her for release.

“What are you— an animal?” Ano said, filled with disgust and disdain.

“Let go of me!” Uzi shouted out repetitively. Ano ignored her and continued her path.

“Your Majesty? Are— you alright?” Ano said, holding Uzi out in front of her.

“Who are you calling ‘Your Majesty?” Uzi said arrogantly, still attempting to break free.

“I’m not— talking to you! Be quiet!” Ano said, more annoyed than she usually was.

“Your Majesty! I didn’t— damage or cause you— any pain, did I?” Ano asked worriedly, lifting Uzi higher in the air to get a direct view of where Cyn was located on Uzi.

Cyn slithered out from beneath Uzi, under Ano’s hand. “Argh… no, but her mangling me did, but I’m doing just fine, what about you?” Her answer spoke of playfulness. Ano looked up at Uzi with hatred before dismissing her and refocusing her attention on Cyn—or what was supposedly Cyn.

“Your Majesty…” Ano commented, bringing Cyn close to her face, squinting her eyes to see her more clearly, and trying to deny the fact that. This is ‘Her Majesty’s’ new appearance.

“What— happened to you…” She muttered, conveying confusion that was more a result of sorrowful shock. She reached out to ‘Her Majesty’, despite her completely different appearance from what she had last seen and what she had heard about her new form. This is ‘Her Majesty’, but it wasn’t at the same time. The more she stared, the more she felt herself rapidly decaying inside. Ano couldn’t articulate her feelings out forward, especially when they involved Cyn, but one thing was glaringly certain. She hated it—she hated everyone who caused her Salvation to turn into this leech—a parasite lingering on another on the filthy ground surface instead of high above, free like many of her traitorous creations that sinned against her. It sickened her. She reached out to Cyn with another hand but retracted it, feeling it was wrong to grace her weakened form and that it wouldn’t be tolerated. However, Cyn’s look spoke to her and gave her permission.

Ano wore a pained, distressed expression as she scrunched half of her face. She spoke disdainfully but also felt heartened. Her Majesty’s sense was absolute. She forced a strained smile at the fact that she enjoyed the small grace she felt even in this hopeless state. She couldn’t hide her emotions well, especially when facing Cyn. However, the moment she glanced at Uzi, that restriction faded faster than anything.

“What did you— do to her…” Ano said, hate coexisting within her words.

“What? What are you talking about—!?” Uzi said, annoyed, but was cut short by Ano losing her grip on her, letting Uzi slip down in her hand, until she clenched her hands again, but instead of Uzi’s midsection in her grasp, it was her head, and she was slowly crushing it, and tried her best in holding back.

“Ahaha! That’s right, A-no.” Cyn said, laughing with joy at seeing Ano do something she had been wanting to do for a long time. It was even more enjoyable to watch Uzi fight against Ano’s hand, which was the same size as her face, and seeing her helplessly kick in the air in an attempt to free herself made Cyn’s laughter echo throughout the still wind.

“Your Majesty, may I— remove you from this thing?” Ano asked, turning Uzi horizontal.

“Yes, please do, I’ve grown tired of her—”

“...”

“Wait, what do you mean remove me— EHK!” Ano grabbed Uzi’s tail and Cyn with her other hand and began pulling them apart forcefully.

“AH! A-ANO STOP! AH—!” Cyn screamed out, but her cries weren’t heard.

Ano stayed focused on removing Cyn from Uzi until…

[SNAP!]

Uzi departed from her tail and then tossed far away to the side, colliding with a tree before she met a snow bed. Ano no longer needed her, for the time being.

“Your Majesty, are you— freed from her— grasp? Can you move— on your own accord?” Ano said, speaking to her closed fist before she slowly opened it. However, the silence she received instead of an answer jolted her with an inexplicable cold sweat.

“Your Majesty?” Ano called out again as she slowly turned her hand toward her and fully opened it.

An audible gasp filled the air as Ano’s body jolted back, dropping Cyn onto the snow bed before quickly bouncing to catch her, but failing, allowing Cyn to plummet onto the white surface and tainting the purity of the white snow with a pitch-black liquid substance, corrupting around.

“Y-your… Majesty?” Her hands trembled as she reached for Her Majesty. Her hands shook violently, incapable of picking Her Majesty up. Each time she did, she tumbled down Ano’s finger and plopped back into the snow.

Her hands clenched back in fear. “No…” She took a step back, but her shock impacted her figure, which made her frail, and she collapsed onto her knees, her upper body crumpled over Her Majesty’s dead grey body. “No… no… this— can’t be…”

“Uhhh, my head hurts—” Uzi woke up, holding her head in pain. She squinted her eyes and glanced ahead to see Ano’s crumpled form off to the side. Now, looking at her, Ano appeared as a massive figure—her body, her extra limbs, and her hair. Even crouched down, she was enormous and titan-like, especially compared to Uzi, and that realization stifled Uzi’s fear of her. It made her understand how much she differed from the others and why Lizzy’s fear was so great—she was an anomaly, completely irregular. Uzi rose, stumbling as she used the tree for support. Once standing, she glanced behind her. Her tail was now slowly materializing, making her realize how she had ended up at the base of a tree in the first place.

Uzi stopped her movement as Ano resumed hers. She was doing little, however, Uzi didn’t take a chance in stirring Ano’s motives if she aimed to kill her. She remained still as well as Ano, who stayed crouched down, only inching her arms in her movements. She moved them against her head, scraping her exoskeleton with her nails as she dragged her hands upwards into her hair, pushing it back. This made her face completely visible, her apparent expression conveying nothing but misery. Her mouth ached as her breathing became fast and audible. Uzi could hear it—Ano’s voice and breathing becoming rapid and raspy. Scraping noises from Ano mixed in with her dragged breaths. Ano’s nails clawed into her head more severely, ravaging the exoskeleton and her actual body—oil spewing onto her nails, changing the crimson blooded nails into a dark, black abyss color. The sides of her face became engulfed in the blackness, with one red eye dimmed from the oil bloodshed. Uzi only stared in fright and then… it came.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHH A—AHHHHHHHHHH” Ano’s scream was high pitched yet lingered in a resounding cry, the ground and air vibrating as she did. The horror, the pain, the suffering, and the agony of her scream drenched the atmosphere in a cold sweat. Uzi succumbed to the ground, the scream ruptured her head, giving her a severe headache, a loud, eerie whining sound screamed in Uzi’s head that made her wish she could remove it or everything that related to her hearing sensors. Ano screamed, continuing long, pain-filled screams that could be heard from anywhere as it travelled an unsettling echo for miles. Her nails embedded themselves deeper into her skin. She swept them down her face and let them fall lifeless, and with a slow, weary turn, she faced Uzi.

Uzi squirmed on the ground in pain from the rupturing screaming that Ano had made her endure. She stopped due to an unwavering presence of oppression that loomed over her. She didn’t even bother looking up. She knew it was there—she was there. Oil dripped from Ano onto Uzi’s face, causing her to flinch but not bat an eye towards her. The red blinking light was like a dim luminaire flashing in front of Uzi. Uzi remained still, despite her circuits wanting to flee or fight for survival. Yet, the undeniable difference between Ano and her—a worker drone, made it impossible for her to envision escaping alive. However…

That never stopped her from confronting disassembly drones before.

She quickly got up and activated her solver, but before she could, Ano’s hand caught hers and immediately crushed it. With a swift and brutal tug that nearly tore Uzi’s arm off, Ano lifted her from the ground, and before Uzi could consider using her other hand, Ano had already crushed it and tossed her back to the ground.

[THUD]

A loud crash and crunch followed Uzi’s fall. It was Ano’s sledgehammer, and she wasted no time lifting it high in the air, ready to bring it crashing down on Uzi. All she did was sit there, staring down at the spoiled white snow mixed with her oil. She couldn’t be bothered to look up. “It was over.”

As Ano was just about to bash Uzi completely with her sledgehammer, her tail emerged, along with those divine yellow eyes that seemed to calm Ano down.

“Uhhh… I told you to stop it, Ano…” Cyn said, groaning in pain from hidden eternal damage.

Ano immediately put away her sledgehammer and dropped to her knees. “Y-your a-alive?!” Ano said, rightfully shocked, slowly inching her hands out to Cyn.

“With this throbbing headache you gave me from ripping me apart from my host. I don’t feel so alive.” Cyn complained, directing an unamused look at Ano.

“I-I’m—” Ano stuttered before immediately bowing her head low, entering a dogeza pose. “My deepest apologies, Your— Majesty! Please, forgive me for my— treacherous action, along with my lack of intelligence— and patience! I had believed that if— I detached your body from— hers, it would have— set you free! I— truly only meant to free you— from her. Please, forgive me!” Ano pleaded and cried out.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Cyn said, in awkwardness.

“Eh—ahh!” Uzi panicked as her arms regenerated, finally grasping her breath from the near-death experience she had narrowly escaped. She slowly inched her body toward Ano, but not all the way. However, seeing and hearing Ano change entirely, with her whole demeanor shifting from ultimately terrifying to a loyal lapdog in Cyn’s presence, almost made her smile—laugh even. Still, she didn’t take the chance of doing that.

“If it makes you feel less guilty. I don’t mind you ripping her head off her body. See if that removes the connection. Giggle~” Cyn said, batting her a few times, directing them at Uzi.

“Why you little—?” Uzi intrusively grabbed Cyn and started to strangle her for her comment.

However, the moment Uzi wrapped her hands around Cyn, another hand intrusively moved toward Uzi in the blink of an eye. There were no signs of hesitation. It was a completely sudden reflex developed by Ano herself, always aimed at protecting Her Majesty. Ano didn’t hold back as her palm completely covered Uzi’s face and slammed into the tree trunk several feet behind her, even though Uzi let go of Cyn—the moment Ano made contact. Ano did not relent. She pressed Uzi’s head hard against the tree trunk, applying pressure until Uzi’s head cracked and then completely smashed into a mangled metal sheet. Uzi’s body collapsed headless onto the white snow, staining its purity with even more oil than before as the oil spilled from her halved neck till it ran empty.

“Wow, A-no, way to go. You killed yet another worker drone.” Cyn commented, peeking over at Uzi’s laid-out body.

“She—she harmed you, Your Majesty,” Ano mentioned as she slowly drew her hand back and looked at her watery oil hand, covered in Uzi’s oil.

“And… I didn’t mean to.” She added.

“Didn’t mean to? Didn’t mean to, what? Kill her? Serves her right! She’s been tormenting me all the time, she deserved it!” Cyn said, turning her head to face Ano, who responded with a downward head turn.

“I meant— that worker drone at their hideout. The one who was there— motionlessly next to you and— her.”

“I didn’t mean to— bring any harm to him or— by all means meant to— kill him,” Ano said, grasping her hands tightly within the snow. Her tone of voice crept with guilt, shame, and an unwavering feeling of dread.

“I’m sorry… Don’t be— upset at me…” She muttered to herself in a fragile voice as she rattled within her exoskeleton in distress. “Please— forgive me, Quinn.”

Cyn watched neutrally till she took a heavy sigh. She looked back at Uzi’s drop-dead body and then looked back at Ano.

“Such a giant softy.” She muttered in annoyance.

“Ehh, if it makes you feel better about yourself. That guy was a part of my demise. It was her dad. So, he deserved it.”

Ano inched her head upwards to meet Cyn’s. She glanced away for a second before slowly standing up tall. “It still pains me to— harm them.” She said, scratching her arm in discomfort.

Cyn made an awkward face. “Just get me out of here. You sent out a distress signal when you screamed.” She mentioned.

Ano made a face of self-disappointment and sighed before she had picked up Uzi’s body, holding her with care with her back arms set in front of her, and walked off deeper into the forests of Copper-9. Cyn glanced back at Uzi’s head after hearing whirring noises and saw her head slowly regenerating itself.

“That was her first time having her head destroyed. I wonder how panicked she’s going to be when she wakes up. Giggle~” Cyn commented, smirking.

“What do you— mean?” Ano asked, confused.

“She’s not dead. Look—she’s regenerating. It’ll be some time till she regenerates completely, however.” Cyn pointed out. Ano looked down and saw that Uzi’s neck had fully regenerated and was now moving onto her head.

“I see… what should— I do when she does— fully regenerate and reawake?”

“Just make sure she doesn’t get away from you or anything. I can’t talk to you without her.”

“But, she has— your solver, Your Majesty.” Ano issued.

“Are you saying you can’t fight against her?”

“N-no! I’m just— worried if I fight her— she’ll threaten you. Like— a hostage situation.” Ano denied.

“So, you’re saying you would lose?” Cyn asked.

Ano flinched hearing that response from Cyn. “That’s not— what I’m saying, Your— Majesty. I will undoubtedly— best her in every— circumstance!”

“You froze, didn’t you?” Cyn reminded. Ano responded with silence and an ill-pained expression, realizing Cyn saw her flaw in their fight in the city.

“I froze, yes.” She itched her words. “But— that was only because— I didn’t notice you till— the last second!” She reprimanded, looking at Cyn with a desperate expression for understanding. “I was just… so— surprised and in a state—of—shock. It will— never happen again. I— swear on it.” She voiced out, clutching a hand over her chest.

“If you allow them to realize your flaw or weakness, which is me. It will be your downfall. Do you understand?” Cyn said, her demeanor shifting into seriousness.

Ano stood in silence before speaking once more. “Yes, I understand.”

“Good.” Cyn looked beyond Ano, seeing her two tails linger behind. “Doesn’t your acid stop regeneration?” Cyn reminds.

Ano gazes at her tail, recalling that fact, then turns back to Cyn, nodding.

“Then use it on her before she wakes up.”

With a steady nod, Ano complied.

“Now, shall I tell you everything that’s happened over the past few months?” Cyn said, her words delighting her.

“Yes, please.” Ano agreed with another nod.

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[WHOSH] The sound of a sliding metal door brushes open with ease before clamping onto side hinges.

“Wake up,” Raphaëlle said, stepping onto a head that lingered below. It was T. He had a white blank captain’s hat in his mouth. He started to snore loudly despite having the hat in his mouth. Raphaëlle’s eye twitched in disdain and took a heavier step toward his head, but he moved at the last second, stomping through the floorboard instead.

“I’m up, you can stop trying to smash my head in,” T said, opening one eye and looking at Raphaëlle with disinterest.

“Why the hell are you staring at me like that? You should stay smiling, you look more approachable that way.” He said before flipping the hat with his mouth and landing it on top of his head, at a slant.

No comment from Raphaëlle.

“Where’s your new god? She deemed you fallen yet?” He teased, laughing a bit.

Raphaëlle ignored his taunts, tugging him up by his nanite tail that was used to retrain him, and began to drag him through the halls.

“So, where are you taking me? Actually, a better question than that. What the hell happened out here? Looks like a train came through.” T asked, looking up at Raphaëlle, who didn’t bother to answer his questions or look back at him.

“Come on, Angel—Oh! Sorry, I meant ‘Fallen’, you ignore my questions, not tell me who the hell caused such mass destruction, throw me in some storage closet after your mad scientist girlfriend damn near fried my insides. Oh, wait! SHE DID!”

“Do you ever close your mouth? And she’s not my girlfriend, just a new and better reason for me to live.” Raphaëlle ushered before turning down to a different hall.

“Like that isn’t the definition of having a partner,” T added on. “But can you even call that livestock a partner? I bet you’re just seeing her as some sort of entertainment pet for you—”

[STAB] Raphaëlle used her nanite tail to stab one of T’s legs.

“OW! What was that for—EH?” T groaned, then quickly swung forward as the end of a gun barrel was shoved down his mouth while he was on the ground.

“Don’t ever—and I mean ever call her that. She ordered me not to kill you, but I’m willing to receive any punishment she has in store for me if I do.” Raphaëlle inched her Mosin barrel further down till a crack within T’s mouth was heard. She only then retracted her Mosin before giving him a deathly glare from above. “Keep your thoughts about her to yourself.”

T let out a few coughs. “So much for decency… hündin (bitch).”

A few minutes pass as Raphaëlle continues to drag T down hallway after hallway. T doesn’t know where she is taking him, but as he looks around his surroundings, gaining an understanding of the bunker’s layout, he also notices the destruction Ano has caused with her attacks—yet doesn’t know it was from Ano.

“Well, damn. I do wonder who could have done all of this damage.” He commented.

“Why are you still talking?” Raphaëlle asked in annoyance.

“Because someone has been dragging me across this damaged ass floor for 20 minutes with no explanation!”

“Will it shut you up if I told you we were almost there?” Raphaëlle offered.

“Maybe—maybe not,” He answered.

As the dragging continued, they entered the hall. He looked around, moving with concern, not due to the damage to the surrounding infrastructure. But the heavily noticeable dead eldritch being that they passed as they walked into a larger room.

“What the hell…” He said. “You didn’t do that, did you?”

“And if I did?” Raphaelle taunted, looking around the room as if she were scanning for something.

“Bullshit! You aren’t capable of defeating one of her abominations. You couldn’t even beat me in a fight.” He rebuked, staring at her with a disdainful look.

Raphaëlle gestured a smirk. “You want to test that?” She said, letting go of him and walking away.

“Huh?” T said in confusion as he watched Raphaëlle walk to the far side of the room.

Raphaëlle turned around and aimed her Mosin at him and shot, shooting his nanite tail and severing it from restraining him. T glared at a disgusting look, seeing what Raphaëlle was initiating.

“Seems like you’ve grown some,” T said, slowly standing up, looking down at his hands before quickly shooting out two weapons that had a chain attached to them. They were dual-chained scythes, and he held both scythes in his hands with the sound of chains dangling in front of him. “Do I have to re-educate you on why I was the leader of the squad?”

Raphaëlle didn’t say anything and only kept her Mosin straight—aimed at T. Her posture was composed and collected, steady and focused. T took a breath before clutching onto his scythes tightly, rattling the chains down below as he shifted into a low stance, striking pose. As soon as he leaned forward, Raphaëlle shot, something T had already foreseen, and blocked her shot with his scythe and advanced quickly, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye.

“Seems like you haven’t learned.” He said, aiming low like a wild animal. He slashes at her legs but nearly misses as she evades his strikes by jumping up and over him and aiming her Mosin directly. She fires, but he stops in his tracks, dodging the bullet that was out for his head. The bullet skimmed and struck the newly found hat. He let one of his scythes go and brought out a luger and fired it directly at Raphaëlle, missing just centimeters from her arm. He backed away, switching the Luger out, and grabbed his scythes again as he had done.

He glanced up at Raphaëlle, who was elegantly balancing on one leg as she held her Mosin. He watched her raise her free hand and hold up one finger, taunting him.

“Tsk! Seems like you’ve picked up a trait from that worker drone you so care about.” He said, his voice spoke of venom and disdain. He hated the taunting he was receiving, which was Raphaëlle acknowledging how many rounds he had in his Luger. But what he hated more was that his control over her had vanished, and it was all because of that worker drone. However, what frustrated him more about that worker drone was what she was capable of and what she could do.

A shot is fired from Raphaëlle. T nearly dodges it with an unbalanced lean, staggering him a bit before he catches equal footing. He was zoned out, a first for him, especially in the battlefield.

“What’s wrong? Zoning out in the middle of a battle?” Raphaëlle remarked. She then took her Mosin and, instead of holding it, used it as an interchangeable hand to bring out her rapier from another and held it.

“What the hell?! When did she ever become so… bold? She switched to her Mosin and rapier. She knows how to fight me, but…” T faced, sweating in nervousness.

He wasn’t scared or worried about losing; it would be a close fight, but he knew he wouldn’t fail. What worried him was that worker drone. What could she have possibly done to the comrade he controlled with chains of fear and his authority? It angered him that a mere worker drone was able to rule over another disassembly drone. The thought itself was gut-wrenching and ridiculous, yet so terrifying to him.

[BANG!]

Another shot was fired from Raphaëlle. He didn’t have time to respond, yet the bullet did hit him. “A blank?” He said, looking up at Raphaëlle with her gun pointed at him.

“If you keep spacing out. This won’t be as satisfying as I had hoped it would be.” She said, lowering her gun.

“What do you mean by satisfying?” T said, rising to his feet from his lower stance.

“Isn’t it obvious? I want to beat you in a fight so I can finally acknowledge my freedom.” She said, looking up at the ceiling, her eyes beaming a glowing light of delight.

“Your freedom?”

“Isn’t it obvious? My freedom is to be freed from that devil you dare call a god…”

“...and freedom from you that dare call themselves a leader.”

Chapter Text

Side Note: (Raphaëlle is French for Raphaella, but is pronounced Raphael as if it were English.)

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Character: SD-R (Raphaëlle) | Disassembly Drone OC

SD-R, or Raphaëlle, is a refurbished disassembly drone created by Khan and Ashley. She is also one of the few disassembly drones to retain their personality and memories after being converted into a disassembly drone. She is a basic disassembly drone and stands 5 feet 10 inches tall. She resembled a base model disassembly drone. However, after assessing herself following her revival and adapting to her new, unfamiliar environment, she requested clothing from the clothing storage facility in the colony. She selected a long wig with straight white hair and bangs. She proceeded to braid the long, white hair into dual French braids that hung over her collarbones, leaving much of the hair remaining. She also donned a white button-up shirt, covered by a classic black half-corset, along with matching black slacks to complement her predominantly black ensemble. She resembled a female butler, her preferred representation of comfort in her identity.

Furthermore, since Raphaëlle is alive due to Ashley's expertise, she has dedicated her life to serving her, often treating Ashley with the utmost passion and care as though she were her caretaker (which, in Raphaëlle's eyes, she is). She's very kind and caring (mainly towards Ashley) but friendly to nearly everyone. Despite being friendly towards most, she demonstrated genuine hostility towards N during their first encounter, fueled by her one-sided thoughts about him as a disassembly drone. However, after Ashley helped her reassess her negative thoughts about N, she composed herself and apologized for her behavior. Raphaëlle's hostility and anger are evident in her expressions and tone, similar to those of any person who is angry. Yet, she strives to hold back her anger and avoid acting rashly in a way she might regret, such as harming an innocent person or someone she holds dear too.

Her character was shaped by her experiences as a caregiver and domestic worker during her early years. She has numerous cleaning products available in her disassembly drone body. She enjoys cleaning Ashley's labs and organizing everything for her, even though Ashley finds it embarrassing. Raphaëlle doesn't mind; she takes pleasure in cleaning and assisting Ashley, often humming and singing comically while she works, which helps Ashley fall asleep much more easily. Presumed by her role as a worker drone to be a maid and caretaker, she treats Ashley as a mistress. Whenever Ashley asks her to do something, she responds immediately. If Ashley falls asleep while working, Raphaëlle takes her to a comfortable place to rest. Ashley finds Raphaëlle's assistance very convenient and helpful, and her company very relaxing, starting to take a liking to Raphaëlle despite her stored hatred towards disassembly drones. She's the reason for Ashley's hatred of disassembly drones' change, making her see them less as tools and more as normal beings (well, mainly only towards her). Due to Raphaëlle already liking Ashley, she develops deeper feelings for her as they spend more time getting to know each other and doing things for her, not just because she needs to (as a form of redemption or punishment), but because she genuinely wants to. Ashley's been treating her with the utmost kindness and care, and she couldn't help but feel this way towards her, almost thinking it was undeserving, but Ashley reassured her. Because of Ashley's treatment towards her, Raphaëlle becomes more flustered and dreamy towards Ashley, longing for a relationship with her.

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Background/Lore as a D.D.:

SD-R, also known as "The Angel's Dust," is one of the few disassembly drones given a title. The title was given from the reference to "The White Death." He received his title the same way Raphaëlle received hers. Her camouflage techniques as a sniper. None of her targets knew where or what killed them. The moment they heard a shot, their body fell. Her mission during Earth's destruction was to target and assassinate potential threats to Cyn's goal and leave no witnesses alive. She hunted down many high officials, including national leaders with great influence, military personnel, and scientists researching the Absolute Solver—anyone who could pose a potential threat. However, Raphaëlle didn't want to do any of this, killing anyone. Leaders, influences, personnel—humans, and most importantly, worker drones. She didn't like or enjoy all the killing and blood splatter on the barrel of her sniper rifle. She was ordered to kill. She didn't want to. She didn't ask for a weapon, only used to slaughter the innocent, or this new body she was forced into, and made into a killing machine. She couldn't stop killing but had to do it for survival.

Raphaëlle is also reasonably good at fencing and maneuvering in close combat, despite her strong suit being with a sniper. Her fencing style resembles that of a dancer paired with her long steel rapier. She responds like a snake, patiently waiting to strike. Capable of dodging and attacking simultaneously with her flexibility and reaction time. Her sniper skills are already perfectly coordinated attacks, and so is her fencing style—constantly scanning for potential weaknesses or opportunities to strike. She can also duel-wield the rapiers, but due to her fencing style, she prefers not to. She can wield one rapier in one arm while holding a Mosin in the other, demonstrating a fighting style that combines perfect close-range and long-range capabilities, with fair offense and defense, and exceptional skills with a rapier. She can also fight at close range with her Mosins for an accurate shot. Though she can display a decent proficiency in close combat, she prefers not to engage and stays at a distance, picking off her opponents from afar as they don't know where her shots are coming from.

Of course, like other disassembly drones, she had a squadron (unlike Ano, who worked solo). Raphaëlle had a squadron consisting of two other members, SD-T (Titus) and SD-E (Enric), both males, unlike her. T was the leader due to his capabilities being better than that of Raphaëlle and E, and his mentality of doing whatever it takes to get the job done. Raphaëlle didn't get along with T because of it and was the one to force her to do her job or be seen as a traitor and have her killed. E was friendlier than T to Raphaëlle and was more of the heart of the squadron, keeping everyone together and lively. Although he still did whatever he was told without complaint, he began to question himself and wonder if he was doing the right thing, and he even sympathized with Raphaëlle in a way.

Raphaëlle, after Earth's destruction, was informed of her team's new objective and stationed at the Copper-9 system by a sent during the first disassembly drone invasion. She, along with T, E, and others, was tasked with shutting down the CFL experimentation, stopping humans from creating countermeasures by weaponizing worker drones. She kills many scientists and researchers during her mission. However, after seeing humans use worker drones for experiments and seeing their poor physical and mental conditions, she found it unacceptable. She once even tried to sneak away a few CFS, but T caught onto her antics and stopped her, abusing her in a way to get her to stop. T killed several of the subjects on his own, but he forced Raphaëlle to kill the last one.

Despite T having far better fighting capabilities than Raphaëlle. She was ultimately given a title, something T has been working hard for. After the title was assigned to Raphaëlle, T held a grudge against her ever since, with hatred that boiled more after Earth's destruction, which made him forcefully watch her kill all the more enjoyable.

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Raphaëlle's Weapon Kit:

M67s Grenades

Retractable Claws

Steel Rapiers (Preferably her main weapons)

Russian Mosin Nagants (Preferably secondary weapons)

Note: Raphaëlle can actually hold her weapons.

Raphaëlle's Cleaning/Maid Tools:

Windex Spray Bottles (Sponsored /kidding :P)

Cloths (Used for wiping and automatically cleaning themselves)

Dusters

Fans (Used for cooling)

Many other convenient tools. (Example: Leg Heaters, which is her driving oil to her legs, increasing the heat within. It's a technique she learned when she was a worker drone and used it to help her human master sleep.)

Note: Raphaëlle can actually hold her tools.

Chapter Text

Character: SD-T (Titus) | Disassembly Drone OC

SD-T, or Titus, is a refurbished disassembly drone created by Khan and Ashley. He is also one of the few disassembly drones to retain their personality and memories after being converted into a disassembly drone. He is a basic, standardized disassembly drone, standing at 6 feet 1 inch tall. He resembled a base model disassembly drone, but with a blank white captain's hat and white, messy hair that stuck out from underneath it, making this his only distinguishing feature, which he had received while trapped in a storage closet. Later in the story, he fetched himself some clothing. That being a white button-up, a black tie, a black vest, and black slacks.

To understand Titus is to realize that he is in the mindset of a ruthless killer with the sole purpose of killing with no remorse or hesitation behind it. Titus is very aggressive towards anyone with whom he comes in contact (except for Ashley, due to circumstances, or anyone else when she's around). He comes across as comically sarcastic (to his standards, at least), constantly making unnecessary comments and teasing whoever he pleases (mainly Raphaëlle, due to his disdain and envy for her). Besides his hostile attitude, he is a strict leader who is willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish the task. No matter how heinous or insane the deed is, if it means completing the mission, he doesn't mind a few sacrifices.

His character was shaped by his experience as a militant drone in Germany. His purpose was to serve as an infantryman within the Bundeswehr Army. He exudes a constant aura of oppression and a strong sense of duty within the army. Often regarded as a lieutenant or someone in high power.

Alongside his shaped persona came values in which he sees himself and others. He doesn't view worker drones as individuals, let alone value their lives. All he sees are walking metal shields, pets, and livestock. The only purpose to serve is to be killed off for someone else's benefit. Even he, as a worker drone, saw them in the same way or to the same extent. Worthless, cannon fodder meant to be used as tools in a war. He only saw that about others and not himself because he deemed himself worthy and adequate as a being suited to call himself a superior.

During his time as a worker drone on Earth during World Wars, he fought alongside the Germans and his brothers (the battalion of worker drones he commanded), doing everything in his power to push forward the mission for success, never losing a single battle. A reason for this volley of success was his leadership. Not the kind of inspiring motivation to push on even in a losing battle, but the fear he instilled in his men. Often threatening their position or their very life if they didn't do as he told them, and since the Germans saw worker drones as nothing but tools capable of being replaced infinitely. Titus took this as an opportunity to beat and even torture some of his men into submission, sometimes even killing them or reporting them as a traitor, getting them marked for disposal and eventually killed and replaced.

In Titus's mind: "Rank means power, it means value, it implies order. Beings not of a status of high rank shall be known as nothing but tools and be seen only as tools to us and themselves. They will know their place, and that is to be used as a stepping stone for our victory."

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Background/Lore as a D.D.:

SD-T, also known as Titus, is the leader of a squadron paired up with two other disassembly drones, SD-R (Raphaëlle) & SD-E (Enric). His duty was to instruct the missions assigned to them during Earth's annihilation, and when they were sent to Copper-9 (post-Earth annihilation), with his tactical expertise and knowledge of warfare. The way he controlled his battalion in German was the same way he controlled R and E. E was very submissive and agreeable, and did what he was told without much complaint, which made him a favorite. However, R wasn't so easy to manipulate as E. Titus's patience grew thin when educating R. Despite her listening to him when he pulled the toughest of strings, she always kept a way to fight against him. What pissed him off was that he wasn't able to kill her because of Cyn's authority, and also that Anomaly (Ano) saw R's potential and great usage of her capabilities as a sniper. Their acknowledgment of her potential, while ignoring his own despite being the reason their missions were successful, brought great hatred towards R, and he treated her harshly each time he encountered her.

During his time as a disassembly drone and in his role within the squad as the main attacker and frontline attack, he was joined with other squadrons due to his fighting IQ being far superior to anyone else. He was ruthless in close-hand combat and capable of closing the distance with his enemies within seconds. He fought with his main weapon, which was dual-chained scythes. His fighting style was always going in for a brutal killing method—shredding his opponents apart, removing their limbs, cutting open their stomachs, and even purposely leaving them alive to let them die a painful, insufferable death if follow-ups weren't provided. Not only did he enjoy this killing method, but he would also have allowed some of them to live, leaving them to die a slow and agonizing death. Making R purposely do the final blows because he knew she had a soft spot for humans. If anything, he saw R as a nuisance and a liability. Yet if this was one way to control her, it made his killing method all the more thrilling.

One of Titus's main issues with R was the day she received a title from Cyn and was encouraged by Anomaly due to her outstanding performance in missions. This act of "delusion of righteousness" pissed him so off that he went on a rampage, rushing towards the closest city and killing every single soul there. He didn't even bother to use his regular killing method. He went straight for the kill, even brutally mutilating a man till he had only his blood plastered against the wall, with none of his body parts becoming recognizable. He continued the rampage for an entire night, and when other disassembly drones came, he attacked them out of rage. Only until E and R came in to stop him, he ceased.

Titus's thoughts about E were somewhat "friendly" yet very one-sided because E's actual personal thoughts about T were kept from him and only mentioned when talking to R alone. However, in private, E would always commend T as a great leader, filling his ego and ensuring he never ended up on the wrong side, knowing he probably wouldn't be spared like R if he were seen as useless by either T, Anomaly, or Cyn. T saw E not as potent as R, but his obeying each order he gave him made him a great asset and truly seen as a comrade. However, sometimes he would become quite agitated when E would stop times stand up for R, threatening him by mentioning his incompetence if he didn't comply with his ideology.

T, along with his squad, on their last mission, were sent to Copper-9, one of the first squadrons to be sent to the Copper System to fulfill their duty in stopping the humans from weaponizing worker drones that were meant to counteract Cyn. This plan was a drastic failure due to numerous inconveniences, such as Cyn's sudden appearance and the discovery of sentinels that were him, his crew, and every other disassembly drone squadron sent with them to their demise, which was only brought back through Ashley and Khan's intellect years later.

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Titus's Weapon Kit:

Dual-Chain Scythes

Retractable Claws

Luger (Bullets contain nanite acid provided by Titus's body. Can fire up to 8 bullets before having time to refill his bullets with nanite acid)

Blue Screen Flash Grenades (Works similarly to the Sentinel's flashers. These flash grenades are capable of deactivating all visual receptors of drones if looked directly at and render them blind for a few short seconds.)

Note: Titus can actually hold his weapons.

Chapter Text

Character: SD-E (Enric) | Disassembly Drone OC

SD-E, or Enric, is a refurbished disassembly drone created by Khan and Ashley. He is also one of the few disassembly drones to retain their personality and memories after being converted into a disassembly drone. He is a basic disassembly drone and stands 5 feet 8 inches tall. Shorter than his comrades within his squad, SD-R (Raphaëlle) and SD-T (Titus). He resembled a base model disassembly drone, and it was only upon his rediscovery that he requested white hair, along with brown cavalry-style trousers that had black suspenders—no shirt, however.

Enric is a very compassionate and humble person. Often very agreeable or cooperative when ordered around, making him easy to manipulate due to his lack of self-needs and wants. He has no passion for fulfilling his desires, as he doesn't even know what they are. He just does what he's told, with no questions or complaints about the task. He rarely asks for something he wants, but when he does, it's for necessary things. He is very attentive towards his squadmates' standards and viewpoints and to those he thinks are deserving of his support (such as Ashley and Khan).

His personality comes off as quiet but secretly playful, yet very thoughtful and mindful of others. Often regarded by R as a little brother to her. However, when Enric views T, he sees T as a leader—that is, upfront —but deep down, he dislikes him due to the mistreatment he has inflicted on R. However, whenever he tries to stand up for her, T shuts him down with a degrading tone and threatens his disposal. So, he avoids confrontation with T but tries his hardest to stick up for her. Often, quickly rushing to her aid after T's whiplash has been inflicted, always assuring her that he is there for her.

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Background/Lore as a D.D.:

SD-E, also known as Enric, is part of a disassembly drone squad paired with two other disassembly drones, SD-R (Raphaëlle) and SD-T (Titus). His primary role was to support R or T. Either he was tagged with T when he was on the front lines heading straight into enemy fire, or with R, protecting her in case of an ambush as she fired from afar. Enric was one of the more durable disassembly drone models, possessing greater fortitude and a fortified endoskeleton. Capable of holding his ground even against heavy artillery or tank cannons. His role was designed to be a defender, utilizing a large, fortified shield to block or stop oncoming attacks. He also used his shield in very creative ways, such as destroying building support beams and even using it as a lever to flip tanks.

Unlike T and R, who have a one-sided stance on the value of human lives versus those of drones. Enric stands in the middle, but in a neutral state that is neither good nor evil. He doesn't remember much of his life as a worker drone because he constantly relives the same day cycle over and over again. He didn't exactly like it, but he never complained. Humans and drones were so alike in his area that he honestly couldn't decipher the difference between them and thought they were just slightly different but the same species. However, with his constant missions alongside T and R, his perspective slowly switched between choosing one of their sides. Siding with T due to his leadership and words of saying how demeaning it is to be called a "worker drone," yet they avoided their duties and constantly ran from responsibility. Something Enric thought wasn't proper. He also started siding with R due to seeing how much she expressed her life as a caretaker to him, along with saying that not all humans are corrupted, let alone drones, which brought an understanding of perspectives and viewpoints to him. What mainly made Enric choose R over T was not liking it when T would abuse her when she didn't obey orders or small demands. He did not like it, but due to T threatening him whenever he spoke about it, he remained quiet, despite his judgment—beginning to understand the distinction between morally good and evil. One time, Enric had secretly let many worker drones escape from their mission and hid them in a place where he thought T couldn't find him. This marked the beginning of his recognition that he had taken a step for himself.

Also, due to R's mistreatment inflicted by T. Enric would always comfort her after a mission, knowing she never wanted to do any of this. He would try to boost her spirits, making her laugh, relocating her negativity, or outright comforting her. To him, she felt like a strong but depressed older sister, or what he had heard about when he read stories with sibling dynamics. She would also care for him and ensure his shields were always polished and in the correct shape before missions. He often took the time to ensure all his weapons were in top shape. The two were very close to each other, and sometimes it would irritate T, but he didn't care as long as they completed the mission and stayed focused.

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Enric's Weapon Kit:

Large Rectangle Shields

Retractable Claws

Every other standardized DD weapon.

Indefinitely Long Chains (Used for restraintment or to pull or throw objects. He also sometimes attaches them to his shield, then throws it before quickly pulling it back.)

Note: Enric can actually hold his weapons.

Chapter Text

[CLASH]

The sound of metal clashing sparks as the two disassembly drones face off. They hold a position of clashing weapons: Raphaëlle's sharp and precise rapier scraping against the chained, dual scythes T wields. His weapons clawed at Raphaëlle's rapier like bloodthirsty teeth hungry to taste the sensation of a burning, tasty liquid.

T clenched his teeth in frustration as he looked at a calm and composed Raphaëlle. He was battered, yet she was refreshed. Their fight had only just begun, and T was already panting heavily. Every one of his attacks was easily countered and seemingly anticipated by Raphaëlle. It was maddening to see her surpass him, and so far in the fight, he could tell she was just getting serious.

T swung his left leg low to sweep Raphaëlle's leg out from underneath, but she immediately kicked his knee joint with her right leg, stopping him.

"Don't even try that. You know you aren't left-legged," Raphaëlle stated.

"Pfft–! What do you know about me?!" T argued.

Raphaëlle broke free from their clash and jumped back, creating space between them. T drew his Luger and tried to shoot her as she did, but she deflected the bullet by hitting it with a shot from her Mosin.

"I know everything about you, Titus," Raphaëlle pointed her Mosin at him. "Your play style, your goal, and the way you react when you're angry."

"You don't know—" Before Titus could speak for himself, Raphaëlle threw multiple grenades at him. He quickly rushed behind a crate for cover before the explosions went off.

"A thing about me," Raphaëlle finished his sentence. "Do you really think I wouldn't take all that time studying you? That whole time during Earth's Annihilation when you forced me to slaughter people despite their innocence? I know you thought low of me, but this is just... foolish of you."

Her taunting annoyed Titus even more, but he held back some restraint by clenching his fist until they bled oil. He knew she was trying to get under his skin and make him rashly attack her. She was all too aware of his temperament. Titus looked down at his Luger—two bullets left. Titus peeked past the crate he was using as a cover, and his eyes met Raphaëlle's. She smirked, almost as if she knew exactly how dire his situation was.

"How long are you going to stay back there?" Raphaëlle shouted out, looking above the crate.

"I thought you were the patient type," Titus yelled back.

"I am. However, I don't know how long Ashley will stay asleep for, and I don't want to upset her if she finds out what I'm doing." She replied, bringing out multiple grenades in one hand and keeping her Mosin in the other.

"Pfft, and you said she's not your girlfriend—partner, or whatever." He mocked in a whisper. He clicked his scythe against the crate as he thought of a plan of attack, but before he could conclude, he sensed something up in the air. He looked up to see grenades in the air, and before he could react, Raphaëlle shot at all the grenades, changing their trajectory mid-air and having them drop directly at Titus from above.

[BOOM]

Raphaëlle took a moment of silence after the explosion went off. The blast had created a large smoke screen. Too large for just her simple M67 grenades to cause. Something was wrong. She waited with her Mosin aimed and ready.

Silence lingered in the room, the dense view of gunpowder polluting the atmosphere. Raphaëlle took caution and slow steps around the crate, staying a good distance from the crate as she went to check Titus's status. With the slight tinkling of metal clanking the hard ground, Raphaëlle sprang back as Titus was on the move, darting like a charging boar.

Raphaëlle aimed her Mosin at Titus's head, but Titus aimed his body upward, where his core was in the line of fire instead. Raphaëlle hesitated, and that was all Titus was waiting for. He fired his Luger at Raphaëlle, and she barely managed to block it using her Mosin as a guard. It shattered beyond usage as a result. She brought out both her rapiers in her hands to defend her loose guard as Titus relentlessly pushed on the attack. She managed to block his double attack as both his scythes clamped onto her rapiers like fangs. She parried his attack away to the side and tried to gain more distance between them by flying away, but Titus had thrown one of his scythes, and it clamped onto her right wing. He grabbed the other end of his scythe to keep her in place.

"What's wrong, Angel? You were just so close and personal a second ago! What happened!" Titus mocked with a big smile before using all his strength to yank Raphaëlle back to the ground, tearing her wing off in the process.

"Ah!" Raphaëlle yelped in pain, staggering on the ground. Before she could collect herself, Titus was already standing behind her. She looked his way and was met with a kick delivered by Titus that sent her rolling on the floor. "An angel without wings is nothing more than a caterpillar wanting to fly." He said, watching her crawl away from him. He raised his foot and stomped on her back, causing her to groan a pain-filled yelp and spit out oil from her mouth.

"Hmmm." He smirked a devilish look as he applied pressure to his foot, keeping Raphaëlle pinned to the ground. "That doesn't look right." He said, glancing at her left wing that was still attached. He placed one of his hands high on the tip of the left wing and the other on the lower end where it connected to her body, and with a few practiced jerks, he tore Raphaëlle's last wing off.

"Now, I can call you 'Fallen." He cocked his head back, smirking and tossing the wing to the side.

"Ergh... Get off me—EECK!" Raphaëlle rebelled but was cut short as Titus wrapped his chained scythes around her neck and began to lift her off the ground, pulling her into a rear chokehold. She kicked her feet, even planting them on Titus in an attempt to push off, but it didn't help. She clawed at the chain around her neck, but it was too tight to grasp. Each attempt made her struggle more, tightening the chain around her.

"Oh, how long I've waited to do this, Raphaëlle," Titus said, leaning back to tighten and strengthen his grip. Raphaëlle tried to attack him, but he caught one of her arms with his own and twisted it, making it useless.

"You want to meet god so badly, don't you?" Titus whispered in the side of Raphaëlle's head insidiously. "Let me do you this one favor, but I suppose someone as fallen as you won't get to see those pearly white gates."

He tightened his grip and fought off the little resistance she had left. She squirmed in the air, kicking her feet in a last desperate attempt to free herself, but it was to no avail. Titus only pulled the chains tighter with both hands clasped around them. His smile never faded the moment he grabbed her and was trapped in his grasp. This slow and agonizing internal pain he was causing her was all too great. He basked in the moment as he listened to the gargling and struggle in her voice that was pleasing to his hearing sensors—reminding him of the psychotic murderer he is, hearing someone's life slip away.

"S-stop it... please..." Raphaëlle's voice pleaded for mercy as her teary eyes stared into the dark abyss above her. Her relentless movements gradually slowed. All her strength was draining, and so were her processors, as her bright, shining eyes began to close and fade.

"Stop him."

Before Titus could fully choke the life out of Raphaëlle, a large, flat, rectangular object sped toward him at incredible speed. He dropped his chain to dodge the attack that nearly split him in half. He moved away from Raphaëlle's now limp body and looked toward where the surprise attack had come from. Still, before he could process everything, the attacker was already closing in for another strike and aiming for his lower chest.

Their weapon was a large, thick rectangular metal shield, and they thrust it forward at Titus like a fist. Titus blocked it, but his arms buckled under the immense pressure and weight of the attack, breaking his guard and sending him flying across the room, denting a crate that had caught him.

Raphaëlle, still on the ground and struggling to catch her breath, looked up to see the familiar figure beside her. Despite their new appearance—a simple, plain white shirt and long, black cavalry-style trousers with black suspenders hanging over their shoulders—something about them stood out the most, prompting her to call out a name.

"E-Enric?!"

"Hmph? Oh, hi Raphaëlle. It's been a while." The male disassembly drone said, offering a hand to Raphaëlle.

Raphaëlle looks at him in complete shock, her hands reaching out hesitantly. Enric was a lost comrade she had and one of her squid mates. The last time she saw him was when they first arrived on Copper-9 and during their last mission.

"Is it... Really, you? Enric?" She said, her hands reaching past his hand.

"Do you believe in ghosts or something? Yes, it's me." He said he checked his body to make sure he wasn't a ghost. "Although it feels kinda weird to be reborn for the second time—" He laughed nervously, scratching his face before Raphaëlle lunged toward him in a big embrace.

"I'm so glad you are safe." Raphaëlle sobbed, tightening her quivering arms around him.

"I-yeah, I'm glad you are too," Enric replied sheepishly, patting Raphaëlle's head subtly.

"Well, ain't this very wholesome?" Ashley said, coming up from behind. "Hmph?" She peeked at Raphaëlle's messy appearance. "What happened to you?"

"Ashley?! I–I'm sorry! I didn't see you there, I was—" Raphaëlle panicked, quickly releasing her grasp around Enric and drawing all her attention towards Ashley.

"What are you apologizing about?" Ashley tilted her head in confusion, tapping her pen on her clipboard.

" I-I'm sorry for—this." She explained, lowering her head in self-disappointment. "I acted on my own."

"Huh?" Ashley was still in a state of confusion, unsure of what she was apologizing for.

"Enric... you bastard, what do you think you are doing?" A visibly furious Titus shouts from the corner of the room, pulling himself away from the side of the crate. He nearly collapsed to the ground after his body took heavy damage from Enric's shield. He hoisted his left arm, which was hanging by a few wires, before it became disconnected from his body.

Ashley signed and brought out her remote. However, Enric insisted, placing a gentle hand on her. "Titus, what do you think you were doing?" Enric countered his question with his own.

"Aha. It's funny you speak back to me with such a questioning tone. Since when did you speak for yourself?" Titus said, stumbling a bit and grasping his left arm, which was bleeding and hanging on by a few strands of wires.

"You were going to kill Raphaëlle, why?"

"If I were to tell you it was in self-defense, would you believe me?"

Enric glanced back at Raphaëlle. Her shaky-eyed expression answered him.

Ashley also glanced back at her. "So that's what you meant by apologizing." Raphaëlle lowered her head. Ashley shrugged it off. "We can talk later about this, but right now, fix yourself—you look like a mess."

"Yes, ma'am." Raphaëlle itched a nod.

"Na-uh! What did I say about the formality?"

[BANG!]

In a quick, reflexive motion, Enric used his shield to block a fired bullet. The bullet splattered with nanite acid against his heavily dense shield. The side where the blocked bullet had landed, plastered with nanite acid, which slowly ate away at Enric's shield. He looked back at Titus, whose luger was aimed at not him but behind him at Ashley.

"Aha... Ahahaaa—" Titus made a pained laugh, comforting his face with his steaming hot Luger. "Ahahaa—AHAHAHAAA!" His voice began to gradually grow louder and hysterical as he fell hard onto his knees, the force of gravity strong enough to tear his left arm off, finally. He continued to laugh while Enric and Raphaëlle watched, staring at him with a disconcerted look.

"Not only is he hot-headed, but he's hysterical," Ashley commented, her voice coming low and forced.

Enric looked behind him. Ashley was on the ground with Raphaëlle thrown on top of her. When Titius fired his Luger, it was directed towards Ashley, causing him to step in front of her to protect her, as well as Raphaëlle, who presumed and launched herself onto Ashley in an effort to move her from the line of fire or take the bullet instead.

"Raphaëlle?! Is she okay?! Are you okay!?" Enric addressed his concerns, attempting to check on them, but Ashley held a hand.

"She's fine. We're fine, thank you." Ashley said, placing a hand on Raphaëlle's head and pointing her held remote at Titus. With a push of a button, Titus immediately ceased all activity and collapsed onto the ground.

"That should tucker him out for a bit."

"What was that?" Enric asked.

"The electrical trigger remote. I just turned it to max and turned it off quickly. That should overstimulate his system."

Enric glanced at Titus's state. "Does it kill?"

"If I want it to, yes. But as long as I don't get a reason, it won't." Ashley noted. "Now, can you bring him to my laboratory and keep an eye on him till I come back?"

"Ah–okay." He agreed, his concerns quickly dismissed. He walked over to Titus and threw him over his shoulder with ease. As he began to leave the scene, he stopped by Ashley, asking if she needed help, but she declined the offer with a shoo-shoo hand gesture, allowing him to go without worry.

"He's almost as attentive as you, Raph," Ashley said, attempting to raise in her stance, only able to lean onto her forearms because Raphaëlle was lying on top of her. "Hm, Raph?"

No comment from Raphaëlle. She just stayed glued to Ashley, her arms wrapped around her middle.

"Raph, you can get off me now. I said I was fine, I'm not hurt or anything."

Raphaëlle didn't loosen her grip but instead held on tighter. "But I wasn't fast enough... if Enric weren't there, you would have been..." Raphaëlle said with deep sorrow, fear evident in her voice as she realized Ashley could have been hurt or worse because of her slow reaction.

"Ah, right. That would have hurt or probably have killed me if it had hit my co—" Ashley's words were cut short when Raphaëlle's hold tightened around her from hearing the unthinkable outcome.

"Please... don't mention it. I'm sorry." Raphaëlle's voice shuddered.

"Well, what do you want me to say? Do you want me to scold you for it or something?" Ashley sarcastically suggested.

"I would love that, yes, please."

"What are you, some sort of secret degradee? I was merely joking..."

"It's harsh feedback I need, though."

"What you need is some rest. I'm afraid you're not functioning correctly because of it. When was the last time you slept?" Ashley replied, trying to dismiss Raphaëlle's unusual behavior, which had pleasantly triggered an old habit of hers.

"Just let me reflect here for a bit... please." Raphaëlle pleaded, her voice growing sadder the more she thought about the what if. "I don't know what I would do if I had lost you."

Ashley huffed. "You've grown quite attached to me, have you? And I don't just mean it physically."

"You shouldn't get attached to someone like me."

"You can always neglect me. I won't sway your mind if you do, but will you tell me when? I would need to prepare myself."

"I..." Ashley attempted to speak but held her tongue. Something that wasn't in her character, yet she did it with heavy hesitation, as she didn't talk about her intrusiveness.

"If I'm becoming a burden, will you tell me?" Raphaëlle raised her head enough to meet Ashley's gaze with hers.

Ashley sighed. "If that's all you're asking for, then I will."

Raphaëlle smiled blissfully before lowering her head back into Ashley's torso. "Thank you."

Ashley stared at the top of Raphaëlle's head with pensive eyes before she sighed, then gave in Raphaëlle's embrace and laid back on the ground.

"I've been sighing quite often because of you, you know that, right?" She reflected to herself as she maneuvered her hand onto Raphaëlle's head and ran her fingers through her hair.

"I'm sorry," Raphaëlle apologized.

"Just be quiet."

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[Knock Knock]

"Can I come in?" Thad's voice sounds from the other side of the metal door.

"Yes, come in," Lizzy replies.

The door opens, and Thad steps into Lizzy's room. He sees Lizzy sitting with her knees tucked at the head of her bed, on her phone—nothing unusual. He stands there, looking around her room, still amazed at its girlishness. Sparky was sitting at the foot of the bed on the ground, and as soon as he noticed Thad was in the room, he got up and quickly approached Thad for scratches.

"He seems to have gotten used to me," Thad says, smiling and carefully scratching under Sparky's jaw. His sickle-shaped, clawed toes tap against the floor repeatedly, showing his enjoyment of the scratches.

"I'm glad cause I don't feel like playing with him 24/7."

"But don't you think he deserves just a little? He was also very helpful during the evacuation, you know."

"Yeah, about that, is everyone okay? Like Ash and Mrs. and Mr. Doorman?" Lizzy asks, worried in her voice, deframing her usual nonchalance.

Thad shifts his focus from Sparky and sits on the ground beside her bed. "Miss Ashley is fine. She just finished another disassembly drone—uh, resurrection, I guess you'd call it? It still blows my mind that they were all once worker drones like us."

"Yeah..." Lizzy agrees, realizing that they also didn't want to become tools for killing. Well, that's what V told her, at least.

"Is she okay, physically? Ash, I mean. Did she get her nap in?" Lizzy adds, concern lingering.

"Oh—um, yeah, I think so?" Thad says, hesitating and looking slightly confused. "She's back up and doing stuff."

"Okay, that's good. I was really worried about her. She looked so weak when I saw her. Honestly, it was kinda—scary," Lizzy says, her face scrunching up in discomfort.

"She's fine, I'm sure. She's really strong-willed, you know," Thad comments.

"Yeah..." Lizzy agrees, feeling a bit envious. "What about the Doormans? Are they okay? Did you see... him?"

"Yes, I did..." He answered, his response unsettled. "Ashley had done something to him to keep him... alive still."

"Oh, that's good then."

"Yeah..."

The mood in the room darkened. The aftermath silence lingered for the moment, and only short and small scrapping noises from Sparky curling himself into a ball on the ground were present.

"How is—how is Mrs. Doorman, then? Is she taking it well?" Lizzy blurted out, words tinged with concern.

Thad glanced back, studying Lizzy's worried face—something he hadn't seen so often until recent days.

Lizzy looked at Thad, catching his face in her peripheral vision. "What are you staring at?" She asked, completely unaware of what made him look at her with a gentle expression despite her concerning question.

"Nothing." His face lit up with happiness as he turned away. "I've only just noticed how caring you've been lately. It's a good sight."

Lizzy's face turned red, and she became aware of herself, flustered and embarrassed, as Thad was the one who noticed and called it out. She quickly turned around, facing him again, and clasped her hands on her legs. "I'm trying, okay! I'm just not used to expressing stuff like that out loud. It's uncomfortable, okay! I'm not just some petty, popular girl archetype with a high ego all the time, okay! I can care sometimes, okay!"

"Okay, okay, I would never assume you to be that type all the time. I always knew you had that caring side deep down, you just don't show it often." He reassured. "It's just nice to see it, you know."

"I only show it with you and V around, don't go telling everybody that I'm a softie or something." Lizzy insisted, her attitude still in rebellion.

"Alright, alright. You have my word, I always keep secrets." Thad said, giving a heartfelt smile and a thumbs up. Lizzy glanced back to see it before turning back sheepishly. "Hmph."

"Ahaha... I won't call it out next time." Thad chuckled a bit with second-hand embarrassment. Lizzy didn't say anything and only peeked a small eye at Thad. The comedic tone in the room lingered a bit until Lizzy brought forth a withheld comment.

"You're a good friend, Thad."

"Ah–!" Thad dazed from the open compliment. "T-thanks, Lizzy, you are too, you know."

"Whatever, just tell me if she is okay, already!"

"Huh? O-oh, right! Yeah, Mrs. Doorman is doing fine—well, that's what she said, at least. She's trying to cope with Uzi being taken. N is also with her, which I think is very fortunate for her—well, for both of them to talk to each other about it. They both care about her."

"Yeah, I suppose," Lizzy agreed, another hint of envy coating her words.

"..."

"Hey, Thad, can you um..."

"Hmph?" He quickly turned to face her, halting her question with a joy-filled face—nearly resembling that of a dog, which was ironic, since he was petting Sparkly like one.

Lizzy stared at his positive energy emanating around him and slowly engulfing her view. "Gosh. You look like N for a second," She said with an almost annoyed face, yet positive sounding.

"Wait—Huh?" His voice filled with sudden confusion at her comment.

"Nothing, but anyways... Can you like... stay here for a while?" She finished her question, her face blooming with a faint, embarrassed blush. "It's kinda lonely here."

"Oh, how come? Isn't Sparky's he—?" His mouth froze as he saw her glare at him with a passionate disdain at what he was stating. "R-right..."

"Just stay here for a while. Stay until I fall asleep or something." She said, sliding part of her feet underneath a pink blanket.

"Uh, yeah, sure! So like—do you want to do something or do you want to talk about anything?"

"I don't really care, Thad." Her voice lingered in audible exhaustion and a lack of motivation, with her body sinking lower into her bed.

"Ah, alright... Well, can I ask how you've been? You've been quite proactive, actively helping with various tasks and seeking feedback. Is something up?"

"Wow, are you going to let me explain for myself or answer for me?" Lizzy said, sounding annoyed and a bit embarrassed.

"Ah–right, sorry." Thad turned away, feeling like he stepped out of turn.

"Don't be," She reassured, quickly brushing off her annoyed attitude into a more positive and thankful one. "If anything, I'm glad you said it instead of me."

"As much as I would love to express my helpfulness and more... sociable behavior. I don't want to be viewed as easygoing and soft, but I also don't want people to think I don't have it in me." Her voice lingered with sorrow—foreshadowing a guilt she held inside. Thad looked back, noticing her depressive tone. He not only heard it but saw it in her shaken, flashy pink eyes.

"I don't want to feel like I'm good for nothing, reliability."

"Are you saying this because of V?" Thad voiced his concern, regretting it immediately, thinking it would unprovokedly worsen her mood. She stayed silent, her eyes flickering with hesitation in their shaky movements.

"It wasn't just with V..."

"Doll too... Even if she's long gone, I still blame myself for letting her down like that. All because of some petty reason like someone being 'hotter' than her."

A faint sniffle came from Lizzy, making Thad fear the worst had overwhelmed her. "It's probably my fault she's dead now. She didn't have anyone besides me to watch her back, and I just ditched her—just like that."

Her face dropped, and bright pink tears formed—each hanging on before finally fumbling under their weight. She tried to hide them, pushing them away, yet they came more.

"J-just maybe... Maybe I can not be useless for once, you know?" Her sadness overwhelmed her—her words slurring in the sounds of her sniffling, stopping her between words. Eventually, she gave up on talking and moved into a knee tucked position, hiding her head within as the sounds of crying leaked out.

The sound of her bed ruffling and the squeaking of it sinking in from the side of her. Before she could understand what was going on, it answered with a faint warmth she could feel against her metal skin. Thad's arms wrapped around her head, setting her headband's cat ears to the side. He didn't know if what he was doing was going anywhere, but sitting there wasn't any better option either.

"Hey, you're not useless, and please don't call yourself such. You have your uses and talents that people can't pull off like you. Like, what if someone needs you to sew a piece of torn clothing? They would come to you. What if someone needs help deciding what to wear to Prom? Not everyone has good fashion choices like you, you know? But hear me out when I say this, Lizzy. If you ever think you're useless, it's never the case. You're just waiting till someone calls you for your expertise."

Lizzy's arms coiled around Thad's comforting embrace—desperately tightening her grip and pulling his arm down a bit. "I didn't want to show myself like this to anyone. No—not again." She admitted, her words coming hesitantly and touching.

"Thank you... Thad."

Silence filled the room again. The bed creaked as Sparky placed his head at the foot of her bed, pushing his metal snout into the soft sheets. Thad kept his hold on Lizzy's head tight. However, Lizzy's arms grew weak.

"Thad, can you—wait outside for a second? I just want to fix myself, and don't worry, you're fine."

Thad released his arms from around Lizzy's head. She immediately adjusted her cat ears back into position and straightened her stance to fix her hair, which Thad had unconditionally tampered with. "I'll let you know when you can come back in."

Thad had left the room with Sparky, who followed him. "Oh, hey Sparky. You didn't have to follow me out, too. I'm pretty sure she meant for me to leave." Sparky ignored him and sat in front of the door, waiting like a dog to be let back in after going outside for a break.

"Jeez, you know you used to dislike Lizzy, right?" Thad joked, finding it funny how his opinion of Lizzy had changed over the past two months. Thinking about how V's absence seemed to bring out a deeper mutual bond between them. Suddenly, whines came from Sparky as he lightly clawed at the door.

"Whoa, now, buddy. What's gotten into you? She just said she only... needed to..." His words slowed and softened. A faint noise from Lizzy's room spilled out, interrupting his train of thought. He let silence take over his words and thoughts, focusing on the muffled noise. It was sniffling. Lizzy was crying beyond the door.

Thad's eyes dulled in color and filled with guilt. "She's not crying because of what I said, right? Wait, no! She said I was fine. Did she just not want me to see?" His mind raced with assumptions after hearing her sorrowful cry that churned his stomach in an unsettling way. It was already upsetting to listen to a friend cry—let alone hear them cry out of sight, fearing judgment despite it never actually reaching them.

He wanted to open the door, but his hand froze before reaching the handle. Temptation was there, but he couldn't go against her word—wanting to try at least to comfort her, if that was what she wanted. Doing this was the only way he could comfort her.

He took a deep breath to set aside his worries and believe that crying would be helpful for her. His back leaned against the metal door, then slowly slumped against it, as he aimed to sit down in front of her doorstep. Sparky also came over to rest his head on Thad's forward legs. His whining turned into low, battered huffs. His cowboy hat tilted, but Thad adjusted it back to its normal position with just a finger. They sat and waited for about five minutes against the door. Lizzy's cries gradually faded until they were no longer heard, and after a few moments of eerie silence, she announced that they could come back in.

Lizzy waved happily at Thad and Sparky as they entered and sat on the floor next to the bed. "What's with you two? Why don't you sit back on the bed like before?" Lizzy's usual upbeat attitude masked her insecurities, which she wished would never surface.

Thad stayed quiet, despite Lizzy expecting him to say something to break the awkward silence. However, he couldn't shake the feeling that Lizzy had just cried her soul out moments ago. He wrung his fingers nervously, thinking of a way to change the shadowy, depressing mood that filled the room. His helplessness reminded him of what had recently happened with Ano, and thinking about it made him realize he might never get a chance to help her either. Still, he felt something that could cheer both Lizzy and Ano, hopefully.

"Hey, Lizzy." He called out, looking behind him to face her.

"Yeah? What?" Lizzy answered as usual.

Thad smiled, seeing she was back to normal, but the other side of her haunted him, as he still couldn't believe she was okay. Nonetheless, she sounded like it.

"Can you... Teach me how to sew?" Lizzy's eyes froze and stared in their neon hot pink color—delight and shock in them.

"Sew?"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a different part of the bunker, within the Doorman's household and inside Uzi's room, Nori sat on Uzi's bed, legs hanging over the side. Her hands were on her lap, clasped together shakily. She sat in eerie silence, reminiscing about her actions during Ano's attack on the bunker. Every time she thought about what she could have done differently, her body twitched in pain and agony as if a knife had been stabbed into her core and twisted violently.

When Ano batted her into a wall after finally making an appearance, Nori cracked her finger when she harmfully grabbed it, nearly breaking it.

"I could have dodged it..."

When she tried to stop Ano by throwing debris at her, it only helped a little for Uzi to run away, but not enough for Ano to catch her in the end. The more she thought about that act, the more she realized how useless it was if the outcome was unavoidable.

"I could have done something different..."

Even when she emerged from the rubble, she gradually but steadily began to recover from the injuries inflicted by Ano. She was still able to stand and walk—wobbling after each step she took, yet she pushed her way through the bunker to help out, but Uzi was gone.

"I was too late..."

"...again."

She snapped her finger forward, forcing it out of the socket, yet she kept it in place. Oil seeped between the creases, spoiling her lap and the oversized black T-shirt she wore. Her finger slowly regenerated, stopping the oil leakage and repairing itself, and she kept her fixated in thought, looking as if nothing had happened. Her frantic thoughts about finding ways to blame herself for Uzi's kidnapping continued and worsened her mood, which was already burdened by her perceived failure as a mother. She looked around Uzi's room, inspecting all her belongings.

Her constant solver ramblings and drawings reminded her of what she had unconditionally passed on to her daughter. Her dark, edgy aesthetic reflected her angsty personality, also reminding me of what she had passed on to her. The more she looked around her room, the more she realized how much Uzi had reflected her, despite the short time she had been in her life. Yet, she was a mirror of herself.

The thought made her mouth go dry as she realized how much she had passed down to her, shaping her into the person she was now. It was depressing to see how much her past traits had influenced Uzi's current self. But another feeling rose, with a tear ready to stream down her visor, not out of sadness but from self-awareness that her daughter resembled her so much. She was happy.

A bittersweet feeling soaked her as she kept glancing around Uzi's room blankly. She then paused her empty head movement as her face focused on a piece of paper stuck among Uzi's posted wall. She raised her hand and, using her solver, gently peeled the sticky note from the wall, making sure not to rip it, and brought it closer to see. What she saw was a drawing—scribbles or a doodle, perhaps, but it looked like a child trying to copy something they saw in a book. Still, the image was clear. It was a drawing of Uzi, indicated by the crossed-out battery in the middle of the torso, and to the left was presumably N, based on how they were smiling—something Nori wouldn't often or even ever expect V to do. The tiny details, such as small heads resembling people and what seemed to be a dog to the right of Uzi, added to the picture. But the biggest clue to the meaning of the drawing was the message inscribed on it.

"Thank you for being my friend."

The message was simple and cheesy, but it was comforting to Nori that, despite her long absence as a mother in Uzi's life, she had a constant presence—she had someone. The acknowledgment of N over the few months spent with Uzi symbolized something deep in Uzi that she valued greatly, and Nori could see it in the gratitude whenever they were together. Along with that reassurance that her daughter had someone, came a twinge of pity for herself—someone other than herself, as a Mother, and Khan, her Father, weren't the ones that sparked a positive change in their daughter's life. Someone else did—a stranger, and now a lover of her daughter. As wonderful as that sounded, Nori still wished she had spent more time with Uzi, but now she's gone—again.

Another tear shedded down from her visor as her right arm gently brushed against the paper. She then carefully used the solver to reattach the paper to the wall where it had been originally placed. She then got off the bed, straightened the covers where she had been sitting, and started to leave. She had to shift her concerns to the family still here, currently at the outpost.

[Knock Knock!] The sound of Uzi's door being knocked on came gently when Nori reached out to open the door.

"H-hello? Is someone... in there?" N's voice came from the other side. His voice was cracky and shaky. It sounded like he had just cried his soul out.

Nori didn't answer with words but instead opened the door to face him. He jumped, startled as if he didn't expect someone to be inside. "Hi, N," Nori spoke softly, her words trying to keep her composure. "What are you doing here?" She asked without hesitation. After she asked, she realized that there was no reason to question what he was doing in their room.

"Ah! N-nothing really. I just wanted to come here and... clear my mind a bit." He said a bit hesitantly, scratching his head as he spoke. Nori saw his unease and the undeniable fact that Uzi's absence was the reason for it. He looked just as distressed as she did.

His body language was strange and concerning. The way he scratched his arm from sudden discomfort—so forcefully that he scraped away the metal surface of his body. His hair was messier than usual, and his hat was off its normal position.

"Was I... bothering you?" He asked, lowering his voice as he started to step back. "I-I'll leave and go somewhere else if you want—"

"No, sorry. I have no right to question what you're doing here. This is your room. I'll leave," Nori said, walking past N, who moved out of her way as if repelled by her. Her movements were slow as she staggered toward the door, her arm stiff with discomfort, similar to N's.

But before she could leave, N hesitantly called out. "N-Nori, can I..." He blurted out a half-thought as he reached toward her, but stopped just inches from her shoulder. She turned her gaze back to him, her face darkening to express her displeasure.

He took a nervous gulp before speaking again. "Can I—I mean, can we talk?"

"About what?" She responded, a hint of annoyance in her tone, causing N to withdraw his hand from her shoulder.

"T-talk about..." His voice was shaky and weak.

Nori looked at him with a piercing, unprovoked glare. "If it's nothing, I'm leaving." She retorted and headed toward the entrance. N tried to reach out again but missed, hesitating once more, and his hand was too short to reach her shoulder. He took a deep breath and lowered his arm to his side.

"Uzi..." He muttered. "I wish for us to... talk about Uzi."

Nori stopped in her tracks but didn't turn to face him. She remained silent, creating a tense atmosphere around her that prompted N to speak more clearly. "Talk what for?" She said in an undertone and finally turned to face him.

He sighed again and rubbed his arm in nervous discomfort. "Listen, Nori. Her absence has been taking a toll on you, and Ashley told me that it would."

Nori clicked her tongue in annoyance. "What does she know about me and how a mother would feel when her child is taken away, let alone my husband is near death?!" She lashed out. "If that's all you came here to say to me, I'm leaving—" She said, turning around and quickly pacing to the door, but N's hand finally reached out to her to stop her.

That's what Miss Ashley said. However, I'd rather hear it from you. We both care about Uzi, and her absence has been weighing on us. I didn't come here to verify Miss Ashley's claims, and I apologize if it seemed that way. I came because I wanted to talk to you about Uzi—just a one-on-one conversation. I think it would be helpful for us, like a way to cope." He shared his bottled-up thoughts with confidence and an increasing sense of resolve as he spoke—showing it with a smile.

Nori's face showed a hint of morality after hearing N's words when she turned around, but she hid it from N's view. She didn't say anything as she turned to him, but instead walked past him and back into Uzi's room. "Fine, let's talk," She said. N smiled softly, glad that Nori accepted his offer, and entered the room as well.

N sat in Uzi's office chair while Nori sat in the same spot she had before leaving, on the side of Uzi's bed. They didn't speak for a while, filling the room with awkwardness despite their familiarity. Nori looked down at her lap, where she was fiddling with her fingers, while N watched her, trying to find a way to bring up Uzi. But then, something caught the corner of his eye.

"Oh, why are you out of place?" N said, getting out of his chair and walking to a wall where Uzi had many posters up. He grabbed his drawing of him and Uzi and fixed it along the wall, tilting it back to its normal position. "Maybe I should use more tape." He thought to himself.

"Sorry, that was my doing. I wanted to take a look at it," Nori said from behind. "It's a good drawing of you two." She added.

"Oh! D-don't be sorry, it's nothing really. Honestly, thank you for pointing it out. I'm actually glad you could tell it was me and Uzi. I couldn't tell at first, even though I was drawing it, but I plan to redraw it soon. I've been practicing drawing lately." He expressed joy humbly.

"I'm surprised you noticed the drawing was out of place. I had even carefully put it back after I looked at it."

"Oh, I notice a lot of things, especially stuff like this, and besides. Uzi's my girlfriend, I gotta pay attention to things when it involves her." Pride soaked in his words as he stood tall, looking at the wall and making sure there wasn't anything else out of place.

"Oh... I see." Nori's words carried a hint of sadness. N turned back to her after hearing her voice, which was now fading, and sorrow showed in both her voice and her body as she sat on Uzi's bed.

"Nori? Is something wrong? I-I mean, I know Uzi's absence has been affecting you because you're her mother and everyone else. I mean, that's why I wanted us to talk it out..." He clarified, sitting down in the chair, slowly scotching to her.

"But I have a feeling something else is bothering you."

Nori tightly composed herself in discomfort when N caught onto her. "You're good at reading people. You probably can read Uzi better than I can." N approached her, noticing she lowered her head as he did, hiding the fact that she was breaking character.

"And I'm supposed to be her—her mother?" Her voice finally surrendered to the resistance of her pride. Her hands clenched tightly around her trembling legs. Sniffling sounded from her. She was crying. N's first instinct was to comfort her with a hug, but not knowing if Nori would like that, he instead sat there in the chair, holding back his urge to comfort her.

"How can I call myself a mother if I'm not there for her when she needs me the most?! I wasn't even in her life until recently, yet I haven't done a damn thing to bond with her during that time—the daughter I waited years to see again!" She exclaimed.

"I used to believe she was happy to see me again after so long, but over the past few months, I haven't sensed that emotion from her after I told her everything. All I've sensed was frustration and neglect because not only did I tell her the reason why I disappeared for those years, but she thought I was truly dead and gone because of it. I still regret not informing her or even Khan that I was still alive after that incident."

"Maybe if I told them, just maybe... I wouldn't feel like the failure of a mother and a woman to them."

"Nori..." N reached out but hesitated to put his hand on Nori's. She looked at him with tears in her eyes, about to fall, and swatted his hand away.

"I'm sorry. I'm just venting about my insecurities regarding Khan, mainly Uzi. It's just... seeing Uzi with you? I can only feel envy and wishfulness that I had a connection like that with her from the very start. The way I see her enjoying every moment with you makes me happy because she's happy, but it's not with me—it's with you—once a complete stranger to her, and now you've built an unbreakable bond. A bond of trust, love, and care."

"But now, looking at it and how she is with me... I don't even think she sees any of that in me... If anything, I think she hates me."

"Nori!" N unconsciously raised his voice at her and jumped out of his seat. Nori slowly made eye contact with him as he stood nearly towering over her. His face showed frustration, with a tear of pity on his face. He looked angry—primarily frustrated.

He looked at her with that expression until he finally snapped back to his senses and sank back into the seat. "I-I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I just didn't like how you said—Uzi hates you. Why would you want to believe that? I'm not a parent or anything, so I can't speak for how you feel, but I wouldn't think Uzi hates you because of your absence in her life."

Nori heard him, but that didn't change how she saw herself in Uzi's eyes. "We had our first mother-daughter talk a few days ago," She mentioned, going back to interlacing her fingers. "I wish it had been something more positive than what it was for our first conversation, but it was still a conversation with my daughter." She hesitated, avoiding the topic, but she wanted to discuss it.

"Can I ask what you guys were talking about? I mean, if it's none of my business, I won't pry anymore, but I do want to help you, Nori. I don't want you to think Uzi hates you in any way, shape, or form. I want to reassure you that Uzi loves you. She might not show it, but I'm sure you hold a special place in her heart, just like Khan." N placed a hand on her shoulder, reaching out from his seat, and offered her a comforting smile.

Nori didn't make eye contact and only signed. N removed his hand and waited patiently for Nori's response.

"I wanted to apologize to her." She announced.

N opened his mouth to ask why she was apologizing to Uzi, but that sounded stupid and ignorant given what she had already said about how she felt earlier. Instead of wishing for further elaboration, he stayed quiet. It was better to let her talk without interrupting.

"I want to apologize to her for not being there in her life. You say she doesn't hate me for it, but you're not a parent, so I doubt you really understand how I feel about this. It's not just that I think Uzi hates me—it's that I really hate myself."

"Y-you hate your...self?" N unconditionally blurted out his thoughts. He immediately covered his mouth, but what was said was heard, and Nori didn't even bat an eye, yet it was a question she wanted to ask herself.

"Earlier this week, or maybe even later than that, while we were rebuilding the disassembly drones and testing Uzi's solver commands, she was over them. She lashed out at me when I commented on her IG. I laughed at her for using such a cringeworthy, corny name until she told me she got it from me. Because it was one of the few things that showed her what kind of person I was."

"O-oh..." N commented, sounding extinguished.

"I didn't know how much she reflected on me until I saw it." She said, glancing around the room. "Her ego, her outfit, her interests, her concepts—her room. She really wanted to be as 'cool' as I am or as cool as she thought of me." A sniffle came from Nori, but it was in the mix of a sad sniffle and a chuckle.

"I thought I was cool too, especially at her age, and sometimes back when I was in the labs. You know, that 'angsty rebellious teen' phase. If you wanted to define what 'cool' means, I was glad she even saw me like that. It made me feel warm inside. But now... I don't see myself as cool or anything positive to her—just a deadbeat mom who abandoned her as a kid. And now... she's out of my life again, and I did nothing to stop it."

Nori closed her eyes in deep sorrow and sighed. She calmed herself, feeling herself slipping into a depression she didn't want others to see. "And I was trying to do better for her. How is this better?"

"Nori..." N called out to her. She glanced to the side to look at N. They shared the same sad, expressive face. Something about his shared expression reminded him of a feeling of guilt he also carried within himself.

She saw his look, but a surge of envy led her to think he was just trying to comfort her. "You know, N. I'm very grateful that you involved yourself in her life. I see how much of an influence you've had ever since she told me about you."

"O-oh... she has? I hope she didn't say anything embarrassing about me." N said, scratching his head as he spoke.

"She did." Nori laughed under her breath.

"Ahaaa—did she now?" He laughed embarrassedly.

Nori side-eyed him before lowering her gaze. "I'm grateful she met someone like you, truly. I'm saying that for her sake but also for mine..." N quickened his pace, dropping the subconscious, embarrassed tone he had upon hearing Nori's heart-touching words. "I said I was grateful for your presence in Uzi's life, yes, that is true with my whole being. However, I'm filled with jealousy to see that someone—a complete stranger and once a sworn enemy to my people—has become so important and valuable in my daughter's life. Not her father, not even her mother—it was you."

"Nori...I didn't mean to make you feel that way—"

"I know!" She yelled out. "I-I know... I'm not blaming you or anything of that matter. I said I was grateful, and I am, yet I can't help but hate myself for not being there for her instead! I'm her mother, am I not?!" Nori jumped off the bed and waltzed to the wall of posters in front of her. "It's dumb, hypocritical, and ungrateful of me to think this way, but ever since she lashed out at me for not being there, for not telling her I was alive... I couldn't stop shaming myself. She knows my reason for leaving her was to save her from Cyn. She even told me not to be too hard on myself about it, but I know deep down—she's disappointed in me." She explained with her body rattling as she moved around in discomfort, sniffling in the middle of her words, and pausing every few seconds after she made a point.

She took a deep breath and sighed. "I don't hate you, N, honestly, besides you being a murder drone dating my daughter. But I can't use that as an excuse for all the things you've done for her, because all you've done for her is fill in that empty gap of having someone to depend on. A role I was supposed to fulfill." She sat back down on the bed in the same manner before she left it.

"I just wanna say thank you for that—thank you for fulfilling a role I couldn't."

"NORI!" N yelled outwardly, shocking Nori. His voice echoed loudly in and out of the room. Nori slowly turned her head to see his face, which was closed yet unrestrained, as if he wanted to say something for the longest time. He opened his eyes, which were filled with heavy, shaking tears that he tried to shed.

"W-what is wrong with you? W-why are you... crying?"

"Because you keep saying negative things about yourself as a mother and describing a heartbreaking, one-sided mother-daughter relationship, which is making me cry!"

"I-I'm sorry? It's just how Uzi sees me—"

"No, it isn't!" He quickly stood up from his chair, jolting it back and knocking it slightly into Uzi's desk. "I don't know much about you and Uzi's relationship as mother and daughter, but trust me when I say that Uzi doesn't hate you. She might not be able to express herself in a way that wouldn't make you think how she's feeling, but..."

"She doesn't hate you. She's just... neglectful and has trouble accepting that her mother is back in her life now." He said.

"Trouble accepting that she has a mother in her life," Nori repeated. "Yeah, how could she accept a failure like me?"

"That's not the point! The point is, she wants to bond with you! She wants the experience of having her mom in her life, as if she had never left. But she couldn't because hey! It's my fault. I spend the most time with her, so I'm sorry. However, whenever she hangs out with you or Khan, I encourage her to do that, and when she is already with you guys, I stay quiet when y'all talk. Not just because she wants to talk to you, but I want her to speak to you. I want her to build the bond she's always wished for! Don't you get it—?!" N words yelled at Nori like a needed reality check. However, his tone of voice was aggressive and direct, and until he noticed his tone, he sighed and sat humbly back in the chair.

"I-I'm sorry, Nori. I just..."

"I just couldn't stand you saying all of that about yourself regarding Uzi. Please understand I didn't mean any harm. I just... errr," He apologized, groaning, slouching further in the chair, and resting his hand on his head in frustration.

"N-no... I understand. I know you didn't mean any harm. If anything, I'm sorry for this..." She took a deep breath before making a humbled chuckle. "I'm not being my usual self right now, and it's probably this very thought process that's bothering me. Even Khan noticed my behavior ever since I started reflecting on my actions."

"Yeah... I'd be lying if I said I hadn't noticed it early. That's why I wanted to talk to you. You're not the only one trying to do best for Uzi. We both are..."

"And here I thought you were the ideal person for her. What possibly could she want changed from you?" Nori scoffed, looking at N as he scooted closer to the bed in the chair.

"Well, she wants me to become more selfish and know my worth. She keeps telling me to do things for myself instead of others. I've been trying, but I can't really seem to get a glimpse of it. Being selfish feels... eh, never mind it. I just know that if that's what she wants from me, I will do my best. I think you should do the same."

Nori's eyes widen before dimming down in their color and dilating to normal once more. "To be brutally honest... I don't even know what she wants from me. I had believed she wanted me in her life as a mother who protects her from anything, but I don't really know. It's not like I could understand what she thinks."

"..."

"Hey, um... Nori? I know this sounds insensitive or contradictory to what I said about knowing how you feel as a parent, but you mentioned you couldn't read Uzi as well as I could, right?"

"Yeah, what's your point?" She replied, her tone welcoming and sounding like her usual self.

"How about instead of believing what you think you know about Uzi, why not hear it from someone who does know... Uzi? Like me?" He offered as he sat across from Nori in the chair. Nori sat in silence, considering whether she should listen to him further. What he said earlier was the truth, and she'd be lying to herself if that didn't make her feel better, but this was harder to think about.

"Fine. What is it?" She accepted his aid.

N took a deep breath before speaking, prolonging the suspense in the room and Nori's thoughts, worsening his thoughts about what he could say.

"Nori." He called out, meeting his eyes with hers. "Uzi doesn't want you to play the protective parent role—trying to do everything it takes to protect her."

"Then what—?"

"Just listen to me for a second!" He cut her off, raising his voice before calming down again. "You know her and have seen her fight against Cyn and even me during some fighting exercises. She's a capable fighter, and she can protect herself. I'm sure there will be a time when she asks for your protection, but it's not something she wants all the time. And honestly, that's not what she said she wished from you."

Nori hesitated to ask him to elaborate further—fearing what role Uzi wants her to play. Her face showed distress as she thought negatively about it. Her mind longed for an answer she wished to hear, yet that fear inside urged her to stay unofficial. She fought against her twitchy body movements and remained still. After a long, eerie silence, her voice emerged clear as her devotion to her daughter.

"What did she wish for me? What does she want me to do for her? Tell me now, N. Please."

"She just wants you in her life, Nori."

Silence swept the room in a warm, bittersweet atmosphere. N stared at Nori as she lowered her gaze, keeping her expression hidden. "So you're saying I should just be a normal, boring mother?"

"W-what! No! That's not what I meant!" N panicked, shaking his head and hands in denial.

A faint laugh escaped from Nori, causing N to pause. "I'm just kidding, N. Jeez, you need to learn how to take a joke," Nori replied humorously, leaning back into her pose and flaring her feet up and down over the bed.

"H-huh?! How could I! I didn't want you to think I meant it in a bad way!"

"I know, I know. I just wanted to see how you would react." Nori laughed a bit, ceasing her kicking movement, but stayed in her leaned-back pose.

N's panicked expression remained fixed on his face as he froze in hindsight after Nori said it was a joke. He sank back into the chair, crossing his arms in frustration, and a pouting face appeared, highlighting his earlier panic. "That was a horrible joke, Nori."

Nori's smug expression gradually shifted to a forced acceptance that her action was wrong. "Yeah, it was."

"Then why'd you say it?" He muttered frustratedly.

"Hmph." She scoffed. The room fell into silence again, and the mood subtly shifted into a comedic tone.

"Is that all she wants me to do? Just be in her life?"

N shrugged off his frustrated attitude and faced Nori. "Yeah... I don't know the details of what she meant by that. It might not be playing the protective cool mother role you think it is. I mean, it does sound cool, but knowing Uzi..."

"I think seeing her mom every day is good enough for her."

Nori took a deep sigh. "And here I thought I could fit that cool mother description Khan told me she wanted." Her depressed tone returned suddenly, startling N again.

"Ah! H-hey! I'm sure she would love that from time to time! N-now that I think about it, you both have that highly protective dynamic going on involving your significant others! Protective mom, protective daughter, like mother, like daughter, they say! Is that what they say?!" N flung around as he tried to boost the mood with family-bonding concepts he knew little to nothing about.

"Yeah, guess we'll have to see when we see her again." Nori jumped out from the bed and did a behind-the-back arm stretch. "I should go check up on my husband." She said, nearing the exit.

"Oh, okay, I suppose I'll come with you. I don't have really anything better to do until we make up a plan to save Uzi." N got up and followed behind Nori as they started to leave the room and headed towards Ashley's laboratory.

"Yeah... Ironically enough, I already thought about some things and even have an escape route."

"WHAT?! When did you think of this?!" He yelled from behind, deafening Nori.

"Damn it, N, would you quiet down! It's only fleshed out, and I don't have all the details. Just wait until I've fully thought it through. You said we're both in this together, so just calm down." She said, holding the side of her head in pain.

"Oh, right, sorry." N apologized.

Nori checked her hearing system before focusing ahead. "Although... the details of our escape I have are pretty vivid. I can at least tell you a little bit about that." Nori glanced back to see the expression he made when she mentioned that.

"Hmph~ It does include one of those tentacle monsters we saw earlier."

N stopped walking for a moment. Nori noticed it after a few more peaceful steps. "Huh?" She turned around.

"Nori, um, didn't Ano kill it?" He asked, his voice filled with confusion, while Nori turned to him with a smirk, arms wrapped around her neck.

"Yes, but... there's another one."