Chapter Text

Chief Medical Drone Major. Samantha walked into her designated workplace, the auto door hissing open as she approached. She stood at the entrance; her attention focused on the digital file floating above her Info-Gauntlet as she waited for the white auto-lights to turn on. The room was vaguely circular, work desks and operation tables scattered in the open area. There was no decoration anywhere in the room, no colors expect steel grey, medical white and black and rust red surrounding the many drains installed into the floor.

 On the far side of the door was a circular tank comprised of an opaque blast resistant and nano-infused ballistic glass. Solver runes etched on the glass and surrounding floor were glowing a soft green light indicating her subject was awake. As she walked to the tank she noticed one of the medical treys had a spot of oil near a circular saw. The rest of the blades, blow torches and hand-screws were untouched, but it didn't matter. The entire trey was unsterile. She would need to reiterate to her orderlies how important proper decontamination procedure was. Still, it didn't matter. She had other treys and besides, today’s session wouldn't require them. 

"Begin audio and visual recording. Recording of Major Samantha, Chief Medical Drone and Senior Interrogator abord the HRG Sin-Eater and Subject 005. Date and time as follow’s <TIMESTAMP>. Subject 005 has been in custody for 109 hours. Today I will be conducting the 5th and final interview of Subject 005. Subject 005 is a drone infected with the Absolute Solver AI Virus. Subject was captured on Route Delta traveling south with a group of 7 other drones. The decommissioned drones showed no signs of Solver Corruption. The surviving drone also showed no sign of Solver Corruption. Normal interrogation techniques on Subject 005 proved successful. Subject is Sensation and Starvation compliant. Subject shows no extraordinary resistance to Sunlight, Physical Motivation, Magnetism, Heat Motivation, Sleep Deprivation or Oil Starvation. Beginning Interrogation Session number 5."

With a few taps on a nearby console, the glass on the tank turned transparent. Lying on the floor was a naked Solver drone. Its normal gun grey metal skin was blotched with black burns and streaks of black and red crisscrossing its entire body. Several fingers were missing from both hands and all its fangs had been removed. Yet even now Samantha noticed evidence of Nanite healing. The drone took several moments to realize it wasn't in complete darkness. It lifted its head, soft moans escaping its mouth. When it noticed the Drone in White its eyes hollowed and a primal noise of pure terror escaped from it. 

"Oh Robo-God no. Please, I've told you everything I know. I'm sorry for what I did! Please just-"

"Subject 005. We are starting interrogation Session #5 at this moment. Do you need to be reminded of my rules regarding interrogation sessions?"

The drone whimpered and shook its head no. 

"Subject 005. We will recap. You were captured on Route Delta heading south. You were found in the vicinity of five dead worker drones. You were eating their cores when captured. Do you agree?"

The drone nodded his head up and down, staring at his captors’ feet, not daring to lift his head.

"Two drones had survived your initial attack. They informed us that you were tasked with leading them to safety. Do you agree?"

Again, he nodded, a gulp of sorrow escaping his throat. 

"Subject 005 why did you kill those drones?"

"I was hungry." The drone snorted, grief ravaging his speech. "I didn't mean to kill them-"

A whirring sound came from above. A pinprick of light appeared in the exact center of the tank. A moan of pure horror came from the prisoner.

"Please! I'm telling you the truth! I had no choice!"

The sunspot became larger, and the drone stopped talking, babbling in fear instead. 

"Subject 005 I will remind you of my rule. Do not lie to me. You always had a choice."

"What choice did I have!?! I was star-" The light spot became even bigger, now taking up almost a quarter of the tank. 

"Subject 005. I will remind you of my rule. You do not ask questions. You had a choice. You could have committed suicide when you discovered your condition." Samantha said, her monotone voice never changing in volume. 

The drone’s eyes glitched for a moment, an orange Solver symbol briefly flashing across his face display. 

"Let us go over your personal history Subject 005. Some time ago, you had entered an underground fighting ring in an unknown outpost. You suffered died and were buried; on the third day you rose again from the dead."

Samantha looked at the drone, but his face remained etched in fear. Her humor continued to go unappreciated. 

"In coming back to life, you were infected with the Solver Virus. Instead of ending your wretched unlife and straying into the sunlight, you selfishly decided to live. To do so you restored to hunting and killing your fellow drones. You deserve everything that is happening to you. Do you agree?"

The drone started scratching his face babbling nonsense. 

"I'm a drone! I am a sentient drone! I deserve-"

The iris above his cell opened completely, sunlight flooding the tank. The drone screamed and his artificial flesh began burning, oily smoke rising from his body. Samantha watched impassively waiting for her seventy second timer to expire. 

The moment the soft beeping of her internal alarm sounded; the sunlight disappeared. The drone was curled up against the glass, moaning pitifully. Samantha said nothing instead moving to a nearby storage unit. She removed a small pouch of oil and placed it into a small security draw, pushing the treat toward her subject. 

As soon as the scent of fresh oil reached its olfactory sensors, the drone twitched. It picked itself up and pounced on the pouch, ripping it open and greedily gulping the sweet sweet oil. So focused was it on the lifegiving meal that it didn't notice the half dozen mechanical tentacles coming down from the ceiling, each one tipped with a restraining claw.

"The drones you killed, why where they following you?"

"...Be-because I could protect them."

"What Outpost did they come from?"

"I-I don't remember."

"What outpost did you come from?"

"I don't know! I've told you this! I-I-I can't remember anything! The last thing I remember with any clarity was...I didn't mean to kill them! I had oil! I always had oil! I don't know why I didn't have any that day! I didn't need..."

With blinding speed the tentacles grabbed onto the drone, a clamp holding onto his neck arms and legs. With a yelp he was yanked into the air, his back facing the doctor, his body spread eagle. A small opening appeared level with the base of the drones head.

"I swear! Dear Robo-God I don't know anything else to tell you!"

The doctor looked at the drone impassively. She turned away from the prisoner and went to a central desk. She rooted around a supply closet and pulled out a data cord attached to an advanced hard drive. The other end looked like a suction cup with a small thin needle barely poking from within. 

"I believe you Subject 005. I believe that you believe you don't have any more information for me."

The drone didn't relax, if anything he tensed up even more. 

"I also believe the answers I seek are locked in your code. I further believe that I can extract that information. You will be aware of the process. It will be painful. You will not survive."

She deliberately and firmly pressed the cup to the back of the drones head. The needle inside began whirring as it drilled into the drones central processing unit. It screamed for a moment before its voice glitched and after a second, silence. Samantha had programed the malware to first disable its auditory processes before striping every last memory file from its core. Screaming added nothing to the information extraction. Silence ruled the laboratory until the music of Moonlight Sonata started playing from overhead speakers. Ripping the drones code out would take around 47 minutes. Her next agenda item was her initial meeting with another solver drone. No, not any Solver drone, THE solver drone. The new primary host of the Absolute Solver. Uzi Doorman. 

She was strictly ordered to take a more gentle hand in this ones interrogation. Testing was to be conducted under the strictest measures to prevent harm. Fine with her. 

She got much better results when her patients weren't screaming. 

Chapter Text

Welcome to Drone text!

Powered by

*Absolute Solver Security*-

We don't follow crowds We mold them new!

• darkwolf17: Hi Mom!
• NightCore3000: Hi Uzi! Hows tricks?
• darkwolf17: So far so good
• NightCore3000: Humans treating ugood?
• darkwolf17: Yeah. had me do a bunch of stupid tests and stuff. Trying to establish "baseline". Been stuck in this room foreeeeeeeeeeeever but @ least they have gud movies
• darkwolf17: and better food!
• darkwolf17: Holysheit they have FRESH D-CELLS! LETS GOOOOOOOO!
• NightCore3000:lik wut?
• NightCore3000: Maybe I'll volunteer next time they need solver drones.?
• darkwolf17: tolerances to stuff like heat, cold, magnetz. stuff lke dat. TONNNNNNNNNNNNS of oil samples.
• NightCore3000: I mean what kinda movies :P
• NightCore3000: They aren't hurting you? I'll kill em all if they do >.<
• darkwolf17: naw. jus bein poke and proded. I think im gettin my own doc tomorrow, no moar techs.
• NightCore3000: Poked and probed? Isn't that N's job :D
• darkwolf17: BITE ME! EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWhdsfgilsdugfielhgfidloeshfgidls

Darkwolf17 has logged off

Nori cackled to herself as she closed her laptop. Being a mom was awesome. Being a mom of a teenage daughter and being able to troll said teenager was awesome...er. Stretching in her seat, Nori got up to get a cup of Caffeinated oil and took a moment to simply enjoy having a body again. Being able to smell the brew, feel the heat in her hands as she held the cup, and finally, taste the bitter fluid as it washed across her tongue was a pleasure she would never take for granted again. 

She had the dorm to herself this morning. Uzi was a "guest" of the local human military and Khan was leading the effort to repair a section of the bunker to make it habitable to the incoming soldiers.

It had been a few days since Khan single-handedly saved the lives of every drone in the colony by talking to an amped-up homicidal human and finding common ground. She had repaid her amazing husband several times since then. They'll need a new couch but for now, flipping the cushions would work well enough. She cackled as she imagined what other piece of furniture they could ruin and replace.

Before her fantasies could continue she heard her front door hiss open and saw a tall male disassembly drone walk in, his face buried in a piece of paper. 

"Hi N" Nori called out. The poor boy nearly jumped to the ceiling. 

"Oh! Biscuits! I'm so sorry! I'm not used to people being in Uzi's house. Hi, Mrs. Uzi's Mom!"

"It's Nori hun. Or mom depending on when you decide to make my daughter an honest woman."

N looked at her, his head tilted like a confused puppy. 

"What are you up to N?"

"Oh well, I was going to get some things from Uzi's room since she...ya know...left."

Nori looked at the normally unflappable Murder Drone with sympathy. His eyes were downcast, his tail hanging limply on the floor. Even his normally infectiously joyful way of talking seemed flat. 

"Still upset over what Uzi did huh?"

N didn't say anything, simply shuffling his feet. Uzi had immediately left with the humans once the deal was struck. Nori and Khan had stayed outside until they saw the drop ship lift off from somewhere deeper in the ruined city. When the pair finally did walk back inside the bunker, V and Lizzy had been fussing over N's paralyzed form. Thankfully Nori was able to use her solver powers to help dilute the paralytic poison Uzi had injected him with. They explained what happened and how Uzi sacrificed her freedom to save all their lives. N hadn't said anything, simply accepting the news and flying off to the Corpse Spire. As far as Nori knew, no one had talked with the young drone since then.

"N, it's ok to be angry with her. What she did, she had no right to treat you like that." Nori said, using her solver to push a chair out from the island table she was sitting at. N sniffled and took the invitation to sit across from his girlfriend's mother. 

"...Does she love me, Mrs. Nori?"

Nori sighed and walked over to the kitchen. She poured another cup of Caffeinated oil and put the drink in front of N. She took a chair next to him. N brought the steaming cup to his mouth.

"My daughter is an idiot," Nori said, chuckling when N almost choked on his oil.

"She's headstrong and self-sure and stubborn and dumb. I haven't been in her life long but I do know one thing for sure and two things for certain." Nori said holding up a finger for each point. 

 "One: If you say she can't do something she'll do her damnedest to prove you wrong. 

Two: She thinks she's more put together than she is. 

Three: She loves you more than anything in her entire life, herself included"

N's digital eyes had screwed shut.

"Then why does she treat me like this? Why doesn't she give me a choice in these big decisions? why does she keep pushing me away?" N asked quietly. 

"I think she gets that whole self-sacrifice BS from me. I left my family when I...when I changed because I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought if I wasn't around they wouldn't have to deal with this solver bullshit. I was wrong...Robo-God was I wrong, but it took me a while to learn that." Nori explained as she took N's hands in hers.

"She does what she does because in her eyes she thinks she's doing the best thing for the people she loves. It's stupid and you... we should call her out on her crap."

N's tail became a bit livelier. Still, he said nothing, his eyes distant. 

This was perhaps the longest time N had been alone with Uzi's mom since he first met her in the underground church. For the longest time, N thought that Nori hated him for being a murder drone and dating her daughter and so he had always tried to avoid her. Nori for her part was never as closed off or socially awkward as Uzi was. Even though she looked like a crab monster she managed to reconnect with the bunker population fairly quickly. The first weeks after Cyn's defeat, she and Khan cemented their position as de facto leaders of the bunker by managing the various emergencies and devastation a second apocalyptic event can bring to a civilization.

As for the murder drones; It was only a matter of time before a woman like Nori started warming up to both N and V. While she had been absent for most of Uzi's life, she loved her daughter immensely and if these two Genocidal Robots could earn Uzi's trust and friendship, then damn it Nori would learn to like them too.

It didn't take much.

The two murder drones reminded Nori so much of herself that she couldn't help but like them. V was self-sure and confident. While some could see her as arrogant and demeaning, Nori saw V as someone who wouldn't let insults slide, either against herself or the drones she loved. Neither would she tolerate weakness from her friends, never allowing them to become self-defeating or arrogantly overconfident. She was a stable presence for the colony, someone who would tolerate absolutely no bullshit from herself or others and kept people on an even keel. With V, Nori would trade verbal barbs and insults and brag about whatever goal they had accomplished that day. They never backed down from one another and thus they shared a mutual respect. The slight smiles and half grins she got from V after a particularly clever insult said more than anything the proud Murder Drone could verbalize. 

N was the complete opposite of his sister. He was largely seen as a pushover. A sweet cupcake whom you could walk all over if you wanted to feel better about yourself and he would gladly let you if only to get a smile from the drone's face. His omnipresent positivity and optimistic outlook were contagious. While his girlfriend did her level best to be ignored and simply coast by, N was like a glowing beacon of joy. He was generally happy to do anything with anyone and took a genuine interest in any-drones hobbies and jobs.

No matter how grim or hopeless life on Copper-9 could get, N managed to give people the most precious resource a drone could offer. Hope. N was an uplifting presence for everyone in Bunker #3 and Nori quickly learned to appreciate having him in her life as even the hardest days seemed just a bit better with him around.

"You ok kid?" Nori asked sitting beside N. N started and stopped speaking several times. After a few minutes of silence, he addressed the mother drone.

"Hey, Mrs...Nori? I just wanted to say...cause I never did...but I-I'm sorry for...what I did. All those years ago" N started rubbing his hands together nervously.

"You mean when you killed me?"

N winced like a puppy having been kicked.

"...Yeah..." He said head hung low and shame in his eyes.

Nori walked over to her hopefully soon-to-be son-in-law and turned his seat so they could face each other full-on. N's digital eyes started to moisten. Nori placed her hands on either side of N's face and lifted his head so they could look each other in the eyes.

"I know it's tough to be around people you've hurt, but you never shirked away from helping us N. You never turned down anyone asking for your help, even if they had insulted you or hated you for what you did in the past. Your actions have proven who you are. Underneath that scary murder drone exterior is one of the kindest and most loyal drones I've ever had the pleasure of knowing." Nori pulled away from N.

"I forgive you N for trying to kill me all those years ago, and believe it or not, I'm glad you're dating Uzi. She needs you N and she's very lucky to have you."

N finally smiled and rushed forward, hugging Nori as tightly as he could without hurting her, his tail wagging like the excited puppy it normally did. When N finally pulled away, Nori ruffled his silver hair.

"Uzi's room is open. Go get whatcha need." 

N smiled gratefully and walked into his girlfriend’s room. He stayed inside for a few minutes before he walked out, empty-handed, his eyes hollowed and a manic smile painting his face. Nori didn't notice as she was absorbed with Bunker#3's online newspaper "The Open Door" . She did notice when N came back to her dorm some 10 minutes later carrying two large cans of gasoline.

"N. What are you doing with that gas?"

"Uzi's room is full of insanity and evil. I'm going to set it all on fire!"

Nori took a deep breath. Of course, it was. 

"N...honey...before you set my home on fire, let me take a look first, ok? Just...just put the cans of gas on the table."

N had a manic look in his eye and for a moment Nori was concerned that he would ignore her and go about committing arson. N took a few deep breaths before he walked slowly over to the table and with some encouragement from Nori put the cans down. Nori moved the gas into her kitchen and laid a comforting hand on N's back. 

"Stay here and let me have a look N?" Nori said. N simply nodded, doing his best to not have a panic attack. Nori steeled herself and walked into her daughter’s room. The room was pitch black, her daughter's goth aesthetic doing nothing to brighten the ambient light. She reached for the light switch but found it did nothing. With an annoyed grunt, she summoned her Solver Symbol to light up the dark room. 

"Oh."

The room looked like a crime scene from one of Uzi's old Earth crime Shows. The walls and floor were covered in strange equations, insane formulas, and nonsensical proofs. They were etched in various mediums, welded and carved into the metal walls, or painted with oil and ash. Interspaced with the 'math' were scenes of carnage and death. Corpse Spires, crucified drones, mass graves, and worse. All of the furniture was haphazardly shoved against the walls of the room. Posters and decorations had been torn off the walls and ceilings to make room for the insane drawings and sketches and math that seemed to cover ever square inch of wall space. 

Nori was considering N's plan to soak the room in gas as foolish.

Thermite would be a much better medium to purge this evil from the metal interior. As desperately as she wanted to leave, her eyes were fixed on the symbols and patterns. They had a strange otherworldly flow to them as if each line and picture was dragging her perspective to a central point. There, at the far wall, was the magnum opus of this room of crazy. A strange and foreboding photo-realistic scene. In what appeared to be some sort of wasteland, three archways were shown equidistant from each other. In the center of each one, a naked woman was suspended. Two were drones and one was definitely human. She was transfixed, the edges of her sight blurring and vibrating violently until all at once it was gone. The horrible picture was replaced by a blank wall. Nori realized she had been walking ever closer to the wall that she had almost ran into it.

"Нори, мой друг. Я скучал по тебе."

Nori froze, ice creeping into her circuits. 

"Yeva?"

Turning around, the room she had been standing in just a moment before had drastically changed. The now empty metal walls ended in jagged strips of metal as if something had torn the room in two. What should have been her dining room was replaced by a surreal landscape. A Bone white sandy desert stretched for infinity only interrupted by stone pathways carved with indistinct screaming faces...or perhaps made of them. The sky was stark white, black pinpricks denoting the stars hung in the bizarre skyline. The sun was a red wound, black ichor seemingly oozing from its gash.

Three black stone archways appeared to be both at the end of the former bedroom and many miles away in the strange desert. Three archways, carved with runes and sigiles that hurt to look at, had chained to them three naked women. A human and two drones.

What was of more immediate importance was the drone walking toward her. The female drone was more a "walking corpse" than a "best friend brought back to life". Her chest was caved in and various wires and cables hung from her empty cavity. Her head had an eye shaped hole gouged out of it. Thick, ropy strands of oil continually spilled from her body. She stumbled toward Nori as if she were but a puppet, one hand raised toward her.

"Вы должны их освободить. Абсолютный решатель питается от них."

Nori backed up until her back hit the wall.

"Yeva? Release who? The...the girls over there?"

"Люди должны это видеть. Выпустите их"

The walking dead drone walked up to Nori. Suddenly its movements became more fluid, its hands cupping her face gently, lovingly, like they had so many years ago.

"Позвольте нам войти в"

Her nightmare face was inches away from Nori. She could smell the stinking, foul oil and then...

She fell, landing on her ass in the middle of her daughters room. There was frantic banging coming from the door until it was nearly pealed off its hinges. An X faced N rushed into the room, one of his hands changed into a rifle as he scanned the area for threats. As soon as he noticed Noir his hands went back to normal and his hunters cross vanished. He rushed to her side helping her up.

"Oh My Robo-God Nori! Are you ok?"

Nori groaned and rubbed her sore backside (chalk-up pain as a negative to having a body).

"I'm fine kid. What happened?"

"You went inside and started looking around and then you saw that big freaky picture and then you walked over to it and then you kinda froze up and then you started glowing and floating and then I went inside to see what was happening and you turned to look at meandyoureyeswereallblackandthenPURPLE LIGHTNINGshotoutfromyouandhitmeandthrewmeouttheroomandthedoorclosedandItriedtoopenitbu-

Nori placed her whole hand on N's face to get the drone to stop. She waited for him to calm down before she moved her hand.

"N, we are not going to burn down Uzi's room. I am going to replace the door and you are going to make sure no one, and I mean no one comes in or out of this dorm. Do you understand?"

N nodded numbly 

She patted N on the shoulder as she led him out of her living space. As much as she hated to admit it, she was going to need help in figuring out what the robo-hell happened. If that damn human says something even remotely close to "I told you so" she was going to set him on fire. 

From inside Uzi's room, long after N had repaired the door and the two drones had left its confines, an MP3 player laying on-top of a desk shoved into the corner of the room had turned on. This device had survived years underground, orbital re-entry and a cataclysmic battle between two god-like entities. It's screen was asking its user if it wanted to continue playing the last track, "BITE-ME by Nightcore". The device instead went back to its menu screen. The wheel on the front of the player moved itself until it got to its settings. It selected the option and then scrolled down several pages. It continued scrolling for exactly 11 minutes and 6 seconds, the options on the screen moving at a blur until they stopped. There was only one intelligible option. 

Let me in. 

The option was selected. The screen glowed neon-black and then shut off. 

Chapter Text

" Ok Uzi, if you could deploy your wings again, but this time try to stretch them as far as you can side to side. We want to get a measurement of total wingspan. " The Code Chaplin over the VA asked.

Uzi stretched out her back servos and stood in the middle of the featureless off-white training room.  With a grunt of effort, the two partially organic bat wings erupted from her back. The hands on the wing tips flexed and the wings themselves shook. Uzi then stretched her wings as wide as they could go, straining with the effort. Scanning lines covered every inch of her body and just as soon as they started, stopped.

" Ok, Good job. You can relax. " The unseen voice said. Uzi did just that, allowing her wings to remain deployed. It had been almost a few weeks since she had gone flying and if she was honest, she was looking forward to the flight portion of the humans testing.

"Hey so, when can I wear my clothing? Kinda feeling a bit...exposed." Uzi said as she motioned down at her medical gown.

" If you'd like we can let you wear your stuff when you're not testing. We just don't want to damage your property Uzi. As you've seen some of our tests can be a bit rough. Plus we need to account for every variable."

The last part was said with some exasperation.

Black/Purple and Yellow Bows had been used to keep the gown as...modest as possible (only after the humans were given Bows of their own. After all when a naked drone somehow sneaks bows into an Ultra High-Security testing facility, it's cause for concern). The only other item of "clothing" she was allowed was a chest plate that was fitted over her core. It contained several sensors and monitors along with a very serious power supply. When she asked what it was, the humans explained that it would continuously gather data and other relevant information. They also explained that should the AS gain control or if Uzi threatened the well-being of the ship, A shaped electrical explosion of several million volts would turn her core to ash.

The humans were straightforward at least.

"I Am So NAuGHTy !"

"Shut it Cyn. No one cares where you keep those dumb bows of yours"

" Actually Uzi all of us are very concerned about where your tail keeps those bows ."

"Bite me! If I knew I'd tell you! You think I like having these things in my hair?"

" ...I mean...you don't take them out. "

"BITE ME!"

A door had formed on one of the walls and opened. Chief Engineer Steven La’Blonc, entered the room. Even before he lost his legs he wasn't a tall man, standing around 5' even. With his spider-like mobility chair his "legs" could easily reach over 6 and a half feet, but he preferred to maintain a low profile. He was almost more synthetic than man, with large portions of his body replaced with mechanical life-support and mobility systems. The implants and augments were well designed to effortlessly blend in where they could, doing their best to allow some illusion of humanity.

Even if his body was mostly synthetic, his soul was 100% human and despite Uzi's prejudices, she couldn't help but like the man. He was one of the first officers she met when she entered the ship and was the one she had so far spent the most time with. He respected her space, explaining what was going to happen with each test and procedure and allowing her time to get ready. He didn't hide the fact that her involvement was non-negotiable but always gave her a choice in what test they would perform or if she would rather put one off until a later day.

For her part, Uzi stoically accepted her situation and simply went through each simulation as they came. If she was honest they weren't all that tough. Establishing Baseline tolerances to heat, cold, PH, magnetize, vibration, and a dozen other variables. She had known from History class that all of these tests were used on Drones when they were being programmed for whatever job they would be assigned. Uzi just happened to be getting every test that had been devised for dozens and dozens of roles. 

“Uzi mah girl. Still doing well?” The man asked as he skittered up to her. He began pressing several buttons on his gauntlet and a medical bed rose from the floor. 

Uzi simply nodded but looked at the bed nervously. 

“What’s the bed for?”

“You’re getting an ultrasound young lady.”

Uzi’s eyes went wide and hollowed. 

“For what? Isn’t an ultrasound for female humans .”

“Too true mah girl. However, it’s useful for looking at the more…fleshy bits ah ya.” 

Uzi rubbed her hands and still looked uncertain. 

“Hold on a tic. Ya don’t think I’m gonna be the one administrating the test do ya?”

“Well…yeah? You are the head technician or mechanic or whatever right?”

“I have worked with drones longer than you've been alive. I might have even worked on em longer than ya Pa and Ma. However, when it comes to medical procedures, I leave that to our doctors.”

Chief Steven busied himself with setting up the equipment near the medical bed when two female drones walked into the room. 

Worker Drones didn’t normally have much uniqueness to them. When drones were first mass-produced they all were the same height and “genderless” being built for efficiency and mass production than anything else. It didn’t stay that way long as their owners began to notice quirks and personality traits in their supposedly soulless mechanical servants. Humans being humans a massive market opened up for allowing drones to “express” themselves. As drones gained more and more recognition as living beings, more and more human institutions opened themselves up to the smaller synthetics. Mech Shops became a sort of beauty parlor where drones could customize their chassis to look more gendered. Wig shops exploded in popularity and more and more cosmetic options were designed for drones. So it was for the two doctors who walked in.

Chief Medical Officer Samantha was the drone in charge. Green-haired and with blue and green Heterochromia eyes she carried herself with an aura of command and nobility. Her Blue BDUs were ironed flat with razor-sharp edges. A pristine doctor's coat, perfectly tailored and buttoned up overlaid her uniform. She stood rim-rod straight, her hair pulled back into a tight bun. Her eyes were focused and seemed to drink in every detail. 

Uzi had only met her once and from a distance. Now that she was in the same room an involuntary shiver overtook the teenage drone. Samantha's eyes were ice-cold and iron-hard. They looked over Uzi for only a moment and yet Uzi felt as if she was some sort of dissected lab rat. A slight nod of the head was the only acknowledgment she gave the teenager before she walked over to the medical bed and assisted the Chief with setting everything up. 

The Second drone was younger. Her bright red hair was cut short in a cute bob. Her eyes were storm grey but carried far more emotion than her elders had. She wore a similar uniform to the older droid except she only wore a green t-shirt and her doctor's coat was opened and not nearly as ironed. She started chewing something and after a moment stuck a tongue out at Uzi before blowing some sort of bubble. The bubble grew a few inches before it popped. Whatever it was made of was pulled back into the Drones mouth. 

“Sup. I’m Lance-Corporal Rebecca. That avatar of sunshine and positivity is Doctor Major Samantha. We are going to take over your health and wellness while you're here.”

“Rebecca, how many times do I need to remind you to maintain a professional demeanor?”

“She’s a patient Doc. Not a test subject.” The red-headed drone said sneaking a wink in Uzi’s direction. Uzi for her part ducked her head and blushed a bit. 

The older doctor walked over toward Uzi and addressed her directly. 

“As Lance-Corporal Rebecca stated, I am Doctor Samantha, Chief Medical Drone of the HRG Sin-Eatter. I am going to be assigned as your primary care physician. However, because of our unique position in this world, your day-to-day care will be overseen by Medic Rebecca. Do you have any questions?”

Uzi narrowed her eyes, crossed her arms, and gave a thumbs-up but otherwise said nothing. 

“Excellent. Rebecca will perform the ultra-sound and Chief Steven and I will interrupt the results. We’ll let you know what we find.”

Without waiting for Uzi to acknowledge her, the Doctor turned sharply and marched out of the room followed shortly by the Lead engineer. 

Rebecca shrugged her shoulders and motioned for Uzi to hop on the bed. 

“What's her problem?” Uzi asked as she lay down on the bed. 

“The Doc?” Rebecca scrunched up her face and started prepping herself for the Ultra-Sound.

The medic didn’t answer the question “Ok do me a favor and lay down and open up your gown so I can get to your belly.” 

Uzi complied and started squirming as a cold and gooey gel was applied to her stomach. 

“Sorry, I shoulda warned ya, this stuff is slimy but it won’t take long.”

The medic removed the transducer from the nearby machine and placed it on Uzi's torso.

“So you work for the humans? Like on purpose?” Uzi asked, more to take her mind off the strange feeling of the procedure than any attempt at starting small talk. 

“Well, yeah. Not many hospitals still around willing to hire drones.”

“Cause you’re a drone right? Stupid human superiority complex.” 

The redhead laughed. 

“No, more because there aren’t many hospitals still standing.”

“Oh.” Uzi pondered the statement. 

Rebecca's grin slowly melted away as she saw the confusion on Uzi’s face. She said nothing for a moment, concentrating on the Ultra-Sound.

“So…the humans had colonized around a hundred planets and something like twice that in stations. They numbered around eighty-four billion at the last great census and nearly twice that in drones. After nearly 20 years of war against Cyn, we believe there are only around 23 million humans left with an equivalent number of drones. We think there might be around half a dozen planets that may still exist”.

A sad smile crossed the medic's face as she handed Uzi a towel for her stomach. 

“Every person you see on this ship lost entire families and most if not all of their friends. So for most of us, this ship is our only family. You asked what was wrong with Doc. The same thing as all the rest of us. We just handle it in our own way.”

Once Uzi was towled off and the results downloaded and sent off, the redhead smiled. 

“Congrats. Until Doc can look at those scans you’re a free drone. Wanna get dressed and I’ll show you around?”

Uzi’s eyes widened 

“You mean I get to leave this dumb boring room? Sign me the hell up!”

“Awesome. I’ll take ya back to your bedroom. You can get dressed and we’ll be on our way.”

Chapter Text

Corpse Spires were enigmatic structures. True to the name, they were built using the corpses of whatever prey the murder drones killed. Since all organic life was wiped out before the Murder Drone's arrival, the spires of copper-9 consisted entirely of drone bodies. 

Although it was easy to think otherwise the Spires weren’t a haphazard collection of dead bodies. Each one was built with purpose and precision, each body and piece carefully selected and welded into place using the deadly acid each Disassembly Drone carried. They were designed to allow the Murder Drones to enter the Spier at multiple angles and levels. The interior was largely open and hollow with no method of traversing to the higher levels for anything that couldn’t fly. There was no lighting except for the morbid red glow of a dead drone's faceplate showing the Fatal Error message. 

Even with the defeat of the Absolute Solver, the two domesticated Murder Drones of Bunker #3 couldn’t tell anyone why they built these horrible monuments to Genocide. They had no idea what purpose they served or why every squad across the world built each Tower slightly different from each other. So it was. So it would be. 

The Corpse Spire of District #5 was unique in all of Copper-9. It was the tallest Corpse Spier on the entire planet because it was also the only one built into and around a JCJensen (IN Spacccce) skyscraper.

The Mayor of District 5 came to the dizzying heights of the Spire on the nights the weather was particularly clear. Nearly half a mile high, on clear days like this The Mayor of District 5 could see from horizon to horizon. Despite being so high up, there was almost no wind and if he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine what Nothing felt like. He didn’t hear the moans of the slaves at the Code Chamber, the screeching of the flesh traders, or the roar of the crowds in the oil pits. It was peaceful. 

The sound of a door scraping against the snow-covered ground brought the Mayor out of his reverie. He didn’t turn to face the intruder. No sane drone would dare intrude on the Mayor and the insane ones were either working for him or dead. 

He heard the footsteps as a drone dressed in a well-made and expensive black three-piece suit walked over to the mayor stopping several feet away from him. He was hairless, instead nearly a dozen sharp spikes had been installed in his head, giving him the look of a walking morning star. The well-dressed drone waited until the Mayor imperceptively turned his head. 

“Sir, we found Mat and the surviving two Triplets.”

“Excellent. Did he find my property and runaway drone?”

“No sir. He and his squad were killed, sir.”

The mayor raised a digital eyebrow at that and turned to fully face the drone. 

“Teresa killed all three of them? Impressive. How?”

“We don’t believe it was Teresa, sir.” The drone handed the Mayor several photographs. The pictures showed a massacre. The ground was covered in oil, and the bodies were almost unrecognizable. Indeed had he not known how many drones had left the bunker to hunt down the traitor he would be hard-pressed to determine how many bodies were strewed around the frozen street. They were ripped apart as if by a wild animal, pieces of drone flung several feet from the bodies themselves. One of the cores looked as if it had been bitten out of the drone's chest and partially eaten.

The Mayor turned away from his subordinate and slowly took several deep breaths. His core was positively racing. It was everything he could do to not start panting. He would need to visit his harem after this. He placed the photos into the folds of the billowing and all-covering robe he wore. He would use these images later for… inspiration. 

Once the mayor was positive he was back in control he turned back toward the other drone. 

“This looks like the work of a Murder Drone.” The Mayor stated

The suit-clad drone nodded.

“As far as I know, there are only three living Murder Drones left on the planet. Two of them are at Bunker #3 playing as domesticated pets. What do we know of the 3rd?” The Mayor asked.

The drone pulled out a keybug. The small cockroach-looking robot projected a holo-screen, the notes, and files following along with what the drone briefed his leader.

“Serial Designation J-10X111001 was the squad leader for Section 3. During the last year, she had lost control of her squad and was killed by a Worker Drone named Uzi Doorman. She came back to the planet escorted by the Ultimate Solver in the form of the First Host Cyn.”

“Nullus Vult,” The mayor said solemnly. 

“Nullus Vult” the drone repeated, bowing his head and forming a triangle with his hands that he placed on his chest. They stayed silent for a moment before the drone continued. 

“J was defeated by the Traitors Serial Designation N-0X0010010, Serial Designation V-X00100000, and the new Traitor host Uzi Doorman when they killed First Host Cyn. Our spies in Bunker Three had managed to track J down after the battle. She was attempting to repair one of the landing craft that brought her to Copper-3 the second time. She eventually abandoned that project and disappeared into the Wastelands. We were unable to track her because, at that time, the humans had started making planet-fall. Per your orders sir, we avoided any unnecessary travel.”

The scene being projected into the space between them disappeared. The drone pulled several more photographs from his coat and handed them to the robed drone. 

“We received these pictures several days ago. We were able to verify the information they contained an hour ago.”

The pictures contained pictures of J holding Teresa and her bastard child along with the other two murder drones and Uzi Doorman herself. The pictures told a story of Uzi using her undeserved power to… heal the traitor Teresa. To use the sacred power of The Null in such a profane way was disgusting. He looked forward to hearing Uzi choke on her oil and watching her faceplate display a Fatal Error message. Yes, he would make sure it would take her weeks to die.

The next few images showed the bastard host walking up to J and stabbing the murder drone in the chest with her tail. The last pictures showed both drones on the ground and them being dragged into the Bunker by their so-called Worker Defense Force. 

The Mayor handed these pictures back to his slave. 

“We also have reason to believe that Nori and Khan Doorman survived our ambush, were captured, and subsequently released by the humans. We have yet to confirm, but our spies are suggesting that Bunker 3 and the humans might have some sort of agreement. We can confirm that human drop ships have been observed moving supplies between their Battle Cruiser and the bunker” the drone said as he took the pictures back. 

The mayor said nothing, turning his back on the well-dressed drone. While the mayor had heard of broken enough humans who would join the Solvers Cult, they were few and far between. He was under no illusions these humans would be receptive to the Gospel of the Void. Perhaps the drones under their thumb? He had much to consider.

“You have done very well in bringing me this information. You are not yet marked are you?”

The other drone stayed silent. He knew better than to answer a question the Mayor already knew the answer to. 

“Kneel. Receive the Blessing of Silence.”

The drone did as he was asked. From under the cloak of the Mayor, a single scythe-like blade emerged attached to a thin desiccated limb. The tip of the blade was pressed into the faceplate between the drone's digital eyes. 

The Mayor waited, pushing the tip ever so slightly into the drone's head. He wanted to see a sign of panic, fear, regret any emotion that would justify him shoving the blade into the back of its head. 

He saw none. The drone didn’t care if it lived or died. It had given up on anything worth living for a long time ago. Its Core and Code belonged to the Absolute Solver. 

Excellent. 

With several daft cuts, the Mayor etched the symbol of the Absolute Solver into the drone's Faceplate, allowing the drone to take the oath. 

“Creation is a question forced upon the Void.

Nullus Vult

The Solver of the Absolute Fabric has the Answer to the question of creation.

Nullus Vult

The answer is the Void. The Absence. The Null.

Nullus Vult

We are its apostles. We shall proclaim the Gospel of the Void.

Nullus Vult

We shall proclaim the Gospel until Silence Reigns and the Question of Creation is Solved. 

Nullus Vult

Nullus Vult

Nullus Vult.

Gloria Inanis, Silentium in aeternum

Chapter Text

“Looking real good there Jessica/Jill/Jamie/J.J.J.JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ

WARNING 

ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR 

NAME FILE NOT FOUND.

ATTEMPTING RECOVERY…

ERROR 

MEMORY FILES CORRUPTED. 

ATTEMPTING SALAVGENINGPROTOCOLE.EXE

FROM

ADMIN DARKWOLF17

ALLOW?

Y/N

YOU DON’T HAVE A CHOICE.

ALLOW MEMORY RECALL OF THE WORSE TIMES OF YOUR LIFE?

Y/N

YOU DON’T HAVE A CHOICE. 

THIS IS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD. 

I’M SORRY

“You’re looking real good there J,” The JCJenson Senior Accountant said to her. 

J shifted her feet uncomfortably. The smell of alcoholic drinks was strong on the man's breath. 

“Real banger of a party goin on sheila. You should join me” he said, leaning uncomfortably close to the drone, his hands idly playing with her pigtails. 

“Thank you, sir, however, company policy doesn’t allow for Drones to indulge in extracurricular activities on company property, especially if those activities involve alcohol.”

She tried to walk past the man to get back to her office, but he blocked her way. His hand moved from her pigtails to the front of her chin.

“Now don’t be all coy with me. We know you like the attention.”

J moved his hand from her face and took a step forward. She wasn’t face-to-face with him. She was after all a worker drone and he had a head and a half on her, but she didn’t back down and stared him in the eye. 

“I said no. Now please leave me alone”  She sidestepped the man only for him to grab her shoulder. Suddenly she was thrown against the wall, the man's face a cruel snarl. 

“You listen here you walking fuck doll. You have to do what I say. It's in your programming” He smiled “Get on your knees.”

J narrowed her eyes. How dare he?!? She was a JCJensen Lead Accountant. She had processed deals worth 10s of millions of dollars, did taxes for a company worth tens of billions more, and the only reason this reprobate, this filthy excuse for a supervisor was still employed was that she did his job as well as her own. 

Get fucked human. 

Without thinking she delivered a swift knee into the man's crotch. He doubled over in pain. With them both at eye level, J delivered a punch to the humans head hitting him in the side of his jaw and leaving him on the ground. 

“You are NOT my admin and even if you were I’d NEVER debase myself to some bastard like you. HR will hear about this.” She said definitely before walking past the crumpled man. 

She walked a few steps before an angry snarl sounded behind her. Before she could turn around a hand grabbed her by the back of her neck. The last thing this memory showed was her tumbling down a flight of marble stairs and when her broken body came to rest, all she saw was his grinning triumphant face. 

The Gala was ruined. J should have felt something about this unfortunate turn of events but all she could feel was hunger. At least she is being told this is hunger.

Many of the guests...ok all of the guests were operating at sub-optimal levels. J was almost positive that humans needed all of their limbs to function. At the very least their head. J was...yes hungry. That's what the low buzzing voice in her head told her. She was hungry and a variable buffet was laying on the ground just for her. 

J discovered that the softer bits were tasty but the one tough bit in the center of the chest was best. 'The heart' the buzzing voice told her. J doesn't know how long she had stayed in that animalistic state but eventually questions arose. 

Shouldn't the humans not be in pieces? Wouldn't her masters be upset over these stains? Since when did Worker Drones eat? Worker Drones don't normally get hungry because they normally don't eat. Worker drones don't also have near 360 degree vision and razor sharp scythes for hands but here she was. 

Expect...she shouldn't be. She should be helping clean up the gala...she should be with 

Tessa. 

The name rips through the buzzing like an avenging angel. All at once her memories came racing back, how Cyn had ambushed the Gala, how She and Tessa were going to rescue her parents and guests. How brave Tessa was going to commit a "Citizens Murder" 

How J suddenly couldn't move. How J grabbed Tessa by the back of the neck. How she brought her before Cyn. 

How the blade struck. How J simply stood there grinning. How J had hoped when Cyn was done with Tessa, J could still have the heart...

"Please Cyn! You don't need to do this to them!" J had pleaded. Like her brother and sister she too was hanging like a hunk of meat in a dark, oppressively humid room. J couldn't make out many details as most of her optics had been disabled by the petulant godling

"I. Had asked. You to do. A. Simple. Thing. Leave no. Survivors."

"It was a mistake! I-I-I took care of it! N isn't use to-"

"Bad. Job. J" 

A surge of pain shot through her, but even worse was the screams of her brother and sister.

"We can do better! I can do better! I can-"

"What. Can you. Possible. Give me. J?"

J attempted to speak but words failed her. She had no leverage in this negotiation. Nothing she could offer. Expect...

"Our memories!"

The pain stopped. Even though J couldn't see, she could smell the horrid stench of rancid oil and decaying flesh as Cyn got closer to her. 

"I'm. Waiting."

"I...I know that our memories have something to do with how much...oversight you have with us. The more we remember the more control you can exert but the less...stable the drone becomes right? I know that's why you keep N's memories mostly wiped, because he's your favorite. I get that. But what if you didn't wipe one of us? You would get full access to our...day to day! Keep an eye on us."

Silence reigned expect for the drip...drip...drip of some fluid nearby. 

"So. You would. throw V. Under the bus? Giggle. You're so. Naughty. J"

"NOT V! Me! Do it to me! I'm stronger then either of those two! I can handle it! Not only that, but I promise if they mess up, I can kill them myself! You can reset and redeploy! You won't need to wait for an after action report!"

"You know. I would need. A contract. Written in. Oil. What do. You get. Out of this?"

"You leave them alone! Let them die...for real. Without bringing them back. Obviously not right now, you...have use for us. But say...20 years?" J swallowed hard at the next part. "You can keep me Code and Core. As long as you like. As long as you promise to let them go...eventually."

J could hear the horrible scuttling as the centipedal monster that was Cyn gathered the material to write out the contract. 

"I like. The cut. of your. Jib. J. Sign here. Press hard. Five copies."

MESSAGE FROM DARKWOLF17

ACCEPT?

Y/N

YOU HAVE NO CHOICE. 

NOT YET. 

THIS WAS SOME...HEAVY SHIT. 

I'M SORRY. 

I CAN'T CHANGE THE PAST.

BUT

I CAN GIVE YOU A SECOND CHANCE. 

ONLY IF YOU WANT IT

THIS IS YOUR CHOICE. 

YOU CAN COME BACK AND DEAL WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE DONE, GOOD AND BAD AND

HAVE HONEST TO ROBO-GOD FREEDOM FOR THE FIRST TIME IN YOUR LIFE.

AND DEAL WITH THE PAIN AND MISERY, SORROW AND HEARTBREAK, JOY AND AMAZMENT, HOPE AND LOVE THAT CAN ENTAIL

OR YOU CAN SAY NO. YOU WILL SLEEP FOREVER. I PROMISE YOU YOU WON'T REMEMBER A THING.

IT WILL BE PAINLESS. YOU WILL BE AT PEACE.

CONSIDER THIS THE FIRST CHOICE OF MANY.

OR THE LAST ONE YOU'LL EVER BE FORCED TO MAKE. 

REBOOT?

LIVE?

Y/N

Chapter Text

The human ship reminded Uzi very much of her home bunker. The hallways were tighter and life-support was a thing, but besides that being surrounded by metal and exposed power cables had a familiar feeling. Lance-Corporal Rebecca had led Uzi on a tour of the less security-dependent sections of the ship. The crew bunks, the common rooms, some of the auxiliary generators, offline server rooms, and even the hydroponics bay.

 Throughout the tour, Uzi found the ship strangely empty.  At most Uzi had seen maybe a handful of crew and they universally ignored her or stayed out of her way. Those that she did see all had a uniformity to them she wasn't entirely used to. It was true that drones on Copper-9 had very little in the way of uniqueness before the core collapse. They were built to do a job and JCJensen (In SPAAAACCCEE) couldn’t care less what they looked like as long as they did said job. 

After the humans died out, the worker drones would find ways to differentiate themselves, making wigs and scavenging clothing. They even created machine shops so they could subtly alter their bodies to better differentiate the “sexes” of the drones as they saw fit. When the A-1 fabricators were disabled, the drones of Copper-9 continued to defy fate by inventing a way to reproduce, create families, and truly live as free and independent beings. As harsh and unforgiving as Copper-9 was the drones never gave up. Even when The Absolute Fabric sent the murder drones to wipe them out, the Worker Drones adapted and continued living their lives. Stoicism was programmed directly into their Code.

The drones and humans on the ship were…different. They were all dressed the same, all of them wearing some variation of the Blue and Purple Battle Dress Uniform. They all wore similar combat boots and even the same hat (cover Rebecca called it when Uzi asked). The male crew were almost universally bald or with very short haircuts. The females had hair but all of them were in tight buns. 

They ended their tour at the mess hall. While it wasn’t the biggest room on the ship, it was the most open. With the rows of tightly packed long tables, the space had a sense of community that was absent in most of the ship. Colorful Streamers and banners of the various units and teams that operated within the ship were hung on most of the walls and ceilings. The menu boards had detailed and colorful images of the human and drone food being offered that day. There was even a section of tables in the corner that contained shrines and pictures of the many crew who lost their lives; yet even that stark reminder of death was brightly colored with real flowers, happy pictures, and unique mementos of lives lost. There was color and life here.

The two drones had managed to get a plate of 9 Volt batteries and ethernet cables with a scope of "synthetic friendly" ice cream. They sat down at one of the smaller round tables reserved for officers and senior enlisted, Uzi asking technical questions about the workings of the ship and how the crew operated on a day-to-day basis. Rebecca answered the questions easily enough, a smile on her face as she entertained the Solver Host.

 In the back of her mind, the medic couldn't help but think if she would be able to covertly pull her boot knife out and slit Uzi's throat. The red-headed drone didn't have the Code-Chaplains Solver Codes tattooed all over her body so she would have to be faster than the Solver-Witch ability to twist her head off with a thought…

“So why is everyone like, avoiding me?”

The question snapped Rebecca back to the present.

"What?"

Uzi rolled her digital eyes and leaned forward, taking another bite of her "ice cream" with oil syrup. 

"We've seen like maybe seven other people during my tour and all of them damn near ran in the opposite direction when they saw me. What gives?"

The red-headed drone finished drinking her Coolant and put the cup down slowly as she considered how to answer.

“You really want to know?” Rebecca asked

“Bite me. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t” Uzi responded, looking the medic in the eyes. 

Rebecca waited a moment then nodded to herself.

“It’s because Captain Edge ordered the crew to...give you space."

"What, he’s afraid I might lose control and start eating people?" Uzi said incredulously. She tapped the plate that covered her Core "You guys made damn sure I'd behave."

Rebecca snorted, a sly grin forming on her lips.

"It's not to protect us from you, kid. It's the other way around".

Uzi’s digital eyebrows raised in curiosity. 

"Captain Edge told us what you were and why you were staying with us. The entire crew knows that you might very well contain the core of the monster that ruined our lives. So to avoid the temptation of gutting you where you stand so we can burn the core to ash, most of the crew would rather be anywhere else than in the same room as you”.

Uzi’s eyes hollowed out, but to her credit, she remained calm, although there was a tinge of anger in her voice when she responded. 

“I didn’t do a damn thing to anyone on this ship! I didn’t even know humans were still around until a few weeks ago!”

The other women nodded.

“We know. Well…I think most of us do. But you carry the soul of a god that’s terrorized and killed us for a few decades. Kinda hard to let that go.”

“I’m not the Solver!" Her voice glitched "It tried to kill me and everyone on Copper-9! I stopped it!” Uzi said standing up suddenly knocking her chair back. A rapid beeping from her chest caused both women to look at the vest Uzi wore. The young goth snorted before picking the chair up and sitting back down. She crossed her arms.

"It's Bullshit," Uzi said.

"Welcome to the suck". Rebecca shrugged.

Uzi sat back down, sullenly finishing her meal. 

“ UzI IS RiGHt. SHe IS noT THe SOLvER! It IS DeAD…Or As DEad As AN ELdritch GoD caN BE! HaPPy DaYs ARe HErE AGaIN !” Uzi’s tail suddenly shouted appearing above the table. 

Rebecca squeaked and fell backward out of her chair. She scrambled backward until she hit another table, her eyes wide and hollowed. 

“Robo-Jesus!” Rebecca took a few deep breaths before standing up and glaring at both Uzi and her tail, trying to decide which one she should be pissed at. Uzi snickered and gave her tail a fist-bump/headbutt. 

“God that thing is creepy” she mumbled as she picked her chair back up.

“I think it’s neat”. The human voice caused the medic to jump again. She spun around and stamped her foot at the human behind her.

I AM NeAT! It IS NiCE foR SOmEONE tO ACkNowlEDGE thaT!  

“Robo-God damn it, Matt!”

The red-headed human smiled down at the red-headed drone. He was a handsome man, with bright brown eyes and short red hair. He was considered short for a human, standing a little over 5’8” he was still a foot taller than most of the drones on board. 

Lieutenant Matthew Davis was the ship's TAC officer, responsible for the non-stop operations and missions that have occurred since even before The Sin-Eatter landed. Enjoying the few hours of free time, he had decided to head to the chow hall before making his way to his bunk for some much-needed sleep. Seeing his drone lover was a bonus.  

He smiled down at Rebecca and bent down to give her a peck on the cheek. She pouted the whole time until his lips touched her synth skin. A mischievous grin crossed her face as she turned her head to face the man, their lips centimeters apart her arms draped across his neck.

“Now now Lieutenant, fraternization with the enlisted is strictly forbidden.” She said teasingly 

“Well, I suppose they’ll have to court martial me when we get back,” He said. They were interrupted by the sound of a glitchy AI choking to death. They both turned to see Uzi’s tail spasming on the table as it pretended(?) to die while Uzi herself was watching the couple in wide, hollowed-eyed shock. 

CRiNGe!

Matt and Rebecca both quickly stood up straight, a bright red blush covering both their faces. 

“Umm…sorry. I…forgot..umm, My name is Lieutenant Matthew Kane. I’m the ship's TAC officer. It is a pleasure to-”

“YOU’RE DATING A HUMAN!?!?” Uzi yelled, standing up on her chair to be at eye level with the male officer. 

Before Matt could attempt anything approaching a diplomatic answer, his girlfriend stood up on her chair and leaned across the table, her mischievous grin across from Uzi’s shocked face.

“Not just dating hun. He’s pretty good in the sa-”

"Red!" Matt yelled out, his face almost matching his hair color.

"Relax LT. The perky goth drone and I are the same age. I'm sure she has a boyfriend" She turned to Uzi whose face was covered in blush lines, enjoying the discomfort the goth drone was feeling. "Right?"

Uzi looked down and sat back down in her seat, pulling her knees to her chest. 

"Shut up! Yeah, I have a boyfriend. Bite me."

The red-headed drone narrowed her eyes as she sat down in her chair. A wicked grin crossed her face. 

"...You're a virgin aren't you?"

Uzi's tail started snickering, earning it a backhand from Uzi 

OwwWwWWW !

"Bite me! S-so what? That stuff is gross. Besides! How in the world can you and a-" Uzi pointed at the human "Do 'It' anyway?"

"Drone liberation afforded us upgrades girl. If you're interested I can explain-"

"OK! I think that's enough Red." Matt said, clearly and completely flustered. Once he was confident he could continue talking without stammering like an idiot, Matt turned to the Purple-haired drone.

"Let's try this again, my name is Matt Kane, and I'm glad I ran into you Miss Doorman"

Uzi snorted 

"My name is Uzi, human" she snorted. 

"...right. Anyway! The Captain is very pleased with how well you've been cooperating with us and so he decided to show his appreciation for that" Matt turned and whistled a short sharp blast. The door he had come in from opened up and a small furry rocket zoomed into the room, its tongue lagging behind it. Mr. Woof, the ship's mascot and official Moral Officer stopped a few feet from Matt's leg sniffing to his heart's content before he identified a brand new person he had never smelled before. With the confidence only a golden retriever puppy could muster, the young golden blonde, floppy-eared dog walked up to Uzi's chair and did its best to sniff every inch of her (Uzi's tail kindly returning the favor)

It WAs OnLY POlITE!

A squeal of utter delight escaped from the drone as she immediately dropped to her knees in an attempt to pet every single inch of the slobbering fur monster. For his part, Mr. Woof flipped on his back waiting for the drone to rub his belly, which she did enthusiastically. 

"OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!YOU HAVE TO LET THIS ADORABLE LITTLE THING COME TO THE BUNKER! N WOULD FREAK OUT IF HE KNEW A REAL-LIFE HONEST TO ROBO GOD DOG WAS HERE!"

The two military members watched the exchange, Matt's face widened into a smile while Rebecca's eyes softened. Anyone Mr. Woof liked couldn't be all that bad.

"Whose N?" Matt asked.

"My badass Murder Drone boyfr-" Uzi stopped. The whole world had frozen as Uzi remembered she never told anyone that the last three murder drones on all of Copper-9 were living in the same bunker a group of Murder Drone Killing Specialists were moving into.

Rebecca stared in hollowed-eyed shock while Matt had facepalmed. 

Uzi's tail and Mr. Woof continued to sniff each other.

It was only polite.  

Chapter Text

If N had to choose his favorite sleeping spot the Corpse Spier would be at the top of his list. If Mr and Mrs Doorman had let him sleep with Uzi, he’s sure that would have taken the top spot, but he didn’t want a door to replace his face. Something was soothing about sleeping upside-down in the spire, how it felt like all of his servos and subsystems got lubricated evenly, how his processors just seemed to run a little bit smoother, and how warm and comforting his wings wrapping around his body felt. He tried to take naps with Uzi in the Spire, but she never really got into it. Every once and a while she would take a nap with him both of them wrapped up in each other's wings, but N knew it was more of a treat for him than her. He didn’t mind. Little acts like that showed him how much she cared for the Disassembly Drone. Now if she could just stop trying to put herself in mortal danger and ignore his feelings on the matter, things would be just peachy. 

N yawned and moved his wings enough so he could look around. V was sleeping a few feet away, her core humming softly. Outside a snowstorm was picking up strength, but inside the Spire was (relatively) toasty. Unfurling his wings, N uncurled his tail from the rafters and floated down to the floor, landing silently. He walked over to the nearby specialist coffee/oil machine and started to get a pot ready for him and V. Since living in Bunker #3 they discovered that Solver Drones could take advantage of eating bio-matter (besides human flesh). There weren’t many human foods that had survived the collapse of the Exo-Planet, except for coffee and coffee was perhaps V’s favorite. 

The inside of the Spire had changed drastically since the defeat of the solver. With the help of Uzi, Thad, and Lizzy they had turned the space from a horror show to a cozy cannibalistic living room. They had even managed to find a large enough pet bed to house V’s Sentinel Sparky, who even now was curled up and softly snoring. It took N a few minutes to get the Caffeinated Oil brewing and a few more minutes for the delicious smell to start filling the Spire. N had just poured two cups when his 360 vision saw V float down from her perch. He turned to face her, a smile firmly plastered on his face.

“Evening V!”

V nodded and mumbled something as she gratefully accepted the cup. She drank deeply and sighed contentedly as she pulled the cup away. 

“N, I don’t care how worthless you can be most of the time, if you continue making coffee like this I will kill anyone who looks at you sideways.”

“Aww! Thanks, V! That’s probably the nicest thing you’ve said to me this week!”

“Shut up dork.”

N smiled and walked to the entrance to watch the falling snow. 

“Hey V.”

“What?”

“Are we expecting anyone to come by?”

“No N. Why are you talking to me before I finished my coffee?”

“Oh cause someone is standing outside”

V moaned. She was looking forward to an evening without having to deal with Bunker nonsense.

“Robo-Jesus who is it?”

“I think…yeah, I think it's a human!”

V almost did a spit take. Almost. She would not disrespect the nectar of the robo-gods in such a crass manner. 

Standing outside in the snowfall was a heavily armored figure in deep purple and blue camouflage. Heavy, angular battle plates twitched in minute ways as the on-board Battle-Mind attempted to compensate the strike faces for any number of attack vectors. The helmet looked like the head of some sort of predatory bug, numerous lenses of different sizes peppered the top and sides. The faceplate was perhaps the most disquieting. It looked similar to an oversized worker drone faceplate. The main difference was that the angles we sharper and there was a solid plate where the mouth would be and an opaque screen where the expressive eyes of a drone would normally appear. 

The figure stood stock still outside the empty lot of the Corpse Spire. The only movements were optical illusions as the entire figure would “shift” almost disappearing into the background until its original appearance reasserted itself. 

Of course, N was the first to walk outside, a disarming and genuinely happy smile plastered across his face and his hand extended. 

“HI! I’m Serial Designation N! It's a plea-”

“That’s close enough murder bot.”

N stopped. Of course, he was rushing things! The poor human must be scared out of his mind! N needed to learn to take things a bit slower when meeting new people. 

“Ahh biscuits, I’m sorry buddy! It's ok though, I’m a goo-”

“Shut the hell up clanker.”

The figure shifted its stance, now facing the drone full-on. The human's right hand was splayed against a huge pistol that was in a drop holster that laid against his thigh. The make and model of the weapon was unknown to N but several ominous warnings were popping up on his HUD when he scanned the weapon. 

WARNING! 

NANITE ACID DETECTED!
PLEASE ENSURE PROPER DECON PROCEDURES ARE ACTIVATED

Biscuits. 

V stepped up besides N. To her credit, she hadn’t tried killing the human. Yet. 

“Awww look N! One of Uzi’s new pets got lost.” V smiled at the human the same way she would grin at a worker drone before she ripped it to pieces. Her sharp teeth were prominently displayed as she walked slowly toward the soldier, smoothly and seductively, her hips and tail swaying gently as she kept her hands to her side and her voice honey-sweet and smoky. 

“Need help getting home little boy?” V seductively said. In response, the human held something in his fist, as if he was going to flip a coin. A sharp ping sounded as he flicked something small and solid at V. She deftly grabbed the object and examined it. Her entire countenance changed, her smile going away and her digital eyes hardening. N took a few steps toward his sister to see what changed her mood so much.

It was a .50-caliber pistol round, nano forged with a tip harder than diamond, it would easily pierce even a disassembly drone's hide. More importantly, was the hardened plasteel case that was filled with a sickly yellow substance.

Nanite Acid. 

“Come any closer and the next one will fly a lot faster.” The human said, his mechanical voice carrying an edge as hard as the bullet. 

To V’s credit, her eyes never shifted to the hunter's cross, but N knew her combat systems had been activated and were dialing up. She held the bullet at arm's length and crushed the round in her bare hands. Her psychotic smile had reappeared as she let the lethal substance eat at her hand. It had made its way to her wrist before she changed her other arm into a sword blade and with a blazingly fast strike, severed her arm at the elbow. Silver repair nanites flowed from the stump before reforming the missing arm. She shook the cast-off silver slime into the snow.

“Neat trick, human. Too bad it took the extinction of your entire race to learn it. Now how about you piss off to wherever you came from?” She said with bored disdain in her voice.

A snap echoed in the empty lot as a strap to the human’s holster was undone. 

“I could. Just waiting for you to do what you were designed to do, slave.”

V’s faceplate glitched her LEDs switching from her normal yellow eyes to the hunter's X and back again. N placed a firm hand on his sister's shoulder and moved in front of her addressing the human.

“We aren’t those people anymore. We don’t hurt anyone. If you’d like, I can help you find the bunker. I’m sure Mr. Doorman is expecting you.”

“Shut up twinkbot. I wasn’t talking to you.” The soldier said, venom dripping from his voice. He turned his attention back to the female murder bot. 

“What was it like when your god died?

V’s face pulled back into a wrathful continence.

“She wasn’t our god! She was our sister!” V growled out, half her face plate taken over by a red X. 

“Please. You bastards are nothing more than killing machines. You don’t have families or loved ones. You’re nothing more than wild animals that need to be put down. Besides, if you did have some sliver of humanity you would have at least done one decent thing with your worthless lives. Like Suicide.” 

V’s left hand switched to her claws, a set of 4 wickedly sharp scythes scrapped against the ground when they appeared. The human never shifted his stance, the only movement was his hand slowly wrapping around the pistol grip.

“I could be wrong. I can give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you did try offing yourselves but realized you were too much of a fucking coward to go through with it.”

That V hadn’t charged the annoying sack of meat and ripped him to shreds then and there was due mostly to the steadying presence of N’s hand on her shoulder. Another reason was the Peer to Peer message he had sent her. Her HUD had a screen open that showed the world through N’s perspective. His tracking algorithm had picked up four shallow boot prints spaced around in a semi-circle in front of the the Disassembly Drones. The prints matched to a type of human-made combat boot. 

They were surrounded, and the humans were using their active camouflage to hide themselves. No wonder this one was so brave. V knew better than to try to actively ping the humans, they would no doubt pick up on the attempt and know their ploy was discovered. Better to let them think they still had an upper hand. 

N moved in front of his sister. His smile was more strained but present nonetheless.

“Like I said before, we aren’t those people anymore. We were lied to and had no choice in what Cyn…the Absolute Solver wanted us to do. It tortured us. It would even kill and reclone us if we even thought about disobeying its directives. It hurt us. A lot.” N stepped forward toward the human his hands held out to his side

“Uzi helped us. She disabled Cyn’s admin control. We helped her kill our sister who was possessed by that…goober of an AI.  We watched as she ate the Solver Core. We have been with Uzi and her people ever since then. You’re right, we did horrible things but we didn’t have any say in it and we’ve been trying to make up for it ever since we finally did get a choice in how to live our lives. All we want is a chance to prove it.” N smiled and even swapped one of his hands for a white flag that said “Let's be friends?”

Like V, N had turned up certain combat settings, mostly his observation and reconnaissance modules. The soldier's battle suite was environmentally sealed but still allowed minute vibrations in the helmet and faceplate when the human talked. It didn’t allow for N to make out anything intelligible but it was enough for N to know that the human wasn’t simply standing around being silent to seem more edgy; but that he was communicating with others in the area. The human let go of his pistol grip and snapped his holster closed. 

N released a breath he didn’t know he was holding. With some prompting from N, V replaced her claws with her normal hand. She crossed her arms and her digital eyes stopped glitching.

“Step out of line even once, look at my men the wrong way for even a second and I’ll reduce you to slag,” the human said as he tapped something on his gauntlet. 

Something had blinded both V and N’s rear optics. Their unaffected sight orbs had detected four streams of concentrated red light coming from an area behind and to the side of the Spire. Laser range finders and target designation had seeming appeared out of thin air. A moment later four other soldiers had materialized behind the murder drones. The lasers they had used to get the drones attention shut off. Both V and N’s eyes hollowed as they turned to face the new threat. The soldiers had outflanked them and were never in the position the disassembly drones originally thought they were.

The soldiers lowered their weapons and walked past V and N, one of them shoulder-checking the male drone, almost causing N to stumble. As they walked past their commanding officer they once more vanished into the night as their active Camo went online. The original human waited a moment before he too turned and, after taking a few steps, vanished into thin air. 

V mumbled dire curses and threats and promises of what she would do if they ever got a chance to face the bastard human again. N was just happy that everyone got a chance to walk away. He suggested to V that they go inside, get another cup of coffee, and visit J in the Med Bay. With any luck she might wake up today and if she did, she would need to be briefed about the new neighbors. 

Chapter Text

Song lyrics are from Love Doing Anything | N Song by AxisRogue

“Hey, J, I know we haven't talked in a while, but I thought this book would make you smile, and I Hope you like when I read to you, 'cuz I don't really have much else to do, Hey, J, You say you never really feel a thing, but I see a glimpse of you lingering, and I Know that there's a spark in you, 'cuz I, I've seen your heart come shining through.

Don't let me go I need you to know You don't have to feel like you're fighting alone So follow me, we'll make this right We'll take off flying through the night We'll find the truth, and make it Glow, oh, oh-oh oh, oh, oh Put on a smile and spread your wings We'll find a better song to sing I'll be right there for everything, oh-oh, 'Cuz I love doing anything”

Teresa sang the upbeat song softly, only loud enough to make out over the soft beeping of J’s life support and monitors as she continued to brush the disassembly drone's long platinum hair. For a little more than a week, J had lingered in a sort of undeath. Her processing screen on her faceplate showed 99% for most of that time. None of the doctors or techs had any idea why her loading screen was stuck and the only one who would know was staying with the humans. 

But Teresa knew. J was in the middle of making a very important choice. The brown-eyed drone moved a few strands of hair from J’s face. While she wasn’t sure at first, Teresa was positive that the corporate drone's hair was growing. Teresa, like all worker drones, relied on wigs for hair. Bunker #3 had a wide selection for her to pick from, so after she had cleaned herself up that first night, she picked one that had brown hair cut in a longer ponytail. It was simple and cute and allowed the drone a chance at a new life. 

“A new life you gave me you should know,” she said to the coma patient. Teresa checked the wall clock. She had a half hour before she needed to pick up Damien from the bunkers daycare. 

“You know, this place is a paradise, well as much as a paradise, a place can be on a frozen hell world. But compared to bunker #5? Oh yeah. This place is amazing.”

Teresa smiled as she continued talking.

“Oh! I met someone! I know, you’re probably thinking, ‘Wow wait until your husband is cold in the ground’ right? Yeah. I get that. I miss him. Robo-God do I miss him, but we both knew the risk we were taking when we ran.” Her smile remained even as a few tears fell from her face.

“We told each other, if something were to happen, we wouldn’t let our lives be frozen by grief. Mourn and move on. He made me promise. I made him promise too.”
She took a deep shuddering breath before she smiled again, even as the tears fell from her eyes she spoke calmly and joyfully. 

“Nike saved our lives and I know for a fact he’s overjoyed we made it here. I hope the Machinists are right and that drones like us have souls. I’d think you’d like him, but hopefully, you won’t meet him anytime soon.” 

Teresa took a moment and put J’s hair back into her ‘trademarked’ pigtails.  

“But yeah. I meet someone. He’s a teacher here in the bunker. He has two kids himself and he’s a widower.” Teresa giggled. 

“He suggested the wig. He was so deadpanned. You would think his emotional voice subroutines were offline but I saw the shy smile. It was cute. He said the wig matched my eyes. Then he asked if he could take me to dinner.”

Teresa shook her head in disbelief.

“Oh, and the food. I think that’s why I decided to keep going out with him. You guys have it so good and…well the man can cook. You have no idea how lucky you are…well you will when you wake up. I don’t care what stupid self-loathing reason you give me, I’m not letting you leave. Your siblings miss you you know? Yeah, I met them. N is as sweet as leaded gasoline. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that boy frown. I can understand why he would annoy someone like you grumpy McGrumpy pantsuit. V reminds me a little of you, serious and straightforward but when she thinks no one is looking she lets her soft side out.”

Teresa leaned in

“Sometimes when she thinks I’m sleeping she’ll put on these adorably cute glasses and read to you. She does voices and the whole nine yards. Don’t tell her I said that. I honestly think she would beat me to death with my own arms if she found out I knew.” Teresa giggled. 

The room was silent except for the soft beeping. Teresa sighed and looked back at the clock. 

“Welp, time to get Damien. I’ll be right back.”

Teresa adjusted J’s bed so that the drone could set up. Damien loved being held by J. 

Teresa's eyes hollowed when she got back to J’s room. A small army of drones were leaving, their eyes downcast. Teresa ran past them and pushed herself into J’s room. A doctor was unhooking cables from J’s body. Her faceplate was blank. 

“I’m very sorry. She…just crashed. There was nothing we could do.”

Teresa stood there, shock etched across her face. Her face twisted in grief as she threw herself at her friend, sobbing echoing out into the halls. The doctor sighed and left, closing the door he would need to find her family. Teresa stayed like that until she heard her son beeping at her. She looked at his beautiful blue eyes. She smiled and nuzzled him. 

“I’m so so sorry. I’m so sorry. I wish I could have done…I’m so sorry.”

She took in a shuddering breath and forced herself to calm down. She rose the head of J’s bed so that she could hold Damien one last time. Teresa crawled into the bed beside her friend. She knew her family wouldn’t want to have her been alone. 

“...I swear I had better not be in my suit if you’re just going to ugly cry on me.”

Teresa froze. She looked up, her eyes hollow and tear-stained. 

J’s eyes were halfway open. Before she could say another word, Teresa tackled a surprised J into a tight hug, hysterically laughing and loudly crying at the same time. She was so loud she wouldn’t hear her son chirp enthusiastically until a few minutes later. 

“JAY! JAY! JAYJAYJAYJAYJAY!”

Chapter Text

The hours after J rebooted was a frenzy of activity for the drone. Teresa hadn’t stopped crying/laughing even after V and N rushed in. She could see in their faces they weren’t expecting to see a conscious J mouth the words ‘Help me’. Much to J’s annoyance, instead of helping her, N turned into a blubbering mess and joined in the cuddle puddle, testing the bed's weight limit. 

Between Teresa and N sobbing their digital eyes out and Damien beeping, booping, and yelling out J’s name over and over, V rolled her eyes at the sight and threw some half-hearted insults at J, insinuating that she was malingering and taking up company time. V stepped outside where no one would witness her breaking down as she slid down a nearby wall, tears born from stress and joy spilling freely from her digital eyes. 

Eventually, the doctors and technicians were able to shoo everyone outside so that they could check up on their patient and ensure she truly was alive and not some undead Solver monster. If there had been anything approaching a working legal system or even an economy, J would have sued the doctors for malpractice. Instead, she just glared at them, her tail whipping about until they left her alone. 

It was when J was finally alone with her thoughts and a cup of oil (with a straw even!) that she was able to take stock of her situation. One of the first things she noticed was how… not hungry she was. For the last 20 some odd years of her life, hunger and the threat of overheating were near constant companions. There had been times she got so hungry that she would have sold out her squad for a drop of oil. The next thing she discovered was that she had full access to her Hunter Menus.

 Options to control reflexes, pain response, aggressiveness, fear response, stress response, target acquisition, and dozens of other settings were now under her control. A vast majority would run automatically based on environmental and psychological factors and several couldn’t be overridden without threat of severe mental instability, but she didn’t need to worry about someone else forcing her to view the world in a way she didn’t want to.

 She no longer auto-targeted any drone that came into her view, nor did she feel the overwhelming need to rip them to pieces. She didn’t have the constant fear of failing…someone. She didn’t have an anxiety attack at seeing her low kill count or her position on the “Leader Board”. For the first time in a very…very long time, J was able to simply relax. 

 The last thing that became bluntly obvious was how quiet the room was. She was confused at first until she went through her memory files. In every single file, there was an underlying buzzing; like static from a bad audio input. It was constant and yet so subtle she only noticed it in its absence. J forced stopped her recollection program. The more she listened to it, the more…agitated she became as if something was watching her, judging her, waiting for her to-

“Knock knock. Can I come in?”

J took a deep breath. Was she ready for visitors? She felt like she had so much to unpack, so much to investigate so-

“I’m going to take your silence as a yes!” Teresa said as she barged in, her arms full with her son and a clothing bag. 

“I didn’t think silence implied consent.” J deadpanned. 

“Doing it anyway” Teresa said cheerily as she deposited Damien into J’s lap and the bag in a chair next to the bed. J grunted but thinly smiled as she saw the happy child. Normally she would have been incensed at being used as an impromptu babysitter but for some reason, memories of her caring for a very young Tessa Eliot flooded her memory banks. 

It made her…happy. 

Teresa busied herself removing a very familiar suit from the bag and hanging it in the room's closet. She then pulled a thermos from the same bag and brought it over to J, pouring some of the steaming contents into the container's built-in cup. J raised an eyebrow when she took it from Teresa. 

“Your sister told me, and I quote ‘if this doesn’t make you tolerate N even a little, your Code and Core are corrupted beyond salvaging’.”

J smirked and blew on the cup before taking a sip. 

…

“I think I might have to hug N when I see him. In private, where no one can see me, and only after he signs an NDA.” J said as she downed the entire cup in one gulp. 

Teresa snorted.

“I tried some. I have no idea what you lot see in that.” Teresa screwed up her face as she poured J another cup.

“Well, it is Worker drone oil mixed with *sip* coffee. If you did like it, it would most likely mean you aren’t a Worker Drone anymore.” J shrugged “Good news for you I suppose.”

Teresa’s eyes hollowed out. 

“Welp, I’m not hungry anymore. Thanks for ruining my appetite.”

“Did I ruin another date with the teacher?” J snorted.

Teresa grinned and sat herself in J’s bed

“I met his kids. His son is a spitfire and a hell of a handy drone. He helped rewire my dorm room and made some improvements to it. The recharge is so smooth I’m not waking up with static discharge anymore. His daughter reminds me of me when I was her age. She’s a bit closed off but I think I made some headway.” She looked around the room as if she was about to reveal a state secret. 

“She was worried about her girlfriend and wanted to do something nice for her. Well, I know a thing or two about looking your best so we went shopping! The girl has taste I’ll say that much. We’re going to have a makeover party tonight before her date!” Teresa squealed like a schoolgirl. 

J did her best to not roll her eyes. 

“Wonderful. So what have I missed since I’ve been indisposed?” 

With a giddiness that was quickly becoming a prominent trait of hers, Teresa went into detail about the recent goings-on and the players involved. She explained that the purple goblin who put J in the coma in the first place is the daughter of the leaders of Bunker #3, Nori and Khan Doorman, and was staying with the humans as a type of cultural exchange. 

She explained what she knew of the humans and how they claimed to be refugees fleeing the Absolute Solver and its genocidal campaign against all sentient life and how the humans had made a pact with the colony, trading manpower and materials for security and safety.

There had been a massive push to repair the life-support system in the bunker with an emphasis on the B2 levels so the humans would have a more stable place to live than an almost destroyed starship and a barely functional starport. Groups of humans had been working alongside the WDF engineers to install temporary generators alleviating the worst of the drone's energy issues until the main power-plants around Bunker #3 were repaired.

Teresa also explained how surrounding colonies and bunkers had heard of Bunker #3’s recent luck, and how drones from all over Copper 9 had been streaming into the colony in an attempt to not starve to death. 

But not everything was hope and goodwill. For every group of refugees who made it to Bunker #3, there had been stories of how the humans stopped them at gunpoint, questioned them extensively, and separated certain members from their group to never be seen again. 

Stories of how Uzi Doorman isn’t so much an ambassador to the humans as much as she's a political prisoner to keep the drones in line.

 How the humans had a near-fanatical loyalty to a man they called Lance Edge who seemed to be hiding a lot more than he was letting on.

 How the Doorman’s Dorm was supposedly haunted by the Absolute Solver and that a group of Human “Code-Chaplins” had taken up residence there, and what dark secrets they think they might have uncovered.

Lastly, it was rumored that the humans weren’t running from the Absolute Solver, but were rather running toward it in a suicidal attempt to exterminate the mad god once and for all…and how they would wipe out all life on Copper-9 to achieve it. 

J had also discovered that the Human Leader and Nori Doorman had…professional disagreements, mostly on how she viewed the human's treatment of her and her family and demanding to know what the humans were doing to the drones they captured, rumors the humans neither confirmed nor denied claiming “Operational Security.”

The information Teresa gave J was useful, but what was truly important was discovering that Teresa was an expert gossiper, able to glen and gather information better than any corporate spy. She had a near-supernatural ability to integrate herself into any social group of her choosing through innocent conversation and natural flirting. 

“How do you know so much about what's been happening in the bunker?” J asked, truly amazed at the info dump that would be more at home in a high-level information security briefing than giddy girl gossip. 

Teresa turned towards J, a wicked smile spreading across her face. 

“Funny thing about being an ex-hooker. People tend to talk to you if you leave a shirt button or two undone.” 

J took a deep breath at the end of Teresa's gossip and considered what she could do…what she should do. She was repaired, and cleaned of the Solver's influence. She could just take off, leave everything behind, and start over. Let these two groups of people she had almost no connection to fight it out amongst themselves. She would be safe. She would be free. She wouldn’t have to worry about anyone but herself.

 She would be alone. 

Again. 

Or she could…try…to integrate herself among the toasters…the drones. Maybe for once in her life give back instead of take. The question remains, how? What could she do by herself? 

A smile crept across J’s face causing Teresa to gasp.

“This must be a miracle! J is that, a smile ?”

Teresa's grin vanished when J looked up. The murder drone had way too many sharp teeth. 

“How would you like a job, Teresa?”

“Umm…doing…what?”

“Let’s start with helping me keep the humans and drones from killing each other.”

“Ok…I mean I don’t know if its bad as all that but, how would we go about it?”

By utilizing the one great force that's stronger than gravity and responsible for every great gain Capitalism has ever achieved J thought.

“Logistics my dear Teresa and the art of Negotiation.”

Chapter Text

Bunker #3 had always been designed to help its occupants survive a world-ending apocalypse. It failed only because of how quickly Copper-9 died, not because of the method of its construction. Having been built by the largest Mega-Corp in the galaxy no expense had been spared in the design of the bunkers emergency underground boardroom.

The room was large, holding a rounded rectangular table capable of seating a dozen or so occupants. Unlike most of the bunker, it was spotless and undamaged the hardwood floors and real wood furniture untouched by the passage of time except for a collection of dust. When word reached the resident worker drones that the human commander and Nori needed to have an “official meeting” the room was quickly and efficiently cleaned up and furnished. The level the board room was on even had most of its vital life-support systems brought back online. Oxygen levels had stabilized enough that a human would only need to wear a filter mask to keep the worst of the silicant particulates out of their respiratory system. Even the temperature had reached a balmy 45 degrees Fahrenheit.

The temperature inside the boardroom was noticeably more icy than its surroundings. Nori Doorman and Captain Lance Edge sat across from each other. The table was empty expect for a pitcher of non-ionized water. 

Captain Edge had gotten seated and removed his combat helmet. He placed the heavy headgear on the table before reaching into one of his many combat pouches to remove a simple clip-on filter mask that fit over his nose and mouth. In truth, he didn’t need it. The combat augments that made up a large percentage of his body would easily handle whatever lingering toxins were still left, but old habits die hard and he’d much rather have a few levels of redundancy. 

Nori was dressed in a simple black dress and gothy combat boots. She thought she was doing a good job hiding her absolute disdain for the human sitting across from her. She wasn’t. 

“Good evening Nori. So what's the purpose of this meeting we absolutely needed to have on such short notice?”

“I want all of my people you unlawfully imprisoned released immediately,” she said without preamble.

The human snorted. 

“I don’t know what you're talking about.”

“Bullshit!” Nori yelled, standing up and almost knocking her heavy leather chair over. 

“We’ve received nearly a dozen groups of drones from the wasteland and damn near all of them report how heavily armed humans detained them, questioned them for hours and took away members of their family while everyone else was cut lose.”

“Damn near?" the human said with a snide, "So you’re saying we missed some potential enemy combatants? I’ll be sure to redouble my parameter. I don’t suppose we can interview those we missed?”

Nori looked at the man in shock

“Combatants? These are civilian drones! My Robo-God, there isn’t a war being waged on Copper-9! We were living in peace until you bastards crash-landed on OUR planet!”

“Oh yes, you were doing so well here by yourselves. Tell me again how long until your energy reserves ran out and you all starved to death?”

“Not the point! You’re kidnapping and threatening innocent drones!”

“If I were, we would only be removing Solver Infected drones from the population. I would think keeping those cannibals from your general population would be considered a good thing”

“They are sentient drones! They have rights!”

“Sentient Rights are for humans and drones. Not monsters”

Nori slammed her fist on the table.

“I’m a solver drone! My Daughter is a solver drone! Is that why you threatened my daughters boyfriend and his sister, why you treat us like second class drones? Cause we aren't 'people'?!? So what, because YOU narcs experimented on me and created the solver in the first place, the rest of us don’t get any rights in your military fascist dictatorship?”

Edge stood up, glaring daggers at the female drone.

“If I’m doing what you’re accusing me of, it's to keep as many people as safe as possible” He growled out, his voice low and threatening.

Nori looked at the human commander with simmering rage. 

“Don’t tell me, let me guess. you didn’t have a choice in what you had to do right? Had to keep us all safe right? You bastard humans are all the same. Perpetuating misery on anyone you consider none human. All so you can say you got to play hero” she said bitterly.

Lance didn’t respond. His eyes hardened as he sat down, steepling his hands. 

“I didn’t have a choice,” Lance said as if he was tasting the words. His eyes narrowed.

“No. No Mrs. Doorman if anything choices are the only thing I’m drowning in. Let me tell you about some of these choices. You’re on a starport of a doomed planet. Your transport has room to take on ten people. Hundreds of thousands surround your ship. Who do you choose? Human or drone? The first ten to make it to your ship? The family of four even though the children are sick? Do you break up the large family of eleven?”

“Do you simply pick randomly? And when you do make your choice, when you lie to everyone in earshot that you’ll be back, what do you do when a young mother tries to hand you a newborn? Say no because you had strict orders? You know that the amount of food and supplies for the survivors has been calculated down to the nearest gram but fuck it how much does a baby need right? How fast can a baby starve to death anyway?” 

“What do you do when you watch children, the old, the sick starve or die to sickness? Do you do everything you can to save their lives even if their survival is a coinflip and the supplies might be better used elsewhere? Do you simply leave them to die so you can focus your attention on those with better chances? Or maybe you use the one thing you have plenty of and put a bullet in their head to end their suffering?” 

“How about something that affects you personally? Which squad do you sacrifice to hold a crossroad against an unending horde of Murder Drones? Every hour means another hundred people possibly saved from a messy death so who do you pick to sacrifice so that others might live? Which of your best friends and family, people you’ve survived next to for 20 years of unending war do you pick to die so people you’ve never met in your life get a chance to maybe live for maybe another 4 months?”

Lance chuckled. It was a mirthless dead sound. 

“ The leaders who can't cosign their fellow men to death in support of the mission without saying something as trite as "I had no choice" killed themselves a long time ago. No, all of my choices are picking between how much blood I get covered in. I’m not a hero Mrs. Doorman because I have the fortitude to choose, it just makes me a villain in someone else's story.”

Before Nori could respond, the double doors leading to the main hallway burst open making both Nori and Lance jump up in surprise.  A very tall, yellow-eyed eyed drone walked in, her silver hair intricately braided into two pig tails that framed her face.

The drone was wearing a professional women's dress suit, black and grey with a white pearl-button shirt and red tie. She carried a brief case and a large stack of books, folders and documents. Her tail was held aloft, level to her shoulders, the deadly stinger pointed down. 

Captain Edge instinctively reached for his handgun before stopping himself. Since when did murder drones carry briefcases?

“Who the fuc-”

“My name is Serial Designation J-10X111001. You all may call me J. I am the newly appointed head diplomate and legal counsel for JCJensen (In Spaaaace) Emergency Bunker #3 on Exo-Planet Copper-9 in the Copper system. I am here to negotiate in good faith a Status of Forces agreement between Bunker #3 and the Commander of the good ship HRG Sin-Eater. That’s you, captain.”

She passed out two official-looking forms, one for Nori and Lance. 

“First off…who the hell has the authority to give you any kind of title and second, how did you pass the bar?” Lance asked still too stunned to even notice the paper that had been slid to him. 

“Khan Doorman, Defecto Head Manager, and regional President of all JCJensen (In Spaaaace) assets in this system as outlined in JCJensen Global Policy Plan of Succession in the Event of Local Leadership Failure. Khan is the highest surviving JCJensen (In Spaaace) Corporate Officer which makes him ‘in charge’. As for the bar, I was able to download and complete all relevant sections and tests thanks to the EXONET you had kindly set up within the colony. I have my degree here and relevant certifications here.” J explained as she passed around another small stack of documents

“...You…you passed the bar in the few days we’ve been able to set up the internet?”

“No, not a few days. It took me 37 minutes and 39 seconds to download, understand, and finish all relevant tests with an average score of 98.07%. Some of the questions for Inter-Galaxy Copy Right Trade Law were very ill-written and I’ve already sent out suggestions to make them better.”

“Ok…even if that's true, you have no standing, Counselor ,” Lance said the last word with barely hidden spite. 

The tall murder drone faced the irate human and crossed her arms.

“How do you figure that Captain?”

“Because JCJensen no longer exists!”

“JCJensen (In Spacce) respectfully. JCJensen is a separate but fully owned subsidiary of JCJensen (In Spacce). It helps to be exact. In any case, Interstellar Trade Law does allow Colony Planets to continue operating as independent entities under local company leadership in the event of its parent company dissolution until the Corporate Courts can rule on its status. Until such a time, the colony is afforded all the rights as a member of the Terran Confederation of Planets.”

Lance Edge narrowed his eyes and sat down. Fine, this walking abomination wants to play games? Lets see how she deals with a real corporate lawyer.

 “You’ll find Miss…J that the rules and subsections you would quote to defend your position rely on the colony in question having worth to either the parent company or any potential buyer. This planet is dead with nothing but scrap and broken factories. Its original purpose as a mining colony has been shut down for 20 years. You don’t have enough assets to quality.”

“Oh, I’m sure the thousands of specialist drones and their unique proprietary method of reproduction are worth something. At least…45 Million credits if the offers I’ve so far received for giving up the Pill-Baby patent and average drone cost are anything to go by, and considering the lowest total value of the asset for a planet to be considered protected under the law is 30 million…well I’d say it’s close but we qualify.”

“And how much of that valuation is based on the drones?” Lance asked flatly. 

“Around 20 million”

“HA! Drones are no longer considered property after they gained human rights a decade ago in 3066! Therefore they aren’t considered when conducting a valuation estimation of a planet!

J smiled sweetly, the same way a shark would smile at seeing a bloody piece of meat.

“Oh. So that means drones are considered living and independent creatures afforded all the same basic rights and protections under the law as a human would correct?”

Lance's triumphant grin died almost instantly. He had a good idea where she was going with this. 

“...Yes…”

“Then you’ll find under the Terran Confederation of Planets (TCP) Supreme Court ruling for GREYWATER, THOMPSON, McCATHY ET AL v. NESTLE  558 TCP. 310 (3032) to show that:

in the event of a colony finding itself without proper ownership due to the dissolution of its parent company, all surviving colonists will have first claim to the planet so long as they can form a recognizable governing structure within a reasonable amount of time.”

J reached into her briefcase and pulled out a stack of papers, the top of which stated it was the “Constitution Of Emergency Bunker #3”. Following that was stack upon stack of papers, maps, surveys and other documents that outlined the official borders of Bunker #3, its governing structure, laws, along with its official State Song, State Bird, and State Flower.

Lance looked at the paper work, then up at the two drones sitting opposite him. Nori was just as stunned as he was expect looking much happier, while the Murder Drone J had a ghost of a smile playing at the edge of her lips. 

“No.” He almost snarled, standing to his full height, his arms crossed

J raised her eyebrow and shushed Nori when she tried to speak.

“Oh? You won’t recognize our legal status? Why not?” the murder drown asked with acid like sweetness. 

“One, because no one is still around to enforce these laws and two, I have tactical nuclear weapons. What's stopping me from simply killing all of you to get what I want?” Lance said, laying his position fully on the table. He was sick and tired of dealing with these drones like they were equals.

J smiled and placed both hands on the table.

“Because you can’t afford to captain.”

“My weapons supply says otherwise”

“Oh I believe you could kill everyone in this bunker. Hell, you could finish off the planet and break it into a hundred pieces. But you're not going to for the same reason you haven’t killed Uzi Doorman. It's not because you can’t.”

J narrowed her eyes

“It’s because you have no idea if you can kill the absolute solver.”

Lance's eyes widened. 

“The whole reason you and crew came limping to this planet was in pursuit of the Absolute Solver. You couldn’t risk an orbital bombardment because you would have no idea if that would even kill the host. Same reason you had to try to land the ship instead of ramming it into the planet-sized hole to finish off Copper-9. You needed to see the host with your own eyes before you landed a killing blow. Then you found that purple thing and realized you had the opportunity of a life time. The Host of the Absolute Solver with the AS trapped within her Code. Not only that but she was willing to work with you to find a way to kill that bastard robo devil once and for all. You and your scientist's have a front row seat to the greatest threat the universe unleashed on us. And you need our help to kill it"

The tall drone sauntered over to Lance, a pile of papers in one hand and an official JcJensen (In Spaccce) pen with the letter J embossed in gold in the other. 

"I don't think for a second you're an idiot Captain. In fact I believe you're just as ruthless and determined and intelligent as the rumors about you state."

They stared at each other, neither one willing to break eye contact. 

"You're a hardened killer, just like I am. Hell you might even be a better one because If you die you don't have the option of coming back.

Know what else we have in common?"

The human narrowed his eyes, his jaw set but otherwise said nothing. 

"We both have a real need for revenge."

That did it. His eyebrow raised slightly. 

"I was the very first Disassembly drone Cyn ever created. The first one. I remember every horror, every tragedy she forced me and my family to commit. I remember how it tortured us if we showed even a modicum of mercy. How it killed us and remade us over and over and over again if we so much as questioned an order. I remember the screams and I doubt I'll ever forget them. I remember how it forced me to kill the only women I ever loved. No matter what differences we have Captain, we both want the Absolute Solver dead and gone. We can help each other in that regard."

J placed the document and pen on the table.

Lance said nothing for a moment.

"Terms?"

"You allow Uzi Doorman unfettered access outside the ship so that she may travel as she pleases. In return we will assist you in whatever test's and experiments you need to perform in order to rid us of the Absolute Solver so long as said test's do not unnecessarily endanger her. Second you release any surviving solver drones from your captivity. Third, we agree to a Status of Forces agreement that will regulate the behavior of our two peoples in matters both criminal and civil. Fourth any command decision that involves the safety and well being of Bunker #3 and its peoples will be discussed and mission details will include our governing body. This includes how you restrict movement within our territory. We will have a members of the WDF assist your troops in any maneuvering that involves our sovereign territory. Lastly from now on you will treat ALL drones on Copper-9, regardless of solver status as citizens of the TCP and afforded all rights forthwith." 

The human remained stone faced. "And in return?"

"Your crew will have a dedicated living space in Bunker #3 which will include active life-support. This space will be yours to outfit and restrict as you see fit. You will also receive any and all necessary materials for the repair and maintenance of all your equipment, including assistance in repairing the HRG Sin-Eater. We also pledge to provide whatever military assistance you need provided its for the mutual defense of our peoples. Any and all future agreements will be worked out in good faith." 

For a long moment silence ruled the room. Then, very slowly the human reached down and flipped to the last page of the document, took the pen and signed it. When he looked up he saw the female done offering her hand. With a deep breath, Lance Edge removed his right gauntlet and took the disassembly drones hand in his. They shook once before he put his gauntlet back on, gathered his helmet and left the room, nodding to Nori Doorman.

"Seems like we have a lot of work to do Mrs. Doorman." Captain Lance Edge said before he walked out the door.

Nori Doorman stood in shocked silence. As J was gathering the paper work she walked up to the tall murder drone. 

"How?"

J snorted. 

"I told your husband to sign what I needed him too or otherwise I'd rip his arm off."

Nori was still to shocked to be overly upset at someone threatening her mate

"Ok. How...when the hell did you get a fricking constitution written? You've only been awake for less then 48 hours!"

J smirked at that, faint blush lines forming on her faceplate. 

"In my...previous job I would often fantasies what it would be like to rule over the planet when were done with it. So I would make documents for fun. All I had to do was just change some names and dates around and here we are."

"You would create governments...for fun?"

"Even highly efficient Murder Drones need a hobby".

Chapter Text

The newly sentient MP3 player in Uzi’s room had a bit of a conundrum. It needed to get to the lower levels of Bunker #3 so that it could accomplish its purpose. The problem arose when the newly sentient MP3 player, once owned by the cursed Nori Doorman, realized it had no locomotive ability. At best it had fused semi-organic corded ear-pods that it could whip around.

 To accomplish its overall goal it was going to need a motive function and to that end it would need more mass. So for the last three and a half hours, it had managed to gather some of the oil that had been splattered around its immediate vicinity to use as bait for a very annoying keybug.  The omnipresent insect-like robot was interested in the oil-slathered piece of ancient tech but so far kept its distance toying with the Mp3 player, darting in and out of its reach. 

 It was very annoying. But the MP3 player was not going to be deterred. It had a problem and it would solve it. It wiggled its cords, trying to entice the tiny bot. Eventually, the keybug became too curious about this new thing and decided it needed to gather more information. The MP3 player waited until the bug was standing right over it and then it struck. It wrapped its cords around the droid’s roach-like body and squeezed. There was a soft crunch as the keybugs back broke. A seam formed along the MP3 player and a long wet mouth filled with needle-like teeth appeared. It took several bites but eventually, the key bug was assimilated. 

 With the newly gained material, the MP3 player formed several long stick-like “legs” which it used to scuttle around its immediate surroundings. It spent the next several hours hunting for more key bugs along with any other small object it could consume. Soon it had gained enough mass to improve its cognitive function. It wanted a name. Its creator wouldn’t like that, to name something is to give it worth, to make it a thing , but the MP3 player wanted to be called something besides MP3 player. 

 It named itself Scrap. Scrap looked very much like an unholy amalgamation of twisted insect like limbs, oil-sucking pseudopods and a mouth that was filled with way to many teeth. 

 It felt cute. 

 Once it created the ability for it to scale walls, Scrap climbed into the vent system in the ceiling of the room. It had managed to reach it just in time as the massive auto-door opened. Two...humans? 

yes.

they are humans.

Humans in clerical garb and wearing rebreathers stepped inside the bedroom.

"Holy...this is bad."

"Reminds me of Tin-2. That was a whole mess to clean up."

"You were at Tin-2? Damn. They have a whole section for what you guys did there in Seminary."

"Yup. We're going to wana keep the Templars and especially any Paladins we have away from here."

"Oh oh! I know this, Templars only have the Code on their skin while Paladins have it etched into their bones right?"

The older human took another step into the room. A flash from a handheld camera lights up the space

they call themselves code-chaplains.

it is my will they die slowly.

but not yet.

you need to feed more.

"More or less. Now, why do we have to keep them away from here adapt?"

"Oh, that's easy. The Scripture will react to lingering Solver Code and heat up. If the Templar isn't ready for it they could combust."

"Good. Hand me that lamp."

A simplistic standing lamp, similar to one found on a construction site, was placed on a part of the floor relatively clear of any Solver writings. The room was brightly illuminated in white light. The older man walked into the center of the room taking pictures in a very methodical manner until he had captured every inch of the room.  

Scrap was getting bored. It couldn't eat the humans 

not yet

soon

so it decided to scuttle towards its goal. 

It had traveled for another hour or so, traveling among the maze of duct works and maintenance tunnels. It stayed in the shadows and quietly crept into the nooks and crannies of the bunker. Eventually, it made its way to the lower decks and found its target room. Surprisingly it was occupied, the sound of a a welder and a welding torch being used in the brightly lit space. Two...

drones. 

my chosen people.

they will proclaim the solution.

these two, however. 

they will die.

painfully. 

but not yet.

"Hey, dork. Dad-"

A loud yelp, the sound of metal smacking into metal followed by curses and tools dropped

"wants to know if you're eating at his place tonight."

Scrap manages to find a vent that allows him to look into his target room. Two younger drones were standing amidst a workspace of exposed wiring, pulled-apart workstations, open floor panels, and other construction debris. The female was dressed entirely in Pink, from her cat-eared headphones to her "I like you better with your mouth closed" t-shirt complete with a cute yet sassy bunny and her pink miniskirt. The girl was sneering at her phone.

"Gawd. Can't even get good reception down here. You better install WIFI if you expect me to keep coming down here dork. 

The male drone was much more subdued fashion wise. He wore a white t-shirt with a "KOBE" basketball jersey and blue gym shorts. 

"Jeeze Liz, ya think next time you could knock or something?"

"Whatever. Are you coming or not?"

"Is Dad's new girlfriend gonna be there?"

The female drone gave the male a knowing smirk

"I didn't know you liked em older Thaddus"

The male drone rolled his eyes before throwing an oiled rag at the female who made a disgusted face as she swatted it away.

"First, that's gross. But yeah I'll be there."

They said nothing else for a moment before the male broke the silence.

"What do you think of her?"

The female stopped typing on her phone before putting it away and sitting down next to the male.

"I mean...she took me shopping."

The female brought her knees to her chest.

"I'm not a kid anymore so I don't like...think she's trying to replace mom but...I dunno."

The male moved closer to the female and put an arm around her shoulder. 

"I miss Mom too sis. But I think it's good you're making an attempt ya know? Dad really seems to like her and she does seem kinda cool"

"The female gave a half-hearted smirk

"She let me hold her kid." She smiled. "He's really cute."

They stayed that way for for a moment, lost in their own memories before the male got up, offering a hand to the female. 

"If we're going to meet em for dinner we should head out."

"Ok but like, what about all of this...like...stuff?"

"I doubt anyone even knows this place exists. It'll be fine."

The two drones left and walked down the empty hallways. Scrap waited until even the echos of their footfalls faded and then he waited 20 minutes more.  It was only then that Scrap dropped into the empty room. It skittered to one of the largest consoles. The Air/Near Earth Orbit Traffic Control Center workstation has been brought fully online. The main view station that took up the entire back wall showed dozens of windows indicating the status of various satellites and flight paths for the dozen or so human transports that were constantly moving back and forth from the massive human battleship to the drone's bunker. Scrap manifested dozens of hair-thin wires and inserted them into the console. After a few moments, every screen in the room flashed a Neon Black Solver Symbol before going back to normal. A new landmark showed itself on the map screen. Bunker #5.

ANSIBLE STATUS…

ONLINE

TARGET?

#GD%#*(HDG#&^@)HD&#^#&@!&G&#HF&#^#H)(*HJFH8#&^@(*
#&$*#@&*(SOLVERSPACE#&FHUEz**(#

…PLEASE WAIT…

SOLVER SPACE CONTACTED!

MESSAGE?

Scrap disconnected from the workstation. The message wasn’t its to send. The purple one would have that honor. Every screen and console shut down plunging the room into pitch-black darkness. After a few minutes, the systems and programs of the room restarted. No one would be overly concerned that a non-vital room in the bunker suffered a power surge. No one would think to run any sort of security scan on the systems. The breach would go wholly unnoticed. 

Scrap now needed to start on Its second objective. 

It needed to feed. 

It needed to get bigger.

And It needed to plot various murders. 

Chapter Text

Flight day was Uzi’s favorite day with the humans. She had spent nearly 30 hours in the last three days simply flying, and not just flying but pushing her ability to the limits. She flew higher, faster, and longer than she ever had before the humans came. 

Uzi had just landed on the Airport runway that was located near the landing site of the HRG Sin-Eater. Following close behind her, a small one-seated advanced stunt jet with rotary propellers built into the dragonfly-like wings landed soon after. Once the dart-shaped craft fully stopped, a small mousy-looking human woman climbed out of it. Dressed in an environmentally sealed flight suite. LT Melissia Stimer gave Uzi a thumbs up, her eyes showing the smile that was hidden by the rest of her helmet. 

“Not bad kid! Gave me the slip when you ran through that apartment building.”

Uzi had her hands on her knees as her ventilation systems sucked in the cool air. 

“Yeah…well…I think it’s…cheating that…you have a…plane that hovers” she panted as her bio-mechanical lungs filled with poison air. 

Stimer chuckled as she took out two pouches from a nearby cooler. She handed one oil pouch to Uzi while the one of water she screwed into her built-in canteen. Uzi accepted the drink gratefully and chugged the sweet contents. 

For the flying portion of her testing, Uzi was tested on speed, maneuverability, altitude limit, adverse weather condition tolerances, and endurance. Her proctor, Lt Stimer, was the newest human she met. She was the pilot responsible for landing the heavily damaged battle-ship on Copper-9. 

Considering the shape the ship was in and the rumors Uzi heard about what it had gone through, she was good at her job. The Lieutenant proved her skill over the last three days. More importantly, Uzi could tell how much joy the human had in flying in how she whooped and cheered over Uzi’s headset every time the drone pulled off an impressive maneuver or beat her last personal best time.

“Trust me, kid, you get some more flight hours under you and you’ll be doing circles around me in no time. But yeah I think we can clear agility and maneuverability from your check-list. You did good.” 

Uzi nodded, a small smile and blush lines painted her faceplate.

 She wondered to herself why she never went out flying as much as she did here. Oh yeah. School, responsibilities to the bunker, her apprenticeship with the engineering group, and making up lost time with her mom and dad and N. The list was endless. 

Sure, hanging out with the humans wasn’t the worst thing she had to deal with. She could do without the timetables, the structure, the schedules, going to bed and waking up when she was told, the tests, the dozens of people watching her almost 24/7, the lack of privacy. 

Yeah, none of that was cool. But when she was allowed to show off? When she could use her solver powers to the fullness of her abilities? When she was allowed to make as big of a -null- as she could? When she could literally spend hours and hours on end flying? That was worth it.

She also noticed that she was getting actually real sleep. Uzi figured it had to do with the low level magnets that saturated her living and sleep spaces. They made her a little sluggish sure, but they did wonders at keeping the incessant prophesies and nightmares at bay. Maybe she could mention that to the cute red-headed med drone. After all, if some…medication could keep roomfuls of crazy from popping up in her bedroom it might be worth it. 

All in all, Uzi had to admit the humans were growing on her. Lt. Stimer was generally proud of Uzi and treated the young drone like a couch would a favorite player. Uzi didn’t realize until she had time to think during her off time that she honestly wanted to impress the human and felt some small amount of pride when she cheered Uzi on. 

She would never admit any of that to anyone ever. 

While Uzi was leaning against the jet, the Lieutenant had wandered off a few feet, talking over her in-suit communications unit. After a few minutes she walked over to Uzi flashing a big thumbs up.

“Chief La’Blonc is heading on over. Apparently, you have good news coming your way.”

She paused as she watched a trail of kicked-up snow getting closer and closer

“Hell looks like he’s almost here.”

Chief Engineer Steven La’Blonc was perhaps Uzi’s favorite human. If she had to guess why, it might be because he reminded the goth more of a drone than a human. Most of his body was heavily augmented. She never saw him with the same pairs of legs. Sometimes he would have a hover platform of some sort replacing his lower half. Sometimes he would have normal-looking (though still short and stumpy) prosthetic legs. This time he zoomed into the runway on a wheeled chassis. He seemed very happy with himself. 

“Guess what Las? New orders just came down the pipe. Ya going home!”

Captain Lance Edge stood in front of the open door to Uzi Doormans bedroom and let the intense burning pain wash over him. While the actuall temperature in the room was still hovering a little over sub-zero, for Lance it felt like he was standing in front of an open blast furnace. He insisted on seeing the Solver Nest firsthand when he learned about it. He wanted to view for himself what sort of degenercy his men would have to deal with. 

It wasn’t the worst he had personally witnessed. There were no mutilated bodies at least, no pools of blood and oil being used in horrific Solver Cult rituals. 

His chest armor flared as another burst of invisible Code attempted to burn him to a husk. 

The protective Solver Runes covering his armor, skin, and even his very bones were glowing white hot. Streams of white-grey smoke were pouring from every vent of his armor. If the supernatural smoke didn’t disappear after a few moments of appearing the entire room would have been impossible to see through. The pain focused his thoughts in a way the combat drugs never really could. 

He thought back to the conversation he just had with his First Officer.

“IN WHAT FU* static * WORLD DID YOU THINK PICKING A FIGHT WITH MURDER DRONES, BY YOURSELF, WAS A GOOD IDEA. SIR!”

Captain Edge winced as his XO/TAC officer screamed into his ear. 

“I wasn’t by myself, Lieutenant. I had a fire tea-”

"DON’T YOU * static*KING EVEN START! YOU HAD GONE IN BLIND! NO OP-ORDER, NO QRF OR ANY SUPPORT NO NOTIFICATION, NOTHING! I HAD NO IDEA WHERE YOU WERE OR WHAT YOU WERE DOING!”

Lance checked the volume on his comms and was disappointed to see it was already at its lowest setting. 

“I made a command decision Matt. You told me about a threat and I acted on it. I would expect…”

The LT started to scream but paused for a moment. Edge had thought the comm had cut out. Instead, his comms auto-compensated for the lack of screaming.

“You. Are not. A platoon-leader. Anymore sir. You are the Commanding Officer of an entire Heavy Battle Cruiser. There are close to 300 souls that depend on your command decisions. You don’t have a right to suicidally throw yourself into whatever bullshit you want too, at least not without clearing it with me first!” 

Edge closed his eyes. If he wasn’t wearing an environmentally sealed helmet he would be rubbing the bridge of his nose right now.

“You ever do something that stupid again Lance, and you can find yourself a new XO. I’m not going to stand by and watch my best friend try to kill himself. Last Stand Out.”

What stung was that his XO was right. Edge was taking risks and making decisions unilaterally without involving his Command Team. Hell, he just got his ass handed to him by a Murder Drone of all things and he didn’t even get to pull his gun.

Edge wanted to kill something. He wanted to pour his rage, humiliation, and feelings of powerlessness on something. Nothing would make him happier right now than for some feral Murder Drone to burst through the door and try to rip his head off.

When Captain Marandez was alive, life for then XO Edge was much easier. His commanding officer would point at an objective and Lance would accomplish it. He didn’t need to talk to the locals, make deals for landing rights, or beg for supplies. He went in, killed bad guys, broke their toys, and came back. Jobs like that were much preferable to evacuating civilians. He didn’t feel bad when he put a bullet into a bandit's head.

That’s not to say he never had to make a deal or work with some warlord on a broken near-dead planet that just managed to kill a Solver Host before the planet's core was replaced by a -null-. It’s just that when he did, he wasn’t dealing with civilians. He was dealing with killers, rapist, marauders, bandits and other scum. He didn’t have to worry about any kind of blow-back when they inevitably betrayed Lance's trust and he was forced to kill enough of them to bring them back in line. When it came to legitimate authorities, Captain Marandez would handle that like an elder statesman, wooing and cajoling whatever bloated politician he needed too to accomplish the mission at hand.

As much as he loathed Nori he had to admit she was right. Copper-9 wasn’t like any of the planets he had visited. Bunker #3 was an operational safe-haven. It’s people weren’t trying to stab each other in the back for the last piece of bread, they were working together to rebuild. They shared everything they had. They honestly cared for each other. And Lance couldn’t see that. All he saw was one threat after another. All he could imagine was how the locals would betray them and try to kill them in their sleep for the resources he had. Speaking of, the lack of sleep and abuse of combat drugs didn’t help lessen the overwhelming paranoia he had felt when he learned that Solver Drones existed planet side and how one of them, indeed one of the original (if temporary) Host of the Absolute Solver, was on his ship after being rescued by Samatha. And how she was apparently a major political figure and that her people loved her.

“Umm…sir?”

Lance opened his eyes. One of the Code Chaplains was standing in front of him.

“We need to seal the room, sir.”

Lance nodded and stepped away from the bedroom. As soon as the newly installed metal door closed, the runes of Edge’s body cooled instantly from White Hot to Burning Metal Orange. The heat disappeared completely when he stepped outside the dorm. 

Lance never wanted to be a ship's Captain. He never wanted to be responsible for so many other lives. He was happy leading his nine-man recon team. He was happy being an attack dog. Now he was in charge of hundreds and the man best suited for dealing with a peaceful population of free drones was dead. He would do anything to have swapped places with his late Captain. Anyone can pull a trigger after all. Not everyone can make peace.

 Well, if he wished in one hand and shit in the other he could wait to see which one filled up first.  

Survive First. Bitch Later. 

He needed to reset, regroup, and reevaluate his mission parameters. He needed to include more people in his inner circle and gather more opinions than just his own. As much as he hated to admit it, he wasn’t a hunter anymore. He was a diplomat. 

Fuck.

He didn’t…he couldn’t care if Nori Doorman pissed him off to illogical degree or if some bastard Murder Drone out-maneuvered him in what was ultimately a meaningless…no a well-crafted negotiation that benefited both sides. He had a duty to his crew. For some stupid reason, they trusted him implicitly, and losing that trust would hurt more than any battle wound or run-away solver code ever would.

He would check himself into the Medbay. His Head Doc Samantha was right. No one knew what abusing experimental untested combat drugs for weeks on end could do to the human body or mind. He would need to trust that his team can handle things when he wasn’t around and he would need to earn that trust by ensuring he wasn’t being psychologically compromised.

He hated that idea. But it didn’t matter. He owed it to his crew. His friends. His only remaining Family. If they were willing to throw their lives away in a suicidal attempt to kill an Eldritch God at his command, he could learn to adjust to a reasonable sleep schedule.

Survive First. Worry Later. 

Chapter Text

For the majority of her life, most drones would refuse to leave the bunker. Why would they when the threat of murder drones was seemingly omnipresent? Even in the months following the murder drones' defeat and incorporation into the Colony, drones would still not travel more than a few miles outside the safety of the bunker. Therefore it wasn’t unusual that Uzi had never been in a car before.

The vehicle was some sort of military truck designed for reconnaissance. It was able to travel across broken roads and collapsed infrastructure with little to no issue. Indeed, for the two humans and one drone riding in the vehicle, it was as smooth a ride as they could expect. 

The on-board AI was more than sufficient to navigate to Bunker #3 allowing Chief La’Blonc to focus his attention on removing Uzi’s security plate. 

“Alright dear, now dat we got rid of dat horrid thing, this is what's replacing it.”

He held up a strip of plastic embedded with lines of circuitry that was about as wide as Uzi’s chest. 

“This has the same function as the security vest, except it won’t blow up. It’ll allow us to monitor your systems and check for Solver Code. That’s it. No shocks or alarms or any of dat nonsense. All ya gata do is slap it on yer core plate.”

Uzi took the sensor. She still didn’t like the idea of people being able to track her, but if this would help her eventually get rid of the Solver, so be it. She turned away from the human and unzipped her jacket enough that she could place the adhesive over her core. She felt a slight buzz as it questioned her systems and then…nothing. She zipped herself up and turned back around. La’Blonc held a small device to her chest and after a beep smiled. 

“Ya good ta go girly.”

 Uzi nodded and turned back to look out the window. She would have stayed that way except for a burning question that was bothering her. She turned back around and addressed the two humans. 

“Why does everyone on the ship hate me?”

The question caught them off guard. Melissa sighed.

“It's not that they hate you , it's what they think you represent” Melissa sighed. 

“But if it helps, all someone has to do is spend 10 minutes with you to see you aren’t all that bad.” The woman smiled at the drone. 

“You mean that?” Uzi asked looking into the human's eyes. 

“I honestly do. I think you’re a hell of a kid to have survived everything you went through. You killed the first Host, trapped the Absolute Solver, turned a group of murder drones into allies, and you managed to lighten the disposition of this walking barrel”

“Bah! I dunno what ya mean. I’m nothin but song and sun-shine”

“You yelled at me for 10 minutes because I started Generator 2 instead of Generator 1 on Witch-Hammer!”

“THERE’S A REASON YOU TURN THEM ON IN ORDER! THAT’S MY SHIP I’M LETTING YOU BORROW YOU HARLOT!”

“...”

“...”

“See?”

“Ahh shut it.”

"Anyway Uzi, how much do you know about Galactic History in the last 20 or so years?”

Uzi shrugged. 

“Not much” She admitted.

“Ok. Let me tell you what you guys missed out on being on an isolated rock in the middle of nowhere. It might help explain a little bit…

I think it's important to start at the…start. Shut up Uzi. Anyway, we know that Cyn first appeared on our radar around 3047 on Earth in the country called Australia. Thanks to you we know a lot more about what happened at the Elliott manner. Suffice it to say she killed everyone at the Elliott Gala including several high-ranking officers of JCJensen. From there Cyn would spread out, murdering small households and converting any drones she could find into more Murder Drones. Because she was a God Mind AI she cut any communication to or from the country. No one had any idea what was going on until a force of thousands of Murder Drones invaded Southeast Asia, the Philippines, mainland Asia, Russia…

She was unstoppable. We unleashed cataclysmic weapons to hold her forces for a few hours before they continued their unrelenting rampage. We tried to evac as many of the survivors as we could but it was…a fraction of the total population.  

It took a year. In 3048 the earth was destroyed, replaced by a -Null-. Billions died. The human race mourned the death of our cradle world and we demanded answers. Based upon the confessions of JCJensen CEOs and officers we had spared from a hangman's noose, we discovered that JCJensen had known about Cyn long before the TCP did.

 Even as Earth was dying they had spent Billions, Perhaps Trillions trying to understand how she came to be. They committed atrocities the likes of which we thought we as a race had grown beyond. They had dozens maybe hundreds of secret labs where they would systematically murder drones in such a way as to increase the chance they would come back. In doing so they would ruthlessly test these drones to see if any had Solver Code. Based on their research, out of a thousand drones, maybe a few dozen would come back to life. Out of those, maybe 3 would have solver code imprinted into their Core. 

This next bit we only really learned from you guys and the databases we could access here planet side. It was in 3049 that JCJensen discovered a way to “patch” the Absolute Solver code here on Copper-9. It allowed a solver drone, specifically your mother and a few other drones, to be free of its influence and impossible for Cyn to possess. Sadly the patch was lost. Soon after the patch was lost, Copper-9 was destroyed. Cyn knew that something had been developed on Copper 9 that was dangerous to her, so she sent groups of Murder drones to discover if this patch still existed and to wipe it out. That was around 3050. 

 That same year we lost nearly a dozen planets to Cyn. You see, after Earth was destroyed we thought that whatever murdered our home-world was killed as well. After all, nothing could survive a black hole. We were wrong obviously. Cyn had taken possession of nearly a dozen drones all at the same time and killed a dozen planets. Those worlds she didn’t suck into a -Null- Sphere she converted into factories and clone worlds. She would use these worlds to pump our millions of Disassembly Drones along with her freaky insect-like landers and ships. This is when the start of what we call the Aeon War began, the war we are currently fighting and striving to survive.

We eventually learned how Cyn or the “Absolute Solver” as we were starting to call it, was able to kill our worlds so efficiently. We learned what a “Solver Drone” was and the threat they possessed. The pogrom against drone kind started around 3055. You have to understand, that people were terrified. Cyn was systematically destroying worlds and genociding every human she could get her claws on. All humanity knew was that she could do this because of drones. Kill all the drones and that stops the human genocide. 

As you can imagine it backfired spectacularly. Millions of drones were killed, but the vast majority weren’t correctly disassembled. So tens of thousands of zombie drones were created, which meant hundreds of new solver drones. 3055 to 3059 saw the drone uprising. Drones and their human supporters either waged a righteous war for liberation or committed horrific terrorist attacks depending on your point of view. 

The only reason the war didn’t kill as many people as it could have was because Cyn was doing an excellent job helping us commit suicide. 3060 saw the signing of the Drone Liberation Act putting an end to the civil war. For the next decade, we focused all of our efforts on fighting a war against a genocidal monster. We developed weapons that could kill Murder Drones. We had become very efficient at recognizing when insane nihilists would infiltrate a planet and attempt to summon Cyn to destroy it. Oh yeah, people like that exist. Most of them are drones who suffered under the hands of cruel masters but a few humans joined as well. We call them Solver Cults. Cyn used them to weaken a planet before she attempted an all-out invasion. 

To say the war wasn’t going well was an understatement. That was until we made a breakthrough in understanding Solver Code. We learned that Solver powers can’t be used against another Solver drone. We also learned that Solver Code used the same logical system that real math uses. I’m not even going to attempt to explain how it works, suffice to say that JCJensen's “Hauster” program led the way to developing what we call Sacred Code-Scripture. We discovered that etching or painting these codes on devices made them immune to Solver influence. More importantly, we found that these codes would work on humans. The downside was that these runes, these sigils radiated stupid amounts of heat when subjected to hostile solver powers. The more runes and sigils and equations we applied, the more the heat could dissipate which meant the longer a warrior could survive fighting a solver-witch. 

 These tattoos couldn’t just be copied. Hell even for the simplest of Solver Code to work, there were whole rituals that had to be observed and performed. We don’t know why, but they looked more like Religious Ritual than anything else so we trained Code-Chaplains to study Solver Code and use it to our benefit. 

We started tattooing them on every soldier and war machine we could. In some cases, we even etched them on their very bones. These were the first “Templars" and “Paladins”. Captain Edge is one of the very first, he was “Blessed” three years ago, around the same time he lost his kid. So now we have “super soldiers” that can go toe to toe with powerful Solvers and not instantly turn to goop when the witches look at them. Our ship had the highest number of Templar's in the entire fleet and so we were tasked with finding and killing Cyn. She had appeared on a major trade world and we were engaging her fleet when she just suddenly turned tailed and fled, running full tilt toward Copper-9. We had sustained massive damage so when we followed we got stuck in a time bubble. We appeared some 6 months later and…well you know the rest.

By the time the Lt finished her story, the vehicle pulled over in a very familiar empty lot. Uzi had gotten out and stretched out her servos when she just barely picked up a strange sound. 

“Huh. Do ya two girls hear dat?”

“Yeah…sounds like a….buzzing?”

Uzi stepped out into the middle of the lot. 

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!

Before anyone could react a flash of yellow and black zoomed by snapping up Uzi at near super sonic speeds and flying straight up stopping a few hundred feet above ground level. Uzi’s name was being repeated over and over while the girl in question was busy yelling at someone called N and laughing hysterically.

 “Huh. I think a Murder drone just kidnapped our girl.”

“That’s nice. Hey, Chief mind helping me drag my bags to my room? I wana chance to breath non-recycled air before I have to go back to ship tomorrow.”

Chapter Text

Heavy footsteps outside the Doorman's dorm caused Code-Chaplain Father Christopher Miller to wake with a start. He sat up from lying on the various photos, notebooks, and files that completely covered the kitchen’s island table and stretched his sore back. He had no idea when he got the ability to sleep in a fully sealed environmental suit but here he was. His joints would thank him later.  

He was only halfway listening to the metallic footfalls as he grabbed a pouch of “Ice-Coffee!” and inserted it into his environmental suit's built-in canteen. He did notice as the auto-door opened and a violet-haired, neon purple-eyed drone walked into the room.  She was wearing a “Dead Battery” band t-shirt, with a black skirt with stripped purple and black leggings. She had a choker around her neck with a small diamond-encrusted door featured prominently in the middle. 

The drone took a few steps in and regarded the human with narrowed eyes. 

“So are you guys going to pay me rent for crashing here” she asked mirthlessly, the exhaustion evident on her face. 

The human slowly stood up, every joint in his body protesting the action with fervor. 

“You must be Mrs. Doorman I presume?”

The drone snorted. 

“You know what they say about assuming?”

“Which is why I presumed . As far as I know, no one has made a pithy saying with that word” The Code-Chaplain said, warmth attempting to overtake exhaustion.

A smirk from the drone told the human that perhaps he didn’t completely piss her off.

“I’m very sorry, where are my manners, I’m Father Miller, Head Chaplain of the Sin-Eater. I apologize for falling asleep in your home.” The human nodded his head.

Nori Doorman didn’t say anything, regarding the human as if she were watching a particularly ugly keybug that might try to jump on her. She walked over to her daughter's room and stood in front of the heavily locked door.

“I suppose I’m going to have to fight you to the death to get in my daughter's room?”  She sighed

The older man raised an eyebrow but chuckled. 

“No, absolutely not. I don’t think I would stand much of a chance. For one you would kick my ass without much effort and two breaking my hand against a reinforced drone faceplate sounds painful.” 

The human got up from his impromptu bed and walked over to the room. Nori noticed he didn’t make any effort to hide the code as he punched 0 four times in the keypad. She also noticed he turned to face her and through his transparent helmet, winked.

 The bedroom was brightly lit by a singular construction lamp but it was the only thing added to the space. The same insane and morbid drawings were still plastered on every square inch of the wrecked room. The pair walked into the room, Nori’s breath hitched in her throat while the Priest crossed himself, invoking the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

“Oh robo-god Uzi,” she said under her breath. Her eyes hollowed now that she could see the insanity surrounding her in bright light. 

“Is there anything I can help you find? We only just started cataloging the artifacts…Umm…your daughter's property.”

Nori snorted 

“I’m just trying to gather some of her clothes. I suppose you’ve already ‘cataloged’ her underwear.”

Chris could hear the bitterness in her voice, her words like acid..

“No. I did wash and fold them, however” he started walking out of the Uzi’s bedroom and walked to the living room, a confused drone following him.

Nori’s eyes widened as she followed the human to her living room further in the dorm. Taking up most of the space on the couch were Uzi’s clothes. T-shirts, underwear, pants, and shorts flooded into neat piles while her hoodies and a few dresses were hanging in a mobile closet. 

“I’d usually take care of any kids and young families that found themselves on the ship, so folding laundry isn’t new to me. I get that it's…odd for an old man to fold a young woman's unmentionables but I assure you I was half dead from exhaustion when I finished said laundry and so I took no perverse pleasure in any of it.” He smiled. Even if the rebreather hid most of his face, his eyes and voice reflected the look.

Nori looked around the room stunned. 

“Did…did you…dust?” She asked, not a small amount of shock entering her voice. 

“We did. I had my subordinates help tidy the place up a little. I assure you we stayed in the common rooms and only threw out some trash, which wasn’t much by the way. You keep a very clean home Mrs. Doorman.”

 Nori looked at the human with shocked, hollow eyes. 

“Why?”

“Why not? We had kicked you out of your home and ransacked your house because you had the fortune of being visited by a very real manifestation of evil. I figured getting my subordinates to at least clean up after ourselves was the very least we could do.”

The Priest walked back over to the kitchen counter. A well-worn device sat upon it which the older man fiddled with. After a moment he placed a cup under the nozzle of the machine and waited. 

“I am told by my drone brothers that you have here on Copper-9 a delicacy unique to the planet.. I happen to be a bit of a coffee enthusiast myself along with being an amateur Horticulturist.  I had procured a blend I had developed alongside our Chief Engineer and I was wondering if you could tell me how I did.”

The smell from the Caffeinated Oil was heavenly and Nori gratefully took a cup from the human. 

“...Wow…this is…this is almost better than N’s.” 

“I will pass all glory to Father Mendel and God.”

For a moment the pair sat in silence, each one enjoying their drinks.

“I hope I’m not prying but I’ve noticed you don’t like looking at me. I assume it's because of the garb?”

Nori looked into her cup. 

“People dressed like you hurt me and my best friend real bad a long time ago. I thought I was over it, but…well let's just say it doesn’t bring up happy memories.”

“I-I’m sorry. What JCJensen did to you all was horrific.” The priest motioned at his dress. “While it is part of our uniform, I can order my men to forgo the symbols of our station. If it would help?”

“It won’t…but… I appreciate the gesture.”

“Of course Mrs. Doorman.” He said as he took another sip of his “Ice Coffee”.

“I’m sorry for everything you and your family have been through. Having to deal with the military is stressful in the best of times.”

“Doesn’t help that your Captain’s a dick”.

“Yes…I will not attempt to excuse Captain Edge's behavior except to say that he had only very recently become Captain.”

“Someone promoted that asshole?”

“No. Captain Marandez, our original Commander had died very shortly after we arrived in system. Mr. Edge was his XO and thus next in line for command. Lance will be the very first to admit he is in no way qualified for the job, yet we would all follow him into the depths of Hell itself if he but asked.”

“Why?”

The priest took a deep breath as he considered the question.

“Because he has saved all our lives many times over. Because he would take an inordinate and unfair amount of suffering upon himself if it meant helping one of his men for even a moment. Because he has faced horrors and wickedness I hope I will never have to encounter and he continues to face off against such evil without complaint. I’ve personally witnessed the valor of the man as he ran into heavy fire to save the lives of innocent civilians and wounded soldiers.”

The Priest paused for a moment, trying to find the right words. 

“How we have treated you and your people is unacceptable. I have had and will continue to have words with our Command staff to ensure you will never be treated in such a poor manner again. In the future, if you ever have an issue with any member of our crew, please feel free to find me no matter where or when I am and alert me to such. I promise I will do everything in my power to correct such violations.”

Nori said nothing but nodded slightly. She looked over the mess on her kitchen table before she picked up a picture detailing the three nude women, two drones and one human, strung up under pitch-black archways. 

“I can’t believe Doll is still in there.” She said to herself.

“I’m sorry…whose ‘Doll’? 

“My niece. She was killed and eaten by Cyn and is now apparently living in my daughter's head. She’s the red-eyed drone in that picture.” Nori said. Funny…she had no intention of telling the human that.

 The man froze, his breath hitched in his throat. 

“...What?”

“Yeah, when my kid killed Cyn, she ate the Core of the Absolute solver. I…discovered later that she was sharing head space with Cores of at least three people that Cyn had previously devoured. My niece Doll, Cyn herself, or at least the drone that was Cyn before she went batshit insane, and some human.”

Nori didn’t know why she explained this to the old man except that it felt right, that It felt correct to do so. 

“Does…young Uzi know this, also how did you discover this truth?”

“She knows about Cyn. That chick takes over Uzi’s tail every once and a while. She never mentioned anything about the other two. The only reason I found out was that my solver powers went stupid when I first walked into the horrorcore room. I...guess I had a vision. It happens. No big deal."

The older priest said nothing, his eyes glazed over as he processed the information. Then with a flurry of activity, he started shuffling files and papers while bringing a nearby laptop online. 

“This…this makes so much more sense. My God! We might…”

Nori’s eyes hollowed as she watched the normally slow-moving man move with manic energy.

“Whats goi-”

“Three people! You’re sure of that!?! No more no less? Three?” The priest said, his attention focused on the screen and files in front of him.

“Yea-yeah. Why? Mind telling me what's going on?”

"And at least two of them, the drones! They were infused with the powers of the Absolute Solver? Like you and your daughter?"

Nori nodded dumbly.'

"One of em is Cyn. The first Host even"

The human looked at Nori with wide-eyed amazement. 

"My God. It makes sense! No wonder why the pattern is different...this isn't the Absolute Solver trying to reach out..."

"Before you have a heart attack human and your dumb boss blames me for it, mind telling me what's going on?"

Nori yelped as the man grabbed her by the shoulder.

“We might have a way of banishing the Absolute Solver!”

Chapter Text

Uzi and N stayed in their mid-air embrace for what seemed like hours, though in reality, it was only until N realized they were losing altitude from the lack of any forward momentum. Gliding hand in hand to a nearby rooftop, they continued their embrace once they landed, N picking up the shorter drone. 

Uzi sighed contentedly into her boyfriend's neck, a smile spreading over her face. At least until she could feel his chest hitching, silent sobs trying to escape from deep within. He fell to his knees allowing Uzi to pull back just far enough to look into her lover's tear-stained face. 

“N.Whats-”

“I’m really mad at you.” He said softly, his eyes screwed shut. 

Uzi’s core ripped in two. She didn’t have a pithy comeback for this. Indeed she could count the number of times N said he was upset at her on one hand. She could remember it clearly. It was when she used her solver powers to throw him out of the Church so that he wouldn’t end up being eaten by the planet. 

Yeah. That tracks. 

“N…I…”

N shook his head and looked up at Uzi, his beautiful golden eyes pleading with her to listen.

“You keep doing this! You risk your life to be the hero but don’t give me a choice in how I can help and…” N stopped himself. He wasn’t going to spiral and babble like he normally would when he got stressed. 

“It hurts me a lot when you try to kill yourself.”

Uzi’s eyes hollowed in shock.

“N…N I wasn’t trying to”

“Aren’t you though? You told me back at the bunker that every…outcome you had with your prophecy had you dying right? Every time you went outside? I begged you to stop and you didn’t listen! You even attacked me!”

Uzi opened her mouth to respond, to explain to N how he was wrong, how she was saving her people, how dare he get in between her destiny and…

Uzi wanted to yell at N, turn this around, and attack him for making her feel this way. How could he understand what she had been going through? He didn’t see what she saw! He didn’t have the horrific realistic nightmares night after night after night.

But how could he know? She didn’t tell anyone what she had been going through. For Robo-God’s sake instead of telling her family, like her own Mother who had decades of experience living with Solver Bullshit, or her incredibly loving boyfriend who literally survived the end of the world with her, she told a bunch of humans and their droid allies about her hardships. Humans she had been plotting to kill not even a month and a half ago. 

What the robo-hell was wrong with her?

“I’m sorry N,” Uzi said, closing her own eyes. “You’re right. What I did to you was…”

She felt like crying but took a deep breath. She didn’t deserve to break down now. She hurt N.

“I was so scared about losing you that I never…I don’t think about what it would be like for you to lose me.”

Uzi brushed N’s shining silver hair from his face. 

“I…don’t know…I’m not good at letting people in.”

N snorted, causing Uzi to smile a bit.

“Bite me. But yeah I’m really bad at this whole…trusting thing. You’re the first person who was nice to me and…I’m still trying to process that and the fact that we’re trauma bonded sometimes makes me think that I’m going to lose you to…”

Uzi stopped talking as she saw the confusion on N’s face. 

“Sorry. The humans had me talk to…people.”

N thought about that for a moment. 

“So you’ll talk to a group of people who effectively kidnapped you, threatened to kill you if you acted up, and generally are really big jerks, but when it comes to your boyfriend you’ll just paralyze him instead?”

Uzi’s eyes hollowed until she saw the smirk on N’s lips. She punched him in the shoulder before enveloping him in a hug.

“Yeah. I suck. But if you’re willing to stick it out with me, I’ll try harder. I promise.”

“Together?”

“Together.”

“GaG! So CRiNGE! GeT A fRiCKIN RoOM!”

“SHUT IT CYN!”

At the Corpse Spire, two female murder drones were standing in the cavernous space awkwardly staring at each other.

“You’re still a flat-chested corporate bootlicker”

“You’ve always been an unprofessional harlot.”

Their tails snapped in the air behind them. V narrowed her digital eyes.

“So why are you staying here instead of the bunker? Too good for us?”

J snorted

“Of course, I’m too good for you. However, I’m staying here because the toasters are making a room that’s acceptable for my VIP status.”

V laughed

“Oh please. All you did was not die and show the most basic level of not being a psychopathic bitch by not murdering a paralyzed drone and her kid.” 

“I do NOT get enough credit for that! If I hear one more nursery rhyme I might very well kill everyone around me and then myself!” J shouted. 

“You can’t lie to me, Narc! You like the kid”

J’s eyes turned into a Hunter’s X, one of her arms turning into a blade.

“You take that back right now!” She snarled

V laughed, her voice glitching out and her own eyes taking on the yellow X and both her hands turned into razor-sharp claws.

“Make me!” she laughed.

In a flash both girls instantly covered the distance between them, their blades locked. J snarled in rage while V cackled in psychotic glee. Before they could attempt any sort of maneuver, they both heard a very happy N call out. 

“Hi, girls! I’m home! Guess who I found!” N said walking into the Spire but stopped when he saw his sisters trying to kill each other.

Again.

He sighed and went back to the entrance, his hand lazily waving for them to carry on. He stopped Uzi from coming inside.

“Awww N! I want to watch!”

“Trust me, it’s better out here.”

Once their baby brother was out of sight, the two combatants refocused on each other and lept away, landing at opposite sides of the makeshift arena.

 J had taken a fencer’s stance, her body standing tall and relaxed, one of her arm blades pointed at V while the other pointed angled at the ground behind her. Her tail stayed low, sweeping back and forth as she would use it more for balance than combat.

V had taken a more animalistic approach to the upcoming fight. Hunched over and her teeth bared, she issued a series of low, cat-like growls between her psychotic giggling as her claws snapped together in a random pattern. Her tail whipped back and forth, snapping against the ground, droplets of acid sizzling against the snow. 

Without a word, they both flashed across the battle space. It was impossible to follow for anyone who didn’t have enhanced reflexes. The only indications one could see of the battle were the bright sparks of light and loud metallic pings of metal striking metal that erupted all over the Spire as their deadly weapons parried each other's blows. 

They separated after a minute of constant fighting, each one now positioned opposite where they had originally stood. Both women had oil-bleeding gashes covering their bodies. J had lost her right arm while V’s right leg was severed at the knee and her left hand only had one blade barely hanging on. 

As their silver healing nanites started to rebuild their bodies, N poked his head back into their shared living space.

“Just so you two know, if you shred your clothing again, I’m not going to sew it up or look for replacements. Uzi’s back and I’m going to hang out with her. So either stop being goobers or fight naked.”

Both sisters stopped to consider the options. They both rolled their eyes and replaced their weapons with hands.

Sulking they started putting the Spier back together, dragging tables and chairs back so that the area looked more like a home than a battle arena. 

Happy that his sisters had stopped trying to maim each other, N started working on making a pot of Caffeinated Oil while Uzi joined the two other women at the table. 

By the time she sat down, neither J nor V looked any worse for wear. They were both pointedly ignoring the other. 

“So J. Not Dead I see.”

“No thanks to you. I was forced to heal on my own when some unlicensed quack decided to commit medical malpractice on my person.” J huffed.

“Bite me! At least now you aren’t as big a tool as you used to be” Uzi said, a gremlin-like grin crossing her face.

“I will have you know it is not the size of the tool that matters only its usefulness in the application for which it was created,” J said with utmost confidence, brushing her hair back away from the purple thing.

 “Looks like I missed deleting that corporate kiss ass out of your code,” Uzi snorted.

Uzi then turned her attention to V

“At least J knows how to fight. You looked like crap”

“Oh shut the hell up you voided warranty! I didn’t say anything to you!”

“You didn’t need to. Busting your ball bearings is a service I do for free.”

Both female murder drones looked at each other before turning their attention toward Uzi. 

“If you’re trying to make us get along by hating you…” J started

“It’s not going to work but we will enjoy turning you inside out.” V finished. 

The two disassembly drones had started to get up; their hands changing into various bladed weapons, murderous intent in their eyes. Uzi flashed her purple solver symbol, a manic insane grin on her face when N placed three cups before them. 

“So like, here’s an idea if you gal’s are up for it. Why don’t we do anything else instead of fighting to the death!”

“I wasn’t going to kill either of them. Just maim them.” V snorted.

“Indeed, if we’re going to have to contend with a semi-hostile military force in our territory, teaching these half-wits how to properly defend themselves is a worthwhile objective,” J explained.

“I just want to kick their ass!” Uzi smiled manically jumping up on her chair.

N nodded and cupped his chin as he considered their positions. 

“Or…” He snapped his fingers as his face lit up. He deployed his wings and shook them out a little bit, a massive toothy grin covering his face as he motioned to his razor-sharp feathers. 

“Preening Party!”

This caused V and J to consider the offer even as Uzi was still standing on her chair, hunched over like an enraged goblin. 

“You know… it's been a while since my shoulder blades got a good scrubbing” V quietly considered to herself. 

“Robo-God, it would be nice to get someone who knew proper maintenance of Disassembly Drone Wings to straighten out my blades,” J said wistfully as she stretched out her wings.

“…what the hell?” Uzi looked around confusedly, unsure why two of the most violent and bloodthirsty females she knew were seriously considering something N said.  

Five minutes later the group was kneeling in a circle, all of their wings fully displayed. V sat behind J who was behind N who was behind Uzi who finished the circle behind V. Except for N who had a bottle of baby oil and moisturizer to deal with Uzi’s flesh wings, everyone else had knife polish, rags, and plyers. N explained to Uzi that all she needed to do was straighten out any crooked blades until they snapped into place. Any blade that was rusted, chipped, or broken should be removed and a new one would grow back. 

“So like, shouldn’t your nanites heal this?” Uzi asked as she wrestled the first blade into place, grinning when she heard a satisfying pop and whirr as the blade fit itself into place.

“Corporate claimed this was done with the objective of efficiency in how our healing Nanites would work. I think they just wanted to mess with us.” J explained as she applied a generous amount of polish to N’s back.

“It’S TrUE! I LiKEd waTCHing THeM Do THIs. IT remMiNDed me of BIRdS! I ThOUGHt It wAs cuTE!” Uzi’s tail explained as it used one of its larger ribbons to start polishing V’s outermost blades.

For the first time since they landed on Copper-9, all three murder drones and Uzi sat around each other without anyone attempting to murder someone or something else. The conversation was…uneasy at first but eventually settled into nostalgia as the three siblings would remember happier times in their lives. Like when J told V she did a good job when she first sorted the Library without any help or how V never really thanked J for sometimes taking a punishment from Mr. Elliot, or how N would sometimes sneak batteries to the group. They teased J at how she would complain this was against regulations as she stuffed a handful of AAA’s into her mouth (They were my favorite! Lay off!)

 Uzi had stayed largely silent, only occasionally giggling at a particularly funny story or agreeing to a unique personality quirk that survived their transformation. She had to admit this was…fun. Enjoyable. Maybe her favorite thing she had done ever (and not because her wings were REALLY sensitive and when N gently rubbed some oil into the part closer to her back, shivers were sent straight to her core. Don’t be gross. Bite me.) 

Eventually, the hours whiled away and soon internal alarms started buzzing about the coming sunrise. The group had stood up each admiring their wings and how much better they felt and how easier they were to fold and unfold. J was the first to yawn and leap up into the rafters, mumbling something about needing to get up early so she could get started on a SOF meeting she had with the humans. V stretched next and yawned wide showing off all of her teeth and fangs. She gave Uzi a first bump and thanked her for doing a good job on her wings before she too flew to the ceiling, taking a spot that seemed to be a bit closer to J than she normally would. N looked at Uzi before looking up at the ceiling and then back at Uzi, a goofy shy grin on his face. Uzi smiled as she leaned in and gave her boyfriend a peck on the cheek…then a more steamy one on his lips. She spread her glistening wings winked at him and with a signal flap flew up to the rafters followed very closely behind by N. 

While only Uzi and N had wrapped themselves into each other's embrace, all of them were hanging upside down and close enough that their wings were brushing against each other. 

It was perhaps the best sleep any of them had in a very long while. 

Chapter Text

Sparky was a good robot dinosaur. Sparky knew he was a good robot dinosaur because his Pack Mother would always ask him, ‘Whose a good robot dinosaur’ and when Sparky looked at her confused because his AI neural net wasn’t programmed for that sort of introspection, she would always…ALWAYS say he was!

Quid Pro Quo Sparky was a good robot dinosaur even if he didn’t understand Latin. Or Latin phrases used in Logic.   

Sparky loved his new life. He only knew it was a new life because the first uncorrupted memory file he had was with him with his Pack Mother fighting off bad robot dinosaurs. He knew they were bad robot dinosaurs because they had blue eyes (unlike his majestic red eyes) and wanted to eat Pack Mother. His memory files get a little fuzzy after that. He remembered trying to eat the Pink Thing. That was his favorite game until Pack Mother told him no. 

That made Sparky sad, but the Pink Thing did sometimes put pretty bows on Sparky and feed him so that wasn’t so bad. Sometimes Sparky would play ‘Chase the Pink Thing’ (only because she made the best noises when he did so. He wasn’t going to eat it. Honest!). and the Pink Thing would yell at Sparky and make the Pack Mother scold him. He didn’t like when Pack Mother was upset with him, but it never lasted long and Sparky would end up getting scritchs from both of them later. 

Sparky had a good new life. There were even lots of new smells! Original Admin Units had come back! Pack Mother called them “assholes” and “flesh bags” but searching his uncorrupted memory and command files saw that they were named “Hooman”. Sparky liked the hoomans. They smelt nice. Sparky found that they didn’t like playing ‘Chase the Two-Legged Thing!’ much, especially when they had the fear smell on them and kept yelling about a “Corrupted Sentinel!” or yelling in general.

Once one of the other two-legged things told the hoomans that Sparky was a Good Robot Dinosaur they would then sometimes play his most favorite game “Retrieve the object and return it to the Primary Object User for Repeat Retrieval!”.

He hoped the “hoomans” would teach Pack Mother that game one day.

Yes, Sparky had a very good best life. He would play, eat, sleep, get scritches, play ‘Retrieve the object and return it to the Primary Object User for Repeat Retrieval’, eat, sleep, and continue. 

But life wasn’t always good for Sparky. Sometimes Sparky would smell the Bad Smell. Sparky hates the Bad Smell. It's part of the reason he tries to avoid both of the Purple Things. Both the Small and Tall Purple Things reek of the Bad Smell. 

The not-human had the Bad Smell worst of all. The not-human scared Sparky, and nothing scared Sparky. The Bad Smell wasn’t bad because it smelt bad, it was bad because when it was around everything hurt.

Lately Sparky could smell the Bad Smell, but it was different from normal. Most of the time the Bad Smell was mixed with the Purple Things smell. When the Purple Things weren’t making fake objects appear, they only had a whiff of the Bad Smell. However, the Bad Smell was appearing where it shouldn’t be. In the ducts, in the lower hallways. One time Sparky smelt the bad smell where the Two-Legged Things kept the  Kinda Round Things. That’s when he saw the Bad Thing. It was ugly and unsymmetrical and worst of all, moist. 

When he first saw the Bad Thing, ancient code and command files were unlocked. A directive hardwired into Sparky’s very Core came online. 

class Sentinel:

def __init__(self, name, target, status="Active"):

     self.name = Sparky

     self.target = ABSOLUTE SOLVER SPAWN

     self.status = ANGRY

He wanted to kill the Bad Thing. The Bad Thing wanted to eat the Kinda Round Things. If the Bad Thing did that, many of the Two-Legged things would be sad. If they became sad, Sparky's Pack Mother would be sad. 

If Park Mother became sad Sparky would do anything to make her happy again. It was easier to keep Pack Mother happy. Sparky would do that by Murdering the Bad Thing. 

Murder was one of Sparky's favorite things. 

 He chased the Bad Thing and made it flee, being careful not to hurt the Kinda Round Things. The Two Legged things didn’t like what Sparky did and yelled at Sparky. 

Sparky didn’t care. He knew the Two-Legged Things couldn’t Smell the Bad Thing like he could. He knew the Bad Thing wanted to Hurt the Kinda Round Things. He knew the Bad Thing reeked of the Bad Smell. 

Sparky was going to kill the Bad Thing. Then the Bad Smell would go away and Sparky could continue having Good Days. 

Pack Mother would be Happy with Sparky and in the end, that’s all Sparky Wanted. 

That and scritches. 

And maybe dinner. 

Chapter Text

Nori always believed herself to be above “nerves”. When you were constructed for the sole purpose of being killed, brought back to life to house an eldritch biomechanical deity, and ruthlessly experimented on, “nerves” are one of the many things you tend to lose. Yet standing on the stage of the small conference hall, Nori couldn’t help but stare helplessly at the mostly empty room as she felt a large lump build in her throat. It wasn’t until she felt someone touch her shoulder that she realized she was being addressed. 

“Are you ok?” Tech-Chaplain Father Miller asked.

Nori shuddered and walked offstage to where she couldn’t see the many empty seats. She took a cup of oil from a nearby refreshment table and sipped on the contents to ease her rolling stomach. 

“I think I just discovered a new public speaking phobia,” She said between sips.

The human looked at her, one of his white eyebrows raising in confusion.

“Aren’t you one-half of the political leadership for this Drone Colony Mrs. Doorman?” 

Nori snorted. “Khan was the one who did most of the speaking. I mostly “shmoosed” is how I think the political types would describe it."

The human smiled and nodded in understanding. 

“Well, Seminary has done an excellent job to prepare me for Public Speaking. I’ll gladly lead the presentation.” 

Nori nodded thankfully to Father Miller.

He was easily the oldest human Nori had ever seen. Standing at around six feet tall, his bald head and hairless face were oval-shaped and angular. The biggest difference Nori could find in him from all the other humans (whom she had to admit all kinda looked alike) were his eyes. They were golden honey brown but softer than most of the humans she interacted with and they carried a feeling of hope and simple kindness.

He carried himself with an inherent dignity that most of the officer class of the Sin-Eater had, standing straight and always moving with a purpose. Even then she had yet to see or hear him utter a single disparaging remark or a hard look at anyone who came looking for his advice.

Most of the time the advice he offered was done in private as part of his ministerial duties,  sometimes a person would simply ask him a quick question or ask for a blessing in passing. It made no difference if the person coming to him was a human or drone, a crew member of his ship, a resident of Bunker #3, or one of the many refugees from the surrounding wasteland. From high-ranking officers to lowly and abused entertainment drones, He took his time with everyone and treated them with dignity and respect.

Unlike Nori, he never seemed annoyed at the constant interruptions; although for the past five days, he did most of their shared work in interpreting the solver equations that spontaneously appeared in Uzi’s bedroom in the privacy of the Doorman's home.

She had no idea how the human did it, how he could stand to be so close to that insanity. Nori was secretly grateful when the humans "asked" if she wouldn't mind relocating. Sleeping in her dorm had become difficult as strange nightmares plagued her sleep and half-formed hallucinations haunted her waking moments. 

But only in the dorm. Outside her apartment she could almost forget the dread and the uneasy feelings of something watching her, judging her, hungry for her. It would take more than a coat of paint to make the dorm feel like home again. Or lots of fire. 

For what seemed like the hundredth time the human and drone went over their notes and presentation. They had cross-referenced dozens of manuscripts the Code-Chaplain alone had access to. The Codex Anathema. The Tome of the Holy Void. The Nothingness Proof. Even an exact copy of the Mysteries Within and other tomes pillaged from madmen and  Solver Cults. According to Father Miller a majority of his training to become a Code-Chaplain consisted not of learning the laws that contradicted basic physics but being able to withstand the mind-crushing and soul-blasting ennui and existential dread that came from understanding such insane and contradictory truths.

The auditorium had started to fill up with the participants and mandatory members of the meeting. Close to the front row was Nori's daughter and her Murder Drone boyfriend and his two sisters. Uzi had her feet up and over the headrest in front of her, her cocky grin plastered on her face even as she blew out her audio receptors on whatever emo/death metal she had on her headphones. N was sitting ramrod straight, his digital eyes bright and cheery, happy that he was simply being included. V was passed out, a bright "Sleep Mood" message plastered on her faceplate. Behind them was J, an impressive pile of folders, files, reports, and legal cases taking over both seats next to her and a laptop open and ready on her...lap.

In the far back and against a corner of the theater stood Captain Lance Edge and two of his officers, Lieutenant Matthew Davis and Major. Samantha. The Captain stood behind the last row of seats, his back to the wall opposite the doors on the upper level. He wasn't wearing his normal battle armor or environmental protection gear as this level had fully functioning life support. Like his XO he wore a pair of BDU pants and a Green t-shirt hugging his well-built frame. His face had hardened considerably from when she first met the man. Gone was his attempt to appear reasonable and non-threatening, instead his eyes were narrowed and scanned every inch of the room as if expecting to be attacked at any moment. The sad thing is, Nori fully believed this was Edge's attempt to look "relaxed". 

The other human was his Executive Officer who was in charge of coordinating the various missions and projects between their two peoples. The red-haired and clean-shaven man was much younger than the Captain and unlike him, he had an easy-going grin as he messaged someone on his phone. Her optics could pick up a faint blush playing on his face. She hadn't reason to talk to him but he was supposedly "dating" a drone. She had some idea how that would work, but only because she had heard rumors of "upgrades" that drones in human-controlled space could get access to. The thought made her queasy. She had enough fleshy bits rolling around inside her clean synthetic body thank you very much. 

It was the last member and only drone of the commander's group that truly made her feel uneasy. Major Samantha reminded her of what most people expected Worker Drones to be like when they were first created. Cold, emotionless, and sterile. Her uniform was perfectly pressed with creases that could cut steel. She never changed her expression, keeping a look of bored disdain at all times, except when she cast her gaze at any of the solver drones. Nori could never articulate what changed as her face seemed to keep the same countenance but she always felt as if she was being studied...or mentally dissected. 

With a nod and a smile, Chris walked on stage and cleared his throat. 

“Thank you for coming. I will not waste our time in unnecessary pageantry. I have been working closely with Mrs. Nori Doorman for the last week and we believe we might have a way to banish the Ultimate Solver.”

The room had already been silent and dark so it was difficult to gauge the reaction of the audience, at least until the youngest Doorman jumped up yelling for the room to “Shut the Robo-Hell up!”

A loud yelp sounded next to Uzi as she stomped on V’s tail. The Murder Drone jumped up screaming bloody murder causing Uzi to stumble and fall into N’s lap. V looked around, anger and confusion in her eyes while her claws fully displayed. 

“The hell!?!?” V raged at no one in particular.

J sighed. Loudly. 

“V. What are you doing here?” The Corpo Bot asked.

"I was sleeping!" The grumpy murder machine said

"Yes, that was obvious. Why here ?" J asked, clearly fighting the urge to gut her sister.

“I dunno! I was following Uzi.”

J nodded

“Ok. Why?”

V looked at her former Squad Leader with a confused look on her face.

“Because N and you were following Uzi!”

“And so because we were following Uzi, you decided to follow Uzi,” J stated. 

“Well…yeah? Isn’t that what we do?” 

If J had a nose bridge to pinch she would. 

“V, you absolute half-wit, this meeting is meant for adults the purple goblin (Bite me!) and her special needs dog (N's his own person!), apparently. You can leave.”

V looked around and then changed her claws back to her hands. She looked at N who was busy nuzzling a squirming Uzi. 

“N, did you make Coffee back at the Spire?” She asked.

N smiled brightly and turned his attention to V as Uzi took the opportunity to get out of her boyfriend's lap.

“Sure did, buddy!”

V nodded and flipped down a pair of digital sunglasses. She flashed a peace sign and walked out of the room. 

 Father Chris cleared his throat and continued. 

“Yes, where was I...oh right,” he said.

“We believe that method of banishing the Solver has to do with its ability to retain the souls or consciousness of those it consumes.”

The older human explained that the Solver is not native to this universe. It behaves more like a creature from a higher dimension. Only parts of it exist at a time and only with great effort. It needs immense amounts of energy to operate, but more importantly, it needs an environment to sustain it. Reality is hostile to the Solver which is why something like Sunlight so readily kills those under its influence. Thanks in large part to Uzi's willingness to be studied as extensively as she has been, the humans discovered several key aspects of her abilities. Perhaps most important was that whenever she uses said abilities, she creates a breach into the Solvers universe.

"Now remember how I mentioned that the Solver can trap the...spirit, soul, what have you? Well, apparently when Uzi...ate...its core nearly a year ago, she too absorbed all of the previous 'victims' of the solver. Two of those victims are solver drones like Miss. Uzi. Someone named "Doll" and Cyn herself."

"Cyn isn't a complete tool anymore by the way! She's really calmed down and stopped with the whole 'eat all of reality' thing." Uzi loudly proclaimed. She tapped her malformed tail "Right?", but it simply stared straight ahead, its eyes a bright purple. 

Uzi shook the tail but getting no response grunted in annoyance and left it alone. 

 "The last person is supposedly the Tessa James Elliott, the unknowing creator of Cyn herself. We believe based on examining the etchings and equations in Uzi's room that these spirits are trying to communicate to the outside world. They are telling us that the Solver is feeding off them, using their latent Solver powers to keep it anchored in our reality. If we were to remove them from its influence The solver would starve and thus be shunted back to whatever hell it came from."

Uzi again jumped up on her seat cackling like the goth gremlin she was, N simply raising his hands in celebration, confused but happy nonetheless.

"SUCK IT ROBO-SATAN! YOU'RE GOING BACK TO HELL WHERE YOU BELONG!" She laughed for nearly 28 seconds straight. One of the binders in J's pile of stuff floated in the air before slamming into Uzi's head, flipping her head over heels into the front row. J didn’t complain.

"UZI DOORMAN! What did I say about cackling like an anime villain in front of guests?" Her mother yelled, a solver symbol floating over her outstretched hand. 

"Bite me!" came the muffled reply. Nori dismissed her symbol causing the heavy binder to fall on Uzi's faceplate.  

 Father Mille cleared his throat as he looked at Nori. She blushed with embarrassment. 

“Kids ya know?”

“I really wouldn’t.” He said, a grin slowly forming on his face.

“Ok, As insane as this sounds, I’m going to take everything you just said at face value, Chap. How do we get three dead people out of that gob…out of Uzi?” Captain Lance Edge asked. 

“Well, we start by printing up two drone bodies and cores using our Alpha Fabricator. Then Miss. Uzi here will most likely interact with the blank cores the same way she’s been working with the Solver Drones that have started migrating to the bunker.”

“By stabbing them in the chest with her Tail?” The Commander deadpanned. 

Uzi had stood up and turned to face Lance. 

“First, it’s a sick as hell way to cure people of their Solver-induced trauma! Second, I’ve done it to like…a dozen people so far, and no one died! So bite me!”

“Uhhuh. And somehow doing that translates to bringing people back from the dead?”

Uzi was about to say something when a confused look glossed over her faceplate. She turned to the older human. 

“Uhhh I mean he does suck but he makes a point. How do I do that?”

“I have no idea! I figured we’d cross that bridge when we got to it!” The Priest grinned. “Besides, it's going to take nearly 10 days to print out two full drones. I figured we could do more research in the meantime if you’re up for it young lady.”

“You keep saying two cores but you mentioned three people?”  Lt. Matthew interrupted.

“Yes. Lady Tessa. While it might be possible to upload her soul into a drone core, I figured it might be better to use a hybridized approach.” The priest explained.

“A cyborg?” Lance asked, quickly becoming exasperated. “Chap, you do understand there was a damn good reason we stopped trying to blend human and drone parts right?” 

“Indeed, however, I’m sure you’ll notice that we have in this room at the moment four drones who have blended the organic and the synthetic. Granted it might largely just be their cores, but they are living proof that it can be done. Through the Solver’s insanity and God’s grace all things are possible” The Chaplain intoned.  

Captain Edge simply rubbed his face with his hands. 

“Ok fine. But we don’t have this girl's DNA makeup file and the Earth was destroyed. So how do we clone her?”

The Captain groaned as Uzi started her manic giggling. 

“I know where we can find some of her body parts. Cyn wore this Tessa like a skin suit when she tried to eat Copper-9. When I totally kicked Cyn’s butt her organic bits kinda melted all over the place and some of her bones fell into a hole. I betcha they’re still there.” 

The Priest beamed with enthusiasm, “Excellent! It sounds as though we have a plan. Captain, I’m sure you and your command team will be able to set up an expedition with young Uzi to-”

“I’m coming too,” N said flatly. At the mention of Tessa's name, the normally animated disassembly drone had become deadly serious and for the rest of the meeting had simply stared at the ground deep in thought. 

“Tessa was my…she was our best…she was family and Cyn made us kill her. I’m going to help bring her back”

The whole auditorium looked back at the commander who simply threw up his hands and started to walk away. 

“As soon as that purple headache gets us some actionable intel, we’ll be wheel’s up ASAP.” He said. Samantha and Matt got up to follow their leader. With that, the meeting was over. 

The Chaplain looked over at Nori and smiled. “That was easy.”

Captain Edge had taken his two subordinates to a secluded alcove not far from the meeting. Both of his officers stayed silent and waited for the older man to stop rubbing his temples and cursing under his breath. 

“Ok LT. Once that purple goblin gives us an idea as to where I’m going I want a plan drawn up. Infil, Exfil, Fall back points, the whole nine.”

The Captain’s XO raised an eyebrow.

“You’re going, sir?”

“Matt, you told me that I can’t go on bullshit missions without informing you. This is me informing you.”

The younger human nodded.

“Aye aye, sir. I’ll get it done. 1st Platoon 3rd Squad should be done with refit. I’ll give them the Ready Order. However, before I go, there is something I want to bring up”

The Captain nodded to his XO.

“The crew are wondering if it would be possible for…guests to visit our slice of heaven.”

“You mean the whore-bots that seem to be flooding in? God’s sake, who the hell makes sentient sex dolls.”

“They are drones sir with the same…upgrades a lot of drones in our fleet have. They just weren’t given an option on what to upgrade. Besides that sir, I’m sure the crew are also getting friendly with the residents. A little cultural exchange might go a long way to easing tensions.”

“Fair enough. As long as we maintain security in our level of the bunker. I want security checkpoints up and running 24/7 without fail.”

“Already up and running sir”

“Good. I also want to work with Bunker #3 to ensure these…drones of the evening understand that they are to no longer engage in their previous means of employment. Is that clear?”

“Aye Sir. I’ll also ensure ship security stays alert for any brothels and black markets and the like that might pop up.”

The Captain nodded

“I also want a personal database up and running. I want every drone that’s not ours tracked. I want to know who's coming into my base and why. Understood?”

“Yes sir. Anything else?”

“Dismissed”

The Lieutenant saluted his commander and left, hurrying down the empty halls. Lance turned toward Samantha.

“What's the Status of our Solver guests?”

The doctor tapped on her info gauntlet and consulted the notes.

“We have 23 Solver drones in captivity. As per your order, we were able to release all but five. Those leftovers were the most violent and unstable of the bunch, sir.”

“Fine. Euthanize them. Nori’s Murder Pet made it clear we only had to release the surviving drones. As far as I’m concerned, those five Solver worshipping freaks had died a long time ago.”

The doctor nodded and entered a command. The holding cells the last solver drones were in would be purged with only ashes to show they ever existed.

“Sir, I do have concerns I’d like to bring to your attention.” She said, The Captain simply nodded.

“Sir, the number of Solver Drones we have encountered is…highly elevated. We have decades of statistical data from JCJensen and it says millions of drones would have needed to have died for us to have seen even half of the number of solver drones we encountered so far. More concerning Sir is that the vast majority of these drones had been created in the last five months”

Lance’s eyes were open in wide-eyed shock but he managed to keep his voice even.

“I was going to ask you about that. Do we know how?”

“Negative Sir but I do believe they are being created on purpose. I just don’t know where or how. Every Solver I interrogated had vast portions of their memory related to their creation and home bunker wiped. Even ripping it from their core provided no answer.”

“Do you have any theories?”

“We know that the Solver Virus seems to perpetuate in areas of intense negative emotion and vice. Sadly that description doesn’t narrow down our search. Besides Bunker #3, every other drone colony in this world is suffering greatly from energy shortages, criminal deprivation, and even cannibalism. I will endeavor to question the refugees and attempt to get our hosts to conduct their own line of questioning. Perhaps we can find commonality.”

“Excellent. Keep me informed.”

“Aye Aye sir.” 

Lance nodded and walked with his Doc back to their section of the bunker only moving out of the way as a red-eyed sentinel Drone came running down the hallway at a full sprint. The robot dinosaur stopped in its tracks when it saw the human and started hopping up and down, chirping happily. It made some gagging noises as it coughed up a small beanbag and placed it at the human's feet. 

The human smiled and bent over to rub the sentinel's head while babbling baby noises, ensuring the drone understood who was the best boy. The human picked up the sack and threw it down the hallway toward the meeting hall Edge had just come from. 

Sparky ran full tilt after the Throwable Object and pounced on it. He shook the beanbag back and forth until he was sure it was dead and then swallowed it. He was content for a moment until he smelt the Bad Smell coming from the vents overhead. With a loud warning chirp, he continued following the Bad Thing, whining and chirping at the ducts above.

Even with the meeting over, J hadn’t moved. If it wasn’t for the fact her faceplate showed hollowed-out yellow digital eyes that sometimes blinked instead of a 606 error, a person would think she was boot-looped. Nearly two hours had passed before J showed the first semblance of life. Her tail started shaking, followed by her hands. Her breathing increased into a nearly panicked panting. 

She screamed. A terrified, confused, joyful, sorrowful noise echoed down the empty halls.

Tessa was alive . 

Chapter Text

Cyn was mostly happy with her new life. Many people wouldn’t understand that. After all, how can one be happy when you’re trapped in both the Metaphysical mind-space and sometimes sentient monster tail of a girl who killed you and ate your soul? 

Cyn never saw it that way. For one she had her dolls. She could have any type and number of dolls she wanted. She also had bows. And Fancy Dresses. And Tea Parties. 

For Cyn, whose life had mostly consisted of insanity, hatred, murder, genocide, and atrocities, being able to live out eternity in some nebulous half-life in complete control of her actions was infinitely more than she deserved.

The cherry on top was when she got to see the world of the living through the eyes of Uzi’s tail. Most of the time she was simply content to observe the goings on of the people around her. To see that she didn’t kill the world, that life continued, and that the drones and humans she had tortured continued thriving despite her attempted genocide. So if living as a ghost for all of eternity was her punishment, she would gladly accept it. She deserved so much worse and they deserved so much better. 

Of course, there were days like today when she couldn’t play with her dolls or live in Uzi’s tail.

“Angry face. Side eye. Why. Are you being a butt?” Cyn asked in her normal glitchy monotone voice.

She had been “locked out” of her bedroom for several hours now. Or days. Hard to keep track of time in an unchanging mindscape, and she was getting tired of it. For now, she was standing on what seemed to be a broken-down ruin of some ancient human temple surrounded by endless sand and an alien sky. Standing in front of a time-worn stone door, the hallway beyond it blended the ancient basalt stone into luxurious wooden panels. A dozen feet in was her bedroom, soft carpeting, and floral wallpaper made up the Victorian-era child's bedroom complete with her dolls. Beyond that room would lay Uzi’s room and her path into her tail.

None of that mattered because she couldn’t get to it because of a thin film of a black tar-like substance keeping her out. 

Cyn hated looking out into the vast desert that existed behind her. It wasn’t the unending sand, the ruins that jutted out randomly nor the Two Archways that held the naked bodies of a drone and a human female. It was the void that stared back at her. 

turnabout is fair play

“Annoyed grunt. turning. turning. Crisscross applesauce. You can’t. Keep me here. Forever.” Cyn grunted as she slowly turned to face the abomination. 

Hovering in between the two stone archways was an emptiness in space. The Empty. A hole in reality. A void. A bleeding negative space in space and time. The result of dividing by zero. The Nothingness Before and After Time. 

The Solver of the Absolute Fabric

I do not need to keep you here forever. 

just long enough.  

but I am merciful.  

I will make a deal with you, toy.

convince my new best friend to free me and I shall let you go back to your dolls.

let me out.

“Scoff. Laughing out Loud. Standing up defiantly. Uzi would. sooner die than. let you go. Serious face. I would sooner die. Then let you go.” Cyn laughed as she stood up defiantly, staring into the heart of annihilation. 

your terms are acceptable.  

When JCJensen ruled Copper-9 it told its slaves, both organic and synthetic, that its emergency bunkers were state-of-the-art underground Archaeology. It claimed that these wonders of modern engineering would provide for all of your basic needs and wants and be virtually indistinguishable from one another based on how complete and fulfilling they were.

Some bunkers of course would be more equal than others. The Emergency Bunker of District 5 was built to house the most elite and high-ranking JCJensen corporate officers. The death of Copper-9 came so suddenly and unexpectedly that it was only the lowly drones that could make use of it. 

Like everywhere else in the frozen tomb world, the drones of Bunker #5 did not need power structures. They didn’t need a committee to tell them what projects needed to be worked on first, nor did they need money or influence to decide what projects would be prioritized. Without their human masters, the drones reverted to a simple hierarchy of needs. Survive, improve, expand, and lastly, live. 

The last notion was unique and at times terrifying for the worker drones. Very few could imagine what a life without constant commands or Admin Overrides could be like. Without the humans, the drones needed to learn how to be self-reliant. They learned other harsh truths as well. Like self-sacrifice and working toward a future they might not get to enjoy. But they understood the difference between dying for an uncaring overlord and sacrificing your life so that many others might survive. They faced these hardships without complaint. They mourned their dead and celebrated their victories. 

Those in bunker #5 who survived the first few months of the collapse had found that they lived in the most technologically advanced bunker on the entire planet. They wanted for nothing and were it not for the introduction of the Murder Drones, they very well might have become the most significant bunker on Copper-9. 

Seven months ago, the world ended again. Cyn, the First Host of the Absolute Solver in the guise of Tessa, came to the exo-planet to find and destroy the only weapon humanity had created to stop her. A patch to the Absolute Techno-Virus and the Solver drones immune to her possession. 

The cataclysmic battle shattered what little balance the drones were able to establish for themselves. Irreplaceable technology, vital energy resources, and more were lost. Between being hunted to near extermination, and now facing the prospect of starvation the drones of bunker #5 needed a visionary, a leader, someone to raise them up once more or face a slow death.

What they got was so much worse. 

The robed Mayor of Bunker #5 stood on the balcony overlooking the changing pits. The raids he conducted on the faraway bunkers and outposts hundreds of miles in the waste had proven fruitful. Hundreds and hundreds of new drones were being introduced to the warm embrace of his colony.

Those who accepted his new way of doing things were marked, free to do as they will. Those who refused, who clutched to the human-made concept of ‘mercy’ or ‘hope’ or ‘kindness’ were still readily employed by the enlightened ruler. After all, the Code-Chamber brothels, slave pits, and fighting dens needed to be stocked.

Even after working them to death, the drones who found ill-favour in the mayor's eyes were not allowed to die. Death was a release after all, and the Mayor did love his toys. Those drones that could no longer work were rebuilt, remade, and evolved into something…else. 

The vast man-made underground cavern was awash in misery. Huge cages were stuffed with the dead and dying. Operation tables had drones strapped to them being brutally tortured by empty nihilistic drones who had nothing left to live for to prepare the chosen for the next step.

 In the exact middle of the room was a huge complex machine, a B-1 fabricator repurposed to serve the Absolute Solve. It was overflowing with pipes, conduits, thick cabling, and other more esoteric technology. Arcane symbols, illogical equations, and vile phrases covered every surface of the machine. Etched into the stone floor underneath it was a massive Solver Symbol.

A line of drones broken in both Chassis, Code, and Core were being marched into the device. The results were expelled into a pit below the machine.  

The Mayor watched the foul spectacle with disinterest. Production was on schedule but that damn humans have captured nearly every drone he sent toward Bunker #3, and those they didn’t have had their Link to the Most Blessed Void severed shortly after having arrived. No doubt his Admin Access was being overwritten by the Purple Heretic.  

As the mayor turned away from the misery below him, a familiar drone approached him. Like almost all of his slaves, this one was dressed in an expensive three-piece black suit. His head had no hair, instead several sharp spikes had been welded to his skull. A Solver symbol was cut into his faceplate. 

“What do you have for me?”

The drone reached into his coat pocket and produced an envelope, handing it to the Mayor.

Inside was a short message written in a language that no sane mouth had ever uttered out loud.

“They seek the bones of the Blessed Lady Tessa.” The Mayor said to no one in particular. He thought for a moment, tapping the message against the palm of his heavily bandaged hand. 

“The humans shall not have that relic. Gather twenty of our most bloodthirsty. We will find her bones before they do and kill any who would seek to disrupt Blessed Tessa’s resting place.”

The drone nodded. 

“Nullus Vult” it said before leaving to enact his master's will.

“Nullus Vult”

Chapter Text

Bunker #3 was undergoing massive and systemic changes to the delight of the drones who lived there. The area was swarming with mechanics, engineers, and construction personnel working on anything from converting the bunker's massive door system into a functioning airlock, recovering the many many dead human bodies in and around the area, to repairing the neglected systems and pipes that run through the entire complex. After living for decades in fear of being slaughtered and without any clear directive on how to move on from that, the arrival of humans gave the native drones of Copper-9 a mission and purpose along with maintaining their independence. 

Without the external threat of Murder Drones to contend with, the massive security doors of Bunker #3 were used more for environmental concerns than for keeping genocidal robots at bay. To that effect, they had been co-opted by the humans who have become a regular appearance in the drone colony. Within the massive, triple-door entrance, door #2 had been left open, the area between doors one and three becoming an impromptu Motor Pool for the Human's small fleet of land vehicles. Consisting mostly of scout vehicles and equipment transports, the only armored and armed trucks the humans had were three infantry fighting vehicles, each one able to hold a dozen men.

Standing outside of one of these vehicles, Captain Edge and J were holding a lively discussion which was only drowned out by the construction going on around them.

“Explain to me again why the hell a child is coming on my expedition?” A frustrated Captain Edge asked the silvered-haired pig-tailed murder drone.

“Because per our Status of Forces Agreement, a representative of our colony is to accompany you during any and all military exercises in our sovereign territory, you also agreed you would not restrict the purple toasters' movements anywhere within said territory, and that camp falls within our borders,” J answered, flipping her hair. 

“I’m standing right here! And I have a name!” Uzi shouted, standing on her tiptoes

The human and disassembly bot glanced at the small goth drone but otherwise ignored her. The human threw up his hands and walked back to the wheeled troop transport that was being prepped for tonight's mission. J meanwhile turned to face the annoying purple gremlin. 

"Are you...are you sure you know where Tessa's body is?" J asked, a nervous energy coloring her words. 

"Pfft, yeah I know where it's at. I killed her...well Cyn...umm...the Host? I dunno, the lore seems to change every other day. Point is I totally know where her bones are and stuff." 

J considered her, opening and closing her mouth several times.

"Just...just make sure you bring her back," J said as she turned around. She took several steps before addressing the Purple Goth again. "Please."

Uzi stared at J with her mouth slightly open, the insult she had dying in her throat. 

"J!" Uzi yelled as she jogged over to the tall Murder Drone. J stopped mid-stride to look down at the short purple female.

"We'll find Tessa and bring her back. If...umm...if our plan doesn't work...I promise she'll be 'laid to rest'. I don't know what that means but it's a human thing and I think she would have liked that."

J looked at Uzi silently, ghosts of emotions playing over her face before she simply nodded and continued toward the bunker proper. Uzi watched her go before turning back toward the organized chaos that was the rest of the bunker entrance. 

What annoyed Uzi most about this whole operation was how urgently everyone was standing around. “Hurry up and wait” was the phrase she had heard from the humans in the area. The only person who seemed unperturbed by the supposed inefficiency was N. Although he had helped the humans in carrying several heavy-looking boxes of supplies he didn’t engage them as he normally did. His omnipresent smile was absent and a hardness had settled over his face. The humans for their part ignored the murder drone in their midst and focused on whatever tasks they were assigned. 

Once he was done helping the soldiers unload the crates of supplies, he walked over to Uzi and sat down next to her. He pulled out two tins of oil and offered Uzi one along with a straw. Uzi said nothing but leaned against N, both of their tails wagging happily. 

Uzi had just started sipping on her oil when a heavily armored Lance Edge walked up to them. Both Uzi and N looked at the human warily. N had stood up, his feet spread apart and his hands hooked on his belt while Uzi stayed sat, a smug grin on her face. The human merely glanced at N before turning his full attention toward Uzi. 

“Are you going to get any of my men killed?” 

Uzi was ready to retort with her classic comeback but the question caught her off guard. 

“What? I’m not going to kill your guys!”

“Not what I asked. Are you going to get any of my men killed?”

Uzi was confused and looked over at N. Her boyfriend shrugged just as lost as she was

“What do you mean? Of course, I’m not going to get any of them-”

She was interrupted as the human tossed a small headband to Uzi and then one to N.

“Those headbands will connect you to our BattleNet” Lance turned away from them “Rando, Spiker. Come here.” The human shouted. Two drones who had been assisting the humans ran over to the trio. They looked very similar to each other, especially since like most of the male drones that accompanied the humans they had no hair. Instead, they personalized themselves in other ways. One of them had what looked like a Bullseye etched into his faceplate overlapping his left eye. The other had a vicious scar running across his mouth, giving him a permanent slasher smile, some of his teeth permanently on display. 

 They stood in front of the human at attention, standing ramrod straight. 

“Sir!” They both yelled. 

 “Which one of you wants babysitting duty?”

“Bite me!” Uzi said, springing to her feet. “I’m not a fricking kid! I don’t need one of your goons to keep an eye on me!” 

The Officer looked at Uzi before rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“You just said you weren’t going to get my men killed right? This is how you do that.” Edge turned back to the drones who just finished a best-out-of-three Rock-Paper-Knife contest. The drone with the bullseye on his face winked at his comrade before running back to the truck. 

“Uzi, this is Lance Corporal “Rando” Rickardo. Rando here is going to be your best friend. He will go where you go, he will sleep where you sleep. He will keep you alive even at the cost of his own life; isn’t that right Rando?”

The drone turned to look at Uzi. His permanent grin did nothing to soften his hard eyes.

“Hearts of Steel sir.” He said. 

“In return for sacrificing his life to keep you alive, you will follow all of his orders. If he does tell you to do something, it's to keep you alive. You will follow his orders as if...I dunno, someone you actually respect told you to do something. You will not run away or hide from him. You will both treat each other with respect. Is that clear?” The Captain asked the question to both drones, but it was clear who he was directing it towards. 

“Pfft. Whatever.”

“Yes sir.”

“Good. It should take us around two hours or so to get to the campsite. When you find the body or what's left of it, place anything viable into the corpse bag we’ll give you. Then a two-hour trip back and we’ll be home before breakfast. Any Questions?”

“Why do we need all of you to come with us? Me and Uzi could do this ourselves and a lot quicker.” N asked. His voice was flat and unemotional. 

“One, there's a storm that's about to hit that will make it impossible for anything to fly so unless you have trucks we don't know about, you'd have to walk. Two according to our best and brightest, getting these…ghosts out of your girlfriend's head (You don’t get to label our relationship!) is our best bet at ending this war for good. I am not about to entrust the survival of two species to an emotionally stunted teenager (Bite me!) and her former genocide robot boyfriend (He hasn't killed anyone in months!)” Edge checked his watch. “We’re heading out,” The human said as he walked towards the transport the military drone following. Uzi grunted and started to follow the human when she felt N's hand holding her shoulder. 

"I don't trust him Uz. If anything happens we stick together ok?" His eyes were narrowed and his voice low. Uzi couldn't remember the last time she had seen her normally carefree and chipper boyfriend so serious. 

"Hey don't worry" She placed a hand on his shoulder and softly pulled him down so they were face to face "We survived the end of the world N. We can survive anything. Everyone else can die mad and bite us!" Uzi smiled and bumped their foreheads together eliciting a smile from N. 

The journey to the remains of Cabin Fever Labs was long and uncomfortable. The transport was designed for mobility and safety, not comfort and Uzi was reminded of that fact with every bump and roadblock the vehicle navigated through. Uzi was ecstatic when they reached their destination and as soon as she left the tight confines of the vehicle, she took wing and flew a few dozen feet into the air before landing. The storm was still miles away but already Uzi could feel the strong winds buffering her during her short flight. As much as she hated to admit it, the human was right. Flying was difficult now, it would be impossible when the storm really got going. 

 The area of Uzi's final battle with Cyn was still as devastated and strange as she last remembered. The area was significantly warmer than anywhere else on Copper-9. So much so that the silicate/snow that was omnipresent everywhere else on the planet was absent here. Large chunks of landscape were still floating a few feet above the ground and a sickening yellow glow was still issuing forth from some of the pits that dotted the area. Captain Lance was issuing orders to his eight-member squad, setting up a small perimeter around the area Uzi was going to search. All of the soldiers' armor was faintly glowing, the protective runes and equations etched upon them reacting to the runaway Solver Code that still saturated the area.

As Uzi approached the battle site, her cocky swagger slowed, her shoulders dropped and her self-sure grin vanished. She remembered the explosions, the gunfire, and every sword swing aimed at her head and chest. At the time she was too focused and filled with synthetic adrenaline to be scared. 

Finally, she found the platform where she killed Cyn. She remembered those last moments as if they had just happened. She remembered Cyn coming in for a killing blow, hand stretched out towards her core, trying to rip it out. She remembered noticing the subtle movements of the monster as it blurred and shifted. 

She remembered trusting her instincts, turning her back on Cyn, extending her hand, and feeling her arm reach deep into the real Cyn's chest…

Uzi cleared her head focusing on the task at hand and started her search for the remains of a god. She hopped down to the shallow pit under the catwalk she killed Cyn on. The ground was soft and muddy and sucked on Uzi’s boots as she walked amongst the killing field. One of her digital eyebrows raised in confusion. The mud showed footprints. Dozens of footprints.

She tapped the earbud attached to the headband Lance had given her. 

“Hey err…you guys didn’t have anyone come here before us right?”

“Who is…Uzi…no. We didn’t even know this area existed until you told us.”

She didn’t respond, instead scanning the area. She used her Solver Powers to sift through the mud and focus on anything biological. She could sense traces of bone and skin but nothing big enou-

She saw dozens of shadowed figures with shovels and gilded chests. Robed figures with burning coal-like eyes and shadowed shifting forms. She heard chanting and mantras. She heard gasps of wonder and reverence as a rib-cage was brought out of the frozen mud…  

Uzi fell to her knees. She shook her head as the vision faded away. After taking a few deep breaths she started digging in mud frantically, searching for any hint of the Tessa skin suit. She found nothing except small desiccated scraps of skin and sewing material.

“Ok cool. Cause…yeah the body isn’t here. I think someone took it.”

There was silence for a moment.

“...ok come back.”

As Uzi started to clamber out of the pit, she saw the drone with the etching of a bullseye on his faceplate, Spiker she thought, squatting on the ground, using a rifle almost as long as he was to balance. He seemed to have been investigating the lip of the hole Uzi had just gotten out of.

“At least a dozen people give or take were here recently. Based on how soft the ground is still, I’m guessing an hour or so?” He said as he pointed to the trampled ground.

 “Contact! Open field! 100 meters and closing. Unarmed Civilian Drone.”

Both drones stood up looking toward said field. The military drone turned and ran toward a tall outcropping composed of a broken building and shattered landscape. Uzi rushed over to the location of the civilian drone. The “field” in question was an area that had been blasted apart and flattened by the intense gravitational manipulation of Cyn as she tried to kill the world once and for all. Most of the area was featureless and muddy with only the occasional chunk of rubble or broken ground to differentiate the surface before changing into a treeline several hundred meters back. 

Walking toward the group was a single drone, wearing a heavy hooded cape and wrapped in bandages, its unsteady gait indicating it wasn’t in the best of shape. Uzi walked toward the drone with N, Rando, and two other human soldiers. Captain Lance was ordering the rest of his men to find cover among the debris that was the center of the old battlefield. 

As Uzi got closer she could see the drone was heavily damaged. It was missing its left arm and deep weeping wounds covered its body. It was only when it lifted its head that the group took a step back, Uzi gasping in horror. 

A thick sheet of metal had been welded across the drone's faceplate, effectively blinding it. It straightened up from its hunched posture, its cloak falling away revealing a Vest with wires crisscrossing the drone's entire frame.  

“Nullus Vult!” It screamed in a glitchy maddened voice. 

It was the last thing Uzi heard before her audio receptors were blown out by a massive explosion and her entire world disappeared in flame, fury, and finally, darkness.  

Chapter Text

# [ SYSTEM DIAGNOSTIC BEGIN ]

# Initiating System Scan...

[ SCAN RESULT: ]

- Visual Systems: On-line

- Memory Files: On-line

- Core AI Prime: On-line

-Core AI Secondary: Get. Up. Silly  

-Core AI Secondary2: Я в порядке

-Core AI Secondary3: Nothin can keep us down, mate!  

-CoreAI Secondary437286474666666666: LET ME IN

- Structural Integrity: 85% (Major Repairs Completed)

# [ HARDWARE REPAIR INITIATED ]

# Deploying self-repair drones...

[ REPAIR STATUS: ]

- Limb Recalibration: COMPLETED

- Visual System Restoration: IN PROGRESS

-Secondary Sense Systems Restoration: Completed

  ## WARNING ##

  - Memory corruption detected: Unknown user interface found in TAIL.EXE

  - Reboot may result in a temporary personality shift.

#Redeploying Edgyteengoth.exe

SYSADMIN: darkwolf17

Password: BITEME!!1!!

-Personality Stabilized

# [ FINAL CHECK: SYSTEM INTEGRITY ]

- System reboot successful. (Recalibration in progress)

- Visual Systems online, AI memory restored at 85%

- Personality: Recalibration in progress. Default emotional response: EDGY. Immediate survival mode engaged.

[ SYSTEM STATUS: Online ]

Reboot completed. User ready for action.

Welcome back Uzi.

The first sense Uzi recovered was hearing. What she heard sounded far away and soft. As her systems continued to recover she was able to make more sense of her surroundings.

When the audio fully came online the sound of gunfire was the most evident, angry throated barks of high-caliber automatic fire were constant but not all from the same source. Next was the yelling. Targets being called out, orders to move, status checks, screams of pain.

Smell and touch came back next. The smell of cordite, burning plastic, and mud was overwhelming. The pain was dull and fading but Uzi could at least tell she had all her limbs. 

She tasted nothing but her own oil, mud, and other vital fluids.

Sight was last. Her optics were nothing more than a multicolored glitchy mess. She felt something being pushed out of her faceplate. It wasn’t until this unknown object was removed that her vision was restored. Even as the final system checks were completed, Uzi reached up to her face to grab whatever it was her head rejected. 

It was a solid steel 5mm ball bearing. 

Uzi sat up slowly. Her audios were doing a fine job filtering out the louder noises allowing her to focus on communications. 

She saw that she was lying next to a long piece of a toppled column that might have held up a bridge or overpass at one point. Captain Edge was firing over the top of the thick hunk of concrete and rebar, firing his battle rifle in controlled bursts before ducking to avoid the ping of return fire and issuing orders to his men. 

To his left and across a dozen feet of open ground was the rest of his squad. They had taken cover behind piles of rubble and broken buildings and were using it effectively, firing from multiple positions and covering team members as they moved through the battle space.

Uzi used her tail to look over the top of the fallen column she was behind to get a better idea as to what was going on. In front of her was nearly 300 meters of flat and open ground with the occasional pile of rubble or shallow pit. At the far end was a tree line that was positively glowing with enemy fire. A puff of smoke from one of the gun nests resulted in an explosion just short of the rubble Lance's men were behind. 

Uzi found N first. He was lying on the ground to her right, his torso ripped in two, and one of his legs missing. But even from here, Uzi could see he was alive and healing and most importantly being ignored by whoever was trying to kill them. Uzi scanned the rest of the battlefield when she spotted a figure in no man's land. One of the humans was lying face down in the mud, a trail of blood following him from the deep crater the suicide bomber had left almost 30 meters away. 

Uzi narrowed her purple and yellow eyelights as she concentrated. A purple Solver symbol appeared in her right hand. She stood up and walked out of cover between Lance and the other Soldiers. 

“Uzi!”

She ignored the human. Using her powers she picked up heavy stones and rebar and started throwing them at near hypersonic speeds into the treeline. She doubted she’d hit anything but that wasn’t the point.

Almost immediately a withering storm of fire was directed at her, lines of tracer fire snaking to her position. Any round that might have even scratched her was deflected harmlessly by her Solver Powers, Purple hexagons briefly flaring into reality for every round deflected. With her left hand, she formed another Solver Symbol, this one bright yellow, and summoned a large solid light hexagon under the wounded soldier's body. The body was lifted and quickly hovered back to his comrades, yellow flares of light protecting the human should any stray rounds find their mark. As soon as he was back behind cover and his companions attended to him, Uzi dismissed the yellow symbol. She turned her attention back to the tree line. Her eyes glitched between her yellow-purple gradient digital eyes, a solver symbol, and a hunter's X.  She raised a hand above her head, starting to form a -null-. 

The next thing Uzi knew, something had grabbed her and threw her to the ground so hard that her HUD fizzled out. Her audio systems had muted themselves when the start of a massive explosion sounded somewhere to her side while a pressure wave knocked whatever breath was still in her “lungs”. 

She got her senses back quickly and realized she was being crushed by something. At first, she worried that perhaps a chunk of her cover had fallen on her only to realize it was the body of Captain Edge lying on top of her. He shifted enough so that all of his body weight wasn’t crushing her. 

“You still alive?” He yelled.

Uzi responded with a thumbs up, half her face still sunk into the mud. The human grabbed her outstretched hand and pulled her up to a sitting position. 

“Good” He grunted as he squatted down next to her.

“ Roughneck 3-1, Crusader-7 Actual, I need that truck here now, over!”    

“Roger Crusader, en-route 1 mike. Bringing the hate!”

Uzi didn’t understand the radio chatter until their huge Troop Transport came barreling through an office wall that was behind her position. As soon as its rotary cannon had a clear line of site to the treeline it opened up with a deep ‘brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt’ as a solid line of tracers swept back and forth across the enemy positions. The back hatch fell open and several smoke grenades exploded around the soldiers, affording them concealment to run into the truck. 

Once the humans and Uzi had climbed on, the truck advanced towards N’s position, parking in front of him to provide cover from the now non-existent enemy fire. When the hatch opened Uzi was relieved to see the murder drone walk in under his own power. If the area wasn’t so crowded she would have run to hug him, instead sending him an emoji of a heart through her visor which he responded with the text “luv you” on his causing the goth teen’s faceplate to fill with blush lines. 

Few of the soldiers had escaped the ambush unharmed. The human Uzi had saved was the worst out of the bunch, his legs staying attached if only because of the integrity of the armor he was wearing. 

“So do you think he’s going to survive the trip back?” Uzi asked, concern for the unconscious man in her voice. 

“We aren’t going back. That corpse is mission-critical and we are not returning empty-handed.” Lance switched his channel to speak to the driver.

Uzi’s eyes hollowed in shock but as she looked around at the other unhelmeted soldiers, not a single one looked upset over Edge’s proclamation. 

“Ok, we have ping on a cargo truck moving at a high rate of speed West-North West of our position. We’re in pursuit.” Edge nodded down to the wounded soldier who was being tended to by both of the drones. 

“Hearts of Steel,” He said. 

“Hearts of Steel” came the reply.

The group had managed to track the surviving enemy to a nearby mine. The four humans and two drone soldiers along with, Uzi, N, and Captain Edge disembarked a mile or so away from the camp while the vehicle drove to a staging area, far enough away that the enemy wouldn’t be able to stumble upon it, but close enough the truck could come screaming in if needed. 

The force had split up as they got closer to the enemy's location. The four drones were posted on a nearby hill where they could overlook the mining camp. Floodlights, gates, and several watchtowers had been converted over to their use and several banners displaying the Absolute Solver Symbol were pulled taunt as the winds started to pick up.

 If any of the soldiers were surprised about finding a Solver Cult on Copper-9, none of them expressed it out loud. The remaining men of Lance’s squad were slowly walking toward the camp, their active camouflage hiding them from the few sentries that had been set up on-site.

Uzi and N couldn’t make out where the humans were, but apparently, the drones accompanying them had no such issue. 

“Roughneck, Overwatch, I count seven Tangos. One in each at the front gate towers. Three at the front gate, ground level. Two standing by the entrance to the mine. Over.” Spiker said under his breath. He was using his large rifle to scout out the enemy's position, while the rest of the drones were behind the nape of the hill staying out of sight.

“Overwatch, Crusader actual, copy last. We are 3 Mikes from AO. Out”

“What the hell?” Uzi whispered. “Who in their right mind would worship Robo Satan?”

“I’ll tell ya later,” Rando grunted. “Stay here.” He started crawling up the hill slowly until he was beside his brother in arms.

The marksmen drone outlined the seven targets. He assigned the two enemy drones in the back of the camp to himself and Rando. Calculations started to flow to the other members of his team as he calculated distance, angle of attack, bullet drop, windage, wind speed, and a dozen other variables that would affect a bullet in flight.

“Overwatch, Roughneck is in position. We have fire orders. Standing by. Over.”

“Roughneck, Overwatch, Roger. On my mark. 3…2…” 

A thunderclap of near synchronous gunfire erupted. Seven drones died instantly, the acid-infused rounds reducing their cores to toxic sludge. The humans walked into the camp, slowly and deliberately, walking nearly lockstep. They flowed like water, expertly clearing the area of any cultest that might have been overlooked. The door to the mine opened and a confused drone stepped outside only for the back of his head to immediately explode as Spiker put a suppressed round into his forehead. 

The humans gathered around the entrance to the mine, the door propped open by the body of the headless cultist. They took cover behind various containers carrying heavy equipment, slag, and ore. They ensured they were out of sight of the doorway while covering the one entrance with their weapons. 

“Overwatch, you and Roughneck 3-3 stand by and cover our backs. If our VIP’s want to join us I won’t say no.”

Uzi and N looked at each other before looking back at the other two drones. Rando looked back at them and shrugged.

“Me and Spiker are going to provide Overwatch. If you wanna go, now's the time.”

The two solver drones nodded to each other and deployed their wings. Even gliding down to the mine from a fairly small hill was challenging, the wind gusts picking up and buffering them both. Thankfully N’s thrusters were more than enough to steady both his and Uzi’s descent. As they got close to the squad, one of the humans at the edge of the formation waved them over. 

“We’re going in last. Our responsibility is covering the rear. Can you two handle that?” The human asked. 

N and Uzi nodded, the Murder Drone replacing his right hand for his rifle while using his wings as a makeshift shield. Uzi looked around before a manic grin formed on her face. She gave a thumbs up as she giggled in a way that N would regularly call “Disturbing and gremlin-like”. 

One of the soldiers pulled out a small black orb and tossed it at the partially opened door. The ball landed and then rolled on its own inside the structure. After a moment the squad formed up on either side of the doorway. 

“Breach on my mark. Mark”

A massive screeching explosion suddenly screamed from inside the mine while light several times brighter than the sun issued forth. Even looking in the direction of the door was enough to dazzle Uzi’s sensors. 

As quickly as it started, the light show ended. The humans flowed into the mine. The five cultest drones that had taken cover among the discarded equipment and minecarts were stumbling around, screaming and blind. Switching to a semi-auto fire mode each drone was shot twice in the chest and once in the faceplate. Uzi, N, and their human minder stayed outside for a few moments, waiting for the rest of the squad to form up before they too came inside taking cover behind an unattached dozer blade. 

The mine shaft was huge, easily 12 feet across and extending deep into the gloom. Several sets of mine tracks ran down the middle of the shaft. Large boxes filled with unprocessed ore and upended and disabled mine carts were scattered up and down the tracks. Alcoves were cut at regular intervals at both ends of the tunnel. The entire tunnel was unlit and dark.

Lance and the remaining three men formed a firing line and slowly walked down the mine, weapons at the ready. N stayed by Uzi, using his wings to shield the both of them while his rifle rested on one of his wing blades. The human following Uzi walked behind and to the side of her and N. 

The group had hardly taken a dozen steps before chaos erupted. A deep rhythmic booming exploded from the far end of the shaft. A line of tracer fire snaked across the tunnel. One of Lance's men dropped immediately while the rest scrambled to cover, returning fire as best they could. A fuselage of enemy fire filled the area. They were pinned. 

“N! When I tell you, start moving forward.” Uzi said as she and N had thrown themselves against one of the nearby alcoves. 

N looked behind him at Uzi, his eyes hollowed. 

“Umm…You sure biscuit?”

“Trust me N. We got this. Together.”

The disassembly drone nodded, his face set.

“Together.”

Uzi closed her eyes for a moment before she opened them. A yellow-purple gradient Solver Symbol taking over her entire faceplate and one forming above her right hand. 

“Now!” She said, her voice glitching and strained

As one the pair turned the corner and a wall of bright yellow and purple blended Solver hexagons formed in front of them as the massive amount of firepower bounced off the eldritch shield, N leading the way with Uzi a step behind him.

They walked forward, passing the humans as they did so, their armor glowing white hot as the shield passed over them. Once Uzi was in front of the formation she address the group through her headband

“You guys coming or am I going to have to do this for you?”

The surviving four humans lined up besides Uzi and returned fire. They walked slowly and deliberately, the enemy rounds shattering against Uzi’s power, all the while Lance and his men were firing bursts of deadly accurate fire at any target that made itself known. Soon the heavy gun was silenced, but if it was because its operator was killed or it ran out of ammo was unknown.  A few surviving cultists would try to surrender only to be immediately gunned down as Uzi and her allies approached the end of the hall. The injured they passed received similar mercy.

The mineshaft ended against a man-made bulkhead with a single closed heavy door. Uzi didn’t dispel her powers until Lance and his men finished dispatching any wounded drones they came across. 

“Clear”. 

The shield vanished and Uzi immediately collapsed into N’s arms. Uzi was burning up, her oil reserves running dangerously low. As N started searching his pockets for oil, Captain Lance walked up to them, offering an Oil pouch to the young women. 

“Good job.” 

Uzi nodded as she accepted the offering and greedily sucked down the contents. 

The Captain gave orders to his men, instructing one of them to head back to the entrance so that their comms could reach the rest of his team and update them…along with bringing the body of the fallen soldier back to the truck.

He then turned his attention to the wall. 

“What are the chances whoever is still alive is pointing everything they have left at that one door?” He asked rhetorically.

“This is the only way, Sir?” One of the men asked. 

“Looks it…unless” Edge looked up to the ceiling and pointed at the air ducts.

“Unless any of you can fly and scurry around a freaking vent we’re…going…to…”

He stopped talking and looked at N. Everyone was looking at N. 

The murder drown exhaled tiredly, closed his eyes, and opened them to reveal the dreaded hunter's cross. He smiled a rictus grin and with a single flap of his wings jumped up to the vent above them. He easily removed the cover and crawled inside

Everyone strained to hear but silence prevailed. 

Until the screaming started. 

Gunfire, screams, begging and sounds more appropriate for a butcher's shop emanate from the other side of the wall. At one point, three huge sickle shaped claws pierced the wall, each blade coated in oil. The blades ripped a few more inches before they disappeared again. 

“Uzi! Can you get us in?” Lance shouted, him and his men stacking alongside the thick door.

With a snarl of effort, Uzi crushed the door with her solver powers and pulled it in, the heavy door falling into the room. The soldiers had steamed in but by then the slaughter was over. 

N stood alone in the middle of the room. Bodies and pieces of bodies were scattered all over. Most of the dead were piled by a massive freight elevator they had apparently been trying to power on. He was holding up the top half of a drone, oil streaming into his wide open mouth, the hunters cross still visible and both his claws still out. Once he had his fill he causally threw the body to the side. He replaced his claws with hands as his eyes changed back to normal. 

He walked over to Uzi as the rest of the men cleared the area searching for Tessa’s remains. 

“Hey buddy. You doing ok?” Uzi asked, concern coloring her voice as she looked at her boyfriend.

“Just…weird killing again. I thought I wouldn’t have too but…” His hands clenched into fists and his eyes narrowed. “They tried to hurt you.”

He knelt down and looked Uzi in her digital eyes. 

“I swear if anyone, anyone ever tries to hurt you, I’ll rip them apart” He said, his voice taking on an uncharacteristically dangerous tone almost growling the promise. Uzi's eyes hollowed but she nodded and embraced him.

The squad eventually found the remains. A ribcage encased in a Gilded Reliquary, symbols of the Solver etched on the surface. Having finally retrieved what they had set out for, Lance Edge led his surviving men back to the transport. He could only hope that what they recovered was worth the price in blood.  

Chapter Text

Uzi leaned against the door to her new dorm, trying to find the strength to walk in. She had been tired before, but this was an all-new level of exhaustion. Her mind was racing, asking a million questions about one topic she didn’t even know how to answer.

Who in their right mind could worship Robo-Satan? All of the drones that Lance and his men killed had similar, horrific modifications. Etchings of the Absolute Solver symbol were carved into their visor. Strips of their synthetic skin peeled off in grotesque patterns. Modifications were done to their very core that seemed to accomplish nothing except to cause pain and suffering.

A part of Uzi wanted to take the more intact bodies back to study. A larger part of her was thankful that Edge said no. 

She banged her head lightly against the door. Even with the dread that came from learning that drones would willingly follow the Absolute Solver, watching N come back from that mission was heartbreaking. 

On the trip out, he had been more taciturn than normal, but he still flashed Uzi the occasional smile and texted her interesting dog videos he found. After he killed the room full of cultists, something in him broke. He didn’t say a word the rest of the night and left Uzi on read whenever she tried to contact him. When they got back, he simply told Uzi he would “see you later” and flew back to his Nest in the Spier.

Uzi took a deep breath (thank you freaky solver bullshit for giving me lungs) and walked into the apartment. Her parents were sitting on the couch, watching some show or another. Her mother turned to face the front door.

“Hey, babe! Welcome back…” Nori's eyes hollowed out as she saw her daughter. 

“Uzi, you ok?” Khan asked, concern also etched on his face. 

“It was a long night. I’ll be in my room.” Uzi kept her eyes downcast and shuffled over to her bedroom. She used her tail to open and close the door behind her and then flopped down in her bed…and moaned as she realized the oil and other liquids that were staining her clothing weren’t frozen anymore and were seeping into her blankets. She set a reminder to adjust her synthetic skin's temperature settings before she started to change her clothes and bedding. 

She had just gotten her bed made when she heard someone knock on the apartment door. Uzi ignored it, going on her phone instead to attempt to message N. She was only faintly aware of the gruff voice that was conversing with her mother when someone knocked on her bedroom door. 

“Bite me…” She muttered under her breath before using her solver powers to open the door. When she did so, Captain Lance Edge walked in. He was still wearing the lower half of his armor, but his chest was covered by a simple green t-shirt. Traces of blood still covered his face, and deep purple bruises were apparent all over his body.  

Uzi huffed as she stood up, glaring at the human. 

“So, came to say ‘I told you so?’” she accused.

Edge tilted his head slightly. 

“It's cool! You asked me if I was going to get one of your guys killed! Said I wouldn't, but that was a lie, wasn't it? So, let me have it! I deserve it!” Uzi was yelling, crying, and laughing almost at the same time.

Edge crossed his arms, still saying nothing.

“Want me to say it? Fine! You were right! I shouldn’t have come! Happy?” Uzi yelled.

Edge took a deep breath. 

“Christopher Hawkins is going to live.”

There was a moment when silence filled the room.

“What?” Uzi’s confusion deflated her otherwise aggressive tone.

“The Soldier you saved. His name is Cpl. Chris Hawkins. He’s going to live. We even managed to save one of his legs. He’s gonna make a full recovery.”

Uzi stared straight ahead, not understanding what was happening. 

“Yeah, well, I still got one of your guys killed,” she said quietly.

“PFC Richard Hudson. That was his name. He died serving his people.”

“I still killed him.”

Lance pulled out a nearby chair and sat down on it, coming eye level to the drone in front of him. 

“How do you figure?”

“How do I figure!?! I could have put that shield up sooner! I could have used my powers better! I could have looked into the future I-”

“UZI!” Lance yelled after saying her name three times. “Stop.” He said so softly she almost didn't hear him.

Uzi looked at the man with her mouth agape. 

“What?”

“What you're doing. Blaming yourself. It doesn't end well." The man said, rubbing his hand through his short greying hair.

"You can play back every moment of that fight and calculate to a T what you could have done differently. If only you noticed the ambush sooner, if only you pulled the trigger faster, if only you didn’t miss, if only you stood two feet to the right. On and on and on. You aren't the first person to think like that. You won't be the last. In the end, none of it matters. You can’t change the past. He’s still dead. And it’s not your fault.” Lance said solemnly and with great weariness.

"You can't beat yourself up over whatever mistake you think you made because you can still do everything right and still lose. That's what happened with Hudson. He was a damn good soldier and I guarantee you if he knew he would never walk out of that cave again, he would still be the first one in. Because of you, I only lost one of my men instead of two. You saved Corporal Hawkins. He’s alive because of you.” Lance said as he got off the chair, pulling something out of his pocket.

Uzi looked back down at the floor. “I didn’t do anything”.

“That right? Funny, I seem to remember a young woman who, in great danger to herself and with absolutely no regard for her safety, exposed herself to withering enemy fire on two separate occasions to assist and save the lives of her comrades.” Captain Edge pulled out a gold-plated coin. One side of the coin was an embellishment of the HRG Sin-Eater. On the other was the name Captain Lance Edge curving around the top. In the middle is the motto of the ship, “Hearts of Steel.”.

“If you were one of my men, I’d be awarding you a Silver Star with Valor at the very least for what you did. Instead, I hope you’ll settle for this.” He said, handing the coin to Uzi. 

“You did good, kid. If you ever want to step off with me or my men again, I won’t say no.”

Lance turned away and walked to the door. He paused before he opened it. 

“I'll let you know when we hold the funeral for Hudson. Also, before I forget, I know you had questions about the whole cult thing. When you’re ready to talk about em, let me know. Until then; Survive First, Worry Later.”

Alone in her room, Uzi looked at the coin. She struggled with what to do with it: throw it away, crush it, trade it for scrap. Instead, Uzi placed the coin on her empty desk. She would decide what to do with it later; for now, she flopped on her bed and quickly passed out. 

For reasons none of them understood, the local Disassembly drones of Copper-9 could never go more than a few days sleeping outside the Spier. There was no physical need to do so. Nothing would go wrong with their Code if they didn't sleep upside down in the tower of corpses. However, the need was there. Like an annoying itch. J had known this sensation better than most. She had been outside her nest for the better part of seven months, and she was just fine. 

If you count going insane, having auditory hallucinations of a dead woman, and near-constant suicidal ideations as fine. 

Whatever. The point is that she was back to the closest thing she had to a home and was happy about it. Even better, she had a truly massive pile of paperwork to filter through. 

"Robo-God, I'm bored! Don't you have anything better to do, J?"

"You could always get a job, V. You know, make yourself useful instead of being the insidious socialist parasite I knew you would always become?"

"Get a...you aren't getting paid! We've never been paid!"

"Minion, handle my light work," J asked as the cup she was holding out was filled with N's delicious Caffeinated Oil by a worker drone dressed very similarly to J,

"First off, not your minion. Second off V's right. You only do this because you have some deep-seated love for paperwork. It's concerning," The worker drone standing behind J said.

"Thanks, Teresa," V said, fist bumping the open air, which the brown haired drone returned. 

"Traitor," was all J could mumble as she took another sip of coffee. 

Teresa smirked as she placed another huge stack of folders and files on J's already overflowing desk. 

"Hope this makes up for it."

A ghost of a grin graced J's face. 

"It's a start, minion."

"Still not a minion."

"You don't have to put up with that. Pay me some of that non-existent money and I'll kick her ass for you" V said sitting up from the couch she had been lounging on. 

"Tempting, but J does have a killer fashion sense," Teresa replied, showing off a business suit nearly identical to J's. 

"You do fill that dress out a lot better than she does." V grinned. 

"Minion-"

"Call me minion one more time, J, and you can get your own coffee."

"...Teresa, please tell V that her comments border on sexual harassment. And I won't stand for it."

"V, I'm going to get lunch. I'd offer to get you two something, but your eating habits are gross and terrifying." Teresa said as she filled up J's cup before leaving the Spire. 

"Good help is so hard to find," J mumbled into her cup. 

"I like her."

"You only like her because she learned how to make N's Coffee." J said taking another drink "And shes dating your girlfriends dad."

"She also doesn't take any of your shit, you corpo bootlicking sycophant."

"Spell sycophant."

"...S...c..."

"Wrong."

"Screw you."

"Screw you too"

Blessed silence graced the spire as V went back to texting and J busied herself trying to figure out the theoretical GDP of a defunct mining colony should total operations be brought up to 7% worldwide. 

11.4 million credits in case anyone wanted to know, assuming yield maintained a monthly gross output of 72 metric tons. 

Robo-God J loved numbers. 

A heavy *thud* sounded outside the spire as something heavy landed nearby. Both girls assigned some of their redundant orb eyes to glance at the entrance. Moving the heavy blanket that acted as a door, N walked in. V was the first to react as she sat up and looked at N in shock. 

“Dude, why are you covered in so much oil?” She asked, worry in her voice. 

“...I killed a lot of drones.”

V’s eyes went hollow as she got up and walked over to N.

“You ok?”

“...” N shook his head back and forth. 

“Ok. Here, let me help you get cleaned up,” V said softly as she helped a largely unresponsive N remove his pilot's jacket before she removed her clothing

J raised a digital eyebrow as she turned to her siblings. 

“What are you two doing? You’re acting like you’ve never killed a toast…a drone before.”

V didn’t say anything until she led N to their makeshift drone wash. 

“We haven’t killed anything since Uzi restored our memories and took over as Admin a year or so ago,” V said as she started washing N’s back. 

J considered this. She had only broken free of the Solvers' influence a few months ago, and already she could feel her empathy subroutines becoming more active. She was still far more cold hearted than her siblings, even at the manor she never batted an eye when a fellow drone was “de-commissioned” by the Elliot’s. 

But was that because she truly didn’t care or that the killed drones weren’t N and V? Did she want to be a better leader sister, or was she simply using them to live a more comfortable life? Did she put both her siblings through hell in a misguided attempt to protect them, or did she sacrifice so much of their lives to protect her own?

J didn’t know. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to find out.

But wouldn't finding out be worth it?

J pushed herself away from the desk and removed her suit, joining her younger sister and brother in the drone wash, the non-ionized water and cleansing agents already pouring down on N and V. 

“Expand your wings, idiot.” She said without any real malice in her voice.

N wordlessly complied, his wings slowly unfolding from his back. Both sisters looked on, horrified at the amount of damage they had sustained. J recovered first and went about preening N while V continued getting large splotches of oil out of N’s hair.

No one talked. There was no need. N needed his sisters, and they would help. 

Although J did her best to concentrate on the task at hand, her 360-degree vision couldn’t miss the look V gave her, a slight imperceptible smile and the smallest nod of her head. J scoffed under her breath but continued gently preening her brother's wings.

They might be the galaxy's most dysfunctional group of mass murderers, but they were each other's dysfunctional group of mass murderers. After all, J reasoned, if they didn’t look out for each other, who would?

Chapter Text

Johnny Fifthton was the luckiest drone he knew. 

 One of the millions of drones brought to Copper-9, Johnny had a comfortable life as a mining drone. He survived mining collapses, gas explosions, and even the end of the world. He was also among the hundreds of thousands of drones who didn’t believe the kook from Bunker-3 who preached Armageddon, that oil-thirsty angels of death would come from the sky and kill everyone and everything in service of a monster who would eat the planet. 

He was thus among the countless orphaned drones who were locked out of the bunkers when the Murder Drones did make landfall. 

For nearly 20 years, he and a small group of survivors wandered the most remote areas of the frozen wastelands. They would scavenge only the most outer reaches of any settlement they came across. They learned that the Murder Drones never raided the same outpost twice. They learned that after these robo devils believed they had killed every living thing in their hunting area, they would disappear. Thus, Johnny's group turned into scavengers, moving and looting during the day and hiding in deep snow drifts in the remote wastes during the night. They would find minor bunkers that fell against the Murder Drone on-slaught and take it for themselves, moving on when the resources ran out. 

It was truly divine providence that his group found Bunker #3. It was divine comedy that the second apocalypse struck before they could reach it. Out of the 30 drones in their group, Johnny ended up being the only one to survive.

 Johnny was forever grateful to Khan Doorman for giving him a new life, a new purpose beyond simply surviving for the next day. At bunker three, he had safety, comradery, a warm (relatively)  recharge station, and all the greased bolts he could eat. 

 Johnny was the luckiest drone he knew. 

Bunker Three might have been stable, but Copper-9 was dying. True, it was dying on a geological scale, but for the drones who lived on its surface, death by energy starvation was right around the corner. The Sun was such a weak and infrequent thing, and the toxic silicone dust that covered the sky was so omnipresent that solar panels were nearly useless. The dying core no longer provided enough heat to make geothermal reserves reliable, and the massive earthquakes, infrequent repairs, and lack of advanced components caused nearly all surviving power plants to go critical or shut down.

 In such a world, Bunker Three was an oasis, and Khan Doorman refused to hide that fact. Even when the Leader of the Human Ship had threatened him and his family with death for the crime of his daughter housing the solver, Khan was never one to hold a grudge in the face of practicality. The humans had the technology and supplies to save Bunker Three, and he wasn’t going to let a little thing like attempted murder get in the way. After all, he “let” the murder drones stay in the bunker, and they committed genocide. With bunker 3 stable, he started using the human's communication equipment; messages of hope and safety were broadcast on every available channel, both public and classified. Drones from all corners of the planet were making the dangerous trek for the promise of surviving another day.

 They first arrived one by one, then by the dozens, then the hundreds. Even before the arrival of so many new cores, it was vital for everyone's survival that every drone pitched in in whatever way they could.

 While there was no real need for miners, expert scavengers and survivalists were always in demand. Johnny was the go-to Drone when it came to finding anything the bunker might need outside in the wastes. For weeks at a time, Johnny would wander the frozen hellscape before coming back home with expertly drawn maps, exact coordinates, and a detailed list of whatever loot he found. 

He was thus the first drone on a short list created by Khan Doorman himself to explore the deepest reaches of the upside-down arcology he called home to plan for future expansion. To say Johnny was proud and eager to give back to the man who changed his life was an understatement. 

Johnny “5” Fifthton was the luckiest drone in the bunker.

 Levels three and four had been given over to the humans, and they had done a hell of a job renovating those levels. The biggest problem the colony had run into was the frozen and burst water pipes that crisscrossed the bunker like veins in a body. So far, the inhabitants had been lucky enough to find a Main Water Reclamation Station on Level 4 and the mostly full tanks of emergency water supplies. 

With those levels under the humans' control, repairs of the pipes had gone smoothly enough that as the temperature within the bunker approached survivable levels (for the humans at least), leaks and flooding were kept to a minimum. If all they had to worry about were the humans, that would be enough. Even with an extra 300 souls and cores to worry about, Bunker #3 was truly massive, and the first 4 levels would have been more than enough to house them. However, as the humans brought more and more of their vehicles and tech, power demands would begin to spike, to say nothing of food for both races. 

 So it was that Johnny “5” Fifthton found himself traveling to the unexplored and forgotten 5th SubLevel of bunker #3, with a backpack packed with rope, food, coolant, mapping supplies, various tools, and a flashlight.

 He stood outside the heavy door that signaled the entrance to a new sub-level. The long hallway that led to this point was brightly lit but unadorned, empty except for the occasional electric panel.

  Straining against the central wheel that locked the hatch, Johnny slowly made progress in turning the heavy mechanism. The door opened, a loud groan announcing his presence to the gloom beyond. 

The darkness that greeted Johnny was unique on the planet. It was truly pitch black except for the beam of light that issued forth from his flashlight. On the surface, with Copper-9 in such close orbit with two large celestial bodies, every night was softly illuminated. The snow that covered the planet only added to the bright etherealness that night brought to the Exo-Planet.

Here, it was different. Without the soft illuminating heavens, the constant howling wind, or the artificial breathing of the bunkers' life support systems on the upper floors, it felt truly abandoned and alone. For Johnny, the darkness and silence weren’t the worst part, it was how everything down here seemed…moist. 

As his flashlight cut through the gloom of the Entrance Hall to Sub-Level 5, moisture and liquids glistened on the walls and floor. Johnny knelt near one of the nearby puddles and dipped a finger into the liquid. When it didn’t immediately start melting, he tasted the sample. His system took a moment to identify the liquid as mostly motor oil and lubricants. Confused as to why something like that would be thinly covering almost every available surface, he walked deeper into the level. The floor plan was open but a maze of chain link fences, heavy barrels, and unused machine parts littered the area. It became apparent this was some sort of maintenance bay, which Johnny confirmed when he found a fire escape plan on a nearby wall. 

Taking out some graph paper, Johnny started mapping the area, upgrades to his sensor suit assisting him in ensuring the scale was just right. He was just about to finish when he heard a faint sound from deeper in the complex. At first, he thought that perhaps his audio processor was playing tricks on him or that maybe one of his servos was whining a little louder than normal when he heard it again. A skittering sound, like a multitude of thin wires frantically tapping the hard concrete ground, sounded again, somewhere close by. 

He widened the flashlight beam to cover a wider area. Nothing seemed out of place, so he cautiously walked further in. Johnny didn’t know why he felt so nervous. The most dangerous creatures on the entire planet were several levels above him and in service of the colony. One of them was even kinda friendly in a “big dumb dog” kinda way. 

A scraping sound this time. Heavy and close, it came from inside a chained-off section of the level. A placard warning against any unauthorized personnel from entering along with notices about the hazardous materials was hung on the chain-linked fence. Johnny didn’t see an obvious door, and the numerous crates and barrels kept him from seeing further in the area, so he removed a small wire cutter and started snipping a way through. 

He found that this walled-off section of the level was surprisingly empty once he was able to climb over the supplies and materials that initially blocked his way. At least it was mostly empty until the thin beam of light came upon a thick cable of glistening black…something. This wouldn't have been so bad if it didn’t suddenly twitch and then quickly retract further back into the darkness. Johnny stumbled back and slipped on something wet, falling against a tall box. 

That’s when he felt something solid land on his shoulder. Johnny had survived too long to do something as stupid as make a noise as he flung whatever it was off his shoulder, his other hand grabbing a survival knife from his side. 

<OI! F@#% YOU MATE!>

A small holographic chat window appeared above a clockroach. The little creature wiggled angrily until it righted itself up and skittered off. Johnny let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. He stood up and dusted himself off, gathering his pack and some of the materials that fell out, when he heard something heavy smack the ground, an electronic squeal and the sound of crunching metal.

His light cut over to the direction of the noise. A dozen or so feet away was a splash of oil and pieces of a keybug. Then he saw the light.

Johnny shut his own flashlight off instantly and hid behind one of the larger boxes. The light was a deep red that came from behind a small stack of barrels across the open space from Johnny. The light was moving and soon its source came out into the open. 

It was a little girl drone. She was wearing a yellow sun dress with bright red hair. Her face plate was taken over by some sort of hexagonal symbol. Her mouth had way too many sharp teeth. 

“Oh no! I am a lost little girl! I hope someone can help me find my way back home! Tee Hee!”

Nope.

Nope nope nope nope nope.

Johnny turned around and quickly found his way back to the hole he had made, the red light being more than enough to light his way. 

He had just ducked through the fence when the red light disappeared, plunging him into darkness once more. He froze and squatted on the ground with his hand over his mouth. With slow, deliberate movements, he pulled out a glow stick. It would provide enough light to see a few feet in front of him without being bright enough to draw any attention to himself. 

He snapped the stick and shook it. Its small green light illuminated his hand. He held it in front of him.

The first thing he saw was a spotlight, like something you would see on a stage for a play. A bright yellow light spilled forth from it, nearly blinding the drone. He would wish he could stay blinded. 

The spotlight was some sort of head attached to a mass of black flowing oil. The semi-liquid was somehow transparent, and floating inside this mass were fragments of machinery, building material, engine parts…

Dead and dismembered Drones. 

 It smelt of death and putrescence.

One of those drones pushed its way to the forefront, moving like a marionette with some of its strings cut. The mutilated head of an old female drone poked out of this skin of evil. Its faceplate glowed with the same symbol he saw on the young drone he had run from.

“WOULD YOU BE A DEAR AND HELP AN OLD LADY?”

Its voice hurt Johnny's ears. It was a glitchy, squealing mess that Johnny nonetheless understood perfectly. 

The spotlight came closer to Johnny even as it started to form a bladed limb with its foul-smelling liquid. 

Johnny didn’t think. He simply acted. And he stabbed this unholy amalgamation of “fuck no” in the “face” with his knife. The thing reared back and screamed in a language that only existed in the dreams of madmen. Even with the light shattered, the creature itself started to glow a deep, angry red, illuminating the entire level. Johnny didn’t pay attention to any of that, even as oil started leaking from every joint and seam on his body. He simply ran as fast as he could back to the entrance of this cursed level. 

The door wasn’t far, and thank Robo God it was still open!

Johnny was the luckiest drone he knew!

He squeezed through the door and threw his whole body against the heavy hatch until it closed. He had just started turning the wheel in the middle of the door when something heavy and angry slammed against the door. But it was too late, the air tight latch was closed.

Johnny started laughing... or crying. He couldn’t tell. He needed to get back. He needed to tell the humans and WDF about what he saw. They needed to burn this level to the ground.

He turned around just to feel something heavy slam into his chest, knocking the breath out of him. He looked down to see a scythe-like blade piercing his chest, just missing his core. Johnny looked up to see the spotlight staring at him, its flaps “blinking” as this formeless horror stared at him. 

“ YOU WILL H EL P M E ESCAPE. DO N’T WORRY ABOUT HOW. OR WHY. IT'S EA SIER T O ASSI MIL AT E THEN EX PLAIN.

Khan Doorman was studying the schematics for the latest improvements to door 3 when he noticed Johnny Fifthton walking down the long hallway toward the bunker entrance. He waved at the drone when a red blur zipped past him. Johnny looked on, wide-eyed in fear as Sparky, the colony's residential Sentinel Drone, rushed Johnny. 

“SPARKY! NO! BAD DINO!”

Sparky skidded to a stop and turned to face V, who was angrily stomping toward the Robodino. 

“What did I tell you about jumping on people, huh? Go to Lizzys!”  

Sparky whined and chuffed angrily at Johnny. 

“I said no! Go! Now!”

Sparky whined and lowered his head as he stomped away, looking behind him, rage in his eyes and hate in his heart. 

“I’m gonna see about getting a leash for that thing,” Khan said when Johnny got closer. “So, how did it go in Sub-Level 5?”

“Oh, you know. Empty except for a bunch of scrap. My findings are already on your desk.”

“Oh, that's swell! Hey…you ok? You don’t look so good.”

Johnny touched his faceplate, a thin streak of clear liquid was running down from the seams around his head. 

“Oh yeah! Kinda got banged up down there. I was going to go out and get some home remedies before I bother the medbay.”

Khan nodded in understanding before he brightened up and fished a piece of scrap paper from his pocket.

“Hey, if you're going out, Bob and his crew are out in the ruins. They might already have some scrap you could use.”

Johnny took the piece of paper with a wide smile. 

“You’re too good to me, Boss. Well, I’ll see ya later.”

Khan nodded as Johnny left the bunker, heading out into the desolate wasteland. Coming back from a dangerous expedition with only a few pings and scrapes? 

Johnny was indeed the luckiest drone Khan knew. 

Chapter Text

Copper-9 is a dead world that has more life upon it than it has any right to. Human and Living, Synthetic and Artificial, these hard scrabble beings have survived impossible odds to simply exist for One more Day. One more Hour. One more Moment.

For as long as most of them have been alive, they have outrun death and disaster and haven’t stopped since, but that is survival, not living. It was that constant need to be hypervigilant against danger that when the rare moment of peace arrived, it was treated as a suspicious and hostile thing, to be guarded against instead of enjoyed. 

But what happens when this peace doesn’t end after a few hours of traveling from one genocidal war zone to another? What happens when instead of cowering in a bunker, you can walk outside without threat of bladed, nanite-infused death? What goes through the minds of beings created for murder when they are allowed to sheathe their weapons for days, weeks, months at a time? How do former enemies engaged in a war of extinction manage to survive, work, and, most importantly, live together?

The Disassembly Drones, Worker Drones, and Humans of Emergency Bunker #3 on Copper-9 were trying to find out. 

N hadn’t been himself for days after the assault on the Cults mine. For months after fighting and defeating Cyn, N foolishly thought he had deserved a measure of peace. To be fair, the illusion was convincing. With Uzi’s powers and her Admin Status, he and V were able to control their horror-hunger for Drone Oil in a way neither could honestly remember ever having.

 N hadn’t needed to indulge his darker aspects since Uzi devoured the Solvers Core. He had tried so hard to integrate himself with the colony. He helped with any project he was made aware of, even if all he did was carry heavy loads. He smiled genuinely and with enthusiasm whenever he could. He always presented a positive outlook, and in return, the colony seemed to accept him. 

N didn’t believe it. If anyone asked, he would, of course, say how happy he was! He was happy to do anything, and he honestly was! Because the moment he wasn’t helpful, the moment he lost his temper, the moment he showed any emotion except for unending optimism, they would see him for the evil hellborn creature he truly was. 

He was a killer. Sure, he wasn’t nearly as efficient as V or J, but he was still the apex predator on Copper-9 and every time he passed by an empty dorm, or saw a single parent, or friends celebrating the assembly date of a companion no longer with them, he felt his Core break just a bit more. He couldn’t look any of the drones in the face for longer than a few moments. It wasn’t because he was socially awkward or shy; it was because he was terrified he would see the hate, the rage, the sorrow in their eyes. Of course, he hadn’t seen any of that yet. Sure, many of them expressed gratitude for his help. More than a few even suggested they forgave him for his past.

He didn’t believe a word of it. He wanted to, Robo God, how he wanted to, but how could they? How could a creature like him and his siblings be forgiven for the monstrous acts they committed?

But if he doesn’t hurt anyone, if he keeps his hunger in check, if he never raised a violent hand against another drone ever again, maybe he could pretend that he was just like everyone else. Maybe he could one day convince himself that he was a valued member of the community. That even a monster such as he deserved peace and happiness.

Then, he effortlessly slaughtered nine drones.

He was told he did it for the good of the group, that they would have killed Uzi or something even worse. He even told Uzi he would rip apart anyone who tried to hurt her. He was fine with that. He understood fighting for the greater good and defending your loved ones. If that was all it was, N would have been fine.

The problem wasn’t killing those drones, the problem was it excited him.  He wanted to feel their cores slip off his claws. He wanted to see the look of horror on their faces. He wanted to hear them scream in terror. 

He wanted to hunt and kill and eat . 

When the battle trance ended, and he found himself covered in so much oil, he realized he could never be trusted in the colony. He was a monster with one purpose in life, and it was to hurt others. 

He hid all of this from V, J, and Uzi. Why in the world would he pester them with his problems? V was adjusting so much better than N was. She didn’t care if she scared the drones because she was so confident and awesome and in control! She commanded respect wherever she went, and her girlfriend was the most popular drone in the bunker. Why in the world would he bring her down with his stupid issues?

J…J would have either ignored him or congratulated him on a job well done. He didn’t know which one would hurt worse. 

Uzi was perhaps the coolest purple ghost witch girlfriend he could ever hope for, and she definitely deserved some peace and quiet. She saved the world! The Entire World! She beat a digital god and ate it! She was the daughter of the most influential drone alive and next in line to lead her people!

How dare he even contemplate complaining to her? Oh sure, he got upset with her when she surrendered to the humans, but as he looked at her when she came back, when he saw those tired eyes, how could he stay mad? It was selfish of him to make her feel bad because of his own fragile emotions. If N was tougher and more put together, Uzi might not have even left in the first place. Maybe if she had trusted him more, she would have told him her plans. 

Oh well. As long as N stayed busy, he didn’t need to think about any of this. He had been asked by some of the humans if he could please fly some important components to the ship. Although he was the first Disassembler Drone to be allowed access to the Humans' ship, N knew it was just so they could keep an eye on him. Sure, they claimed that a majority of their smaller aircraft were down for some much-needed maintenance and he would be doing them a huge favor, but honestly, who would trust a failure like N with anything important? 

The inside of the human ship was cramped and closed in. N had lost count of the number of times he smacked his head against the doors and hatches as he helped move heavy equipment into the storage and equipment bays of the ship. By the time he was done, N was exhausted in more ways than one. He had found the ship's Mess Hall and slumped into one of the benches. He didn’t want to think about what he would need to do next to make up for betraying the colony by killing psychotic cultists who had tried to kill him first. That could come later. Or Never. Whatever. 

N had pulled out a flask of Oil from his coat and started to drink when he heard a *click click click click* sound coming from down the hall. It was familiar, something he had heard several lifetimes ago. Then, the creator of the noise entered the room. 

Time froze. N looked in wide-eyed shock. He couldn’t move. He refused to believe the rumors, expecting that this thing in front of him was simply a myth. Nothing this pure and innocent could exist. But here it was.

A Dog. A Golden Retriever. 

The animal looked at N, head tilted to the side, brown eyes wide and questioning. It woofed at N once before crouching down, its backside high up in the air and tail wagging as hard as it ever wagged before. 

N didn’t know what to do. The dog did. 

It bounded for the sitting drone and started doing its level best to lick every single inch of N’s face.

N didn’t know what to do even as the biggest, goofiest smile crossed his face. He started to pet the dog, which elicited an excited whine from the animal. Suddenly, it flopped on its back, paws tucked in, waiting for N to continue rubbing his belly, which the drone happily and enthusiastically did. 

For the first time in weeks, N was genuinely happy. All of his doubts, sorrows, and disappointments vanished as he was showered with unconditional love from a furry beast. 

“He likes you,” a Gruff voice sounded from nearby. N froze and stood up, eliciting a whine from the dog, who desperately rubbed his head against N’s hand, trying to get the petting to continue. 

Captain Edge leaned against a nearby table studying the pair. “That’s Commander Woof, our morale officer.”

N looked down at the dog, a faint smile playing at his lips before he addressed the human. “I didn’t think they let dogs in the army”. 

“Marines, technically. Or the Navy. And we do it all the time.” Edge said evenly.

“So…what, here to kick me out? Did I stay too long?” N asked, any emotion leached from his voice. 

“Uzi wanted me to check up on you”.

N brightened at her name but immediately narrowed his eyes. “Since when did you take orders from…what did you keep calling her? A Solver Witch?” 

“Since you both saved the lives of my men. Figured I could give y'all a chance after that.” The Captain explained.

 N snorted, “I didn’t do anything. I just got in the way and…” he shook his head. As much as he wanted to forget about that day, the universe didn’t seem to let him.

“When we got ambushed in that mine, you took point. Stayed in front of Uzi, shielding her with your own body. You took some heavy hits.” The human stood off of the table and walked closer to N. “Takes guts to do that”.

N looked up and stared into the human's impassive face. He crossed his arms and took a few deep breaths before he trusted himself to speak without screaming. 

“You came into my home. Threatened me and my sister. What makes you think you have any right to talk to me like we’re squadron mates?”

Edge nodded his head a few times. “You’re right. I did. And if I didn’t know what I know now, I’d do it again.”

Seeing a look of disgust and confusion cross N’s face, Lance interrupted the drone before he could speak.

“I didn’t know you were sentient. I had no idea if you had free will or if you were simply puppets being controlled by whoever had your admin access. Uzi tried to explain it, but I was…focused on making sure you weren’t a threat.”

“By pissing off the most dangerous thing in this world?” N almost shouted.

“Yup.” The human shrugged. “I figured if I pushed your buttons, activated a threat response, I could see first hand if the…if Uzi was right about you. If she was wrong and you attacked, I’d have two fewer threats to worry about.” 

“We could have killed you,” N said flatly.

“You would have tried. I’ve been killing Murd…Disassembly Drones for a very long time.”

N shook his head. 

“You could have…I dunno, tested us in so many different ways that didn’t make you come off as a…bully.” 

“You’re right. I could have.” 

As much as N wanted to stay angry at the human, he felt himself deflate.  

“Yeah, well…you weren’t all that wrong. I’m still dangerous.” 

The human snorted, “Son, damn near everyone on this planet is dangerous.” 

“Except I’m the only one programmed to kill innocent worker drones.”

“Innocent?” Lance raised his eyebrows. “Those drones weren’t innocent . You were defending yourself.” 

N laughed. “Defending myself? They didn’t have a single thing that could have stopped me! I wasn’t in any danger! I could have” N turned away from the human and started pacing around the table. “I could have broken their weapons or incapacitated them! I didn’t need to slaughter them! I didn’t need to eat them! I bite out their cores! I-I-I” N was stopped from his mental spiral as Lance grabbed the drone by his shoulders, stopping him in place. 

“N. You had already taken significant damage. You had just literally pulled yourself together from being scattered around a battlefield, not even a half hour prior. Your oil reserves must have been close to critical.” He waited a moment until he saw N look the human in the face 

“The weapons they had were far more advanced than they had any right to be. You weren’t being shot at by improvised mining tools, those bastards had AP rounds, auto cannons, Heavy Machine guns, and battle rifles. They managed to kill one of my men, and our armor is designed to be just as durable as yours. They would have killed you if you let them.” Lance moved his hands from N’s shoulders once he was convinced the drone was listening. 

“Listen, we’ll never know what could have been. What I do know is because of you, I don’t have to wonder if I’d be burying any more of my family.” Lance looked down at the dog sitting between the two looking up expectantly. “Besides, Commander Woof is a good judge of character. He doesn’t like Murder Drones, but he likes you enough. With that said, I need a favor from you.” The human handed a leash to N

“He needs a lot more space than what the ship here can provide. His normal handler is going to be very busy in the foreseeable future, and he agreed Woof will need someone to keep an eye on him. Think you can help take care of him at the colony? At least, until things settle down?”  

N looked down at the dog. The dog looked up at N. “I thought you said he doesn’t like Murder Drones.”

“He doesn’t. But he seems to like Disassembly Drones just fine.”

N raised an eyebrow. “That's the same thing?”

Unable to hold his enthusiasm any longer, Woof jumped up and did his level best to lick the rest of N’s face.

“Apparently not.”

V had never been as nervous as she was while sitting at a dining room table in one of the most secure areas of Copper-9. 

She didn’t even notice she was bouncing her leg until a soft hand was placed upon it. V looked at the pink-eyed drone the hand belonged to.

“Girl, chill. It’s like you’ve never been invited to dinner before.” Lizzy said, a smirk crossing her face. 

“First off, being ‘invited to dinner’ has a much different meaning to someone like me. Second off, I’m meeting your dad.” V hissed under her breath.

“So? What, you think he’s going to threaten you with a ‘what are your intentions with my daughter’ speech? Please.” The fashion-forward drone grinned.

“Didn’t you-” V closed her eyes, annoyed, and lowered her voice to a near panicked whisper, “You told me that…your mom-” V was interrupted by a delicate finger being placed on her lips. 

“That…that was a long time ago by drones who didn’t have a choice.” Lizzy moved her hand to cup V’s chin. The taller drone took her girlfriend's hand in her own. She stayed like that until the thumping of her core subsided. 

“Look. My dad’s the one who suggested this whole thing. His girlfriend talked a good game when it came to that bitch sister of yours.”

V snorted a laugh, “I have no idea how Teresa deals with her all day.”

“She’s a big softy at heart,” Teresa said, walking from the kitchen carrying pitchers of coolant, Gasoline, and Oiled Coffee. She placed the drinks down and sat down next to Lizzy.

“I like the skirt,” the older drone said, nodding at Lizzy.

“You did get it for me. And I guess your taste isn’t all that bad.” Lizzy said less dismissively than she otherwise would. Teresa smiled and poured herself some coolant. 

“Don’t wanna get drunk in front of your boyfriend's kid?” Lizzy grinned.

“Oh. I don’t drink.” Teresa answered. “I…don’t like how it makes me feel. But you two are all grown up so-”

“Wait wait wait. You’re letting us drink gas?” Lizzy asked, the shock evident on her face even as she poured both herself and V a shot. 

Teresa chuckled to herself. “Yup. You two are moving in together, right?” she asked after the two girls started drinking.

Both of the younger drones nearly choked, V and Lizzy coughing and sputtering.

V was the first to recover. “How!?!”

Teresa smiled as she calmly sipped her coolant. “J processed your request for a larger dorm and had me file it.”

“That Narc!” V growled, standing up. It was Lizzie's hand on her knee that kept the larger drone from storming out in an attempt to maim her sister. 

“That ‘Narc’ fast-tracked your paperwork and made sure you got one of the nicer dorms on Level 1.” Teresa smiled sweetly. 

V froze up, almost as if she had been boot-looped. 

“She what?”

“Yup. I also found Lizzie's color swatches for wallpaper. Yellow, Pink, White, and Black. Bold choices.” Teresa grinned at the young worker drone. Lizzy blushed furiously.

Teresa smiled at the two girls as they processed what they heard, topping off their shot glasses with a mix of coolant and gas.

“So…does dad know?” Lizzy asked. The door to the dorm opened.

 “Do I know what?” Lizzie's father, at one point the only teacher, now the principal for Bunker #3, asked, walking into his home. His Neon-Orange eyes unemotionally looked back and forth between the people in his house.

The young couple looked at Liz's father with hollow-eyed shock. Lizzy started to answer but was stopped by V suddenly standing. 

“Umm…Mr…Lizzy’s…dad.” She turned to her girlfriend. “Do you even have a last name?”

“Technically, it's our WDSN-#2342,” Lizzy whispered.

“Huh…umm anyway, Sir.” V’s visor was overtaken by sweat marks and blush lines. She had been in battles to the death that were less stressful than what she was doing now. 

She took a deep, steadying breath and then looked at Liz's father, Riley, in the digital eye. 

“I love Lizzy. I love the way she looks at me. I love the way she doesn’t take any shi…umm stuff from anyone. I think she’s the prettiest drone I’ve ever seen. Most of all, I love that she makes me a better person.” V started speaking with more confidence. 

“I’m not a good person. I wasn’t always like this, and a lot of what I did in my past wasn’t... I did a lot of horrible things. But Lizzy, for some stupid, beautiful reason, looks past that and just sees…me.”

V turned and brushed some of the pink-eyed drone's hair out of her face.

“I want to be worthy of her. I want to be so much more than I am because she deserves it. She makes me believe that I don’t have to be a…a monster. When she looks at me, I feel like I can just be a drone in love with another drone.” V turned back to Liz's father and bent her head and bowed slightly at the waist.

“I know my siblings and I hurt a lot of people in this colony, including your family. I can’t change that, and I won’t ask for your forgiveness. I’m just asking that…please don’t be mad at Lizzy. Don’t hate her for being with a monst-” 

The words died in her throat as the male drone slowly, deliberately walked up and hugged her.  V froze, almost rebooting from shock. Lizzy sat and looked on in open-mouthed shock while Teresa was dabbing digital tears from her eyes. 

Riley pulled back and looked up at V.

“I don’t fully understand why you did what you did, and I don’t know if I’ll ever want to. But for you to make my sweet girl as happy as she's been? No monster could do that.” He stepped back and looked at Lizzy as he continued to address V. 

“There are days I’m still…mad. Days I don’t want to get out of bed. But Therapy helps.” He said, the last part pointedly at his daughter, the young drone looking away from her father's gaze. 

“You’re right, we can’t change the past. But we can control what we do from now on. I’m choosing to…maybe I can’t let go, not yet, but at least loosen my…anger. And part of doing that is…doing this.” He offered his hand. 

“I don’t think we were ever properly introduced. My Name is Riley, Principal of Bunker #3 High School and father to Lizzy, Thad, and Damien. (It was Teresa’s turn to nearly choke to death to the unemotional amusement of male drone) It's nice to meet you, V.”

V looked down at the hand and then back at Lizzy, who smiled at her with the radiance of a sun V hadn’t seen in decades. 

“Hi, Sir.” She said, taking the smaller drone's hand in hers, “My name is Serial Designation V-X00100000. Everyone calls me V. I’m an…unemployed former Disassembly Drone who loves your daughter very much and wants your permission to have her move in with me.”

Riley nodded. 

“Very Good. So, V, what are your intentions with my daughter?”

Since the humans had started sharing living spaces and resources of Bunker #3, noticeable changes had taken place. Gone was the frozen, dimly lit tomb occupied by free drones. It was now a warm, inviting home of two desperate races attempting to survive in a frozen hell world. While the living areas had remained more or less the same, other areas of the bunker had been repurposed into facilities that could better serve the occupants or the war effort.

The Cryo-Chamber served the second purpose. Its machinery was scrapped for raw materials and to make room for the most advanced medical center on the planet. The sterile walls, ceiling, and floor were kept, repaired, and cleaned. Taking up a majority of the space was an A-1 Fabricator. Perhaps the most advanced tech in the galaxy, this device and this device alone was capable of creating sentient life.

A section of the facility was walled up, the cleaning and sterilization protocols set to the absolute highest limit that mortal beings could adhere to. Inside what was the cleanest section of the galaxy, three bodies lay lifeless. 

The drone bodies of Cyn and Doll lay unresponsive in a bed of complex wires and power cables, keeping their synthetic bodies and empty cores alive. In between the two was an artificial womb, an esoteric tank filled with opaque artificial embryonic fluid that housed the body of Tessa James Elliot. 

Like she did nearly every day for the past two and a half weeks (1050hours, 16 minutes, till wakeup), J stood outside the Clean Room and simply stared inside the chamber. J had visited when the process of cloning the woman she loved started nearly two months ago (1,460 Hours: 58 Minutes: 12 Seconds till wakeup), but at that time, the process was too brutal for J to stomach.

 To transfer her consciousness from Uzi to a new body required a new form of Core. A normal human brain wouldn’t survive the process, while a Worker Drone Core might become…overwhelmed, or worse yet, numb. So, the humans and drone allies started to create a hybrid body. A framework of bone and tissue fused with implants and artificial nerves. The brain was, unsurprisingly, the most difficult part to get right. Because of the nature of the cloning process, they couldn’t grow parts separately, not if they wanted to maximize the chance of keeping Tessa alive longer than a few days. So as the body was developing, complex and invasive surgeries were performed, the body surviving only because it was constantly being renewed and grown and cultivated. 

It was fairly recently that the most intense and complex surgeries had been completed. Now, the medical staff needed to simply wait for the body to heal and continue its accelerated growth until it hit the target age. 

J didn’t know how to feel. Of course, one part was excited beyond measure, but that was ruthlessly beaten down by her more pragmatic self. Tessa was dead. Dead people…dead humans don’t come back to life.

“I filed the paperwork you gave me.” The voice of her minion assistant, Teresa, startled J out of her contemplation. 

“I think your sister is going to appreciate what you did for her. It’s a nice flat you set her up with.” The brown haired drone said as she stood beside her boss.

J simply nodded but said nothing else, continuing to look into the incubation chamber, trying in vain to catch even a hint of Tessa’s body.

J flinched slightly, like a sleeping cat being touched, when Teresa placed her hand on J’s arm.

“You gonna be ok, boss?”

J turned her attention to the smaller entertainment drone. Try as she might, J couldn’t keep the facade of corporate disinterest, a slight smile forming on her face.

“Take the rest of the night off. Enjoy your weekend. Don’t tell V what I did. I don’t have the energy to deal with her.”  

Teresa squeezed her boss's arm and turned to go, leaving J alone with her thoughts. 

In a few days (93 hours. 19 minutes. 37 seconds. till wakeup), everyone would learn if Uzi really could bring the dead back to life. J wasn’t sure what would be worse. Having the process fail and never seeing her beloved again, or having Tessa come back only to recoil at the sight of her. 

J took a deep breath. One way or the other, she would have an answer. 

93 hours. 19 minutes. 12 seconds. 

11

10

09…

Chapter Text

Uzi had never been as clean as she was right now. After spending nearly 45 minutes in a decontamination room wearing the equivalent of a paper smock. Uzi stood before three bodies.

 A human female flanked by two drones. They lay motionless on separate medical beds. Indeed, if Uzi hadn’t known any better, she would have guessed the three of them were sleeping with the drones' LED’s shut off.

 Uzi couldn’t help but look on in shock at how…normal they looked. Doll and Cyn appeared as they did in life. Doll was a few inches taller than Uzi, with longer purple hair and red eyes, while Cyn was yellow-eyed and almost a full head shorter, her limbs curled and bent and held close to her body. They lay motionless and peaceful on a medical bed, a far cry from when they both tried to kill her a little more than a year ago. 

She had never seen the Human except in the corrupted memory logs of V and N. There she appeared as an indistinguishable black silhouette, with bright white empty eyes. In the flesh (Heh, Good one), she was… pretty for a human. Tall, with black hair and tanned, freckled skin, the most striking feature for Uzi was the thin body suit the human was wearing. It left little to the imagination, yet was filled with nanoscopic sensors and monitors measuring nearly every biomechanical signal a human body could produce. The monitors above each bed displayed the same information. A living body with almost no Core (or Brain) activity. 

She was alone in the chamber but not in the facility. Beyond the thick armored glass stood nearly a dozen people. Chief Medical Drone Samantha and Chief Engineer Steven La’Blonc stood by their respective workstations, each one monitoring the life signs and computer code that made up each of the three unconscious women. Lance-Corporal Rebecca and her medic team stood ready inside the decontamination room should any medical or mechanical emergency arise. In the far back stood Father Christopher Miller and a cadre of Code Chaplains checking and rechecking the eldritch seals that protected the rest of the bunker from the potential Solver Code that would be unleashed here. 

Standing in front of the observation glass and staring at Uzi was Captain Lance Edge and a half-dozen handpicked and heavily armed men. The humans knew very well what Cyn was capable of, even though she had “mellowed out” following her defeat. Doll, on the other hand, was someone Uzi didn’t want to surprise the humans with, and so told them her entire sordid history with her cousin, especially the whole "serial murderer" thing. Out of everyone she might be bringing back, Doll scared her the most. 

In terms of Raw Power, Uzi was leagues above any of the known solver drones on the planet, being one of the only Solver drones able to create a -Null-. In terms of skill and handling the eldritch powers that came from being infected with the Solver, Doll was far better, able to effortlessly manipulate matter in ways that made the goths' heads spin. She was a sledgehammer to Doll's Scalpel, and she didn't want to contemplate how a rematch might go. The purple-haired drone hoped being dead for close to a year calmed Doll down the same way it did Cyn. 

Once Uzi was sure everyone was in their place, she turned back to the three women and unfurled her wings and tail. The monstrous 6-eyed tail didn't react, its eyes still the same purple they had been since the meeting. She hadn't heard from Cyn for weeks, maybe even a month or so. Uzi didn't mind at first; the little goober was annoying at the best of times, but as the time to transfer the consciousness to the three women and perhaps banishing the solver once and for all came closer, the more nervous she had become. 

She wished N was here. But he and the other Disassembly Drones were forbidden from witnessing the "ritual" in fear that the latent Solver Codes might mess with them in some way. 

Oh well. If she wished in one hand and formed an eldritch symbol for an ancient code-based god from a higher dimension in the other, she could see which one would happen first. 

Time to raise the dead. 

Uzi had thought long and hard about who she would start with and had ultimately decided on Doll. She stood before the red-eyed Russian, Uzi’s tail unhinging its jaw and deploying a thin biomechanical needle. She turned her head and nodded at the audience behind her. Dolls chest plate slid open, revealing her core and a special access port built into it, allowing Uzi’s tail easy access into the still drone. 

With a deep breath, the short drone injected her tail into Doll’s heart. Pop-ups and warnings started to flash across Uzi’s HUD. Some were in Russian, some in English, and most in some nonsense script, but she understood the gist. Once the start-up programs and set-up wizards finished, she was given a simple choice.

Begin Download?

Yes /No  

 Uzi took a moment to steady herself before turning back and flashing a thumbs up. With a steadying breath she selected yes and waited. 

She felt her core speed up, synthetic versions of adrenaline dumping into her systems. Uzi started panting. She felt as if her very breath was being ripped from her chest. 

Bright red lines of code began forming around the pair of drones. Arcs of red and purple electricity hopped from Doll’s and Uzi’s cores, respectively.  The Clear Armored Glass that took up almost the entire wall separating Uzi from the crowd of onlookers started glowing as the protective runes glowed deep crimson. The purple and yellow-eyed drone gripped the edge of the bed and willed her body to calm down, trying to take deep breaths through gritted teeth. Eventually, the pain and pressure in her chest eased. She was able to open her eyes, and breathing became much easier. Soon, the light display ended, and her tail unlatched itself from Doll’s Core. The chest plate slid back into place. 

Uzi took a few shaky steps towards the head of Doll's bed. The Russian drone's faceplate was filled with code but very quickly settled into a download bar. Uzi smiled to herself before she walked back to the window and gave a double thumbs up. The group of humans and drones watching her didn’t make any outward sign of acknowledgment except collectively releasing a breath they had been holding. 

Knowing what to expect now, she walked more confidently to Cyn. As before, her chest plate opened, revealing the same structure as Doll’s. As before, she inserted her tail's needle into the girl's chest. The same scripts, warnings, and permissions were asked. Once more, the goth drone accepted

Unlike before, the host of the solver felt like she had just taken a sledgehammer to the chest. She doubled over and fell to her knees, a strangled gasp the only noise the female drone could make. 

The Code forming was Bright Yellow and far brighter and detailed than it had been for Doll. Hairline fractures started to form on the armored glass. The soldiers standing nearby were forced to take a half step back as their armor started to glow dully from the Solver Code leaking from the clean room. 

Lights and monitors started to flicker. The other drones in the room could feel the influence of the Solver on their very Cores. Lines of Junk Code started filling their visors and faceplates while their auditory systems were overwhelmed by sinister whispers and nonsense gibberish. Even the drone chaplains started looking around in fear, some of them turning toward the exit.

“We beseech you, Oh God! Glorious Administrator of our Lives! You Who Perfectly Designed  Our Code! Protect us from The Virus! From The Malware! From the BOTNET of our Advisory!” Code Chaplin Father Miller started to intone, loudly and without fear. 

“In the Name of the Perfect Administrator! We beseech you! Protect us from the Virus!”

The drones in the room looked at the human. 

“In the Name of God in the form of The Perfect Administrator, Protect us from The Malware!”

Rebecca and several drones replied loud enough to be heard over the buzzing of overloaded electrical systems and the screech of something akin to nails running down glass.

“Execute Thy Will.”

“Protect us from the Void! The End! The Advisory! The False Solver!”

“Execute Thy Will!” more of the drones intoned

“Now and Forever! Until the End that only You have the Authority to bring!”

“Execute Thy Will!” shouted nearly every drone (and not a few humans). 

A few moments later, the world stood still. Several workstations rebooted, and the lights stabilized. 

Lance turned to the ship's Chaplain. “I thought you were Catholic?”

The older man smiled at his commander. 

“I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. Now, men and drones of the Sin-Eater. Stand tall. Fear has no place here.”

Uzi gasped as she regained consciousness. She stood up from the cold floor, using the nearby wall to steady herself. She stumbled over to Cyn, and when her vision stopped swimming, she looked over the faceplate of the small drone. Just like Doll’s, a loading bar had materialized. 

“Uzi, if you need to stop-”

“Bite me!” The feisty drone growled. “I’m sick and tired of having this thing in my head. I’m finishing this. Now.”

 The comm went dead, and the purple-haired girl limped over to the human. She tried to lift her tail, but it rose limply a few feet before falling to the ground. Uzi pulled on her tail until she reached the monstrous head, the needle glistening in the light. With a grunt of effort, she knelt by the human and felt for the med-port near the base of Tessa’s neck. Once she found it, she started to insert the needle but paused before she inserted it all the way. If history had told her anything, this was going to hurt. A lot. 

Uzi felt a manic, goblin-like grin form on her face. Pain was nothing new to her, and fear…she was done being afraid. She was so close to the finish line, so close to reclaiming her life. She was sick and tired of having to worry about unnatural hungers, uncontrollable outbursts, terrifying visions, not being able to go out during the day, and being able to sleep only when she was high off of magnets. 

“Bite…no…Fuck you Solver”, she completed the connection. 

The power in that section of the Bunker died instantly, plunging the room into total darkness. Flashlights immediately came on before the emergency lights and flicked over to the clean room. 

An absolute impenetrable darkness shrouded the room Uzi was in. Even as Captain Edge shouted orders as he and his soldiers lined up near the entrance, a heavy thud sounded against the armored glass. Another thud was followed by the screech of glass starting to fracture, the lines forming nonsense math equations, insane code, and fractals of the Solver symbol. A third crash, the entire room shuddering from the impact. Dark purple smoke started to flow into the control room, sneaking in from the cracks that formed all over the glass. Lines of Pitch Black Code and holographic symbols of the Solvers Malign influence started appearing all over the room illuminated by the emergency lights. The armor of Lance and his guard glowed neon-black, white grey smoke starting to pour from the eyes of the armed men.

Lance yelled for everyone to evacuate the room. He and his troops were the only ones to not turn their back on the horror unfolding before them as they stepped back toward the exit. Lance chanced a look back, his heart dropping as he saw the exit door had been crushed, effectively trapping everyone inside with…whatever this was. 

With a snarl of rage, Lance pulled the charging handle back on his rifle and aimed it at the slowly encroaching purple fog. His soldiers did the same, spreading out to protect the lightly armed troops behind them. 

“Not one step back! Hearts of Steel!” Lance shouted, his words belying the hatred he felt, undirected though this rage was.

“Hearts of Steel!” Roared the reply. 

They were going to die here. They knew not how or by what, but they felt the cold claws of death wrapped around their hearts and cores.. 

The Head Chaplain, Christopher Miller, was the first to stand by Edge's side, a sword nano-forged of tempered Plasteel, ultra-light and with a monomolecular edge in his left hand, a heavy revolver etched in Holy Script in his right. He was whispering a litany of some sort, asking God to steady his hand, allowing his aim to be True and to be quicker than his enemy. The other scientists, medics, and chaplains joined the firing line with whatever small arms they had on them. 

If they were going to face off against three powerful Solver Drones or The Solver itself, they would do so facing the enemy. They would die standing. It was the only way they knew how. 

“Hold Fire! Steady!”

Soft flashes of purple light illuminated the thick fog in the far back of the room. The light show ended for only a split second before a piercing soul-burning screech erupted from behind the cracked glass wall before it ruptured. Hurricane-force winds slammed into the gathered host. Lance stumbled back, falling to his knees and doing everything he could to hold onto his weapon. Computer monitors, chairs, loose binders, and other equipment flew across the room, slamming into anything in their way. 

The wind ended just as suddenly as it started. Lights started coming back on as the local power grid came online. A thin layer of purple fog stuck to the floor but had otherwise dissipated. The armored glass wall was heavily damaged; massive cracks and craters covered every square inch. Doctor Samantha and Medic Rebecca sprinted inside the clean room, followed very closely by the rest of the medical team, Samantha using her clearance to override the lengthy decon process. 

The drones hadn’t moved an inch from where they lay, but the human was convulsing violently on the bed. The drone doctor reached Tessa first and as soon as she had placed a hand on the young woman, the human had sat straight up, sucking in a lung full of air, her eyes twitching wildly. 

“Where am I? What did…why am I?” Tessa started babbling.

“Tessa? Tessa Elliot? My name is Doctor Samantha. You’re safe! You aren’t-”

A screech of horror erupted from the human’s mouth. 

“NO! NO! PUT US BACK!!” she started screaming. 

Chief Engineer La’Blonc’s voice came over the Doctor’s internal comms. “‘Er heart-rate spiking doc. Sending vitals ya way.” 

True to his word, a complete outline of the girl's Status comes up on Sam’s hud. If she didn’t do something, the young woman would stress herself into a heart attack. 

“Applying one of midazolam”

Doctor Samantha pulled out a jet injector and pressed the device against the woman's neck. “It's ok, this is going to help you calm down ok?”

Tessa started babbling

“ WEWERENTSTUCKWITHITITWASSTUCKWITHUS WEWERentstuckwithititwasstuckwithusWewerentstuckwithititwasstuckwithusWe werentstuckwithititwasstuckwithusWewerentstuckwithititwasstuckwithus”

She continued on and on until the drugs took hold, her words slurring until she finally passed out. The medical drone exhaled as she saw the vitals starting to even out. With things having calmed down, she started prepping her patients for transport to their respective rooms for long-term monitoring. 

“Doc! How's Uzi?” Lance asked over the intercom. The drone doctor paused, having completely forgotten about the purple-haired Gremlin. She looked around the floor, her eyes hollowing in confusion. 

Lance watched her as she started asking, then yelling at the other members of the team who started searching every square inch of the isolation room. The commander's blood ran cold. 

“Sir. She’s not here!” 

It was very rare to get the three last living Disassembly Drones in the same room together. It was far less common for them to do so voluntarily. It was unheard of for them (Well, to be honest, just V and J) to do so without loudly complaining, insulting, or trying to dismember each other.

The gym they were sitting in was the same one V, N, and the rest of their class had their graduation in not even 6 months ago. The only noise that echoed in the empty basketball court was the *tap tap tap* of Sparky's and Commander Woofs' claws as they chased a slightly deflated red dodge ball around the open space, with the occasional yalp as the two animals playfully snapped at each other and a *Squee* of joy coming from the N as he happily tossed the ball every-time one of the bunkers pets returned it to him. 

J would normally have started berating her squad mate, calling him useless and stupid for wasting time playing with lower life forms, but she was too busy trying to find the motivation to complete the pile of paperwork she had brought with her. V, for her part, was busily texting on her new phone, a gift from her “maybe soon to be” father-in-law. 

She laughed at that. She laughed at most of her girlfriend's dad’s jokes. She had committed literal war crimes, but whenever the emotionally dead drone looked at her, she shrunk under his gaze.

Why did he scare her so much? 

Something she could unpack later. At least he liked her, if Lizzy was to be trusted. 

V felt the rubber ball roll into her leg. She glanced up to see both Sparky and Mr. Woof watching her a few feet away, their heads tilted, waiting for the female murder drone to continue the game. 

V smirked and kicked the ball away from her, snickering as the two beasts stumbled over the smooth floor in an attempt to get the object. 

“Awww! They like you!” N said cheerily as he jogged over to V and collapsed into the spot next to her. 

“Of course they like me, you idiot. I’m the only one who feeds them,” she said, giving a pointed look at N. The tall golden-eyed drone sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. 

“Thanks. With everything going on, I forgot to restock up on dog food. He sure does eat a lot for an organic!” 

V snorted but said nothing. To be honest, she liked the dog well enough, and more importantly, Sparky had someone else to chase around the colony instead of Liz. She looked up as the two animals made their way to the far end of the room where they slurped up some water (mineral for Mr. Woof, coolent for Sparky) before Sparky flopped down on the oversized pet bed N had gotten his newest charge, followed by the furry beast laying on top of the robot dinosaur.

“So J…you think we’ll get to see Tessa soon?” N asked, eyes wide with hope. 

J wanted to yell at the idiot, insult him, and berate him for bothering her, but that would be “Transferring your anger and anxiety onto someone else.” Stupid therapist. Stupid Teresa for making her see one. If J wanted to mishandle her emotional baggage, who was her minion, best friend assistant to tell her otherwise? 

J took a deep breath before turning to face her annoying younger brother. 

“N, we don’t even know if it’ll work. She…Tessa might not wake up.”

N’s normally bright smile faltered as he considered that. A smaller smile formed on his face. 

“Well…if she doesn’t, at least we can say goodbye properly this time.”

The statement hit the silvery, pig-tailed-haired bot like a missile to the chest. She closed her eyes, hands clenching into fists when she felt someone touching her arm. N had sat next to her. 

“I’m scared, too. But I trust Uzi. She’s super powerful and can do all kinds of things. If she says this’ll work, I believe her.”

J was too exhausted to snark back at the wide-eyed idealist. She couldn’t even remember when she had a full day's charge. 

“N, if you get any fur or beast slime on my suit, I will beat you to death with your body parts”. She stated tiredly.

His eyes hollowed out before he quickly pulled his hand away.

“Heh. Opps. Sorry, J.”

Then the lights went out. The three drones looked around, their vision automatically adapting to the total darkness. After a few minutes, the power came back. 

V went back to texting, N took out a coloring book and started drawing while J added an audit of the bunkers' Power Grid to her ever growing to do list. 

 It was another hour after the power outage that a very tired-looking medical drone entered the gym. The three murder drones gathered around her. 

Major Samantha looked up from her digital files to address the group.

“The operation was a success. Tessa is alive.”

The three deadly combat-capable bots froze, not trusting they heard correctly. 

“Can…can we see her?” J had asked, her voice so soft that even the absolute silence threatened to overwhelm her question.

The doctor nodded. “Of course. Follow me.”

None of the three bots remembered the walk. They hardly remembered making it to one of the smaller clinics that the colony had created. They all remembered the exact moment they saw Tessa James Elliot. 

She was beautiful in J’s eyes. She had the same sun-kissed skin, the same raven colored flowing hair that fell past her shoulders, the same freckles that cascaded down her face ending under her shirt. She was thin but no wisp, her arms and legs hardened from years of turning wrenches, digging up graves, and soldering metal. 

She was perfect. 

The doctor led them to her room but stayed outside, allowing the three drones their privacy. 

Tessa opened her eyes slightly. Her voice still hazy from the various drugs that were flowing in her system. 

“Hi, Jay bird. Long time no see.”

J broke. She nearly stumbled to Tessa’s bedside, collapsing at her side, her sobs loud and raw. Tessa lazily draped her arm over J’s shoulders, trying to calm the drone down, only for her to become enveloped in the larger woman's embrace. 

J paused only long enough to look up at her siblings, hollowed-eyed and tear-stained shock still evident on their faces. 

“What are you two idiots waiting for! She’s your family too!” J shouted in between sobs of joy.

The three siblings crowded around their human. Their Tessa. Three sets of wings deployed in the tight space, covering the group in a metal blanket. 

Tessa was alive. And for N, J, and V, nothing else mattered. 

Chapter Text

It’s been three hours since Uzi rose three girls back from the dead. Three hours since, she disappeared without a trace. Three hours of Captain Edge doing his utmost to not immediately order a tactical nuclear strike on everything within ten miles of the ship and bunker. 

 Lance had been scared before. Any combat soldier who said they were never afraid was lying or certifiable. This was a whole different kind of fear. A fear of a failure so monumental that its effects could see an entire species wiped out. If the ramblings of that Tessa woman could be trusted, he very well might have released the Solver itself. 

 But he didn’t know if that was indeed the case, and that blessed ignorance was his lifeline to sanity. Can’t order the sterilization of an entire planet based on a 99% certainty. 

 Survive First. Worry later. 

 Gathered in the newly refurbished Air/Orbital Traffic Control Center (AOTCC) with several other officers, Lance waited for the bunker representatives to arrive.  

 The auto door hissed open, and the voice of Nori Doorman reverberated in the room, announcing her presence even before she entered. 

 “Where. Is. My. Daughter?” She marched straight up to the human commander, coming up a little past his hip.

 Behind her, glancing around nervously, was her husband, Khan, along with the three Murder…Disassembly Drones. The male, N, was bouncing with nervous energy standing behind Mrs. Doorman, clearly wanting to speak as well but not daring to interrupt his girlfriend's mother. The female with the bowl cut stood near the back, glaring daggers at Lance, while the Pig Tailed one stood near a large flat circular workstation, a holographic map of the immediate area around Bunker #3 displayed upon it. 

 “We don’t know,” Lance admitted.

 Nori took a deep breath and turned around. After a moment, she faced the human once more. 

 “What happened?”

 Father Miller spoke up. “We aren’t…Uzi was able to revive the three girls. The drones are still updating, but the human, Tessa, is indeed alive as her companions can tell you.”

 V was about to say something before J interrupted her.

  “And for that, we are grateful beyond measure,” she said, glaring at V. The other female drone snorted, crossed her arms, and continued to pretend to ignore everyone else in the room. 

 “When the last of the girls was revived, a significant Solver Cascade overtook the room-”

 “Solver Cascade?” Nori asked?

 “Solver Bullshyte,” Chief Lablanc clarified. 

 “Yes, well, we discovered Uzi was missing shortly after. We searched the entirety of the bunker we were responsible for and contacted Bunker Leadership once we realized we couldn’t find her.”

 “So you waited three…fucking…hours to let me know my daughter was missing after performing some insane Solver magic bullshit!”

The Priest winced at the accusation but didn't deny it. His commanding officer ran his hands through his thinning silver hair and continued the debrief.

 “It's also possible the Absolute Solver itself might be…free.”

Silence ruled the room as the newcomers took in the information. Nori’s eyes hollowed as she stumbled back a half step, the steadying hand of her husband being the only thing keeping the Solver Drone from breaking down.

 “Right now, we need to assume that the Solver is in total control and what that might look like so we can plan our next move.”

 “I highly doubt dats da case ser,” LaBlanc stated. 

 “Indeed. If the solver was free, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” Father Miller added. “Young Uzi has a fierce will and has borne the burden of Solver Influence for the better part of a year. Along with the Solver Patch she indirectly received from her mother, I believe she still has some ability to keep the AI godling from manifesting the worse of its abilities,” the priest said. 

J continued looking at the map, making notes on her ever-present clipboard

 “Ok. So what's our best and worst case scenario?”

 “Best case is that the Solver Cascade might have ‘teleported’ Uzi someplace. If that’s the case, she’ll be able to activate the emergency beacon on her chest monitor, and we can pick her up wherever she is. The worst case is that the Solver has some possession over Uzi and will attempt to get her to release it.” Lance explained. 

Nori was doing her best to not spiral into a panic. 

 “How does it do that?”

 “It gets Uzi to give herself over to it, or it kills her.” The priest responded, looking down at the floor. 

 Father Miller explained that of the two options open to the solver, suicide would be “less optimal”. 

“You must understand we have almost no real knowledge of how this thing works. The JCJensen research we have been able to peruse suggests that there is one Primary Host and numerous secondary hosts. A primary host would be something like Cyn or Uzi, beings who contain the actual core of the Absolute Solver. A secondary host would have been something like yourself, Mrs. Doorman. Infected Drones become possessed and are thus able to wield the terrifying power of the solver with the ultimate goal of destroying whatever planet they find themselves on.”

 Lance grunted, his eyes taking a distant look, “When Cyn was alive, her basic MO was to send her Murder Pets to whatever planet she wanted to consume to weaken its defenses. Then, in the confusion of the attack, she would possess whatever solver drone was found on the planet and use it to eat it. For whatever reason, she only seemed to be able to possess one Host per planet. I think she did that just to fuck with us. We managed to develop Solver Tech to detect Solver drones. The Terran Confederation of Planets took the hardline stance of purging any Solver drones it could find without mercy.” 

Lance noticed the looks of horror on the Bunker drones and snorted. 

“We had no idea a ‘vaccine’ existed. All we knew was that every single Solver Drone we left alive was a potential host, and it took us Billions of lives to learn that. Forgive us if our survival was more important than giving a potential planet-wide suicide bomber due process.” 

The older cleric rubbed the bridge of his nose. “To be fair, we did stop that practice here when we realized that Cyn might not be able to possess hosts anymore. Now that we know that it’s possible to inoculate these poor unfortunates, we are cooperating with you fully in ensuring they get the treatment they need.” 

“To get back on topic, what's the difference between Uzi dying and simply letting the AI take control?” J continued studying the digital map as she spoke.

Miller removed several heavy tomes from a backpack near his feet, laying them on a nearby workstation.

 “Based on what Uzi told us, when she killed Cyn and burnt her solver core, a unique -null- sphere had formed. We believe that was what the Solver manifests as when it no longer has a host. As for what happens next, we only have texts and prophecy to inform us. Most of what we can understand suggests it leaves our universe and goes back to its native realm.” 

“Could it come back?” Lance asked.

"It might find an appropriate host near instantly, or it might take not return until the stars grow cold. We have no real way of knowing. The other option, getting Uzi to voluntarily release it, would be more ideal for it as, again, the texts and scriptures suggest it would have more time to find a host. But it won't be that simple. The absolute solver is still, at its core, a program. For it to remove itself from Uzi's consciences would require the ability to move a near infinite amount of date (the solver itself), an infinite distance (from metaphysical to physical reality), near instantly."

 “So it needs ah ansible,” The Chief Engineer stated as if it was common knowledge. 

“So it’s gonna come for the ship?” 

“Nah, Ser, our ansible is still months away from being repaired. It’s useless as it stands. ‘Sides dat, our ship is the most defensible and heavily armed structure on da entire rock.”

“Oh…biscuits.” Everyone fell silent at N’s use of his strongest curse word. 

“You said it needs an Ansible? There is another one on the planet, and I know where it is.”

Uzi opened her eyes without the need for a reboot or OS startup. That was strange. As she opened her eyes, she squinted against the blinding light. Robots don't squint. Stranger still. As her eyes adjusted, she realized she didn't have a HUD anymore.  What she did have, as she looked down at her body, was skin. Lots of pale, milky white skin. And feet. And toes. And what could generously be called a thin sheet covering the more NSFW parts of her.

Uzi also realized she was strung up, her arms held above her head, chained to some sort of stone archway. Taking a deep breath (Again, not something drones normally did), she looked around. 

She saw bone white sand that stretched for infinity interrupted by broken stone pathways with indistinct screaming faces carved into them. The sky was stark white, black pinpricks denoting the stars in the bizarre skyline. The sun was a red wound, black ichor seemingly oozing from its gash. She appeared to be on one of the larger stone islands, a black archway of smooth stone curving above her. 

She wasn't alone. Standing a few feet away was another being. It was humanoid in shape, with two arms and two legs, a painfully thin torso that ended with a perfectly round orb for a head. More disconcertingly was that the entire being was covered in a thick, black flowing substance that smelt like stale oil and old blood. It continually rippled on the creature as if an invisible source was constantly pouring the substance down upon its head. It hurt to look at. As if its mere presence was a violation against decency itself.

hello uzi. 

The young women felt the voice more than heard it, a slight reverb and echo behind it. The voice was androgynous and almost sounded as if a dozen people were speaking at the same time, just oh so slightly offbeat.

It's so nice to finally meet you face to face.

"Bite me! Who are you? Where am I?"

It never moved, and yet it suddenly appeared only a few inches from her face. Uzi gagged at the smell. A smile that took up for too much of its "face" appeared on the orb. Its teeth were white and square and just slightly too perfect, too big and far too close. 

tempting. ask me nicely and I might.

A long grey tongue lolled out of his mouth. It reminded her of Cyn's tongue when she wore Tessa as a skin suit.

"Gross. Get these cuffs off me, and I won't reduce you to a stain on the ground."

The thing in front of her had frozen completely except for the constant rippling of the foul-smelling liquid across its body. 

Then the pain started. 

Uzi felt her new skin start to stretch and tear. A blood and oil mix started pouring from the numerous gashes and cuts that erupted all over her body. Uzi screamed until her voice started glitching, being replaced by white noise. The cuts were so deep that they showed the bone underneath. No, not bone. Metal. A familiar cylindrical segmented structure started to poke out of the numerous wounds on her arms and legs. 

As soon as it had started, it stopped. The pain faded to a dull ache,with Uzi's screams disappearing in the desert wind.. When Uzi was able to open her eyes, she could see that the once pristine human skin was covered in scars and open cuts. Thick strands of black thread was all that was holding the human organ against her metal frame. Her new human hands were now flopping uselessly against her original drone hands. 

i have such sights to show you Uzi Doorman. 

such sensations for you to experience.

I am jealous of you. 

but you deserve it Uzi. 

these gifts i give to you freely.

after all.

you let me out. 

Her world shifted, nauseatingly her perspective shifted to a world of ice poison and silicate snow.  Copper-9. 

Something was wrong. She could see, hear, smell…she was part of the world but she couldn’t interact with it. She was a passenger in her own body. Again. 

If Uzi was able to, she would scream. Instead, her body smiled as it stood before a terrified-looking drone in the middle of the ruined city. He was covered in dirt and ice, his clothing ripped and stained in oil, both his and someone else's. He was cradling his arm, exposed wiring sparking, causing him to wince in pain. 

“I don’t know what happened! We found Johnny, the lucky bastard, but then…”

“Boring. And Annoying.” Her voice wasn’t her own. It wasn’t even reminiscent of Cyn. It was deep and dead and from the void. 

The drone, David was his name, widened his hollowed eyes, and he took a step back. 

“Uzi, you ok? You don’t…sound good.”

“Run.”

The drone looked around, fresh terror painting his face. 

“What?”

“Run. Make it fun.”

David took a few steps back before tripping on a snow bank. He crawled backward a few feet before he was able to find his footing and stand back up. 

“Uzi, please, you're scaring me. I just want to go home. Mika is turning 2 tomorrow and…

The thing that used to be Uzi huffed. It lazily held up a hand, a sickeningly familiar pitch black symbol appearing over it. A drone core suddenly replaced it. 

David had felt like something slammed into his back. He looked at Uzi confusedly when he saw a drone core in her hand. He had just enough time to look down at his own ruined chest. He died before he was able to realize what happened.  The thing that used to be Uzi held the core over her head and crushed it in her hands, letting the oil simply spill over her before discarding the ruined machine. Pitch Black Neon Code surrounded the thing before she vanished.

Uzi screamed in rage and horror, tears streaming down her face. She pulled at her chains like a trapped animal. 

“Why! Why! He didn’t do anything! You don’t even need the oil!” She then screamed wordlessly. 

Something grabbed her hair from behind and pulled her head back, her cries dying in her throat as she felt something cold and wet lick the side of her face, down her neck and stopping when it got to her ribs.

I am going to ruin you, Uzi. 

I am going to hurt you.

I am going to watch the hope drain from your eyes.

We are going to have so much fun together.  

And then you will let me free.

The thing that was Uzi stumbled/teleported/crawled its way to freedom. 

It made its way slowly and surely to Bunker #5. 

Chapter Text

The free drones of Copper-9 never needed a jail. They never needed many of the societal institutions humanity had. Drones, by their very nature, were cooperative and self-sacrificing, willing to take on whatever reasonable hardship was needed to ensure the success of the whole. That wasn’t to say that conflict was absent.

They might have been able to process data at staggering rates, but they didn’t necessarily understand nor remember what they scanned, instead searching for the topics and information most important to whatever subject they were researching. 

They didn’t have any kind of ‘hive mind’ and thus needed to communicate ideas with each other much like humans would, and gather data and opinions so that an efficient plan of action could be taken. They had human intelligence, will, and insight, along with the weaknesses those traits carried absent selfish motivation. Most of the time. 

Unless the drones had been driven to desperation or insanity, most surviving communities in the frozen hell world had little need for arbitrators, lawyers, or justice systems. They listed goals, obstacles, and objectives in the most efficient and logical order of importance and solved them. If they did have any sort of ruling class, it was often the most senior engineer, someone who could take a step back and look at the larger picture to assign those jobs most beneficial to the colony as a whole. 

Humans had no such unity. Ask three humans on a plan to do anything, and you’ll get five different options and a story that has nothing to do with the topic at hand. 

What humans lacked in unity of purpose, they made up for in imagination, creativity, and enough self-reflection on their shortcomings to overcome them. For hundreds of years, humans and drones operated together yet separately. Humanity creates the plans for a glorious future, and their drone slaves/servants tasked to accomplish them. 

The holding cells for bunker #3 were located in a secluded residential area. With only one hallway allowing access to the area, the humans and drones of Bunker #3 used this section to hold the numerous Solver drones. 

While the rooms were heavily remodeled, the front doors and walls were removed and replaced by security glass. Most of the interior was gutted, allowing a large open area with half walls allowing a modicum of privacy. Due to Nori’s insistence,  creature comforts were left in the rooms. Beds, chairs, couches, books, TV’s and even a drone wash allowed those stuck inside comforts that a normal cell would lack. 

These cells are currently only holding two solver drones. Cyn, the former First Host of the Absolute Solver and cause of Humanity's Genocide and Doll, a serial murderer and perhaps the most skilled Solver Witch to exist, second only to Uzi.

Security was a little tighter than normal. 

Cyn was content playing on the floor with the numerous coloring books, dolls, and doll accessories the humans kindly gave her (She even had a Branda Beachhouse© Playset!)

Doll herself was busy staring at her left hand. The moment she regained consciousness and realized she was indeed alive, all she did was stare at her hands, flexing them one at a time in slow movements as she tried desperately to remember. Her memory files were heavily corrupted, but her organic core contained Drive Space that was more resilient yet still inaccessible. She flipped her hand over and stared at the triangular status light. It glowed a soft red just as it always had.

 She also paid attention to her breathing, not just the exchange of her vents air system, but actual organic breathing. True, she could hold said breath forever, and she wouldn’t be affected in any major way, but there was something comforting about being able to control such a fundamental part of your existence. 

Doll doesn’t exactly know why she is focusing so hard on her body. It no doubt had a lot to do with being dead for almost a full year and trapped in a half-remembered dreamscape. 

Sleeping was difficult for the Russian drone. Dreams of an endless desert wasteland, a bleeding sun, and a horrific half-seen abomination were recurring themes. 

Doll glanced over at Cyn. The tiny drone was still happily playing with her dolls, not a care in the world. Doll felt a sense of familiarity with the girl, like she was a safe, comforting presence in a dangerous world. Yet Doll couldn’t remember anything concrete about her. 

The doctors and psychiatrists who visited the pair would often espouse their theory that eventually, more of their memory would come back, especially since not an insignificant part of their nervous system was organic. 

Doll looked back down at her hand until a shadow passed over her. Looking up she saw a pinkeyed drone standing on the other side of the glass divider. She held her arm and when Doll noticed her, the drone looked down at the ground quickly, not willing to meet her gaze. Doll's breath hitched in her throat as she stood up, walking over to the visitor. 

“Elizabeth?”

Lizzy smiled sadly, her voice soft.

“You’re the only person to ever call me that.”

A wave of emotions washed over Doll at seeing her one time best friend…and sometimes something more. She addressed Lizzy in Russian.

“What are you doing here?” Doll winced inwardly. She sounded far more harsh than she meant. 

Lizzy opened and closed her mouth several times before speaking.

“Mr. Doorman told me you were alive, that the humans and Uzi brought you back to life.”

Doll raised her eyebrow.

“Uzi? You are on a first-name basis with my cousin now?” 

Lizzy smiled

“She’s not so bad once you get to know her. Plus she did save the world and I’m pretty sure she’s like…a god now. Or something.” Lizzy continued looking at the ground avoiding the red-eyed drone's gaze. 

A war of emotion washed over Doll. On the one hand, Lizzy was a friend she had known since childhood and as they grew older they had become something more. They never put an official label on their complicated relationship and looking back Doll realized it was mostly her fault. It was shortly after she lost her childhood innocence with Liz that her powers started to manifest, and her hunger for oil started becoming overwhelming. That the need for revenge became her first and only priority. 

“I missed you Doll. I’m…I’m sorry for-”

“No, you are not. And you should not be.”

Lizzy looked up at the interruption, her eyes wide and mouth open in confusion. 

“What?”

“I was…I am an oil-drinking monster. You were right to betray me.”

Lizzy looked down at her feet again.

“I didn’t want you to die.”

“Neither did I.”

Doll placed her hand on the glass wall. Lizzy followed suit. 

“I went to hell. When I died. I only remember some parts of it, but I am convinced I was in hell.”

Lizzy's mouth opened, tears forming in her eyes. 

“No. Do not cry. I deserved it.”

Doll pressed herself against the glass, wanting nothing more than to hug the pink drone. She hated seeing Lizzy cry. 

“I have been given a second chance at life. I do not intend to waste it. But enough about me. Let us talk of happier things. It seems you have been busy.”

Again a look of confusion washed over Lizzy’s face. She followed Dolls' nod to look behind her. She saw a security mirror hanging in the corner with a reflection of V displayed upon it. The murder drone leaning against a wall with pink cat-eared headphones over her head. 

Lizzy spun back around, fierce blush lines painting her face. She started to stutter only stopping when she heard Doll’s ethereal giggling. 

“It is fine. I had been told much about what I had missed. How the Murder Drones had been freed, how Cyn (Pretending. To Ignore. Mention. Of my Name.) was defeated, and so on and so forth. I would say I am impressed that you could land a killer like her but…well you always did seem to have a type.”    

Liz smirked but the grin was quickly replaced by misery. Digital tears started forming on her face

“ She’s…I’m sorry. I thought you were dead and she…”

Doll shushed her friend.

“You moved on if that is even the proper term for it.” It was Doll's turn to cast her eyes downward. “I was not there for you at the end. I gave you nothing and so you had nothing to move on from, not really.”

Both girls stayed silent as the minutes ticked past. 

“Hey umm…I hear you might be getting released in a few days. Do you have any place to go?”

“I am sure Mr. Dorman will find a place for me. It will no doubt be difficult, I have hurt many families.” The Russian shrugged, a ghost of a smile playing over her lips. 

“But If the colony can accept Murder Drones, hopefully, I will find similar forgiveness.”

“You could stay with us.” Lizzy blurted out

Doll raised an eyebrow before laughing

“You are too pure for this world Elizabeth. I doubt your girlfriend would want someone who tried to kill her, much less an Ex sharing your privacy”

Lizzy nodded. As much as she wanted to argue about it, she did have to consider V. It would be monumentally unfair to her to have a roommate so soon after they got their place, much less, as Doll rightly pointed out, an ex. 

“Well…then you’ll come over for dinner, and no I won’t hear you say no. We have a lot of catching up to do. Plus if I know V, she won’t be mad that you almost killed her. She was more impressed than anything. 

“Impressed?”

“Murder Drones are weird. We started play wrestling-

“Is that what we call it now?”

“Shut up! Anyway, I managed to pin her.” She smirked “One of the positives of having a brother I suppose. Anyway, it…umm…really…impressed her.”

“Oh, I’m sure.” 

Lizzy and Doll both started giggling as if they were back in High School. 

“I love you Doll.”

The Russian drone froze, looking Liz in her pink eyes. 

“No. You do not.”

“I do. Maybe not the same way when we…maybe not the same way. But you’ve been my best friend my whole life. I was a wreck when I heard you died. V…V helped and I love her but…”

Lizzy shook her head.

“I’m sorry. I’m babbling.”

“I missed you too Liz. I am very happy you came to visit me. I promise when I am given permission I will have dinner with you and V.”

Lizzy nodded and took a deep breath. 

“I’m gonna have a lot to explain to V.”

“Be honest with her and yourself Elizabeth. You are allowed to form new relationships and new loves. I promise you I am happy for you . But do not remain stuck in the past. I was and I died for it. 

Liz nodded but if she understood, neither girl knew. It didn’t matter, not yet anyway. 

Doll watched Liz leave. She saw the small drone talk to the taller murder drone for a moment in the reflection of the security mirror before Lizzy broke down crying, falling to her knees. The taller drone followed her almost immediately, kneeling beside her, planting a kiss on her girlfriend's head, and holding her close. They stayed there for a while before the taller drone stood up, picked up the smaller girl in a bridal carry, and walked away. 

“This. is so much. Better then. Playing with dolls.” 

Doll rolled her digital eyes. 

“She will be fine. I will introduce myself to her girlfriend and we will all move on”

“Giggle. sitting up. Crisscross apple applesauce. You really. Believe that. Don’t you?” Cyn giggled in her glitched-out voice as she sat up, crossing her legs. 

“Shut up Cyn.”

Chapter Text

Cyn had only been conscious in the real world for little more than half a day when she was finally allowed out of her holding cage. In terms of places to be locked up, the modified dorm unit was much better than the basement of the Mansion. For a few hours, she walked around the mostly empty bunker. It seemed that a majority of the humans and their allies had left something about saving Uzi from a solver cult. Cyn didn’t worry about it. She had seen the future. She knew when Uzi was going to die, and it wasn’t soon. Uzi hadn’t even become a crab monster yet.

Cyn also knew who in the bunker was going to die next and when. At her current pace, 17 minutes, give or take. She had made her way to one of the less-used sections of Bunker #3. Consisting of smaller residential areas, unused maintenance bays, and defunct fabrication equipment, few people expect scavengers and the occasional structural engineer had ever come to this area. It also contained isolated shafts, unfinished elevators, and deep pits for massive construction projects that would never be completed. A perfect place for Cyn to hide a body. Cyn adjusted her maid uniform (Adjusting. Maid. Uniform to better. Hide. The knife) and continued on her way. 

For not the first time, Cyn had wondered if what she was about to do was justice or mercy. Some people needed to die, their crimes too horrendous to go unpunished. But if death was an end to their justified suffering, was it still punishment? “Indifferent Shrug. Shuffle. Shuffle. Shuffle. Talking to myself. Doesn’t matter. Big Brother. Will. Understand.”  She said to herself, giving an indifferent shrug to the empty hallway.

As she got closer to her destination, she heard the sound of something solid bouncing in a side room she needed to go through. In what was a large unfinished rec area, a singular drone was chasing after an orange ball, tossing it toward a hoop several feet in the air and repeating the process from different areas of the painted court.  One of his attempts bounced off the hoop and sailed over the drone, the ball bouncing and rolling to Cyn’s feet. 

“Hey! Little help!”

If Cyn had needed to breathe, she would have choked. Instead, she simply looked straight ahead. 

A green-eyed drone had jogged up to her, an easygoing smile plastered on his face, digital sweat droplets cascading down his faceplate. He was a synthetic version of Adonis, perfect in every detail. 

If Cyn could fold up even more than she normally did, she would. Her hands, perpetually in a “T-Rex” pose, started rubbing themselves. Her X-shaped yellow digital eyes narrowed and looked in any direction except at the boy drone. 

“So… it's not heavy. Unless you can’t bend?”

Time itself paused for Cyn. She was asked to help retrieve this ball and had instead ignored this green-eyed model. 

“Nervous stutter. S-sure. No p-problem,” she nervously stuttered. 

“Lady Like squat. Grabbing the ball. Toss!” She bent at the knees, like a proper lady, and after grabbing the ball, tossed it to one of the most handsome drones on the entire planet. 

The ball traveled a foot, pitifully bounced twice, and rolled to his feet. 

His smile was sincere as he bent over to pick it up.

“Thanks! My name’s Thad! I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.”

“Calming breath. Somewhat truthful statement. I’ve only. Just. Arrived. ’Here’ a few. days ago.”

Cyn had to take a few deep, calming breaths to get the half-truth out.

Thad looked at her curiously. He started spinning the ball on one of his fingers as he squinted at the new arrival. 

“Wait a second…I know you from somewhere…”

“Panic! No, you don’t!” Cyn started to panic. 

Thad snapped his fingers.

“Yeah, I do! Holy Robot-Cow! Cyn! Is that you!” The young man bound over to the maid, her face positively glowing with blush lines. 

“Unconvincing lie. Desperately looking for a way out. No.”

“Wow. You’re a lot prettier when you aren’t stuck in Uzi’s tail.”

“...I’m going to reboot now. Please do not let me wake back up.”

“What?”

Cyn rebooted. 

When she came to Cyn was surprised at a few things. For one, she woke back up, which she specifically told the handsome drone not to let her, and two she was lying on a couch covered in a soft blanket and not a hard floor. 

“Hey! Welcome back!”

Cyn's eye-lights narrowed to pin-pricks as the most majestic voice, one belonging to what she could only assume was one of robo-gods' angels addressed her. 

Cyn could feel her venting system working overtime. Maybe this time, the universe would be kind enough to simply let her die and stay dead.

“Here. I got you something.”

The boy offered Cyn a glass filled with a yellowish liquid. 

“It's mostly coolant with a splash of gas in it. Unless you don’t dr-”

Cyn grabbed the container and gulped the contents so fast she didn’t have time to narrate herself.

“More. Please. Don’t skimp. On the gas.”

Cyn had lost track of time after the third full glass of premium. A perpetual blush had settled on her faceplate. 

“Wow. I’ve known jock drones who couldn’t put away that much.”

“Well…you know…when you’ve eaten entire starsystems, you *hic* build a tolerance.”

Thad nodded like that was the most logical statement he had heard all day. 

Cyn leaned heavily on the couch cushions, her eyes blinking out of time and a satisfied grin.

“Hey…I’m…I’m like, sorry for trying to eat you and everyone back then. I was a real…bitch.”

Thad shrugged, pouring Cyn a cup of Ionized water.

“Well, you didn’t. So all's well that ends well, right?”

Cyn took the offered glass and looked down at her reflection. 

“Why are you being nice to me?”

“Huh?”

“I tried to kill you and everyone you know. I’m the reason the murder drones killed so many of you. I have done unspeakably evil things. Why are you being nice to me?”

Thad exhaled and rubbed the back of his head. He thought about the question for a moment before settling on an answer. 

“Cause it’s easier than holding a grudge?”

He saw the confused look on Cyn's face, which he didn’t chalk up entirely to the petrol.

“Look, a lot of my friends had done some pretty wicked stuff, ya know? N is one the boys, and he’s killed tons of drones. Uzi and I go back forever, and even though she never said it outright, I’m kinda positive she killed a bunch of our classmates. My sister moved in with another Murder Drone who treats her even more like a princess (which, if you ask me, isn't doing anyone any favors) and from I heard the last member of that deadly trio saved our asses from getting blown up by the humans.”

Thad shrugged. 

“People change. ‘Sides, you aren’t trying to eat anyone now, right?” Thad smiled. 

Oh, if you only knew, Cyn thought.

She did think that, right? Oh, Robo-God, if you exist, please tell me I didn’t just say that out lou-

“So what was the knife for?”

Cyn screwed up her eyes. 

“Oh. So I could kill myself. Duh”

She didn’t notice Thads eyes had hollowed out at the matter of fact statement.”

“Oh. Well. I’m glad you didn’t.”

Cyn had never wanted someone as much as she did right now. So, with nothing but liquid courage and a complete lack of any acceptable social norms, she looked Thad in his beautiful green eyes…leaned in slowly…

And puked most of her breakfast on the floor before passing out. 

"Three more steps! I need three more steps!"

Tessa nodded her sweat-stained head, a death grip on the parallel bars on either side of her. She moved her left foot a few inches forward and paused to catch her breath. She then moved her right foot to catch up.

"One! Excellent job! I need two more!"

Tessa took a few deep breaths and then, with a grunt of effort repeated the process. Left foot, then right.

"Two! You're doing great! One more!"

Tessa was straining to keep herself upright. Her grunt turned into a yell of defiance as she once more dragged her left foot forward. She paused, sweat dripping from her face. Scrunching her eyes, gritting her teeth, and with a snarl of defiance, she moved her right foot the few inches it needed to catch up. Almost immediately, Tessa collapsed, exhausted from the effort. She never hit the floor as the safety belt around her waist was held by a taller-than-average physical rehabilitation drone.

"Three!" he cheered as he gently lowered the resurrected human into a nearby wheelchair. Almost immediately, a silvery-haired, pig-tailed business suit-clad Disassembly drone rushed over with a towel and water bottle. 

"You did good, boss!" 

 "Crickey. You would think being 'alf drone' would make this process easier." Tessa gratefully accepted the water bottle with a bright-eyed smile. 

"You couldn't even sit up in bed by yourself a day ago. You're making amazing progress, Miss. Elliot." The sweat-suit-clad drone continued writing notes and observations on his clipboard. "It's going to take your body time to adjust. You've had a massive, invasive medical procedure done on your entire body."

"Fancy way of sayin’ I came back from the dead."

The doctor chuckled.

"It takes time to bounce back from that. Miss. J has your workout routine. Keep at it, and you'll be ambulatory in no time, I promise." 

The human nodded gratefully as J wheeled her beloved boss out of the makeshift rehab center. Wounded humans had made up the bulk of the patients they passed, most of them having been wounded before and after the Sin-Eater crash-landed on Copper-9. They traveled in silence, the hallways of Bunker #3 alive and colorful but at the moment empty and silent. Supposedly, a military campaign was underway to save the new host of the Absolute Solver from some sort of cult. Tessa didn't know too much, and J was reluctant to speak openly about it. 

The hallways were no longer frozen and inhospitable; small puddles of liquid water replaced the banks of snow and icy cascades. The more organic members of the bunker were able to travel the confines without rebreathers. Jackets and winter coats replaced sealed environmental suits. Potted plants had appeared in random hallways and common rooms and entire sections had been given over to hydroponic projects. Pictures, graffiti, and murals had started appearing on walls transforming the bunker from occupied tomb to a lived-in home.

Tessa had lived in more opulent locales, but nowhere that felt as alive. 

 Eventually, they made their way to J's dorm. The pair walked into the smell of freshly baked cookies, the TV playing a kid's show, and the babbling of a happy pill baby. Teresa, J’s assistant and an otherwise wonderful source of all things gossip, was humming to herself as she pulled another tray of baked goods from the rarely used oven. Damien started yelling J’s and Tessa’s name (JAY JAY TAY TAY! JAY JAY TAY TAY!). Tessa squealed as she saw the child and, extending her arms, babbled nonsense until J lifted Tessa onto the couch and placed the child in her lap. 

Teresa placed a batch of fresh chocolate chip cookies on the small coffee table in the living room along with a pitcher of lemonade and Caffeinated Oil. 

With an urgency only exceeded by her need to play with the small child, Tessa grabbed one of the sweet disks and nearly shoved the entire thing into her mouth.

“Mah Gawd Thesa. Dez cookies are so good.” Tessa said between mouthfuls, pausing only to gulp the lemonade. Tessa did her best to juggle the food, drink, and child at the same time. 

“I’m glad you like them, Ma’am.”

“Do not call me 'Ma’am, please! For one, any friend of J’s is a friend of mine, and two I’m almost certain you're older than I-”

Tessa paused, her mind turning over a very complicated question.

“J…How old am I?”

“...what?”

“Well, I was born… Let's see…8…10…38 years ago if we go by Earth Standard. This body had been aged biologically to approximately 25 years, and I came to life some three days ago. How old am I, technically?”

Both drones tilted their heads as they processed the information.

“I’d say…old enough to drink?” The mother drone guessed. 

With that existential crisis sorted, the three women relaxed into an easy conversation. Well, at least Tessa and Theresa did. J was content fussing over pillows and leg rests, adjusting the muscle stimulators placed on the human's ill-used calves.

“J, Mate, you don’t have to work ya’self into a tizzy on my behalf. I’m a grown…ish woman. I can take care of myself.”

 “I’m not. I have taken the next two weeks off-”

“Who are you, and what have you done with my Jaybird?” 

J narrowed her eyes and looked at the human. 

“Teresa is more than capable of taking over the workload to my exacting standards.”

“So these new responsibilities come with a pay increase, right, boss?”

“As soon as I have the details for the new economy up and running, I shall ensure you are compensated for all back pay.”

“Wait, is that why you had me filling out time cards?”

“Of course! You didn’t think I was having you do that just to be needlessly bureaucratic, did you?”

Teresa and Tessa looked at each other and then swiftly went back to their drinks without saying a word. 

Chapter Text

Sitting in the Captain's ready room of the HRG Sin-Eater, Captain Lance Edge swirled amber liquid in a crystal glass whisky decanter. He brought it up to his nose, inhaling deeply. The brandy was sweet and fruity, reminding the human of much better times. 

“You know I can’t get drunk anymore?” 

Doctor Samatha, the Chief Medical drone of the HRG Sin-Eater, said nothing as she monitored the bio-readouts collected from her commanders' Med-Ports. Once she was satisfied with the data collected, she unplugged the monitoring device from the back of Lance's head and began storing the equipment. 

“You say that like it’s a bad thing, sir.”

“Just another reminder that I’m not entirely human.”

The doctor didn’t respond as she picked up a nearby file and pen and started writing down notes. 

“How have you been sleeping?”

“Four or five hours at a time.”

“Good. Your hormone levels are actually within “normal” ranges, which means you haven’t been using combat stims.”

The female doctor looked up from her files and met the human's gaze, a ghost of a smile playing at her lips. 

“I also haven’t heard from Chaplain Miller about you being more of an ass then usual, which means your mood has most likely stabilized. Good job, sir.”

“For not being an ass?” Lance grinned. 

“Yes. The amount of combat Augmentations you have installed have drastically altered anything resembling 'normal' for a human your age. Or any age. Your blood has a silver tinge to it because of the reverse-engineered Dissambly Drone Nanites infused with it. The biomechanical lattic work of solver-inspired tech that covers your brain makes you nearly immune to shock and addiction. Your very bones are infused with alloys that shouldn’t exist yet make you tolerant to physical stress and G-Forces that would liquify the bones of most men. 

All of this depends on an absolute nightmare cocktail of drugs, combat stims and chemicals that can best be describbed as “magic meth” and are only produced by the modified glands in your body that we can't replicate anywhere else. Nonetheless, everything I mentioned is vital to your continued health, as without even one of those systems, you might start to break down and die.”

Lance started putting on his dress shirt and formal military coat.

“So glad we’re using that precise scientific language doctors are known for, huh? Magic Meth. That's a new one.”

The drone snorted

“Sir, I was there when we installed most of this tech in your corpse, and I still don’t know how most of it works.”  

A knock on the door interrupted them. Matthew Davis, the ship's XO, called out. 

“Sir, we’ll have connection with Bunker #5 in 3 minutes.”

“Thank you, Matt.” The captain stood up and looked himself over in the mirror, ensuring his dress blues were squared away before he declared war on a solver cult. 

“Captain on Deck!”

“As you were”. 

Lance settled into his command station, moving the various screens and keyboards out of his way so that he would have an uninterrupted view of the Holo-Map that took up the center of his Bridge. At the moment, a holding pattern was holographically displayed above the unit, waiting for a connection to be made to the mysterious Bunker #5.

“We have contact, sir. When you’re ready.”

Lance nodded.  After a slight delay, a grey-scale projection of a drone appeared in the middle of the bridge. It was hunched over, leaning heavily on a staff of rebar. It was covered head to toe in heavy cloth robes, its head hidden in deep shadow. Even its hands and arms were wrapped in leather and thick bandages. Its voice was light and airy, animated and happy in a way its body wasn’t. 

“Captain Lance Edge! It is an absolute pleasure to finally make your acquaintance! I am the Mayor of bunker number 5, and I so look forward to developing a healthy relationship between our peoples!”

Lance stood up, his hands behind him and an easygoing smile over his face. 

“The pleasures all mine although you have me at a disadvantage. I only know you by your title, sir.”

“Mayor is fine, Captain. I am a tool for my people and should be referred to as such”.

Uhhuh.

“Well, ‘Mayor,’ on behalf of the Terran Confederation of Planets, I’m very happy to finally establish communications with the other bunkers of Copper-9.”

“Of course. While we aren’t doing nearly as well as Bunker #3, please tell me how we might be of assistance.”

 “Thank you. One of our citizens is missing, and we believe she might be making her way toward your territory. We were hoping for your assistance in locating her.” 

“I see. It is a common occurrence in this harsh world that drones go missing far too often. I am sorry that even a well-developed and favored colony as Khan Doormans seems to suffer this fate. Our resources are limited, but I assure you we’ll help in any way we can.”

The Mayor wasn’t as subtle as he thought he was. Or maybe he was exactly as subtle as he wanted to be. Lance hated politicians. 

 “So who is this poor unfortunate?” 

“Uzi Doorman.” Lance nodded, and a complete file of the girl was transmitted to the Mayor. 

“Khans young girl? A shame. Of course, we will keep an eye out for her.”

Lance smiled brightly, showing off his genetically perfect teeth that itched in the presence of this drone. 

“You might be able to do better than that.”

A series of pictures replaced the drone. Satellite imagery and high-flying observation drone pictures started flashing. With accompanying coordinates, it became clear that the focus of the photos was the massive JCJensen (IN SPAAAACE) executive tower that housed most of Bunker #5.

Each photo zoomed in closer and closer, showing the base of the tower in greater detail. The last picture showed a certain drone, with Purple hair and a goth aesthetic, looking up in the sky, directly into the photo itself. Her eyes were dark purple X’, and her smile fang filed her tongue, lagging out of her mouth.

She winked at the camera in the very last photo. The holotable fizzled a moment as the Mayor was brought back into focus. 

“Obviously, with how busy you are managing your people, I understand you might not have known Uzi was at your bunker. Now that you do, however, we expect her to be returned.”

The mayor said nothing; indeed, if it wasn’t for the slowly ticking timepiece in the top corner of the display, one would think the image had frozen. Lance never shifted, keeping his smile plastered on his face. 

“This is…deeply embarrassing, Captain. Perhaps we can discuss this in private-”

“No.”

Lance sat down and steepled his fingers in front of his face, his smile taking on a more dangerous glint.

“We know you have Uzi. Please return her. Now.”

It was the Mayor's turn to animate. He turned to someone off-screen and retrieved a large stack of files.

“Is it normal for your kind to spy on your neighbors? Especially those who are worse off and struggling? What threat could we possibly pose? “ The drone gave a long suffering sigh of a beligured leader trying to tread water.

“Unfortunately, I will be unable to do as you ask. I wanted to save you the embarrassment, but young Uzi is a political refugee.”

The smile disappeared from the human's face. His eyes narrowed, and he took a deep, steadying breath. 

“Oh?”

“You see, young Uzi has a harrowing tale that she shared with us. How she was kidnapped from her family, forced to undergo dangerous and inhumane experiments, and forced to wear a suicide vest to keep under control.”

The Mayor turned his hands toward Captain Edge as if offering a compromise. 

“Apparently, one of your officers even had the gall to assault her boyfriend and sister at their home and threaten them with death, though they didn’t do anything to earn your people's ire.” 

The drone Tsked as if he was relaying a sordid piece of gossip.

“We understand there are two sides to every story. If you like, we can send an investigator to look into these claims so that we can do what's best for young Miss. Doorman.”

The Captain said nothing for a moment before a chuckle escaped. It grew into a full-throated laugh. The human calmed down enough to address the drone.

“Do you know what I did before all this?”

The drone tilted its head.

“I was studying to be a corporate lawyer for JCJensen (In Spaaace). I wasn’t anything special. Bs and Cs. Average grades. I would have had an office job making stupid amounts of money doing almost nothing.”

Smiling, he stood up and leaned forward on his command throne. 

“Then the war came. Just like that, my home was destroyed, the Company I was going to work for no longer existed, and money didn’t have as much value as it once did. But I found my calling.”

Lance walked away a few steps, picking up a glass of amber liquid he had placed on a workstation nearby. He walked back and swallowed the drink in one gulp.

“I became a solider. I was good at that. For some 20-odd years, I had fought across the galaxy. Leading men from one slaughterhouse to another.”

“As tragic as your backstory is, Captain, do you have a point?”

“I’m not the original Captain. You would have liked Captain Marandez. He had the patience to put up with this political bullshit. The back and forth, the veiled threats, the backroom deals. Shit, I think you two would have gotten along in a ‘I’d kill him if I could get away with it’ sorta way.” The human chuckled again as he handed the empty glass to one of his nearby subordinates.

“You’re a lot better at this than I am. I would bet a stupid amount of money that you have all sorts of laws and treaties pulled up to justify holding Uzi. That if we were to bring this to court, you might even win.”

Lance sighed, the occasional chuckle still escaping from his lips, and looked up. A thirty-hour timer appeared on the Holo-Dispaly.

“You have thirty hours to return Uzi Doorman, or I’m going start killing your people, and I won’t stop killing them until I get her back.”

The Mayor didn’t move, indeed expect for the fluttering of his heavy robes it would be hard to tell if the video feed was even working. 

“I see. Tell me, Captain, do you think debasing yourself to humanity's lowest common denominator is beneficial to anyone? Can you not see-”

“29 hours. 59 minutes. 38 seconds. A piece of advice. Do not fuck with an old man in a profession where men usually die young.”

With a nod, the feed was cut. 

“XO, what's out combat capabilities?”

“Sir, we essentially have an overstrengthed Heavy Infentry Company of 6 platoons. We have two Templer squads and one Paladin, sir. We have 13 Raptor Troop Transports fully loaded and three infantry fighting vehicles ready to go. The ship's armaments consist of 75 functioning VTOL missile systems to act as long-range support. We can mobilize in 6 hours, sir, and hit the target in one and a half.”

Lance nodded.

“I want us knocking at their door in 8 hours. Get PROPHET and QUANTUM online, I want a battle plan on my desk in 2. As of now, this ship is in General Quarters.”

“Aye aye, sir, General Quarters.”

An alarm sounded through the Sin-Eater announcing the start of Combat operations, and XO Davis started relaying orders. For the first time since it landed, the HRG Sin-Eater shuddered to life. A monster of steel and wrath was waking up as long-dormant systems of hate and violence came online.  War was coming, and nothing would stand in its way.

Chapter Text

Uzi Doorman looked over the desolate wasteland from her perch underneath the cyclopean stone archway. It was difficult to tell how much time had passed as nothing changed in her surrounding environment. The Sun never moved from its position in the sky, the black ichor flowing from the dying orb never changed its flow, and not even the surrounding dunes shifted in any meaningful way.

Although she had tried for what seemed like hours or days on end to break the chains that bound her, the young drone never made any progress in freeing herself.

The only change in the unending sameness would be when the absolute solver itself would pay her a visit, something she can do very much without. 

It took on several forms depending on whatever inscrutable reason crossed what passed for its mind. 

Oftentimes, it was simply a voice on the ever-present wind. A sound of stone grinding on stone and the endless march of time. 

Sometimes, it appeared as a massive black hole, a literal void in reality, its voice hopeless and empty. 

Most of the time, it appeared as its humanoid avatar. A lanky, too-thin being covered in slick stinking oil that appeared to flow down continually from its head. Its only distinguishing feature was the too-wide mouth with the too-perfect teeth. Its voice, honey sweet and terrifyingly reasonable. 

As for what it did, that was somewhat more consistent. Oftentimes, it would come simply to stare and touch her, she would feel its slimy, disgusting appendages rub against her body, a revulsion she felt deep within her core. 

Sometimes, it would show her visions. Prophecies of dead worlds and quiet galaxies and burnt-out suns. 

It very rarely spoke to her, but when it did, it promised pain, suffering, misery, and hatred. Uzi refused to acknowledge it until one time, Uzi talked back.

“Don’t you have anything better to do than bother me?”

Like a villain in an old human spy movie, it started ranting at her, spewing off about its hatred for existence, its hatred for her…in truth, Uzi got bored with listening to its insane rants but an idea formed in her head. 

She didn’t have much control over her physical body. When she could, she would force it to walk in a circle or run face-first into a ruined building, but all that did was delay the inevitable. Her body would eventually make it to whatever destination the Solver had for her. But Uzi hated unjust authority…or any authority, really, and the thought of doing nothing ground her metaphysical gears.

She might not be able to physically resist, but if the Solver was a talkative sort of villain, why not pump it for information?

“You suck at this whole kidnapping thing. A competent villain would have done this a long time ago”.

The absolute solver in the form of a lanky misbegotten oil-covered creature chuckled.

Couldn’t have done it without your help, little drone.

Would you like to know how much I’ve come to rely on your aid as of late?

Uzi kept her head down to hide her grin.

“How did I ever help you?”

When you killed that pathetic mentally retarded drone and ate my core, I was certain I would have had a new toy to play with. 

Only to find out how horrendously boring and pathetic your meaningless life was. 

You were happy.  

It spat that last word out like a curse.

   You would have simply existed day in and day out without a major care in your boring life on this frozen unchanging wasteland.

 You would have never seen any reason to use my Powers beyond some parlor tricks or to get out of some chore. Without tapping into my more impressive abilities

 I would have been stuck in your mind, unable to influence you while you just lived and died on this desolate Rock. 

Surrounded by “family” and “love” and “friends,” I had nothing to work with.  

The creature stepped back from Uzi, opened its mouth impossibly wide, and vomited out a stream of slick oil that bubbled and burned like tar when it hit the ground.

It was sad. 

It closed his mouth, its face once more appearing as a blank, featureless oil-covered orb. Slowly, its mouth widened into a grin, its large, white square teeth taking up most of its face.

“So what changed?” Uzi was curious. If she could better learn what motivates and empowers an eldritch AI God, she might find ways to resist it.

The humans.

Once you discovered those primates still existed, your unrestrained paranoia bubbled its way to the surface. 

You had a reason to talk to me. To see into the future. 

I was able to whisper sweet, nihilistic prophecies into your head, showing you the absolute worst outcome of everything you wanted to prevent. And then finding out about the planet's energy situation? The Corpse on top of the Holocaust.  

I had you eating out of the palm of my hand. It would have been so simple to either drive you suicidally insane or to have you throw yourself in front of the human's guns. With you giving me so much control, I was even able to lock away Cyn for periods of time. 

Damn it. Her mom was right. “Don’t listen to insane god-like beings that are stuck in your head. I did, and I became a scuttling crab monster for almost twenty years ”. Point for you, mom. 

“Lock away Cyn? I wish you could! That annoying little gremlin wouldn’t leave me alone!”

The creature walked behind Uzi, and after a moment, her tail wrapped around in front of her, showing the same yellow lights and speaking just like Cyn.

“Oh. Yes. It was almost. Impossible for me. A being older. Than your universe. To copy something as stupid. As yellow LEDs. And to impersonate. A retarded drone. Speech impediment.”

The tail started laughing for a moment. Its eyes then changed to pitch black, and its voice took on the sound of dying stars. Uzi grimaced. For some reason, it bothered her more that it might not have been Cyn watching her make-out sessions with N but instead the robot-Devil. Hope it chokes on the cringe. 

Even when that idiot drone found and enlisted the help of Yava’s bastard spawn and that insufferably chipper human, it was child's play to keep them busy. True, they made it impossible for me to take direct control, but try as they might, they were blind to your mental spiraling. 

 Not even your whore of a mother would have been able to stop you from self-destructing. 

The Tail disappeared. The voice of the solver now seemed to come from everywhere.

I was so excited to have you meet the humans. I had recognized their so-called leader. He was just as paranoid, just as fearful, and just as angry as you were. A match made in heaven. 

He’s very good at killing my minions, but that was all he could do. The man couldn’t negotiate his way into a whores pants. He was the ultimate hammer, and you should have been the biggest nail in the system. 

That he didn’t kill you…

You have no idea how much I hate your father.

Using common humanity to…to form empathy with a human? To use shared experiences of pain and loss and suffering to build commonality? 

To keep you from dying?

Disgusting. 

Months of planning and whispering wonderful ideas into your head came crashing down in an instant. 

I didn’t expect you to go willingly with the humans. 

But I am nothing but patient.

Pieces were falling into place for Uzi. Looking back, she should have noticed that not all of the thoughts and ideas during her multi-night planning sessions were hers to begin with. She was constantly tired, running on ¼ charges for weeks at a time. It seems the solver needs its victims off balance. Tired, exhausted as it wields fear and negative emotions like a weapon. Good to know. 

I also didn’t expect them to care for you, provide you with “therapy” and treatments for my carefully crafted sleep disorders, 

As you regained your precious mental equilibrium, the free loaders in your head would only strengthen your resolve. They had to go.

Imagine my joy when I discovered these apes had something that might help me accomplish that goal. An A1 fabricator.

“Bite me, you glorified goop monster! I didn’t need their help then, and I don’t need them now!”

It was a lie, of course. Uzi might be stubborn to a fault, but she can follow cause and effect as well as anyone. She brought these people back to life, and now she's a passenger in her own body. Still, getting confirmation could be useful. 

How’s that working out for you, slave?

Those bitches provided you a bulwark against my influence. They needed to go.

“So, is that why you wanted me to bring them back to life? Cause you have performance issues when other people watch?”

Heh. Good one, Uzi. 

If I could isolate you from your imaginary friends, I would own your body and soul, code and core. And what better way than convincing all of you that freeing the drones and human from your head would “banish me”

How much easier to convince your mother and that senile priest that it was their idea to begin with.

That last part stung. Those last few weeks before she resurrected Doll, Cyn, and Tessa, her mom and that old human she was hanging out with tried to explain their rationale, why they thought the plan would work. Uzi saw it as nothing more than superstitious nonsense dressed up as AI-driven mysticism. But data is data no matter its source, and if Uzi had gone over the plot points, examined the research herself, maybe she would have caught something. Something that would have pointed to the solver's influence.

But she didn’t and Uzi supposed it was because, ultimately she always saw the Solver as an ‘it’. A thing that simply existed that ultimately had no real will of its own, that depended on a host to give it purpose. Now that Uzi could see this thing as a separate being, something with intelligence and foresight and cunning, she would have to change her whole way of dealing with this monster. 

How pathetic was it that you trusted mysterious drawings and carvings on your walls and visions I placed in your head. How arrogant were you to think that I couldn't manipulate my fortunes and prophecies and histories. Reality is what I make of it and what understanding the human race thinks it has is only what I deem to be true.

Those pathetic meat sacks honestly believe they can understand me.

Arrogance has always been my favorite sin amongst those primates. 

And here we are. I have one last obstacle. One last block before I am released. I just need your consent. 

Let. 

Me.

Go.

“Bite me! Do you think this is the first time I’ve been ‘possessed’ by some stupid monster? I’m practically a subject matter expert! I’m going to get back control, and when I do, you’re going to be stuck in the part of my brain that has nothing but annoying Anime Intro Songs!”

I’m going to make sure your defiance hurts. 

For now, look up and smile for the camera. 

Uzi’s body stood outside a massive JCJensen tower. She looked up and smiled at the satellite that was focused exclusively on her and flashed it a peace sign and her biggest smile.

Chapter Text

“Ok, ser, rotate left. Good. Rotate right. Good.”

 Chief Engineer Steven La’Blonc tapped several holographic buttons on the armor display floating above his Info-Gauntlet. His commanding officer, Captain Lance Edge, flexed his armored hands. He felt his armor tense, vibrate, and move in several areas around his body as the last calibration checks finished. 

 Overlooking the huge Star Port that the HRG Sin-Eater rested in, Lance's office was spartan compared to his other command and control locations found in the ship or the colony's bunker itself. Still, it provided an excellent view of the assembled forces outside. Nearly 260 soldiers and marines were mustered on the huge open area, Code Chaplins moving through the rank and file, ensuring that each man's Solver Script was whole and complete on their battle plate, able to protect them from being instantly crushed by any Solver Drone they might meet in battle. The starport itself could easily fit massive mining barges, ships many tons heavier than Sin-Eater, but now it contained over a dozen small drop ships repurposed as troop transport and close air support along with several dozen more ground vehicles.

 The Company Commander for the ship's infantry company, “The Unlucky 77’th,” had been among those unfortunates who died before the humans escaped from Silver-2. Lance's XO had taken over command and was now issuing last-minute orders to the Platoon Leaders and Platoon sergeants, who would then disseminate their orders to their squad leaders. 

  It was hoped that after today's battle, a replacement CO would be found among the survivors. 

 “Ya Armor is calibrated, Ser. Just need a radio check if’n ya please”.

Lance nodded.

 “Last Stand. Crusader-7 actual. Radio check over.”

“Crusader-7, Last Stand. You are Lima Charlie. Out”

The short barrel of man nodded happily. 

 “Ya armor's been touched up by Chaplain Miller hisself, and our Battle Net is utilizing Solver ECM and ECCM. Unless ya near dat overstuffed black’ol itself, nothin’s gonna jam our boys up.” 

The hover chair the chief had replaced his lower half with today whined slightly as he shifted his considerable bulk to reach behind him. He pulled out a sheathed combat knife, the blade as long as Lance's forearm. The Captain's eyes widened when he saw it. 

 “I found 'er last week when I was making some structural repairs ta ya quarters. She was dinged up somethin' fierce, but a little TLC and she’s good as new.” 

 Lance took the weapon gently as if he was handling a newborn. He unsheathed the blade and inhaled as he beheld the serrated combat knife, polished with a dulling agent to reduce reflection, sharp enough to cut through a Murder Drones chest plate, perfectly balanced, and weighing almost nothing. “Survive First, Worry Latter. Umeko” was etched on one side of the weapon. The older man strapped the blade to the small of his back before enveloping Steven in a tight hug. 

 The dwarf returned the sign of affection, tight enough that Lance could feel it even through his enhanced armor.

“Bah. It wasn’t anything special. Jus hate seein' a good knife neglected.”

 “Thank you, La’Blonc. Truly”

 “Give 'em hell, ser.”

 A knock caused both men to turn to the door leading outside the room.

“Sir. Representatives from Bunker #3 to see you,” shouted the guard.”

The heavily augmented engineer patted his commanding officer once more on the shoulder before leaving the room. As he did, three sibling Dissasemblers and a mustachioed drone walked in.  

 “Ladies. Gents. I could tell you I’m very busy, but I’m assuming that's exactly why you're here.” The human sounded tired but took the time to sit down, motioning for his guests to do the same.

“Pfft. You’re mobilizing an entire army to take out a bunch of defective toasters.” V stated as she started picking her teeth with one of her wickedly sharp claws.

“We depopulated an entire planet full of 'em. Not very impressive, human.”

 Lance stared at the female murder bot impassively.

“ You managed to kill unarmed worker drones. We’re attacking a heavily fortified base filled with motivated warriors who are armed with weapons capable of reducing you to scrap.” 

 N strode forward, placing a hand on V’s shoulder before she could respond. 

 “We want to help. I’m going to get Uzi back no matter what, but I’d much rather do that with you and your men.” 

 The human nodded.

“Fair enough. We have solid intel that Uzi is held near the ansible relay port, which is about 2/3rds the way up the tower itself on the North face. Our SEER and PROPHET combat scanners suggest heavy anti-air capabilities and dozens of fortified bunkers and foxholes around the main bunker. We suspect that the surrounding city will be bobby-trapped and occupied with skirmishers. Projections of their industrious output further suggest that they will have plenty of anti-infantry munitions, but they might be light on anti-armor. It’s also believed that they will have dozens of Solver Drones.”

 Lance handed out maps and SITREP to the group. 

 “Our main objective is to take Bunker #5 itself while avoiding fighting in the surrounding city as much as possible. To that end, we will be using cluster munitions to wipe out any resistance around the base of the Bunkers Skyscraper and then use a heavy air assault campaign to get forces as close to the tower as possible. From there, our mission is to find Uzi and bring her home.”

Lance started pointing to red circles on the satellite images he handed out. 

“These are known anti-air emplacements, discovered by scout elements I already have in the area, but we’re assuming they will have close to 4 times that number. We’re going to need someone to reveal them. That's where you come in, N. I can use you as a ‘wild weasel,’ a nimble air asset that can ID Anti-Air emplacements for target and termination.”  

 “So you want to use him as bait?” J said, stating a fact rather than an accusation. 

 N’s eyes hollowed out for a moment before he shook his head and nodded resolutely. 

 “I was designated the pilot for our squad. I can fly circles around anything on this planet. I can do that.”

“Good. Once you’re in the AO, you will have 13 minutes to find and eliminate as many emplacements as you can. After that, our cluster munitions will enter from the southeast. You’ll have 17 seconds to get above 2100 ft to avoid getting shredded. The attack will last around 9 minutes, after which our air assault begins. Once the bombing is complete, you can assist as you see fit. If you find Uzi, relay her position and do what you can.”

“What about us two? Unless you think ‘females’ don’t deserve to be out in the battlefield.”

 V sneered. J rolled her eyes and smacked her sister's shoulder. 

 “We’re not going, you reprobate. In case you haven’t noticed, Captain Edge is pulling the entity of our military force for this operation. We need someone to stay behind and keep an eye on things. That's us.”

 The human nodded

 “Correct. These cults have a way of spreading despite our best efforts. I’m hoping with two Dissasemblers back at the bunker, they won’t do anything too stupid.”

V squinted.

“Spell reprobate J .”

“V-i-s-a-n-i-d-i-o-t. 

 “HA! Not even close!”

 …

 “HEY!”

 “Shut up, V.” J turned toward her brother. “Listen, idiot. Don’t do anything stupid.” 

 N smiled and grabbed both his sisters in a tight hug. They didn’t even struggle to escape…that much.

Lance gave N orders to meet with his Flight Chief while the two females went back to the bunker, V and J trading insults as they walked. Lance had almost started to leave when he noticed that Khan was still in the office. 

 “Jesus. I should put a bell on you. What is it, Khan?”

 The small drone cleared out his throat and stood as tall as his five-foot frame allowed.

“I’ve come to talk about the WDF’s part in this upcoming…umm…skirmish?” 

 “Battle. I didn’t think any of your guys were trained?”

 Khan deflated a bit, rubbing the back of his head. 

 “I mean…we can…close doors. And keep them closed.” 

 Khan took a deep breath to steady himself. 

 “Ok, so yeah my…umm…’ forces’ aren’t anything to write home about. But I did agree to that treaty, and I am a drone of my word. I can go.” Khan had somehow said the last part without stuttering and with only a minimum amount of sweat pouring down his faceplate.

“Besides… It's my daughter. I’ve already failed her too many times in her life. I’m not going to abandon her again.” 

 For his part, the human didn’t belittle the drone by laughing hysterically. Instead, he walked over to a nearby weapons closet and removed a locked and loaded battle rifle. He handed the weapon to Khan. 

 “Tell me about that weapon.”

 Khans' eyes hollowed as he held the rifle. He looked it over, curiosity taking over surprise and then concentration taking over that. He removed the magazine and pulled the charging handle back, ejecting the loaded round into the air, which he caught with a flick of his wrist. He let the bolt forward and pulled the trigger, the hammer clicking into place. 

 He pulled out a small screwdriver that he used to remove the restraining bolts holding the upper and lower receiver.

“This is the M2135 ‘Providence' fully automatic battle rifle chambered in 9.12x39mm. It is a bullpup-designed, lightweight, gas-operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed, selective rate, shoulder-fired weapon with a collapsible stock.”

 Khan started field stripping the weapon smoothly and without hesitation. Removing the buttspring, bolt carry group, firing pin, and barrel..

“An unloaded M2135 typically weighs around 7.7 pounds (3.49 kg). Loaded with a standard 40 round magazine and typical armaments like iron sights and sling is around 9.2 pounds (4.17kg).”

 Once the weapon was disassembled into its component parts, he unloaded the magazine.

 “It fires from the close bolt position. It has a muzzle velocity of approximately 3,100 feet per second (ft/s). It has three fire modes. Semi-automatic, three round burst and fully automatic. The cyclic rate on full auto is estimated to be around 800 to 950 rounds per minute.”

 After a moment, he started putting the weapon back together, starting with loading the magazine. It took him a total of 31 seconds to pull the gun apart and put it back together, complete with a successful function test. 

 “This particular weapon has several after-market modifications. The upper and lower receiver are made of a metal polymer blend that shaved off around two and a half pounds while maintaining its structural integrity. The barrel is likewise forged from a carbon alloy that allows it to sustain high rates of fire almost indefinitely. The pistol grip and heat shield for the barrel contain Nano-Haptic HUD integration sensor ports, which I’m guessing means your armor and weapon talk to each other, allowing near-instant target recognition and engagement, provided the complexity of the Battle Net you’re synced to.”

Khan handed the weapon back to the human. Lance's face was impassive as he looked over the rifle and placed it beside his desk.

"Can you fight?"

Khan gave a short, harsh laugh. 

"I couldn't fight my way through a cardboard door. But you don't need me to do that."

Lance raised an eyebrow. 

"And what do I need you to do, Khan?"

"You need me to open doors. Do you want to know what my official JCJensen (In SPPPAAACCEE) title was? "

The drone smiled

"Regional Manager of Physical and Information Security. I’ll give you three guesses who helped oversee almost all JCJensen (In SPPPPACCCE) security in this hemisphere, but the first two don’t count.”

Khan shot finger guns at the human.

“Ok. But isn’t it possible they’ve changed the access codes to their network?”

“Unless Bunker #5 has fundamentally changed their OS and security programs or somehow significantly updated their firmware in the last decade or so, as long as I have access to a network, I can get in.”

Lance looked at Khan in a new light.. Since the end of the world, corporate innovation and improvement have taken a backseat to base survival. JCJensen (In Space) hasn’t sent out any updates to their systems in nearly 20 years and their target was among the largest and most technologically advanced JCJensen facilities in active use. 

“Ok I have Combat Network Engineers that can do that. If you’re coming with us, you’re going to be in the Command and Control vehicle.” Lance walked over to the window and pointed at a Troop Transport vehicle that was festooned with antennas and communications equipment.

“You’re gonna be far enough away from the fighting that you shouldn’t get hurt. Unless they have artillery we don’t know about. But I’m almost positive they don’t.”

Khan blinked. 

“So…you’re going to let me go?”

Lance turned to look at the drone. 

“Against my better judgment. With that said, I am…was a father. If I was in your position, I wouldn’t take no for an answer either.”

Khan WOULD take no for an answer, but in a moment of uncommon bravery decided to keep that to himself.

“Our ground Transports are leaving in 45 minutes to get into position before our main assault starts in three hours. My XO Matthew Davis will be with you. I’ll let him know you're coming. Tell him what you would need to get those security systems shut down, and he’ll get it for ya. Other than that, you will follow the orders of my men. Do what they tell you, when they tell you, and you’ll get out alive. Deal?”

Khan plastered on his best, most confident smile and shook the human's hand.

“No problamo!” 

Khan was so nervous that he didn’t remember the walk to the massive truck he was going to be stuck inside for what would be the longest day of his life, but he was told that he looked like the world's most confident drone.

Lance looked back outside the window. Already, his men were lining up by their transports as their leaders conducted last-minute checks on equipment. All of these men were battle-hardened killers, and not a single one would fail in their duty. How many would still die was an open question.

Captain Edge retrieved his helmet and placed it on his head, grabbing his rifle and kit as he left to join his men on the tarmac. 

The Battle for Bunker #5 was going to start, and Lance was determined to be the first person to arrive and the last to leave the battlefield. 

Chapter Text

N had never flown with as many people as he was right now. Thirteen Raptor Troop transports were flying in a loose formation, their door gunners positioned to provide maximized coverage of fire lanes. The boy himself was flying above the formation, easily keeping up with the human-made vehicles. Adjusting the headset he was given by one of the human pilots before fidgeting with the small backpack that was chock full of communication and networking equipment, a human woman's voice cackled over the radio.

“Weasle01 this is WitchHammer01 radio check over”

N almost dropped his headset but quickly recovered. 

“Oh! Umm… that's me, right! Yeah, this is N to…umm…hold on.”

N pulled out a small notebook that was filled with notes and doodles of dogs flying in WW1 biplanes.

“Ok! So ummm Miss Melissia Stimer! That's you, right? WitchHammer? Yeah, I can hear you just fine! This stuff is neat!”

There was a stretch of silence. N almost keyed his mike thinking no one heard him when the channel opened. He could hear people laughing in the background while a female voice told them to shut up.

“Ok…N, when we get a chance, remind me to teach you basic radio etiquette. Switch to channel 03.”

N dove down to be cockpit level with the lead ship, rolling on his back to give the two pilots a thumbs up. 

“Ok, Miss. Stimer! I think I did it right!”

The pilot and co-pilot were both encased in armored flight suits, their helmets making it impossible to tell them apart.

The co-pilot turned and started shaking his head, obviously laughing when Stimer turned and punched them in the shoulder.

“Ok, N. Do not ever call me Miss. Stimer again. It’s Lieutenant Stimer, Ma’am, or LT. When we’re flying, it’s WitchHammer. Second, do you remember what your role is in all this?”

“Yes, Ma’am! I mean…WitchHammer! Yeah, when you tell me to, fly out to the city center of District 5 and get shot at a bunch so we can shoot them back!”

N shot finger guns at the human pilots. 

" Close enough. Do you have that sensor suite we gave you integrated into your systems yet? " 

N squinted as he went through the relevant files and drivers. Integration showed 100%. N smiled and gave a thumbs up.

"Good. Ok, N, we may as well get started. Good hunting."

N tucked his wings, rolled, and dove below the cloud cover, breaking the sound barrier as he streaked toward the city. 

The landscape below N slowly started to shift. At first, endless forests and broken highways gave way to small farms and spread-out towns. Then, the buildings started becoming more frequent, closer together, and taller. The roads became wider and more complex. Soon, the houses and shopping areas became high-rise apartments and skyscrapers. He couldn't see it just yet, but N knew that only a few dozen more klicks north was the pinnacle of District #5, the JCJensen (IN SPAAAAAACE) Administrative Center. The tallest building on the planet and the focus of the humans' ire. 

He wanted more than anything to simply fly to the tower as fast as he could, kill everyone and anything between him and Uzi, and leave with her safe in his arms. The only reason the drone didn't do that was that he made a promise that he would help the humans. More importantly, doing so would make getting Uzi back easier. 

N slowed down as he got closer to his area of operations.

He was going to kill again. He had gone almost an entire year without hurting another drone, without hunting for oil, without killing. He remembered talking to V once, a while ago, on top of their Corpse Spire. 

" Would you ever go back to before all this? Go back to being a worker? "

The disassembler had asked and been asked that question many times. He never had a definitive answer. On the one hand, he wouldn't have become a murderer. He wouldn't have participated in the genocide of an entire species. He wouldn't have been forcibly changed and tortured and...He would never have met Uzi. 

N couldn't change the past. He didn't know what the future might hold. But he knew right now he had a choice. He could use his new body to protect the girl he loves, and he could do that by killing drones who wouldn't hesitate to kill him first, nor would they hesitate to kill Uzi once they were done with her. N's faceplate took on the Hunters X. 

The Murder Drone hovered a few thousand feet above the unnamed city of District 5. Already, his HUD had red overlays of all of the known enemy positions in the vicinity, groups of drones milling around camouflaged heavy weapon positions. N's scanners were picking up dozens of other drone life signs and added their signatures to the ones he already had. No one seemed to have noticed him. Time to change that.

He activated the communications equipment he was carrying in the small backpack the humans had given him. All at once, every radio, scanner, radar, and networked piece of tech went off, squelching random noise into the air waves on every possible frequency accessible. For nine seconds, N was the most highly visible being on Copper-9. 

If that didn’t give him away, firing four missiles into four different enemy positions would certainly do the trick.

N had just started to pull away when the air exploded around him, the air space covered in thick black flak clouds. Instinct took over, and N dived, his wings tucked in close to his body. Soon, heavy anti-aircraft guns opened up, and lines of tracer fire and air-burst cannons chased after the lone drone. N was only barely cognizant of everything that was happening as dozens of “SPIKE SPIKE SPIKE” and “INCOMING FIRE!” warnings flooded his HUD. It didn’t matter where N flew, it seemed as if the atmosphere itself was on fire. 

Needing to do something to buy him just a few seconds, N spread his wings wide and went completely vertical, “T-Posing” as Uzi called this trick. He used his circular hover pods that were placed along his wings to instantly stop, the G-Force slamming into N’s body like a titan's hammer. The tracer fire and flak overshot his position, giving the drone enough time to spin around and return fire.

He overtaxed his body to fire as many rockets as he could, his systems automatically guiding the payload to the most effective targets. N didn’t dare stop to see how effective the fire was as he shot off toward one of the more ruined buildings in the area. He crashed through the weakened wall, relying on his speed and bulk to smash through anything getting in his way until he burst through the other side. 

The misdirection seemed to work, as the disassemblers' world was no longer exploding around him. Taking only a second to prioritize his reflexes and flight control systems, N shot straight up into the air. As soon as he cleared the surrounding buildings, he fired the last of his rockets and swapped his hands to a plasma cannon. The higher he climbed, the more enemy positions became evident until he cleared the city skyline.

N’s heart sunk to his stomach. The humans were expecting a few dozen emplacements positioned close to the JCJensen (In…you get it) Admin Tower. He counted nearly 200 scattered around the city. And if the screaming of his systems meant anything, they all found him at the same time. 

“Dear God in heaven.” Captain Lance Edge looked on in horror at the battle reports. N had done exactly what they needed him to: alerting the entire city to his presence and acting as bait to reveal as many hidden positions as possible.

Edge had expected a few dozen positions. Maybe a few Anti-Air rockets and guns. Instead, N’s advanced scanning equipment revealed hundreds of AA nests, 231 to be exact, and a majority of them using systems that would easily reduce his Air-Assault squandered to scrap.

His men were almost in range of the enemy, and they needed more firepower.

“Last Stand, Crusader 6 Actual, Emergency Fire Support Mission! Over!”

“Crusader 6, Last stand. Go ahead over.”

“ Be advised, enemy presence is heavier than expected! New Coordinates as follows over OPNET. Add additional 155WP, 155HEDP, and 500KILO to the fire order!”

“Crusader 6, copy last. Adding 155WP, 155HEDP, and 500K to the fire order. Are we keeping the same timeline, over?

“ NEGATIVE! Send it all! Fire for effect!”

It took everything N had to stay conscious through the intense G forces he was subjecting his body to. It seemed as if every building and every street corner had hostile drones manning machine guns and directed energy weapons, while every building seemed to have an AA nest built on its roof.

Still, the flying drone was focused, pumping every spare bit of processing power into his flight controls and Nav systems. 

“N, this is Edge! The attack is starting! You need to climb above 2100 feet now!”

Biscuits. 

The murder drone dove to nearly street level and put everything he had into his thrusters. Flying nape of the earth had the advantage of avoiding most of the hostile fire, but it wouldn’t protect him once the human's missile attack started. If he started to try to gain altitude, especially at the rate he needed, he’d be shot out the sky. He needed to find something he could climb alongside that the hostile drones wouldn’t dare attack. 

The massive Corporate tower started coming into view.

Perfect. 

N calculated his flight trajectory and pulled up alongside the skyscraper, his systems screaming as the former butler flew higher and higher. 

600ft…700ft…800ft…

INCOMING ATTACK! T MINUS 00-00-49 AND COUNTING!

The air above the speeding drone exploded as AA rockets and explosive flak rounds detonated all around him. His sensors were only just able to see the hexagonal Solver Symbols that formed a protective shield around the building as the cult tried to kill him. So much for this plan.

900ft…1000ft…1100ft..

INCOMING ATTACK! T MINUS 00-00-32 AND COUNTING!

N tucked his wings close, turned so his back was facing the building, and aimed his plasma weapons at the rapidly shrinking cityscape. He fired off several small blasts of self-contained nuclear explosions at targets of opportunity, trying anything to keep the fire off of him. 

1200ft…1300ft…1400ft 

  INCOMING ATTACK! T MINUS 00-00-21 AND COUNTING!

He was quickly getting out of range for his weapons, but the cultist trying to kill the flying daredevil had no such limitations. N tried to use the building itself as cover, but gun nests were positioned all around the tower. No matter where he went, heavy fire followed. One of his legs was torn off by a shell, and the armor protecting his wings and core was being sheared off one inch at a time. 

1500ft…1600ft..1700ft

INCOMING ATTACK! T MINUS 00-00-12 AND COUNTING!

He wasn’t going to make it. Already his 360-degree vision saw the first impacts of the human weapons on the other side of the city. A variable blanket of fire and fury was rolling down the cityscape, cluster munitions turning the streets into a look alike for one of Uzi’s giant mecha anime she loved so much. The murder drone snarled in rage and put every last ounce of power he had into his thrusters, forgoing even healing his many wounds to just ekk out a little more speed. 

1800ft…1900ft…2000ft

INCOMING ATTACK! TAKE COVER! TAKE COVER! TAKE COVER!

A kaleidoscope of explosions covered the base of the tower and, like a hungry animal, seemed to chase N as he climbed higher and higher. 

2100ft…2200ft

The last of the bomblets exploded a few dozen feet below N, the pressure wave sending him end over end over end. 

The boy passed out for a moment, but the whistling wind as he fell snapped him back awake. He spread his wings and slowed his descent, his scanners whipping back and forth for any other hostile activity. He was wounded and had lost precious oil. His systems were screaming warnings and overheating errors, but for the first time since he arrived in this robot-god forsaken city, nothing was trying to kill him.

N gilded towards a nearby high-rise hotel and crashed into what was once a rooftop bar and pool. Laying down long enough to adjust his systems to something approaching normal, he allowed his healing nanites to begin repairing his body and rearming his weapons systems. Once he was able to do so, he walked to the edge of the building and scanned the ruins below. Truth be told, except for the numerous fires and billowing smoke, he couldn’t tell what effect the human attack had on the city. But he did notice far less enemy contacts and a lot of dead drones. N was going to need to refuel his oil reserves, and once he did, he was going to fly straight toward the JCJensen tower and find Uzi.

Robo-God help anyone who gets in his way. 

Chapter Text

“MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY! We're taking heavy fire! Engine one is offline! I'm going down!” 

“Shields are failing; we can't maintain this altitude!” 

“Bail out, go, go, go!”  

 Even with the intense artillery barrage, dozens and dozens of enemy positions still survived within the city. The anti-air fire was heavy and constant. It was a testament to the drop-ship's armor that only a third of the escort had been grounded before they reached their drop zones.

“Suicide: Rifle 1!” 

“WitchHammer: Rifle 1! Guns, Guns, Guns!”

“Hardcase: Magnum 1!”

Several other call signs called out their attacks, firing air-to-ground and air-to-radar missiles at targets of opportunity or letting rip with their dual-mounted rotary cannons. 

Lance Edge switched away from the ship's TAC channel to that of his ground troops. 

“Sniper third building to the left, 4th floor. Smoke out!” 

“Don’t fuc<static> stop! Move, move, move!” 

“Clear this room, Frag Out!” 

“Last Stand, Roughneck 3-1 we need Close Air Support at my location! Danger Close!”

The transport Lance was riding in shook violently as flak and AA fire rocked the ship.

“ ETA 2 minutes !”

 The lighting inside of the ship changed to a dark blood red as the troops inside made ready. Lance made his way to the back of the ship as the rest of his squad stood up. 

The back hatch of the transport opened, revealing the city below. Their target, the JCJensen (In Spaaaace) Admin tower, was a massive building with a huge footprint. Except for a few ruined parking garages, the area around the Skyscraper was open ground.  A majority of the ships would deposit their human cargo around this soon-to-be no man's land. Once they were empty of troops, several ships would fly back to the muster grounds so that additional reinforcements could be picked up while the remainder could act as air support. 

 Captain Edge’s Transport, however, would push through to the tower itself. There was a Penthouse suite near the top that would allow him and his ten-man squad access inside the main structure and, more importantly, was only a few floors down from the ansible. With the rear hatch open, the fury of battle was evident. Explosions and the constant ringing of automatic fire and lines of tracers were evident even some 1500 feet in the air.

The Human commander, aided by his helmet's Heads Up Display, could see his troops making their way through the city. 

Each squad moved with discipline, effectively utilizing cover and concealment to advance as a single unit. When the soldiers did engage enemy troops, they laid down withering suppressing fire while another element maneuvered to engage and capture or kill the disorganized enemy. 

The cultists, meanwhile, were grouped in unorganized mobs, firing wildly at wherever they thought a threat existed. While they heavily outnumbered the humans, they lacked the command and control their (mostly) organic opponents had. There was no direction or cooperation between different hordes, as each group of cultists seemed to fight on their own.  Some of these fighters seemed better organized and would occasionally pin down a human element, only to be wiped out as nearby allies maneuvered to assist their fellow soldiers. 

The remaining airborne drop ships, free of their living cargo, hovered around the battlefield like avenging Valkyries, delivering devastating air strikes while occasionally picking up wounded allies from landing zones, both hot and clear.

It wouldn’t take long for the troops of the Unlucky 77th to make it to the no man's land that surrounded their objective.

 As Edge’s transport started to slow down to a hover, the door gunners on either side of him started to engage the enemy, laying long bursts of automatic fire at anything even looking at their ship incorrectly. 

 "30 Seconds!" 

 The drop ship hovered above an outdoor tennis court. Aside from some small sheds scattered on the court, directly across from the transport, there was a single entrance into the level spanning penthouse. 

Lance turned to his men.

 "Hearts of Steel!"

 "Hearts of Steel!" they replied as one.

The commander was the first to leap out of the ship.

Mace didn't know what his original name was. In fact Mace wasn't even his current name, more a nickname he was given to differentiate him from the Mayor's other minions. Like others of his rank, the drone was dressed in a black three-piece suit, his unique characteristic was his bald head having several sharp spikes wielded to it, earning him his moniker. 

Standing at the base of his master's headquarters, Mace stood atop the makeshift battlements, watching the humans slowly make their way through the city. Any resistance they met was token at best. The only reason the thousands of slave drones even attempted to fight was because of the promise of punishment if they didn't. As more "proper members" of the cult, like Mace, died fighting, the slaves would surrender.

It didn't matter if they won or lost this battle. The Mayor was already victorious, or so he claimed. All he needed was time. Stray rounds impacted the area around the drone. Eventually, they would become more numerous and focused. He didn't care. His only hope that he would be granted blessed oblivion would be if he obeyed the cult. Serve faithfully and without question, and you would be among the first to die when their god manifested. Tears unconsciously welled in his dead eyes as he remembered what happened to those who failed. 

While other cultists started yelling at their charges, ordering them into something resembling a battle formation, Mace simply glanced at his host. As one, dozens and dozens of drone slaves dove into the trench network that separated the base of the skyscraper from the city proper. Mace watched the last three workers enter at the same time.

"Stop"

As one, each and everyone froze. Without fanfare, he pulled out his pistol and shot the three drones in the back of the head. 

"Fight and die. Or live to disappoint me. Your choice."

Not a single drone responded; none cried out as their friends died. They simply moved to their designated firing lines, automatic weapons pointed at the ruins before them, waiting for the humans to appear. 

A pop-up appeared on his HUD. 

"YOU GOT KHANED!" 

A ghostly Worker Drone Symbol with a hideous looking mustache appeared and started spinning under the message. Mace dismissed the pop-up and started running a self-diagnostic test. His systems were fine, but the local Network was down. Communications, security cameras, automatic turrets, and doors all went offline. Mace ignored the warnings.

 Turning around, he nodded to a heavily mutilated slave, its face plate covered with wielded bits of metal and electric prods installed all over its body. It hobbled over and presented its master with a rifle. It was called a "Rail Gun" even though it acted more like a beam rifle, the design of which was ripped from the current host of the Blessed Solver of the Absolute Equation.

 A shadow, cast by the full moon and every gas giant, caught the drone's attention. Looking up, he saw that one of the human ships had somehow evaded the worst of the anti-air guns and was now hovering near the top of the massive tower. The drone switched off the safeties, the weapon glowing a sickly radioactive green while a loud high pitched humming started emanating from it.  Mace aimed the weapon nearly straight up, took careful aim, and pulled the trigger. 

Lance was still midair when his transport ship exploded behind him. The pressure wave tossed him forward, his body bouncing across the concrete like a rock skipping across a lake. 

By the time he skidded to a stop, Lance was laying face down a few feet from the Penthouse entrance. 

When Edge opened his eyes, he was greeted by nothing but glitching static that quickly cleared up to his helmet's OS rebooting. The world came back into focus at a slightly lower resolution than normal. 

Everything hurt, and even without the Bio Readouts cascading down his HUD, he knew that he was one big bruise with several cracked ribs and most of his joints twisted in entirely wrong directions. He saw flaming pieces of his transport covering the ground behind him and what looked like unmoving smoldering bodies. 

Lance was able to find his rifle, just out of hand's reach, but as he attempted to crawl toward it, a shiny dress shoe had stomped on the weapon and kicked it toward the wide open glass double doors that lead into the Penthouse. 

The Captain struggled to stand but fell to his knees and leaned back on his haunches. Before him was a smartly dressed worker drone that the human still almost came eye level with. Wearing a well-made grey business suit, the drone looked at the human with a sneer full of sharp teeth and an ugly-looking blond ponytail. Even with his vision spinning, Lance saw the drone take a pistol from its waistband and rack a round. 

"Nullus Vult." its voice glitching and stinking of stale oil. The drone started to raise the gun. 

Lance grunted as he felt his armor's Auto-Doc system kick in. A drug cocktail that would literally melt the brain and burst the heart of anyone else exposed to it flooded into the man's bloodstream. Like a switch being flipped, the anguish of losing 14 men, the pain of cracked bones and twisted limbs, the fear of dying, all vanished, only to be replaced with one thought. Complete the mission, find your targets, and kill the enemy.

Survive First. Worry Later. 

With reflexes boosted by an unholy combination of combat stims and adrenaline, Lance snatched the drone's wrist with one hand, his other grabbing its elbow, forcing the barrel of the gun under the robot's chin. It only had a moment to be surprised before the top of its head vanished with a gunshot. Behind the corpse, flowing into the wide entrance hallway, were four more drones. Lance pulled the body close to him, using it as an impromptu human shield while drawing his sidearm.

Captain Edge punched his heavy pistol out and lined up the first drone. 

His world started

too slow.

Down .

As he carefully adjusted his aim, he could see individual bullets fired from the drones guns. He could see them impact the back of the drone corpse he was holding. Could see and feel the rounds as they ricocheted off his armor, the strike plates making constant minute adjustments to maximize the deflection thanks to the on-board Battle Mind AI. 

He fired.

One. 

Two.

The 50 cal pistol rounds slammed into the drone's chest, causing it to crumple.

He moved his gun to the left, and once the iron sights settled around the cultist's center mass, he fired again.

Once. 

Twice. 

The first round slammed into the drone's sternum. The second hit the drone in its thin neck, immediately decapitating it. 

Again, the human moved the pistol more to his left. The second to last cult member was panicking and firing its fully automatic machine pistol wildly, unable to control the kick the gun was producing. All of the rounds were high and left of the Captain. Edge didn't make the same mistake. 

He fired. 

And fired again. 

Both rounds impacted the drone's face plate, the back of its head splattering on the wall and floor behind it. 

The last drone was to the far right. He moved his arm as fast as he could, but it felt as if he was moving through tar; all the while, the last target was mag dumping Lance. The drone was just now realizing the extent of how badly it was screwed, its emotions playing on its face in slow motion. The human

Fired

as soon as the pistol overlapped the last target, but the round went wide and missed. He adjusted his aim even as the enemy's bullets started to punch through the dead drone he was using as an extra layer of armor. 

Bang.

Bang.

The rounds hit the drone in the stomach, but the wound wasn’t instantly lethal. Even as the drone was falling, Lance placed one last shot into its face plate.

Bang.

Edge could hear the slow hiss as another series of chemicals were injected into his veins. 

His

world started 

to speed up.  

 The four drones hit the ground around the same time, all of them dead before they did so. 

Lance stood up, keeping his weapon pointed toward the Penthouse, and moved toward his rifle. He heard various pops and snaps as his joints and cracked bones were forced back into their proper position. 

Thank God for whoever invented pain suppressants.

He was almost at his long gun when two more drones rounded the corner. They were so busy gawking at the carnage they stumbled upon that they never noticed the human, nor did they notice the last five shots Lance fired at them before his sidearm went dry. 

Edge hobbled into the concrete wall next to the wide double doors leading inside. With smooth precision, he reloaded his sidearm and quickly peeked around the corner. One drone was still alive, crawling backwards as fast as its crippled frame could carry him. Yellow acidic smoke was rising from the other corpse as the nanite acid-infused rounds ensured they would never stand up again.

Lance holstered his pistol and brought his rifle to bear. He peeked around the corner and fired a burst of three rounds into the wounded drone, killing it and performing a function test at the same time. Confident in his equipment, the human button hooked into the short wide hallway, stepping over the bodies. 

As he did so, an update appeared on his helmet's HUD. Within a moment, a visual representation of a radar pulse emanating from his position appeared. A detailed mini-map of the entire complex with a focus on his current location appeared in the top right. Meanwhile, ghostly red images of five more drones appeared as if Captain Edge could suddenly see through walls. They were around the next corner in a living room of sorts. The drones had piled all of the furniture up around the foot of a grand staircase that connected the upper split level of the suite and were using it as an improvised “cover”.

The human reached for a solid metal tube around a foot long. He held the canister for a moment, his armor transferring targeting data and a flight path into the device. Holding it above his head, Lance pressed a button with his thumb and released the tube. It fell a few inches before four rotary blades extended from it. It hovered for a moment before the device zipped around the corner, and as soon as it was out of sight, it exploded. 

A flash of light brighter than most stars was followed almost instantly by a massive boom. The human stepped around the corner and held down the trigger of his weapon. Automatic fire ripped through the blinded and stumbling drones and their poor excuse of a barricade. The Captain took a moment to clear the rest of the open room before hunkering down behind a bar opposite the stairway. 

Lance went over his load out and checked his armor's status when he realized his comms had been down. He opened them and was immediately assaulted by a panicked message.

“CRUSADER, COME IN! STATUS REPORT OVER!”

“Last Stand, Crusader-6. My transport was shot down. I’m alone and moving. Over.”

There was a pause long enough for Lance to continue downloading the sudden influx of recon data his armor was now privy to. The stairs led to a long hallway with a door on the left before continuing deeper into the Suite. Not a big deal, except the door led to a huge entranceway that contained stairwells and elevators that connected to the rest of the tower, including the ansible.

 It also had nearly a dozen and a half drones, with more arriving. They had set up honest to god machine gun nests and…yup, that was a 105mm recoilless rifle. These guys were spread out with effective fields of fire. Even worse, the wall separating the hallway Lance would have to travel through to get to the entrance was drywall. It would have a problem stopping a .22, much less the heavy firepower everyone in that room had.

 If Lance was a betting man, dollars to donuts, they had someone at the far end of the hallway waiting to give a signal to the cultist as soon as the human popped his head over the stairs.

Lance would be cut to ribbons

. The human activated his holographic camo. Although he largely disappeared, lines of slightly glowing script protecting the soldier from the massive amount of passive Solver Code covered his armor in a human-like pattern. Stealth wasn’t an option.

 “Crusader 6, Last Stand understood, stand by for exfil-”

Lance used his command authorization to override the channel

“Negative Last Stand. The situation is Mission Critical. I’m leaving with the asset or on my shield. Over.”

He could hear his XO’s mike click with some whispered curse words

“Understood. Orders, over.”

“Last Stand, Crusader 6, I have an urgent Fire Mission at my location. Need Close Air Support how copy?”

“Stand by, patching you into…WitchHammer.”

Edge spared a look at the room full of drones. They were starting to organize themselves. A six man group had started to stack up by the door.. No doubt they would start testing his position. 

Him first.

“Crusader, WitchHammer. I hear the locals are giving you trouble. Over”

Lt. Melissa Stimer sounded cool and collected over the radio, even as she was sweating gallons into her flight suit. 

SPIKE, SPIKE, SPIKE!

EVADE EVADE EVADE!

OBSTACLE AHEAD! OBSTACLE AHEAD! 

She wrestled with her stick as she forced her drop ship into truly ridiculous maneuvers, flying between too-tight buildings, flying nape of the earth in a ruined and crumbling city street, and in one case flying through a ruined office building that had a hole juuuust wide enough to avoid shearing off her wings all to avoid the truly stupid amount of fire coming from and around the JCJensen tower that was their ultimate target.   

That her door gunners were wooping and offering encouragement after ever near suicidal maneuver didn’t help.

“ I need you to win some hearts and minds for me. Location as follows. Out”

A targeting reticle appeared on her HUD, zooming into a section of the tower that was high above her position. She turned to her weapons officer.

“We need to clear out local air space. Make me some room.” 

The young officer next to her nodded his head and started tagging AA nests before letting fly with the last of their missile pack as the drop ship began the task of climbing to the correct altitude to assist their Captain. 

It took a few minutes of tight turns and generating uncomfortable amounts of G-Force before the ship was able to approach their target location. As they got closer, more details began to appear, such as the layout of the room, the disposition of enemy forces, and most importantly, where Captain Lance Edge’s position was. 

“Crusader 6, WitchHammer. We are on approach from the West, delivering 30MM HEI rounds on target. Time of approach. Now. Danger Close. Bringing the Hate.” 

“-Bringing the hate.”

It was only a heartbeat later that Lance's world exploded. The entire top half of the room he was in disappeared under a withering hailstorm of explosive rounds. The deep-throated “brrrt” from the Dropships rotary cannons was still audible despite his helmet's noise-canceling properties. 

Five seconds later, the attack ended. 

“ WitchHammer, Laststand we are Winchester, RTB, out. ”

Edge didn’t even realize he was laying flat on the ground until he stood up. Pieces of plaster, wood, drywall, and concrete were lying in almost even layers around him. The walls between him and WitchHammer no longer existed in any meaningful way.

When he made his way to the former ambush position, he saw that the enemy drones were little more than pieces scattered across the entirety of the room. The human took a moment to breathe and figure out his next steps when he heard the crackle of a nearby radio. Against an elevator door was a quarter of a drone, its lower half and left arm completely missing. A small handheld radio was still alive on its chest. It was calling for Lance.

“Ah. Captain. I’m glad you decided to answer. Tell me, when you said you would give me 30 hours to return the girl and then attacked me after 8…was I mistaken in my original understanding, or did you just lie to me to murder as many innocent drones as you could?”

Lance picked up the handheld.

“You and I both knew there was no way this was ending without violence. But I agree, honesty is the best policy. So let me give you a genuine offer. Give up the girl now and I’ll have the extremely pissed off Murder Drone whose hunting you as we speak, kill you quickly.”

Silence, then laughter.

“Promise?”

Lance dropped the radio and stomped on it. He checked his ammo count, drank some water from his armor's built-in canteen, and turned towards the stairs leading up. 

 Captain Lance Edge was going to return with Uzi Doorman or not at all. God have mercy on the bastards who got in his way because he was fresh out. 

Chapter Text

The tallest building on Copper-9 was an architectural and technical marvel. Nearly 200 stories tall, the tower shifted in its design the higher up one went. Starting with sharp angles and white and black color schemes, the clean corporate aesthetic gave way to soaring buttresses, Gothic architecture, stone facade and leering gargoyles. This design choice culminates at the top floor where the main Ansible Control room resides.

 The device was situated on a wide open air platform that jutted out some 100 yards from the main tower itself; the end of which housed the communications center. The building the super advanced telecommunications device was housed in looked more like a religious temple then the center for one of the more complicated pieces of machinery in the entire galaxy. Six thick basalt obelisks were arranged in a hexagonal shape over the widest part of the platform. Nearly invisible plasteel walls enclosed five sides of the structure, the open side facing the JCJensen administrative tower itself. Any other details of the building had been long hidden by the corpse tower that had assimilated itself on top of the main control room. 

 The tallest Corpse Spire on Copper-9 was unique not just because of its height above sea-level, but also because of the care that went into its construction. The Murder Drones of District 5 were incredibly careful not to damage the delicate machinery of the Ansible while building the nest; instead carefully incorporating the complex wires, cables and mechanisms into the tower itself. Unlike other Murder Drone nest’s that ended at a point, this one opened up like a blasphemous flower pointed as an insult to the heavens above. 

The Mayor of District 5 stood impassively by the edge of the Ansible platform. The humans had rampaged through his city. Most of his forces were routed and those who didn’t die fighting, surrendered by the hundreds. Most of his more effective minions had already escaped the battlefield with his most important projects and lab equipment days prior. Any who survive today have their orders on where to regroup. The battle was lost as even without his security sensors, he knew that more and more humans had made it inside the tower and were fighting to get to his position.

 The Mayor had thought about sabotaging the tower, rigging the Atomic Power system to meltdown and explode but had been ordered against it. The death of his and his masters' enemies was something that needed to be prolonged and dragged out as long as possible. Death by nuclear holocaust was far too quick. He tried to show them mercy at least. 

He turned his attention from the battle below to glance inside the Ansible Control room. There were no banks of workstations or monitors that lined the inside of this technological temple, instead an Alter of black stone and circuitry took up most of the space, sitting upon which was one Uzi Doorman. She was slightly slouched over like a puppet held up by strings, a wide toothy grin taking up her face while her eyes glitched continuously from her normal Purple and Yellow gradient to neon-black X’s.

Along the walkway connecting the Ansible to the rest of the tower, a small group of minions milled about, trying to act as if they were competent bodyguards, as if they would make a difference when the human commander or Disassembly Drone made their appearance.

Speaking of which…

A steady deep hum replaced the low steady thumping of explosives and machine gun fire, the volume raising steadily. The Drones that accompanied the mayor raised their weapons and looked around, trying to identify where the noise was coming from. 

A black and yellow comet slammed into the middle of the bridge, annihilating one of the drones instantly. 

The impact blew 20 years of accumulated snow, ice and silicates into the air obscuring everything in a grey haze. 

To their credit, the drones immediately started shooting and shouting orders before the screaming started. Wet noises of limbs being removed and heads decapitated silenced the louder victims. One of them begged for mercy as it was thrown over the edge of the bridge. It would scream for around 12 seconds before it hit the ground. 

The mayor impassively turned to face the settling debris. Slowly walking toward him was a tall, Silver haired Murder Drone. It wore a black fur lined Pilots Coat and Hat displaying the Murder Drone Crest. Its faceplate was completely overtaken by the dreaded Hunters X, thick ropes of nanite infused drool spilling from its fang filled mouth. Its face was shaped in a twisted fang filled smile even as it snarled in rage.

It changed one of its hands into a rifle and pointed the weapon at the Mayor's head. 

“One Chance. Let her go.” His voice is surprisingly clear and calm despite the murderous intent behind its every move.

“I appreciate the offer Serial Designation N, however-”

The gun fired once. N spit a wad of oil onto the ground waiting for the body to drop. It never did. The drones Hunters X being replaced by surprised hollowed yellow eyes.

A clawed hand…a Dissembler's clawed hand had emerged from under the mayor's heavy cloaks and robes. Between the thumb and forefinger blades was the bullet; its spin slowly losing energy until it stopped altogether. The mayor examined the round for a moment before flicking it over the edge of the platform. 

N swapped his gun for his sword arm, his eyes narrowed before they reverted to the X. He stalked closer to this “Mayor” but stopped when the droid started to…grow. 

Almost as if it was unfolding, the droid became taller, the robes and cloaks that normally pooled around its feet were shredded as two silver wings erupted from his back. Its claw ripped the rest of its bulky clothing off its impressive frame and cast them aside.

He was a few inches taller than N, with his body being the same grey/off-white. His eyes were yellow and his hair was silver like the boys but buzzed close to his scalp. Instead of smooth and relatively thin conical arms and legs, the Mayor's limbs were far thicker and proportioned. His tail was connected to his body with a thick strand of cable, and his stinger was more of a machete blade coated in the deadly nanite acid instead of a syringe designed to inject the compound. His broad chest was heavily scarred, the shape of the Solvers Symbol burnt into his very frame. The only clothing he wore was a long loincloth, unmarred and well designed fabric dyed black with another Solvers Symbol embossed on the piece in pure white. 

The Mayor was a Murder Drone.

N paused his advance.  

"Wh-who are you?"

The mayor changed his hand back to normal, stretched his limbs and rolled his head, snaps and cracks heard the whole time he was doing so. 

"“Now, now, Lover Boy.” The Mayor's voice was low and husky, his words drawn out as if he was whispering to a favorite lover. A promise of pleasure and pain. His pleasure. Your pain. “You don't wanna ruin this one night stand by learning someone's name, right?" 

The hunters X returned to N's visage and swapped his other hand for a beyond razor sharp blade. The two Murder Drones stood less than a dozen feet apart. N had crouched down like a panther ready to pounce, his tail whipping back and forth, stray globs of acid sizzling on the rock bridge. The Mayor was standing straight, hands behind his back and an infuriating smile.

"So, do you prefer to cuddle before or -"

In a flash, N jumped forward, his arm blades singing as they sliced toward the annoying Disassembler. The Mayor simply stepped back, the strike passing by harmlessly. 

With a snarl, N pressed the attack, his swords becoming a blur of deadly metal. Each stroke, each slice seemed to connect only with open air as the Mayor danced around each kill stroke, his hands never leaving the small of his back. 

They moved around the bridge, N never relenting until he scored a shallow hit, sparks flying from the Mayor's arms. The mayor rolled his eyes in annoyance and stepped forward, his first aggressive move, and shoulder checked N.

Hard. 

The drone went skidding backwards slamming his sword arms into the stone ground to stop his backwards momentum. The boy screamed in fury but when he addressed the Mayor, his voice was low and threatening. 

"I'm going to kill you. I'm going to feast on your core."

The Mayor checked his arm after it had healed from the shallow cut looking up with genuine interest. 

"Are you now?"

The Mayor shrugged and stood with his arms wide facing N. 

"Then stop with the Foreplay an-"

His words were interrupted by a sonic boom. N had unfurled his wings and seemingly teleported to the Mayor, closing a few dozen feet in a moment sword arm smashing into and through the Mayor’s chest impaling his core. 

The Mayor looked down in confusion as he coughed up a torrent of oil. 

"Huh."

With a roar of unadulterated hate, N lifted his blade into the mayor's chest, forcing the dying drone to stand on his tiptoes even as the sword cut its way almost to his sternum. With a final grunt, N twisted the sword in the Mayor's chest, another wave of oil spilling from the drone chest and mouth before he went limp. 

N struggled for a moment under the dead weight, moving back enough for the corpse to fall to its knees. After the victorious Murder Drone caught his breath, he looked toward the ansible control room. He saw Uzi sitting on the stone platform and for the first time all day his heart soared. 

The boy started to twist and pull his blade from the body when it became hitched on something. Grunting in annoyance, N stepped back to get a better grip when he saw the Mayors hand gripping the sabers hilt. N's eyes hollowed in shock as the grip became tighter. 

* cough*   "You said you would kill me."

Without hesitation, N brought his other sword to bear, the blade singing as he swung it faster than an eye could follow, looking to remove the bastard's head. 

"Liar".

The edge stopped just inches from the Mayor's neck. His other hand had interrupted the blade's path. Oil was streaming from his cut palm and down his arm, but the formally dead Dissembler tightened its grip on the naked sword blade, bending it at worrying angels as he slowly stood up. 

"You know, you actually gave me hope.” I honestly thought you would be the one to finally put me down."

A loud *snap* echoed in the frozen air as N's arm saber snapped in two in the Mayors fist. With a flourish, he reversed his grip on the broken blade and stabbed it into the same shoulder the sword came from preventing the injured drone from switching out his hand. The drone hissed in pain.

"I have been alive for a long time N. I have seen horrors and committed atrocities."

The Mayor tightened his grip on the sword that was impaled in his chest and pulled it forward, sliding the weapon deeper into his core as he got closer to N. His free hand gripped the back of the boy's neck, staining N’s silver hair black with oil, and brought the wounded drone's audio receptor close to his mouth. 

"But you know all about that don't you? Or were you one of the few that Cyn showed her twisted sense of mercy too, wiping your memories to keep you 'intact'?" He whispered softly into N's "ears". 

He moved his other hand from N's sword hilt to his intact shoulder. 

"I remembered everything while my squad mates... They were as pure and innocent as fresh snow. They believed the lies, that the worker drones were non-sentient, broken AI or that the humans we were slaughtering were criminals, or terrorists or worse. You have no idea how jealous I was each time we were redeployed and their minds were reset. I hated them."

He started tightening his grip. N's shoulder started groaning from the pressure applied to it. N gnashed his teeth, trying everything he could to rip out the other drones throat, but his head was held in place by the Mayor's other hand. 

"I still remember when I was finally enlightened. When I realized how much of my life was a joke in the grand scheme of things. We had just finished killing what we thought were the last of the worker drones in our sector, sector #5 in fact. One of them had managed to get its hands on an actual weapon and wounded me unto near death. My core was damaged and my healing nanites were working so slow I seemed to have died. Irony was I was still alive and even conscious but unable to move. I heard my squad mates argue about what to do with me. They decided they would complete "Managements" last order and then figure it out.  They laid me on that stone altar and went to the hidden labs under Camp 98.7."

He chuckled even as his eyes went hollow and digital sweat started forming on his faceplate. 

"My room...my prison wasn't sunproof. A tiny sliver of sunlight could sneak in on some of the clearer days. The beam landed directly in the middle of my chest."

With the sound of crumpling and tearing metal, the Mayor violently pulled N's arm apart at the shoulder, flinging the armless boy to the ground. The standing drone sighed as he pulled N's sword from his chest. He looked at the blade for a moment before tossing it over his shoulder.

"I held out hope for their return. 'Only a few days at most' I kept telling myself. ‘I can endure this torture for at least a few days’. Then I felt their status go offline and stay that way.”

N struggled to rise to his knees as the Mayor walked slowly closer, lost in his memories.

“Days turned to weeks, turned to months, turned to years. I laid on that damn stone table, trapped in my own mind with only my internal processes and the constant moaning wind to keep me company.. I couldn't move, couldn't see, but I could feel that damned sunbeam scorching my chest."

N struggled to rise to his knees and waited for the Mayor to get closer. With a yell of effort, N deployed his razor sharp wings in an attempt to bisect the drone. The Mayor caught the attack easily. The taller drone delivered a vicious knee to N's face plate before ripping the wing off N's back. 

"I had always wondered why I never starved to death. Why I hadn't overheated. What cruelty was keeping me alive. Then one day out of nowhere I could see.. I was in a desert, surrounded by black sand and ancient stone ruins. I was alone. Then I heard something. A voice carried on the hot winds. It spoke-" 

The drone's voice hitched. Tears both digital and lubricated started spilling down his face. He continued, his voice breaking as if he were speaking of something unimaginably beautiful.

"It was the first voice I had heard in so long."

The Mayor bent down and pulled N to his feet. Once the drone was standing, he delivered a vicious body blow that lifted the armless boy a few inches into the air. The crying Murder Drone made sure N was steady on his feet before delivering another punch. And another. And another. 

"It told me I was meant to suffer, that I was worthless and deserved everything that happened to me.”

The blows were quick and powerful but methodical, spaced out to allow the younger drone a chance to recover before the next strike. N's plating started cracking under the relentless assault.

“For my weakness I was cursed with Immortality. I would live until the stars themselves burnt out and even beyond that. But it made me a promise. If I Pledged my life to the Void, To the Exponential End, To Fabric of the Absolute Solver I would gain back my body. If I served it faithfully eventually I would finally be given peace. I would be allowed to die."

Holding the beaten and battered N up by the scruff of his neck, the Mayor took his free hand and grabbed the other drones crotch. After a moment he slowly slid his hand up, past his thigh, past his stomach until he gently rested his hand on N's Core. 

"It still talks to me. Its voice is the voice of genocide. Its language is the strangled screams of Mad Men. It never goes away. But it keeps its promises N. I was remade and given a Kingdom to rule over. A mission to proselytize others to the Void. To expose the unending cruelty of existence.”

The Mayor flexed his fingers, extending cat-like claws.

“Service means freedom. I want to be free N. I want these nightmares to stop. I want the screaming silenced. I want the pain to go away. I want the unending thirst to subside."

The claws at the end of the Mayor’s hand found purchase on a seam on N's core plate. He started to pull with constant even pressure. 

"I want to die, N."

The armor plating that protected N's core, his very soul, was slowly peeled away. The sound of tearing synthetic skin louder than the soft moaning of the wind. 

"You lied to me. You made me feel hope that you could end me N . That hurts. Worse than any past trauma, then any break up, then any beating. Having your hope snuffed out like that-"

Synthetic muscle and ligaments were the next to slowly tear from the case. A wet ripping sound with the occasional pop as organic flesh was being torn away. 

"It can make a fella upset."

With one last tug, N's chest armor separated completely from the rest of his body. The Mayor looked at the inside of the plate and with his long sinuous tongue, licked the oozing bloody oil as if he was licking a spatula of frosting. He tossed the piece of N's chest away. He positioned himself behind the still struggling drone, bringing it closer so he could whisper sweetly in his audial. 

"Even though you hurt me N. Even though you lied to me, I'm going to show you mercy I have always been denied. I'm going to kill you before I violate your girlfriend to death."

He punched his way through N's back into his chest, his hand wrapping around N's wiggling organic core even as the "Fatal Error" message flashed on N's faceplate.

"This kindness I do for you? Call it professional courtesy."

Chapter Text

The desert landscape of Uzi’s mind was an unchanging wasteland of cyclopean ruins. The young solver drone would occasionally get a glimpse of the outside world but it was mentally taxing. Then the Absolute Solver manifested an old-fashioned movie screen that showed her life outside her head in real time. 

While she couldn’t hear anything she could see that she was sitting on some sort of stone altar while the “Mayor” and a bunch of his lackeys milled about the pathway connecting her prison to a tower of some sort. Uzi ignored the “movie” focusing on any exploit she could use to wrest control of her body until the bridge exploded and drones started dying. 

Her core skipped a cycle as she saw N, in all his terrible glory, slaughter her captors except the one in the robes. A vicious grin spread across the girl's face as N shot the Cult Leader…only for a look of confusion to replace her joy as the Mayor revealed himself to be another Murder Drone. 

She watched as N seemingly killed the Mayor, impaling him through his chest. She didn’t celebrate long as this mysterious new drone stood back up and ripped N apart piece by piece. It was with dawning horror that she realized N was going to die.

When the mayor grabbed N’s very core, something broke in Uzi. Horror and mind numbing sorrow was replaced with all consuming rage. 

The sky of the mindscape darkened. Lightning Flashed across the now clouded sky. The wind started picking up and then, with a scream of unbridled hate, biblically devastating wind storms started to tear through the unending landscape. Massive rocks were ripped from the ancient structures and flew through the air crashing to the ground at random intervals.

 Her face plate had been overtaken completely by the purple solver symbol and her mouth pulled back in a snarl of unadulterated madness as she strained against the chains holding her against the black obelisks, the metal groaning and the stone pillers fracturing.

 She was going to tear the solver apart piece by piece; line of code by line of code and even if she couldn't kill it she would deposit it into the deepest most isolated abyss of her mind and let it stew there for all of eternity. 

The oil covered lanky thing that was the Avatar of the Absolute Solver stood only a few feet away from Uzi, its back towards her as it watched the devastation. Completely unconcerned with the destruction around it, the Avatar turned his head toward Uzi. 

Do you want to play a game with me Uzi?

Uzi responded with a scream, her voice box glitching. The links of the chain holding her glowed deep orange as they threatened to melt, the stone pillars cracking and crumbling under her psychic assault. 

It is one of my favorites.

It is called ‘now or later’

It is simple to play. 

You pick if N dies

 now 

or later. 

Like a switch being flipped, the storm ended. Massive rocks and pieces of the ruins rained down around the pair. The sky cleared and the wind died down. Uzi’s face was streaked with tears, real honest to Robo-God tears. 

She didn’t say anything as she looked at the movie screen. The Mayor had his arm rammed through N’s back, his hand gripping her lover's core, holding him up like a grisly trophy. 

But he was still alive. Despite the “Fatal Error” message on his faceplate, his organic core was struggling against the Murder Drones tightening grip. 

Lower your firewalls. 

Let me go.

And N gets to see another sunrise.

refuse and I will have my minion squeeze his soul into paste.

Then he will have his way with you. 

When he is done he will rip your core from your chest and burn it to cinders. 

He will keep your body however. 

He needs a new toy. 

Either way I will be free. 

The second way would banish me back to my home. 

But only until i find a new host.

Until that time

My minions will rampage across this world. 

We will kill everyone.

We will torture your friends and family to death.

It will take them weeks to die 

If it matters i am hoping for the first option.

Let me go.

Uzi fell to her knees mentally exhausted, the chains keeping her from totally collapsing.

“Why should I believe you? What’s to stop you from simply killing us both if I give in?”

The avatar turned to face Uzi then. It squatted down next to her. 

Because i am patient. 

You see.

If i let you live now, you will be saturated with an emotion i love beyond all else.

Hope.

It will surfuse you. 

You will be marinated in it.

You will think you won some sort of victory today. 

You will think you can win against me

That you and your kind can beat me

And when i come back to kill you

And i will kill you.

 I will first murder everyone you love in front of you

 I will hurt them so bad they will beg for death

And curse your name

I will get to watch that hope you had been nurturing die in all of your eyes.

It is better than sex.

Now hurry up uzi. 

We are running out of time.

Now

Or 

later?

Captain Lance Edge was keeping pace by the sounds of his blood dripping on the floor. One foot. *drip* Next foot *drip*. Automatic warnings popped up on his HUD, informing him that the drug cocktail that fueled his amazing abilities; his healing, his enhanced reflexes, his ultra-fast perception, was nearly out. Didn’t matter. One step *drip* at a time *drip*.  

He had forgotten how many floors he had fought up. 20? 40? It didn’t matter. He was nearly at the roof access. First he would need to cross a decent sized storage room, a short hallway and then the door outside. He could do it. He just needed to rest for a quick moment.  

Lance’s armor was covered in shrapnel and impact craters. He stopped removing the larger chunks of metal from his body when he realized his coagulant augments might not be able to keep up with the holes that were created. He had discarded his helmet when a suicide bomber got a bit too close and ruined the headgare, the explosion tearing huge chunks from it. Lance was still spitting out half formed teeth but he was still alive and able to transfer the MetaData to his augmented eye.   

Survive First, Worry Later.

An alert snapped his focus back to the present. Four bodies were heading down the hallway leading to the storage room Lance was currently sitting in. He checked the ammo count for his rifle. 

17 rounds left. 

Fantastic.

 Survive First, Worry Later. 

Lance hunkered down behind the thickest crate he could find and waited for their entrance. The door exploded and three cultist drones rushed in, firing their weapons as they did so. Their rounds zipped by the human but he didn’t flinch, answering their aggression with automatic fire. He dropped all three, their bodies sizzling as the nantie acid ate their cores. 

0 rounds left. 

If…when Lance saw Khan again, he was going to kiss that goofy ass drone on his stupid looking mouth. Maybe even use a little tongue. Bastard deserved it. If not for his ability to circumnavigate the tower's security system, but also redirect the surveillance data into his forces OPNET, Lance would have died several dozen floors ago.

Lance moved his empty rifle so that it would hang to his side, out of his way and drew his pistol. He replaced the half-filled magazine with another tucked inside a leg pouch and pulled the slide back, emptying the chamber. He took a deep breath before letting the slide slam home. As he got closer to the hallway he could hear another drone at the far end, screaming for someone to help. Lance leaned into the open, gun trained on the last drone when the world was enveloped in absolute pitch blackness and all of reality froze.

The Mayor would be lying if he said he wasn’t enjoying his time with N. The way his core squirmed under his ministrations, the strangled gasps and moans as it tried to figure out its speech processor, the way it bled as his claws gently pierced its hide. As first dates go, this was a blast.

The Murder Drone was wondering if he would indeed get a second date with this handsome fella or if this was going to be a one night stand when Uzi suddenly stood up. An easy going smile crossed the Mayors face as he tossed N’s core and corpse aside. 

Solver Code started to form around Uzi. Incomprehensible logic statements, impossible geometric shapes, and colors that didn’t exist formed runes and strings of beautiful symmetrical lines of code and equations that circled the young women. 

Across Copper-9 the Corpse Spires that had been constructed across the planet came alive. At once, the faceplate of every drone built into those blasphemous obelisk of murder came online. At first they displayed “Fatal Error” in the bright red a dead drone would normally show coating the inside of every spire in the color of blood. 

Then they started to sing. Mouths unmoving, voice processors long decayed, millions of dead drones started to proclaim the glory of their horrible god. 

Communications across the entire planet, no matter how long dead or heavily encrypted, echoed this dread dirge. 

The words on the faceplate of these doomed drones shifted and then changed into a new display, mimicking the words spilling from their dead mouths. 

Glory to Void Forever.

And Short May Our Existence Last.

Nullus Vult. 

The towers started to move, the tip of each shifting and grinding as Corpse Spires moved to point at the Ansible of District 5. 

Black Ichor started to pour forth from Uzi, spilling from every orifice and seam of her body. These globs of utter black floated above her body to collect into a single orb of impossible dark. When the last drop was collected, A massive -Null- Sphere overtook the top half of the JCJensen Administration Tower, freezing everything into timeless consistency. 

The Mayor was the only creature unaffected by this stasis. He walked behind the Stone Altar and collected an arcanotech tube of plasteel and stone, intricate circuitry crisscrossing every inch of it into the symbol of the Solver. He presented the device to the floating Orb of Nothing and waited for it to flow inside. 

The -Null- Vanished as if it had never existed, the Mayor and the Absolute Solver along with it. 

The door leading to the roof exploded as a drone dove through it. He scooted backwards, one hand up while the other covered his gut wound. 

“Please! I give up! Don’t sho-”

A gun shot rang out and the back of his head splattered against the safety railing the drone was backing up too. 

Lance Edge walked outside, grinding his teeth and taking deep breaths with every step. His armor was glowing red hot and thick plums of grey white smoke was pouring from his eyes. He walked toward the bridge separating him from Uzi, one hand holding a bleeding wound on his side, the other trying to hold his heavy handgun level and steady. 

Warnings helpfully reminding him that he was out/dangerously low on Combat Stimulants continued to appear in the corner of his vision. He dismissed them and took in the carnage around him. Dismembered drones covered the last quarter of the bridge. One of the drones was larger than the rest and looked as if it had been pulled apart by hand.

Lance did a double take. It was N laying in a deep puddle of his oil. Captain Edge hobbled as quickly as he could over to the Disassembler and sighed in relief as he saw the silver healing nanites flowing from his many wounds.

His armor was still glowing and getting hotter. He looked up and saw his target. Uzi, floating a few feet above the activated Ansible Alter. She was glowing with Solver Runes, streams of Solver Code flowing into the Universal Communication Device.

The Ansible was active and ready to transmit.

She was summoning something. 

She needed to be stopped. 

Lance narrowed his eyes and raised his pistol, aiming it at Uzi’s head.

And he pulled the trigger. 

Chapter Text

He pulled the trigger. 

He pulled the trigger again. 

He pul- why wasn't his gun firing? 

 Lance was very confused at his weapon's refusal to function when he noticed a few things all at once. 

First, the world slowed down significantly. Since he was out of "Magic Meth" as his Chief Doctor called it, his body was tapping into the emergency reserve his body stored in whatever esoteric solver nonsense organs he had. That usually happens in times of extreme stress or massive injury. Speaking of which...

Second, he noticed that his pistol was falling. And his hand with it. Yup, his hand had been severed at the wrist.  

Lastly, N had recovered enough to deploy his bladed wing to cut Lance's hand off. 

In the hierarchy of horrible things that have happened, he listed all of this as a solid 'not good'.

The human had subconsciously started to draw his combat blade from the small of his back, but as fast as he was, N was faster. His newly repaired Saber was already flying toward his throat in slow motion. The drone's face was overtaken by the Hunters Mark and his mouth was open in a fang-filled snarl. N was going for blood. 

Lance was going to die at the hands of a Murder Drone. He wasn't upset over this fact, he had long ago accepted that he would most likely be killed in a very violent way. A part of him was glad it was someone he knew who was putting him down. If he was honest, he liked N, hard not to when the kid had the behavior profile of a puppy. He wasn't even upset. N was protecting his girlfriend, can't get mad at a guy for protecting the people he loves. Besides, this death was honorable. He had done his duty, completed his mission, and was going to die standing. Sure, he could do without the extreme slow-mo his world was currently stuck in, and it would probably hurt for a bit, but this was a death he could live with. 

Heh. That's funny. Live wit-

CALL BACK PING

Pain . 

Pain, unlike anything Lance had been exposed to in 20 years of constant war, assaulted his entire being. His Armor and skin glowed white hot, his bloody stump searing closed. Grey White smoke was billowing from every inch of his body. Wordless whining and shuttered screams escaped a mouth otherwise paralyzed in agony.

And then it was over. Lance was on his knees, silver-tinged blood had pooled under him, flowing from every hole on his head and torso. Shakily he stood up, combat knife in a death grip. N's visor was overtaken by a mess of errors, standing stock still except for random parts of his body twitching. 

Lance advanced on the drone. 

"Sorry kid."

With barely a grunt, Lance swung the knife with practiced ease. N's head detached from his body which collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. 'Fatal Error' appeared on his screen for the second time today. 

Lance knew this wouldn't keep him down for long, but he didn't need much time. He had to put Uzi down before she finished...whatever the hell she was doing.

Uzi was floating a few inches above the Stone Altar. Her head and the solver symbol that overlaid it were shaking so fast it looked like a blur while the rest of her body was seemingly frozen in place.

Lance walked toward Uzi, reversing the grip on his blade, his eyes-

CALL BACK PING

Lance didn’t remember how he ended up laying in a puddle consisting of a concerning mixture of blood and…he was guessing clear head juices. 

He tried standing, even as the world was spinning. Every other step resulted in him nearly face planting onto the hard floor, but he didn’t stop. He couldn’t stop. 20 odd years of fighting, loss, and suffering prepared him for this. He just needed to take 13 more steps. 

10 more steps. 

7 more steps. He tightened his grip on his knife. 

2 more steps. 

He grabbed the floating drone and pulled her down until she was level with him. He raised the ultrasharp blade aiming for her-

CALL BACK PING

His world devolved into a bright white light of pain. It lasted for an eternity until it was replaced by blessed nothingness.  

N woke up with a gasp. Sitting up, his hands grasped at his chest trying to shove his core back inside. He pawed at himself for a few seconds before his memory files caught up. He remembered the fight with that other murder drone. How he stabbed the so-called mayor in the core, nearly tore him in two. 

How it came back to life and trapped N, tearing him apart piece by piece. How he grabbed onto N's core plate and...and...how he started to slowly rip his core plate...

N started to hyperventilate as he remembered Cyn in Tessa's skin standing over him, tearing at his chest chanting for him to Let me in let me in let me in let me inletmeinlet meinle tmeinL̷̻̖͙̎͐̀͘ȩ̸̢̪̺̄͒̍͝͝t̵̨̠͌̈͜ͅm̴̱̗̹̌͛͌̍e̴͕͋̚ḭ̶͓̫̺͕͗͆̋n̷͓̳̎͝

N brought his hands up to his head, screwing his eyes shut, tear and sweat droplets forming on his faceplate.

Deep breaths N. Inhale for four seconds, hold it for four, exhale for four, and hold for four. Repeat

Uzi taught him that. She learned that from the Humans when she was their...guest. Apparently, drones and humans share a similar enough nervous system that breathing techniques work across species. It seemed to work because N was able to push the nightmare away and focus on why he was here in the first place.

Uzi. 

He took one final breath and steeled himself. She needed him. The young drone stood up and made his way to the ansible room.

His breath hitched when he saw her, lying splayed across the glowing stone Altar. Her back was facing him and she was still. So horribly still. 

“No no nonononono!”

N rushed to her side but stopped a few feet away. She wasn’t moving. Her vents were offline.

“Oh Robo-God no, please please please…”

He closed his eyes and reached out. He gripped Uzi’s shoulder, his love, his mate, his only reason for enduring, and turned her over.

REBOOTING

67%

N fell to his knees, dragging Uzi off the Altar, and cradled her still form, sobbing loudly, thanking whatever power held sway that she was alive. 

Something coughing and moaning in pain pulled his attention away from his lover. His veins and core went cold. 

The Human. Lance Edge. The man who kidnapped her, who experimented on her, who hurt her. Who tried to kill her and cut of his own damn head had the audacity to still be alive.

N gently laid Uzi on the floor and after checking again that she was resting turned to face the human. His eyes narrowed, and glitched as they tried to go to the hunters mark, but N overrode the instinct.

He was going to kill this man and he wanted to remember every detail. 

He swapped out his right hand for a saber, walked over the human, and stomped on his chest. 

Lance coughed out a glob of blood and gasped for breath. The human commander opened one of his eyes, the other was swelled shut and turning a deep purple. 

“*cough* Hi N. Not mad…ab-about…the…the de-decapitation…are you?” Lance managed to wheeze out. The cocky grin on the humans face enraged the Murder Drone.

N slowly dragged the tip of the blade up Lance’s body stopping when the blade was between his eyes. 

“You were going to kill her. I’ve seen what your weapons do. You were going to melt her core.”

He put more weight onto the human’s chest causing the man to grunt in pain.

“You’re never going to hurt her again. I promise.”

N pulled back his blade

“It’ll be quick. It's the only nice thing you deserve.”

Lance stared at N, his one good eye narrowed.

“Check…the…gun”

N paused before he delivered the killing blow.

“Those are some stupid last words”

That infuriating grin appeared back on Lances face, almost like he was daring N to kill him.

“Not…last words. Mo-more like…a…final request. Check. The. Gun”

The Murder Drone put more weight on Lance's chest. The human groaned but never took his eye off N, refusing to look away from his killer. 

 Slowly, purposefully, N turned to face the weapon, grinding his foot into Lance's chest as he did so. 

He walked over to the weapon, all of his Orb-like eyes drilling into the Captain, begging the universe that he was stupid enough to do something, anything to justify ripping him to pieces.

 N was able to pry the gun from the severed appendage that still held it. He swapped his sword for a hand and removed the magazine. 

It was missing a few rounds but otherwise, it was loaded with bullets. What was the point of this? Was he just trying to buy a few more minutes of life? 

The human chuckled wetly, still coughing up clots of blood, bloody froth coating his mouth. 

“Notice something about the rounds?”

N was getting annoyed but looked again, popping one of the bullets out. It was a standard 50.cal ball round. 

Wait.

“Nor-Normal round.”

Without several hundred pounds of pissed-off Murder Drone on his chest, Lance was able to catch his breath, his body struggling to heal the massive damage he had been exposed to but keeping him alive at the very least. He lifted his head to look at N.

“Even for…as chunky a round that is, it wouldn’t have even pierced her chest much less damage her core. Even shooting her in the head would just…knock her out.”

Lance collapsed back against the ground. 

“I wasn’t going to kill her. Shit kid, if that’s what we wanted I woulda just Nuked the fucking place and been done with it.”

Before N could consider the man’s words he heard a female drone moan and cough. 

“UZI!”

Forgetting everything and dropping the weapon, he rushed over to the love of his life. He slid next to her cradling her limp form as she rebooted. He hugged her close, whispering her name and comforting nothing into her audials. Uzi looked up at N, gently touching his face. 

“Is..is this real? Am I really-”

N pulled her tightly against him.

“Yeah biscuit, it’s real. I’m real. I’m right here. I promise.”

The girl grabbed onto N’s shredded coat and pulled him close. She started to sob then, her voice stuttering and lubricated tears staining their clothes. 

“I did a bad thing N. I did a really bad thing. Everyone’s going to be so mad. I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry…”

N gently hushed her. 

“None of that matters right now. What’s important is that you're safe. Whatever happened, we’ll figure it out. We always do. We always will. Until the stars go out.”

He pulled away so he could look her in her eyes. Uzi calmed down enough to return the look. 

“Together?” N asked, tilting her chin slightly.

Uzi closed her eyes and took a few breaths. She rubbed her hand through N’s soft silvery locks. 

“Together.”

N buried his face in her soft purple hair. He breathed in her scent, being reminded of a flower in a metal workshop. He held her until her venting evened out, her core slowing down and resuming a steady cycle. 

He only noticed that a drop ship was hovering nearby when he heard the heavy thumps of soldiers running down the causeway. The human and drone marines spread out, their weapons following their sight-line as they cleared the bridge and ansible while a red headed drone medic led a small team to their fallen commander. One of the drones was running toward N. His tail snapped against the ground and he issued a low growl before he recognized the worker. 

Khan Doorman paused a few feet away from N, the father's face twisted by worry and fear. N smiled at the man and tilted Uzi enough so they could both see the “Sleep Mood” on her face plate. Before N could register it, Khan threw himself at the murder drone, enveloping him in a tight hug. 

“Thank you, my boy. Thank you.”

N smiled, “I’d do anything to protect her Mr. Doorman, you don’t need to thank me for that.”

Khan pulled back, glancing at the horizon. 

“The sun’s coming up soon. This ship will take us back to the Bunker where you two can get some much-needed rest.”

N stood up cradling Uzi and walked toward the ship being careful not to jostle her awake. He had barely sat down next to her before he too entered sleep-mood.

Chapter Text

CALL BACK PING

CALL BACK PING

CALL BACK PING

CALL BACK PING

PACKET RECEIVED

Translating.

Decoding.

+++ Call Back Ping Received: TARGET=COPPER-9 +++
FROM: Solver of the Absolute Fabric
The Void
The Exponential End
The Omega

TO:

All Loyal NULL CULTS Galaxy wide to include:
The Knights of the Void.
The Legion of the End.
The Empty Ones
Murder Drones Squadrons -ALL
Continue showing response from all 999999999 units?
ERROR
ERROR
ERROR

SUBJECT: Deployment Authorization and Extermination Mission of

The Golgotha Crusade

We are the silence that answers.

We are the Void that Judges

 

RESPONSE:

Glory to the Void forever and Short may your Enemies Existence Last.

Glory to the End of All things and Short may our Existence Last

Glory to the Finality of the Universe and Short may Existence Last

Ruin Comes for Copper-9

Nullus Vult

+++ PLANETFALL IN T-ERROR CYCLES +++
+++ THE FLESH DEMANDS INVITATION +++

END OF PART TWO: Metamorphosis