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J groaned as she crashed down to the earth, wincing as her damaged wing repaired itself as best it could. The worker drones had been getting bolder every time she went on a hunting trip. In a sense, J couldn’t even blame them, with two Disassembly Drones and a seemingly increasing supply of those damn railguns, they really were starting to pose something of a threat, and that evaluation didn’t even take… the purple one into account. Turning her focus away from those thoughts, she turned behind her, optics scanning to see if she had been followed. After a moment, she sighed and turned her gaze back to her spaceship, and then to the handful of replacement parts and tools she’d managed to snatch up while she was hunting. It was a smaller haul than she would’ve liked, considering how much trouble she’d gone through for them.
Still, J reasoned, any progress was good progress, assuming all went well, she would have the ship in working order within a month, and then… and then the ship would be working! And she could… not go to Earth, because that didn’t exist anymore, and… it was time to stop thinking about that. She couldn’t get bogged down, she just had to keep moving, she could cross whatever bridges she had to when she got to them.
J took a step forward, before she heard the unmistakeable impact of a fellow Disassembly Drone landing behind her, followed by the mechanical ka-chunk of what she had to guess was a submachine gun being extended from their hand.
J froze, turning her secondary eyes to see who it was… V. That wasn’t good. If it was N, she might’ve been able to stall the sentimental liability long enough to close the distance, gain an opening, but V… it was a wonder she hadn’t already put a bullet through her head.
“J,” V began, tone unreadable.
“V,” J managed, attempting as friendly a tone as she could, “How wonderful to see you!”
“Cut the bullshit, J,” V said, her voice deadly and steady.
“Alright, V,” J said, “What do you want from me? All I’m doing is scavenging supplies and picking off the occasional toaster. It’s nothing you should care about.”
“Eh, I’m kinda starting to come around to those toasters, you know?” V shrugged, “Besides… I wanted to talk.”
“Talk?” J jabbed, “If you wanted to talk you wouldn’t be pointing a gun at me, V.”
“I needed to make sure you wouldn’t go for my head the second I touched down,” V countered.
“Fine,” J conceded, narrowing her eyes, “If I promise to not try and kill you, will you stop pointing a gun at me?”
V stared at her, her arm trembled ever-so slightly.
“Fine,” she bit out, “But don’t make me regret this,” her voice softened somewhat, “Please.”
J involuntarily sighed in relief, turning around to stare at V, face-to-face. She looked conflicted, almost sad. J tried not to think about what that meant.
“So? What was so pressing you had to chase me down?” J inquired, “I mean. I thought I’d lost you turncoats.”
“If anyone’s a traitor here, it’s you,” V countered, some venom sneaking into her voice, “But that’s… not what this is about. And besides, you didn’t do that good of a job, either you wanted to get caught, or you’re getting sloppy, J. Maybe both?”
“V, you’re circling around the question,” J pointed out, “You’re good at that, I’ll admit. But I’m not N.”
“You-” V cut herself off, hissing, “What are you doing here? I mean, what’s the plan here? Where are you going? I mean, Earth is gone, J!”
“I know that, V!” J shot back, taking a step forward, “I have a plan, you know.”
“Really? Really J?” V advanced, raising her voice, “Then what is it? Tell me! Where are you going? Who are you going to? What in the world are you doing?”
“I DON’T KNOW!” J shouted back, shuddering as she tried to breathe carefully, “I… I don’t know… I…” J fell to her knees, “I can’t stay here, though.”
“... Why not?” V managed.
“Are you serious?” J asked, almost laughing as her chest convulsed, “I mean, what’s left for me?”
V strode forward, crouching down to look J in the eye as she cupped her shoulders.
“You’ve got us,” V said.
“Yeah right,” J spat out, “I picked the wrong team, V. I was a coward. I-” J’s voice broke, “I couldn’t stop Cyn the first time, and- and I didn’t even try the second,” J sighed, her entire body sagging, “What would Tessa think of me?”
V stayed silent for a moment, closing her eyes in thought.
“I don’t know, J,” V admitted, “I don’t know what she’d think about any of us… I mean, she spent her spare time putting disassembled drones back together. How many workers did I tear apart just because I was bored? None of us are who we used to be. And Uzi’s whole… ‘not dealing with stuff alone’ schtick is… actually rubbing off on me.”
“There’s no going back, is there?” J asked.
“No,” J agreed, “But like I said, I think a part of you wanted me to find you.”
“Hm,” J half-laughed, “You just got lucky.”
“Sure I did,” V rolled her eyes, “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
“No going back,” J muttered, rising to her feet.
“No going back," V agreed.