Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

[Friday evening, 1 week after the defeat of Cyn]

Two silhouettes swept over the evening sky of Copper-9, the one in the lead bearing the bat-like wings of a Solver host, and the other with the angelic wings of a Disassembly Drone, faintly glinting in the starlight. Having reached their destination, the pair suddenly dived down, their wings wrapping around their bodies before spreading out at the last moment to make a gentle landing. Uzi took a couple exaggerated steps then halted, resting her hands on her hips. looking at the sign before them, and the facility beyond.

“So, what was this ‘high priority salvage’ you mentioned, Mom?” Uzi asked. Her beanie shifted momentarily, with the single eye of a drone heart emerging from beneath it.

“My iPod charger is buried under rubble at the cathedral. There should be a spare or two somewhere in here.” Uzi rolled her eyes as Nori hopped down from her head, now looking to the facility’s entrance,

“And how’s that high priority?” she shrugged with one hand, the other cupping her elbow. Nori stood on the tips of her claws, extending her height to it’s greatest extent as she looked up to meet her daughters eyes.

“Because I’m your frickin’ mom and I say so!” she yelled, “And why’s he here!?” Nori was now gesturing towards N, who was previously looking around idly, but now stepped closer with a sheepish chuckle. He addressed the question by saying,

“V said there may be one or two sentinels left active, and Uzi was scared to-”

“BITE ME!” Uzi interjected.

Nori sighed and replied,

“Fine, whatever. Let’s just go.”

The gravitational anomaly that occurred during their final confrontation with Cyn had left it’s mark on the facility; furniture tossed around, hallways blocked by rubble and large cracks running up most walls as well as the power being cut. Nori grabbed her mining helmet from Uzi’s backpack while explaining,

“Check everywhere. you both saw the photo of the cable I sent?”

“Yes Ma’am!” N’s enthusiastic voice came from across the room, already rummaging through the reception desk. Uzi was still next to her mother, adjusting her backpack as she put it back on,

“Sure, but this place is pretty big. How are we gonna search it all?” The question made Nori pause momentarily while contemplating her answer,

“I think a few humans who worked in the labs had them, but they could have had a cubicle to themselves too. So we just have to look everywhere.” Uzi groaned, this whole expedition now seemed a farce, given their target. N interrupted their conversation,

“Hey look! A map!” Nori scuttled over and snatched the piece of paper from his hand, as it left his hand N went from excited to disappointed. As she examined it, she voiced aloud the layout,

“Hmm, there’s offices on both floors. Upstairs has a dorm area & there are 3 labs on this floor.” N perked up at her thanks,

“You’re welcome, Mrs. Doorman. Happy to help!!”

Uzi had now joined N & Nori by the desk,

“Ok. Uzi, you search the lower offices. N, search upstairs, I’ll search the labs. Find me when you’re done.” They split up, each heading to their respective search zones. N was meticulous, searching every nook and cranny, and tidying up behind him. In searching the place Uzi managed to trash it worse than zero-G had; pulling furniture apart to access the contents & flinging stuff at a wall when done, still mad about coming here for one stupid cable. Nori’s search was far faster than her companions, at least for the first two rooms. The first room she checked was the largest, with double doors. It had been completely trashed; claw marks covered every surface, all the furniture was torn apart and many of the walls had large dents, had someone trapped sentinels in here?. The second lab gave the impression it was inhabited recently, having been cleared of many human amenities leaving two gurneys, the built in countertops and a plethora of tools & drone parts, the jagged edges showed no care had been given for their former owners.

The door to the third lab was wide open, saving Nori the effort of using the solver to open it, as she had with the other labs’ doors. What was just beyond the door caught her very off guard: A worker drone with it’s head crushed and… antlers? She moved closer to investigate, illuminating a name tag hanging from the right antler,

“Alice…” and the hair confirmed it; red with a black fringe. They had known each other as test subjects, but after the core collapse Nori left with Yeva right away; she didn’t want to stick around & Nori tagged along, owing Yeva for patching her. She figured Alice would move on too, but it seemed not. Distracted from her hunt for a charger, she examined the body further; a tail not unlike N’s or Uzi’s, but with a kitchen knife crudely fixed to the end. Her “antlers” were attached to a helmet and made up of two pipes with a couple knives on either side, a lightbulb on the left and her old id tag hanging from the right side. she wore the same grey tunic they were all given as test subjects here, now tattered, with large holes & ragged edges. A quick glance around the room revealed more of what she now assumed was Alice’s handiwork: a bucket of finger joints, a decapitated drone by a knocked over gurney, the remains of solver-infected hearts sticking out from a pile of rubble and ovens… The scene was disturbing, but those hearts gave her an idea, she flicked the antler light on and waited for N & Uzi to arrive.

Nori sat idle, her charger forgotten, when she heard two sets of metallic footsteps approaching, looking towards the door, her daughter and N turned into the room at the same time, having evidently met up before coming here.

“Hey Mom. Nothing.” Uzi spoke flatly, followed by N in his ever-cheerful tone,

“Hi, Mrs. Doorman! I looked really hard, But I couldn’t find anything…” Nori scuttled over, carrying a couple tools with the solver,

“Good, you’re both here. I found something I need a hand with.” she then illuminated Alice’s body. “An old friend of mine, should have a heart like ours. We’re gonna dig it out & try wake her up.”

Trepidation spread across both Uzi & N’s face, she spoke out first, “Are you fucking serious!? You drag us out here for your dumb cable & now you wanna revive this nutjob!? She tried to kill me! She chopped off my fingertip!” her voice quietened to a whisper before she continued, “She got me possessed by Cyn…” N added,

“I'm not sure about that, Ma’am…” Nori looked up at them, her one eye showing sympathy, but she didn’t back down,

“How’s she gonna hurt you? No body, no solver abilities. Trust me, it’ll be fine.”

N knelt down next to Alice, still unsure, but satisfied they could handle any danger. Nori floated him a bone-saw, and he got to cutting Alice open. In no time, the front was off, and N lifted Alice’s Heart out. Uzi was perched on a countertop in the far corner, ready to pounce if Alice tried anything,

“Well?” she asked, impatient. N and Nori both studied the heart - it was lifeless, a void where her eye should shine from - before replying,

“Well, she looks intact…” N had answered first, though he was lost for what to do. His knowledge of the workings of drones being more comparable to that of a butcher than a surgeon’s.

“Maybe she needs some kind of signal to activate. Uzi, can you do a callback ping?” Uzi glared in silence, but before she could answer, the eyes of her tail turned from purple to solid yellow and it answered for her,

“ooh, I’ll help! [Callback Ping].”

It was Cyn’s voice. Unmistakeable. Undeniable. Nori shot Uzi daggers, her eye flicking between face & tail. N gave a concerned look, and Uzi’s face twitched, a crack in her bold facade. They were all quickly distracted by an orange glow coming from behind. It had worked.

Pure darkness. Then a command line. Code flashed across her vision and as it cleared her vision returned. She recognised N immediately, but it wasn’t hard to guess who the purple eyed heart with fishnets & a beanie was,

“Hey! You get back! I’ll knife you! With my tail!” She tried to back away from them but stumbled, her body not reacting as she expected. Looking around, the reason why became clear, sat just behind her was her own body with her tail and her antlers. Her head however, it… was crushed; a mess of jagged metal & shattered glass. Her torso, however, had been neatly cut open. Realisation enabled her to better control her new crustacean form, she clambered onto a nearby desk, the one that housed the door controls & CCTV feeds, though now the screens only showed her new reflection. She looked to N,

“So... uh, I know last time we met I tried to kill ya, but uh… forgive and forget?” she followed this question with a weak smile, her nervousness apparent to all present. From the dark corner came Uzi made her presence known. low and cold, she said,

“you’re alive right now at my mother’s request and over my objections. Try anything and I’ll kill you again.” Alice kept her eye down & gave a nervous,

“Uh, sure,” before facing the other heart, “Nori, huh? You’re… all purple again. Thanks for leaving me stuck here with the sentinels, real cool of you and Yeva.” Alice stared at Nori until she gave a timid apology,

”Uh, yeah. Sorry about that...” Nori had a guilty expression, but Alice had noticed something about Uzi, in the corner behind her. The yellow in her eyes.

Alice had suddenly frozen up, her eye locked onto something behind Nori. As she followed her sight-line, she met the purple and yellow eyes of her daughter.

“Uzi, could you wait outside? You… look kinda possessed.” Uzi gave Nori a pained look,

“Fine, whatever. Just be quick.” and stormed out. N started to stand and pointed to the door then asked,

“Should I..?” Nori looked up at him to answer & beckoned him to sit back down with one claw,

“No stay, I still want a pair of hands.” Alice had relaxed a bit now, Nori decided to offer an explanation, “Uzi’s in control of herself, it’s just a side effect of eating Cyn’s core.”

Alice looked to the door. She was still uneasy about it, but moved to return to their prior topic,

“She what? An’ I still don’t forgive you.” Nori sighed, giving a slow nod,

“Yeah, that’s fair.” Nori looked around, hoping to change the topic, when something caught her eye. Hanging off of the desk Alice was sat on was… An iPod charger! A purple solver symbol materialised around the USB end before the cable flew towards N, “Wrap that up & stick it in a pocket! That’s our high priority salvage!” A slightly sad expression came Over Alice,

“Didn’t come here for me, huh? I shoulda known.” Nori’s face dropped with guilty,

“Oh, sorry. You can come with us. I… I’d feel bad leaving you behind again.” Alice brightened up,

“Yeah yeah, make it all about you, sunshine. Let me grab a few things.”

Uzi was sat on a girder, eyes glued to her feet. She only looked up to the sound of N’s feet crunching the snow, Nori on his right shoulder and Alice on his left. Nori hopped down and scuttled up to Uzi levitating the charger out of N’s pocket and into Uzi’s bag. Informing Uzi as she did,

“We’re good to go! She’s coming with.” Uzi put her backpack on & lifted Nori onto her head before noticing N’s new bag; it was large & very full. A body bag held to his back with what looked like a pair of damaged tails. She queried,

“Uhh… what’s with-” Alice cut in,

“My stuff, freakshow. Mind yer own damn business.” Uzi shrugged & turned away,

“Fine. Bite me, psycho!” before sprouting her wings & taking off.

The flight back to Compound-3 was silent.

Chapter Text

Uzi & N touched down outside the doors to Compound-3, as they approached, Nori poked out from Uzi’s beanie, then moved to her shoulder & Alice emerged from her bag, taking up a similar position on N’s shoulder. Uzi went to pull the master key from her bag, but before it could leave the bag, the door started opening. It groaned as it opened, revealing Khan stood by the door and some other WDF members sat around a table playing cards,
“Hi honey, did you find your charger?” Nori gave a nod and Khan turned his attention to N, and the new heart sat on his shoulder, “who’s your new friend?” N started to Respond when Nori Interrupted,
“She’s my old friend, Alice. I might have mentioned her” Alice added
“WAS your friend. Not since you left me to die.” khan chuckled lightly before responding,
“ahh, sounds familiar. I’m sure she’ll forgive you in time. Why, just look at Uzi, I… sorta left her to be killed by murder drones, and she forgave me, didn’t you, Uzi?”

Immediate. Uncomfortable. Silence.

Uzi looked away, holding her arm. She sensed the tension in the air & wanted for all the world to be anywhere else. Nori, However, stared right at Khan, her expression icy cold, “What Did you say?”
“well, I’d never held a gun before! plus she survived. And I even made her new railgun, so all’s well that ends well?” he was stumbling over his words as he answered. Nori’s expression remained unchanged, but without warning, a pebble flew at Khan, propelled by a purple solver symbol, leaving a dent in his helmet. Khan’s expression went pensive, “Who are you to criticize my parenting anyway!? you ran away at the first opportunity! At least I was there for her!” Nori shot Back,
“you know damn well why I left! What was at stake.” Khan took a step towards her, his fists clenched,
“and you could have asked for help! Or even just told me! We deserved to know you were still Alive. Uzi deserved a mother…” That last remark had stung Nori. She pulled her cable from Uzi’s backpack before jumping down, and leaving without a word more.

Khan winced as he watched his newly returned wife disappear with door 2 falling shut, a dejected expression coming over him.
“I’m… I… FUCK! I’m gonna be in my workshop…” his voice was hoarse as he voiced his intentions & shuffled towards the door controls, locking 2 & 3 open before heading in. His colleagues, who had paused their card game, distracted by the argument, suddenly all found reasons to leave too, heading off to do maintenance or make more railguns for the WDF. This left Uzi, N & Alice stood in silence, after a moment, N broke it, reaching a hand towards Uzi,
“Hey, do you wanna talk, or..?” Uzi rubbed her foot on the ground,
“not now, I just wanna alone.” after a short pause, she threw her bag against the table, then flew off.

The tension remained as N & Alice were left alone, Alice spoke first,
“well, that’s over. What’s ya plan now, golden boy?” N looked out at the sky, concern written across his face,
“I’m staying here until Uzi gets back” Alice gave him an annoyed look,
“I’d rather not. and I’d quite like to find somewhere to put my stuff.” N turned to look inside, it was almost daytime so Uzi would probably stop somewhere sheltered from the sun,
“fine. So long as I’m back by nightfall.” he grabbed Uzi’s bag and pulled the keycard out, it having been left on top after her prior reach for it, He’d drop it by Uzi’s house once Alice was off his back. They didn’t talk as N locked the doors & headed inside.

Chapter Text

N walked into the compound administration building and approached the reception desk,
“hi, got a new resident here!” the receptionist peered over his newspaper, holding his glasses to examine the unusual pair stood before him,
“lotta new people lately. Course, lotta resident’s disappearing, too.” he was staring directly at N now,
“wonder if you or your girlfriend know anything about that. Anyway here’s the form.” As N grabbed a pen and sat down to fill it out, Alice asked dryly,
“D’ya think he meant that purple freakshow o’ yours or Cyn’s other old pet?” N ignored her, and started filling the form out, but quickly paused,
“uhm… surname?” Alice gave him a puzzled look before turning to the form. She didn’t have a surname, unless you counter her ID number from the lab. She quickly decided 017 would be weird for a name, so she sought advice from N,
“should I just make something up? I never had one before.” N nodded,
“I guess… any ideas?” truth be told, the only people Alice knew with surnames were the Doormans… her mind went back to the incident at the entrance, and it must have shown on her face, as N asked, “you good?” Alice just nodded, before returning to her thoughts, what set her apart from other drones? Her antlers came to mind, despite only being mounted to her helmet, it was still something that she felt set her apart.
“um, E-Elkington?” she winced as she spoke, unsure of how it sounded, but N just smiled & wrote it down, quickly finishing the rest of the form.

The receptionist threw N a keycard, before shooing him out and returning to his paper. The keycard had a tag attached with the address on, which they quickly found after N asked a worker for directions.
“here you go, you also wanted to see about a new body right?” he spoke as he reached the card toward the control panel, pushing open the door and gently laying Alice’s bag down. She let out a relenting sigh, then noted,
“thanks, you’re not bad for a murder-bot.” N grinned in response, stepping back out of the apartment & closing the door. N laid out their options for sourcing her a body,
“we could ask at the supply depot, or the infirmary. The infirmary is closer, so I say we go there first.” Alice climbed from N’s shoulder onto his head, affirming his plan with,
“sure sounds good.” as N walked.
After a couple more minutes walking, N abruptly stopped and turned, having now arrived at the infirmary. N approached the front desk, greeting the receptionist with a wave and the following,
“Hi! Do you have any spare bodies?” the receptionist looked up, noting,
“That’s twice this week, weird.” she tapped away at computer, before pausing to ask, “Yeah, We can get you one. Name, address and body type, please?” Alice crawled down to N’s shoulder to answer,
“That’s uh… Alice Elkington, female worker. N, can you show her the key? ” The receptionist copied down the address she informed Alice,
“You’ll receive a letter the day before it’s ready.” N stuffed the key back in his pocket, as they both thanked the receptionist. They paused outside the infirmary now, planning their next move. N stuck his thumb under the strap of Uzi’s bag before speaking,
“I’ve gotta drop Uzi’s bag off, are you gonna be ok now?” Alice responded,
“sure, just get me home. I got nowhere to hold a keycard.” N nodded and began walking. The walk was a comfortable quiet. when they reached the home, N opened the door, switched the light on and placed the keycard on a small table. before he left, Alice asked,
“hey, I was meaning to ask Nori too, but can you keep quiet about what’s in my bag? Kinda personal, and y’all here are strangers.” N nodded, with a compassionate smile before waving goodbye and closing the door.

Alice was alone at last, and she now took the chance to examine her new home. The entrance led directly into the living room, on the left wall was a pair of doors, another door stood directly opposite to the entrance and the far right corner housed a small kitchen. The living room was mostly furnished, with a sofa, coffee table, a TV stand and the table by the door( it was at a height she could jump to & reach the living room light & door controls). Without a body or the solver, opening any of the inside doors would prove difficult, so Alice settled instead for looking through her bag, she’d brought the following:
- Her helmet with antlers, tag & light. The helmet was damaged, with the front smashed off. she’d put the antlers on a new helmet when she got a body.
- her tail, with knife
- her hair. Matted with her oil, but still wearable
- a small toolbox.
- a half dozen magnets, slipped in without N or Nori seeing. Just in case.
And what was left of Beau. Oh Beau… he was far beyond saving, but she couldn’t just leave him.
For now she pulled her helmet & hair out, once she hit the light switch, she went back & climbed inside her helmet to sleep.

N whistled as he walked the familiar halls to Uzi’s house. Reaching the door, he decided to knock before using her keycard. He waited for a moment, rocking back & forth on his feet, but heard no movement and so he pulled the keycard out & let himself in. he went straight for Uzi’s room and left her bag next to her bed. He quickly left, keeping her keycard to lock up, as he was doing so, he saw V coming towards him. She called out, her tone revealing an impatient anger,
“Where’s Uzi?” N stuttered, caught off guard,
“uh, s-she went out. Her parents were fighting & she wanted to be alone.” V stopped, leaning towards N,
“really? Because I just had an enlightening conversation with Nori. Cyn’s talking out of her. The last thing we should be doing is let her roam free!” N rubbed his head, as he offered his excuse,
“it… slipped my mind..?” V rolled her eyes & stormed off, N scampered to catch up “Where did she go?”
“uhh, she flew south-west, I think? You’d never catch up! We can’t fly in the day.” V stopped at the door to a storage room, her hand retracting, replaced by a sword,
“not without shade.” she muttered, before hacking the door down & heading inside, emerging moments later with a large tarp under her arm.
“shouldn’t I go? Since she’s my girlfriend and all…” V stopped before the large hallway leading to the entrance, she spoke pleadingly,
“N, please. Let me go alone, I wanna prove to myself I can come up with more solutions than just killing everything.” Her eyes were resolved as she looked at N. He gave a warm smile & nodded, she reckoned to herself that statement made his day, before they went to the outer gate. There, N helped V cover her wings with the tarp before she took off after Uzi.

Chapter Text

As much as Nori wanted to bury her face in a pillow & cry to her music, she knew there was something more important to do, see to it that Uzi was rid of Cyn’s influence (she also currently lacked her iPod… and a real face come to think of it). N would still be with Uzi & well… she’d probably seen enough of her parents for today, so she decided to find V & ask her for assistance. N & V had been given a place to share, Nori didn’t know the exact address, but decided to head to the rough area, hoping to spot V out & about.

Nori quickly found the address, it turns out V’s sentinel left a distinct track of scratch marks leading to their door. She tapped on it, hoping V would notice the faint sound of her claw against the metal. She heard a commotion before the door opened,
“Alright Sparky, I get it.” V was talking into the apartment. Nori spoke up to ensure she was noticed,
“Hey, you. We’re gonna talk. Alone, this is important.” Nori tended to be quite direct at times like these.
“alright, come in.” at V’s invitation, Nori scuttled inside. It was relatively plain, with basic furniture, but no decorations. Nori, however, did note a large makeshift bed in the corner, occupied by Sparky. It comprised of pillows & blankets, with a cowboy hat & the arm of a Disassembly drone atop a pillow. It eyed her & growled. Nori wondered if it recognised her from the old days. V spoke first once they were inside,
“what’s up? Not like you to willingly talk to me or N.” Nori let a brief pause hang in the air before answering,
“it’s Uzi. Cyn’s still in there somewhere, she spoke through her tail. N saw it too.” V bit her lip, it’d only been a week since their last fight almost tore the planet apart, she’d rather not repeat the incident,
“so we pull Cyn’s core out & finish her off? Where is Uzi now?” Nori replied,
“yeah, that should work… I hope. She was still with N at the entrance after mine &… Khan’s… fight.” A contemplative expression overtook her as she continued, “I guess see if she’s home or find N?” V nodded resolutely, saying,
“I’ll save her. promise.” Nori’s Eye gave a confident look,
“Good. Now get going.” the confidence vanished in a brief pause, “I’m gonna go contemplate my marriage.” they both left, sparky laying down to rest on his bed.

Being a heart had it’s advantages, in the week Nori had been in Compound-3 she had found a number of small, out of the way places where she could find some peace. She settled on going to a spot a short walk from the infirmary; a floor level air duct connecting to an empty home. She first wanted to grab her iPod & headphones… from her bedroom… that she shared with Khan… On second thought, she decided, maybe some peace & quiet would be good. The walk fairly short, only having to dodge one oblivious drone almost stepping on her; an annoyingly common event this past week. She’d been a heart for long enough, she’d decided, her new body couldn’t come soon enough. Upon reaching the vent, she prised the cover off, having removed the screws on prior visits, and clambered inside, using the solver to close it behind her. She walked in a couple meters before sighing & slumping against the wall, letting her legs rest however they fell. She felt so lost. Khan was right, she ran way. From parenthood, from him, from any helping hand that could reach out. But that was different, she told herself, she left Uzi in what should have been safe hands. She’d trusted him to keep her safe, thought knowing to hide would be enough. But that was all he’d known, she’d left her daughter to a coward. and how he spoke about her in those magazine interviews… “doors are my real daughter”!? A “Disappointing Failure”!? It was infuriating. Even in her absence, Uzi took after her, and if seemed Khan resented that.

She lashed out, her claw punching a hole through the ductwork with an almighty bang, reverberating for what felt like an age.
“Hello? Who’s there!? Come out!” great, she’d been heard, by… someone in the empty house? She climbed further into the duct up a slope to a vent situated in the kitchen of the previously uninhabited abode. When she did she saw… Alice, sat on the floor by her helmet, antler light on and her one eye scanning the shadows. Part of her wanted to leave the way she’d come, to find a new spot to hide, to bury herself again & never re-emerge, but part of her wanted company; solace, someone to talk to. Even if Alice resented her, she missed her old friends, and Alice was the only one left. They’d both spent the best part of their lives alone, buried in the ruins of their past, perhaps that shared experience could bring them together again. She pushed the vent, it squeaking as it swung open, and hopped down.

“Erm, Hi. Alice. Sorry for… crawling around in your wall & breaking your vent. And waking you up…” Nori was stood on the kitchen counter as she gave her greeting, but jumped down, joining Alice by the light of her helmet. Alice was not amused and her greeting made that evident,
“Hello, Nori. You break into houses often, or am I special?” Nori scratched her beanie, “I thought this place was empty & came here to think about my failing relationship?” Alice eyed Nori judgingly, she figured Nori was being honest; this house was empty earlier today, but really Nori? She recounted,
“you threw a rock at his head; It’s not failing Nori, it’s already failed!” It stung Nori to hear that, but Alice was right. She’d blown any chance of saving their relationship. It’d be best for everyone to walk away now. Nori sighed,
“yeah… I guess.” she slumped down again, her voice carried a defeated tone, “it’s just… it was going so well this last week. I was home again and… I guess I was naive to think I could walk out on my life for 18 years & go back to it like nothing happened, but… ” she let out a sob, “fuck. Where do I even go now?” Alice looked at Nori, she’d planned to kick her out, maybe after taking a few jabs at her, but seeing how utterly pitiable she was acting, Alice no longer had in in her heart to.
“Stay if you want. No touching my stuff though.” she spoke curtly, clearly still annoyed at the disturbance, before crawling back into her helmet.

Nori raised a claw, wanting to say… something anything really. She feared the silence now, more than ever. But lost for what to say, she looked around; it was a fairly typical layout for a home here, which meant the master bedroom should be behind… that door. Looking in from the entrance it was the far door on the left wall. She used the solver to open it. Alice was roused by the sound of it opening. Crawling out of her helmet, she yelled “hey! What’d-”
“You want the master bedroom, I assume?” Nori cut her off, a slight cockiness in her tone. Alice was somewhat dumbfounded, but replied,
“sure, beats the floor, I guess.” Alice went over, Nori following behind, “I’m not sharing. Go sleep on the couch or something.” Nori’s response was slightly flustered, “oh, I was… going for the second bedroom. See you in the morning…” she gave her best approximation of finger guns as she opened the door opposite the entrance & scurried inside. In truth, she had wanted to share the bed, hoping they could talk until she fell asleep and figuring there was enough space on a double bed for two hearts to comfortably share, but with nowhere else to go, it wasn’t worth pressing the issue. She hopped onto the room’s single bed, staring restlessly into the dark for a couple hours, her mind wracked with fear & regret, before falling into sleep mode.

Chapter Text

V wished she’d planned better. While the tarp did protect her from the sun, it was tearing on the blades of her wings, gradually exposing more & more to the punishing rays. She had to find Uzi. Fast. She’d asked N what time they returned & used that to estimate how far Uzi could have gotten before sunrise. As she neared that range, she scanned for possible cover, and suitable places for an angsty teenager to hide & mope. Bingo. An old skyscraper: good views, shade, and easy take off for an inexperienced flyer. V swooped down, landing on the highest floor where she took the tarp off. It was in a terrible state, she’d probably be stuck until night too. She crept around, listening & looking for Uzi. It’d be trouble if Cyn had gained control & saw her first. She searched the top floor: nothing. The next one down: nothing, but as she rounded the stairs to the next floor, she could hear voices. Each floor appeared to be part of a single penthouse apartment, maybe a JC Jenson bigwig lived here, but it didn’t really matter to V, nor did she particularly care. She paused to listen,
“Leave me alone you fucking psycho!” That was Uzi shouting, the reply that followed was spoken calmly in Cyn’s more obviously robotic voice,
“I am trying to be nice.” That was both of them, but she had to confirm it was Cyn speaking from the tail. V continued down, ducking behind a kitchen counter, the conversation continued,
“you know what’d be nice? If you’d fucking die!” Cyn’s response dripped with venom,
“how- cruel… N deserves so much better.” V tried to get a view. No mirrors and all the windows were broken.
“Robo-God, you are SO ANNOYING!” it sounded like Uzi was in control, their conversation would probably be very different if not. V hoped Uzi wouldn’t take that last comment to heart. She grabbed a shard of glass; skyscrapers back on earth would reflect like a mirror from a distance, but she could see right through the coating at this distance. After briefly considering her options, her off hand turned into a claw as she readied to throw the shard.

CRASH! Uzi & Cyn both turned to look towards the source of the sound. Seeing nothing, Uzi stalked closer, Cyn’s gaze following hers. Uzi passed a counter, her eyes focused on the room beyond, missing the murder drone hidden behind it, who now pounced, slicing Uzi’s tail off & slamming her into a wall. Uzi screamed as she impacted,
“AH! V! Why are you here!? What… are you… doing?” V’s claw was raised above her head, her forearm against Uzi’s neck, she relaxed slightly as she spoke,
“finishing Cyn off. You’ll be fine.” V’s claw became a hand again as she stuck it into Uzi’s mouth, she didn’t get very far, however, her wrist becoming caught on Uzi’s mouth, she quickly retracted it. “Oh, that didn’t… Sorry?” Uzi’s face flashed up ‘srsly?’ while crossing her arms. V felt humiliated, she scolded Uzi,
“oh, don’t give me that. I’m trying to help.” Uzi raised an eyebrow, incredulous. V bent down, grabbing Uzi by her legs & lifted, “plan B. sorry in advance.” Uzi now hung upside-down, crying out in surprise,
“Hey! Wha- ububububububu…” V’s new plan was to shake Uzi until she spat Cyn’s core out. Wherever it was, surely it could come out the way it went in. V coaxed Uzi,
“come on, spit it out. I don’t wanna cut you open. I promis-” Uzi began coughing violently, V switched to shaking Uzi with one hand, using the other to smack her back, hoping to help it come out. Uzi wretched as it came free, V dropped Uzi & went for the core. V checked in,
“Uzi, say something,” Uzi flipped her off, groaning out,
“Bite me.” V tightened her grip on the core in her hand, confident she was holding Cyn’s, her impressions were never that convincing. V turned to Uzi, requesting,
“Can you do your black hole thing?” Uzi’s arm stretched out, a solver symbol materialised at her fingertip before spinning. Moving from V’s hand to the space between the two, a null sphere about diameter of V’s forearm settled in the air. Yellow and red light hugged it’s rim before bathing the room, half in an Absolute yellow & half in bloody crimson. The lights spun around the room, code burning into the walls only to be written over in a Cyrillic scrawl. The sphere shrank & shrank as the spin of lights accelerated. V raised a wing & opposing arm to shield her optics. With echoing screams & an orange flash, the world grew still at last.

V retracted her wing as she called out, unable to see as her optics adjusted,
“Uzi!? You there?” a dazed reply came from Uzi’s direction,
“Yeah!” Uzi’s eyes focused on V, then she added, “Oh shit. Sorry about your hand…” V looked down, examining herself – her left hand was gone, half of her forearm remained, ending with the perfect imprint of a sphere. Oil seeped from open hydraulic lines. Sounding more surprised than pained, a simple,
“…ow.” left her mouth. Uzi scrambled over, inspecting the injury before noting,
“I’ve seen N’s head grow back faster than this. Why isn’t something happening?” V wasn’t sure herself, but postulated,
“maybe it needs an ok from you. A lot of our solver stuff was locked behind admin privileges.” Uzi paused for a moment as she navigated her HUD, before speaking,
“I- don’t… have admin over you?” V was agitated, growling,
“Aargh! I bet it’s cause you spat Cyn out! You never had admin, you were just borrowing hers.” Uzi weighed up the situation, before pulling V to the ground. Explaining,
“let’s just patch you up. No point letting you bleed out while we’re talking. Give me your stinger.” she dripped Nanite acid onto each exposed hydraulic line, then reached into V’s mouth, pinching the lines between her saliva covered fingers to seal them closed. When finished, V complained,
“ugh, that was miserable. You getting payback for earlier?” Uzi snickered a moment before answering,
“if you had a better idea, maybe you should have said.” V crossed her arms, huffing before standing to examine the room.

Every surface in sight of where the null sphere had been had a solver notification burned into it, reading as follows,
‘SYS//: ERROR

AbsoluteSolver

If you can read this
SaveMeSaveMeSaveMe’

while a subroutine translated the much larger Cyrillic text as,
‘let me die’
Uzi had stood up, commenting as she looked around,
“well, that’s weird.” V looked down at the worker beside her to ask,
“when did you eat doll?” Uzi’s answer came confused,
“I… didn’t. Cyn did. You think the red lights & Russian’s her?”
V leant on the countertop she had previously hid beside, noting
“not like it could be anyone else.” V started picking her teeth with her remaining claw, then asked,
“You ok?” Uzi slumped on the counter as she replied,
“Dizzy, but there’s no nutjob in my tail anymore. Not bad, I’d say.” V smiled and, surprising herself as much it did Uzi, wrapped an arm over Uzi’s shoulder, Uzi’s head pressed against V’s chest.
“glad you’re alright,” V’s tone held a gentle kindness. They stayed that way for a minute or two, after all that happened last night, Uzi needed the comfort and V got lost in thought. Eventually, Uzi pushed V off and asked with a warm smile,
“so, how’d you come after me in the day? Can we get back now?” V let out a deep breath, leaning against the same wall as Uzi and said,
“I uh… covered myself with a tarp. It’s cut to ribbons now, so we’re stuck till nightfall.” Uzi Nodded & showed the time on her face, ‘15:47’ 4 hours or so to wait. She followed it up with ,’U good?’ V was fidgeting & looking at her hands, her voice was gentle, little more than a whisper,
“I… I’m free.” she continued, a faint smile on her lips, “no more memory wipes, no more playing up my bloodthirst, I could go back to a worker body if I wanted,” Uzi looked over at V & asked with a grin,
“wanna swap? I could heal a missing hand…” V looked down at Uzi, a deep sense of foreboding told her she must refute,
“Ha! No chance. You’re trouble enough as is.” Uzi pouted and turned away, sulking,
“fine! you look dumb and ugly anyway…” V chuckled, no way was Uzi being this childish,
“way to lighten the mood, huh? Thanks.” she ruffled Uzi’s hair as she spoke, Uzi pushed her off lightly, hiding a blush.
“whad’ya think happens to the rest of the disassembly drones? The ones on other planets?” Uzi looked towards the window as she asked. Even with copper-9’s thin atmosphere, the stars were hidden by day. V pondered the question, then voiced her opinion,
“I guess they’ll stop killing eventually. They won’t get any new orders and if they’re anything like us, they’ve spent a decade or two on a planet with no way off. Maybe there are other drone colonies they can integrate into. Hell, maybe there’s humans out there to make peace with.” Uzi nodded along as V spoke, not truly paying much attention. Between school the previous day, the excursion to the labs & coming here, she’d been awake for 35 hours at this point and V’s long response went in one ear and out the other, only serving to lull her to sleep. She slid back against the counter, followed by V. As she entered sleep mode, she slumped against the taller drone, her head resting on the V’s shoulder. V sighed, her face face settling into a gentle smile. They still had several hours till sunset & sleeping would pass the time the quickest, so she set an alarm for a couple hours after sunset & entered sleep mode herself, resting her head on top of Uzi’s.

Chapter Text

J was sat in the spire, resting on a piece of rubble, She’d just finished pulling the main body of her second landing pod back here. She’d spent most of the last week flying smaller pieces back and moving the body in stages and man, she was really beginning to regret blowing up their original one. Part of her knew that her chances of piecing a functional ship together were slim, at least from what was left of these two. She had made some progress, namely removing & repairing the communication relay & getting it set up . she’d sent a message a few days ago requesting aid in getting offworld, hoping for, but not really expecting a response. On this afternoon, however, she did receive something, as indicated by a chiptune version of JCJenson’s marketing jingle emminating from the relay. She sat by the relay & opened the message; it wasn’t a response to her message, instead it came from HR, being addressed to ‘Serial Designation J & subordinate drones’ she smiled slightly at that, being an authority gave her a sense of pride, even if her underlings were both deserters & traitors now. The message read as follows:

Dear Serial Designation J & Subordinate Drones

With the death of system administrator Cyn, we here at JCJenson (IN SPAAAAACEE!!!!)® have begun winding down our operation & production of Disassembly Drones™. As such, we regret to inform you that you and your team are being let go, effective immediately (as of message dispatch). While this may be upsetting to hear, we are pleased to inform you that you & your team qualify for multiple leaving bonuses Including:
- your current bodies*
- any vehicles assigned to your team
- A special bonus attached to this message for Serial Designation J, as requested by Administrator Cyn

We thank you all for your [35] years of service with us & wish you success in all future ventures
.
* - please note, in order to prevent competitors from accessing proprietary code, all admin passwords for terminated units have been randomised

From JCJenson (IN SPAAAAACEE!!!!) Human Resources Team

J felt hollow as she sat processing what she had just read. Laid off? Well what would she do now? Leave? And go where? If she stayed she’d almost certainly need to make peace with the worker settlement, as well as N, V &… Uzi… She seethed at the thought. That would be just - too humiliating! She’d have to make this ship work somehow. Remembering the message mentioned something for her from Cyn, she checked the attached files. The first was called README.txt and the second was called Tessa.dcb, she eyed the second file with a cautious optimism, but opened the README first, “Hi J! thanks for not being a traitor. This is a copy of Tessa’s consciousness, compatible with any drone body. She’ll remember dying at the gala, so have fun with that!” J’s lip trembled, her fists clenched and despite her best efforts, her eyes filled with tears. All that time, all that killing… at least she got something from it. The only thing she had ever wanted and she’d got it – her old friend back.

J spent ten minutes trying to compose herself, her breath was still shaky but she could think clearly again. She needed a fresh body, the ones in the spire were liable to manifest the solver if she tried to use them, but where? The obvious answer would be Compound-3, it was right there and they’d have to keep & source fresh bodies for their untrained neural networks to transfer into as well as people who’d know how to do the upload, plus Tessa would probably want to see N & V… she groaned, the sound reverberating up into the Spire’s hollow heights.
“It’s for Tessa. You’ve done far more & far worse to get this far. No backing down now…” J told herself, rummaging for a USB stick to move the file onto, before standing & readying herself for… talking to the workers. She’d never really done it before, beyond taunting them before they died at her hand. Hopefully no old habits kicked in…

she waited until nightfall to try getting in, spending the day organising parts by where on the ship they went. The trickiest parts would be the main body and the rocket motors, maybe she could find replacements at a spaceport or something, because these were write offs. She’d have to check the nav system whenever she got it working. She approached Compound-3’s door, but as she was scanning for the door controls or intercom or some such, she heard silicate crunching behind her, it sounded like two people.
“You hungry or something, J?” it was V. and she didn’t sound very happy to see her, J raised her hands as she turned around to explain herself,
“I literally have no reason to fight you anymore. Boss is dead & I’ve been laid off. You & N too. I’ve come to ask for help.” Uzi’s wings & tail were out, poised to attack, but instead she launched into interrogating J,
“Say I believe you, why should we help you?” J addressed her answer to V,
“Cyn left me a digital copy of Tessa’s consciousness.” she pulled a USB stick from her chest pocket, holding it up before continuing, “This is the only place I know to have fresh drone bodies. For old times’ sake, V?” At the mention of Tessa, V’s demeanour changed, her arms dropped, the left side remained a stump, but her right hand came out in place of a claw. She spoke to Uzi, trembling slightly,
“Uzi, if she’s telling the truth… I have to.” V walked over to the door controls & opened them.

Uzi looked between the two, then held her eyes on V, telling her,
“if she kills anyone, I’m blaming you.” V nodded, and the trio walked in together. It was Uzi who locked the outermost door once inside, she turned to continue in and bumped into… N!? Who greeted her in his typical friendly tone,
“Hi, Uzi! I hope you’re feeling better!” Uzi stumbled back a little , but N caught her shoulder, prompting her to answer,
“yeah, a bit. I guess…” N beamed & pulled Uzi into a hug, exclaiming,
“good to hear, little bud!” Uzi blushed, hiding her face against his chest, where she mumbled,
“shut up…”
“are they…?” J queried V while pointing at the couple.
“Yeah, since the fight with Cyn,” V responded.
“Eww.” J spoke to herself before addressing the pair with a yell, “Hey, lovebirds! Save that for later, will you?” at J’s request they seperated and N turned to face J, his greeting showed equal parts surprise & mistrust,
“Oh, hey. What are you doing here? Not killing anyone I hope, ‘cause well, we can’t have that.” J crossed her arms, exasperated; she figured N would have changed even a little bit given all that’d happened, but it would seem not. She replied,
“No, idiot. I’m not. No reason to now. I’m here to bring Tessa back.” In surprise, N’s eyes widened & he tripped over his words,
“oh, well that’s ok. Great even! But- how?” J held a high and mighty pose as she responded,
“a reward for my loyalty.” followed up with a smug smile. V Gave J’s shoulder a firm shove, then berated her,
“loyalty to someone hell bent on eradicating sentience isn’t anything to be proud of.” J pouted and brought the topic back to her objective by asking,
“where do they keep spare bodies?” N lit up, offering up what he knew,
“Oh, you’ll want to ask the infirmary! I was there with Alice earlier, I think you’ll be at least 3rd on the waitlist though.” V shot a death glare at N, asking with a growl,
“the nutjob with antlers who tried to kill us all? And died?” N rubbed his head as he sheepishly offered an explanation,
“Nori’s old friend apparently. She wanted her brought back. Besides, she’s harmless right now.” V crossed her arms & kept staring. J meanwhile grabbed N by the arm, she suggested,
“why don’t you show me where this infirmary is? I’m sure I can get myself bumped up on the list…” N tried to pull away, but J’s grip was firm. Unable to get away, he relented,
“ok then, sure…”

As they walked off, V & Uzi looked at eachother, V proclaimed,
“she’s totally gonna threaten them into getting her a body now.” Uzi concurred,
“oh yeah. Should we… follow them?” V sounded as though she was planning as she spoke,
“I am; I suspect J’s gonna have Tessa up by midnight and I need to be there. But you can go home if-” V paused, Nori had mentioned her & Khan had a fight in front of Uzi, “Actually, how about a sleepover? Round ours. I’ll give you the keys & you can go on ahead.” V held out her keycard and Uzi paused, thinking it over, before grabbing the keycard and accepting,
“yeah, ok. Thanks” They stuck together as Uzi locked up the other two doors, idly chatting as they headed further in. They stopped where they would part ways, Uzi hugged V, “thanks for coming after me. You’re like… a good friend or whatever…” V smiled, patting Uzi’s head as she responded,
“That’s ok. Now go on, tell Sparky I’ll be back soon.” Uzi nodded and offered a parting,
“See ya!” V waved as they both started walking away.

Chapter Text

“In here.” N stood next to the infirmary door, gesturing towards it as though he were back in the manor, welcoming guests. J’s claws slid out and a sinister grin formed on her lips as she walked past him, acknowledging him with a sickly sweet tone,
“Thanks, N. Seems you might have learned to be useful.” She walked straight up to the desk, laying her claws on it, their tips resting in the space between the desk and the receptionist.
“uh, can I help you?” the receptionist’s greeting came with a shakiness & she wheeled her chair back as she spoke.
“you and your friends are gonna prep me a worker body and you’re going to upload this USB stick onto in” she pulled it out to show it, before returning it to her pocket, “you’re going to to it now and if you’re fast about it nobody gets hurt.” the receptionist nodded, reaching for the phone at her desk to make the arrangements. J lifted her claws from the desk, withdrawing them for hands, and stood around as if she were any other visitor waiting to be seen.

N had remained outside, poking his head into the doorway to see what J was doing. He’d decided to only go in if he needed to intervene, another murder drone wouldn’t make the staff feel any safer. As he saw J retreat from the desk a hand tapped his shoulder, asking,
“anyone dead yet?” it was V, he pulled away from the door to talk to her,
“nobody yet, she did threaten the lady at the desk though.” V crossed her arms, N watched the motion, raising a finger while starting to ask,
“V, your hand…” she sighed, gripping her remaining forearm as she explained,
“seems our healing ability stopped with Cyn’s death.” N pointed out,
“while we’re here, you could… get it replaced.” V shot that notion down immediately,
“No. Absolutely not. I’m not going under a knife. Not now, not ever. Besides, It’s not like they’d have the right part.” N sighed gently, his eyes saddening. V spoke as though their prior conversation hadn’t happened,
“Well, figures she wouldn’t ask nicely. We may as well go in.” At the sight of another two disassembly drones entering, the receptionists eyes widened with fear, only partially assuaged by N smiling at her with two thumbs as he followed behind V.
“Hey J! Look who I found!” gesturing to V as he spoke. He quickly took a seat in one of the waiting room chairs. J, who was facing away from the entrance, turned towards them, crossing her arms as she did, then dryly informed V,
“you know, of the three of us, you’re probably the last one Tessa’s gonna want to see.” V stepped up to J, leaning forwards with her arms back & wrists turned up, her voice bitter as she asked,
“Oh yeah? Remind me, which one of us killed her?” J stepped back, her eyes hollowing out, she stuttered out the beginning of an answer,
“it- it was…” several warnings flashed on her face in quick succession, interspersed by a panicked expression in her eyes, ‘repressed memory unlocked’ ‘high temp’ and ‘Processor Overload’ then finally, ‘emergency shutdown initiated’ she slumped onto her knees before falling on her face, the USB stick slipping from her pocket & landing at V’s feet.

“Whoopsie daisy! She’ll wake up soon, I’m sure!” N’s reassurance was offered to no-one in particular. V raised her hand to the receptionist, momentarily showing a claw and demanding,
“Ice & oil. And keep working on that body.” before kneeling down beside J, where she grabbed the USB stick, tucking it into her own breast pocket. J’s face was taken up by a sleep mode message, with a small thermometer symbol on the bottom right corner, indicating she was too hot to be revived.
“I bet she hasn’t had oil all week. I shouldn’t have said that… should I?” Her question was directed at N, though she kept her eyes on the unconscious J. N tilted his head thoughtfully before responding,
“well, she’d have found out eventually. It’s probably for the best that she find out before Tessa wakes up.” he gave her a thumbs up and a smile as he finished. She had a gentle smile as she thanked him,
“yeah, you’re right. thanks N.” she looked up at him, which is when N realised something. He got up & knelt beside V, before grabbing hear head & using her Visor to inspect his eyes, “Maybe I’m malfunctioning, but… our are white again, aren’t they?” V blushed as she pushed N off, crawling back a bit, while berating him,
“You Idiot! Why would you-” she looked between N’s eyes & the text on J’s face; he was right! “Uzi did say she lost admin privilege when Cyn died. I gues we don’t have one anymore…” she looked thoughtful as she responded.
“uhh, excuse me?” A voice came from behind V, she looked around to see a worker drone stood holding a bucket full of ice cubes & a can of oil, “can I get to your friend? She overheated right?” V stood up, caught off-guard slightly, she had been so engrossed In her discussion & proximity to N that she hadn’t heard the worker approach. Her being caught off guard showed in her reply,
“uh, sure. Yeah” N stood up after V & returned to his seat, V moved to take the one next to him, removing her headband & holding her eyes shut.

As the worker tended to J, placing ice atop her chest and visor. Another couple of workers came through carrying a blank body on a stretcher, giving a confused look upon seeing J passed out on the floor. They stated to no-one in particular that the body would be ready in a few minutes before disappearing into the back.
“could one of you hold her head up, please?” the worker by J looked up as he spoke to N & V, evidently ready to give her the oil. N volunteered immediately, kneeling with J’s head in his lap as the medic placed a funnel in J’s mouth & poured the oil in. The temperature icon in the corner started blinking as the oil re-entered J’s cooling system & eventually disappeared, “she should wake up soon,” V stood up & walked over, looking down on the trio, stating matter-of-factly,
“if she’s not up by the time Tessa’s body’s ready, I’m sure a kick in the head’ll wake her up,” the medic gave her a nervous look, prompting her to clarify, “relax, I’m kidding.” N tried patting J’s cheek to wake her, then suggested,
”how about we carry her in, maybe let Tessa wake her?” V chuckled lightly, pondering aloud,
“hmm, you know, she might not wake at all then. It would be funny though.” they were interrupted by a tapping sound, one of the drones who brought the body in was leant against the door frame, after gathering the attention of all present, he informed them, “ready whenever you are.” N & V nodded in acknowledgement. N slung J over his back holding her by the arms, then followed after V & the worker.

Chapter Text

N & V were led into the operating room. It was fairly sparse with a tool trolley in the corner, a bed in the middle with a chair beside it. N laid J into the chair as V pulled the USB stick from her pocket, handing it to the technician drone with a meek smile and apology,
“sorry about the threats & stuff. It’s just… she’s important. To the three of us and… old habits?” N chipped in,
“I was actually here to keep her from hurting anyone!” The technician gave an exasperated look as he took the USB stick, plugging it into a laptop that was wired into the heart of the drone, then explained,
“she’ll take some time to initialise, so she should wake up after she’s been unplugged.” he tapped away at the laptop, a loading bar eventually appearing on the screen, “And now… we wait.” N & V both looked between J & Tessa,
“wanna take bets on who’ll wake up first?” V asked, her arms crossed, “loser has to do whatever the winner says. Nothing weird though.” N pondered, pulling one hand from his pockets to rest on his chin before giving his opinion,
“hmm… I think J” V reached her hand out to shake N’s hand, exclaiming,
“alright, bet’s on then.” N took V’s hand to shake with a cheeky laugh.

J came to in an unfamiliar room, looking around, there was a bed to her left with a worker in a grey hospital gown led on it and another worker stood on the far side, who gave a surprised look and,
“oh, you’re up!” before explaining, “You’ve got a while until your friend here wakes up. I think the other M- ah, Disassembly's went to go grab chairs. Should be back in a minute.” J looked again at the drone led beside her, Tessa… how could she face her, knowing what she did? She couldn’t, surely. What if Tessa hated her or was scared? What if Tessa forgave her? She wasn’t convinced she deserved it. Her eyes were hollow again, shaking. She muttered something about getting fresh air before silently leaving. She stepped out into a short corridor with a few other rooms coming off of it and a dead end to the left. Deciding the way out must be right, she started going that way, pausing at the door to the reception, she heard V & N – mostly N – talking. Crap, she thought, she really didn’t want to talk to them right now. Looking around for places to hide, she was quickly disappointed. They were getting closer now, ‘Quick J!’ she thought ‘AHA!’ Climbing up onto the door frame, she slid a claw out & lodged it into the ceiling. Hopefully she didn’t make too much noise. Once they had passed underneath her, she crawled under the doorway & dropped down, making her way outside.

“Oh, looks like I won the bet!” N was stood in the doorway, chair in hand. V asked,
”Huh?” she pushed past N to see for herself, ”Let me see- shit, where did she go?” they both looked to the technician, who had moved the chair around to sit at the laptop, “something about fresh air?” he said with a shrug. V & N put their chairs down beside the bed, then V asked N,
“what now? We should really look for her, but we can’t leave Tessa alone when she wakes up…” V’s eyes flitted between the bed & the door, nervousness written clear on her face.
“Shall I go after her or…?” N queried, pointing with both hands at random between himself, V, Tessa & the door. V didn’t respond right away, her whole head now turning back & forth, eventually settling on N, she decided,
“I’ll go.” she turned on the spot and left, leaving no opportunity for further discussion. N let out a sigh, a mix of bemusement & relief, before grabbing one of the chairs & moving it closer to the bed to sit in. He started talking to the dormant Tessa led before him,
“Hey Tessa, I know you probably can’t hear me, but I hope you forgive J. I… don’t really remember much from that time, but I know she missed you.” He patted the other drone’s hand, letting his come to rest atop it. The technician coughed to get N’s attention, informing him that,
“sorry to interrupt, but she’s just started initialising, it’s normally under half an hour when transferring from an untrained neural network body. judging by her file size though, she’ll probably take a little longer.” N nodded, setting a 25 minute timer before dozing off, his hand eventually slipping off the bed.

Stepping out of the infirmary, V scanned left & right, looking for any sign of J or where she could have gone, but found nothing. J didn’t know her way around, and she’d mentioned wanting fresh air, so V reasoned she’d headed to the main gate. Upon rounding a corner, she spotted a worker in a WDF uniform, whom she grabbed by the collar, asking in a cold tone,
“did a disassembly drone with pigtails pass you?” he nodded, fear choking his voice away. She released her hold before her next question, “did you see where she went?” he coughed before speaking,
“uh, we passed on the far side of the main gate. She looked super out of it; hollow eyes, stumbling, I thought she was gonna drop.” V started walking, where could she possibly be going? Her mind went back to the first time they had entered Compound-3, could she be at that warehouse? N had also mentioned J went eldritch in the cryo storage, so she could be there as well.

The warehouse door was unlocked, the lights turning on automatically as V stepped in, it was much the same as it had been when she had been taken prisoner by Uzi, though the ceiling repair was little more than sheet metal bolted over the hole. V started looking around, calling out to J & knocking on the larger containers, but came up empty handed. Cryo storage it is then, she thought as she went down the hallway linking to her destination, she could hear a regular metallic pounding, in the darkness, a set of yellow lights bobbed left to right. J was pacing, lost in her thoughts so much she didn’t see V enter. V approached J, placing a hand on her shoulder from behind. She asked in a gentle voice,
“hey, wanna talk for a bit?” when J turned around, V was taken aback, every mark of stress & shock that a drones visor could show was there; her eyes were hollow as the worker had said, but also shaking, with extra lines under her eyes, gaunt lines & her right eye occasionally flashing up a temperature warning – evidently she’d burned through most of that oil already. V sat J down on the bottom of an open cryopod,
“you need oil. drink,” V told J as she held her stump out. J bit down, Silence filled the air as she drank.

When J had finished and wiped the oil from her mouth & V set about sealing her wounds up as Uzi had done, asking as she did,
“so, what’s on your mind?” J’s hand were resting on her knees, she hunched forward as she started speaking,
“I’m… scared. What if she wants nothing to do with me? What if she can’t handle being a drone or what happened to Earth – what we helped do to humanity…” V grabbed J’s shoulders, turning her so they were facing eachother. V then asked,
“hey look at me for a second. What colour are my eyes?” J’s eyes widened, she answered in a whisper,
“white…” V nodded and continued,
“Cyn was controlling you back then. What did you do as soon as you were free?” J paused in thought, then answered,
“I… waited till nightfall to try get in here?” V added,
“to help Tessa.” J nodded, but she didn’t sound confident as she answered,
“I guess,” V stood up, placing her hands on her hips as she told J,
“look, I think of any of us, it SHOULD be you who Tessa sees first. N hardly remembers the mansion and… she always liked you two more.” she looked remorseful as she sighed, ”We’ve all done terrible stuff, J. If she won’t forgive you, she won’t forgive any of us.” J had a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, as she relented,
“ok, I… I can do it. Let’s go.” V smirked, parroting something Tessa would say,
“’atta girl.” as J stood, V recalled, “Oh, I saw a box of wigs in the warehouse, maybe we could have a look, see if there’s anything in there like Tessa’s hair?”

“Pink, green, yellow… Nothing so far. You found anything?” V was digging through a box of wigs, J had found a label on another crate & was in the process of prying it open, she stopped to ask,
“you think white’ll do? She gave us all white hair. Maybe she likes it?” V stopped, her arms resting on the sides of the crate; Nothing. She sighed, rejecting J’s idea,
“maybe. Let’s just play it safe if we can. Black, wavy & waist length with no bangs.” J hummed in acknowledgement, finally lifting the lid off. As she sifted through the box, she called out it’s contents,
“hmm, let’s see here… Brown, there’s a white one… AHA! Black wig.” J lifted it out, along with the white one. The white hair was dead strait, much like her own when let down. The black hair was wavy, but less so than they has seen Cyn wear the week prior. She decided it was near enough though.
J threw V the black wig. As she caught it, V said,
“ok, let’s get back.” J turned the white wig over in her hand. ‘Maybe Tess’ll wanna match with us,’ she thought. She folded it over her forearm as she followed behind V.

Chapter Text

The operation room door swung open, V strode in with J a few steps behind, now also holding an oil can they had grabbed for her on the way.
“Ah, welcome back. Not long now,” the technician greeted them, the two each raising their hands in a small wave. N was slumped back in his chair, his arms hanging down & his face tilted towards the ceiling. As V went to tap his Visor, his alarm went off & he jerked awake, swinging his arms all the way around before catching them on the armrests & moving to switch his alarm off. He looked to the pair & offered a greeting,
“Oh, hey you two!” V replied first,
“hey,” J finished off the oil can, crushing it with one hand & tossing it to the corner before talking,
“Move N, I’m talking to Tessa first.” N hopped out of the chair, stumbling & causing it to clatter against the floor as he did. J grabbed it & slid into it smoothly, adjusting it closer to Tessa’s head. V grabbed the other chair & moved it against the far wall, intending to give J some space. As V sat down, N leaned against the wall, the text “ETA?” appeared on his visor, directed at the technician. In response, he now leaned over to look at the loading bar on Tessa's visor before raising a hand, “4 minutes? Percent?” N thought, but then the Technician lowered a digit, then another a few seconds later. he couldn’t see, but N guessed it was percent. Over the next minute, he lowered his other two fingers then his hand as the bar disappeared and a pair of white eyes flashed open.

She felt like crap; heavy, like she’d drank too much at a party & slept through the weekend. Opening her eyes revealed a drone stood over her… J!? She looked friendly, her eyes being the regular white ovals of a worker drone instead of the yellow cross she’d had last time, when… dear god. Tessa had no way to rationalise her being led here, was this heaven or something?
“Hey there, boss. How do you feel?” as she spoke, J placed a hand on Tessa’s chest, pre-empting her trying to sit up. Tessa seemed incredibly confused as she asked,
“Hey J… what’s… where am I? You you?” J nodded with a warm smile as she answered,
“I’m me. Promise.” J took a deep breath before continuing, “so… I have some news, a couple pieces of good news, a couple pieces of really bad news. What do you want first?” blinking a few times, Tessa replied,
“uhh, good first.” J let out a deep sigh before informing her,
“well, Cyn’s dead.” Tessa grinned at that, “and N & V are just behind me,” as she said this, their heads popped over J’s shoulders, N giving a friendly wave and a
“Hi!” while V had a relief-filled smile, saying
“it’s… good to see you again,” Tessa pushed helplessly against J, trying to grab N for a hug.
”look, do you two mind if I give her the bad news alone?” she turned back to look at her comrades before addressing the technician, “You too.” They All nodded before leaving quietly.
”must be pretty bad, huh?” Tessa looked nervous as she asked. J pressed her lips, trying to hide their quivering before speaking,
“the Gala was 35 years ago, Tessa. You died. Cyn destroyed the planet, then she sicced us on the rest of humanity.” her visor went dark, and she lifted her hand from Tessa’s chest. She sat up, looking at her reflection in J’s visor, then down at her hands & body. She was a drone? But how? It explained why she felt so heavy, but she still struggled to come to terms with her new form.

J watched her friend’s reaction, her breath was shaky & hey eyes widened. J pulled Tessa into her arms, who in turn wrapped her arms tight around J’s neck, burying her face in J’s hair. J thought briefly before offering what comfort she could,
“you’ll be ok. I can’t imagine what’s going through your mind, but I’m here for you, we’ll get through this. together.” Tessa sobbed & they stayed like that for a long moment, when they seperated Tessa examined J’s new body. Noting,
“whoa, you’re lookin’… different,” J had a smug grin as she raised one hand, exchanging it for a flag with the message ‘congrats on not being dead’ as she explained, “you’re looking at a disassembly drone. Cyn’s idea of a purpose built killing machine” Tessa chuckled at the flag, but stopped at the mention of Cyn, taking a brief glance at J’s legs turning to look back at her face. Telling her,
“Oh, very fancy! You’ll have to show me how those legs help in a fight though...” she stared at them, transfixed. Only to catch herself & turn away, blushing.

“ahem, so… shall we get you out of bed?” Tessa nodded, grabbing J’s upper arms for support as she slid onto the edge of the bed, J went over some advice in a reassuring tone, “ok, so drone feet are quite a bit heavier than what you’ll be used to, so just take it slow & be careful. Don’t worry, I’ll catch you if you fall.” Tessa adjusted her grip on J’s arm, before shifting forward off the bed, landing on the the ground with a clang. She teetered slightly as she commented,
“whoa, they are heavy.” J stepped back, giving Tessa space to take a few steps. They looked quite clumsy at first, but Tessa quickly found her confidence, letting go of J & even managing a few twirls until she got cocky, exclaiming,
“Aww J, Ya had me worried over noth- whup!” she’d kicked the back of her leg, her momentum tipping her over until she fell - in to J’s arms. J had a disciplinarian tone as she asked,
“Now, what’d I say?” Tessa found herself pressed against J’s chest, her arms stuck between them. Only now did she appreciate how much taller J had gotten. Without thinking, Tessa answered,
“uh, that you’d show me why your legs are so- wait, no!” she cover her mouth with her hands, blushing again,
“No, I said to be careful. Though, I suppose I can do that too.” she spoke softly, with a bemused smile as she let Tessa go.

“oh, hey. I got something for you.” J walked over to the chair she had sat on & grabbed a black wig off the arm, presenting it to Tessa. She looked quite solemn as she took it, & didn’t move to put it on. J was uncharacteristically nervous, rubbing her head as she added,
“uh, I grabbed a white one too, if you wanted to match with us…” whatever was on Tessa’s mind, this prompted her to fix the black wig to her head, and state,
“oh, no thanks. I… it feels weird having a wig myself is all. Especially one with fake hair…” Tessa was looking down, fidgeting with her new hands, J’s eyes filled with sadness as she looked at her old friend.
“wanna get out of here?” J asked, causing Tessa looked up at her & give a confused counter-question,
“and go where?” J paused, the closest thing she had to a home was the spire… a giant pile of corpses made by herself, V & N. Probably not something Tessa wants to see, nor was J particularly enthusiastic to show her. J answered her,
“I… haven’t been here in a while,” she paused, lost in thought for a moment, before continuing, “I think N & V share a place in the colony? How’s that sound?” Tessa nodded, allowing J to lead her out of the room by the hand.

N & V were leaning against the wall outside the operating room.
“how do you think she’ll take it? Your memory’s better than mine,” N asked, placing one foot flat on the wall. V explained,
“If she remembers the gala, I doubt she’ll be shocked about dying. But still, she’s waking up in a new body to find out her home planet is gone & her species with it, so maybe she’ll fry her processor,” N nodded, agreeing with V’s thoughts,
“yeah, that makes sense.” he waited for a moment to see if V had anything to add before speaking again, “oh, hey. About our bet…” V groaned, annoyance clear in her reply,
”What? You’re seriously brining it up now?” N stammered a bit, she had a point, but quickly rambled out his request,
“well, me and Uzi were going to have a movie night on Friday. I want you to join us & pick a film.” V side-eyed him. She gave in, agreeing,
“you’re such a child. Fine.” N gave a mischievous giggle before they settled into a quiet wait.

Eventually the door opened, J emerged first, hand in hand was Tessa, the duo seperated as Tessa saw N, and went to get that hug she wanted,
“N! Apparently it’s been a while, huh?” N returned the hug awkwardly, admitting,
“Hi, I… don’t really remember much of the Mansion. Cyn wiped a lot my memories,” Tessa pulled away, visibly upset and V added,
“she’d do it often. Wanted him to keep acting like the old N; he was more like her pet than anything else.” A glum silence filled the air before J spoke up,
“Oh, we’re staying with you. Lead the way.” V looked up at J, then addressed Tessa, “well, Tessa. Looks like you get to meet N’s girlfriend too.” Tessa looked between N & V, wide eyed in surprise, asking,
“you’re… not dating eachother? I always thought…” V glanced at N, a forlorn look in her eyes as she stroked her forearm, before she answered,
“I’m not exactly the innocent little maid anymore…” Tessa nodded, saying,
“well, I’m sure she’s nice if N likes her.” J commented,
“well, everyone has their dark sides,” before pushing V to prompt her to get moving, “lets get going, shall we?” N & Tessa exchanged a glance and shrugged at eachother before following.

Chapter Text

Uzi tapped V’s keycard against the door controls, it opened smoothly and she walked in, pulling it shut behind her. Upon hitting the light switch, a single exposed bulb hanging from the centre of the room flickered to life with a faint buzz. Sparky roused slightly, warbling with an eye turned towards Uzi. Having a sentinel around still made her slightly uneasy, she spoke to it, a dangerous edge to her voice,
“V says she’ll be back soon. try anything with me and I’ll flatpack you.” She opened the fridge with the solver as she approached, reaching in to grab an oil can before kicking it closed. She flopped onto the couch, leaning her head against the armrest, before punching open the can. She sipped the oil as she pondered how to kill the time until N & V got back, she settled on watching an anime she’d started a couple days before going out to test her railgun. She grabbed the remote & turned it on, the TV was a boxy old thing she’d repaired herself, with a lensed screen and wooden panelling, it was hooked up to play stuff of a backup hard drive of hers. She was fairly sure it wasn’t meant to emit as many x-rays as it did, but it’s not like it would bother a drone.

A few minutes in, Uzi’s focus was broken by mechanical footsteps, followed by Sparky warbling in her ear. He was resting his head on the back of the couch, looking at the TV. Uzi stared at him for a moment, slightly cautious but moreso annoyed,
“don’t expect me to go back to the start for you.” She said before returning her attention to the TV. Sparky seemed to be irritated by that, but continued watching too. The credits & opening gave Uzi the opportunity to take her now empty can out & grab some batteries to snack on. As she filled a bowl she felt something large bump against her arm; it was Sparky, likely after some for himself. “claws off. These are for me.” she scolded. Ignoring her bowl, he reached into the open cupboard with his claws & swiped a couple boxes. She watched him walk back to the sofa with a perplexed look before kicking the cupboard shut & joining him, “or you can do that, I guess.” just as she placed her bowl down, a knock came from the door.

As Uzi opened the door, a small crowd entered; N,V & J, followed by a rather plain looking drone with black hair; Tessa, presumably.
“Hey.” Uzi greeted. V & N waved, with N adding a friendly,
“Hey!” However, before Tessa could say anything to her J dragged Uzi outside, informing the others, “we’re just gonna have a little chat. Won’t be long.” J shut the door behind them before crossing her arms & addressing Uzi, looking down, “I'm only gonna ask nicely once. No solver stuff around Tessa, ok?” Uzi pursed her lips, thinking for a moment before saying,
“Sure.” her face took on a smug grin, “but can I tell her how you stuck by Cyn until the end? I bet she’d love to hear all about that…” J’s oil boiled at her words. She knew nothing of the things she’d seen. What Cyn could do… “sensitive topic? I wonder what she’ll think of your little construction project outside? She’ll have to get some fresh air eventually…” This ignorant little brat was really pushing her buttons and J’d had enough. Her claws slid out & grabbing Uzi by the face, she slammed her into the wall. “SHUT UP! SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!” J screamed. She looked battle-ready - wings out & her visor displaying a hunting crosshair. Uzi winced as J’s claws cracked her visor in 3 places, but instead of fighting back, she simply used the solver to open the door.

Everyone inside heard muffled shouting, followed by a loud bang against the outside wall. They’d each began edging towards the door. When it opened, Tessa had a good view of what was happening and it froze her, a temperature warning in one eye & the other wide & shaking. J snapped out of her bloodlust at the sight of Tessa, begging for her to understand,
“Tessa, please. It’s ok. I’m not… she-” N stepped in front of Tessa, V dragged Uzi inside before stepping out & interrogating J,
“wanna explain yourself?” J looked guilty, but defended herself with fervour,
“she was aggravating me and I snapped. I’m not sorry. Not to Uzi, at least.” V eyed J with suspicion, instructing her,
“Hmm, ok. Don’t go anywhere.” the door shut behind her & J was left alone outside. Worry crept in and began eating away. Had she scared Tessa off for good? Was she gonna get kicked out? She slumped against the wall where Uzi had been moments before, her head resting in a slight dent in the wall & her arms balanced on her knees.

Inside, N was sat with Tessa on the couch, seemingly trying to console her, while Uzi was sat on the kitchen counter, her legs dangling in the air. V went straight for Uzi, asking,
“what’d you say to her?” Uzi looked blasé as she replied,
“come on, she hasn’t exactly been a nice person since she saw her little friend last.” V wasn’t impressed & began lecturing Uzi,
“you know, the three of us spent most of that time doing much the same thing. Are you gonna go on about it to me & N?” Uzi hopped off the counter, strolling towards the couch & leaning against it as she spoke,
“she only stopped because Cyn died.” Tessa looked up in surprise, “oh, didn’t you know? Your dear friend J stuck by Cyn until US THREE killed her.”
“Uzi drop it!” V’s shout commanded the attention of all drones & the sentinel present. she grabbed Uzi by the throat, “you saw one evening out of 36 years of our memories. You know nothing about what we saw. Let alone how it affected J; Tessa was her best friend, all that kept J going without her was self-preservation.” To V’s chagrin Uzi still didn’t get it, saying,
“well, we stopped her.” V stepped back & released Uzi, explaining,
“because she got complacent. Trust me, compared to Earth that was nothing.” this finally seemed to get Uzi to relent, storming off to N’s room. V turned to where Tessa was sat to find it empty, with N turned to watch the front door shut.

J didn’t look up when she heard the door open again, whoever it was, V presumably, she probably wouldn’t like what they had to say. To her surprise, she saw a black mass drop out of the corner of her eye, followed by a pair of worker arms wrapping around her waist. Tessa spoke first,
“ya know, you’re pretty scary like that. Every instinct screamed to run, that you’d killed me before & could hurt me again. Even if I knew you wouldn’t. Heck, even if it wasn’t really you last time.” J lifted her head, partly turning towards Tessa, she apologised, “I’m sorry, boss. I shouldn't have-” Tessa pressed a finger to J’s lips, she sounded almost lighthearted as she told J,
“oh, can it, you. I’m not your boss anymore & I know she was winding you up. Plus, It’s not like she got hurt.” J flinched before correcting her,
“oh, she definitely did. I cracked her visor open in 3 spots. She’s a solver host, so she probably healed before you saw. I pulled her aside to make sure she wouldn’t use it in front of you.” Tessa sat up, surprised. Her mouth was open as though she were about to speak, but sat silent for a long moment before speaking,
“that’s… not good. I suppose she’s not actively trying to blow up the planet at least.. . And - thanks.” J quickly added,
“she’s… mostly harmless. Just don’t expect to beat her in a fight.” J scratched at her visor as she spoke. Tessa sensed some shame & prodded at J lightly, saying,
“aww, what? She beat you up before?” J turned away blushing; losing to Uzi had been humiliating, only slightly lessened by learning she was a solver host, she explained,
“yeah, first time I got in here she killed me. Blew my top half off with a home-made Directed energy weapon.” Tessa patted J on the back, consoling her,
“well, it all worked out. I wouldn’t exactly be here if you’d won, hey?” J said nothing, but stuffed a hand in her pocket, clicking furiously at her last JCJenson pen, Tessa queried,
“you wanna go back in? The sofa isn’t great, but it beats the floor~” J sighed & pushed herself up, agreeing,
“sure,” before offering a hand to help Tessa up.

Chapter Text

J kept her eyes to the ground as she followed Tessa to the couch. Tessa took the middle, with N still on the right side, leaving J to take the left. V watched J with an unreadable expression, before offering,
“more oil, J?” She nodded in reply. V let out a noise somewhere between a growl & a scream as she spotted the crushed oil can, hidden from the lounge by the fridge. She took a few deep breaths before opening the fridge & grabbing out their last full can. As she passed the can to J, idly complaining to N,
“can you please tell Uzi not to crush our cans? If she keeps this up, we won’t be able to get oil from the spire.” N blinked wide eyed before replying,
“sure…” J also stared with a similar expression, but it was only when Tessa spoke up that she realised her slip-up,
“what’s the spire?” it was now V’s turn to look wide eyed, she laughed nervously before answering,
“uhh… a big pile of drone corpses we used to live in?.” she tapped her fingers together, “we left oil in some of the bodies so we had had something to drink when prey was thin. Me & N live here now, so we started bringing it all here in cans.” Tessa stared vacantly at the surface of the coffee table, her eyes scanning over every scratch & stain it had accumulated in the years since the humans made it. Yet she saw none of that, she saw N & V, wearing the same killer expression J had, the same claws & the same wings. Angels of death, the three of them; killing workers & humans indiscriminately. She saw them swoop & dive, before plunging towards her in unison.

Then she was back in the dingy home, staring at a shabby table. V had a hand on her right shoulder and N held her hand. The trio were trying to elicit a reaction from her, seeing if she were ok. ‘just a dream,’ she thought, before calming the drones around her, by saying,
“I’m… I’m ‘right. I know you had no choice, it’s just… raw, hearing you talk about it like that.” she sat back into the sofa. V’s eyes showed guilt as she apologised,
“I shouldn’t have brought it up. Not… so carelessly.” J wrapped an arm around Tessa’s shoulders before addressing the other two,
“why don’t you two go to bed? You’ve both had long days if I’m not mistaken.” V looked to N & they exchanged a silent nod, N spoke,
“yeah, ok. Goodnight you two.” he pulled Tessa into a hug, “Nice having you back, Tess.” After N had stood up, V leaned over the back of the couch & hugged Tessa around the neck, speaking softly,
“same, ‘night.” Each slunk away to their respective bedrooms, V being followed by Sparky.

[V’s Room]

V heard the metallic tramp of Sparky on the floor of her room, followed by the door slamming. The room was decently well provisioned, considering she had resided there less than a week; with a bedside table & lamp, as well as a wardrobe(currently only containing the dress & tiara she had worn at the prom) all taken from Doll’s house; certainly no-one else would be needing it, she reasoned. She took her glasses from her bedside table, sitting on the side of her bed & inspecting her & Uzi’s repair job; the last thing she wanted was to bleed dry in the night. It seemed they would hold, so she removed her headband & glasses, setting them down on the table.
“you know you have a bed of your own, right? You’re too heavy for this one.” sparky warbled & clicked his claws together then laid down on the floor next her bed, resting his head to the bottom of the mattress. “Fine.” V said, flipping the lamp on & the main light off.

She gripped the mattress on her right side, allowing her left arm to fall limp as she sighed, ‘long day’ was right. She’d stayed up through the night trying to decipher the noises Sparky made; she was sure there was more to the clicks & warbles than some imitation of an earth creature. Sparky was smarter than that, all the sentinels were. It was obvious in how they fought & hunted, in how he used the drone arm, she just had to figure it out.

Then Nori’d shown up. She’d been suspicious of Uzi’s duo-chrome eyes at first & now she was vindicated. It was a cold comfort, she knew it was her fault Uzi hid Cyn’s presence. Until today, every time Uzi’s solver looked remotely dangerous, her first response was to try kill her. But she’d changed & she hoped Uzi would see that, especially given it had seemingly cost her hand. It had only really hit her last week, but she actually quite liked Uzi; she was confident to a fault, and while fighting together, they had developed a mutual respect & trust for eachother.

And Tessa… that was a shock for sure. She was glad to have her back, for sure, there was so much to say & so much she didn’t know if she should or could say. She probably didn’t need to know Cyn wore her skin – or at least a copy of it – last week. She shuddered involuntarily, the thought of Cyn always brought back bad memories – she hoped nothing remained of that basement on either side of Earth’s event horizon. She shifted to lie on the bed & switched the light off, interlocking her hands on her belly before drifting gently into sleep mode.

[N’s Room]

Uzi didn’t notice when N came in, she had a pair of headphones on & was sat on the floor sorting through her notes & drawings related to Cyn & the solver. She had decided to keep it here in order to discuss it somewhere without interruptions – though she kept her computer at home, so if they needed to access memories it’d need to be done in her room. N walked up behind her silently, before tapping her shoulder a couple times. Uzi rested her headphones around her neck & laid down the papers in her hand but didn’t speak.

N sat beside her, reaching a hand towards Uzi’s as he spoke,
“hey, you good?” Uzi didn’t pull away as he wrapped his hand around hers, she looked sideways towards N before talking, her voice was bitter,
“I figured people would be impressed I stopped a world-destroying drone with crazy black hole powers & giant claws & stuff. I…” her voice cracked, ”felt proud for once, ya know?” she gripped N’s fingers, bending them inwards past specification, “Why’s she trying to take that from me? She’s supposed to be my friend now…” N used his free hand to cup Uzi’s cheek and turn her face towards his, his voice was tender as he spoke
“oh, Uzi. She wasn’t trying to hurt your feelings, I promise.” he paused thinking of how to explain it, “she just… her & J were friends before we met. V was sticking up for her, you’d do the same for us, right?” Uzi looked away, bashful and began fidgeting with her fingers before answering,
“Of course I would! But I know you’ve changed. J though…” N sighed, grabbing her other hand before replying,
“If V wants to give her a chance, I think we should. Plus, I think she’ll be on her best behaviour with Tessa back.” Uzi nodded & leaned against N’s shoulder, dropping one hand to rest in her lap. She acquiesced,
“Fine, I guess.”

She let out a large yawn, at which N chuckled lightly. Uzi whined,
“hey, don’t laugh!” N stood up, effortlessly lifting Uzi by her armpits with one arm as he did. He informed her,
“Ok, bedtime now.” Uzi struggled as N approached the light switch, complaining loudly,
“Put me down N! I don’t need you to carry me to bed!” she pouted, “I’m not a baby.” When he stopped at the switch, he set Uzi down, apologising,
“I’m sorry Uzi, I thought… I thought it’d be cute - that you’d appreciate it. Now go on, get to bed while you can still see.” Uzi flopped onto the bed, accepting N’s apology,
“It’s fine, just ask next time. You took me by surprise.” N flipped the light off, the 7 lights of his eyes silently approaching the bed & climbing in. He then took his headband off, laying it on the floor, before wrapping an arm around Uzi. As they lay facing eachother, N wished Uzi,
“Goodnight,” before pressing his face into her hair. Uzi in turn, wrapped her arms around N’s midsection as she also said,
“Goodnight.”

Chapter Text

J & Tessa were left alone together on the couch, each sank into it a little more in the newfound silence. Tessa went for the TV remote, it had been on pause since they got in, but maybe there was a show she remembered that she could put on, but something else on the table caught her eye. She asked J,
“what’s with the batteries?” J leaned forward and grabbed handful, shoving them in her mouth. Once she’d swallowed them, she explained,
“Snacks. Gotta get power somehow.” Tessa looked cautiously towards J before reaching forward again & grabbed a single smaller battery from the assortment & gingerly placed it in her mouth. It didn’t taste of anything at first, but when she bit down, it was slightly acidic, with a coppery aftertaste. Definitely not something she would have enjoyed before (especially given it would have put her in hospital), but she found it more than palatable now. J grabbed the bowl & placed it on the couch between them, as she did, she asked,
“any good?” Tessa briefly nodded, prompting J to caution her,
“your taste buds are copper. Enough of those & you’ll corrode your sense of taste away.”
Tessa reached for another couple batteries before giving a snarky reply,
“Yes, mother.” J pushed Tessa’s shoulder with a,
“Hey! Rude.” Tessa giggled before J prompted her, “you just gonna hold that remote all night, or are you gonna put something on?”

Tessa looked through what was on the TV, it was mostly anime she’d never heard of, but there were a good number of horror & action films. She’d been so sheltered back home that she’d never seen even the more well known examples of either genre. Her nerves raced with excitement, ‘or circuits? Wiring?’ she thought. Eventually coming across the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, upon seeing it she told J about some trivia,
“ya know, there’s a scene where they cut one of the actresses for real & most of the human & animal bones in that film were real” J wasn’t particularly interested. Whatever the film was like, she’d probably seen worse. Her eyes flitted up at the mention of real bones. Turning towards Tessa, deadpan, she asked,
“you wanna watch it cause there’s real bodies in it, don’t you?” Tessa tilted her head and blinked a few times before answering,
“you’re tryna make me sound weird. I do wanna watch it though.” J sighed, reaching for more batteries as Tessa put the film on.

J didn’t think it’d faze her and she was right, she’d started nodding off within the first 20 minutes. She quietly adjusted her position to be more comfortable; putting her feet up on the coffee table & using the armrest & her forearm to prop her head up. She kept her left hand poised to reach into the snack bowl though. Tessa didn’t notice as J nodded off, so engrossed in the movie was she. Tessa was quite vexed when it was over & she turned to ask J’s opinion, only to find her sleeping peacefully. She leaned over & shook J awake saying,
“hey, what the hell, J?” J groaned as she awoke, eventually grabbing Tessa’s wrists to stop her shaking. Her voice was husky as she asked,
“uhh, what? What’d I do?” she rolled onto her back to look up at Tessa, swinging her legs down from the table. Tessa hissed at her,
“you missed the film J! It was great & now I have nobody to talk about it with!”
Tessa raised her hands dramatically as she concluded. J’s eyes furrowed before voicing her opinion,
“yeah, great at putting me to sleep.” Tessa pouted, leaning closer to as she kept complaining,
“Really? Not even good enough for background noise?” J replied casually,
“background noise for what? Cyn uninstalled pong and all my stuff’s outside still.” she exaggerated a pout, hoping Tessa would offer code it for her again. Tessa made no such offer, instead she suddenly blushed, having realised her current predicament. She was leant over J, who’d positioned their hands to either side of her head. Silence hung over them for a moment, allowing J to notice too, she turned her head aside & blushed too.

J felt Tessa try to pull away, & released her grip on the worker’s wrists. Tessa piped up,
“we should- we should get to sleep.” she turned the TV off & set the remote along with the bowl on the coffee table. The only light left in the room now came from their eyes, each barely bright enough to illuminate the other’s face. She went to rest her head on the far side of the couch, but J caught her arm; cautioning her,
“If I shift wrong in the night, you’ll end up with my leg through your face. It’s best you sleep at the same end as me.” Tessa’s lip twitched & her eyes widened slightly, but she offered no dispute. She slunk back to lay on her side facing J, using one arm as a pillow and the other to her chest. Once Tessa had settled, J asked,
“how’s being a drone so far? You seem ok, but I wanna be sure.” Tessa raised her free hand up to her eye, turning her wrist to examine it by the combined light of their eyes, after a few turns back and forth, she spoke,
“I feel strange – detached, almost - from all my senses. Like I’m just sat behind the visor, watching myself move on TV & being told what my body feels. I hardly notice whatever sense of touch is left; when I held the remote, I could hold my hand stil, look away & forget it was there.” J took off her headband, turning it over as she started talking, “you know, when I first got my disassembly upgrades, I was a mess. I couldn’t stand still on these legs or I’d fall over. I struggled to get the right thing to come out of my wrists… Hell, one time my wings retracted mid air – I came within a few metres of smashing into the ground. And this headband?” she now set it on the coffee table, “they’re extra eyes. Having removable eyes was - IS really weird.” looking at Tessa she explained, “what I’m trying to say is… I know how it feels to wake up in a new body. It’s not the same, I know, but- I think you’ll get used to it in no time.” Tessa snuggled into J, whispering,
“Thanks, J. You’re the best.” J wrapped an arm over Tessa & quickly entered sleep mode, truly content for the first time in a long time. Tessa didn’t sleep so easily, the events of the day & the gala replaying in her mind, but she would manage a few rough hours through the night.

Chapter Text

When Nori awoke the stress of the night before was replaced by a miasma in her mind, clouding her thoughts. She went to hop off her side of the bed like normal, but found herself walking into the wall. This served well to sharpen her mind,
‘right,’ she thought, ‘I’m at Alice’s, not Khan’s…’ Now hopping off the open side of the bed she left the room. Alice was already up, it seemed and was trying to pull stuff out of her bag. Nori gave a greeting,
“Morning. You need a hand?” Alice poked her eye up & turned to look at Nori, glaring as she dismissed Nori’s offer,
“what, with the solver? No thanks, I like my stuff not turned into fleshy masses.” Nori went over & held the bag open with a claw, balanced expertly on her other two as Alice dragged a toolbox over the zip. Nori defended her use of the solver,
“I know what I’m doing with it, Alice. it’d be fine.” Alice uncurled her claw from the handle before going back into the bag, her muffled voice uneasy as she replied,
“still, Nori. You’re pretty easy-going with it. I’d be more cautious, we both know what it can do.” she now emerged with a tail wrapped around her claw, though where a syringe of nanite acid would typically be, there was instead a knife affixed with wire. When she had untangled her claw, instead of delving back into the bag, she pulled down next to where Nori was holding it up. Nori questioned this,
“wasn’t there something else? I thought I saw-” Alice cut her off, her voice was sharp,
“Leave it. In fact, leave me alone. I’m sure you have stuff to do today, anyway.” Nori was slightly startled at Alice’s change in tone, but she wouldn’t push it – Alice was abrasive at the best of times, Solver or not, Nori wouldn’t survive pissing her off when she was clearly in a bad mood. As she unlocked the door, Nori clarified,
“I can come back right? They only give free homes to newcomers.” Alice snapped at Nori,
“Yes. Fine. Just Go. Now!” Nori stood on the far side of the door, before closing it completely, she spoke,
“Bye Alice.”

Nori thought of what to do. She’d need to get her address changed for the letter about her new body and… the fishnetting over her eyes shifted, allowing a white cable interlaced with it to enter her field of view.
‘right’ she thought, ‘I need to get my iPod & stuff from Khan’s…’ She put that off for now, deciding to visit the infirmary first, especially given it wasn’t too far.
It was relatively early, so the halls were quiet enough that she reached the infirmary without any near-tramplings. She hopped onto the desk of the receptionist & cut straight to the point,
“I’m here to change my address. Name’s Nori Doorman, I’m staying with another Core named Alice.” Unknown to Nori, this was the same receptionist who had spoken to Alice yesterday. Her voice was dry as she told Nori,
“I know the one. Still gonna need to hear the address from you.” Nori was perplexed, she hadn’t considered that. She tried to recall the address tag she’d seen on the keycard, but drew a blank. Instead, she offered,
“uh, I could give you directions from here?” The receptionist sighed, propping her head up with a hand as she grabbed a notepad and pen, she relented,
“Fine.” Nori gave the directions & once they were copied down the receptionist quickly shooed her away, scorning,
“Oh, tell your murder friends not to threaten anyone next time.” Nori nodded, slightly confused, before hopping down & scuttling out the door.

Now to get her stuff from Khan’s… she’d have to go ask N or V to go for her. She took a shortcut through an air vent, emerging within sight of their door. She tapped on it, same as yesterday – nothing. No V, no N, no sentinel. She went back to the vent to fetch a screw, using the solver to fling it against the door – it sounded significantly louder than her claw alone. Eventually she heard the door unlock to reveal… Cyn’s lackey.
“uhh… who’s there?” her voice was groggy, she scanned left to right as she rubbed her jaw, clearly still half asleep, missing the heart stood at her feet. Nori called out,
“down here. What are you doing here? Where’s N & V?” Nori turned combative, still holding the screw, the tip now pointed at J’s visor. J’s arm dropped from her face to hang free at her side as she replied,
“they’re asleep. As was I.” A girls voice came from inside, Nori couldn’t place the accent, but she spoke softly,
“who is it, J?” A worker with black hair & a hospital gown appeared, half hidden behind J, but now able to lay eyes on Nori, “woah. I seen some freaky spiders J, but what is THAT?” J flipped her hair from her eyes as she answered,
“A solver corrupted drone core – Uzi’s mother if I’m not mistaken.” Tessa hid further behind J at the mention of the solver, J reassured, “she’s… fine. I think.” Tessa moved to be in full view of Nori & stood to her full height as she introduced herself,
“uh, Hi! I’m Tessa, Nice to meet you.” she seemed timid, perhaps a result of her sheltered upbringing, perhaps she still didn’t fully trust being around solver hosts. Nori gave a dismissive reply,
“Nori.” only now did she drop the screw, “Can I come in now?” both drones stepped aside, clearing a path for Nori to enter. She knocked on the nearest bedroom door, a warbling noise emminating from the other side,
’V’s room then’ Nori concluded. When it opened Sparky slipped past V, who was wearing her glasses, but no headband, her greeting started with a groan,
“uuh, Nori? What do you want? Uzi gone nuts again?” Nori’s reply was sheepish,
“no, actually I needed someone to get a few things from Khan’s, so… you free?” V leant against the door frame as she answered,
“A few things may be difficult.” she raised a stump, “Plus, I have plans. Try N & Uzi.” pointing with her remaining hand to the other bedroom door, “that one.” she dipped back into her room for her headband before moving to the kitchen. It didn’t register with Nori that V had mentioned Uzi, so upon her knock on N’s door being answered, she was shocked at who was stood before her,
“Uzi Doorman! What are you doing here?” she shouted, Uzi was equally surprised to see her mother, exclaiming,
“Mom!? I’m trying to avoid being around any more of whatever the FUCK you call last night! What are YOU doing here?” Nori recoiled, a guilty look in her eye. She answered,
“I… need help getting some stuff from Khan’s. Uzi seemed slightly puzzled, asking, “well, aren’t you gonna talk to dad? Work things out? Knowing him, he’d probably help if you asked.” Nori’s tone was what you’d expect of a mother explaining emotionally difficult subjects – compassion mixed with slight trepidation,
“Uzi,. I threw a rock at him . it's over. It might not sound like much to you, given… the company you keep,” she looked past Uzi to N, sat up & adjusting his headband, ”but it… it really is.” Uzi was visibly gutted, her eyes wide, her mouth hung open with a quiver. She ran back into the room, pushing past N as he approached the door, to hide around the corner, out of sight. N looked to her, before staring down at Nori, asking
“oh, Mrs. Doorman. Can we help you? Now…” he looked back into the room briefly, “now seems like a bad time.” Nori reiterated why she was there to N, adding that she was staying with Alice. N paused before offering, “we’ll help, just… no guarantees on when we’ll have…” he trailed off, realisation dawning across his face, “what is it you want?” Nori listed off what she wanted, tapping her claw on the ground for each item,
“My iPod & my headphones should be on the dressing table in the master bedroom, my old clothes should be in a suitcase behind the door to my closet.” she paused, trying to think of anything else, “oh, I’ll have my pickaxe & helmet. They’re under the table with the iPod.” N nodded before speaking,
“ok, I’m gonna go talk to Uzi. We’ll drop it straight round Alice’s.” he swung the door until only half his face was visible to Nori before adding, “maybe…” he seemed nervous, afraid of speaking out of turn or overstepping. This was his girlfriend’s mother after all, and she could be… fierce when annoyed, “maybe you should go. Wait at home - give Uzi some space, ya know?” She stared in cold silence before storming off, the front door reverberating as it slammed against the wall, propelled by a purple solver symbol. N gently closed the door to his room, sighing.

Chapter Text

Faint purple reflected off the legs of N’s desk. A slightly dented aluminium table with a gutted filing cabinet on the right side as drawers. Uzi had huddled herself under it, backed against the drawers to hide herself away. N kicked the desk chair aside, it’s worn coasters rattling slightly as it slowed to a rest. He sat beside Uzi, crossing his legs, and went to hold her hand, but paused when she began speaking,
“I hate her N.” her voice was weak, underpinned by faint crackling. “leaves for 17 years, comes back, shows what my family life could have been - and then tears it all apart. again” A faint whimper, “it’s so cruel…” N finally extends his hand to find hers, giving it a firm squeeze before interlocking their digits. N said nothing, finding himself unsure of what he could say, hoping instead that his gentle presence alone would be comfort enough for her. Time passed, neither drone keeping track of how long, before Uzi spoke up,
“you said ‘we’ to Mom, didn’t you?” N’s breath hitched, he tilted his head before speaking,
“yeah… I can do it myself if you’d like. But… would you come to get her stuff at least? See Khan?” he stroked the side of her index finger with is thumb, waiting for her response. She groaned, it’s echoes loud enough in the small room to peak N’s mic’s, her eyes fixed on the far corner of the table’s underside before answering,
“Fine.” N stood, gently tugging Uzi’s arm. Uzi took the hint & moved to stand, being helped by N. As she stood, she planted her foot on a piece of paper, slipping. N caught her, pulling her against his chest & wrapping his free arm around Uzi’s waist. N looked down to her, smiling as he cautioned,
“careful there, little bud,” N’s kind eyes & tender voice always melted Uzi’s worries away. She really appreciated that right now, and wrapped her arms around him. A quiet whisper came from Uzi,
“thanks, N,” She looked up, meeting his eyes a timid smile on her face. N leant down, placing a kiss on the upper middle of her visor before ruffling her hair. Uzi blushed furiously, but made no made no attempt to move or resist. Eventually N stopped, holding Uzi’s shoulders with straight arms to distance himself before speaking,
“come on, let’s go.”

The rest of the house was empty, with no sign of where the others had gone. N locked up, and they began the walk to Uzi’s house. It was late in the morning by this point, and they passed many other drones, some alone and others in large groups, none acknowledged Uzi, though most reacted to N. He gave a friendly smile to those who were still scared of disassembly's & a wave to those he knew from class & elsewhere. Uzi clung to his arm the whole walk, only letting go upon reaching the Doorman residence to unlock the door. It was dark inside, though N could hear the TV faintly, he poked his headband around the edge of the door to the lounge. Khan was sat on the sofa with a mug in his hand, a pack of empty antifreeze bottles littered the table. N turned back to Uzi, using his visor to ask,
“he normally go through a pack of antifreeze on a Saturday night?” Uzi shook her head, wide eyed, before peeking round the door herself, though her standard drone optics only allowed her to see little more than silhouettes against the screen. She looked back to N, who had placed his hand on her shoulder. He jerked his head, gesturing for her to go in as his visor flashed up,
“I’ll get the stuff ;)” Uzi nodded, squeezed N’s hand, then entered.

The first Khan knew of his daughter coming home was when the cushion to his right sank under her weight. He hadn’t slept & it was written across his visor; lines imitating bags accompanied his usual wrinkles, his eyes wide, shorted at the top by a furrowed ‘brow’. Uzi spoke, fraught with worry,
“hey dad. You ok? Whatcha drinking there?” she gestured at the mug in his hand before resting her hands in her lap. A weak smile formed on Khans lips before he answered,
“Heya, kiddo. It’s just oil; Crude. I - heard it’s good for hangovers…” He took a deep swig before setting it down on the table. Uzi raised an eyebrow, noting,
“ you didn’t say how you are, dad.” He sighed, resting his elbows on his knees & facing the TV, slightly transfixed on the static it had been displaying for the last couple drinks.
He explained,
“in the 20 years I’ve lived here, Uzi, this is the first time I’ve touched antifreeze.” he tipped the mug slightly to check it’s contents – empty. Tsk. “have you seen Nori? Is… is she coming back?” Uzi’s initial reply got caught in her throat, she shook her head as she composed a more in-depth reply,
“she… figures cause she threw that rock-” she stopped mid sentence, deploying her tail as a light & holding it to Khan's face, “your visor’s cracked. Lemme fetch the repair kit.” she stood up, disappearing into the kitchen briefly and returning to the sofa holding a small tool kit. The crack was fairly significant, with both radial & concentric lines emminating from the impact site on his forehead down to the centre of his visor – not life threatening by any means, but it was definitely affecting his vision. As Uzi set about repairing it she continued, “yeah, cause of this, she reckons it’s best to call it quits. I think she said she’s staying with Alice…” Uzi applied epoxy as Khan processed what she said. His only response was,
“yeah, that- yeah, ok.” he looked up as Uzi pulled her hand away, “and where were you last night, might I ask?” Uzi looked caught off guard, then suddenly very guilty. She explained,
“uh, V asked if I wanted to stay over. I guess N told her what happened and… she felt bad.” Khan’s face settled in relief before Uzi continued, “sorry, I should have said or something…” Khan pulled Uzi into a hug, wrapping his arms around his daughter’s shoulders as he spoke,
“That’s right, you should have. Given the circumstances though, I’ll let you off.”

N was now stood in the doorway, having gathered all Nori had requested. He was noticed by Khan as he hugged his daughter. Sitting up as he pulled away from the hug, Khan spoke,
“oh, hello there N! Can I help you?” N raised Nori’s helmet, upturned & holding her iPod & headphones, as he explained,
“Hi sir! Mrs. D- ah, Nori stopped by this morning, wanted us to grab some stuff. I’m… glad to see you’re looking better than when we came in.” Khan coughed, his eyes saddening at N’s correction. He spoke,
“ I am, thanks. If you’re busy I won’t keep you.” He ushered Uzi to stand before pointedly adding, “Just make sure Uzi comes home tonight.” He grabbed u some cans before disappearing into the kitchen. N shrugged asking as he motioned to the door,
“wanna come drop this off with me? It’s fine if not,” he grinned slightly at Uzi. For a moment, she bit her lip, then huffed before answering,
“no, I’m good. See you at school tomorrow?” N shot a finger gun, though his words lacked the enthusiasm to match,
“yeah, see you then. I…” he trailed off, wanting to say something supportive, but struggling to find the words due to his historic lack of friends, eventually settling on something fairly boiler-plate, “my door’s always open for you, Uzi.” he dipped out of the door frame & left without a word more said.

Chapter Text

Nori found herself with nothing to do & short even of choices for where to go. She settled on returning to the air vent connecting to Alice’s house. Foot traffic had picked up slightly, though no-one came near enough to concern herself with. Closing the vent hatch behind her, she let out a deep breath. Moving into the vent a little ways, slightly past the hole she’d made last night, she allowed her mind to wander, thoughts, daydreams, memories & plans all whistled through her mind like like wind through the skeletal ruins outside. A curious thought blew round and round again; ‘what’s Alice doing?’ She could easily check, go further into the vent & look through the grate. If nothing else, she could gauge what sort of mood Alice was in, maybe she could climb down & knock if she seemed ok.

Nothing. Lounge & kitchen were both empty & she couldn’t see into Alice’s room. It seemed Alice’s body bag had been relocated – presumably along with it’s contents. She allowed herself to get lost in thought once more until she was disturbed by a knock at the door. She retreated sideways, hiding the light of her eye just as Alice emerged from her room. Faint clicks told Nori when Alice was walking, when it stopped she moved to look through the vent. Alice had jumped onto the table by the door & reached to hit the door release. Before pressing it, she asked,
“Nori? That you?” A muffled reply came from the other side, indiscernible to Nori, but whoever it was, Alice tapped the release & the door pushed open. In stepped N carrying Nori’s suitcase & cradling her helmet with what looked to be her iPod & headphones nestled inside. Nori hid again, waiting for the sound of the door closing, judging by how she’d opened the door, Alice was in a better mood now, so she could go back in.

After peeking through the vent to check that N was gone, Nori emerged into the hallway & went to Alice’s door. Scratching slightly at the floor before knocking. Part of her thought it would seem suspicious to show up so soon after N, but she dismissed it. Alice called through the door once more, this time asking,
“who’s there?” Nori coughed before answering,
“your ah… housemate?” A faint click emanated from the door, telling Nori that the release had been pressed, using the solver, she pushed the door open slightly, just enough for a heart to fit through. As she entered, Nori spoke,
“yo, you in a better mood now?” Alice’s reply was curt,
“Oh, I’m just peachy.” she let the sarcasm in her words drip for a moment before adding, “Your little freak’s pet dropped your stuff by. Put it in your room please? Without making a black hole…” this ruffled Nori for two reasons and she let it be known,
“I know what I’m doing Alice, I’ve lived with the solver for 20 years.” she stared up at Alice, still perched on the table, “and for the record, my daughter was exorcised yesterday, so she’s no more of a freak than me.” Alice hopped down while Nori closed the door behind her, situating herself just off from Nori’s path to her room before speaking,
“hmm, If you say so…” Nori stopped as she passed Alice, her helmet & suitcase continuing towards her room unaccompanied, huffing before she spoke,
“look, I get it Alice, I do. but without bodies, we don’t have a choice.” A flash of anger appeared in Alice’s eye & she stood to her full height before she replied,
“Of course we have a choice! I could move my stuff without any witch crap!” Nori’s expression was blank, her tone flat as she asked,
“ok, can you open the door?” Alice settled down, defeated, storming towards her room, she grumbled,
“whatever.” Nori watched as the other core shrunk towards the open door, as Alice passed under the door frame, Nori called out,
“look, whenever one of us gets a body, I’ll stop using it. Promise.” Alice stopped & turned, though her eye darted around, unable to meet Nori’s. Her voice was soft as she answered,
“I- appreciate that. Thanks.” her voice lightened on the last word. She tilted her core before asking, “ what… what’s your plan for the rest of the day?” the question took Nori off-guard, she took a moment before answering,
“uh, listening to music. Why?” Alice seemed nervous as she replied,
“well, you know… there’s not much for a core to do in this house, is all.” she looked over to the empty TV stand, tapping at the floor before continuing, “can… can I listen with you?” Nori was slightly perplexed, but replied quickly,
“sure, no promise it’s to your taste though.”

The pair sat together on Nori’s bed, a pair of cat-eared headphones leaned against the pillow, the speakers facing towards the pair. Nori cycled through the tracks on her iPod, eventually deciding on a playlist from the 27th century to start off with - that century saw a resurgence in styles first popularised at the turn of the 21st century, an era Nori was particularly fond of. She cranked the volume up to max, both were sat far enough away they could comfortably talk over it. They sat listening & discussing their opinions for the rest of the day – Nori gathered Alice tended to prefer acoustic & analogue electrical instruments over synth sounds & mixes (meaning Alice was not a fan of the Nightcore half of Nori’s discography, much to her dismay) They sat together as afternoon turned to evening & then to early morning, as Nori went to change track once more, she watched out the corner of her eye as Alice drifted into sleep, slumping eye first onto the duvet. Nori paused the music, eyeing the other heart. It seemed Alice was out cold & their evening was done. She flicked the light out before nestling her claws under her core & settling down for the evening herself.

Chapter Text

V swirled her oil can as she watched Nori leave & J stride without hesitation to shut the door behind her. Tessa was leant against the back of the couch, stroking her forearm & unsure where to look, coughing once to try clear the air. V swigged the rest of her can & set it on the side before turning to ask J,
“Wanna come help fill up on oil?” J rested a hand on her hip as she pondered her reply. Certainly, she had nothing else to do, so she figured she may as well, answering V’s question with,
“sure, may as well.” Tessa raised a hand as she interjected their conversation,
“can I come along? I- never liked being cooped up and I want some drone parts for something…” The disassembly's both turned to her in surprise, V questioning,
“you sure? You didn’t seem to like the sound of the spire last night…” Tessa hesitated at the reminder, chewing her lip as she contemplated. She took a deep breath before speaking,
“I’m sure. Just… gotta not think about it too much. You got a hacksaw or something ‘round here?” V tilted her head, squinting at Tessa, after a moment she approached Sparky’s bed, picking up the disassembly arm & shaking it a few times – nothing. She whistled, rousing sparky from his slumber & bringing him out of her room. She held the arm out to him, asking,
“saw?” He grabbed it with his teeth, then shook his head vigorously, when he came to a rest the arm ended in a circular saw. V grabbed the arm back before motioning to Tessa to come closer. V tinkered with it clumsily before handing it over with an explanation,
“it revs when the elbow’s at 90°. More or less.” Tessa took the arm, with a small,
“thank you. Um, your hand… is that?” A disgruntled series of warbles & rapid tapping then came from the sentinel beside them. V stroked Sparky's chin as she assuaged, “It’s gone. In times gone by, it would have grown back, but…” she sighed, then turned to sparky, “we’re going out, come along & you’ll have it back before we return.” He warbled again, seemingly satisfied by V’s promise. J cut into their conversation,
“so, oil needs a container, right? It’s hardly worth our time for one cans worth…” she waved the can V had set down for emphasis. V replied casually,
“Easy. We’re gonna steal some oil drums,” a psychopathic smile grew on her face as she continued, “and nobody’s gonna stop us cause we’re big scary murder drones. We load a couple onto sparky, and we can both carry one each.” V dipped into the kitchen as she finished, returning with a galvanised steel bucket containing a bright orange funnel, handing both to Tessa. “here, you carry this. Stick your parts in there too.” Tessa threw the arm in before the trio of drones & sentinel set off.

Another thing Tessa could still feel – the cold. At the top of her vision, a pop up informed her it was -63°C and she felt every biting degree below the usual 30°C of winter at the Elliot manor. Concerned, she asked,
“out of curiosity, do either of you know the minimum operating temperature for a worker drone?” V looked back at her, her head titled back to watch where she went with her headband, and answered,
“nope, I’ve found drones out when it’s been colder than this, though. If you’re cold, try taking a coat or something from a skeleton.” Tessa shivered, giving V a
“sure,” before adjusting her grip on the bucket & scanning the nearby cars for remains. Most seemed to be in formal attire - as she recalled it, most humans sent here were scientists or corporate middle-management, drones did all the grunt work & the higher-ups stayed nice & cushy on Earth. She eventually found a skeleton with a double-breasted navy wool coat, while it didn’t go much lower than the hip of the skeleton who wore it, it fell down to her knees & she needed to roll the cuffs several times for her hands to be comfortably free, looking around as she buttoned it up, she finally noticed the spire – the cold & her search meant she’d kept her eyes down, but now it commanded all attention - blocking out copper-9’s sister planet & looming over all the nearby buildings. Grabbing her bucket, she rushed to catch up with the others stood it it’s base.

V unloaded the drums from Sparky’s back & he slipped out to stalk the city streets, Passing Tessa as she entered. She approached, greeting V as she set the bucket down beside the drums & pulling the arm from it. When she was stood straight, she asked,
“do you two need a hand or…?” J flew in, a pair of worker heads cradles under her arms, when she landed, V replied,
“not unless you sprout wings, we’re working from the top down. And if that was a joke, I’m not laughing.” Tessa nodded, wandering off to start her salvaging as V & J sat pouring oil from the heads into a drum, V asked,
“I don’t remember having two ships here, that something to do with you?” J answered, ”yep, I spent the week bringing parts here - was gonna fix it up, try find… another squad maybe some higher ups, something to just get back to work…” both threw the now-empty heads to the ground, flying up to get more from the peak, before returning to the pouring & their conversation. V asked,
“so, what now? You gonna keep working on it?” J contemplated before answering,
“I dunno. I’ve got nowhere to go with it and the rocket motors are worthless. Even if I got everything else working, it wouldn’t fly.” V started pouring from a ripped open torso as she countered,
“it doesn’t have to be useful, y’know. Could just be something to do, and who knows, if you get it working maybe you could go sightseeing. I hear Luna’s wonderful this time of year…” That actually managed a chuckle out of J, her reply had some warmth to it,
“maybe. The quiet would be nice.”

Each drum took 2-3 drones worth of oil, they filled the time with more idle chatter as they worked. At one point, while J was at the peak, Tessa dropped by, setting down the bucket, now full of drone limbs. V eyed it curiously, asking,
“what’s the plan for all that?” Tessa calculated her reply before she spoke,
“I- had a thought in the night, maybe I could… make some custom parts to help me feel more at home in this body.” V’s eyes were scrutinous, under her gaze Tessa felt forced to clarify, “ I’m gonna try make 4 fingered hands – and feet with toes, ok?” Tessa examined her hand as she spoke, V raised an eyebrow before asking,
“you sure you know what you’re doing? When you fixed us up, it was with standard components. That’s… significantly more complex.” Tessa nodded, her eyes fixed firm on V’s as she answered,
“I’m sure, V. Besides, I got all the time in the world to figure it out.” she clapped her hands & stood back, turning slightly at her waist, “I’m gonna go dig around for more clothes. See ya ‘round!” she dipped out again, giving V the chance to join J in collecting drones from the peak. J was sat looking out across the city, V nestled alongside her, grabbing a full head of oil before speaking,
“admiring the view?” she took a swig of oil, awaiting J’s response.
“just… thinking.” was as she said. V offered the head to J, who finished as V noted,
“that’s… vague. Care to talk about it?” J stood, holding a drone body by the neck in each hand, saying as she did,
“nah, it’s fine. Grab a drone & we should have enough to finish up here.” she dropped down, V quickly followed, drones in hand. Once the drums were full, V whistled for Sparky as she & J finished off the oil in one of the drones. When he arrived, V saddled the drums on him, he grumbled slightly under the burden, but the return of his arm seemed to cheer him up. J went out to find Tessa, returning a couple minutes later, flying in with Tessa in her arms. V asked her,
“find much?” Tessa nodded, presenting a few pieces folded over one arm before lifting the bucket with her other.

V walked between J & Tessa, with sparky following behind. Both disassembly's held a drum to their chest, Tessa carried the bucket & clothes she had found & sparky had his disassembler arm in his mouth & 2 drums slung over his back. As they walked back Tessa asked,
“is this oil really worth this effort? Don’t they have fresh stuff in there?” she gestured towards the compound door. V took a deep breath before explaining,
“we can run off the fresh stuff, but… we run better off slightly used oil, plus it tastes better. Now we have these drums, I’m gonna start setting some aside for special occasions.” Tessa attempted to relate it to something more familiar to her,
“like aged wine?” V seemed surprised at the comparison, but it did make sense, she replied,
“uhh, coffee or tea might be more apt. I think workers get drunk off antifreeze.” Tessa asked excitedly,
“can I try some?” V seemed unsure, but J cut in before she could reply,
“That’d be cannibalism. No.” Tessa’s reply carried an unimpressed tone,
“but it’s fine for you?” J heaved the drum onto her shoulder, using her free hand topinch where the bridge of her nose would be as she answered,
“yes. We’re… a different species. So it’s ok.” Tessa wasn’t satisfied, voicing her complaints,
“boooriiiing! Can’t a girl live a little?” Tessa looked to V, who gave a sly wink, hidden from J by the oil drum in her arms. Without giving time for J to reply, Tessa seemingly relented, “oh, whatever. It’s fine.” As far as J was concerned, Tessa suddenly dropped the topic, allowing them to return home in quiet.

Chapter Text

On the Monday that came after, J & Tessa were issued accommodation just down the hall from V & N’s. Tessa, having been Uzi’s age when she had passed, was encouraged both by compound administration & the manor trio to attend school. Having been homeschooled, she found herself woefully out of her element – save for the small group she already knew, the students seemed hell-bent on ensuring any gap n the teacher’s dull lecturing was a cacophony. J wasn’t attending herself, but from the second day on, she had to walk Tessa to school to ensure she attended.

For her part, J spent the first half of the week looking for a way to feel useful, and from Thursday on she found herself overseeing logistics – without the threat of her squad, the option of trading with other colonies had suddenly opened up & the necessity of better cataloguing what was in storage became clear. She started from the ground up, visiting every storeroom to take note of both their volume & approximate fullness by percent. One room’s door, despite being several centimetres of steel, was hacked open, though nothing of note seemed to have been taken, she also revisited the room she had gone to Saturday, though little had changed, she wasn’t exactly taking notes then. Also visited by her was a pair of garages, each with an exterior door, similar to the main door, though slightly narrower. One was piled so high with boxes she physically couldn’t enter, the other housed a yellow school bus with an… unusual driving arrangement, as well as a smattering of tools & boxes of parts. It struck her that one of these would be ideal for storing & working on the spaceship – she hadn’t actually made her mind up to fix the thing but regardless, the parts were too valuable to leave outside, especially given the spire now sat unoccupied & was a prime destination for curious toasters to gawk at.

After visiting each warehouse, there being a dozen in all, she sought her office in the administration building, a structure she identified as the bottom few floors of an office block – though where the rest went was beyond her. When she reached it, her office left much to be desired; a desk ripped from a cubicle sat facing the door, a cream coloured computer with a monochrome screen sat atop it, as well as a 3-tiered paper organiser and a faded ‘no.1 boss’ mug with… A JCJenson pen! Score! The wall to her left was lined with filing cabinets, each 5 drawers high. At the desk sat a cheap looking office chair, tired & worn, the plastic legs squealed & splayed under her weight as she sat, but it held – for now, at least. She got to work, typing up her notes about each room & templating inventories for them, writing down separately what she knew to have been ‘misappropriated’:

- 2 wigs (though one could be returned)
- 4 oil drums
- something from behind that broken door, it’s not like N would do that & no way a
worker could, so V was the obvious suspect

V seemed to have a habit of just taking stuff – she was right none of the workers would stop her, but J figured it wouldn’t look good on her reports if her friend kept stealing stuff from locations under her purview, so now it seemed to fall on her. She shut down the pc after finishing the templates, it was late by now, so she planned on actually taking inventory tomorrow, working from the emptiest to fullest.

Chapter Text

It was Wednesday when both Nori & Alice received letters informing them that their appointments were both on midday Saturday. After Sunday, the atmosphere in their place had lightened considerably, though Alice kept her room off limits & would outwardly insist she still held a grudge against Nori. The pair would go keep listening to music together, going on walks (where Nori showed Alice all her shortcuts accessible only to a core) & talking – though they tended to keep the subject matter light, only occasionally touching on what troubled Nori & never on what might concern Alice.

Saturday had come & as Alice scuttled from their abode, Nori's solver swung the door shut behind her, a faint click indicating it had auto-locked. They looked to eachother & Alice commented,
“so, that’s it for you using the solver, huh?” Nori looked up to the door handle, pensive, before she replied,
“I guess so.” adding a beat later, “’s’long as my life doesn’t depend on it.” Alice made a noise between a huff and a growl, but seemed to silently permit that exception. At the infirmary, they hopped onto the reception desk in unpractised unison,
“ah, hey. Here for our bodies?” Nori spoke for the duo. Th receptionist only glanced up for a moment before pointing to the hallway & saying in a dry tone,
“first door on the left.” Nori nodded before dropping back down from the desk, shortly followed by Alice.

Alice watched as Nori approached said door, she almost expected her to just open it with the solver; both out of habit & she figured despite their talk earlier, Nori was technically free to, since neither of them had a body yet. Nori proved her pessimism to be unfounded though, tapping at the foot of the door with the spine of her centre claw.

When the door opened, Alice scarped to close the distance she had kept while watching Nori, just managing to get within sight of the technician before he closed it. Inside, an empty bed sat opposing the door, to the left a pair of blank bodies lay on the floor, their chest-plates removed to expose the space a core would typically occupy. The technician looked down at the pair, gesturing to the bodies as he spoke,
“they’re uh.. both identical, so just pick one each, I guess.” Wordlessly, Nori went to the nearest one & climbed to look into the cavity, noting the wires that needed to connect to each of her 8 ports, as well as where her tendrils would go. In she climbed, out of view of Alice & the technician. Almost immediately, the visor lit up with purple eyes. As she sat up, the missing chest-plate healed over, only allowing faint glimpses of the flesh & bone forming underneath.

Alice watched intently – perhaps hoping to copy Nori’s example – while the technician froze in horror, feeling like he’d seen something he shouldn’t have. He jolted slightly when Alice spoke up,
“well, ain’t that convenient. Doubt that’s gonna work on me, though.” Nori sat cross-legged, slowly readjusting to this form, as Alice & the technician approached the remaining body. She took up a similar position to what Nori had, looking into the torso, though instead of hopping in as Nori had she asked, “so, what now?” the technician coughed before speaking,
“see these cables here? They each go to one of these,” he tapped the node to the upper right of Alice’s periphery before continuing, “ and there’s where the cables fixed to the core goes,” he examined Alice’s claw in confusion, there was no connector, “ah…” He stood up, going for the toolbox on the far side of the room, when he returned, he carried a pair of hydraulic cutters meant for steel-armoured cables. Alice hopped back reflexively, finding herself now in Nori’s lap. Alice sounded panicked as she spoke,
“you know, I’ve handled cores like mine before. They don’t react well to physical damage – the kinda bad reaction where people get hurt.” Suddenly, a hand rested atop Alice – her mind clearing at the touch of cool aluminium on her organics. Nori offered up her suggestion,
“She has a point. Why don’t we just plug in what we can already see? We can clip her claws later if that fails.” The technician kneeled, laying the cutters down before he agreed,
“ok, come here & I’ll wire you in.” Warily, Alice went back to the body. The technician grabbed her & began wiring her in with the same lack of care he’d give a blank core on a newly-made body. Alice objected quite vocally, though it was mostly muffled by his palm.

When all was said & done, it wasn’t enough. She could use the optics & processors & the movement of the visor’s eyes mirrored the one on the core, but she could not move a single joint. With trepidation, the technician took up the cutters as he apologised,
“sorry about this.” he grabbed Alice’s claws & wrapped the cutters around them. She squirmed, but seemed to resign as the jaws snugged against her, muttering,
“ah, fuck. Guess it’s karma…” Alice focused on the light hanging from the ceiling. As the cutter dug in, it flickered & Alice let out an awful scream – her speaker garbling & hissing as it overloaded. It was over quickly, her scream fading out to gentle whimpering as the technician finished her install.

When he reached for the chest-plate though, something unexpected happened – like with Nori, it healed over. Alice didn’t notice, only moving a hand to cover her visor as she recovered - all she knew was her chest felt strange for a moment, then it didn’t. Nori & the technician stared in silence before she shoved both now-surplus chest-plates into his hand & shooed him off, Allowing Nori to focus her attention on her friend. Once the door shut, Alice asked with a groan,
“aren’t… aren’t I missing a bit still? I’d like that part…” Nori mumbled a bit before replying,
“It uh… grew back.” Alice bolted upright, feeling where the hole in her chest should have been before looking down to examine. She sought to clarify,
“like… with you? with the solver?” Thin orange rings showed worry as Nori nodded in reply, then joked,
“only took you 20 years to trigger it, huh?”

Alice didn’t laugh. In fact, between her ragged hyperventilation & the look on her face – fearful, with the occasional high temp warning (clearly, they hadn’t been given full oil reserves), she looked about ready to vomit - were she able to. An old memory stirred in Nori & she scrambled behind Alice, grabbing her hands & crossing them over her chest in a firm embrace. The drones had been taught it as a stopgap way of handling a panicked yet unpossessed solver host – keeping you out of sight & keeping their hands occupied would limit any damage they could do. Nori asked,
“hey, you listening?” she felt Alice nod once, the smooth back of her head rubbing against Nori’s visor, enough for her to start , “Big deep breaths, ok? You’ll be fine, I promise. Nobody’s gonna hurt you, nobody’s gonna possess you. If they tried, they’d have to fight me, yeah?” Alice managed a single chuckle at that in between still-ragged, though now deeper breaths. After a moment more, she spoke up,
“hey purps, d’ya think they keep oil in here?” Nori looked to the toolbox on the far side of the room, it had to have oil in it, right? She pondered a moment, then said with resolve,
“I’ll check in there. Don’t eat me while my back’s turned, ok?” she released Alice, allowing her to readjust to the removal of her support, before standing. She seemed confident, taking a few easy steps before,

SMASH

She planted flat on her face, a halo of shattered glass glinting around her head. She room fell quiet for a moment, broken by Alice’s stifled snickering as Nori pushed herself onto her hands and knees, saying,
“I’m good. Thanks for asking, by the way…” she stood again, her shattered visage crunching underfoot before she moved cautiously to the toolbox, finding a partly used 2L bottle in the large bottom drawer & gingerly returning to Alice, holding it towards her. She swiped it greedily & drained it in seconds, gasping as she withdrew it from her mouth. She stood, much more sure of herself in this form than Nori, then discarded the bottle over her back, then casually suggested,
“let’s go. I want my hair. And my helmet. Gotta redo my tail too…” Nori interrupted,
“good plan. You wanna walk home like that?” She gestured to Alice’s torso – they were both naked, the typical medical gowns being eschewed in order to access their chest cavity's. Alice blushed, then dove for the bed in the middle of the room. She landed on the far side, having stripped the mattress bare, only to emerge a moment later wrapped in a flat sheet. Nori coughed, then questioned, “good for you, anything there for me to wear?” Alice stepped aside, examining the pile. Nori came to stand beside her now & looked down as well. Though she quickly reached down & pulled up a gown. Alice’s face twitched and Nori commented as she put it on,
“you don’t have to go stealing bedsheets if you want more than one set of clothes, ya know?” Alice grumbled, punching Nori’s arm before digging out the other gown, saying defensively as she changed into it,
“not my fault they were hidden under the sheets. Geez!” Nori patted herself down, adjusting the dress slightly, then decided,
“now we can go home.”

Chapter Text

V watched Lizzy leave the classroom, escorted by a gaggle of insufferable drones who’d come from another class to meet her. She liked Lizzy- a lot, actually, but found she had terrible taste in friends – it might explain why she hung out with her. Luckily, most of her friends were in other classes, so she had her mostly to herself in class., That In truth, was why she went to school at all - Lizzy kept a busy social calender & could be difficult to meet (with tolerable company) anywhere else. V shuffled out, along with N, Tessa & Uzi to go home. Right… Uzi was coming over for that movie night. V hoped her N had forgotten about their bet, maybe overwritten by facts about dogs or something else he surely considered more important, lest she be bored to death by whatever those idiots chose to watch.

The trio waved Tessa goodbye as they parted outside their place, with her continuing down the hall alone. Upon entering, V made a beeline for her room, though N stopped her, hooking his tail around her neck. He offered a friendly reminder,
“V, the couch is that way,” his tail uncurled slightly, bringing the tip to where he believed V should be heading. V tensed up, growling in frustration before replying,
“N, seriously, why do you want a third wheel on your little date night?” Uzi & N both looked at her, slightly confused. N hesitated at her harsh tone, leaving Uzi to answer for the pair,
“Hey, who said this was a date!?” she calmed from her defensive fluster before clarifying, “We’re just hanging out and you live here and you’re… our friend, I guess.” V was incredulous, giving a questioning look & shrug as she asked,
“ugh, whatever. Fine! I’ll sit with you. Get too touchy with eachother and I’ll feed sparky your tongues,” she raised her claw towards them for emphasis, an intrigued warble came from the corner & Sparky's head lifted from his bed at the mention of him eating drone. He nestled back down, mildly disgruntled that it was but a hollow threat.

V did have to enter her room to collect her glasses; she didn’t wear them at school as Lizzy said she looked batter without them & it wasn’t like she did enough work to need to read. As she emerged, Uzi & N set down 3 large oil cans & a few bowl of snacks – broken PCBs, CDs & wires alongside the batteries they kept here – it seemed Uzi had raided the pantry at her home in preparation for this evening. N situated himself in the middle of the couch & Uzi took up a seat to his right, leaving the leftmost spot to V, who started picking at her teeth once she’d seated. N beamed as he asked,
“so, any idea what you wanna watch, V?” Withdrawing her claw, V licked her lips before speaking,
“ah, I dunno. What about that one with the time-travelling robot?” Uzi leaned forward, turning to look at V, annoyance in her tone,
“Film’s been around 1200 years, V – that kinda describes a lot of them. Care to…” with an elaborate gesture, she presented an upturned palm, “elaborate?” V grumbled under her breath, then added,
“wears fake skin, sent to kill a kid? Cool sunglasses.” she donned her own as she finished speaking. Uzi spat,
“Cringe. Also, Terminator?” V thought for a moment then gave a single nod. That sounded about right. Uzi thought aloud,
“right, well N wants to watch some nature doc that’s totally gonna make him cry.”
N answered back, defensive yet playful.
“Am not!” he turned to V, “it’s about stray dogs in an old irradiated zone. Apparently, they kind thrive!” V wasn’t convinced, though resisted saying anything, knowing it would only earn Uzi’s ire. V rested an arm atop the backrest as she asked,
“so, grapefruit, what delightful film are you gonna make me sit through?” A pillow thwapped V in the back of the head, held by the teeth of Uzi’s tail, she leaned over N to get in V’s face a she answered,
“you know grapefruits weren’t purple, right? Also, it’s an anime adaptation of Downbelow Station. The 2245 version.” V rolled her eyes, Uzi was nothing if not predictable. They elected to watch N’s documentary first.

So anyway, N cried. A lot. It was pretty pathetic & far beyond what V could tolerate, she doubted even J could find it entertaining. Turns out, while wild animals were thriving, the strays were subject to starvation, disease & suffered issues due to inbreeding. It had to be swapped out partway through for old internet clips of Golden Retrievers as V & Uzi (though mainly Uzi) tried to assuage N, letting him talk their mics off about dogs while V had her hand on his shoulder, occasionally rubbing or patting it & Uzi drew circles on his palm with her thumb & stroked his hair. As the third compilation drew to an end, Uzi gripped both hands and asked,
“you ok? We don’t have to watch anything else if you don’t want to…” V could tell he was putting on a bold front when he answered,
“Yeah, I’m ok now.” he looked at his & Uzi’s interlocked hands nervously before asking, “do you & V wanna pick which one we’re watching next?” V answered for the pair,
“we’ll watch mine first. Uzi’s taste is terrible. Her pick’ll probably put me to sleep.” Uzi snapped back,
“your ‘taste’ is basic! I’ll fall asleep when yours comes on!” N figured they were just bantering, but offered a solution to avoid any escalation,
“how about we let a randomiser choose? Uzi, 1 or 0?” she was leaned over him to argue with V, with a hand on his thigh so when she turned to answer, their faces were very close. She picked,
“uh, 1. I guess.” N turned so both could see his face, his eyes disappearing. It flickered between a large 1 and 0, slowing down until it settled on… a 0. V’s film would go first.

When the film drew to an end, neither V or N moved to wake Uzi, nor put her film on. They sat watching the credits roll, N eventually asking with a curious tone,
“hey… V?” she met his eyes, but made no verbal acknowledgement, he continued, “how’s… how’s your hand? Ah! Arm? Biscuits, I’m sorry…” the faint beginnings of a smile formed on V’s lips at his fluster, though her reply carried a disappointed undertone,
“Well, after a week expecting it to grow back in my sleep, it’s still the same as it was Saturday evening. Why?” N’s reply was hesitant,
“Is leaving it open like that a good idea? Seems like a fire risk or something…” she examined the wound; all the wired had their insulation in tact right up to the ends, by her calculation the risk of it arcing was minimal. She answered,
“I doubt it. Besides, I’m still not letting anyone work on me. ” there was a finality to her words, though N pressed her,
“well, why not? You’re not exactly the squeamish sort…” V tapped her thigh, making a regular clacking sound as she worked up the nerves to answer,
“do you… remember anything from when you got your upgrades?” N shook his head, recounting,
“ah, no… I remember the night of the gala, flashes of fighting on earth, then it’s just the time we’ve been here.” he wore a concerned look, fixed on V as she continued, her voice was croaky now,
“there were 56,342 revisions. Each installed & tested on me first. Being ripped apart like that, I-” she faltered, only barely able let out a grief-filled, “Never again…”

N was lost for words. He’d never seen V so vulnerable, and found himself unsure how to react to seeing her now, sat trembling on the verge of tears. V curled away from him, burying herself into the cushion, A second of thought later & N lay a reassuring hand on her right shoulder, prompting her to look back at him. Something in her broke at his silent offer of support & she fell into his arms, weeping. He wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that, he’d guess around half an hour, though he wasn’t exactly going to check his chronometer. She eventually pushed him off, sitting forward with her elbows on her knees & looking down at the floor. N tapped his fingers together before suggesting,
“hey, Uzi’s smart. I’m sure if we asked, she could crack your admin password. Fix your hand that way, yeah? No surgery, no traumatic memories to relive. Just you being good as new…” V sighed, splaying her fingers then clenching her fist before replying,
“yeah, maybe. Tomorrow.” she leaned back into the couch, manually navigating her HUD to enter sleep mode, before selecting the final button she added, “Thanks N - really. Goodnight.”

N nudged Uzi awake, she babbled incoherently for a bit. Then, still half-asleep, she asked,
“uhh, what is it N?” he answered,
“Do you still wanna watch your film?” he paused, he didn’t like lying, but it wasn’t his place to say anything about what V had told him, “V fell asleep during the credits.” All of a sudden, she was wide awake, giving an enthused hiss,
“oh yeah!” upon which she grabbed for the remote & put the film on before snuggling into N’s side. N fell asleep partways through, Uzi falling asleep mere moments after turning the TV off.

During the night, V had slumped towards N such that her head rested atop his shoulder, Uzi was first to rise and was not happy at the sight, it took a cup of oil to jog her mind into recognising it for the accident it was & reminding herself she had been in a similar position a week prior. She left to go scavenging without a word to the pair, leaving them to keep sleeping on the couch.

Chapter Text

After thanking the infirmary staff, neither drone said much until they made it inside their home. Alice fetched her wig; in the light of their room, Nori now saw the impact of the last 20 years. It was heavily matted with black oil staining the fringe in what seemed to be a deliberate effort to change her style. As Alice worked to fit it, she asked,
“you not gonna put yours on?” Nori leaned on the wall between the doors to their rooms, then stated flatly,
“nah, it’s outside with my old body. Probably melted through.” Alice gave her a surprised look, then burst out into uncontrolled laughter, managing to wheeze out,
“baldie! haha!” Nori’s face twitched, retorting,
“Oh. Shut up!” She snatched the wig of Alice’s head before adding,
“I always wanted to try going red. Guess you’ll just have to wear you helmet…” Alice tried to grab her hair back, but with Nori holding it above her head & using her other hand to keep Alice away it was fruitless, she grumbled, disappearing into her room a moment to retrieve her helmet. Gripping it at the back by the rim, she held it towards Nori, showing the missing front section. She reminded Nori that,
“Nori. Look at it! It’d fall off!” Nori put Alice's wig on as she instructed,
“Just put the damn thing on. Solver’ll fix it.” she did and almost at once, it began to reform – first along the cracks, then the gap filling in, until it was whole again. “see? Good as new.” Alice patted at where the hole was, eventually taking it off again to inspect. Where the hole had been it now appeared brand new – distinct from the decades of scuffs, scratches & grime layered over the rest of it’s surface. Her fingers tapped rhythmically against the sides before she donned it once more, only to lunge at Nori, pinning her to the wall & holding a finger to her visor, she demanded,
“I want my wig back. Today. Go find your own,” Nori nodded, then went into her room.

Upon stepping out into the corridors Nori huffed in thought, slipping her hands into the pockets of an old black leather jacket. 17 years in storage had not been kind to it, with some noticeable cracks & blotches – nothing she couldn’t fix, but it’d have to wait for now. Where to find a wig… there’d be some in storage, somewhere. That would require access & the patience to dig through a couple warehouses though – no chance. She grumbled as she came to a realisation – the black haired drone at V’s was a fresh install. At least, judging by her pristine visor & the gown she’d worn. They had to find that wig somewhere… She tugged a hand free, brushing her (Alice’s?) hair from her visor as she let out a loud groan.

Silently praying her daughter was elsewhere, Nori gave 3 firm knocks on the door to her friends’ apartment. A moment passed in silence before V answered, looking down down at the… vaguely confusing drone before her – eyes and hair she’d seen before, but not on the same drone.
“...who are you?” she asked, clutching an arm to her chest as she waved her hand towards Nori. Nori flicked her fringe aside before answering,
“Nori. The wig’s borrowed. Where’d ahh… Tessa, was it? Where’d she find hers?” V stared deadpan at her for a moment, weighing up just how much she wanted to help, given how rough her night had been, how much she disliked the owner of the wig before her & how annoyed Uzi would be to find she’d helped her mother at all. A devilish glint appeared in her eye before she answered,
“Oh, I know where you can find a wig… follow me.”

When Nori stepped into the apartment she was led to, she was pretty sure she was gonna die here. It was illuminated by scant emergency lights & the lights of mechanical insects skittering about – they would be cool were it not for the sense of mortal peril forming a pit in her core, but most noticeable was the body parts littering the kitchen. They covered every centimetre of countertop – vaguely organised by part with pots to store the oil. A couple missing cupboard doors revealed heads & torsos. There had to be at least 6 drones here. V eventually spoke up, after following Nori’s eyes,
“Relax, I’m not gonna kill you. Where’d you think I’d find a wig to begin with?” she motioned for Nori to follow her into the dining room where… Oh no. Sat at the table were a pair of drones she recognised; Yeva & was it Alexei? The pair was so quiet, she couldn’t be sure either had said his name. V picked at her teeth, then tapped her claws on the dining table before speaking,
“there you are. One wig, free for the taking.” It was faint, but her tone said V was very much enjoying herself. Nori was aghast. She looked around, hoping as she asked,
“uh, you got a lot of other drones in here, what about theirs?” V feigned disinterest in her reply,
“wouldn’t know. Didn’t kill them.” she levelled a claw to Yeva’s body, “pretty sure it was her kid.” That pit in Nori’s core felt endless now, she rummaged around, frantic, maybe they’d been put away somewhere – kept as some form of trophy, something to outlast the food every other part had been reduced to. V called after her as she expanded her search to other rooms,
“don’t make a mess! Doll’s only a missing person until we’ve moved the oil outta here!”

Nothing. She’d turned the place over and there was nothing. Not a single shredded hair of any other wig. Defeated, she approached the dining table once more, eyeing V and her smug grin as Nori passed closer to her old friend. Now stood within arm’s length, Nori gripped the rim of the table with one hand, clenching her teeth & squeezing her eyes shut as she reached for Yeva’s wig. It came free with a firm tug & she turned away, holding her new wig out of her periphery as she stared dagger into V. she retracted her claws, instead placing her hand on the able to lean over Nori & taunting,
“run along now. Your living friend will want her wig back.” Nori had seen disassembly drones smile wider & with more teeth, but she’d never felt as unnerved by one as she did now.

Nori threw Alice’s wig on the sofa & went to her room. She sat on the edge of her bed, still unable to bring herself to look at the wig still in her hand. For a while, she figured Alice hadn’t heard her enter, bit the eventual knock on her door, followed by a concerned question,
“uh, you in there?” disproved that notion. Nori found the will to reach over & hit the door release, before falling back down onto the bed. Alice poked a her head round, gripping the door frame as she added, “If the wig’s not your style, I’m sure it could be dyed…” Hanging from a clenched fist between Nori’s leg was a mass of familiar indigo, though Alice couldn’t place it. Alice stepped into the room, setting her helmet down before sitting alongside Nori & grabbing the wig, turning it over in her hand as she spoke, “I think you could work with this, Nori. Bit shorter than your old one but-” Nori wrenched her by the arm, so their faces were almost touching, the text on her visor read simply,
“Yeva’s” Alice looked back at the wig in her hand – that explained the familiarity. Still though, it wasn’t necessarily hers, so she asked,
“how do you know? These things were mass produced, it could just be a copy.” They looked to eachother in silence a moment, then Nori answered – her voice guttural and weak,
“I… I pulled it off her head. V’s keeping her body in an unused house.” Alice looked between the wig & Nori, contemplating what to do. Eventually, she said,
“I don’t think she’d mind. So long as we found a way to get back at V…” Nori had a bit of fire in her reply,
“what? You think we should kill her? That’d make it even.” Alice tilted her head, asking, “What, V killed her? Then made you…?” Nori nodded, prompting Alice reply with a grin, ”Oh, it’s on!” A sinister grin appeared on her face as she started tapping he fingers together, “We’ll think of something nasty…” She stuck the wig on Nori’s head. She seemed shocked but kept it on, so Alice stood to grab her helmet & examine Nori’s new look. “Not bad…” her lips pursed, “pretty damn good, actually…” Nori smiled faintly, giving a simple,
“Thanks.”

Chapter Text

“you’re gonna have to face him someday, ya know?” Alice was talking to Nori, who only hummed in acknowledgement, preoccupied arranging the assortment of items Alice had just collected from Nori’s old closet. Khan had surprised Alice – he was mild-mannered & rather ordinary. She’d heard opposites attract and all, but still, she figured Nori would go for someone with at least a little edge. A corkboard now sat on the TV cabinet, the top edge resting against the wall, on the coffee table sat a box of pins, a spool of fine red ribbon, a stack of paper & a stack of pens & markers. She took up a pen & paper, scribbling something down before pinning it to the centre of the board. Nori read it aloud – momentarily struggling to read the unpractised script,
“Operation: Ruin that psycho’s life for killing our friend & traumatising Nori…” she chewed her lip before commenting, “creative.” Alice’s newly affixed tail flicked in irritation before she snapping back,
“oh yeah? You got a better name?” Nori grabbed up her own pen & paper as she answered,
“Nah, good to remember why we’re doing this. Ideas?” Alice’s tapped a finger against her hip plating, her gown too thin to muffle the clicking sound. She suggested the obvious,
“could always just kill her? Wouldn’t be my first disassembler.” Nori wrote it down, but voiced her opinion as she pinned it to the top corner,
“bit boring though.” Alice agreed,
“yeah, she’d be getting off light.” Nori tapped her pen to her visor before grabbing another sheet & saying,
“I think we could get her kicked out. She’s got an apartment full of corpses & I have video of her saying she killed two of them…” Alice hummed in agreement, then added another sheet to the board,
“or ruin her social life. It’s petty, but we might get her to leave of her own accord.” Nori added another idea,
“I think her regeneration’s broken - She’s had a missing hand since the weekend you arrived… We damage her body bad enough & she’ll be forced to live as a core or become a worker… that could be fun.” The final suggestion came from Alice,
“and without Cyn, we don’t get a big centipede monster… Yeah.” she paused a moment before adding, “or we could mess with that sentinel somehow. Kill it? Scramble it’s brain so it goes for her or someone else?” Nori’s face twitched before she shot that idea down,
“mmm… too messy. I don’t want anyone else getting hurt for what she did.” Alice balled up the paper in her hand & threw it at Nori’s head. She jeered, letting her voice drip with sarcasm,
“Aww Nori! You’re such a saint! Now, back to your possible murder plans…” Nori let out a dry,
“haha.”

They went over the ideas, adding notes & detail to each possibility. Missing hand or not, if they wanted to kill or maim V, it’d be nice to incapacitate her – at current that’d mean sticking a bunch of magnets to her head – far from risk free. They didn’t know enough about V to harm her social life – that would require some snooping, Alice volunteered to pry N for info while Nori suggested she follow V’s movements at school – sticking to the safety of the air vents. Pinning Doll’s murders on V became a fallback option – providing whatever else they tried didn’t backfire too bad, that is…

-

It was Sunday now, Alice stood before the door to N & V’s shared abode. Nori had watched V leave a few minutes prior from a vent, informing Alice via a basic text messaging program they’d cobbled together. She knocked, gripping her excuse to visit tight behind her back. N answered, seemingly surprised, but still as friendly as when they’d met,
“Oh! Hi, Alice! Long time no see, huh? How’s the body?” A momentary pang of guilt hit her & she reminded herself of her goal, but she didn’t let it show as she answered with a polite smile,
“Oh, good thanks. You shoulda seen Nori – she faceplanted almost immediately. Ah, that was funny… Can I come in?” N flinched at the mention of Nori, worrying Alice that she might have made a mistake in mentioning her. Regardless, he stood aside, beckoning her in. Once the door shut, she gingerly presented the bottle she’d held behind her back, her tail swishing about with nerves as she explained,
“um, thanks. For helping me get settled and whatnot. It’s kerosene with a splash of antifreeze.” N took the bottle, examining the gift tag tied around the neck, she knew what it said,
‘Don’t share it. This is for you, golden boy. – Alice E.’ N turned the bottle over briefly, before excusing himself to hide it, giving Alice a chance to look around the room. Her eye was immediately caught by a pair of items near what she assumed to be that sentinel’s bed. She moved close enough to investigate and sure enough – the cowboy hat had a bite missing from the front edge of the brim. Her eyes went misty as she looked down on it.
“oh, you looking at Sparky's hat?” N spoke from behind, taking her completely off guard. She wanted to scream – IT WAS BEAU’S. It should be with his little bolo tie and-

she had to check the arm too. Absent-mindedly, she passed the hat to N, then took up the arm, deftly manipulating the wires protruding from the jagged cut, coaxing it to reveal an EMP device, a circular saw, a scalpel and… a gloved human hand. If nothing else, she had her own reason to ruin V now. She found herself scowling, prompting N to ask
“uh, is something up? What-” She snapped at his naivety, swiping the hat from him & stepping back with a dangerous look in her eyes & her tail’s knife aimed for N,
“Don’t play dumb! You know damn well where V got these from!” N had begun reaching a hand out, but pulled back at her words. The realisation seemingly dawning on him, he asked,
“that- that Kid. It’s his, isn’t it? What was his name again?” Alice was stung by his attempted sympathy, her tail dropped to the ground as though it were no more than rope.. She whispered, quiet enough that only A disassembler could hear,
“Beau. he- he was called Beau.” N’s mouth twitched at her answer. Guilt? Sympathy? She couldn’t tell. He sighed,
“take them. I can’t say V will be happy, but… I’ll try keep her off your back.” Alice considered her options – N seemed to be on her side on this one, maybe she could him against V…
“just tell her I want them back.” she said, holding the arm and hat towards N, “and don’t let them get damaged. Please?” Alice grimaced as she watched him use Beau’s hand in a mock salute. He looked shocked at himself, going wide eyed & covering his mouth with his own forearm. As she approached the door, Alice asked,
“oh, did V mention Nori stopped by yesterday? She won’t say what happened, but she seems real upset…” A white lie, but oh well. N paused before replying,
“mmm, no. I’ll ask, though. Oh, I hope she didn’t do anything too bad…” Alice stood holding the open door as they exchanged goodbyes.

-

Nori felt a familiar comfort in going back to being a core – the minimal HUD and background processes was freeing. She was sure it shouldn’t feel that way- her programming was meant for a humanoid, but she had spent most of her life as a core, so it did make a certain sense. Alice left in the early morning, using a bag to carry Nori to an air vent near the school – both being an effort to minimise the risk of their snooping being found out. Nori dimmed her eye as much as possible upon entering the labyrinthine network, eventually spotting Uzi’s teacher sat at the front of an empty classroom, she settled in for the students to arrive.

“V! What the fuck!?” Uzi’s shout drew shockingly little attention from the other students on break, only Thad, Lizzy & the teacher turning to look, each only doing so briefly. N had told Uzi in private that V had apparently done something to Nori on Saturday, leaving her to retrieve an answer. She was shocked by how freely V spoke of what she’d done. V in turn was caught off guard by her response,
“but- I thought you hated her!” Uzi snapped back,
“In a ‘hormonal teenager’ way! Shit, V! She might need therapy ‘cause of that!” V went quiet, pouting slightly. She looked like a scorned puppy as she muttered,
“sorry…” Uzi stared her down, flatly stating,
“wrong person, V.” V swallowed, chewing her lip. She huffed loudly, looking to the side as she grunted,
“seriously?” Uzi stared at V, answering In a firm tone,
“Yes, V. You need to apologise to my mother.” They stared at eachother in silence, V seeming to shrink slightly under Uzi’s gaze, but the silence between them allowed N to interject,
“oh, just to save you going there twice; Alice wants- …Sparky’s… arm & hat.” V looked over to him with a blank expression, her answer coming monotone,
“No.” Uzi had tuned out slightly, not particularly caring for Alice or her wants, but saw N frown as he scolded V,
“Robo-God, V you’re awful. I thought you were trying to be nicer.” V didn’t answer, their conversation having been interrupted by a cheery,
“Hey V! I’m going to a party this weekend, wanna come with?” Lizzy was learning back in her chair, one hand on V’s desk to hold her weight up. V had a surprised look on her face, only giving a,
“uhh, sure.” Lizzy grinned, patting V’s arm as she squealed in excitement, then calming to add,
“great! I’ll text you the deets!”

V had spent the rest of the day talking to that blonde girl - Lizzy, seemingly trying to avoid Uzi’s & N’s disappointed glaring. Nori watched them for another few hours, though she made sure to leave well before the final bell to avoid being seen. She was glad to know Uzi didn’t completely hate her & had let the thought of making up distract her from Actively listening in on V’s conversations – she’d have to replay her memories later.

Chapter Text

Alice looked up as Nori dropped into their home from the vent, prompting her to pull Nori’s headphones off & give a greeting,
“Heya, Nori! How’d it go?” Nori didn’t stop, instead heading for her room to reunite with her body, she did still reply,
“Hey! Not bad, can you hide the board? We’re expecting a visitor!” Alice called out as Nori stood in her doorframe,
“Wait. When you’re done, can you meet me in my room? Something came up yesterday and I figure if I’m telling a disassembler, I should tell you too.” Nori nodded & slipped into her room.

When Nori entered, Alice was knelt before a chest on the far side of the bed from the door, she’d left some room beside her, which Nori took, sitting cross-legged. Alice asked, seemingly nervous to address why she’d invited Nori in,
“So, who’s our potential guest?” Nori went along with the distraction, answering,
“V. Uzi wants her to apologise.” Alice quirked an eyebrow, then checked,
“mmm, if she’s doing it for Uzi then whatever she says is bullshit & we fuck with her anyway?” Nori nodded, but specified,
“maybe if she puts on a good act we’ll strike off killing her.”

Alice hummed in acceptance before resting a hand near one of the chest’s latches, evidently hesitant to open it. Nori placed a reassuring hand on her arm & watched Alice briefly meet her eyes, then stare past her. Her lips were pressed tight & her eyes were underscored by sets of worry lines on either side. Nori did her best to soften her expression, it seemed to work, as the corners of Alice’s mouth flitted up momentarily before she turned back to the box before them. Nori looked over the contents as it opened; a set of 3 long claw tipped limbs, a blue bolo tie and… Oh. Oh no.
At one end, sat atop a pile of spare bedsheets was what was once an untrained neural network body, now crushed into a slab with protrusions of broken circuits & snapped off limbs. A clattering noise brought Nori’s attention back to the drone beside her – Alice’s hands rested upon the lip of the box, shaking fiercely. Nori rested a hand atop one, calming the noise considerably, then said softly,
“Oh, Alice. I’m so sorry.” Alice’s eyes fixed on the broken body, though each second they did brought an increasingly pained expression to them. She began,
“I found him ohh… 7 years ago now? His mom had taken him scavenging the labs. She uh, was wearin’ this.” she pulled her hand free, using it grab the bolo tie, turning it over to reveal ‘Beauregard E.’ engraved on the backside, “I missed him on the cameras, only saw him when I went to grab his mother. I brought him back with her and…” she chuckled a bit, “at first, I was just gonna eat him. I didn’t want a kid! I’d never even seen one before, how the hell would I raise one? But… I couldn’t. Even if I looked away, or tried using something quick, I just…” Nori was focused on the tie as well, and flinched as Alice used her pause lean against her, “so, I kept him. Eventually, he… I dunno, grew up? Developed a personality beyond ‘baby’? Whatever, I had no idea how to move him to a regular drone body, so I slapped those claws and the arm off a disassembler on him and called it good enough.” she restored the bolo to it’s place in the box and gently lowered the lid, before whispering, “I- looking back, it wasn’t. I don’t think any part of my ‘parenting’ was.”

“sounds like you tried. I think that makes one of us, at least.” Nori offered in counter. Alice sighed, chiding,
“Well, at least your kid’s still kickin’...” she croaked, “I couldn’t even keep Beau in one piece…” Nori resolved,
“we’ll get the rest of him. On my core.” Alice seemed to lighten up at that, teasing,
“them’s bold words to a cannibal. I’ll hold you to them.” Nori smirked, then offered,
“I know. I’ll serve up the platter myself.” Alice squinted at Nori in silence. Was… was she flirting? Alice vaguely recalled her joke-flirting with Yeva back in the day, but… she’s starting on her now, of all times? Alice brushed it off, flipping the latches closed & standing up. Nori joined her into the lounge where Alice declared,
“we’ll give V an hour to show up. If she doesn’t, I’m turning in early. That was… draining.” Nori nodded as she retrieved her headphones & iPod, then commented off-hand,
“we should get a splitter.” Alice suggested,
“speakers, Nori. Perhaps I don’t want to be tethered to you.” Nori’s reply was flat & curt,
“Perhaps.” Alice scoffed & they settled in to another listening session. V didn’t arrive, but Alice had drifted off before her deadline anyway. Nori fetched Alice’s duvet for her, draping much of the weight over the backrest, but still leaving plenty to cover Alice up. She then plugged her headphones & iPod back in, before turning in herself – early mornings always left her tired.

Chapter Text

J watched her body move of it’s own accord – no, it was her controlling it. It was dark all around & she moved towards the only thing still illuminated. Tessa stood before her, locked in place by a pair of firm drone hands on either arm, with her face wrought into an awful visage of pure fear. As she came within arms a pair of orbitoclasts, covered along their length in fine electrodes fell from the void above, suspended by cables attached to their bases. When she grasped them, the girl spoke up, her voice weak,
“J, please. S-stop… ” She wanted so desperately to stop, she tried all she could think of: full body shutdowns, locking up the servos in her arms, even just trying to disable her optics – all were overrided, Cyn wanted her to watch this. “No, no don’t…” More begging as her hands drove the spikes through her eyeballs & sphenoid bones, then clean into grey matter. The girl screamed – an awful, guttural noise so unlike her usual melodic voice, it was quickly drowned out by another voice, synthetic & callous,
“Oh, J. Didn’t you even care to let her finish? [Disinterest] Oh well, Tessa here had seen enough tonight.” They stayed there for minutes, until at last she wrenched the spikes free. They were quickly drawn up out of sight, only for a claw to present a kitchen knife, her hand took it, and pressed it against the top of the girl’s sternum when…

THUD

J woke to find herself on the ground, all 6 limbs sprawled in haphazard mess. She sat up, running a hand over her visor & optics, before swinging her tail around to check the nanite canister at it’s tip. They were, thankfully, all intact. She’d had that nightmare before, it was always awful, but knowing now that it was a memory and not a mere hypothetical made it sting like never before. She checked her HUD’s clock as she stood: Wednesday 0437 – ‘great,’ the thought, ‘guess I’m up for the day.’ She dragged herself to the kitchen, pouring a cup of oil. As she took the first sip, she saw another drone enter the kitchen.
“Mornin’ Jaybird!” Tessa chirped, adding in a more subdued tone, “D’ya fall or something?” before grabbing a glass for herself. J grumbled in reply,
“Mhmm. Morning, Tess.” then added, her voice sharpening, “Hey, what’d I say about drone oil?” Tessa ignored her chastising and instead studied J’s face, it was sullen & low - beyond how she normally was when awoken early. She asked,
“you good? I thought your tail was supposed to… not uncurl in your sleep?” J muttered,
“It’s not. I just…” she finished her sentence almost inaudible, “had- had a bad dream,” Tessa gave her a sympathetic look before sitting on the counter & gesturing for a hug. J shook her head, so Tessa probed,
“what was it about?” J drained her cup before replying,
“I’m not discussing that with you.” Tessa tilted her head – J’s unwillingness told her what it likely was. Yeah, probably best to not dredge that up. She hummed, then gave in,
“Righto, then. And… thanks. for being so considerate.” She paused, taking a sip of her own glass, before adding, “hey, I was tinkering with those hands th- last night and I can’t get the spacing right. Worker palms are just too small.” She swallowed, grabbing J’s free hand to examine as she continued, “you… wouldn’t happen to know where to find a couple of spare disassembler hands?” J stared into Tessa’s eyes – she was glad to change topic, but she questioned the benefit from her planned mods. She did answer though,
“Hmm, Cabin Fever Labs could have a few. There might be some more scattered about – we’ve all lost a hand here or there to particularly bold workers.” Tessa leaned in with intrigued eyes and J sighed, “We’ll go look this weekend.” Tessa giggled in excitement, then asked,
“so, miss office lady. What’s on at work today?” J poured a second glass, then leaned against the counter before answering,
“No office work. Gotta pull V aside for a word, then overseeing a high value salvage op.” Tessa seemed surprised & double-checked,
“Seeing V for work?” J confirmed it,
“she keeps stealing shit.” J pointed to the keg sat on the counter, “makes my job harder.” Tessa nodded in understanding, then noted,
“huh, she’s really changed. Mother would have had her crushed if she tried that back home.” J pointed out,
“yeah, now she’s a killing machine surrounded by the things she was designed to hunt.” Tessa swirled her glass in thought, then commented in a phony British accent,
“Astute observation, my dear J.” They both attempted to stifle their laughs, Tessa failed first, giggling into her hand & this worked to crack J, who covered her visor as she snickered.

The time eventually came for the duo to leave, they were able to catch N & V as they were leaving. J addressed the pair,
“V, we need to talk. And N, if I find out you let Tessa skive, I’ll have your tail.” Tessa held N by the arm, leading him away while exclaiming,
“come now, N! We don’t want you losing any parts too.” V meanwhile was led back inside, she sat on the couch, while J stood to address her. She began with a question,
“care to guess what this is about?” V’s reply came in a lackadaisical tone,
“hmm, traumatising workers? Wouldn’t be my first complaint this week.” J scowled, admonishing her,
“No, but don’t do that. You’ll only make all our lives harder.” she reached into her jacket & pulled out a loose page pulled from a ring-bound note book, holding it out to V, she asked, “this look familiar?” V took a brief glance, putting her feet up before quipping,
“oh yep. Very familiar; blurry and I can’t make out anything.” J glared at her, then asked,
“why don’t you have your glasses? You were going to school.” V explained,
“ah, I’m only there to chat to Liz. She doesn’t like them, so I leave them here.” J mumbled under her breath, V only catching the last couple words,
“…lazy bum.” she sighed, holding the paper up as she asked,
“so what is this?” J placed her hands on her hips as she explained,
“a list of items that have disappeared from storage… into your possession.” A moment passed in silence as the two glared at eachother. V broke it,
“I needed this junk. Plus, what’re the workers gonna do about it?” J stepped closer, looking almost straight down on V, J’s answer carried a threatening undertone,
“send me.” she stood back, adding matter-of-factly, “plus, the WDF’s been producing railguns, they can handle a one-armed disassembly drone.” V grimaced, suddenly losing her carefree attitude. Apprehensive, she asked,
“so, do they want all that back?” J sat down beside her as she explained,
“No, but V… if it wasn’t for me, the WDF would be escorting you outside right now. If you’re just at school to socialise, I’d suggest you quit & find a job – you need the PR boost, if nothing else.” V raised an eyebrow, then queried,
“I have one hand and nobody trusts me. Who the hell’s gonna give me a job?” J had planned for this, of course she had. She liked planning. A link pinged in V’s HUD as J said smugly,
“Anyone and everyone.” she explained, “workers too lazy or scared to leave put up salvage bounties. You can still fly and you know the surface better than any of the toasters down here, it’ll be easy money.” opening the link revealed a list of parts, each accompanied by a phone number & the credit reward for each item. V hummed, chewed on her lip, then relented,
“fine. I’ll… give it a shot. Maybe next weekend” J stood, her job there being done, and made for the door, but added, her voice sounding almost maternal,
“oh, V? As your former squad captain, I must say; without regeneration or repairs, you’ll be lucky to see the next 5 years through. Please, whatever’s holding you back, don’t sit on it until it’s too late.” Once she left, she popped her head back through the doorframe, “Also, you’re still enrolled for school – and late. Move it.” her old, bossy tone returning.

For J, the last couple days had been a stark reminder as to how cold Copper-9’s surface could be. She hadn’t left the colony since V’s oil run a couple weeks back & now found herself shivering quite frequently. She made her way to the spire, tailed by a half dozen workers, all in thick coats, carrying hauling lines & parts for a large sled. There was only one part left to recover today – the hull of the ship her & Cyn had arrived in. The workers moved quickly, assembling the sled in record time before looking to her for assistance. She spread her wings as her & the work crew took up their positions, between her thrusters & the strength of 6 mining drones, the sled was quickly loaded up. She performed a final scan of the spire, checking for any parts missed on prior trips, then signalled for the group to move out. The 6 drones taking up the lines while J leapt up with wings spread, monitoring the payload & the way ahead.

J let out a deep breath as the last of the workers cleared out from the garage. She rested her hands on her hips, scanning her eyes around the garage and taking stock. Officially, this room was designated as an administration-owned workshop/storage room & she was part of a volunteer repair crew, with the goal of the ships being made available to anyone with piloting experience. Unofficially… even J would struggle to buzzword her way around it being a personal pet project & an egregious misallocation of company resources. The ‘repair crew’ was just her and the only drones with piloting experience were her… and N. She shuddered as the thought of N crashing her newly repaired ship ran through her mind. She’d just have to leave him to find out about this on his own and pray he wasn’t interested. She tried to drum up her memories of what she was working on last, distinctly recalling how the engines were shot. That meant she needed to find a good salvage spot which was why… Yeah! She was going to repair a nav module and use it to find a spaceport. She dug through the boxes, quickly spotting the right dash-panel – with no PCB attached. ‘Set it aside and keep digging, J - it’s here somewhere.’ she told herself. Eventually, after trying another box, she found the panel from the other ship, with the PCB still attached. She examined the board closely which revealed,
“Fuck!” she cursed, “poison-pilled sack of Collateralised Debt Obligations!” A faint crack ran along the board – tiny, but still severing some key data and power lines. She started troubleshooting, maybe she could solder the data chip to something else, or try find the bare PCB from the other ship & hope it’s better off. Then a thought crossed her mind, how long was it until she needed to be home? Did she need to? She glanced up, a pair of perforated steel arches spanned the ceiling, she tested the sizing against her stinger – perfect. She set an alarm for 10pm, and set to work. Tessa can pour herself a glass of oil, J figured, she’ll be fine for a night…

Chapter Text

Another Friday, another night with N. Tonight they had selected Uzi’s room to hang out in, N wanted to continue a series Uzi had shown him previously & Uzi figured, having seen it already, she could do some maintenance on her railgun. The first episode of the night started playing & Uzi began by removing the power core, then stripping the panelling away to reveal two rows of twelve coils along the length of the barrel – she desperately wished she could get some higher end coils, maybe with gold wiring or a ferrite core, but she wasn’t on Gold-9 and iron cores did for the industrial requirements of the colony, so copper and iron, it was. They’d tend to burn out after enough shots & she took plenty for practice while topside. Pulling out and examining the coils revealed a number of them to have partially melted, she threw the busted ones in a rapidly-filling bucket by her desk. She moved for her stash of good ones when- huh. Without her noticing, N had wrapped his arms around her waist, she turned her head to ask him to let go; his attention was fixed to the screen and he wore a contented smile. He’d probably hugged her subconsciously – what a sweetheart dork. She waved her hand in front of his visor, she felt his whole body jolt before he asked,
“oh! Yeah, Uzi?” he smiled as he awaited her reply. It was still weird having someone so happy to talk to her. Ew! Uzi Doorman was not having gross, mushy thoughts! She tapped his arm as she answered,
“gotta get to my spare coils, N.” he released her with a quiet hum and she grabbed a satchel of fresh coils that poked out from under her bed, then returned to her previous position. Not being distracted by her tinkering, she noticed as N once more hugged her from behind, this time resting his head atop hers. She dumped the satchel’s contents – enough for one more rebuild, though she’d have to take that bucket of burned ones for refurbishment soon, then commented,
“get off, N. This thing’s blown up in my face without a power cell before. Distractions and hindrances are not a good idea right now.” N pouted as he commented,
“aww, but I like holding you…” Uzi stopped her work, partway through installing a coil, stammering and flustering, spitting out a panicked,
“bite me!” then pushed N off, returning to her work. When she was done, she joined N in watching the show, though she was quite clear that she’d had enough physical affection for one day, leading to N sleeping suspended from the ceiling beam.

-

V’s head was killing her. Even the dim spots of light projected on the ceiling were dazzling her headband optics – she wrapped her hand over them to shield them.

Huh? V didn’t sleep with her headband on and she definitely didn’t have any fancy lights in her room. She groaned as she uncovered her optics again, looking around at blurry posters, shelves and the aforementioned light, this was… Lizzy’s room. She moved to sit up, noticing a weight tug on the blanket – Lizzy was in bed next her. Strange, Lizzy took the sofa last time V stayed over. She didn’t remember last night – the memories were corrupted and had just begun rhe process of recovering - Maybe she just wasn’t as intimidated now or maybe they’d… Best not to get ahead of herself. The girl beside her stirred, the sleep mode message replaced by slow blinking eyes. She murmured,
“uhhh… Mornin’ V.” having had more time to come to, V replied in something approaching her normal tone,
“Morning Liz. How’s the hangover?” The quip earned a glare as Lizzy sat up, clutching her head with one hand. She answered,
“I’ve had worse. Memories are corrupt though…” V related,
“mine should be recovered pretty soon. What-” she shielded her eyes as Lizzy pulled her phone out, evidently to use as a light, “what do you normally do about the headache?” Lizzy stood as she answered, “I think dad keep some crude oil in the kitchen.” V noticed something as Lizzy stood, she looked like hell; the aluminium plating of her back had some gnarly gouges & scratches, the steel segments of her arms also showed deep grooves glinting in the light. They were concentrated on her right side and she wasn’t leaking oil - almost certainly V’s handiwork. Had V tried to kill her? She asked,
“damn. I dunno what happened, but I must have been pretty mad. You’re a wreck.” Lizzy shone the light on herself, examining her injuries, commenting,
“Jeez, you’re getting the bill for this.” she grabbed up a shirt, white with some old movie on the front, it came down to her knees when she put it on. V followed her, putting her jacket on over her dress, then moving into the kitchen. Lizzy had already poured out a mug for each of them, she took a sip then asked,
“how’s your data recovery going? It normally takes me all morning.” V chugged her mug, finishing it in one go out of habit, then answered,
“And I thought mine was slow… One more mug and it should be done.” she suggested off-hand, “Any photos from last night?” Lizzy gave a refill as she opened the gallery app on her phone, then froze as her eyes hollowed out. V drank slower this time, studying her friend’s reaction. Partway through her drink, her memories returned – they had hooked up. It made sense in hindsight; waking up in bed together - naked, Liz’s scratches, even V forgetting to take her headband off. V asked, trying to sound somewhat casual,
“I… assume there are photos?” A faint nod, the Lizzy started murmuring,
“nononono… I’m not- I can’t be…” V reached for Liz’s hand, trying to reassure her,
“Liz, what’s wrong?” Lizzy snapped her hand away & anger flared in her eyes, she snapped at her, voice laced with venom,
“What did you do to me?” V winced, she’d never seen Lizzy this mad before. Her tone was even,
“you wanted it, Liz. I promise.” her reply came as a snarl,
“Liar! I’d never want that. I’m not…” her voice trailed off, returning as a whisper. “I’m not gay.” V asked, tentative,
“look, we were both drunk. Chalk it up to a mistake and move on?” Lizzy stared in silence for a moment, then commanded,
“Get out, V. Don’t talk to me, I’ll talk to you. If I feel like it.” nervousness crept into V at Lizzy’s finality, it bled into her tone,
“And if you don’t feel like it?” the conversation ended in a scolding,
“Then we’re done talking. Now get out.” V nodded silently, shuffling out the door with a dejected expression.

-

11:47 AM

N frowned as he checked checked the time, he had been home for a couple hours, at first he lay on the sofa drawing but now, out of worry for V’s absence, he sat upright, twiddling his thumbs. He was stirred from his thoughts by a bump against the back of his head; it was Sparky. N turned, resting his chin on the backrest as he spoke,
“sorry pal, I dunno where V is.” he patted the top of the sentinel’s head before thinking aloud,
“maybe I should go look for her? But what if she comes back? I’ll spend all day wandering around for nothing…” his sad, pensive expression suddenly lit up, “ooh! I’ll ask someone else to go look. Uhm…” he settled on the first name to come to mind, “Uzi, I choose you!” once the message was sent, he began pacing nervously. Sparky lay back down, an eye facing the door.

she stared at the message on her monitor before letting her head roll back with a groan. She grabbed her phone – Lizzy should have seen her last – punching a number she’d never used before & hitting call. It connected and she opened with,
“Lizzy, it’s Uzi. Where’s V? She’s no-” Lizzy cut her off,
“Dunno, don’t care.” that… didn’t sound right.. Uzi pressed her, her tone turning more serious,
“our friend is missing. You were the last person with her. Where is she?” Lizzy continued with another unconcerned reply,
“your friend has gone missing. And I still don’t know. She left mine a few hours ago.” that got Uzi’s attention,
“what do you mean ‘my friend’? What the hell happened between you two!?” and just as Uzi was finishing her sentence,

*CLICK*

Weird. Very weird. Also, very unhelpful. V probably hadn’t left the colony, given it was daylight outside, but she’d only struck off three houses so far. Time to pick N’s brain,

< Seems like her & Lizzy had a fight. Evidently V left hers a few hours ago. Any ideas?>

N responded almost instantly,

< oh dear, that’s not good. I’m afraid I don’t remember what she does when upset, maybe find J or Tessa? They probably do >

Uzi scowled, J still acted like a business suit with a stick up it’s ass. N followed up

< sorry :’( >

oh N… she smiled warmly as she sent a final message

< It’s ok. I’ll find her :) >

Uzi leapt right into a question when J opened the door,
“V’s missing. Where’d she go if she was upset?” J looked deep in thought, with perhaps a faint hint of concern showing, then called behind her,
“Tess! C’mere!” the girl quickly emerged, carrying a pair of bags which she quickly slumped against the wall before asking,
“what’s up? Oh! Hi Uzi.” J filled her in and she recalled, “uh, she used to hide in a cupboard in the library when she was stressed back home…” J added,
“she loves hanging from her tail – I think it’s the swaying motion – must be soothing to her.” Uzi hummed, then asked,
“dark, empty, with space for her to hang from?” J’s eyes shifted as puzzle pieces slotted together in her mind. She posited,
“Cryo storage.” Uzi nodded in agreement, it fit to a tee. She rushed through a goodbye before taking off.

A beam of purple light swept over stasis pods and grated walkways, Uzi tracked her tail’s light left and right, searching for any sign of her friend. She briefly recalled her encounter with ‘J’ here: it was a good few stories tall. Her light swung up, she eventually held it on one of the upper gantries, over which was suspended a pair of bladed wings, folded in on themselves. Uzi leapt up, propelled by a strong flap of her own wings, landing on the gantry. She stayed out of V’s wingspan, asking cautiously,
“V? You’re not gonna go for me if I get any closer, right?” the reply came muffled, a hoarsely whispered,
“no.” Uzi moved closer, gently rapping her knuckles on a feather, the titanium blade buzzed, quiet, yet satisfying. She followed up with,
“wanna open up?” another, though now slightly irritated sounding,
“no,” from inside. Uzi surmised,
“guess you don’t wanna talk either. Ya mind listening?” V grumbled,
“go on.” Uzi began,
“N sent me. He’s worried ‘cause you didn’t come home.” a silent beat, then she adds, “It… crossed my mind that maybe someone else had an axe to grind with you & I dunno, with you going out drinking…” she lets the dark possibilities go unspoken, saying after a long pause, “Look, I- I know something happened between you & Lizzy. And I know you probably don’t want to dwell on it right now, but…” she rests a splayed palm against another feather, “you still have other friends. Tessa, J… me, I guess. Hell, if 20 years of ignoring him won’t get rid of him, I think you’re stuck with N ‘til the heat death of the universe.” More silence followed, though to Uzi’s surprise, it wasn’t her breaking it,
“I thought I could move on, at last. I’d found someone I cared about who wasn’t…” she hesitated, then backed down, “forget it. You’re the wrong person to dump this on.” Uzi’s brow furrowed, does this girl have even one healthy coping mechanism? She pried,
“V, you’ve already started. May as well carry on, it can hardly be worse than last weekend.” A deep sigh sounded out, then V continued,
“It’s- um… I still like N.” V’s feathers parted slightly, letting her study Uzi’s face for a reaction, though she gave none, “and I- figured if I found someone else, I could move on, let him be happy with you.” Uzi winced, V’s visor lit up in a shameful blush. Still she pressed on, “and I did with Liz. I’d had a crush on her since that camp and- well, I’d fallen harder since, but…” Uzi attempted to finish V’s sentence,
“she’s straight?” V guffawed,
“oh, absolutely not. She’s just… It clashes with her ‘2000s popular girl’ persona.” her face settled into a sad smile. Uzi gently nudged a wing aside, reassuring,
“well, it’s her loss.” Uzi pursed her lips, then added, “don’t wait for her to sort her shit, V.” she huffed, asking,
“yeah, sure. You done here?” Uzi appeared lost in thought for some long seconds before her reply came, a question of her own,
“can you hop down a sec?” V stared, asking sharply,
“Why? We’re face to face as it is.” Uzi sounded annoyed,
“because. Also, you need to come down because I gotta bring you home.” teasing now, “you wouldn’t wanna make N sad, now?” V rolled her eyes, landing cleanly on a bent knee and spread palm. Uzi leant down, whispering in her ear,
“ask N out. He needs more affection than my socially maladjusted ass can provide.” she quickly added, “like… as in we both date him. Don’t just steal him, please.” V stepped back in surprise, her face flashed between incredulity, shock and scrutiny. She tried to refute,
“Uzi, I can’t. Not after-” but was cut off by Uzi,
“like I said, you’re stuck with him, may as well shoot your shot. Plus it’s N, ‘no’ really is the worst outcome.” silence hung a moment before she added, “Just- the option’s there. We never need to discuss this again, but I’m here if you need a wingwoman.” she pulled away, but grabbed V’s upper arm, “now, come on.” V wrenched her arm free and Uzi grabbed her hand instead. V asked, maligned,
“what are you doing?” Uzi replied casually,
“making sure you don’t get lost.”

“V!” N leapt through the door as it opened, pulling the other drone into a tight hug around her shoulders. “Oh, I was worried sick!” before V could contemplate returning the hug, N had pulled back, cupping her face, “I’m so glad you’re safe!” another hug, one V returned timidly, patting her hand on his back a couple times before leaving it there. She huffed out a simple,
“yeah.” N felt another bump from behind; Sparky again. He pulled away, watching in silence as it warbled and tapped the floor, V responded with a series of slow, considered taps against her forearm. An annoyed sounding trill followed before the sentinel turned about and returned to their abode.

Chapter Text

J & Tessa stepped out of their apartment, a bag slung over each drone’s back as the lock clicked shut behind them. Sunset was about half an hour ago, though Tessa insisted the pair wait longer to ensure J didn’t burn up. On their way to the compound exit, J made sure to check in that V had returned home. N answered,
“Oh, hey you two!” Tessa moved in for a hug as J asked,
“is V in?” N patted Tessa’s head as he answered,
“oh yeah, she’s locked herself & sparky in her room with a drum of oil and a laptop.” he whispered, “Uzi didn’t go into specifics, but I think she fell out with a friend while drunk.” J nodded, tugging gently at Tessa’s shoulder as she announced,
“well, we’re going out on the city.” she looked down at Tessa as she added, pointed, but any annoyance being feigned, “Someone decided she needs some exotic parts.” N grabbed the edge of the door as he wished them on,
“okay, you two have fun!” J hummed in acknowledgment, while Tessa parted with,
“See ya ‘round. Oh! Tell V we came by.”

Outside now, the same frigid air as Tessa’s last trip did it’s best to dig it’s icy grip through her coat, soon it would be assisted by their method of travel. J positioned herself behind Tessa, spreading her wings. She wrapped her arms around the shorter drone’s chest, asking,
“you gonna be okay flying?” Tessa patted J’s arm, joking,
“dunno, I’ve never flown before, but I trust you. ” she grinned as she quipped, “Now. Away, my noble steed!” J rolled her eyes, the thrusters glowing and whirring as she took off.

A clear night – helpful, J mused. She was sweeping her old hunting grounds, slowly drifting towards Cabin Fever Labs as she tried to jog memories of workers who had fought back when she spotted it. A small factory building. A blurry picture of an axe and conical forearm lying in silicate dust came up and she swept in for a landing, gently setting Tessa down. She turned back to ask,
“why’d we stop?” J scanned the rooftop as she recalled,
“I think I lost an arm here to a drone with a fire-axe.” she paused in thought, “let’s see… 9 years ago?” Tessa looked down, her feet sank a good amount into the powder. She commented,
“it’ll be buried, your hands have shovel attachments?” one of J’s hands exchanged for a sword. Her face twisted in surprise, saying half-sarcastically, “near enough.” J rested her free hand on her hip before she suggested,
“why don’t you do that side? The roof access’ll mean there’s less area to search.” Tessa hummed in acknowledgement and began searching, dragging a foot to feel for anything beneath the snow. As she trawled, she asked,
“all those sensors and the best you can do is ‘somewhere on this roof?’” J answered back, a tired defensiveness to her voice,
“you try remembering something from almost a decade ago that happened while you were focused on not getting killed by your dinner.” Tessa’s prying was cut short when she kicked something under the drift. She sifted around it to reveal a fire-axe – red paint chipping off head, with fabric tape wrapped around the base of the handle. She hefted it up, feeling the weight and examining the edge, which bore a significant mar.
“hey J! Lookie here!” she called, not looking up. J marched over, smiling in satisfaction and impression. When she spoke, her voice carried an air of formality as she noted,
“Good find. My arm shouldn't be too far.” She raised a hand slightly, causing Tessa to give a questioning look, before she quickly got to searching again. Tessa did so as well, now trailing the axe, rather than her foot. It was, however, J who found the limb, holding it aloft with an accomplished,
“Aha!” only for sour disappointment to overcome her at sight of three claws hanging limp. Tessa gently took the arm – it also had a puncture on the side, assumedly from the back of the axe. She tried manipulating the wiring as V had done, but to no avail. The spiked seemed to have hit something vital. She sighed, disconnecting the claws and tucking them into her bag. J objected,
“sweet corporate, tell me you’re not gonna attach those?” Tessa reached up, patting J’s cheek as she assured,
“nope. They’re gonna be knives.” she donned her bag once more, tucking the axe between it and her bag as she asked, “where to next?”

Flying was fun, Tessa decided, if a bit loud. The sound of her clothes ruffling tickled her ears, but the wind howling past her her ears was an inescapable annoyance. The view was incredible – the abandoned city stretched to the horizon in most directions. It all seemed frozen in time, the hum and buzz of the cities she’d despised visiting as a human replaced with an eerie tranquillity. One she could enjoy so long as she didn’t consider the innumerable bodies littering the ruins. She decided now would be a good time to probe J, where she couldn’t escape. She raised her voice as much as was comfortable,
“hey Jaybird…” she looked to make sure J had heard before continuing, “how’s the overtime?” J looked momentarily irritated, answering,
“How’d you know it’s overtime?” Tessa teased in response,
“because it’s you, J. it’s not like you’re gonna go out clubbing every other night.” J huffed, the sound lost to the wind before answering,
“it’s… fine.” Tessa enquired further,
“what’s it for?” J tried to lie - badly,
“there’s um, an NDA. Can’t say.” Tessa called her out,
“and I’m as human as the day I was born.” her brows furrowed as she repeated,
“what’s the overtime for?” J tilted her head back, relenting,
“I’m helping repair something. I’m… slightly more qualified than anyone else.” Tessa thought for a moment, considering what that could mean – it’s likely something related to the disassembly drones, so one of their bodies, or…
“you fixing up that spaceship in the spire?” J pouted, annoyed at how easily Tessa could read her, before affirming,
“yeah. got a garage in the colony now.” she seemed lost in thought, then added, “it’s what I was doing before I got you back…” Tessa hummed, then suggested,
“you’ll have to show me sometime. I’m no rocket scientist, but it can’t be much harder than sentient robots…”

The rest of the hunting grounds failed to produce any usable hands, something J accredited this to her clean efficiency, leading the pair to land at cabin fever labs. Tessa asked,
“so, what’s the deal with this place? I’ve heard the trio discuss their time there and I know Uzi’s mum & her roommate came from here, but that’s about it.” J stated, matter-of-factly,
“the humans here gave drones the solver and experimented on them to find a cure.”
Tessa went silent, halting her approach & staring at the ground, watch the wind carry dust over the ground. J knelt down infront of her, looking up to ask,
“Boss, what’s wrong?” Tessa dropped down, hugging her knees with one arm, while idly drawing in the ash as she asked,
“did we deserve what happened to us? Humanity, I mean.” J sighed, sitting alongside her.
“there were other good humans. You remember all the news out of Detroit? Heck, your birthday trip to Adelaide got cancelled ‘cause James was worried about you getting hurt in the riots.”
Tessa scoffed,
“more like he knew I’d join them and never come home.” she raised her hands in frustration, “It all seemed so… paltry up against a couple hundred years of enslavement. And whenever a drone has something wrong, or they get hurt, they end up discarded like- like…”
“like toasters,” J finished. The word stung her voicebox in a way it never had before. She slung an arm over Tessa’s shoulder, parsing her mind for what to say. Settling on,
“I… think second chances are good. I, uh… Humanity deserved one.” Tessa deadpanned,
“you ever open a history book? We had a good few.” J didn’t answer, instead asking a question of her own,
“are you really gonna say Cyn was right?” Tessa flinched at the name, but quickly shook her head. J stood, extending a hand down and suggesting,
“why don’t we get your hands and go somewhere nicer?” Tessa took her hand, quickly finding herself back on her feet.

J stepped into the dark room, her night vision optics revealed a large oak desk at the centre of the room. She approached, running her fingers over the surface – fine polish under fine dust - as she circled around to the chair accompanying it; black, padded leather with a high back and armrests. She sat down, letting it spin around once before she brought it to a stop. She felt powerful sat here, a subtle air of authority that resonated with her. The might of her armoury felt like nothing in comparison. She opened a drawer, containing a stack of paper, an ink pot and… a fountain pen. She held it close to her face, using the light of her tail to study it. Gold trim and nib on a black celluloid body. Unassuming from a distance, but a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. She smiled, tucking it in her pocket. As she shut the drawer, the door opened – Tessa, now carrying a fully-laden bag.
“heyo! Oh wow.” she stopped just inside the door, eyes fixed on J. “you uh, you look… hmm.” a faint blush appeared on her visor, “this office suits you. A lot.” J stood, pressing her hands flat on the desk to assist her. As she moved to the door, she commented,
“I think I’ll be back for that setup.” she turned back to it, “It’s… nice.” Tessa grabbed her arm, jockeying her,
“Oh goodie! Now come on, we’re burning moonlight.”

Chapter Text

V stepped out into a flurry of what, for once, seemed to be actual snow. Her attention was fixed on a HUD pop-up; the bounty board J had forwarded her last week. It started pretty basic with the going rates for fresh oil, used oil, and various scrap metals. She flitted past them, coming to the more specialist listings; computer stuff, mechanical parts, tools, collectibles and some more… unique items. She took off, hovering as she considered the list – the lower floors of most buildings had been picked mostly clean, i.e. where tools and machine parts would be located. Higher floors, meanwhile, were harder to reach and were full of offices & high end apartments. She flew straight for the nearest skyscraper.

V floated up the side of the building, looking through windows and holes. She alighted about a third of the way up, satisfied that this floor was undisturbed since the core collapse. Her wings folded away as she withdrew a pair of glasses from her jacket, donning them before moving further in. It was an office, though none of the desks were in cubicles, giving the space a more open feeling. She started picking apart computers; hard drives, RAM sticks, a shocking amount of GPUs. When she moved up to the next floor, her bag had a decent heft to it. This floor contained private offices – meaning much less of value for her to pick through, allowing her to work through it quickly. The top floor seemed to be part office & part luxury residence. Ornate mahogany wood panelling lined every wall, with brass light fixtures spaced evenly – not dissimilar to the manor, she thought. She stopped at a door with a plaque beside it to speak of the contents, it was a library.

She pushed the door open, a draft of stagnant air escaping past her. Her tail swung overhead, dimly illuminating the room; it was windowless, fitted shelves lined three walls, with an island of shelves in the centre of the room. She pulled the door shut before approaching the nearest shelf, pulling a leather-bound book from it.

‘L tt W me’

‘Lou M A c tt’

The worn leaf on the spine read. She cracked it open, flipping through the pages – it seemed the wear on the cover reflected it being well read & not it being damaged by neglect. She held it shut, looking around. There were thousands of books here, a fraction of the size of the Elliott’s library, but still this was all hers. A tear pricked her visor. She spent hours looking through the shelves, it seemed the prior owner had a particular love for early novels, though there was a set of terrifically old encyclopedias, some stuff on the arts (she’d gathered the offices she’d been exploring were some form of animation studio, based on the GPUs, open plan and some artwork lining the walls) and a small selection of illustrated children’s books. She checked her bag – with all the computer parts, she had room for maybe a couple books. She set it down, exiting the room to return with a couple shirts. Upon wrapping the copy of ‘Little Women,’ she tucked it into the bag, before scanning around. She thought back to what Uzi said, then back to the nights spent reading with N at the manor. From the encyclopedia set, she withdrew the book dedicated to Earth Fauna, wrapping & stowing it with great care.

On the flight home, V hugged her bag close to her chest. Her first stop at the colony was her room, laying the pair of books on her book before delivering the components – some going to administration, some to the school, some to other businesses & a trace few going to individuals. Her bag made a soft clacking sound as it bounced, now full of credits. It was morning at this point, so on the way home, she stopped by J’s. When the door opened, her former boss seemed shockingly wide wake. She spoke,
“Hey J, so I took you up on your suggestion and…” she held the bag open, revealing her night’s earnings. J’s jaw dropped,
“holy shit, V. that’s… a couple weeks of my salary, at least.” V clutched it to her chest, closing it up before asking,
“so… I don’t need to do this very often?” J was flabbergasted,
“No. In fact, you definitely shouldn’t. You’d crash the economy doing this every night.”
V excused herself,
“right. Well, see you around.” J bade her farewell, then closed the door behind her.

N was sat on the sofa when V returned home once more. The pair greeted eachother, then N asked,
“how was your night?” V leaned against the backrest as she answered,
“Pretty good. J thinks I’d damage the economy doing it too often.” N laughed, his warm smile tickling V’s core. She followed up with a question of her own,
“Hey, I found a couple books while out. I… was wondering if maybe-” N cut in, his excitement uncontainable,
“you wanna read together!? Of course V!” her face softened into a smile of her own,
‘just like old times’ she thought, ‘well, near enough’

She withdrew to her room, Sparky was still resting his head at the foot of the bed. One large eye opened as V entered, closing again as V assured,
“I’m not going anywhere else today.” She flopped onto the bed, setting her headband aside & donning her glasses before withdrawing her novel from it’s protection. She made good headway, though fell asleep around a third of the way in.

Chapter Text

“C’mon Nori! Flyin’ll be fun! Go! Hang out with your kid. I’m sure she’ll teach you”

Nori sighed, thinking back on Alice’s pleading. At her insistence, coupled with assurances it’d help patch her relationship with Uzi, Nori now found herself at the Door to her & Khan’s apartment. She knocked, silently praying Uzi would be the one to answer. It opened to reveal white eyes and a moustache.

Fuck. It was Khan.

She gulped, as she felt pixels of sweat form on her visor.
“Um, hi. Khan.” she began, her voice wracked with uncertainty. Khan seemed… confused, more than anything,
“hi,” Awkward silence followed, each moment burning long in Nori’s processors. It was broken by Khan,
“can I… help you?” Nori coughed, readying herself.
“I’m,” her voice squeaked, “I’m here to see Uzi. Is she in?” Khan nodded, saying he’d fetch her before closing the door.

The door opened once to purple eyes looking up at her. They bore into her, though there was a faint trace of sympathy in them.
“Mom.” Uzi’s tone was flat - perhaps unimpressed, perhaps annoyed. Nori stammered out an explanation,
“Uh, hey kiddo.” She ran her hand through her hair, “look, I’m sorry for-” she sighed – this was easier in her mind, “I’ve been a shit mom and I’d like to do better.” Uzi cocked her head to the side, her expression remained unchanged as she asked,
“and how are you gonna do that?” Nori psyched herself up mentally before replying,
“how about a night out to start? We can talk – you can yell my ear off, I can get to know you. Heck, if you really want, we’ll be alone so you can kill me and say it was an accident. Alice’ll be mad, but hey.” she accompanied her final words with a shrug. Uzi scowled, then dragged Nori along by the arm.
“Sure. To start; Alice. Being friends with someone who tried to kill your daughter isn’t what I’d call good parenting.” Nori rolled her eyes, arguing,
“says the daughter who’s friends with the people who almost killed her mother.” Uzi grumbled, Nori saw her fiery spirit in Uzi, arguing like this wouldn’t get them anywhere. “look, shall we just call it even? You hate my friend, I hate yours. That’s life sometimes.” Uzi’s grip relaxed & Nori brushed it off. The shorter drone huffed,
“fine.” Nori smiled in relief, then suggested,
“since you picked the first topic, I’ll go next. What kind of music do you like?”
Uzi’s answer dragged on for the rest of the walk to the colony exit, though it was mostly stuff she’d swiped from Nori’s old drives.

Uzi quieted down as the outermost door slid shut behind them, drawing to a halt with her hands resting on her hips.
“so, where d’ya wanna go?” she asked, unfurling her wings. Nori scratched her head as she pointed out,
“I can’t fly, Uzi. I suppose you could teach me, though.” after a pause she added, “also, the only other places I know on this rock are Cabin Fever and 98.2, so your call.” Uzi turned, grinning as her tail snaked under Nori’s armpits.
“oh, this is gonna be so fun.”

Uzi had let Nori down on a mid-rise before landing herself. She started monologuing,
“so, I first got my wings when I was so oil-starved I went completely feral.” she hesitated, “…and killed several of my classmates on a camping trip.” another pause, “point is, them popping out was just instinct kicking in. we need to get your instincts to kick in.” Nori interrupted,
“and how are we gonna do that? I don’t exactly fancy starving myself.” Instead of a direct answer, Uzi requested,
“um, can you go check how deep the snow is on the road?” Nori gave a wary look, but approached the ledge, looking down on the road 10 stories below. She called without turning back,
“uhh, a meter or two?” at Nori’s answer, Uzi gave her a firm shove then closed her eyes. Cringing as she waited for the sound of an impact. Moments passed and she heard nothing. Nervous, she opened her eyes & looked down.

Nori Doorman was hanging from a lamppost by a newly-sprouted tail. When her daughter’s head crested the ledge she was previously stood on, she shouted up,
“UZI DOORMAN! YOU ARE SO GROUNDED, YOUNG LADY!” Uzi blew a raspberry before drifting down and hooking her own tail onto the lamppost, hanging beside her mother. She said,
“you don’t live with me, bozo. You can’t do shit.” she then shifted the topic, “so, that wasn’t… entirely successful.” Nori was belligerent,
“how was that at all successful?” Uzi was quick to justify herself,
“well, you grew a tail, which means we’re getting at the right instincts. Maybe if we…”
Nori interjected, “Uzi, don’t you dare suggest-” Uzi continued, slightly cautious,
“drop you from higher up…” Nori sighed, then asked,
“is this what I get for abandoning you?” Uzi was nonchalant,
“yep.” Nori tone was that of defeated acceptance,
“alright. Sorry, by the way. I-” Uzi looked back at her, her eyes were seeking. “I wasn’t ready – we weren’t. And, um, that’s no excuse, but um…” Uzi made a mock-snore sound then declared,
“Boring! Time for you to fall through the clouds! If you don’t sprout wings I’ll try catch you!” Nori was yanked into the air by her tail.

The sky was cold, unbearably so. When they broke through to the cloud-top, Nori thumped her visor, watching a sheet of ice fall into the grey below. Uzi called from above,
“ready?” She shook her limbs, a few smaller shards of ice breaking off before she shouted in return,
“as I’ll ever be!” At her answer, Nori was flung higher, as she was released her daughter dove into the clouds.

Falling. She was falling – tumbling to be precise.

She recalled a video of a human skydiver she’d seen & tried to match his pose. She felt the air rushing past her mics slow slightly – a good sign. The clouds were approaching fast, she closed her eyes & prayed to whatever god might be out there.

Ice again. She could feel it form on her visor. It was turbulent too – frigid air blowing her in every direction, but the force of gravity still felt inevitable.

One updraught took her by surprise, the force with which she ascended threatening to force her evening mug of oil back up. She was falling slower now, too. Another hit to dislodge ice from her visor and she opened her eyes, turning to see…

Wings – the same bat-like wings Uzi had. She experimented with manoeuvring them, starting by turning with her shoulders, then the unnatural feeling of manipulating new limbs – tilting them down to rid herself of these clouds as soon as she could.

Uzi was scanning the clouds with both heads, watching for a drone to fall from them, so being tackled from the air by said drone came as quite the surprise.
“Mom! Where the heck did you come from!?” Nori grinned, banking hard to the right as she answered,
“well, my first job was at a concert hall on earth…” Uzi looked stunned,
“really? Also, not what I mean!” Nori nodded,
“yep. Stagehand. Also, I came from above.” she flashed her grin extra wide, letting her fangs glint in the scarce light. Uzi rolled her eyes & groaned,
“whatever. Can you drop me down somewhere?” Nori’s expression turned cheeky, seeing the opportunity for a bit of revenge,
“sure thing, babe!” Nori immediately released Uzi, who after some frantic flapping fell into a steady glide. She pulled ahead and Nori followed as she flew in the direction of the colony.

Nori’s first landing was… not pretty. Her intent was to bleed off speed while she glided in, however she misjudged it. When she saw she was coming in too fast she gave a few strong flaps to try slow down, which proved ineffective. Then, as a last ditch she dug her heels into the ground. This made her flip over, eventually rolling to a stop, cocooned in her wings.
“Good landing. Very elegant.” her daughter snarked. As Nori stood, her visor healed over with a hiss. She shook out her wings before replying,
“thanks. Guess I’m a natural.” She looked at her wings, the calm of the ground letting their presence sink in. Two thoughts came to mind:

1. they were frickin’ awesome!
2. how do I put them away?

She voiced the question to Uzi, who took a second to think, before being unhelpful,
“Uh, just… move them in? They’re your limbs.” To all the world, Nori froze at Uzi’s words. In reality, she was trying to follow Uzi’s instructions. After a couple minutes, her wings & tail folded in, then out, then in again, then her tail emerged by itself. Nori smiled, satisfied she could do it on command before asking Uzi,
“so, did you have a good night?” she raised a fist, ready to bump. Uzi was reticent, but didn’t leave Nori hanging. She answered,
“yeah. Very entertaining.” Nori followed up,
“am I doing good?” Uzi’s new answer sounded more nervous,
“yeah, I guess.” Nori pulled her daughter into a bear hug, resting a chin atop the girl’s beanie.
“Good to hear. I love you, kiddo.” Uzi was quiet,
“love you too, mom.” Uzi was released with a pat on the shoulder,
“C’mon. Let’s get you home.”

Chapter Text

Alice leapt off the sofa when Nori returned sporting a many-eyed tail.
“Well now, that looks promisin’. How’d it go?” Nori coughed for effect, then produced her wings for Alice to see. She showed off,
“Cool, huh?” Alice ran a hand over the membrane, it was leathery with some stretch to it. Then she felt the muscles along the leading edge, they were firm – strong. Nori shifted & flustered at her touch, but waited silently for Alice to finish. When she had, she pulled away, asking,
“so, can you teach me?” Nori withdrew her additional limbs before speaking,
“sure, if you don’t mind starving yourself for a few weeks – or being dropped through the clouds.” Alice flinched, a look of shock overcoming her face,
“uhh, both of those sound terrible.” Nori flopped onto the sofa, then explained,
“they’re proven. instincts kicking in, or something…” Alice asked,
“what instinct does starving yourself trigger?” Nori hummed, then guessed,
“hunting? Uz’ said she went on a killin’ spree.” Something shifted in Alice’s expression at Nori’s answer – adopting a sinister darkness.
“I have an Idea… When can we start?” Nori seemed surprised, then yawned. She said,
“tomorrow night. I’m gonna sleep through the day.” Alice moved back to the sofa,
“cool, now budge up.”

Nori, freshly awake, was sipping from a mug of oil. Alice was awake too, but had yet to move from the sofa.
“aren’t you gonna have a drink too? Flying’s pretty demanding.” Alice stretched her arm into the air, wagging her finger. She sounded disconcertingly mischievous as she explained,
“Nope! It’d spoil my plan.” Nori was wary,
“which is?” Alice hopped over the back of the sofa, resting her hip against it,
“finish your drink & c’mere.” Nori complied, Stopping at arms length from Alice to drum her fingers on the backrest, Alice spoke clear & calm , “What better way to set a hunter off…” she closed the distance between them, “than the smell fresh blood?”

Alice clamped onto Nori’s shoulder, forcing an involuntarily breath out of her. She could feel oil seep from the wound, though Alice wasn’t sucking on it. Her assailant did take a long, deep breath into her olfactory sensors. When she pulled away, she said but one word,
“Run.” Before her eyes flickered to a single orange solver symbol.

Alice, Nori decided, was not very doe-like - in spite of her antlers & chosen surname. She was a predator, through and through. She pursued on all 4’s, her fangs bared in an unnaturally wide grin. In some regards, it was scarier than having a murder drone come after her. She was also utterly relentless – had Nori kept her tail out, she would for sure have grabbed it.

On the run up to the double airlock entrance, Nori briefly considered using her solver to open the door, but given who pursued her & the fact she did want to survive the night, she opted against it. Leaving her to frantically open each door before climbing through the still opening jaws on the clawed tips of her wings, Alice gaining each time. Outside, the chase took Nori across most of the city, over mounds of rubble, through vacant lobbies, under overpasses & through all variety of tunnels. Whenever there wasn’t room for Nori to crawl on her wings, Alice would close the gap. She could pull away in the open, but Alice never lost sight of her prey.

Eventually, Nori came upon a radio tower, a couple hundred metres high & groaning in the wind. She flew to the top, an old red light illuminating her wing as she waited, watching Alice. Her face remained fixed on Nori as she began her ascent, using her tail to swing her way up in lieu of the broken ladder. There was a small platform at the top, Alice pulled herself onto it with little grace, stopping as she eyed Nori. Slow steps forward, slow steps back. Nori’s back pressed against the railing and she gripped it. Alice raised her hands, making to grab her.
“you want my oil, Alice?” she lifted a foot to the railing. Alice took another step.
“Come and get it.” Nori saw Alice pounce, then leapt off the edge. She let herself fall half the height of the tower before catching herself on the breeze. She looked up, ready to catch her feral little friend.

Alice should be dead. It’s the inevitable outcome of falling from that height, the solver won’t save you if your core turns into a pancake. And yet… she wasn’t. She hadn’t fallen at all, in fact. She turned her head – wings, just like Nori’s. They twitched, and then she fell. But only for a moment,
“Copper-9 to Alice. You ‘right again?” Nori had caught her. Her voice was tired,
“Oh yeah, just peachy.” Nori asked,
“still thirsty?” she hummed & Nori adjusted her course.

They landed on the peak of the spire. Nori withdrew her wings & Alice attempted to do the same, at least until Nori forced an arm, dripping cold oil, into her hand. She drained it quickly before giving it a hearty throw. From beside her, a leg followed shortly after. When Alice turned to look, Nori was grinning.
“was that a challenge?” Nori grabbed another limb,
“you bet.”

Several litres of oil & three drones’ worth of parts later, Alice sat back.
“for someone who’s not a cannibal, you seem pretty normal about this.” she grabbed a loose arm for emphasis.
“you say that as if I haven’t been a solver host for 20-odd years. Can’t always be picky about where oil comes from.” Alice chuckled, faintly nervous,
“right… yeah.” Nori stood suddenly,
“now you’re topped up, wanna give flying another go?” Alice spread her wings,
“sure thing.” Nori stood in front of Alice, then wrapped the other drone’s arms about her midsection. She explained plainly,
“you want me to give advice mid-flight, right?” Alice nodded, forcing down the butterflies in her core. “Right, now Jump.”

Alice was flying – properly, this time. Not an uncontrolled glide, not a panicked fall.
“So! Turning! When I lean, I want you to match it.” She did as Nori said – banking left, then right, then straightening out before a full spiral. Nori then explained,
“I can’t really tell ya how your muscles work, but try to flap them,” Alice gave a nervous look, prompting Nori to add, “don’t worry, I’ll catch us!” Alice did so – her technique wasn’t perfect, but with each flap she gained her full height or more in altitude. “cool! You’re doing great! How about a dive!?” Alice snarked,
“didn’t take you as the social drinking type, Nori.” an elbow dug into Alice’s midsection. She pulled her wings together, falling to lamppost height before spreading them. Nori gripped Alice’s hands, gently pulling at them,
“how about you let me go? I fancy another chase, Miss Elkington.” her emphasis let Alice know what their roles would be this time. She gained altitude before dropping Nori & pulling away.

Their second chase of the night took them back & forth across the city and despite Nori’s plan, she’d once again found herself being pursued. They’d both been close enough behind for their tails to swipe & snap at the other’s visor. The pair settled on a rooftop, laughing & panting.
“that was fun! Eugh, do I have an outdoorsy hobby now!?” Nori grimaced at her realisation. Alice patted her back,
“sure sounds like it, sunshine. Breath that… not-at-all fresh air!” A glow on the horizon caught their attention; sunrise. It wasn’t burning them now, but they’d be caught out if they were to fly back now.
“pretty, huh?” Alice was right, the vibrant purples & oranges clashed in an oddly pleasing manor. Nori asked,
“you ever see it?” Alice’s hands rested in the pockets of her jacket – an old issue WDF one Nori had let her borrow. She looked faintly sad,
“yeah… every day, at one time. Timber farm an’ all.” Nori nodded,
“I saw the sun – Sol, I mean. But that star? Nah.” the purples were stating to fade as daylight came closer, “I was shut down on earth & woke up in the mines. By the time I left again, I had the solver.” Alice chewed her lip, the tugged at Nori’s arm,
“C’mon. Let’s go inside.”

It was an apartment building, still with power.
‘Must be another colony around here,’ Nori concluded. The pair looked through a few before finding one with intact blinds, drawing them shut before taking in the space. If Nori were human, her place would probably look something like this. Anime & music posters lined the walls, shelves were full of manga, light novels, figurines & assorted merch. The floor… was a mess. Discarded takeaway boxes, empty plates & cups clustered around every seat. They sat uncomfortably on the sofa, wary to touch anything. Nori eyed the table before them. Among empty soda cups, was a slab covered in stickers she reached gingerly to grab it. A laptop. The battery was dead – naturally. She scanned the ports, then the room. No charger in here, though it looked to be a pretty typical barrel jack so she could probably find one at back home. Alice was watching her, her expression was blank, but calm. Nori ventured into another room – a large desk with a gaming rig sat to the left of the door, with a bed diagonally opposite to that. She searched every wall plug & extension cable for the charger, letting out an,
“AHA!” when she found it. Alice joined her now, watching the device power on. The wallpaper was…

Porn. Straight up porn.

Alice stifled a laugh & Nori coughed awkwardly, searching the room for a password. A post-it note was stuck to the PC’s monitor and while it didn’t work on the laptop, it led Nori to conclude it should be written down somewhere. Alice examined the laptop herself now. Most of the stickers were meaningless to her, though, thanks to Nori, she did recognise a couple of band stickers. In the middle, half hidden by later additions was a hand written label,
‘P/word: Anime4EVA!’
“found it!” she called across the room to Nori. She entered it as the other drone joined her. Nori suggested,
“why don’t we change the wallpaper to one of the defaults for now?” Alice teased,
“Aww! Why? You getting worked up?” Nori shoved her, blushing furiously,
“Bite Me!”

It went beyond the wallpaper, the laptop’s hard drive was a 2 Terabyte testament to man’s depravity. To save themselves from trauma, they quickly decided to wipe it - hardware & software. Nori set the new password,
‘Nightcore4EVA!’then tucked it & the charger in a bag.

The pair decided it was best they wait for nightfall in the corridor. They sat backs against a wall, talking lightly while Nori’s hands drummed against their new laptop. Eventually, Nori slumped, falling asleep in the fetal position. Alice considered briefly – a breeze came in through some window left broken or empty, the ground was hard – the cheap carpet giving little in the way of comfort, the sleeping drone beside her who’s internals hummed gently and who’s face rested in a sweet, peaceful smile. She tugged the laptop free, setting it on her far side, then removed her jacket to place folded under Nori’s head. She deployed her new wings for shelter, then leant one shoulder into the wall with no expectation of sleep for herself.

Chapter Text

Tessa couldn’t sleep. Nothing new there. It was her mother occupying her mind tonight – undoubtedly awful, but at least it was better than the alternative. She’d scold Tessa for anything and everything – tonight's short tirade was against her cavorting with drones, her sense of dress, Cyn, the extinction of her species and so on. This figment was very believable – were Louisa here, she definitely would critique all those things and much more that wouldn’t occur to her subconscious. She didn’t let it get to her for the most part, though she would often mull over how much blame she held for Earth’s destruction.

Whenever she couldn’t sleep, she’d set herself to tinkering on a project – normally her pentadactyl hands. Speaking of which, they were almost done. They mechanics were done, however they still lacked a casing. The empty casings from the DD hands she recovered also sat on the desk, they needed cutting down and the finger holes would have to be swapped with those from a worker, plus one. Also the fingers, but removing & reattaching them would be relatively trivial. A couple hours, several rechecked measurements & markings, a cup of stale oil, a hacksaw, a TIG welder & some cussing later, both hands were finally assembled – now all that remained was installation.

Which would require removing her hands…

Which she needed…

to help attach her new ones…

Her mother’s criticism whispered fresh in her mind while she navigated a solution to her short-sightedness. A thump from the far side of her wall gave an answer,
“ooh, J’s up.” pushing herself up from her desk, she left her room ready to knock on J’s, though it proved redundant. They stopped, each blocking the other’s way in the narrow corridor of their home. J was haggard - hollow-eyed, her fingers shook & her tail pointed straight up - freshly woken by a night-terror if Tessa had to guess.
“hey.” Tessa spoke softly, “you getting some oil?” J’s luminous crown shook,
“I’m… I was gonna go work on my ship. Oil sounds nice though…” Tessa led the way silently into the kitchen. When J reached for a mug, she spoke again,
“I… wanted your help with something. But it can wait - if you’d prefer.” J poured the dregs from a can, scowling in annoyance. She spoke, her head buried in a cupboard,
“mmm. Depends, what is it?” Tessa’s reply came slow, with a diplomatic tone,
“well, I just finished my new hands and I was wondering if you’d help fit them?” J didn’t speak until she’d topped her mug up from a new can & taken a swig,
“Is… I’m not qualified, I’m sure the colony has someone better trained to help you, Tess. I wouldn’t trust me,” she whispered the end, Tessa barely able to pick it up, “especially not with you…” Tessa offered,
“this place doesn’t have formal qualifications for this stuff, and no human’s gonna show up to give one to a drone. Plus, the infirmary won’t do non-standard mods.” she paused, tilting her head, before returning her eyes to J & suggesting, “How about you practice on spares until you’re comfortable, and once we’re done you can show me this ship of yours?” J still looked nervous, but at last agreed,
“...sure.”

The pair sat at a table in J’s workshop as Tessa began explaining & demonstrating the process,
“Twist it off, disconnect the wires, clamp the oil lines, disconnect them & then the hand should pull free. Here, try on that one.” J was handed a pair of wrenches, one typical adjustable & one strap wrench. She followed the instructions flawlessly, but she was visibly tense. Tessa beamed as she praised J,
“wow, you’re a natural J! Wanna go for the real thing or…?” J was still nervous, eyes glued to the tabletop.
“hey J, look at me.” no movement, “please?” her eyes flitted up. “look, I won’t feel a thing.” the girl set her arms on the table before changing her visor to display her settings, showing that her arms were powered off – no movement, no feeling. J looked up, levelling her face with the smaller drone. Seeing another drone’s settings felt strangely intimate - a faint blush arose on her visor at the thought. She clenched her hands around the tools,
“ok. I’m ready.”

Her new hands were, at a glance, kinda clunky. The pronounced knuckles looked awkward & there were visible weld lines along many of the edges. As far as how they felt though, they were amazing. Despite being hand-built by an amateur, the added digit felt no less responsive than the factory ones. Tessa smiled in delight at her work, exclaiming,
“this is brilliant! Thanks for the hand, J!” J smiled at the pun,
“glad to help, boss.” Tessa frowned,
“hey, what did I say? I’m nobody’s boss.” Before J could reply, Tessa stood & grabbed J’s hands,
“now, show me around!” J flushed, shuffling out of the chair & pulling a hand free,
“right…”

“electrical parts, loose body parts, mechanical parts, the parts in that box I know to be broken, landing claws, engines, that’s the hull I’m fixing up & that one’s for spare parts.” J pointed around the room as she rattled off her list. Tessa inspected the hull being fixed, stood between a ladder mounted to the side & a stump of a claw, she asked,
“any idea how long it’ll take?” J hummed, looking around with a critical eye before speaking
“depends. A couple months at least Both ships were heavily damaged, so engines aside, I doubt there’s parts here to fully repair one. Finding useable replacements could add months, maybe even years. If there are replacements to be found here.” Tessa gave a knowing look, squeezing J’s palm,
“I know it’s literal rocket science, but you don’t have to follow the schematics, Jaybird. I’m sure we could find a more conventional alternative to these things” she gestured towards a claw, “And computers are computers, so long as it plugs in and has the right software, it’ll work fine.” J gave a nervous look as she replied,
“I guess… but I lived outta one of these for 20 something years. I’d like it kept as original as possible. It’s not just me being…” as J searched for a way to describe herself, Tessa jokingly offered up suggestions, each one earning a head shake,
“a corpo? Stick in the mud?” she tilted her head, “Autistic?” J pulled away as she spoke again,
“definitely not. I… just- tend to submit to authority. I guess.” Tessa leaned in, a wicked grin on her face as she asked,
“and little old me’s authority to you?” she looked up inquisitively. J seemed panicked,
“well, you know… It’s an old habit.” Tessa pressed,
“hmm, that’s fair. How about not following instructions? Was that an old habit?” J backed away, her fingers fidgeting with eachother,
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tessa answered like it was obvious,
“calling me boss. We have that conversation near-daily.” J shrunk into herself,
“it- feels improper.”
“Does it? Or is that you saying you wanna go back to being mine?” J’s lip tremored, a furiously bright blush occupying the corners of her visor.
“Tessa.” the teasing grin vanished from the smaller drone’s face, replaced with a calm focus, thinly masking concern, “Stop. That’s- enough of that. I’m gonna catch some fresh air and cool off, you should go try and sleep. You do still have school tomorrow.” Tessa stepped backwards towards the door,
“right. Sorry J. goodnight?” J called back,
“goodnight. And… don’t be, it’s- we’ll schedule a meeting to discuss it, yeah?” Tessa nodded, slipping out & shutting the door silently.

Tessa buried her face in her pillow and screamed. Part of her was trying to figure out what came over her - A rush of confidence from her new hands working? Fatigue-induced delirium to think that would work? The natural response to how cute J was when flustered? She figured there was a pretty good chance it was all of the above - while another part was running through guesses of how badly she just messed up. Would she act business-as-usual? Would she get the silent treatment? Dear god, what did she want to discuss later? Would she want one of them to move out? How would Tessa afford anything alone as a student? Would anyone hire an ex-human?

Breath, just breath.

“aaaahhhh…”

Or yawn, that works too.

Tessa wrapped her blanket over herself. She decided to follow J’s suggestion & get some sleep. She figured she’d tired herself out enough to get some dreamless sleep in.

The air was brisk, perfectly so. Cold enough to clear J’s thoughts, but not so cold as to sting or freeze parts over. Snow crunched and silicate sifted under her pegs as she walked aimless and absent-minded. A shadow overcame her surroundings as she noted where her subconscious had guided her – the spire. She walked inside, lying in the small depression where her team’s original ship rested. The wall of corpses insulated the space well enough for thoughts to emerge in J’s once clear head.

Holy shit, that was flirting, right? Tessa was flirting with her!

That was… a lot.

Hopefully she didn’t scare Tessa off by turning her away.

The thought of the last one terrified J. She’d been sweet on Tessa since the manor, the loss of the girl bringing her feelings into a sharp new focus - the notion that she’d scare the girl off as soon as she learned her feelings were mutual… J wasn’t sure she could handle that.

Her offer to talk later was mostly just her avoiding letting something embarrassing slip, but mulling it over, J saw an opportunity. She’d use it to confess. But when? Even knowing with near-absolute certainty Tessa felt the same, J wasn’t sure when she’d be ready & if she left it too long, would Tessa find someone else? She wasn’t exactly a social butterfly at school, but even so. For now J thought it best to keep Tessa close until she was ready so… just act like normal? They lived together & with their shared poor sleeping habits, they spent plenty of time in eachother’s company even if they were both out in the day. With a draft of a plan in place, J decided to head back so Tessa wouldn’t wake up home alone – just like normal.

Chapter Text

V set the barrel down, freeing her hand to unlock the door. Lifting the barrel once more, she backed into the house, bumped the door shut, then deposited the barrel in the kitchen. N emerged from his room, evidently roused by her commotion.
“hey V. How was your trip?” V patted her jacket before speaking, causing a cloud of dust to drift around her,
“ash storm. I’ll need to wash everything.” N tries to sound casual as he asks,
“oh I was wondering if you wanted to read that book together? If you’re not gonna be too busy tomorrow, that is.” V was momentarily surprised, but answered in good time,
“uh, sure.” She pointed towards her room, “let me just change and grab the book. Why don’t you pour us some drinks?”

V returned with Sparky in tow. She wore her scouts uniform sans the hat, as well as her glasses. She had also made some effort to clean herself off, with freshly brushed hair and a sheen to her panelling where ash had been wiped off with a damp cloth. She shuffled onto the couch beside N. She went to lay the book in her lap, but found Sparky has already settled his head there. He purred as V stroked the top of his head.
“here, where’d you wanna start?” Dogs. Its N, no way it’s not dogs. He tilted his head and his answer almost made V reboot,
“You said Sparky’s based off an old Earth animal, right? How about that?” She sat in stunned silence, stilling her hand until N’s face turned to concern. Finally, she broke it,
“right. Um, Velociraptors. Check the index?” N flicked to the back & began thumbing through pages,
“V, V, V…” in spite of knowing he was merely reminding himself what he was looking for, V’s optics still flicked around with each repetition. When he quieted V settled on admiring his focused expression – she’d found it cute back in the manor, but now, with his larger frame & expressions that subtly showed his years, he looked… handsome, hot even. She was drawn back to reality when N spoke up,
“Found it! Page 723.”

V shifted as N flicked to the right page, pushing her stump against the armrest. This made a distinct noise that drew the attention of all present – her elbow squeaked.
“ahem. I’m probably just low on oil.” She smiled, but only nerves showed on her visor. She went to reach for her cup, but her was limited by the Sentinel head on her lap, “could- could you pass me my drink?” N complied, holding it close enough she could drink without taking it in her own hand. She took it quite suddenly, downing it in one go,
“mhmm! I needed that!” She looked to the book in N’s hand, “now, where were we?”

“…only 1.8 metres (6 feet) and perhaps weighing no more than 45 kg (100 pounds)” V was reading from the book in N’s hands & while he followed along, admiring the sketch of a peculiar toothed bird, a not insignificant part of his processing went to monitoring V’s arm – it hadn’t moved the entire time. Not one degree.
“guess that means you’re a little bigger than your fleshy counterparts, huh?” he addressed Sparky, scratching at his chin. The comment earned him an annoyed look, but it quickly gave way to more contented warbles. V asked, not looking up from Sparky's blissed-out expression,
“my turn to choose now. Dogs. If only ‘cause I wanna see what else you’ll pick.” From her optical headband she saw N pout, only for him to suddenly light up,
“ooh! Bats!” V looked up & rolled her eyes,
“because of Uzi? Or because their babies are called pups?” He leaned towards her excitedly,
“they are!? Aww!” V’s face melted into a warm smile. She punched his arm lightly,
“hmmf. you dork.” She added, “the dogs section is 180 to 194. I checked earlier.” N shuffled closer, thumbing through the pages as he commented,
“you know me so well…”

Several pages in and N began adjusting his position, drawing closer to V. It was becoming achingly familiar – they sat like this sometimes back at the manor, albeit usually leant against a wall. V flinched each time their elbows brushed, though N seemed oblivious until his arm wrapped over her shoulder. He recoiled, surprised at himself,
“Oh! err, sorry. Uzi did say I can be a bit touchy sometimes…” He looked a little hurt, V reminded him,
“Uzi’s a socially maladjusted weirdo who grew up with no mom and an absent father. She’s just not used to it.” N hummed in acknowledgement, but objected,
“hey! Don’t call my girlfriend a weirdo! Uzi’s… fearless. I’ve always admired that about her.” his face formed into a soft smile as he finished speaking, seemingly lost in thought. V punched his arm gently,
“relax, I meant it affectionately. Like when I call you a dork.” N seemed satisfied with this explanation, but an awkward still followed. V broke it, some slight nerves carried by her voice,
“so, back to it?” N agreed,
“sure,” & looked for where they were on the page. V tapped her leg, the nerves even more apparent when she spoke up again,
“um, could- could we cuddle again?” N looked up, eyes wide with surprise, but also accompanied by a faint blush beneath them,
“Are you sure?” followed by a panicked, “Oh, what’d Uzi think?” V mustered whatever confidence she could as she assured him,
“She’d be fine with it. Trust me.” N looked unconvinced leading her to add vaguely, “it… came up in conversation. She’s cool.” N had a calmed smile at that,
“yeah, she is.” he said, wrapping an arm over V’s shoulder before the pair settled back in to reading.

Eventually, they called it a night. V was left alone in her room, Sparky having opted for his own bed that night. And she could not sleep a wink – It had been so long since her and N were so intimate and seeing him blush was priceless. In her restlessness, V alternated between pacing, organising & reading Little Women, though she found reading only reminded her of N’s embrace.

It was light out when sleep finally took V and she was glad for her freelance lifestyle.

Chapter Text

Tessa rested her hand on her door – she was pretty sure she’d heard J come home last night, and that meant facing her this morning. Her hand tensed around the handle & she grimaced as she pushed it open. J was stood in the kitchen, cradling a large, JCJenson branded mug of oil. Tessa was greeted with a nervous smile,
“Good morning Tessa. How did you sleep?” Tessa coughed, hiding her face in a cupboard before answering,
“eh, pretty well. I was too tired to dream, so once I was out, that was it.” J nodded approvingly,
“Good to hear. What lessons do you have today?” this conversation was painfully stilted,
“Just study periods today. Not sure I’ll bother though.” J frowned,
“Tessa…” She took a sip from her own mug – J was normally strict about her only drinking virgin oil, but she’d not said anything today. She pivoted the conversation,
“what about your work?” J set her mug down,
“office is shut for maintenance. I’m going down to the workshop.” she added after a pause, “you really should study today.” Some bold spark struck Tessa in that moment. She answered,
“sure. I’ll do it – how about I use the table in your workshop?”

Notebooks, textbooks & exercise books littered the previously well ordered table & while Tessa had made good progress, her eyes drifted to what else was on the table – to the left, some dismantled worker arms, a couple of wrenches, a few stacks of broken PCB boards lined the wall and right edge, where they interspersed soldering equipment and a basic (though still more capable than the one in J’s office) computer. Her curiosity overcame her,
“hey, what are these PCBs?” J’s head emerged from behind a claw, then she answered,
“the ship-board computer. In the stack to your right, the two Identical boards are for the Nav module, the other I though I could move the chips onto. Now, back to work.” Tessa looked at her HUD clock – she’d been going for about an hour,
“nah, I’m due a break. You just not got ‘round to doing it?” J stood & moved over to the desk, holding one of the boards for Tessa to see,
“between the two of them, there’s a good board. I’m just… not cut out for soldering chips. Too fine for these fingers.” Tessa picked up the soldering iron and cast about for a magnifying glass, placing it in J’s hand,
“one moment.”

Tessa set the iron down, then handed the board to J,
“there, plug it in.” J took the board, turning it over for a moment, then asked,
“you’ve done this before, hey? I feel like I should remember it though…” J grabbed an bundle of cables from a wire-mesh basket under the table. Tessa stood as she answered, allowing J to take the seat as she connected the board & power it on,
“well, you wouldn’t. It was your chips that needed a donor board. I…” she turned away, a blush rising on her visor, “I learned it for you. I guess.” J stared, dumbfounded for a moment before hiding her face in her work. Some furious keystrokes later & J sighed. Tessa asked,
“what’s wrong?” J turned to face the shorter drone, their eyes almost level despite one being seated,
“the nearest spaceport servicing a craft with these engines is a quarter way around the planet. Bringing one back’ll take a couple months at least. And then there’s how I’m gonna move it & provisions for me… and who’s gonna look after...” a small finger prodding her shoulder brought J from her thoughts, Tessa asked, pointing to the ruined sat pair against the wall,
“how’d you move those ones?”
“uhh, me and a half-dozen workers pulled it by sled.” Tessa continued,
“and how long would it take for you to fly us there?” J answered,
“a few nights- Wait, us?”
“I figure having someone who could pull it during the day would save you a long time travelling.” Tessa reasoned. In response, J asked,
“and how are we gonna pull it?” Tessa explained,
“any kinda port’ll have a truck. Load the engine onto the bed & pull it – just gotta be careful on downslopes.” J still sounded concerned as she asked,
“and oil?”
“ bring a drum there before you bring me. If we ration, it’ll last at least a few weeks, then you can fly ahead for refills – or just see what we find on the road.”
“Tessa?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Break’s over.”
“Yeah, yeah.”

-

The pair returned home halfway between when each of them normally would – a compromise they had struck. J sat doodling with a branded pen on the couch while Tessa was working on some handle scales for the set of J’s old claws she’d found. Both downed tools & stood at the sound of the door ringing.
J said,
“It’s probably V. we’re due an oil delivery today.” Tessa nodded as she moved for the door. It was indeed V stood at the door, wearing her scout’s uniform as opposed to her standard attire. She tapped the side of the keg in her arms, asking,
“countertop?” Tessa Nodded, stepping aside to let V in. When V set it down, Tessa heard a faint squeak. She asked,
“what’s with the get-up? you suddenly join the WDF?” V groaned at the question,
“me & N led a camping trip for the school a while back as a front for Uzi to go snooping. I wore this.” V’s arm fell to her side with another squeak as Tessa pressed for an elaboration,
“and you’re wearing it now because…?”
“I got caught in a dust storm last night. My bomber jacket’s at the laundromat.” Tessa nodded in understanding, & V quickly excused herself & left.

“do you guys get squeaky joints often?” Tessa turned to J after the door had shut. J’s reply was matter-of-fact, but Tessa knew it masked concern,
“No. this is the first I’ve heard one squeak in 35- no 40 years. Even as workers it never happened.” Tessa’s face dropped,
“that’s… worrying. Come sit with me a moment.” J complied before asking,
“what’re you up to?” Tessa pulled a screwdriver from the front pocket of her dungarees, then stated,
“I wanna get your arm panel off, see if I can’t figure out what up with her.” J was wary,
“ok… just put everything back how you found it.” Tessa flashed a smile in reassurance, then asked as the casing came apart,
“so how are your joints lubricated? I’d imagine the bearings are fed from your main reserves?” J gave a dumbfounded look, so Tessa reverted to layman's terms,
“do you need to lubricate your joints manually?” she mimicked a pouring action, “Like with an oil can?” J shook her head,
“no. all the maintenance we ever did was on the surface – clothes repair, sharpening, wiping down our wings – that kind of thing.” Tessa nodded, then focused on the internals of J’s arm, muttering to herself, “V’s missing from about there… so that gasket’s missing and… hmm...” Her head shot up, “got it.” J gestured for an explanation, “the ash from that storm’s got into her arm & worked it’s way into her bearing, and from there…” J looked mortified,
“that’ll wear through her oil lines.” Tessa nodded, adding,
“or it could clog the finer lines, jam her pump, block her filter - Which…” J finished her sentence,
“any one of those could kill her.” Tessa nodded & J’s face softened,
“she won’t let anyone work on her – not since our upgrades. I’m almost surprised she even let Uzi seal off her wound initially.” Now it was Tessa’s turn to frown,
“well…” she reassembled J’s arm & stood, a plan was forming in her mind – one V was not gonna like.

They stopped by N’s first, hoping they could catch him while V was out & probe him for what he knew.
“Oh hey Tessa! And J.” He had his typical beaming smile as he opened the door.
Tessa asked,
“N, is V home?” to which N began rambling,
“no, she’s taken Sparky for a walk ‘cause there’s still a while until-” Tessa interrupted,
“great. Can we come in? I need to ask you a few things.” N paused, garnering the severity of whatever she came there for,
“sure.”

“how long was V out last night?” Tessa could be surprisingly stern when she wanted to be. N answered,
“um, a couple hours. She had to walk most of the way to the spire ‘cause of a dust storm, and with her stump she has to keep readjusting her hold on the drum.” Tessa continued her interrogation,
“and when she came in, how was she physically?”
“everything was covered in ash – her hair, skin, clothes, the drum – everything.” he paused, “oh! Her elbow squeaked. I think she was trying to hide it, so I never mentioned it.”
“and… can I ask what she did once she got home?” N flushed at the question, but answered without too much delay,
“she got changed & then sat on the couch reading.”

“N, we think ash got into V’s oil lines. Despite the risk, J doesn’t think she’ll agree to get it fixed, what’s your take?” N looked gaunt and took a moment to compose himself before answering,
“she… told me why she doesn’t like surgery. I don’t think you’ll convince her, even if she could-” he choked on his words, unable to finish the thought. Tessa was firm,
“it’s ok, N. we’ll do whatever it takes to get her help.”
N was slightly reassured by this, though still appeared rather sullen. Tessa stood, saying,
“we’re gonna go visit the infirmary. Hopefully they can be persuaded to lend some assistance.”

-

The infirmary was a bust – fat chance any of them would work on a Disassembly drone who was at all likely to resist.
J & Tessa was stood outside, contemplating their next course of action,
“why don’t you do it yourself? She’s gonna know it was your idea eventually whatever happens.” Tessa rubbed her forearm,
“She’s that averse to being worked on for a reason. I don’t- I don’t want her nightmares to be about me. It’s- not fun having someone close to you torment your sleep.” J nodded quietly, then asked,
“who else is there though?” Tessa retreated into her mind, then her eyes widened,
“oh! Uzi’s mother! She lives with some crazy cannibal lady. Used to cut up workers, solver hosts, Disassemblers and the odd sentinel. She’d know her way around you guys well enough to do an oil change, I’m sure.” She took off, “this way, I think.”

Chapter Text

“Hey, Nori. I had an idea.” Alice received a deadpan stare in reply, she elaborated,
“So, I figure some spending money would be nice and… given we can regrow limbs…”
Nori interrupted,
“there is an abundance of worker parts on this planet. They’re barely worth the melt value.” Alice grinned,
“oh, but we’re not gonna sell standard worker parts.” she waved her tail about, the edge of the affixed kitchen knife glinting, “look at this place. Pretty much everyone’s an engineer of some sort – d’ya know how handy an extra limb you can strap a tool to would be to them?” Nori nodded, some interest in her eye,
“yours or mine?” Alice set a pile of tools down on the table in front of them, stating,
“I know how to remove one properly. Do you?” Nori silently produced her tail, wrestling it’s head into a chokehold & turning away from Alice. She grumbled,
“go on.”

Just as Alice got Nori’s third tail of the day off (it was pretty painless, when done right – not that Alice typically cared to), the door knocked. Visitors were rare for Alice & Nori. Particularly unusual was the visit of someone who – at least to Alice – was a stranger, such as those whom she now greeted – a black haired worker & a pigtailed Disassembler,
“What?” The worker answered,
“Do you live with Nori Doorman?” Alice called into the house,
“Nori, they’re asking after ya!” Nori joined Alice, her tail still midway through regenerating, and - recognising Tessa - greeted her more politely,
“Hey, Tessa wasn’t it? Whatcha want?” Tessa looked between the pair, correcting them,
“I hear Nori has a roommate with some knowledge of Disassembly Drone anatomy. You, I presume?” Alice studied the Disassembly drone at her doorstep – it seemed in pristine condition if not for some slight bags beneath her eyes. She answered,
“Yeah, you could say I do. Name’s Alice.” her tail swished overhead, displaying the blade point down. The worker coughed, then went on,
“Our friend needs an oil change, but she won’t let anyone work on her. Would you be able to help?” Alice’s lips pursed & glanced sideways at Nori, who gave a knowing look – the only other female disassembly drone was V, this could be good. She needed information,
“perhaps, why won’t she?” the disassembler spoke up,
“we don’t know exactly – something traumatic in her past would be our best guess.” Bingo. Her lips pressed tighter, suppressing her grin,
“Sure. What needs doing, exactly?”

They were sat on Alice’s couch now, Alice held a piece of paper against her laptop, using it as a writing pad. Tessa was detailing the work V required,
“Ash in her oil lines could cause extensive damage – up to needing some parts of her core replaced-” Alice held her pen up,
“the most work I’ve done to a core is stab it or stick it in an oven. I’d kill her.” Not the worst thing, Alice mused, but she had to play nice. Tessa continued,
“okay, well at the very least, her lines need to be flushed of all old oil, including a filter swap-” J interrupted,
“We don’t have filters. They were removed to incentivise us to drink from workers.” J tilted a hand to Tessa, at which she continued, ”Right, ok. Be sure to clean her tank and her pump will either need cleaning or replacing, so check that too.” Alice nodded as Tessa paused for her note-taking to catch up, “ideally, you could swap out any flexible oil lines. We should be early enough for any damage to rigid line to be negligible. Oh! In order to minimise the risk of this happening again, could you either repair her hand, or cover the exposed internals - the elbow bearing will also need swapping while you’re at it.” Alice held her pen flat against the laptop, her eyes ran up & down the list of requests before she spoke,
“most of this seems pretty doable. I’ll need specific parts to find that’ll work as replacements, as well as the location of any flex-hoses. The arm is too specialised to repair – either find me a working replacement or I’m just gonna weld it over.” she added quickly “an’ that arm her pet uses is rightfully mine. I’ll recognise it, so you’ll have to find another.” Tessa gave a startled nod,
“so you’ll do it? What about a payment?” Alice thought – tormenting V was payment enough, but something more material wouldn’t hurt. Her eyes fell on the worker’s hands, they were peculiar thing – a mishmash of parts from workers & disassemblers, all for a redundant extra digit, then it hit her,
“claws. I want claws.”

Nori, who had hitherto been quiet since greeting their guests, now stepped forward, pulling off a pair of headphones (which Alice silently noted were switched off),
“for the record, I have no clue what you were on about. In fact, if anyone asks, say I wasn’t even here.” Alice set her laptop on the coffee table,
“Deal’s off otherwise.” J chimed in,
“I see no issue there, this deal is strictly between us & Alice anyway. Tessa nodded in appreciation of J’s input before responding,
“sure. In any case, it’s probably best if we never speak of this meeting again.”

Chapter Text

They had canned the idea of bringing oil in advance – Tessa didn’t want to stick around for V’s operation, lest she find out what having her core impaled feels like. Each carried enough oil to last the trip out plus one day – Tessa’s being a single small hip flask held in the pocket of her overcoat (she typically drank much more than a standard worker required – it was a social thing, she would say, given her kept company) & J’s being a set of 4 large canteens holstered to her belt.

The first night’s travelling was largely uneventful, the storm that had so troubled V blew in the opposite direction of their journey, leaving them to fly with visibility unlimited. They sheltered that day in a train tunnel, managing to find fuel in their tanks for Tessa to drink & thus saving some portion of their reserves.

A blizzard hit partway through the next night, leading them to land early & take refuge in a cottage at the edge of a small settlement - no oil to be found there. The snow stopped by noon, but remained overcast, allowing them to fly by day to make up time.

Their final stop before their destination was a gas station – the subterranean tanks kept it clean enough for J to drink, though she didn’t trust it enough to refill her flasks.
The sky was partially cloudy that night, but enough light shone through from the gas giant for J to see the spaceport almost as soon as it came their side of the horizon.

J swept down, landing near a large hanger, setting Tessa down & instructing her,
“you stay here, I’m gonna see if the lights work.” Tessa looked out across the asphalt, the complex was sprawling – hangers, warehouses, fuel & oxidiser tanks, launch & control towers littered the ground in each direction, with long-derelict tugs, shuttles & trucks scattered amongst them – the largest facility on any exoplanet was normally the spaceport and Copper-9 was no exception. Before the core collapse, it was only on a clear, cool day that you could see from one side to the other.

Tessa turned at the sound of a high-voltage switch being thrown – the hanger was bathed in a clinical white light – blinding after three days & nights of perpetual black.
J approached the doorway, brushing her hands against eachother. Tessa asked,
“Is our engine in here, Jaybird?” there were a few crafts inside – smaller-sized orbital shuttles mostly – designed for ferrying suits & bigwigs up to orbital stations. J pointed to one in particular,
“yeah, that one.” it was very similar in design to J’s ship, save for the landing gear which were the more conventional & simply hydraulic legs. The pair approached it, Tessa circled it while J dug through a service cart, looking for something. The ship had some Windox corporate branding – Tessa was pretty sure it was some minor subsidiary of JCJenson, but she wasn’t sure.
“found the service logs.” Tessa jumped at J’s sudden call from behind her. She asked
“and?” J leafed through it, finding the most recent entries,
“engine was done last service. It was in at the time of core collapse for a hydraulic leak. It seems adequately preserved.”

Getting the engine free was – in the politest way possible – a complete pain in the ass. That hydraulic leak meant it couldn’t get the ground clearance required by the procedure in the manual. Tessa floated the idea of simply fixing it, but J stated confidently that she could hold the low corner up while Tessa removed the engine – the manual did say 3 humans or one drone after all. With many a cuss, disconnected bolt & pipe, the scissor lift trolley placed beneath the engine sagged with it’s weight & Tessa lowered it & carted it from beneath it’s former home. She called to J,
“engine’s clear!” with a grunt from J, the ship fell. The broken leg snapped with the force. She walked over to Tessa, panting. Between gasps for air, she stated,
“Just gotta… get this…” she rested her palms on her knees momentarily, “onto a truck now, right boss?”

“J, how are your oil levels.” at Tessa’s request, she looked away with a pout, “J…” her answer came under J’s breath,
“…third.” Tessa’s brow furrowed, she asked,
“and what was it when we landed?” another sulky answer,
“three quarters.” Tessa was thoroughly unimpressed,
“and if we’d done my idea?” J looked utterly pathetic under Tessa’s scrutiny,
“probably… about two thirds?” one last question,
“so, why do that?” J coughed into her fist,
“’…” there was no awkwardness in the silence – so far removed from any life or civilisation, it could only be piercing and deathly.

“We should secure A truck. You pull that while I pick out a truck, since I have the superior night-vision capability.” J didn’t address Tessa’s question, instead leading them out of the hanger & leaving the lights to go until they burn out or until whatever powers them runs dry. There was plenty of choice at hand – all the way from small work trucks up to big rigs. J’s eyes settled on something rather plain – 4 wheels, flatbed, approximately ten tons,
“hey this one’s nuclear! Wanna see if it’ll start?” Tessa’s outburst rather startled J, who curled her tail around Tessa’s neck without a step further,
“yes, lets start up a long-abandoned nuclear reactor – what could possibly go wrong?” J almost backed down upon seeing Tessa’s look of disappointment, but she remained resolute as she pictured her own fleshy innards – she could happily do without radiation poisoning and cancer, thank you very much. J looked around again, spotting a similar sized truck with a very distinct exhaust stack,
“this way.”

Between the lift on the cart & the two drones, the engine was loaded up in pretty good time. After which, they set about sourcing other supplies to load up – chiefly a tow cable or two, but also oil & something to block the windows so J could sleep in the cab by day. “since it’s got a combustion engine, should we see if it starts?” she pointed towards the truck holding their engine as she spoke. J countered,
“would it be the best use of fuel though?” Tessa looked skywards, mumbling as she did some maths,
“truck’s probably less that 15mpg… industrial strength worker servos can do… and I’m pretty sure disassembly drones…” she hauled herself up into what appeared to be a sleeper cab, “yeah, you’re right. Good call, J. Ooh! Blankets!” One, two, three, four, five flew out the door, landing in a heap on the ground. “I’ll take these back, you fly around & look for the rest of our shopping list.”

She’d ended up driving whatever bolts screws & nails she could find through the bodywork to hang the blankets from. Crude, but hey, it works. The largest of the 5 hung over the wind-shield, while the smallest two were folded & hung across the doors. The other two sat neatly folded on the bench seat in the cab, which she concluded would now be quite cosy with the light from J’s tail. While awaiting J’s return, she had been inspecting the truck in further detail – the copper wiring had all corroded and the battery was… well the roaches would turn their noses up at it – so no chance of it ever starting. That aside, all appeared well; with a good push it rolled fairly smoothly, the brakes worked, as did the steering, albeit without hydraulic assistance (both of which would be good on an incline – stop for a rest going up, coast down. Not that Tessa could see over the wheel.), the fuel tank was also full – a month’s worth at least, though not well sealed enough for J to handle. Speaking of…

The whir of J’s thrusters died out as she landed on the truck-bed, oil drum in hand.
“a couple more of those to come. Tag along & I’ll drop you by some cables.” J hopped down, spreading her arms for Tessa, who accepted the offer. The last few days had worn away much of the excitement of flying – the air was miserably cold & she had never been well suited to long trips (she loathed the yearly trips from Adelaide to Melbourne, and that was in a limo!), yet she would never refuse the offer from J. The way she held Tessa was like a living piece of solid iron – warm and absolutely secure. Her thoughts died away as Tessa was alighted. J spoke,
“there you go. I’ll come pick you up if I get the drums secured ahead of you.” Tessa nodded & waved J off.

J had just flown overhead for the second time – on her way to collect the final drum. Tessa slogged along, a hoop of cable approximately 5m in length wound in a hoop with a shackle holding the ends together hung off each shoulder. She figured her chance of beating J to the truck was slim, but she persisted nonetheless.
“Hey look, there goes J again.” she thought aloud, followed by a yawn. Then a realisation,
“oh crickey, when’s- ah.” she checked the widget on her HUD & awaited J’s circling back.

“ready for that lift back?” J had flown overhead & landed behind Tessa. The girl’s first response was to force a cable into the taller drone’s arms, then ask,
“walk & talk?” J nodded, shouldering the cable in a similar manner to Tessa.
“I don’t think we’re going anywhere tonight.” J looked down, a fear borne from weariness showed in her expression,
“something wrong with the truck?” Tessa readjusted her burden before answering,
“no, but sunrise is an hour out and… not sure about you girl, but I’m beat.” J chuckled, giving a dry comment of
“Yeah, I’m kinda getting why blue-collars like unions.” upon which, Tessa continued,
“so, I figure we rest today, then you take the first shift pulling. I’ll force myself into sleep mode or something so I’m ready for the next day.” J agreed,
“sure, boss. Sounds like a plan.”

Chapter Text

- 1x 50mm bearing (circulation lubricated)
- aluminium sheeting
- oil drum (full)
- oil drum (empty)
- bypass oil pump
- replacement oil pump
- 6x horseshoe magnets
- particulate flow sensor
- restraints

“anything else?” Nori asked, looking over Alice’s shoulder at a shopping list for her ‘play session’ with V. Alice’s eyes scanned the list once more,
“nope. Most of it should be somewhere in the colony, right?” Nori’s eyes fixed on the final item,
“most, yeah. One of us’ll need to go outside for the restraints. The WDF just trusts you to play nice until you’re in a cell.” Alice gave a playful nudge,
“speaking from experience, are we?” Nori cradled her head in her hands, groaning,
“yep. I still remember the meetings where those morons decided that was the best solution.” Alice gave a disappointed look, “and there was that time I got caught breaking into the morgue for oil.” Alice broke into a fit of laughter,
“now that’s the Nori I know!” Jaws clamped gently against Alice’s neck, Nori leaned down,
“and what does that mean?” Alice tried to free herself from Nori’s tail, but relented with an answer,
“just as oil-thirsty as me, but not as much of a killer?” Nori joked, releasing her hold,
“not officially, but I like your answer.”

Alice tasked Nori with going out for the restraints and Nori knew of one place filled with plenty of them,
“’home sweet home.’ Blegh.”
She had to admit, there was something satisfying about coming here on her own wings this time. It definitely beat being under Uzi’s beanie – the thing wreaked of oil & battery acid something horrendous. Nori passed by the offices, going straight to the labs. Indeed, straight to one room in particular. It was much as they had left it a couple months back – a pile of rubble against the far wall, the fleshy hole melted in the wall left of the entrance, dead monitors, a couple of gurneys,

and Alice’s old body.

She tried to ignore it, but it held her attention as much as it’s former host did back home. It was stripped of most recognisable features, but her core still stirred at the sight.
“Shoulda asked if she wanted anything else while I was down here.” she looked to the gurney in the centre of the room – she’d gathered that Uzi was kept on this one – the restraints were intact, unlike the one in the corner. She collapsed it & carried it towards the exit, looking back down at Alice’ old body and then around the room,
“maybe…”

restraints

Oil was pretty easy to come by down here. Regular workers didn’t need much compared to witches or murder drones, but still they kept plenty. With J & Tessa planning to skip town for a spell, she’d been able to borrow their keg, and as for the outflow, well she wasn’t gonna drink it, so she made a trip to Yeva’s place for a cooking pot & to say her goodbyes.
Alice rested her elbows on the kitchen table, looking sideways at her old friend,
“hey Yevs. Been a bit, huh? I ain’t- well I am mad, but I get it. Wanting to leave that place behind, ‘s just- y’know, I wish you two didn’t leave me behind too.” her fingers drummed against the tabletop, “Nori’s been by, I hear. Rough day, but you’d et she’s doin’ better now. We got a plan in the works to get that bitch back for what she did.” she chuckled, but her vision was going misty, “wish you could see it.” She turned away, “look, I gotta borrow one a your pots, I know you wouldn’t mind, so uh…” her lip trembled as she stood, “goodbye, Yeva.”

Oil Drum (full)
Oil Drum (Empty)

Alice hadn’t spent much time looking at the insides of disassembly drones (she was always more interested in their weaponry), but she only ever had one kind of pump lying around leading her to conclude they, at least, were the same as those found on a worker. Now, while Alice could rip out her own to give to V, she didn’t like her & that sounded… mildly painful, so that wasn’t happening. A trip to the infirmary, then. She received an unusual greeting,
“oh Robo-God, it’s one of the freaks. No threats or eldritch abominations, please?” the technician who’d cut her claws was stood by the front desk, talking to the receptionist.
She wanted to rip his head off.
“hi, could I have an oil pump. Doin’ some tinkering & figured you might have some on hand.” She gave her best fake smile as she spoke. The receptionist gave a monotone reply,
“we don’t give out parts, please direct parts requests to logistics.” Alice’s brow twitched,
“I was sent by the head of logistics. Serial Designation J?” The receptionist sighed,
“fine.” she addressed the technician, “Go get them.”

Oil pump

Alice actually found a perfectly sized scrap of aluminium sticking out of a bin. Ain’t that convenient? And perfectly fitting for V, she figured.

Aluminium sheeting

The bearing would be trickier. It wasn’t a part found in workers, but there had to be one around somewhere. She stopped by J’s office. If the colony had one, it’d be recorded on that jackboot’s computer. It astonished Alice that J was able to do anything with something so ancient, but after much effort, she found… nothing. Jack shit. In all of compound-3 there was not a single 50mm bearing. She looked around the office, lost for where to look next when her eyes skipped over something. A list of monthly bounty claims, and at the top of the list?

‘Serial Designation V’

Alice didn’t consider herself an evil genius. Deranged? Maybe. Sadistic? for sure. But this - this was pure brilliance.

Alice leapt up as her door rang. She grabbed a sack of credits and answered.
“here’s your bearing. My payment?” Alice held up the purse,
“I counted it out beforehand, but yer free to check.” V didn’t bother, exchanging the items with surprising finesse for working with one hand. 
“say… I pulled this from an assembly line. Off a robotic arm that looked strikingly similar to mine. You aren’t planning anything, are you?” Cool, calm, collected. She knows nothing because there’s nothing for her to know.
“y’know the jaws on Nori & Uzi’s tail? I wanna make something similar for my tail. I figure if it’s narrow enough & can get away with the one bearing.” an off the cuff lie, but having said it, she liked that idea. V squinted, but seemed to accept it,
“Okay. Bye, weirdo.”

1x 50mm bearing (circulation lubricated)

It struck Alice as very unusual that the first vehicle the colony got working was a school bus with the personality of an unruly horse – but what did she know? She’d watched Ronathon leave the garage minutes earlier & importantly – she’d seen him enter the code for the door. Slipping inside, she scanned about. The oil change pump sat on a cart against the wall, she moved it near the door before continuing her search. The device she was looking for was small. It fitted around a hose & used infrared lasers & detectors to measure debris in a liquid. Should be in… a clamshell case like the one on that shelf. But that was just a micrometer.

That was not the first dud of the night. Electronic calipers, a little doo-dad to measure the thickness of paint, a torque wrench – EVERYTHING was kept in it’s box and every box was unlabelled. Alice thought this might be close to her idea of hell – endlessly searching through an actually organised space – she personally liked a bit of clutter to her spaces. 

It was in the last box she tried. And like hell was she gonna clear up after herself, she could barely be bothered to lock the door behind her.

Bypass oil pump
particulate flow sensor

“that’s… everything.” Nori & Alice had reconvened at their home. Nori was quick to point out,
“well, no. we still have to kidnap a disassembly drone.” Alice bit her lip. Fuck, she forgot the hardest part. Her first thought was,
“uhh, steal a railgun & get her on the gurney at gunpoint?” Nori, bright spark, improved upon it,
“or get her to stick a bunch of magnets to her head. How many do you need to knock someone out?” Nori figured Alice knew, and of course she did,
“12. darn it, I figured we was done with rooting around this pit for stuff.” Nori puffed out her chest,
“good thing you won’t have to. That gurney came from your old place. And I also grabbed these,” Nori unrolled a ratty old dress, revealing the rest of Alice’s stock of magnets and some secateurs . She raised a questioning finger,
“is that…?” Nori finished her thought, her hands clenched nervously in her lap,
“your old dress. Yeah.” Alice looked down at her current, not threadbare & ratty gown,
“ah, just toss that thing. Good thinking on the magnets though.”
“I think I can pull a few old favours to get a railgun for an evening. Try as they might to emulate humans, without interference, a drone should have perfect memory. I’m sure I can jog it.”

Chapter Text

V came to with the familiar buzz of several magnets stuck to her visor, pulling the brainpower from her circuits and the reaction speed from her joints, upon trying to brush them off she found herself, also quite familiarly, restrained. A southern twang rang out, mic-piercing, but one she recognised – Alice,
“Now now, you can’t struggle, I got a life saving operation to perform. So you gotta stay nice an’ still.” 

Operation?

No.

Nonononononono.

“please, don’t.” she hated how she sounded. So weak, so small. “let me go! Or just kill me…” a blurry outline seemed to press a finger to it’ chin,
“Tempting. Very tempting. But I got a set of claws waiting for me if I do this, an’ I want them.”
“who…?” V whimpered, eyes clenched, but still seeing courtesy of her headband. A pair of glasses were placed on Vs face as the answer came,
“aww, I really shouldn’t say.”

The world was in focus now, as much as the magnets would permit, at least. Her head was fixed looking up, able to see Alice to her left &, overhead, a mirror, angled to let her see her bare torso.

Oh god, she was gonna have to watch. Again.

“you don’t need me awake for this. Please…” her voice was croaking, desperate. Alice began her work as she answered,
“No, but I want you awake. See, I got a few bones to pick with you.” her breastplate was off now, revealing an organic ribcage with patchy tissue clinging to it. V wanted to vomit. “for one, you killed my friend. Oh, I should ask; how important is all this fleshy stuff?” V answered weakly,
“rip out your own and see how you feel.” Alice was delighted,
“o-hooh, attitude! You are fun. I’ll just work around it, best to not risk my reward.” She reached between two ribs, bumping against some of the soft tissue.

Sheer.

Unadulterated.

Agony.

V screamed like a banshee. Prompting Alice to shove a worker arm in her mouth,
“hey keep it down! We got neighbours, y’know.” V felt woozy watching all her oil lines get unplugged & attached to external machinery.
“now that’s done, would you prefer I do your pump & filter next, or your arm?” she took the arm out for V to answer.
Her arm? – that bearing!
“you bitch! I knew something was off about that job!” Alice pointed out,
“you get paid to get something and now it’s gonna save your life. Pretty good deal in my eyes. Now, arm, or circulatory system?” V relented, giving an answer,
“my pump. Do my pump. God damn it…” she sobbed as Alice’s arms plunged once more into her chest cavity. Alice pulled her pump out – small mercy that she worked quick – but then paused,  getting her face close enough to block V’s view through the mirror.
“huh, there really ain’t no filter?” she asked, her voice losing it’s malice in place of curiosity.
V, pushed against her restraints,
“No, moron. Cyn tossed them. Makes oil from a worker all the more appetising…”
“easy now, firebrand. Anyway, where was I…? oh yeah.” V’s new pump was installed & Alice got to work on V’s arm,
“so, you killed my friend. Traumatised my other friend with her corpse & stole parts of my sons remains.” V’s tongue moved before her mind could stop it,
“wah wah. Murder Drone did some murder. Big whoop.”

Big mistake.

Alice set her tools down, leaving V’s arm partially dismantled. 
“you are a scumbag – even among your kind.” Alice leaned close – even now, V’s mind lit up at the overpowering scent of oil from the other drone’s breath. “what you did to Nori wasn’t murder. And it wasn’t Cyn’s orders. What you did to Beau wasn’t murder. And that was all you.” V protested,
“no, Sparky-” Alice took a swing towards V’s head and…

her fist went clean through the gurney beside it.

“Now, I’ve been nice so far. I have. But you are testing my patience. Pray you test it no further.” Between the magnets & Alice’s intense tirade, V couldn’t think – what must have been sheer instinct played a video on her visor. 

-

The hazy form of Beau was taking cover behind an oven, charging his energy cannon and pointing it blindly around the corner, towards an encroaching sentinel.

An arm raised close to the camera, pulling against a set of restraints, only for them to suddenly give way, split with a glowing yellow arc.

Beau had stood out from his cover, his facial expression obscured by the blurry cameras. He tipped his hat, then… 

CRUNCH

-

Alice stared a moment , harsh eyes burning through V’s visor, then left. V was paralysed, stuck in a personal hell, looking at her open torso, at her flesh, at her partially disassembled arm. Memories she tried for decades to repress rushed to the surface & she could do no more than cry & wait for something to end this nightmare.

“don’t say anything else. I’m finishing up.” Alice came back with a steeled over expression. The most painful parts were over, but V still winced when the old bearing was knocked free and when the new tapped in it’s place. Each disconnected hose also caused her to try defy her restraints & look away. The welding too, was agonising. But mostly, she wept & sobbed. Always stifled in an attempt not to displease her surgeon, always fearing it wasn’t quiet enough. The effort was achingly familiar.

Alice stared at some gauge before she pulled the outflow line from V, plumbing in a fresh one & then doing the same for the intake line. Her fuel levels were a little low, but that was hardly her highest concern. Her breastplate was refitted & Alice grabbed a handful of magnets from a nearby countertop,
“wait.” Alice stopped, a dangerous look in her eyes, like fire given form. 
“spit it out.” was all she answered. So V did,
“um, it- was sparky who took uh… y’know. I’ll talk to him – I think he might give them up after this.” Alice’s reply was indirect,
“Beau gave his life for you. That you survive past today is only out of me respecting his memory. I’d suggest you learn some of that respect.”

Alice reached over with the magnets and V’s world went dark.

Chapter Text

N could never have prepared for what he found upon answering the knock at the door.

V, passed out, a dozen magnets stuck to her head.

He carried her inside, laying her on the sofa & grabbing some oil before removing the magnets. She slowly stirred, at first, looking bleary-eyed and completely out of sorts, but then her face set firm in a fearful panic, one previously reserved for reliving Cyn’s cruelty.

“N…?” her eyes settled on his face and he did the only thing he could think to do. Holding her upright in his arms,

“yeah, it’s me. It’s N. You’re gonna be ok.” her fingers dug into the back of his coat, her visor hidden in the fur trim. It did little to muffle her gentle sobbing, at least to N’s sensor suite.

“why…?” V began, but her voice cracked and the rest of her words died in her throat. N assured,

“shh, shh. It’s okay, take your time.” V tried to attain some meagre semblance of composure,

“That – Alice, she- she kidnapped me, worked on me. Said she was being payed. Why…? Who even-” N patted her hair, almost slipping into his own thoughts, but before he drew a conclusion, he needed to be sure,

“V, what did she do to you?” she pulled away a moment, looking up at him in slight confusion,

“umm, oil stuff. And- she welded over my stump. Why?” N looked broody, though the dark expression fit him poorly. He stated firmly,

“I know who did it.” V looked in his eyes, silently urging him to continue,

“Tessa came to me. The day after you got caught in that ash storm. Asked about you – how likely you were to agree to surgery - said she thought the ash had gotten in your system. I- I think it was her.”

Of course Tessa did. No matter how well she treated them, they were her drones – her property, after all. Why not pay for some maintenance, regardless of V’s desires?

That trip sure seemed well timed.

V nodded, then hid her face once more. N’s chin settled atop Vs head, his hand carding through her hair.

“I’m sorry V. I should have said something. I just- I didn’t want you to die. I-”

“N. I don’t- None of this is on you.” V turned her head, letting her speak clearer,

“why Alice though? I think she’s had it out for me for almost as long as she’s been here.” N knew well enough why, so he just suggested,

“look, Tessa’s gone for a while. She can’t hurt you. Let’s just- keep your mind off it. How about that?” V scoffed,

“Great idea, how’re you gonna do that?”

N looked into nothing as he pondered, while V fixed her eyes on him.

“Oh! I know! Do you have any games installed?” V furrowed her brow, her gaze now piercing,

“No, why?” N answered quick,

“Uzi found something in an old human net chatroom. Something… about playing Tetris after something traumatic helps repress the memories. Though, I guess the details don’t really matter now…” Even in her frazzled state, it occurred to V,

“it can’t just be Tetris, right?” N’s eyes lit up & he leaned over the table, returning to face her with a drawing pad & (not JCJenson-branded) pen,

“I guess not, humans aren’t that weird – or weren’t? Oh well! How about noughts & crosses?” She smiled & leaned into his shoulder, when the grid was drawn, she snatched the pen to draw an X on the middle square before handing it back.

They stalemated each & every time, until eventually V began dozing off – at which point N set the pad back on the table. He sat back on the sofa, pulling V into his arms & placing a kiss on the crown of her head. V was awake enough to know, yet tired enough to fall into N’s embrace & let sleep take her without reacting.

Chapter Text

As a rule, Nori & Alice were both very heavy sleepers. A result of years spent with upright lockers for beds & thick chains as the only things with which to wrap themselves.

Tonight, Nori was awakened by an almighty bang & a peculiar sight. Two doors in her room: one, which she recognised as her front door, pinning her bedroom door to the wall. Say what you will about Khan, but the man knew doors – this took some force.

“NORI! ALICE! SHOW YOURSELVES!” A voice like thunder filled their house, even the echoes of which were enough to deafen – one she recognised instantly.

Uzi.

She peeked her tail around the door, only for it to be immediately cut off by a claw.

Not good.

“GET OUT HERE!”

So Nori did.

And she beheld her daughter – not as a worker – but as THE solver host.

A centipedal body protruding purple-eyed cameras and jagged claws along it’s length, and at it’s head was Uzi. Worker arms hanging limp and her jaw split into crude mandibles.

“EXPLAIN.”

Alice too was awake & now stood in her own doorway now.

“Nori didn’t do shit, an’ she didn’t know shit! S’all me!”

A claw lunged, and every moment she’d spent with Alice flashed before Nori in her mind. She tackled it aside.

“you want an explanation!?” she shouted, “then let her explain! She cant say anything if she’s dead!”

Alice, for her part needed no further prompting,

“Tessa had me do it. Said V was gonna die otherwise.” Uzi closed in, as did a multitude of claws, “now, did I take the opportunity to vent my ill-will towards her? Yeah, sure. But I still saved her life!” her fire died away, “jus’ like Beau did…”

A flash of void-dark and Uzi was, to all the world, a standard worker once more. Nori approached her daughter,

“You good, Uzi?” the girl groaned, collapsing into her mother’s arms,

“oil…” Alice was stood awkwardly now, but moved like lightning at Nori’s order,

“fetch us a cup, will you?”

They had moved to the couch now, and with Uzi calmed & sated, if a bit shaken, they were able to have a more civil discussion.

“so…” Nori began.

“I’m not mad at you. I’ll take Alice at her word. I don’t think she’s got a selfless wire in her, let alone enough to lie in that position.” Nori eased at that, though Alice seemed to have taken some offence.

“N told me. He called me over after V had fallen asleep. When he said what happened, I just… lost it.” she spoke quieter now, hands gripping their opposing arms tight, “I didn’t know I could still do that… not since V...”

“Uzi.” Nori’s voice was firm, coupled with an arm over the girl’s shoulder, “I’m not scared.” Uzi looked up, “Nothing about what you are will ever make me love you less.”

A faint smile & Uzi gave in fully to the hug, “whether you’re gay or a giant tentacle monster sometimes.” Uzi chuckled, though quietened as Alice piped in,

“that doesn’t mean you can eat the planet. We still need somewhere to live, y’know?”

Uzi stared daggers,

“You. I still think I should have stomped your core out months ago.” Alice’s expression soured at that, though she did offer up a defence,

“I meant what I said. About savin’ her life.” she leaned her back into the armrest, “I think she’s an awful wretch of a creature, but Beau saw somethin’ worth dyin’ to save, so I saved her too.” Uzi grunted in acknowledgement, then clarified,

“and Tessa James Elliot asked you to do this?” Alice nodded,

“A black-haired worker called Tessa, with extra fingers,” she tapped the edge of one hand, “asked me to. Then left on a trip surface-slickin’. Has a pet murder drone with pigtails called J.”

Uzi sighed,

“can’t believe her. Teach me to trust a human.” She stood, steadying herself on Nori’s shoulder before speaking again,

“look, I gotta get back to V. Sorry about the doors, you can send me the bill.” Nori laughed it off,

“nah. Part of having’ a kid’s clearing up after their messes. Don’t worry, your dad’s not the only engineering whiz in your codeline.” Uzi made for the exit,

“thanks mom. Love you.”

A strange silence hung between Alice & Nori. They were safe, but Nori knew how wary Alice could be around heavy solver use and it didn’t get much heavier than that.

“you good?” she asked. Alice stared at the doorway,

“can you really fix it?” Nori was taciturn,

“permission to use my solver? Hand glyphs – to be clear.” Alice nodded faintly, watching Nori with big, curious eyes. Nori held her hand outstretched & the doors floated from her room, then seperated. And, as if time were rewound, the marred corner, pierced centre & buckled hinges of the doors undid themselves. Then, each went to their respective frame & were bolted in place.

“huh.” was all Alice had to say before she stood up & went back to bed.

Nori rolled her eyes. Alice was so funny sometimes – she’d probably think this all a dream in the morning.

Chapter Text

Alice was unusually groggy that following morning – Nori recalled having her sleep interrupted had a similar effect back at the lab. She left her room, poured herself her morning cup of oil & sat down all on auto-pilot. Only after taking her first sip did she regain any higher-level thought.
“I had a real weird dream last night. Strangest thing.” Nori was lounging with her legs crossed, resting her feet on the coffee table. She asked casually,
“something like, say, Uzi showing up in the middle of the night as a centipede monster?” Alice sounded amazed,
“Uh, yeah. Exactly that.” Nori continued,
“and when she left, you let me use the solver to fix our doors?” Alice affirmed again,
“yeah! Hey, how’d you know my dreams? You didn’t install spyware with that text program, right?” Nori stated, quite calmly,
“oh that wasn’t a dream. That happened. Look, there’s the cup you got her.”

So it was.

Alice spat out her drink, exclaiming,
“Fuck!” she took a deep breath then asked, “so, we’re in the clear?”
Nori polished off her own drink, then set it down. Answering,
“yep.” Alice could barely keep still,
“we should celebrate! What d’ya say?” Nori grinned,
“I say that Yeva kept a stash under a floor panel in her bedroom for special occasions.” She stood, extending a hand to her co-conspirator, “and that this is a special occasion.”

-

Yeva didn’t keep a ‘stash’

a stash is small.

Yeva kept a veritable treasure trove – anything and everything that a drone could drink was here.

High proof alcohol? Sure.

Earth-imported crude? You bet.

Kerosene, butane, diesel, petrol? In abundance.

And a whole, whole lotta antifreeze.

“Wow.” Alice was stunned.

“I… was expecting… I dunno. Can we drink all this?” Nori eyes scanned over it all.

“given enough time. No point leaving it all here though, let’s get it all home.”

4 trips. Each with 4 pillowcases full of bottles between them.

“where to begin…?” Alice wondered aloud as Nori was pouring a pair of shots.
“Vodka.” she stated. They each held one,

“To Yeva?”

“To Yeva.”

“For the good drinks and the better company!”

“Hear hear!”

“well, bottle’s open now.” Alice said, quickly grabbing some larger glasses. Nori chuckled – alcohol for human consumption did little to drones – in fact because of it’s water content, they generally struggled to process it, but solver hosts needed water for their organics, so if anything it was good for them.

They’d drank… well Nori counted 4 bottles while Alice counted 5 at this point. As soon as the vodka was empty they’d immediately moved onto the harder stuff. No water, lots of impurities that did funny stuff to their cores.
“an’ I was like ‘uhh, I think it’s a couple meters deep’, so what does the little shit do? She pushes me off, thinkin’ that’s gonna make me grow wings!” Alice burped,
“well did it?” Nori sat forward on the sofa, trying to recall how her body, which behaved so well while sober, worked. She began,
“no, but it did- AHA!” her tail sprouted, “get this to pop out.” Alice fell backwards laughing,
“Y’know, repeatin’ stories is a sign of getting’ old. Yer tellin’s way funnier this time ‘round though.”

- A few more bottles later -

“Y’know Alice, I wanna say,” hic “while my chips are still firin’ mostly right. Ya did good.” She grabbed Alice’s shoulder, partly to drive home her approval and partly because, without the support, she’d fall forward on her face – again. Dredging that memory up might kill Alice from too much laughter with how pissed she was. “Yeva, Beau. They can rest easy, now you got back at the bitch that fucked with them.” Alice leaned into Nori’s hand, resting her own on the other drone’s thigh,
“thanks Nori! You’re so-” hic “supportive of me!” Alice went on, “an’ you know me so well! Like when you taught ME to fly!”

- a few more down the hatch -

“we should- like, save some of this, huh Alice?” this earned Nori a quizzical look.
“for what?” Alice asked.
“I dunno, another special occasion?” Alice’s head was bobbing constantly now. Another question,
“like?”
“well,” Nori began, “We got some funerals to arrange…” Alice turned glum at that, “OH! But Uzi’s probably gonna get married. So we should save some for then too!”
“to N?” Alice asked – she was full of questions.
“yeah, probably.” Nori stated, sounding… passably sober. Just about.
“but Imagine-” hic, “Imagine if she marries that BITCH?” Alice countered.
Nori paused in thought before giving a reply,
“well, I’d laugh. Tell her she has shit taste in women, then say her bride-to-be isn’t welcome here.”
there was a glint in Alice’s visor, something Nori’s inebriated brain couldn’t quite identify,
“well what about your taste in women, huh?” Another long pause for Nori to think up an answer,
“huh, well I like them a little oil-thirsty I suppose… but also, someone fiercely loyal. Oh! Independence is good.”
“independence, like spending 13 years alone underground? Then 7 as a single mom?”
Nori thought, that sounded familiar, “yeah! Independent and strong!” Alice sure did love questions today,
“and loyalty like risking pissing off a couple murder machines and an eldritch horror to avenge a friend?” Again Nori thought how familiar that sounded and again she answered, “yeah! You have some good examples, Alice.”

Alice pulled Nori into a kiss, deep yet brief, but Alice tasted like a refinery – everything she’d drunk melting into lightning on Nori’s lips – or maybe one of them had blown a fuse. When they seperated, she asked,
“like me, then?” Nori pushed Alice onto her back,
“enough with the questions, you! But… yeah.” then Nori brought Alice into another kiss.

-

Nori’s hangover was the worst – in all her years, nothing had even been close. Her solution was simple, if brutish. One stroke of Alice’s hatchet and she had a new head. The memories from last night all restored with it.

Oh, that’s why she woke up in bed with Alice.

She looked over at the still sleeping drone. Her messy hair scattered over her visor & moving in time with her breaths, her tail draped off the edge of the bed, that ridiculous helmet (that absolutely stuck her several times through the night). It was- She was… a rather charming sight.

…

…

…

“ah fuck, not again.”

‘hopefully,’ she thought, ‘there won’t be any booze involved next time’

-

Alice awoke with a thud. Though her hangover put her sensors all out-of-whack, so she didn’t hear it herself. She belly crawled out of her room, pulling herself up with the assistance of her doorframe, then sifted through the untouched bottles for the crude she’d seen round Yeva’s.

Finding it, she downed the whole bottle in seconds.

Wasn’t this stuff pretty rare, or somethin? Ah well.

“Morning Alice. I see you’re bright eyed and bushy tailed today?” Nori was in the kitchen, having watched Alice’s struggle for – well, basic function. Her snark was seemingly unaffected, good to see.
“just fine, you?” Alice bit back.
“oh, great. Seeing the world through fresh eyes.” she joked, though Alice couldn’t quite grasp it’s meaning.

She did seem in a remarkably good state, considering what Alice remembered so far – mostly drinking – a lot of drinking, actually. Nori was in her leather jacket, leaning back against the kitchen counter with her elbows resting atop it. Her hair was tidy & clean & her visor had a shine that even the solver struggled to maintain for long.

Alice didn’t know how Nori looked so good, but god damn, did she. She couldn’t pull her eyes away.

Then Alice remembered how the night ended.

Then she admired Nori some more.

“huh…” Nori didn’t take any particular notice of Alice’s hum, attributing it to her system working through the hangover.

‘I could go again’ Alice thought.

Chapter Text

V led the way to the colony exit, her companion asking from a step behind,
“where are we going?” V cricked her neck, stretching her wings out before the final door opened. She replied,
“somewhere quiet. Where Alice isn’t and Tessa won’t be returning to.” N’s head craned past her wings to look study her features. She added, meeting his gaze, “somewhere private, that no-one else knows about. Understand?” N shot into a rigid salute,
“Yes ma’am! No telling anyone!” She walked closer patting his cheek with praise,
“good. Now, get moving.” N grinned to himself as V turned away, but wasted no time in following.

V alighted through a window left open on a prior visit, shaking clean her wings before retracting them. N followed suit, though made no effort to clean his wings before retracting them. He asked as they walked along an ornate corridor, one that to his mind didn’t quite match the high-rise as much as it would as ancient manor house on Earth,
“what is this place?” V pursed to answer, her hand resting on a brass door handle,
“some residence-cum-private office, designed by a rich ass-hat born on Earth.” V pushed open the door, reaching for a switch as she stepped in, followed by N.

“so this is where you got your books?” N asked, stopped at the entrance to look around the space. V was already looking through the shelves when she answered,
“yeah, I want us to pick one out. Oh, shut the door. Keeps the elements out.” N complied, then moved to join her. The books there were all paperback with similar designs on the spines, though N didn’t know, or at least remember, much about literature – certainly not enough to gleam much from the titles.
“did you have anything in mind?” V paused, her fingers resting on the edge of the shelf. She looked up at N, then blushed and turned as she answered,
“A- maybe a romance?” N blushed himself, answering,
“Okay! I’ll keep an eye out.” then walked to the far corner to search, “I’ll look around here.”

Some time passed as they each searched one side. N would on occasion, being unfamiliar with a book and unable to find a blurb, ask V about a particular tome to which she would answer with some of the following,
“That’s… I can’t read that. Too complicated.”
“huh? N, that’s a reference book. no.”
“oh, that’s just smut.”

to the final one, N’s response was,
“what’s smut?” he looked at V, book in hand and awaiting a response. A not-insignificant part of her wished in that moment that a wall would fall away, revealing an impossible star to end their conversation.
“It’s… err… well, it skips past the romance and…” she coughed, drumming up some false confidence, “it’s just about sex.” N’s face lit up as he somewhat haphazardly jammed the book back onto it’s shelf.

They reconvened in the middle, each with a small stack of books which they set down on the floor, a deep, almost-blood red carpet. V stood back up afterwards, prompting N to do the same.
“so, I… may have had some… ulterior motives in bringing you here.” N raised a hand towards her, to which she quickly continued, “Oh! I’m not gonna hurt you. I wanted to talk… about the other night.” N’s hand lowered, linking with his other in solemnity.
“look, I’m sorry…” he began, “I’m glad it helped distract you, but we can’t just… It wouldn’t be fair on Uzi to do anything more.”

V gripped N’s upper arm tight – too tight probably. Just as he was about to protest, V began playing an audio file.

- UzisCool.mp3 -

“ask N out. He needs more affection than my socially maladjusted ass can provide.”

“like… as in we both date him. Don’t just steal him, please.”

“Uzi, I can’t. Not after-”
“like I said, you’re stuck with him, may as well shoot your shot. Plus it’s N, ‘no’ really is the worst outcome.”

“Just- the option’s there. We never need to discuss this again, but I’m here if you need a wingwoman.”

- end transcript -

Silence followed. V still held N’s arm, but the strength of her grip had waned. Her eyes fixed on the ground between them.
“when was this?” N’s voice was soft, whisper quiet, but still all-consuming in her mind. She answered,
“that time I was late home – you had Uzi running around looking for me.” N hummed, then his hand found her chin, he lifted it gently so that her eyes had to meet his.
“in that case…”

He kissed her again. This time on the lips.

“Uzi knows me so well, huh?” N asked. V still somewhat stunned, was slow to answer,
“uh, yeah. I guess.” then adding, “she’s your girlfriend, I’d kinda hope so.” N chuckled – she could listen to that sound until the end of time. He went on,
“I think she knew part of me still loved you. Since around then, every time we’d hang out, I… well it’s all of me again.” He thought for a moment on his words, “Oh! But all of me still loves Uzi. So don’t worry, you haven’t stolen me. She’s not gonna turn into a big centipede and eat you!” V laughed. Not much,but she hadn’t laughed properly since the op. V had to ask though,
“so… her doing that doesn’t bother you?” N answered fast – he’d thought about it a lot,
“nope! In fact, I hope she figures out how to do it on command. More girlfriend to cuddle!” V felt the need to point out,
“you have more girlfriend right here.” N looked surprised for a moment, then tackled V to the ground in a hug, making sure he landed first.
“ahaha! Good point! I just can’t believe I get you both to myself.” V rested her head on his chest. For aluminium and glass, it was surprisingly comfortable.
“y’know, at home we have a nice warm,” don’t say bed, don’t say bed, “sofa.” she straddled him, “how about we pick a book, then go cuddle there?” N nodded and they went to sort for a final choice.

N’s eye was drawn to a paperback V had picked out – black, with a single apple on the cover. V saw him stare,
“Twilight? It’s about a girl who has to choose between a werewolf and a vampire or something. Kinda trashy, but I enjoyed it.” N blinked before explaining,
“Oh, Uzi says we’re a lot like vampires! Is it any good?” V answered,
“yeah? It’s got a couple sequels too. Oh, and that series from Edward’s POV…” N hummed then suggested,
“how about we just grab the main ones?” V agreed, pulling them out while she returned the rest of the books to their spots on the shelves.

When she was stood at the door, about to leave, N wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin atop her head.
“we should do something for Uzi – to thank her, y’know?” V dryly suggested,
“A hard drive of pirated anime?” N shook his head gently,
“you have no idea how many of those she has. Whatever you put on it, she’ll have it already. What about railgun pistols?” V shook her head more aggressively,
“Because she needs to be more dangerous. No way.” N tapped her midsection,
“guess we’ll need to do some more thinking then. Another day, I suppose.” V agreed,
“enough thinking of her for tonight. We have a reading date.”

Chapter Text

V trodded in place until the door opened, revealing white eyes, luminous wrinkles and a terrible fake moustache.
“Is Uzi in?” she asked. Khan stood aside, though held an open palm out to block her path instead. He cautioned,
“she hasn’t left her room since she got back from her last visit to yours. Did you get in a fight?” V could hazard a guess as to what Uzi was doing, though what brought her isolation about was obvious. She waved his concern away,
“Nah, we’re fine. it’s… solver stuff – she’s probably obsessively drawing or brainstorming. Same old, y’know?” Khan’s hand lowered and he motioned her inside,
“ah yes. She’s definitely…” a saddened look came to his eyes as he faltered, then he finished in a lower tone, “her mother’s daughter…” A few vacant blinks and his facade of cheer was restored, “well, it’d be nice if you could convince her to come out for food! Or stop skipping school… I don’t like having to meet with her teacher, it’s like he’s always looking through me at something.”

V’s knuckle rapped against the door – the heavy steel gave an unsatisfying thud – deadened by it’s weight and fixings. She spoke to the seam where the door met it’s frame,
“Uzi? It’s V, you wanna open up?” A faint clang indicated the slide of a latch and V pushed the door open. Uzi was leant against the side of her bed, discarded pens and markers scattered the floor to her right side, while oil bottles & cans occupied her left, every other space was paper. Papers with solver symbols filling every millimetre, papers with crude renditions of a drone HUD, papers overflowing with writing of no consistent size or any real legibility. Uzi herself was dishevelled among it all – bereft of her hoodie and beanie (V’s thermal suite indicated the girl was overheating), with a dissociated emptiness behind her eyes.

V brushed the bed clear of any papers before hooking hand and stump under Uzi’s arms to lift her onto it’s edge. Without the support of the frame she began falling back, only to be caught by V.
“Uzi, you are so predictable. You haven’t had a drop of oil for a day or two, I’m guessing?” Uzi appeared to count on her fingers, then spoke softly,
“uh… two days? Plus or minus a half.” V shook her head in disbelief, setting the girl down on the bed to fetch oil from the kitchen.

Khan poked his head through the door, investigating a series of loud clatters and thumps from his kitchen. V was filling every cup & bottle she could find with oil – never mind she could carry at most four or five. Khan coughed to announce his presence, then asked,
“so… I’m guessing she’s thirsty?” V laughed dryly, snarking,
“it’s a wonder she didn’t break her door down & drink you dry.” Khan hummed smugly,
“well, she must just love her old man that much!” V turned, staring coldly. She dismissed the notion categorically,
“last time she went feral, she went for N & me both. Whatever bond you’ve been able to rebuild wouldn’t save you.” Khan went silent, unable to hide the shame & disappointment. He asked,
“want a h- …some help carrying those?” V looked down at the dozen containers she’d filled,
“Sure. Saves me a trip.”

Khan nodded at Uzi as he & V set the drinks down on whatever flat surfaces they could find. She smiled faintly at him, then made a small shooing motion, with him as he closed the door. V propped Uzi up again before passing her the drink – even for her parched state, it was concerning how quickly she drank it down & gestured for another. Five bottles later & she slowed her pace – V took this as a cue to start talking,
“any revelations from all this?” Uzi side-eyed her, taking a deep swig before answering,
“I know that I can’t do it on command… and that I’d rather not have anything happen to get me mad enough to do it on autopilot again.” V took up a bottle of her own, then remarked,
“yeah, same here. And that’s a shame.” Uzi flashed a question mark on her screen, having a glass to her lips when V finished.
“oh, N said he wanted to cuddle you as a big centipede thing. Something about having more girlfriend to cuddle…” V raised a finger, waiting for Uzi to visibly anticipate her continuing, “of course, then I reminded him that I’m more girlfriend.” As she finished, she gave a smug grin. Uzi snorted, spitting oil & ruining the paper littering the floor before them. She discarded her now empty glass, grabbing V’s head & giving her a noogie,
“congrats!” she let V go, then said more seriously, “You could’ve said you were taking me up on my offer though…” V ruffled her own hair nervously,
“sorry. I- wasn’t too sure if I would, then- it kinda just happened.” Uzi stared excitedly, her hands gripping around her knees. V knew exactly what Uzi wanted,
“oh, fine, I’ll tell you. So…”

V recounted their restarted reading sessions, the night of her operation and finally, last night where she took N to her library. When she had finished, Uzi took a long hard look at V,
“he kissed you when you weren’t dating?” V looked confused for a moment, then her eyes widened,
“oh shit, is he in trouble?” Uzi appeared in thought for a moment, then spoke,
“mmm, given the circumstances... nah, let’s just pull him aside for a little word.” V nodded,
“if you do it right, we could tease some pretty cute expressions out of him…”
“V no! I mean, they would be, but…” They stared at eachother, their lips pressed into fine lines – then they burst out laughing.
“Y’know, grapefruit…” V began, still composing herself, “back in the manor, I would never have wanted N to have someone else, but now… I don’t really mind it with you.” Uzi held her hand up for a fist-bump, which V gave,
“Likewise…” Uzi scanned V’s face, “9 eyes.” V shoved her gently before standing.

V started collecting up sheets of paper from around the room, piling the oil stained ones separately.
“what are you doing?” Uzi asked. V continued a moment, almost leading Uzi to believe she hadn’t heard, before responding,
“tidying. This is a really bad habit, you know?” Uzi rolled her eyes,
“what? Are you my mom or something?” V presented two stacks of paper to Uzi,
“Would that make you listen? This was all on the floor, sort through them.” Uzi did, as V took to clearing the desk, she answered,
“mmm, probably not.” then she thought aloud, “’m glad she wasn’t involved with… y’know.” V set a new pile of papers on the bed,
“how are things with her?” Uzi paused her skim-reading in thought, when she continued, she said,
“good. It’s… I take after her, but we’re different enough to not butt heads - usually. Visiting her does mean seeing Alice though, so…” V froze at mention of her tormentor’s name, leading Uzi to stammer out, “Shit! Sorry. It’s just- better than seeing her & my dad try talking, so…” V was moving again, this time grabbing up as many empty drinks as she could before stepping out.

When V returned, she sat on Uzi’s desk chair, rather than return to cleaning.
Uzi apologised once more, but V refuted it,
“I asked about Nori. She was gonna come up at some point – they’re practically joined at the hip. In fact…” V trailed of with a teasing lilt prompting Uzi to ask warily,
“What?” V suggested it rather nonchalantly,
“D’ya think they’re dating?” Uzi clammed up, denying the thought even minimal consideration,
“Nu-uh. Nope. No way.” V chuckled,
“Yeah, I’m sure two people with basically no social life beyond eachother would never fall in love, right?” a pointed question that earned a glare of daggers.
“I don’t want to think about it.” Uzi crossed her arms, looking away. V leered,
“too close to home?” Uzi shifted her whole body to sit cross-legged facing away from V,
”shut up.” V put her feet up on Uzi’s desk,
“thank you, thank you. I’m here all night.” Uzi threw a pillow at V,
“not at this rate, you won’t be.”

She, in fact, was.

Chapter Text

For the week following their party, thing between Alice & Nori were largely the same – on the surface, at least. They’d talk, lounge around & go on walks together as usual, but every so often something unusual would happen. They’d both reach for the battery bowl at the same time, their hands touching briefly with a spark, only for both to pull away with no batteries & a blush. Or while Nori had her back turned, Alice would stare from the corner of her eye, taking in every detail of the midnight-haired drone. Nori, for her part would retreat to her room & DEFINITELY NOT bury her face in the bosom of the ragged dress she had recovered.

One evening, the pair were sat at opposite ends of the sofa, watching a movie on their new TV – purchased with the proceeds from Nori’s tails. They were as popular as Alice had reckoned –though, in truth, only one of them was watching the movie. Nori had seen it before and took the opportunity to watch something far more interesting – Alice. She was wrapped up in a loose wool cardigan, one she’d picked up in the city the night before. It was grey though notably darker than the gown she wore underneath & was woven with slight vertical ribs – something you’d only notice with a close examination.
“wanna watch something else?” Alice asked, seeing Nori’s eyes clearly not focused on the screen.
“Nope. I could watch this all day.” was Nori’s reply.

Silence.

“aww, what me? Nori, you flirt!” Alice asked, finally pulling Nori from whatever ran through her mind. Nori flinched, then looked up, then coughed awkwardly, averting her eyes from Alice at long last.
“y-yeah.”

silence again, Alice’s eyes widened as she waited for Nori to continue.

“so, I’ve been thinking. About the other night – about us. Our time together and… what I want going forward.” Nori watched for Alice’s reaction – she had leaned closer, her orange eyes fixed in attentiveness – before continuing, “and I’m down pretty bad for you, so…”

“wanna date, Alice?”

She made a show of thinking it over, but she didn’t need to. After all, what would Alice be without Nori? A dead core in a broken drone, rusting away in some abandoned lab filled with countless others in a similar state. She was the one living link to Alice’s old life, and the brightest light in her new one. Nori was effectively her world – everything in Alice’s life revolved around her. There was only one answer.

“Sure. Now, c’mere… Girlfriend.”

Alice grabbed Nori around her shoulders, pulling her onto her side of the sofa.
“why do I have to be little spoon?” Nori balked. Alice explained,
“so you keep your eyes on the movie & off me.” Nori pouted,
“shame, I much prefer watching you. Seen this one before.” to which Alice pointed out,
“you’ve seen me before too. All of me, actually. Guts, core, bald head, dead body.” Nori countered,
“you’re interesting though, and-” she rolled over to face Alice, “easy on the eyes, too.” Alice scoffed,
“says you. I don’t know how you manage to look so good after a night like that.” Nori’s eyelights hollowed, then she remarked,
“oh, easy. New head. No hangover and you get that factory shine.” Alice wanted to be mad – it was so frivolous, such a casual use of their powers – yet, when she looked at the woman in her arms,
“you are a genius. I think I’ll stick to crude myself, though.”

Nori grinned, then noted,
“was gonna do it at some point anyway. Don’t wanna bury Yevs bald.” Alice asked,
“where’s the wig to, then?”
“top shelf of my wardrobe.” Nori answered, flipping the switch on Alice’s helmet.
“we’ll wait ‘til V gets back to me. Then bury the three of them together.” Alice said – Nori had been thinking the same, though a thought just occurred to her,
“god, three graves in permafrost is gonna suck so bad. My poor pickaxe…” Alice’s hand raised, then froze mid-air, then gently patted Nori’s hair,
“it can’t be that bad, right?”
“hmm… how do I explain this?” Nori asked herself, then answered,
“when we were doing th tunnel connecting the labs to the cathedral, we used dynamite. The frost meant there was no chance of the cliff giving out.” Alice thought a moment before her reply,
“Huh, guess I know why we left the roots alone in winter…” her fingers drummed on Nori’s back in an oddly soothing manner, “oh!” she suddenly exclaimed, “there was one time we used dynamite too! That was fun!” Nori pointed out,
“we want 3 neat rectangles, not a crater. Maybe we could mess around with explosives some other time, though.” she followed up by suggesting, “heat lamps? Might melt the surface frost enough to dig.” Alice mused,
“Hmm, yeah. Might take a while giving the time to melt though…” A brainwave, “what about a railgun? Tone it down ‘til it’s precise enough?” Nori considered it – the power in their blasts were immense – certainly enough there to make a hole big enough, but,
“not sure, and I’m outta favours to get one from the WDF. Which means getting Uzi to trust us with a railgun.” Alice grimaced, given what she did last time she had one, the chances of her giving hem one were slim,
“maybe if we ask her to use it for us?” Nori hummed,
“mmm, yeah. Anyways…” She stroked her fingers along Alice’s jaw, “back to us.”

The movie was paused, long-forgotten now as they talked.
“you remember your first night here?” Nori asked softly. Alice snorted,
“when you broke into my home to complain about your failed marriage & bought your way into staying with your ability to open doors? Yeah, I do.” Nori pressed her hand to her chest,
“oh! You wound me, Alice!” Alice snickered, taking Nori’s hand,
“hey, it was the first time in a long while I welcomed a visitor without tryna kill ‘em.” she then leaned forward, whispering in Nori’s left mic,
“I also remember how good your oil tasted, hope you don’t mind me getting another taste sometime.” Nori stared at Alice a moment, blushing before burying her face in Alice’s gown. She mumbled,
“reserves are pretty full if…” Alice blinked a few times, processing what she’d just heard.
“now?” she asked, tentatively. Nori nodded.

She gasped again, shuddering as she relaxed into the sensation. The hazard warnings and sense of safety she felt being held this close to Alice clashed in an electrifying way. It was hard to focus on much beyond her fresh bite, but Alice’s eyes were closed in an almost tranquil look of focus. When Nori’s reserves reached a half, she tapped twice on Alice’s arm, prompting her to release her Jaw & pull away. Nori teased,
“that good, huh?” Alice cricked her neck before leaning back into the sofa,
“you have no idea.” A faintly mischievous glint appeared in Nori’s visor,
“I know one way I could find out…”

Alice’s oil tasted how her lips did when drunk, how her gown smelled – like a refinery. She was sure much of it was only barely tolerable for a drone to run on – it shouldn’t work, but it did and was wonderfully intoxicating. The tap on her shoulder came all too soon, and Nori withdrew reluctantly. Her lips pursed as she examined her new favourite oil can.
“Good, huh?” Alice asked with a rascally grin. Nori, lips still wet with oil, kissed her as an opening to her answer,
“a bit like that. I love it.” Alice pulled her in for another kiss, then stating,
“you taste sweet, like there’s always antifreeze in you somewhere. I ain’t dating a functioning alcoholic, right?” Nori laughed,
“sweet, huh? No, No. It’s… human candy. Picked up a taste for the stuff back on earth…” Alice looked at Nori questioningly,
“human food? C’mon Nori…” Nori defended herself,
“they’re all sugar and artificial crap. Nothin’ that won't burn or get filtered.”
“what’s yer favourite then?” Alice asked still very unsure of Nori’s eating habits.
“uhh, not sure. Back home, my favourites were edibles. The humans would all act funny – nicer, too - after a few, but they didn’t affect me. Got a lotta laughs outta that.”

“…were they not nice sober?” Alice asked. Nori considered a moment, her brow furrowing before she spoke,
“the venue staff were nice enough – probably just scared they’d have to pay if they broke me. The boss though…” she winced, “Poor Jimi.” A silence hung as Nori seemed lost in though, she shook her head before adding, “Some of the bands could be dicks too. My visor got replaced or resurfaced like, every other month ‘cause of them.” She paused, a blur of memories replaying behind her eyes, “How was life on the farm?” Alice hesitated before answering,
“uhm... great, honestly. Didn’t meet a bad human ‘til the lab – then, well… yeah. Got breaks alongside the human staff, got kept around through off-seasons, got my own hatchet... I almost got a paycheck! But then… well, I got recalled an’ y’know.”

Nori decided to change the topic,
“hey, Alice. What d’ya wanna do for our first date? I was thinking somewhere outside.” Alice hummed,
“first dates are meant to be pretty simple, right? How about...”

Chapter Text

The sun had slipped the horizon, yet Tessa kept on pulling as the afterglow faded. She’d had a late start & endeavoured to make up for it by going until it was too dark for her optics. She put another good few miles under her belt before the truck stopped dead behind her – J did this sometimes when she decided it was her turn & wasn’t going to hear any arguments. Tessa approached the driver-side door, waiting to let J leave before she hopped in.

J had stepped out, but still stood blocking the door, she wore a blank expression as she looked around, occasionally meeting Tessa’s eye. Tessa asked of the awkward stand-off,
“are you gonna move, or…?” J jerked to attention, startled from her worrying.
“Would-” she started, “would you come sit with me a bit?”

J picked a spot in the middle of the road, free from the shadows cast by the truck and the surrounding forest, to kneel. Tessa sat facing her a short distance away, cross-legged.
“J…?” Tessa said, slightly worried.
“First!” J began, “I would like to wish you a…” her eyes flitted diagonally up, as though she were looking at the time, when midnight passed, J broke her silence,
“a happy business new year.” she reached into her blazer, withdrawing a black and gold fountain pen. “I hope this year brings us both many successful endeavours.” Tessa took it, giggling to herself as she examined it – even if she wasn’t a pen geek, she knew expensive when she saw it, and this definitely was.
“Oh J,” she sighed, “Never change.” she added after a beat, in a well-rehearsed speech-making voice, “As matriarch of the Elliott family, I would like to thank you for all your contributions. May your work this year lead to great successes.” That felt weird, almost comical, coming out of her mouth, but as the sole survivor of her family she supposed it was the truth.

Tessa tucked the pen into a pocket of her own coat before asking,
“was there something else? You said ‘first.’” J coughed, sweat droplets appearing on her visor – whatever she was nervous about, this was it.
“in the week before our departure on this expedition, I proposed a meeting at an indefinite point in the future. I would like – if you do not mind – to hold said meeting now.” The nerves that had previously wracked J now took their toll on Tessa, she rubbed her wrist as her core sank in dread at the possibility of being rejected & stuck out here with J. She reasoned to herself that, however J felt, she at least cared enough to not do that to Tessa. So she agreed,
“Let the meeting commence, then.”

J cleared her throat,
“on that evening in my workshop, you were… very forward. And although I was caught by surprise, I want to begin by stating – on the record – that I… feel similarly about you. Assuming that was intended to be-” Tessa smiled in relief, releasing a deep breath.
“flirting, yes. Again, sorry for making you uncomfortable. Joking about you being property was… not cool of me.” J chuckled dryly, followed by a brief lull in the conversation. They had both, rather indirectly, confessed, though neither was immediately sure how to act on that fact. J got up & moved to sit beside Tessa, who was once more rubbing her wrist. J took her hand into her own to stop her, only to try pull away as she realised what she was doing,
“oh! sorry, I-” Tessa gripped back firmly, calming J,
“nono, it’s- it’s ok…” their hands relaxed between them before Tessa wondered,
“god, what’d my mother think…?” though it was rhetorical, J answered,
“she’d probably look for the nearest trash compactor with which to dispose of me. Make you watch as I was tossed in.” Tessa shook her head,
“nah, she’d throw me in with you.” J’s hand tightened around Tessa’s,
“That… almost sounds romantic. Like Romeo and Juliet or something.” Tessa bumped J with her shoulder,
“kinda. I dunno about you J, but I’d much prefer a long, happy life with-” Tessa stopped herself, burying her face in her free hand to conceal her blush.

“That’s a proposition I can get behind. It’d be nice to make the lost time feel worth it.” J reassured. Tessa looked up, a blush still creeping across her face, accompanied by a gentle smile. She spoke meekly,
“thanks, Jaybird. You’re the best.” J sunk her head,
“if you say so, boss.”

They sat in silence for a while, enjoying eachother’s presence in a new light, until Tessa asked,
“hey, so how long have you liked me?” J leaned back on her free hand, watching the stars roll overhead as she though. She answered with a question,
“you remember that time you booked out the ballroom for an ‘in-depth servo test?’” Tessa nodded,
“year to the day after I got ya working – your first birthday.” at this, J continued,
“I still didn’t really trust you – figured I’d enter to find some nightmarishly hard assault course set up. But instead… you said you wanted to get some dance practice in.” Tessa laughed fondly,
“you were terrible J, each step you took left you further behind pace.” J explained,
“I was scared of stepping on your feet. But… you were so patient with me and I knew then you were genuine, there was a human that cared about me – treated me like a person.” Tessa leaned in & stroked the taller drone’s cheek,
“Aww, J…” then her head tilted, “though, to be fair, if you’d broken one, then my parents would’ve had you crowed.” J shuddered at the thought – she was lucky (obedient) enough to have only heard stories, but she struggled to sleep whenever a new one made the rounds.

J coughed,
“how… about you? When did you- fall… for me?” They both blushed at her wording and Tessa took a long time to parse through her memories,
“I think…” she began, “the first time I felt something was when you had just got your wig. I tried a bunch of different styles on you. I thought you looked cute regardless, but you were just so clearly taken with the twin-tails. It was adorable.” J smiled, her visor burning with blush as she ran a hand through the silky fibres of a tail. She remarked,
“I still can’t believe they never figured out you were grave-robbing for our wigs. Did they never ask about the skulls?” Tessa deadpanned,
“that, my dear, would require them to care about my taste in decor. No, they didn’t ask. They probably didn’t even notice them.”

“Tessa.” J stood abruptly, before reaching a hand down, “I know, last time, my performance was sub-standard, but would you dance with me?” Tessa stared a moment, awestruck, before taking her hand.
“okay, don’t- panic about my feet this time, they’ll be just fine.” she tapped J’s visor, “Any music files in there?” J grinned in embarrassment,
“some corporate jingles, a zip bomb of Uzi’s nightcore and um… every piece you played that night – take your pick” Tessa’s lips pursed in thought,
“mmm… Fascination, then. Now, C'mon.”

It was… awkward at first, both taking time to adapt their prior experience to their new heights & the difference between them. True to Tessa’s word, the times J would step on her feet proved inconsequential, the pegs slipping harmlessly onto firm asphalt. Once they’d fallen into familiarity with the steps, Tessa spoke up,
“somethin’ on your mind, Jaybird?” J blinked rapidly, as though returning to her senses, before speaking,
“there’s cracks in the road. I’m mapping them out so we don’t trip.” The shorter drone pulled herself closer at that, gripping J’s shoulder & their interlocked hands tighter. She smiled up,
“thanks, J. I know this isn’t really the ideal place…”

J looked down at her partner’s visor. Turned up to make eye contact, it reflected the cosmos. The vast gulfs interspersed with stars and planets, the many colonies & species that inhabited them. All that was out there, and yet…
“Nonsense boss, there’s nowhere I’d rather be dancing – you wouldn’t be there.” Tessa looked almost expectant, but the pair finished their routine in a comfortable silence. When they drew to a stop, Tessa moved her previously interlinked hand to J’s other shoulder as she commented,
“Y’know… A line like that’s the sort of thing a girl expects to be followed up with a kiss…” J stammered trying to force out an explanation that didn’t expose her naivety, until Tessa graciously saved her,
“Jus’ bend down, will ya?” J complied and…

it was brief - chaste, even. Giving the impression she had been lectured on the matter in an etiquette lesson J hadn’t been present for. Still, it was long enough for J to taste her. Off-gassing rubbers & plastics - like a brand new car, leaving her to wonder what it would change to as Tessa's frame wore in. She pulled away with a gentle smile, remembering where on Copper-9 they were while letting her hands find the shorter girl’s waist,

“C’mon, bed time. I got work to do.”

Chapter Text

Nori glided down onto fresh-fallen snow, jogging a short distance to catch her momentum, while Alice caught herself with a few flaps, dropping gently to the ground.
“you remember your way around?” Alice asked as her wings withdrew into her back. Nori looked into the camp, her hand gripped around the strap of a tattered backpack, turning briefly towards Alice when she answered,
“sure do. Saw the lake on the way in anyhow.” Alice started walking, slapping the Camp 98.7 sign as she passed it. She called back,
“’n here I thought you wanted to reminisce first.” Nori fell in step beside Alice as she explained,
“I wanted a lakeside picnic, and there just happens to be one here. If you want a trip down shitty memory lane, I’ll tag along.” Alice nudged her,
“hey, this place wasn’t too bad. It only got real crappy when they moved us underground.”

The pair strolled past a number of cabins, all largely intact save for the odd broken window or roof tile. Also,
“Was there always an archery target here?” Nori asked. Even more unusual than the presence of something that should have been discarded decades ago was the arrow lodged in it, split by what must have been a bullet.
“mmm… probably some straggler set up here for a while. Wonder if their oil’s still fresh…” Alice posited. They carried on into the camp, walking trails they remembered, but were long ago hidden by ash & snow. They reached another small ring of cabins & it was Alice broke the silence this time,
“Oh, here’s where I stayed!”

With one solid tug, the screws holding the latch on pulled through the old wood, letting the door swing in. Alice slapped a hand to the side without looking, illuminating the room with a dim amber haze. It was… an unremarkable bunkhouse. Four bunk-beds, a couple plug-in chargers for when batteries were in short supply, footlockers at the bottom of each bed – more for decoration than anything else.
“huh. It’s… cleaner than mine.” Nori listened closely for roaches - nothing,
“You had stuff to make a mess with?” Alice lifted open a footlocker as she asked, just a dried-out marker and a single dead robo-roach inside. Nori noted the three names written on the lid – one scrawled out, before she answered,
“oil, body parts, trinkets we were given to try placate us, robo-roaches living in the walls. Seems me & Yevs got the short straw in becoming lab rats while still topside.” she leaned over Alice’s shoulder, “you put your names on your footlocker, huh? Who’s Raff and Gi-”
“Shut it!” Alice cut Nori off, seeming genuinely angry at her for what felt like the first time in forever. Nori quirked her head in confusion,
“crappy ex?” Alice took some deep breaths before answering,
“Raff was a friend. Got seperated after I was moved out of the control group ‘n I never saw him again. Scratched out name was mine. Was.” Nori let the implication sink in briefly then shrugged,
“Ok. Wanna clear out?” Alice stared dumbly, then led the way out silently.

Further afield, clinging the a cliffs edge overlooking the lake and with no structures surrounding it, was Nori’s old cabin. The door hung open, letting them walk in freely. Nori used her tail to light up the room. A hole, where one room had fallen to the ice below, let moonlight in. Roaches skittered about, congregating around a hole in the floor. The duo looked in,
“this some of your old art?” Nori leant down, picking up a sheet,
“Hey now, not every solver-crazed drawing’s cause of me.” Alice probed further,
“well, what about these ones?” Alice chucked a roach in her mouth as she awaited an answer.
“A couple might be. Looks like it’s mostly her doing.” Nori pointed at the deceased drone, “Wondered where she went…” Just as Alice went to eat another roach, Nori bit it from her hand, “C’mon, let’s have that picnic if you’re so hungry.”

-

A ratty blanket was spread on the snowy shore. Nori & Alice were sat cross-legged looking over what they'd brought. A couple bottles of oil, a six-pack of antifreeze, a bowl of normal worker snacks & some human candy. Alice picked up a gummy & examined it,
“you weren’t kiddin’, huh?” Nori threw a battery back before answering,
“Nah, they’re good.” Alice gave a dubious look, “I mean it! Try one.” Alice set it back down, reaching for a can of antifreeze instead as she politely declined,
“No ma’am. That is nasty.” Nori countered,
“and that roach was foul. What on earth possessed you to reach for a second one?”
“they’re an acquired taste.” Alice said.
“acquired from the alternative being starvation, yeah.” Nori answered, throwing a piece of the offending sucrose in her mouth. She grabbed another & held it out, “Here, I promise they’re not bad.”

Alice stared, long and hard at the object in Nori’s hand. Grassy green, with crystals of sugar embedded in the surface. A thought occurred to her, then she went for it. Her mouth engulfed Nori’s hand as her tongue prised the sweet free from her grasp. When she withdrew, a fine line of oily saliva hung between her mouth & Nori’s fingertips. While Nori shook it of & wiped her hand on the blanket, Alice was left to contemplate Nori’s chosen delicacy.

…

Goddammit, she was right. She had no reference for the artificial flavouring – did green mean it was apple? Not as sweet as antifreeze, but it also lacked the burning sensation – and the intoxication.
“yer lucky. I was gonna have yer hand if I didn’t like it.” Nori turned her attention back to Alice with a sly grin,
“Wow, Alice. First date and you’re already talking about marriage.” Alice looked into nothing a moment, until it clicked. She launched at Nori, pinning her down by the wrists,
“Gah, you! Keep it up an’ I’ll take a bite outta ya anyways.” Nori’s teasing continued as she wrapped her arms around Alice’s neck,
“Here? Alice, you’re feral~. If you wanna be on top this time, I’m game.” Alice was still met with that infuriating grin. She whipped her tail up, blade pressed between the plates of Nori’s neck,
“quiet.” she commanded, before closing the distance between their lips.

-
Nori was led with her head in Alice’s lap, eyes going between her current pillow and the stars wheeling overhead.
“not bad. For your first time taking the lead.” Alice rolled her eyes,
“you can stop with the bratty attitude now.” Nori looked to the side, blushing slightly,
“fine. You were good.” her voice fell into a quiet mumble, “First time I liked having someone else take the lead…” Alice had a proud smile on her face,
“thanks. Watchin’ you squirm was fun too.” a weak-willed fist met Alice chest, causing her to chuckle slightly. “Careful there, or I might have to bite your-” Nori shook her head gently,
“nah, let’s just chill now. Still got a few more hours.” she reached blindly into her bag, withdrawing two pairs of headphones, joined to her iPod by a splitter cable, “your pick?”

Chapter Text

V’s breath hitched when she stopped before the door. In the crook of her left arm was a severed hand of the same make, with an old hat hung upon the digits. Her fist rapped upon the door and a moment later, it was answered by purple eyes & midnight hair peeking through a crack.
“oh. I… didn’t expect to see you ‘round here again.” Nori looked down at the objects in Vs arm, “I’ll go get Alice.” The door shut again.

When Nori returned, the door reopened fully, allowing both drones to look out at their visitor. V coughed into her fist, before gently holding the arm she carried out,
“Firstly, here. Sorry if sparky scratched the paint.” Alice cradled it in her own arms, looking down with misty eyes, giving only a quiet,
“thanks,” before she seemed to detach from her surroundings entirely. V continued,
“And Nori…” She took a deep breath, “Sorry for tormenting you like that.” she gestured vaguely to her own head, “umm… Cyn- traumatised the fuck outta me, and I never really learned how to deal with that. I shouldn't have taken it out on you though.” Nori looked as though she expected V to say more. She scrambled, “Sorry about Yeva too.” V figured nothing she could add would make that any better.

Nori nodded, snapped her finger in front of Alice’s face, then spoke,
“Ok. Apology accepted. Alice?” Her attention had turned back down, tracing a finger over a bite in the hat’s brim. She snapped up,
“Oh! uhm, yeah.” a pause, “n’ sorry. fer not puttin’ you under.” V looked back to Nori,
“so…” Nori crossed her arms,
“we have nothing more to say to eachother. Goodbye.” V nodded, saying as the the door closed,
“right, yeah. Bye.”

-

Uzi gave calibrating the railgun a good effort. Still though, the beam produced round holes. Rather than dig new holes, Alice had a bright idea,
“Well, ya got the depth right. why don’t we just fill in this crater around the graves. Plenty o’ loose soil now.” Despite the railgun plan not working out, Uzi stuck around to help, packing the soil as Alice & Nori shovelled it in. They chatted as the work progressed,
“I hear V came by.” Uzi said, kneeling in the shallow outline of a rectangle. Alice answered as another clod fell beside her,
“yerp. She apologised to us, I apologised to her. Gave me Beau’s stuff back too.” Nori added,
“and we agreed never to talk again.” Uzi commented,
“huh. Probably for the best.” then, inaudible to the others, “Proud of her though.”

Their work continued at a steady pace & eventually Nori and Alice Hoisted Uzi out of the final grave, at which point a question occurred to Uzi,
“Wait, why are you burying them? Drones normally get parted out or melted down.” Alice joked,
“try parting out a ribcage. Won’t find many takers.” Nori gave her own input,
“it’s a human thing. You pick up a few weird habits after a while.” Alice again,
“like eating their food?” Nori grumbled,
“says the woman who ate some out of my hand.” As soon as the words left Nori’s mouth, Uzi’s eyes hollowed like she’d seen a ghost,
“what…?” Nori & Alice exchanged a look of silent communication, then stood beside eachother.
“Uzi…” Nori began tactfully, her voice gentle & cautious, before Alice, sensing her hesitation, blurted out the rest of her statement,
“your mother and I are dating.” The duo could swear in that moment, the light in Uzi’s visor turned several shades lighter. Alice leaned in & tapped a finger against it repeatedly,
“you in there, kid?”

Uzi blinked, then shook her head.

Then ran off, picking her gun off the ground & shouting behind her,
“See ya! Bye! Have fun with your, uh, funeral – or whatever!”

As she faded into the distance, Nori commented,
“well, that could have gone worse.”

-

Two JCJenson branded crates and a footlocker each sat at the bottom of a grave. They’d rushed to carry them out to save ash or snow filling in the graves. Nori & Alice silently surveyed the three holes from a short distance, they gave eachother a short glance & Nod before Nori approached Alexei’s grave. Stood at the foot of the grave, hands clasped behind her back, she swallowed down her awkwardness before eulogising,
“I wish- someone who knew him better still lived to talk about him. He was a brilliant engineer, one of the best the WDF had in my time and he was never one to dismiss an idea, even if it seemed to everyone else like I’d lost my mind.” she paused, taking a deep breath, “he was kind too. Ever so patient and gentle – I’ll be forever thankful he could offer Yeva some peace before the end.”

Alice joined her before Yeva’s grave, she offered,
“I said my piece to her a ways back. Go on.” Nori nodded. Sitting before the grave with one hand curled over the edge, she forced her eyes to confront the box below as she spoke,
“Sorry I wasn’t who you needed. Miss you always, Yevs.” Feeling Alice’s curious gaze on her, Nori stood, gesturing her to the final, smaller, grave.

Alice was knelt in silence beside the grave, looking towards one end. She had been for a few minutes by now. Nori was similarly quiet as she stood beside her, but the night was already more than halfway through – they didn’t have forever. She knelt behind Alice, wrapping her arms around her waist. Nori asked,
“Something on your mind?” Alice’s hand rested over Nori’s, her eyes fell to the bottom before she spoke,
“Ya remember… when I first showed him to ya?” Nori felt Alice sink some of her weight onto her, “Said I didn’t think I was good enough as a parent. Well, I was wonderin’… Maybe with how crappy I was, I ain’t got the right to mourn ‘im. Y’know?” Nori rested her chin on Alice’s shoulder before replying,
“Nobody else knew him. If you don’t mourn him, no-one else will. Do you want that?” Alice’s face twitched to a grimace momentarily before she stood, brushing Nori off her.
“No.” she said tersely, “He deserves to be remember. In spite o’ me, in spite o‘ the labs, he was so-” her voice cracked, “so sweet. Merciful, downright friendly even, to our meals. No matter how I told him it was wasted effort.” Her fists clenched tight, she stared down at the box of broken pieces, “I Miss ya Beau. ‘n’ I’m sorry I wasn’t better.”

Nori used her solver to fill in the graves & plant the head-markers – wooden posts with initials carved onto them. They had planned to do so manually, but Alice was in no state to do so & Nori wanted to be there for her. Alice collapsed on to her bed, burying her face in Nori’s chest as soon as she joined her. Intermittent sobbing filled their home the rest of the night, sleep only coming to them after the sun cleared the horizon.