Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The walls loomed over her. 

The first thing Uzi noticed upon waking up was how small the room she found herself in was, more of a broom closet than a room, not even enough for her to be laying down, having apparently been sleeping standing up.

At the faint white light of her eyelights the coffin of a room revealed itself to also be barren, lacking any sort of decoration, the only things worth of notice being a box with a collection of tools at her feet, what she could only assume was a charging station and a wooden door in front of her.

It was as she was assessing her unfamiliar, but weirdly familiar surroundings that she noticed two things:

First, she couldn’t move around. There didn’t seem to be any restraints on her ( and neither did she see any of her clothes, her brain sluggishly noted, replaced by an old and worn down suit, with a number of patches and oil stains), yet she found herself unable to move, every single one of her joints locked in place by some sort of unseen force, leaving her only able to see what was directly in front of her.

What was in front of her was the second thing she noticed. The door, previously closed, started moving on its own, slowly swinging on its hinges. Finally, once it had opened all the way, it stopped with a muffled thud, revealing the long corridor of what looked like a fancy mansion, from the red carpet on the floor to the posh furniture lining the walls. The numerous lights seemed to be turned off, leaving the hall shrouded in darkness, the moonless night offering no respite from the darkness through the large windows on the right side, the darkness hiding the other end of the corridor in its shadowy depths.

Uzi continued to gaze at the darkness, unable to do anything else, a sense of dread creeping up her spine despite her best efforts, rational thinking unable to be conjured by her hardware as she continued to stare ahead and slowly came to the detached realisation that, subconsciously, she was waiting for something.

That nebulous something eventually appeared, straight from the great dark abyss that seemed to swallow everything at the other end of the corridor.

Everything save for two oval-shaped lights of a sickly yellow.

The realisation that those were not lights, but eyelights hit her with a moment of delay, her thoughts slowed as if drowned in tar, and with it came a renewed sense of dread.

She began seeing the outline of a small drone, possibly even smaller than her, around those eyes that stared into her, with no apparent emotion, though she couldn’t say if she was really seeing it or if it was just her mind trying to make up a shape from the oppressing darkness.

Uzi suddenly realised she had been unable to hear anything thus far as sound came back to her, the low creaking of the wooden manor, the unceasing tapping of rain against the windows of the corridor and the chittering of uncountable insect legs that made her feel a pit forming into where a human would have their stomach.

The last sound, she realised, came from the great darkness far in the distance, from where the eyes resided.

As her attention returned to the two yellow lights, she noticed them to be slightly bigger. It took her a moment to realise that they were not getting bigger.

The eyes were getting closer.

And with them came the darkness, slowly swallowing more and more of the hallway, shadowy tendrils shooting out of the abyss and dragging it closer and closer to Uzi, the drone scarcely noticing them as her eyes were now magnetically locked to the two yellow eyes, a staring contest she feared revealed far too much of the terror bubbling up inside her and nothing of whatever made the darkness its home like a crab does with a seashell.

As the darkness grew closer, the chittering of legs grew stronger, closer, making Uzi’s skin itch as if those chitinous legs were crawling on it, inside it.

Uzi wanted to move, to fight, to run, to shout, but just like before she was stuck in place, her arms stilled to her side, her feet bolted to the floor, her mouth shut close. The only thing she was able to control were her eyes, which got more and more frantic as the thing approached and finally hollowed out as it stopped right in front of her, the little light her own eyes provided reducing even more, to the point that, if not for the sickly yellow light she was now almost bathed in, she could have scarcely seen herself.

The full yellow eyes gazed into her empty white eyes. They were just below her eye level, suggesting whoever they belonged to was, somehow, even shorter than her.

At this distance, Uzi could make out some scant details of what she realised was a drone. It wore a black and white dress, the black parts melding with the shadows while the white ones reflected the yellow eyelights. Its hair was silver, looking almost blond in the sickly yellow light, styled into two long braids that fell on each side of its face and a front rebellious tuft of hair.

Yet, for all that Uzi’s mind struggled to grasp on the familiar form before her, her senses pushed into overdrive noticed the things moving the chittering darkness: tendrils, pincers and a sinuous body, slithering like a snake.

Uzi was shaken out of her observation of the thing before her, drone or monster or perhaps both, as a message appeared on her UI, a single short line of yellow text in her fully purple UI.

>HELLO

Uzi awoke with a scream. 

Quickly, her eyes darted around, ensuring that, whatever the hell the thing she dreamt of was, it hadn’t followed her. She wasn’t in a closet facing a spooky hallways, she was in her room, filled with posters she had inherited from her mother and tools from her father, she wasn’t wearing some creepy ratty suit, but her purple pajamas and, most important of all, she wasn’t being stalked by some kind of horror monster, she was alone.

It took her a while to get her breathing under control, still panting from the scare.

”Why the hell would anyone design a robot that breathes, nevermind pants…” Uzi idly wondered as she got up and looked at her clock. 

6:30 AM, early enough for her to be tired and grumpy all day, particularly after yet another late night anime binge session, late enough that she’d need to get up by the time she’d properly calmed down and managed to drift into sleep mode. Just her luck, she supposed.

Deciding to make the most of a less than ideal situation, she took off her now soaked in terror sweat pajamas (again, humans: why?) and got dressed up. She took care to fix up the black bow on her beanie’s side, making sure it wasn’t crooked. It kinda didn’t fit with her punk-goth aesthetic, but it had been a permanent fixture on her beanie for as long as she could remember and it just kinda… felt right.

She huffed in annoyance as her arms protested with a whine when she stretched, something not unusual, but still annoying. Her parents just had to mess up when putting her together, didn’t they? It wasn't enough she was the shortest drone around, she had to get the sucky limbs too. 

Dismissing the morning self deprecation, Uzi decided she could use the extra time brought to her by creepy nightmares to make sure her sick as hell railgun worked, at least, but first she’d need to get breakfast.

She walked to the kitchen as quietly as possible, hoping that, if her scream had managed not to attract the attention of the other two drones that could be in the house at the moment, she could get a cup of gasoline and maybe a few lithium batteries and sneak back to her room with no interference.

Of course, Uzi realised as she entered the kitchen, she should have known her plan was a bust from minute one, but a drone’s allowed to hope, no?

“Ah, Uzi!” Khan cheerily greeted his daughter as she entered, not even looking back from the stove he was working on. “Come, sit. I just put some crude oil in the good ol’ distiller, boiling hot gasoline should be ready in a second.”

“‘m fine” Uzi muttered as she tried to make a break for the gas can she kept for cases just like these, aka being forced to interact with her early bird of a father. It was at times like this she wondered how they were even related. “How do you even have this much energy at this Robogod-forsaken hour?”

“It’s all in letting the crude oil distillate! Just gasoline is good for a kick, but you get a bit of paraffin in there?” Khan let out a laugh “It’s how I wooed your mother back in the day.”

“I’m fine with just a kick.” Uzi said as she grabbed her gas can, only to find it oddly light. A quick check revealed it to be empty. “Just my luck” She grumbled as she sat down at the kitchen table.

“There you go sport.” Khan commented as he passed her a mug of gas, one for himself in his other hand. 

Uzi sipped the scalding hot drink and though she would never say it with her words, her expression as she drank it was enough for Khan to erupt in a triumphant smile under his mustache.

“Told you it’s good.” He gloated as he drank from his own mug. 

“Bite me.” Uzi grumbled, thought she didn’t deny anything, and for a moment father and daughter just sat at the table drinking their gasoline.

“Heard a bit of a ruckus before.” Khan finally commented after a long sip of the hot beverage “Thought it might be you. Anything I should be worried about?”

“…nah, just ordinary angsty teen stuff” Uzi lied after but a moment of consideration. 

Khan nodded, drank the last of his gas and got up “Whelp, I better get going then. Doors are not gonna keep the murder drones from killing us all alone!”

“They pretty much do.” Uzi commented in a deadpan manner. “Should I wait for you for dinner?”

“Got me a triple shift today, so unlikely. Which reminds me, you’ll have to tell your sister about it. I hoped to tell her yesterday, but she ended up spending the night out, apparently.”

Uzi nodded and let her attention return to the still half full mug of gas in front of her as her father left. A nagging thought still hung at the back of her mind though, a memory of sickly yellow eyes boring into her, and, just before Khan could cross the door leading out of the house, she let out a sigh and spoke “Wait.”

Khan’s head popped back into the kitchen after a moment. “Uzi?”

“…when’s mom coming back?”

Worry crossed Khan’s screen for a second and he stepped back into the room. “Uzi, is something wrong?”

The drone shifted uncomfortably. “I just… there’s something I need to tell her and she’s been gone for a while.”

Khan opened his mouth to speak, then stopped. 

“It’s a month today.” Uzi continued, her voice unusually hesitant. “She’s never been out this long, not without coming back.”

Khan hesitated for a moment more and finally sighed. “Look, I know you’re worried for your mother. But she’s strong, the strongest person I know. She’s coming back, she is. It’s just… what she’s doing, it’s important and she can get… lost.”

“…I know.” Uzi begrudgingly admitted, her whole body slumping as she did. “I just… if it’s so important I’d…” She shook her head. “It’s not important.”

Khan’s expression slackened, then he sighed once more. He pulled a chair closer to Uzi and sat down. “Look, I know your mother told you to talk to her, but if you’re worried about something, you can talk to me.”

Uzi’s first instinct was to tell him that it wasn’t anything serious, that it was just her being dramatic, that she could wait for her mother to be back. 

Uzi’s second impulse was to tell Khan to bite her. He never was there when she needed him, too worried about his doors for that, why did he pretend to care now.

But… something about that nightmare felt too real. Too… familiar. And after what her mom had asked her… it couldn’t be a coincidence, right?

“Okay. You’re gonna think it’s dumb and if you do, you’re not allowed to make fun of me cause you asked about it, okay?!”

“Sure thing, champ.” Khan chuckled, his face relaxing just barely. “Wouldn’t dream of making fun of my badass daughter.”

“You better!” She grumbled out before continuing. “Okay. So, last time mom was here, she told me that if I was to have any weird dreams, I was supposed to tell her immediately.”

“Oh and here you had me worried. Uzi, there’s nothing wrong with that, at your age. See, some drones are born with USBs and others with-”

“BITE ME DAD, I WASN’T TALKING ABOUT THAT!” Uzi yelled, her face becoming a beacon as a purple blush spread across her visor “GROSS!”

“Oh, thank Robo God.” Khan exhaled in relief “I wasn’t ready to have you out there yet.”

“I’m basically an adult now, dad.” Uzi made sure to remark. “But, as I was saying, mom said that I had to tell her specifically if any of my dreams got weirdly familiar. Like if I recognised anything from them that I had never seen before.”

It was as if a switch had been flipped inside of her father’s head. His back straightened slightly, just enough that he wasn’t leaning on the chair with it anymore. His eyelights rapidly cycled from their resting state to hollows then to focused circles. His entire posture seemed to grow more attentive and when he next spoke his tone was as hardened as steel.

“You had one of those dreams.”

Not a question, a statement, yet Uzi still nodded. “It was… weird, like mom said. When she said to tell her about any weird dreams, I thought she just meant any dream different from the usual, but this was… the only way to describe it is weird. I was standing, frozen in place, in this creepy hallway and something, a drone with yellow eyes, was approaching me. When it finally got to me I woke up and that was the scream you heard.”

Khan Doorman stood still as a statue, his screen displaying a furrowed brow, the only hint he hadn’t frozen his eyes, shifting right and left almost imperceptibly in thought.

When he moved, he completely ignored Uzi and got up, reaching for his cellphone, an old beat up thing that barely saw use. Quickly, he dialed up a number.

“Braxton?” He spoke in an authoritative tone once the person he had called answered. “I’m taking the morning off. No, I don’t care if you had plans, cancel them. Take Makarov and do the maintenance with him, I don’t care. Family stuff, that’s why. Tell Todd that if Nori arrives, Robo God, if he glimpses purple outside, he’s to drop everything and call me. Doorman out.”

With that, Khan hung up and pocketed his phone, before finally acknowledging his very confused daughter. “Well, looks like my morning schedule just cleared up. I probably have three, maybe four hours before they set one of the doors on fire, so what do you say I make computer chip pancakes and we watch some of your anime? I’ll talk with your teacher about you skipping school today and your sister can pass you any material you might miss out on.”

If the confusion wasn’t enough yet, her dad’s proposal nearly did Uzi in. She couldn’t remember the last time he had taken time off of work to just spend it with her, hell she was pretty sure it was because it had just never happened.

But Uzi, while bullheaded and downright unreasonable at a great deal of times, was no fool. “You know what that thing is.” She stated, mirroring her father’s energy from earlier. “Mom knows something I don’t, something you know as well, and if mom’s so worried about it, it must be related to whatever she does outside of the bunker.”

At that comment Khan’s eye drifted to the side, to the supplies closed marked “Nori’s Kooky Stuff”, a second sign under it in her mother’s handwriting reading “IMPORTANT NOT KOOKY, KHAN!”. A series of intimidating locks lined the rather bulky door, a series of locks Uzi had never even managed to loosen in all the days she had spent alone in the house. Only her mom was allowed access to the supply closet, but she knew fully well that, if her dad ever wanted to open it, he could have. He just never had.

That only hardened her resolve. “I just want to know what it is, hell, since it apparently concerns me I think I have a right to know!”

As she said that, however, something happened.

For just an instant, Khan’s expression cracked and, through the determination and concern, Uzi saw something else, something that thoroughly shook her.

Fear.

Now, Khan Doorman was not a brave drone, by any stretch of the word. He had made his name hiding himself and everyone else from the threat of the murder drones and Uzi had called him a coward many times. Mostly in her head. Never to his face.

Still, Khan was not brave.

But Uzi had never seen her father scared.

Sure, from time to time she saw him afraid. When he left on the crude oil too much and it ruined a good cup of gas, when Uzi had managed to get her hands on a knife when she was 10, whenever her mom got mad.

But scared?

The man had stopped genocide robots with doors. For all Uzi could think he could do better, he still had nearly single handedly saved every drone in Outpost 3 from a very certain death.

So for him to outright be terrified of something, for him to regard something as so terrible he could do nothing but fear it?

It gave Uzi pause.

Khan managed to capitalize on that pause, putting a hand on Uzi’s shoulder and beginning to talk. “I’ll get started on the pancakes, alright? You put on some anime, just not the ones from your mother’s stuff. They give me the heebie-jeebies.”

Uzi very nearly slapped his hand away, ready to continue her line of questioning, but then she looked into his pleading eyes and remembered the fear of earlier, the look of a goldfish finding out it’s swimming with a great white shark.

She took a deep breath. “Those better be silicon chips. None of that gallium stuff.”

Khan smiled and immediately went for the stove “Sure thing! Silicon chip pancakes coming up!”

A small smile of her own to match her dad’s, Uzi went for the TV and began to scroll through the countless anime she’d pirated.

Her mind, however, couldn’t quite concentrate on the task at hand, still enraptured by glowing sickly yellow eyes.

In the end, Khan’s prediction turned out to be slightly too optimistic. Only a couple of hours into their binge session, Khan’s phone rang again. To his credit, he ignored it the first time, but when it rang a second time, Uzi didn’t need to see the apologetic expression on her father’s face to know he was needed elsewhere. 

He ended up walking her to school. “It’s on the way there, so why not?” He tried to justify himself, but his tone didn’t really sell her his excuse.

The walk was quiet, just father and daughter in the mostly deserted hallways, the taller drone taking slow steps to allow the shorter one to keep up. It was… Uzi refused to allow herself to call it nice even in her own thoughts. She had an edgy reputation to uphold! Still, he hadn’t walked her to school since… well, she had pretty much asked to be allowed to walk there alone as soon as she could. 

It was only when they got to the classroom that she came to the conclusion that she had kind of missed it.

“Whelp, I guess we’re here, uh?” Khan said with a chuckle. “I can tell you’re just chomping at the bit to get rid of your old man, so I won’t hold you any longer.”

Uzi opened her mouth as he went to knock on the door, but stopped herself before actually saying anything and the door opened before her dad could notice.

“Uzi, you’re late.” The Teacher apathetically remarked without even looking at them. 

“Aha, hello Teach.” Khan greeted the other adult.

That admittedly did give the normally detached drone pause. “Khan.”

“Would it be fine if we talked for a minute?” Khan asked, his eyes drifting to one of the students inside the classroom. “Outside.”

The Teacher considered the question for a moment, probably weighing if the hassle of whatever Khan wanted to talk about was worth not having to deal with the kids under his supervision. Eventually he shrugged “Sure.” He turned to the class. “I’ll be out for a few minutes with Mr Doorman. Try and not kill each other. Or do. I don’t actually care.”

And with that, the Teacher walked out of the classroom, the door shutting after him, leaving Uzi alone at the front of the class, green, blue and a single couple of orange eyes trained on her.

Not even one yellow one.

“Bite me!” She exclaimed as she made her way to her seat, her classmates’ stares diverting as they confirmed that yup, everything was the same with Uzi.

Uzi didn’t pay anyone any mind as she sat down and immediately pulled out her railgun to begin tinkering with it. 

She was, however, distracted from her work as the green eyed drone to her left spoke to her. “Hey there, ‘zi.”

“…Thad.”

“Whoa, you only considered whether to speak to me for a second there! Proud of you, buddy!”

She gave a deep sigh. “What do you want, Thad?”

“Just to check in on ya.” Thad said with an air of nonchalance. “I know you usually come in late and all, but my dad said that your dad blew off the WDF to stay home today and that is weird, so I wanted to see what the haps were.”

“He just wanted to spend time together.” Uzi answered. It had taken her being worried about a damn dream demon to tell her dad, there was no way she was telling Thad, particularly not when other people could hear her.

“Yeah, right.” Speak of the devil, Uzi thought as her head turned to the pink eyed drone one row behind her and to her right. “Pick a better lie Doorman.”

”Bite me, Lizzie.” Uzi snapped at her.

“Feisty today, uh?” Lizzie answered Uzi, not even looking up from her phone. “What, did you have a bad dream? Was that why your dad stayed home, did he need to make sure you weren't too upset?”

“OH THAT DOES IT YOU GLI-”

“Uzi, calm down, you know she’s just teasing.” Thad tried to deescalate the situation. “Lizzy was worried too when she heard.”

“I was not!”

“…whatever.” Uzi conceded as she resumed working on her railgun. Truth to be told, it wasn’t Lizzy’s teasing that had her worked up, it wasn’t even in her top 10 this month, it was more the fact she had somehow pinpointed exactly what had on edge today. 

And it had no right to! After all this time, her sick as hell railgun was ready!

“So, uhm, you still working on that?”

Of course, she could work better if a certain drone stopped bothering her.

She stopped short of telling him to bite her. Not only would it be repetitive and Uzi was anything but, but losing one of the only people who talked to her on a regular basis in her class would suck. Also, a more rational part of her brain reminded her, it wasn’t Thad’s fault she was pissed off.

“It’s basically done. Just doing some routine checks.”

“Oh, cool! But didn’t you have a, uhm, issue with the power core last time?”

“And with issue he means all the ones you made blew up in your face. Literally”

“No one asked for your opinion, Lizzy!” Uzi snarled at the other drone, still engrossed in her phone. 

Truth to be told, Lizzy was right, though Uzi would rather run up to a murder drone than admit it. She still wasn’t sure about the power core: she hadn’t managed to get a proper one, so she had cobbled together a replacement out of spare parts. And yeah, all of her previous attempts had exploded in the testing phase, but this one would work, she was sure.

“It will work.” She stated her inner thoughts. “It has to. It’s not like I can just rip a power core out of another drone, no matter how much little miss over here volunteers.”

“And here’s the psycho I know so well.” Lizzy remarked with a smirk. “Was wondering if daddykins had hugged it out of you.”

“And the only place I could find a corpse with a power core to loot would be outside” Uzi continued, willing herself to ignore Lizzy. “and I’m not about to go and get myself killed, no matter how much she would like it.”

“Aw, c’mon, Uzi, you know Lizzy talks big, but she’d miss you if you were gone.”

“Yeah, I’d miss my quiet time not being interrupted by the purple gremlin. And don’t you always talk about going out and showing the murder drones what’s business? What, too scared to actually do it?

“The entire point of this” Uzi pointed her railgun at Lizzy, the pink drone only sparing a glance, too used to being menaced with supposedly deadly weapons at this point. “is to be able to go up against the murder drones in the first place. If we could just get past them so easily, I wouldn't need to make it! Besides to be even more awesome! Point is, going out there without a weapon like this would be a death sentence for any drone.”

“Except for your mom” Thad pointed out, causing both Uzi and Lizzy to stop what they were doing and just look at him. “What? She’s been going out of the bunker for years and hasn’t gotten, y’know, murdered so far.”

“Mrs Doorman is a drone with a very particular set of skills.” Came a voice from behind Uzi, surprising all three drones. From her seat behind Uzi, Doll continued talking “She’s the only one in the entire Outpost who can be reasonably sure to return unharmed from a trip to the surface. Even then, a confrontation with one murder drone, nevermind multiple, would prove exceedingly dangerous for her.”

“…jeez, way to bring the mood down, Doll.” Lizzy was the first to resume talking after the usually silent drone’s words. “Don’t have to go all doom and gloom on us, we get the jist.”

“Uhm, I don’t actually.” Thad pointed out, rubbing the back of his head “I really should get my translator programs patched…”

“My mom can get out and return alive, but not even she can or will take on the murder drones.” Uzi explained to the jock, before taking her railgun in hand and pointing it at him. “This is what will change that.”

Uzi could basically feel Doll’s eyes on the back of her head, but she paid the Russian drone no mind.

“Alright, everybody.” The teacher boredly addressed the class as he walked back in. “We already have a long day ahead of us and I’m already tired. We were supposed to have a lesson, but I want to delay that as much as possible, so we’ll check homework. Who’s up first?”

Uzi felt a wicked smile forming on her face as she grasped her weapon. Enough with stupid nightmares and her parents, it was time to show everyone the product of her work!

Everything was going to be great!

Okay, so not everything went great.

Uzi was fine with that, really. She expected her classmates to be a bunch of snivelling cowards when presented with her genius “Kill the murder drones with my sick Railgun” plan, it was something that was most likely programmed into worker drones by humans to make sure they wouldn’t rebel or something lame like that.

Did the fact her “Save everybody and win the love and respect of your family” plan did not earn her any academic credit annoy her? Well, yeah, she’d have to actually study now, but at the end of the day school wasn’t that much important. I mean, they were in a bunker, how did the economy even work? Was her dad even being paid?

She could have done without her makeshift power core exploding though, she thought as she rubbed the bandage over her scratched visor with one hand while rummaging through her locker with the other.

It wasn’t so much for the damage to the railgun, she had built that thing to be sturdy. Had to, with all the time it exploded during testing. It wasn’t even because of damage to her, humans made worker drones sturdy too. It was one good thing they did at least. Sure, she supposed it didn’t really outweigh “design sentient beings to keep them in perpetual slavery” and “design and send out murder drones to commit genocide because the other drones did not enjoy the perpetual slavery”, but hey, any human apologiust in the colony would be happy to hear that at least.

No, the thing that had her frustrated was that, once again, she had failed. After this morning, she had thought this, this project she had poured so much time and energy into could have been the thing that she could show her worth in. 

Should have known better, uh?

Suddenly, she felt a presence to her side, a drone wearing a familiar cheerleader outfit.

“What, Lizzy, want to repeat your hilarious joke? Yes, har har, I’m still alive.” She grumbled as she tossed a spare part at the othe drone, who simply snatched it mid air.

“Careful, sister.” An unexpected voice surprised Uzi, making her turn to confirm that the drone that had approached her was not Lizzy, but her adoptive sister Doll. “I think you might need that.”

Uzi looked at the part she had tossed Doll and, when she noticed that like always her sister was right, she quickly snatched it from her hand. “I knew that.” She muttered as she pulled out a panel from her railgun, ripped out a bunch of fried cables and began replacing the damage the overload had caused.

She had hoped or at least thought Doll would leave after she made a show of ignoring her, but as all things this day, that didn’t seem to work either. 

Uzi supposed she ought to thank the yellow eyed thing from her dream, it had really blessed her with good luck today. 

“What?” She snapped at her sister. “Want me to thank you for deciding to speak in my presence twice on the same day? Big privilege, I know, but if you haven’t noticed, I’m kind of doing something right now.”

“I liked your plan.”

Uzi had a whole rant at the ready, with specific references to all the times Doll had left her alone to do whatever wherever she disappeared to during the day and often the night, but that single sentence made it evaporate in but a second. “I- uhm, what?”

“Hiding is not enough. Uncle Khan might believe it is, Aunt Nori might try and make it work, but sooner or later someone needs to do something about those animals up there. Your method might not be viable, but you are right, something needs to be done.”

“Right now. Not viable right now.” Uzi felt the need to make it clear. “It’s totally gonna work. But yes! Thank you! Sometimes it feels like no one appreciates my genius ideas!”

“It’s because no one does!” 

“BITE ME LIZZY!”

Though her eyes and expression did not change, Doll let a single chuckle escape her, an unusual occurrence for the usually stoic drone that made Uzi refocus on her.

She let out a sigh. “Thanks” Uzi said, in an unusual occurrence of her own. 

An orange eyebrow formed on Doll’s visor, allowing the drone to lift it inquisitorially. “For?”

“Y’know, believing in me and junk.” Uzi explained dismissively, turning her head to the side to not meet Doll’s gaze as she tucked her hands in her hoodie’s pocket and kicked the air with nonchalance. “I mean, could’ve said that in class, but I get it, you’re in Lizzy’s circle and all, wouldn’t want to taint that. It’s simply nice to know I’m not insane or anything.”

“That is still very much up for debate.” 

“Out of all the moments for you to grow a sense of humor you choose the one freaking moment I open up to you?”  Uzi remarked with a bit of snark, snorting at her sister’s best attempt to joke. “I kinda needed it.”

“How so?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. You know dad sees this” She gestured at the railgun she was still fixing, though her hand passed over herself too, something Uzi herself wasn’t sure she wasn’t intending. “as nothing more than a phase. “Oh, I had my ‘kill all humans’ teen phase myself, she’ll grow out of it”.” She said in her best Khan impression, her index finger over her mouth to mimic a mustache. “And mom’s not really any better. She listens and doesn’t dismiss my ideas at least, but I know what she really thinks.”

Uzi’s hands tightened slightly in her pockets. She didn’t hate her mom. How could she? Sure, she was always away, but she was doing something important and though no one, perhaps maybe her dad, knew exactly what she was doing, Uzi didn’t doubt that for a single moment. Uzi loved her mom.

Which made it all the more frustrating when…

“Uzi, you know I can’t allow you to come.”

“Uzi, you know I can’t let you risk taking on the murder drones.”

“Uzi, you know I can’t tell you what I do out there.”

“So having you take my side, it means something.” A shy smile formed on Uzi’s mouth.

Doll’s head crooked slightly to the side and she waited a moment before speaking, creating a somewhat uncomfortable lull in the conversation. Then she continued, speaking quickly and decisively, like if she was ripping off a band aid. “I agree with you that somebody should do something about the murder drones. I, however, do not think that you should be that person.” Doll produced the destroyed makeshift power core in her hand like she was presenting proof and let her other hand rest on a speechless Uzi’s shoulder. “Let someone else take care of that.”

Then, without another word, Doll simply turned on her heels and started walking away.

It was only after Doll had taken a dozen of steps that Uzi broke out of her stupor, her whole body trembling in rage as the metal of her hands creaked and whined in protest under the intense pressure of her closing fist, tears that she refused to make fall forming on her display. “OH IS THAT HOW IT IS!?” Uzi yelled after Doll, utterly uncaring of the stares she was getting from the few drones in the hallways “FINE, WALK AWAY! I DON’T CARE! I DON’T NEED YOUR STUPID VALIDATION AND I DON’T NEED YOU!”

Uzi punctuated her last statement by throwing a book after Doll, the other drone simply rounding a corner while the book flew off in the distance. Uzi, though, couldn’t care less, as she turned back to her locker and began rummaging again, this time with more energy, banging things against the walls of the tiny metal box in a way that warded off even the most foolhardy of bullies.

She didn’t need Doll. She didn’t need her dad or her mom to tell her anything. She didn’t need anyone. She’d show them, she thought as her eyes settled on the damaged power core Doll had simply let fall to the ground as she went away. She wasn’t sure how or-

“And the only place I could find a corpse with a power core to loot would be outside” 

“What, too scared to actually do it?”

An idea formed into her head.

Now, Uzi was a smart drone. She had that idea before and dismissed it. She had remembered her mother talking about how vicious the murder drones were, her dad explaining how much of a threat those murder machines could be, how her sister went even quieter than usual whenever they were mentioned.

But right now, she couldn’t care any less about what any of those people thought.

She’d show them, Uzi thought as she set an alarm for that night. She’d show them all.

The plan was made. Now, was it the most elaborate or well thought out plan Uzi had ever hatched? Uzi looked at the note she had still open in the corner of her UI

1- Steal Dad’s master key

2- Get power core 

3- ???

4- Profit!

Admittedly, no.

But it was serviceable enough, as long as everything went well and, thus far, everything was working out fine. As planned, she had woken up at 3AM, in the middle of the night. Her father was still working and she had conveniently forgotten to tell her backstabbing sister he was going to work late, so she was likely still at Lizzy’s, who she had bribed into distracting her for good measure. Her dad’s spare master key was left unattended at home, as usual, and was easy enough to swipe. The damage to her railgun had proved insignificant enough for her to quickly repair, so it just lacked a proper power core to function. Lastly, her sleep had been dreamless and, unplagued by sickly yellow eyes, Uzi was feeling charged and ready for her mission.

Of course, the fact things were, for once, going her way should have clued her in that something was bound to go wrong, something she realised once she opened Door Number 3, revealing a rather unamused Khan Doorman standing on the other side.

“Pretty late for you to be up and about, Uzi.” The drone remarked, causing Uzi to begin fidgeting nervously. “What could you be doing, might I ask?”

“Heeeeeey, dad.” Uzi nervously greeted her father, feeling very much like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Okay she just needed a clever lie or better yet, a deflection! “What are you doing here?”

The unimpressed look her father leveled at her compounded with her inner desire to facepalm. “I work here, Uzi. And I have happened to have caught wind of the little spat between you and your sister. Thad’s a good friend and he was concerned you might try something.”

Cursing Thad and his annoying tendency to care about people internally, Uzi scoffed. “Oh yeah? You heard miss disappearing act had a problem with me wanting to actually do something and was worried I might follow in her footsteps?” She threw her hands up in the air “Seriously, half the time she’s ‘at Lizzy’s’, she is Robo God knows where! You know it, mom knows it, I know it, but she gets a free pass for some reason.”

Khan frowned. “This isn’t about your sister and you know it.”

“Oh, you’re right, it isn’t.” She hissed venomously. “It’s about me. You all treat me like some kind of fragile thing that can’t help, but news flash dad, I can! I want to, really! But you keep secrets from me, you want to keep me buried in this bunker and do nothing with my life! Mom gets to go out and do whatever she does, Doll gets free reign to do whatever she wants, even you get to help everyone with your dumb doors! What do I get dad? When do I actually get to do something?”

To his credit, Khan did seem to be slightly shaken by her rant and remained silent in front of his daughter, panting after her rant, for a moment.

Finally, he took a deep breath and he spoke. “Uzi I… I know what you feel like. I can’t just let you throw your life away against those murder drones, but I know what it feels like to just want to help and be told you can’t.” He rubbed his upper arm with another one as he spoke. “I know that far too well. Do you get it?”

Half of Uzi wanted to keep on screaming. She had a plan, she had an idea, she wouldn’t just die out there, hell, her mom constantly survived out there and she was a regular drone just like her! Why couldn’t they see that?

The other half, however, saw an opportunity. “I do.” She said with a sigh “I know you don’t want me to go out and junk, but I still want to help out. So I thought I could at least check out the doors and help with them.”

Khan’s expression brightened at that and Uzi had to force herself to not betray a wince at tricking him like that. “You do? Well, why didn’t you say it sooner! You had me worried there. Trust me, you’ll love it in the WDF.”

“Yeah, can’t wait to follow in my old man’s footsteps, join the WDF and spend all my life slaving away keeping the doors working as everyone else plays cards all day.”

”Oh, come on, sure the guys aren’t the hardest workers around, but they don’t just play cards all day.” Khan said, waving dismissively with his left hand and leaning on the terminal on the wall with his right arm, accidentally triggering the opening mechanism of Door Number 2. 

“Hey Khan!” One of the WDF members called out her dad from the table they were sitting at. “Can you swing and get us a new pack of cards? We literally only play cards so much these ones are all faded.”

Khan rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment for a second as Uzi gave him an unimpressed stare before trying to shift away the conversation. “Guys, my daughter is into doors!” He proclaimed, pushing Uzi forwards.

“Dad! Bad wording!”

“Alright!” “High time!” “Generic positive statement!” The WDF members cheered as Khan and Uzi walked past Door Number 2.

“I know, I know, great day. Wait until I tell Nori about this!” Khan chuckled before turning to Uzi “If you want to help, I know no better way to get you started than to get you to check out the mechanism of my magnum opus, Door Number 1 itself.” He said, grinning wide and pointing at the door in question, truly massive and indistinguishable from the other two, before getting closer and whispering to her “Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve been thinking of installing a fourth door! Revolutionary, I know. You could help me with that, put your name on Door Number 4!”

“…fun.” Uzi tentatively stated.

“I knew you’d love the idea. Now, have this.” Khan produced a rather old looking tool. “My first wrench! Used it to make this very door! Today you can check out the hydraulics as I go do some maintenance at the generator, what do you think?”

Uzi nodded “Sounds good to me.” 

“Already excited to get your hands on a good door, are you? I know that look! Won’t keep you any longer then. I leave you to the good care of these lovely gentlemen.” A cough. “And gentlewoman! Sorry Brenda. Keep an eye on my Uzi, will you?”

As the WDF drones voiced their confirmation, Khan walked away, seemingly content with the situation. Right before he crossed Door Number 2, however, he stopped in his tracks and turned. “And Uzi? I thought about what you said and… well, when your mother comes back, I’ll ask her to have a talk with you. If you really prove to be responsible, well, I guess there’s little reason not to share at least something.”

Before Uzi could even acknowledge what her father had just said, he threw in an “Okay bye, love you!” and disappeared behind Door Number 2.

Uzi just stood there for a moment, taken aback, then turned towards the panel of the door’s hydraulic, quickly prying it open as the game of cards behind her resumed.

She got to work, disassembling the parts in front of her, recognising their functions and cataloguing what each and every one of them did and distantly recognising that her dad knew what he was doing. That, however, was not in the slightest what was going on at the front of her mind.

That last sentence was not in the plan. That was definitely not in her initial ‘sneak around the WDF and get out of the bunker plan’ and wasn’t even in her improvised ‘give hope to your dad and stab him in the back’ plan.

That offer… Uzi was not expecting that at all. Did he truly believe what he was saying? Oddly enough, Uzi believed him. Khan Doorman wasn’t exactly a duplicitous drone, except from yes, the weird secret he had with her mom. But did that mean he really wanted to come clean? That prospect was tantalising, enough for her to maybe really ditch the plan?

No way! Uzi told herself as she shook her head and began putting back all the parts she had pulled out while thinking to herself. She was going to prove herself, not just get things told to her because of her father’s pity.

Before she could regret anything, she slapped the panel back and spoke up. “Hey you, will need to check the hydraulics from the outside.”

“Sure thing” One of the drones said, shrugging. “Just make sure to not open it suddenly or the wind will-”

A burst of icy cold wind came in from the outside, blowing away the cards.

“do that.”

“Sorry!” Uzi called as she ran out. She could barely wait until the doors shut down to focus on her objective: the dead city, filled with corpses both human and drone, and more in particular, the corpse spire.

Now, while it might seem frankly insane to dive straight into the nest of the Murder Drones, Uzi had a rationale. She needed a power core, which was one of the most common vital points to target in a drone, so she’d need a relatively intact corpse, something kind of rare, given how gruesome the murder drones seemed to be. But not only did the Murder Drones take drone corpses to the spire to, well, build it, but from what she’d gathered, they were using it as a larder of sorts, so that was the best spot to find corpses and, with any luck, a power core.

So, Uzi had figured it would be less risky to just go into the den of the beasts and get out as fast as possible than to wander for hours in the city and risk being spotted by one of them. With her father likely returning sooner rather than later, she was also on a timer.

So, she marched towards the corpse spire, keeping an eye out for any suspicious movement. 

Everything seemed to be dead and frozen, yet Uzi couldn’t help but be creeped out still, like something was watching her. 

She rapidly got to the base of the spire and gazed into it, possibly the first drone to do so and tell the tale.

Well, let’s not jinx it, Uzi told herself as she continued in, not allowing herself to get sidetracked. Outside of the large metal thing at the center, likely the pod the murder drones had gotten to Copper 9 with, everything seemed to be like she expected. Corpses littered the entire clearing, in various states of disassembly and, she noted with some disgust, consumption.

A faint green glow caught her eye and, as quickly as she could, she rummaged through a pile of corpses and found exactly what she had come from: a power core.

Now, she probably should have realised things were going a bit too well and that the universe couldn’t allow her to just have a bit of luck once in a while. That still didn’t mean her circuits didn’t nearly fry when the murder drone impacted the drop pod.

Faster than she believed herself to be, she dropped behind a convenient piece of rubble and instantly forced herself to be as still as she could physically be.

As quietly as she could be, she reached for a piece of mirror she had stashed in her backpack, praying to whatever cruel deity had decided to make her life an 8 episodes online webseries for their enjoyment that her arms wouldn’t creak and reveal her to the murder drone.

There was figure standing on the landing pod, a tall murder drone wearing a leather coat and an aviator’s cap that covered silver locks of hair. The yellow light of its visor mixed with the cold moonlight on the worker drone’s head it held in its long bladed claws.

Okay, good news, she told herself, her processor running one million miles a minute with worry, it was only one murder drone.

Bad news, she thought as she saw it easily crush the drone’s head in its claws and devoured it, it was a murder drone and that was more than enough for her.

Or was it? Uzi’s gaze drifted to the power core in her other hand as the gears in her head began to shift. The railgun was mostly complete, she’d just need to slap on the power core and her murder drone killing weapon would be complete and (theoretically) ready to fire.

Sure, she had never actually fired it, but the math checked out: with a proper power core, everything should work just fine.

Her original plan was simply to get the railgun working and get back to the bunker. From there, she figured that having successfully created a weapon powerful enough to take a murder drone down would be enough to show everyone what she was capable of. They would trust her after that, no?

“I, however, do not think that you should be that person. Let someone else take care of that.”

Then again, there was no guarantee they would. They could say that just because her weapon could kill a murder drone, if they even recognised that, there was no way she could actually do it. 

Her original plan had entailed killing the murder drones, sooner or later, and right now she had the perfect circumstances for a trial run. This murder drone was alone, unaware of her, confident in the apparent safety of its nest and in a perfect position to be shot, the moonlight behind it making it a perfect target. She had barely managed to sneak out today, when, if she even could, manage to do so again, would she manage to find a perfect occasion like this again?

Sure, if she got back and showed everyone her railgun and if someone believed her enough to want to risk their lives and if they managed to find other power cores, they could manage to build more. Then they could set up killzones and ambushes, overwhelm the murder drones with numbers and firepower. 

But that was an awful lot of ‘ifs’ and Uzi didn’t exactly trust her luck. Besides… if she actually killed a murder drone personally, no one would ever tell her she wasn’t good enough or ready for this, wouldn’t they?

Her mind was made up. She’d just check on the murder drone with the mirror and then she’d- 

Uzi could feel her cooling system become redundant as her CPU ran cold with fear  seeing the murder drone turning its head to look directly at her, a yellow cross forming on its visor, before it launched itself towards her.

Uzi dived to the ground and rolled, her quick reflexes avoiding her the fate of the debris she was hiding behind, which was sliced in two by the murder drone’s wings as it passed just over her, the tip of one of its sword feathers scratching her chassis with a dissonant whine.

Seeing its first assault failed, the monster pulled upwards, likely seeking to keep his momentum to try another aerial assault. The worker drone didn’t waste this opportunity.

She tossed the power core straight up, freeing her hand for long enough to rip away enough of the railgun’s exterior to connect the two, something she quickly did as the power core fell back in her hand.

The weapon whirred to life with a purr, the lights flashing green, everything working just as it was supposed to! Uzi pointed the railgun upwards, but she was a beat too slow.

Before she could even process what was happening, the murder drone was back, diving feet first into her, sending her tumbling away and most importantly sending her weapon skittering on the ground.

She should have kept an eye on it, she realised, but she barely had enough time to regret it before it was on top of her, one of his clawed hands gripping her chest and immobilising it, while the other held her arm with enough force that Uzi worried it was gonna rip it away.

Something yellow flashed and it was only by pure instinct that her free hand managed to rise to protect her face, the appendage being pierced by the nanite acid-infused stinger on the murder drone’s tail instead of her face.

“Gah!” Uzi cried out in pain, damage warnings flashing on her UI.

Its stinger stuck in the worker drone’s palm, the monster left her arm to wind up a slash with its claw, which left Uzi able to reach for something she had managed to scavenge, the teen thanking her preparations as she pulled the pin from the object she had stashed in her pocket and tossed it at the murder drone. “Eat this!” She yelled through the pain.

It dove back and upwards, carried by its wings, likely not knowing if what Uzi had tossed was a grenade or just a smoke bomb. While the smoke curtain arose Uzi lamented it wasn’t the first as she made a break to where she had seen her railgun fall.

Pretty much instantly, her trail was being filled with lead, bullets whizzing past Uzi’s back as apparently smoke proved to be more of a hindrance to Uzi than to the monster.

Just as she was certain that she was right about to get to her weapon, a bullet finally struck true and hit her foot, making Uzi stumble and fall.

The murder drone landed with violence, its visor displaying a vicious cross as it switched its assault rifle for a wicked looking sword. The strength of the shockwave caused by its impact dispelled the smoke cloud, revealing Uzi, laying on the ground and holding her railgun, trained on the murder drone’s head.

“BITE ME!” She proclaimed as she pulled the switch faster than it could swing its sword, a green beam manifesting from the gun’s barrel as she did, disintegrating the murder drone’s head, whose body fell lifelessly on the ground just a second later.

For a few seconds Uzi just breathed in deeply, the stress, pain and just plain exhaustion from the fight rushing to her. Then a thought struck her.

She… had done it. She had really done it.

“Hell yeah!” She yelled in triumph, letting the now recharging railgun fall to the ground as she jumped to her feet, ignoring the pain from her damaged leg. “Suck on that, everybody! Who’s ‘not that person’ now, Doll?!”

Her excitement was, however, short lived, as something moved in the corner of her UI. Uzi could feel her oil pump sink as liquid metal flowed from the corpse of the murder drone and rapidly reformed its head, red script on its visor showing it was rebooting.

The railgun wouldn’t be able to shoot for a while, it wasn’t designed for rapid firing, it was already a miracle that she had managed to pack that much firepower into something portable. Running wasn’t an option either: the thing was faster flying than she could possibly hope to be on foot, even if her leg wasn’t damaged and that was without considering the arsenal of weapons the murder drone likely packed. 

She was dead.

But Uzi Doorman would go down swinging. 

She snatched up the first thing she saw, the broken off arm of a dead drone and ran at the still rebooting murder drone, hoping to get at least one good hit in before it woke up, and put all of her strength in swinging it at its new face.

Yet, that useless act of defiance proved to be, in fact, useless, as it not only failed to damage or dent the murder drone’s chassis, but even to move it to the side. There was no time for Uzi to try again, however, as the error message on its visor disappeared, two pale yellow eyes taking its place.

Memories of her dream had little time to resurface, however, as the murder drone proceeded to do something she didn’t know it could.

“Did you just hit me with that arm?” 

“You… talk.” Uzi said, her processor failing to keep up with the n-th wild twist the universe had decided to hand to her. They said life was like a road, Uzi just didn’t expect hers to be nothing but U-turns. Frankly, she was starting to get carsick.

“Some people say too much!” The murder drone exclaimed with far too much excitement for what was supposed to be a mindless killing machine, before leaning in to get a good look at her. “Are you new? I haven’t ever seen a disassembly drone like you. Then again, I don’t seem to see you very well. Or remember anything from the last couple of hours.”

Uzi simply looked at the disassembly drone silently in incomprehension before the pieces clicked.

‘Holy crap it’s not kidding’

It seemed like the universe had decided to finally throw her a bone, likely because it couldn’t keep tormenting her if she was, y’know, dead. 

Her blast, while failing to kill the murder drone permanently, had managed to not only damage its sense of sight (she noticed that one of the lights under the murder drone’s cap glowed red instead of yellow, could those actually be their real eyes?) enough for it to mistake her for one of its kind, but even erase enough of its memory for it to not be able to remember the worker that had blasted it.

And now here she was, a worker drone being addressed in a civil way by a freaking murder drone.

It seemed like her rather long pause to think on all of this was noticed by the murder drone, whose eyes hollowed out as it gasped. “Oh biscuits, did you already introduce yourself and I forgot? One chance to make a good impression and you blew it already, N!”

“No, no, I didn’t introduce myself.” Uzi reassured the murder drone (a sentence that sounded as weird in her head as you would think) “I’m Uzi and I suppose you’re… N?”

“Serial Designation N!” The murder drone or, as he apparently called himself, N, dropped his concern so rapidly Uzi was unsure whether he was acting or if he was just really good at repressing things. “And I’m glad to welcome you in our squad!”

‘So they operate in a squad?’ Uzi told herself. She had always thought murder drones were more like animals than people, but here she was talking with one and not being disemboweled. “Uhm. Thanks. Great to be… disassembling. With you guys. You the leader or something?”

“Kiiind of the opposite” N sheepishly admitted, rubbing the back of his head “The others tell me I’m useless and terrible at, y’know, taking out drones which is only, like, our only purpose, so no big deal!”

Uzi frowned slightly. She didn’t know this murder drone and he had tried to kill her, so she didn’t exactly have the best opinion of him, but she found some spark of empathy for his plight. Then she considered the fact that he had tried to kill her so she smothered that newborn feeling in its stupid crib. “Cool, cool. Hey, wanna tell me about the others?” She pointed at the landing pod “Maybe inside, where your friends can’t see me if they come back?”

“You think they’re my friends? That’s great, even they don’t say that! I like you! And sure, I love doing anything!”

With that, the two began walking towards the pod.

“You kinda walk funny.” N noted. “What’s up with that? I-if I can ask?”

“It’s no big deal” Uzi reassured the murder drone, trying to hide her bullet-in-my-leg limp and hoping it would get disguised by her defective-limbs limp. “My limbs are kinda crooked. Factory defect, apparently. Why do you ask?”

“No reason. Reminds me of someone who walked like that.”

“Who?” Uzi asked. She’d seen N regrow a head (she’d definitely have to aim lower next time), she couldn’t imagine any of the other disassembly drones having defective limbs and not just chopping them off.

“That’s the thing, I kinda can’t remember?” N laughed it off.

“…okay?” Apparently murder drones were weird, Uzi thought, picking up her railgun as they passed it.

Now, Uzi was well aware of just how stupid following this murder drone to his base was. She’d already seen first handedly how bonkers his regeneration system was and if at any second its eye or its memory decided to regenerate, she was toast. And that was without considering the fact that his companions could come back at any second and they would be far more murdery than N was being right now.

Still, this was one in a million, an opportunity Uzi would never be able to get again even if she tried. She could actually get information out of this N, information that could be pretty damn useful and, as long as she was quick about it, she would be out before N’s buddies were back.

As Uzi reflected about all of this, her good foot stumbled on a piece of dead drone, making her hit her damaged hand against her body and hiss in pain.

N perked up at that. “Stabbed yourself with your stinger?” He guessed, his stinger presenting itself as he did. “Don’t worry, happens to me all the time. Just pop your hand in your mouth, the saliva does the trick!” The murder drone instantly grew self conscious, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, something that would never not seem strange to the worker drone. “N-not that I need to tell you, you definitely already know that aha.”

“Yeah, yeah, I definitely knew that already. It’s just that my mouth is kinda… dry right now.”

“Don’t worry, I can help!” N chirped before taking Uzi’ hand in his and putting it into his mouth.

Uzi’s mind proceeded to reboot, the worker drone standing there with her hand in the disassembly drone’s mouth for a second before she came to and rapidly pulled it out. “What the hell was that!” She roared, the much taller disassembly drone cowering at that.

“Ah! Sorry! It was inappropriate, I was inappropriate, I’m so sorry!”

Scowling at the murder drone, Uzi looked at her hand, finding it whole once more, not a trace of the hole that used to be there not but a few seconds before “It’s fine.” She grumbled, resuming to walk with N quick to follow. “Thanks.” She begrudgingly added. “Shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.” Yeah, it was his fault in the first place the hole was there, but he didn’t know that and he’d been nothing but kind. Sure, it was because he thought she was another murder drone, but being treated like that was… nice

N beamed as the two entered the landing pod “No worries! I’m used to being yelled at by the others. You’ll slot right in!”

“These others sound like some proper assholes.” Uzi commented as she sat down in one of the chairs at what looked like a wrecked control panel.

“No, they’re great!” N quickly came to their defense. “Trust me, when you’ll meet them you’ll love them!”

“Uh uh. Tell me about them.”

“Sure! There’s two others. They’re out hunting right now. First there’s V.” N said, stopping and gazing at her silently for a couple of seconds.

Uzi shifted awkwardly on her seat, feeling uneasy under the killing bot’s stare. “Uh, dude?” She asked, checking whether the memories had come back or something. “You good?” 

“So obviously a lot of mutual respect there” N said, chuckling awkwardly.

“…did you just have a cutaway in your mind? Dude I can’t see that.”

“Oh, fiddlesticks! I thought you were already connected to the squad’s network. No worries, I can use my words! So when it comes to her job V’s a bit… intense.” His eyes went hollow and Uzi could only shiver at what a murder drone could consider ‘intense’. “And she’s so fun! She likes to pretend she doesn’t know me, isn’t that fun?”

“…hilarious.”

“Yeah, isn’t she? I kinda have a small huge secret crush on her” Again, his eyes went hollow. “OH CRUD! I WASN’T SUPPOSED TO TELL YOU THAT! YOU CAN’T TELL HER OKAY!?”

“Don’t worry dude, your secret’s safe with me.” Mostly because she did not plan to stick around long enough to ever meet her. 

“Phew! Thanks!” N calmed down “Y’know, I’d really like to have a shot with her and sometimes I’m not quite so sure she’s just pretending not to know me… anyways!” He rapidly changed his tone “Then there’s J! She’s our boss and while V mostly ignores me, she speaks with me very often. ‘That’s not how you do it, moron-bot’, ‘Get out of my way you waste of oil’, ‘If you want to help, dive off a cliff and make the oil supplies last longer’, ‘tank those workers’ guns while me and V do actually useful stuff’, ‘N, you’re worthless and terrible and if the company allowed me, I would straight up kill you myself’…” He paused for a second, looking into the void before resuming. “J’s…”

‘A short tempered psycho? A sociopath with a laundry list of problems?’ Uzi guessed in her mind.

“J’s awesome.”

“…that is surely a term to describe her.” Uzi sarcastically remarked. “Out of all the terms, that is certainly one of them.”

“That’s why I’m using it!” N didn’t look like he’d grasped the sass in Uzi’s voice and Uzi thought it was better that way.

Uzi had already registered the murder drone’s looks in her mind, but before she’d been more preoccupied with trying to survive first and tiptoeing around a blind and amnesiac murdering monster later to bother thinking about them. Now that they were just sitting in front of each other, however, thoughts of a drone with the same silver hair and yellow eyes of the one before her returned.

“Hey, do you by any chance have another mur- disassembly drone in your team?” She asked N “Kinda the same height as me, same eyes as you, same hair too but with these two long braids at the sides, kinda cute, looks very creepy standing in the dark in long hallways?”

“Can’t say I do, though that description does sound kind of… familiar.” N said, stopping at the last word in thought. “But that’s all of them! Here, let me give you the tour!” He stood up from his seat and spread out his arms, pointing at everything around himself “This is the landing pod!” He spinned on himself once, then sat back down. “And that’s the tour. Highlight includes: the buttons! Push all you want, none of them work.”

As N got to pushing buttons and pulling levers, Uzi allowed herself to truly look at the control panel before her, noticing much more than buttons and levers: several instrument panels, a couple of yokes, a giant shattered screen and more, much more.

“Wait…” Uzi muttered as she realised something huge. “This isn’t just a landing pod. Thruster controls there, docking lever here… this is a spaceship!”

“Eh, more of a one way missile.” N admitted as he continued smashing buttons. “They never taught us how to land and now it’s more a piece of junk than a spaceship.”

“No, you don’t get it!” Uzi silenced the drone, ignoring how she felt kinda bad when he flinched at her harsh tone. “We- I mean, the worker drones could fix it! We could get out of here if we worked with them instead of all the murdering!” Seeing N flinch again, she dialed it down a notch “Which, uhm, why are we doing that again?”

“Oh, uhm, outside of their” The murderous yellow cross returned to N’s visor, causing Uzi’s hand to go for the still recharging railgun strapped to her back. “sweet, delicious oil” He returned to normal just as suddenly as he had become unsettling, as if nothing had happened “that we need to drink to not overheat and die?” He shrugged “I guess that for me it’s simply because that’s what we were made for and I like to be useful. Besides, V and J are counting on me and I really want to help however I can.”

Uzi frowned. She had asked the question just to see if there was some shady plan the murder drones were aware of, but the words that had come out of N’s mouth…

“…I guess it’s kinda the same for me.” Uzi muttered lowly. “There’s people I care about, people that help me and care for me and I just want to, y’know, do the same.”

“That’s wonderful Uzi!” N cheered, a genuine-looking smile plastered on his face “These people are truly lucky to have you in their life.”

Looking at the innocent looking murder machine before her, Uzi made a decision and, despite all of her logical parts screaming against it, she decided to at least make a try. “Don’t you have doubts about what you’re doing, though?”

“I mean…” N rubbed the back of his head. “I’m not a big fan of all the…”

“Butchering? Slaughtering? Sadism? Torture? Genocide?”

“Yeah, that. Don’t tell J though.”

“Outside of that. Say you kill all worker drones on the planet, what happens then?”

“…J says we get a big promotion?”

“You’ll have no more oil and considering the company apparently decided giving you a spaceship able to come back was unnecessary, they’ll likely leave you here, where you’ll starve and die, abandoned and forgotten. And for what? The approval of two people who ignore you at best and apparently outright despise you at worst?”

“Aha, whaaat?” N laughed awkwardly, crushing the small’s drone optimistic prospects. “You’re fun. You’re hilarious too! I told you you’d fit right in.”

“Ugh, no, I’m serious you mor-”

Before Uzi could try any more to make N see reason, a thud resounded through the landing pod’s structure.

N perked up at the sound of his squadmates returning. “It’s them!” They were back from their hunting trip already! J would be super happy at how he’d kept the spire worker-less, just like she asked.

“Idiot, get out here!”

She sounded in a great mood!

“Here they are Uzi, let me introduce them t-”

It was then that N noticed Uzi had somehow disappeared while he’d been distracted. Perhaps she’d gone out already? What an overachiever! J would love her for sure!

“Now, waste of circuitry! Unless you want to be on corpse stacking duty!”

“Coming!”

N climbed out of the pod, instantly greeted by J with a slap on his monitor that sent his head spinning on his neck. A quick look seemed to not reveal Uzi’s staticky form.

“I missed you too J!” He welcomed her “How was the hunting?”

“Terrible. You must have found a way to drag our performance down even by not being there, cause not only are we no closer to finding the Primary Target, we also kept missing this one toaster, almost like it could teleport or something. We had to stop chasing it eventually and you know how much V hates letting prey go.”

“It kept disappearing in the ruins” V grumbled from the point in the corpse spire where she had perched herself, right by an opening. “Even now I could swear I see that damn purple drone running outside.” She turned towards the clearing around the pod, immediately seeing a sliced piece of machinery, fresh bullet holes in several corpses and a part of the corpse spire that seemed to have been blackened by some kind of beam. “What the hell happened here? Decided to do a little training?”

“No, actually, but I met someone. She’s great, you will-”

“Hold on, synergistic liability over here seems to have somehow managed to mess up defending the HQ against unarmed worker drones and gotten himself damaged. Gotta admit N, you manage to keep surprising me.” Without waiting for a response from a rather confused N, who thought he’d actually done a good job, keeping the place secure and welcoming their new squadmate, J backhanded N so hard his system rebooted.

That caused two things.

First, N’s autorepair program realised there was something wrong with one of his sensors, making N realise that he’d been seeing fuzzy since he’d awoken in front of Uzi.

Second, N’s memory files were recovered, uncorrupted. Everything, from discovering a worker drone in the spire, a worker drone that looked suspiciously like Uzi, to battling it to being actually killed by it, albeit only briefly.

Oh.

Wait, was Uzi actually the worker drone? Oh damn.

“Hey, moron bot, you with us?”

“…oh.”

He actually ignored J, much to the other disassembly drone’s annoyance and turned towards the direction of the worker drones’ bunker, discovering a series of fresh tracks in the asbestos snow.

“Oh.”

Well, that explained the question of where Uzi had disappeared to: she had run away.

With her disassembly drone killing weapon and information on both his teammates.

”OHHH!” He exclaimed as his wings popped out “J, I know I- but I have left an extremely powerful weap- I mean an excuse! Outside!”

Without waiting any further, he leapt into the air and took flight.

Uzi ran. She had booked it the second the other murder drones had arrived, yet she had the sinking feeling in her chest that would not be enough.

And now, Uzi Doorman was truly scared to die. 

When the murder drone had first arrived, she’d been afraid, true, but she still had some cards to play. She had her railgun, she had been hidden, she’d approached the danger posed by the murder drone like a difficult challenge to overcome.

When the murder drone had gotten the drop on her, the adrenaline had carried her through. She had been able to sustain injuries to her hand and her foot because she just needed to get to her railgun to win. She had had a way out.

When the murder drone had resuscitated, she had decided to go with him, tempted by an opportunity that seemed too good to be true, so great that it made her ignore all the risks that came with it.

But now? Now Uzi had nothing.

Her railgun still needed minutes to charge, minutes she did not have, and at any second a murder drone or several would come for her and kill her.

And Uzi could do nothing about it except run, cursing her defective limbs and hoping desperately she could reach the safety of the bunker doors on foot before the murder drones could reach her by flight.

As she felt digital tears form in the corner of her eyes, Uzi understood perfectly what had driven her father and all the worker drones to find hide behind those stupid doors, the utter powerlessness that made her want to find the deepest crevice and hide in it, hoping the danger would pass by.

Doll was right. She was not that person.

She should have listened.

“Uzi?” A voice arose, a familiar voice that made Uzi just want to be embraced and disappear. There, in the clearing before the bunker door stood her father, looking half worried and half relieved at seeing her.

The burst of absolute joy and safety she had felt bloom in her chest at hearing her father’s voice evaporated as the crushing realisation that he too was now in danger hit Uzi.

She was going to get him killed as well.

“OPEN THE DOOR!” She screamed, panic in her voice. “DAD OPEN THE DOOR NOW!”

“Uzi, what’s w-” Khan began to ask his rapidly closing in daughter, before freezing in his tracks, his eyes hollowing as he stared in terror at the sky.

Uzi did not need to see the reflection in her father’s visor to know what he was seeing. A murder drone hanged in the sky like a vengeful angel, his winged silhouette perfectly outlined by the cold light of the ringed gas giant in the sky, a yellow cross on its visor its only visible feature.

“DAD!” She cried out, her voice breaking in fear, managing to break Khan out of his stupor, the drone quickly pulling out a remote to open the door.

Just as he clicked it, the murder drone landed at full speed right behind Uzi, the shockwave sending her flying forwards, the drone skittering on the icy ground.

“UZI!” Khan exclaimed, pulling out a shotgun Uzi had never seen her father wield before and firing it at the murder drone, who jumped back to avoid the series of slugs the drone was shooting at him. “INSIDE! NOW!”

The teenage drone felt her body instinctually obey her father’s order for possibly the first time in her life as she rose on all fours and basically launched herself inside, passing her father right as the murder drone returned fire, a bullet lodging itself into Khan’s shoulder, sending the drone back and inside as well.

“Close it!” He yelled at Uzi, who had already pulled out her master key and started bashing it repeatedly against the screen until the door slammed shut.

Uzi let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. They were… safe.

“Phew, that was a close one!” One of the WDF members commented.

“Really feared I wouldn’t see my loving wife and kids again there.”

“Why do you always bring them up, Phil?”

“Uzi, you mind telling me what the hell was that?!” Her dad asked, his voice tinted with anger, holding his wounded shoulder with a hand and his shotgun with the other. “How did you manage to attract a murder drone in less than half an hour I’ve been gone? Why were you out in the first place? And don’t think you can weasel out of this, we’re having a long convers-”

“Uhm, Khan?”

“What’s it, Braxton?” He asked, clearly frustrated “What’s so important it can’t wait for me to parent my apparently suicidal daughter?”

“Was the clawed hand always there or did you add it recently?”

Father and daughter could both feel their oil pumps stop as they turned to see that the door had not closed completely, the murder drone having sneaked its hand under it before it could do so, its long claws piercing the door from the inside.

And now that hand started to push upwards, the door holding for one hopeful moment before a second hand joined it and the hydraulics lost their battle against the murder drone. The two halves of the door separated enough to show a yellow cross to the terrified drones, the murder drone’s visor soon switching to a couple of eyes.

“It was added recently. I can show you how!” N cheerily declared, with just a hint of a threatening tone, before backtracking “Wait, no, I’m gonna kinda kill all of you, so that’s gonna be difficult. Next time!”

With the workers still frozen by shock and fear, N’s tail shot through the opening its owner had created, piercing the master key and the terminal’s screen in short succession, all three doors opening one after the other.

The drones ran. It was not a retreat, it was not falling back, they ran for their lives as N bounced into the bunker’s entrance, his claws switching through a variety of weapons as he tore into the WDF members , metal being ripped apart like it was tissue paper, oil flying on him and splattering the walls.

Khan rammed into his daughter, managing to make the nanite acid infused stinger miss as it dislodged and tried to swipe at Uzi, slashing the older drone’s leg instead.

The injured drone wrapped his good arm around his daughter and began to push her towards the second door, leaning on her as he hopped on his good leg, letting his weapon fall to the ground as he reached for his remote.

“C’mon Uzi, we just need to get to the second door, I can shut it off!”

Uzi’s eyes widened at that and she pushed Khan away, making the drone stumble and fall. Her processor barely registered the subdued hiss of pain the drone let out as she realised he was about to just leave the other drones there to the mercy of the murder drone. They were good for nothing bums, but they were people!

Uzi pulled out her railgun, zeroing in on N as he bounced atop another drone, pinning him on the wall with a sword arm and tearing his throat open with his teeth. She pulled the trigger numerous times, a timer displaying single digits of seconds highlighting itself on her UI each time, changing painfully slow.

“Uzi, what are you doing!” Her father exclaimed, not even bothering to hide the panic and worry in his voice “We need to go, now!”

“No dad!” Uzi looked back at her father, conveying as much determination as she could with all her systems running on overdrive from stress and fear “I can do this!”

*ping!*

The timer on her UI flashed green.

“I’ll show you.” Uzi whispered as she turned back around, ready to shoot… nothing?

Save for the number of freshly disassembled drones laying on the floor, the entrance was empty, the twirls of the asbestos snow carried by the wind the only movement in front of Uzi.

The faint sound of metal striking metal above her was all the warning she received before N crashed through the ceiling, Uzi barely managed to throw herself forward, tumbling on the ground before landing on her side and pointing the gun at N. “I won’t miss this time.” She threatened in a low tone.

“I know.” N simply stated, kicking a piece of debris right on Uzi’s face, making the drone falter. “I won’t give you the chance to.”

Uzi tried her best to regain her lock on the murder drone, but she never had a chance. Before she had even managed to point her railgun at where N had been standing, he’d already leapt at her, a sword hand skewering her torso and blocking her to the floor as his claw hand struck her weapon out of her hands with the flat of its back. Uzi coughed up oil, but her UI told her nothing vital had been damaged. N was either very good or very bad at his job. 

“I’m sorry.” N said, his tone low and so genuine Uzi really believed he was. “I enjoyed our time together, for what it was worth, but that weapon… I can’t have you shooting V or J with that.”

Despite the pain coursing through her body because of the sword lodged in, well, all of it, Uzi managed to pull a crooked smirk. “Maybe I won’t shoot you. But someone else will!”

Surprise and even panic appeared on the murder drone’s face as he turned to look backwards, something that only widened the smile on Uzi’s face. 

Sure, not risking blowing up the railgun by cutting it or her hand off was probably the smart thing to do, Uzi had made the thing mostly out of recycled trash, it was unstable as hell, but just tossing it aside meant that anyone could pick it up and, right now, her father was anyone. 

Yet the green blast of energy never came. Uzi pushed herself against the sword to look over N’s shoulder to see what was going on.

Had the gun landed too far? Had Khan been unable to figure out how to operate her railgun? Had N shot her father dead?  

Uzi had felt her oil pump drop many times today, but none of those times she had felt it more than in this moment.

As she had predicted, the railgun had landed close to where her father had been laying. From there, a trail of oil was clearly visible on the frosted ground, leading all the way to behind Door Number 3 and to her father, standing trembling with his door remote in hand.

For him to make it so far with his injuries, he must have started crawling or limping away as soon as she’d turned to make her last stand, Uzi noted at the back of her mind as she stared at her father with big pleading eyes, begging him not to be about to do what she thought he was about to do.

“I’m sorry.” He muttered, digital tears appearing at the corner of his eyes, his voice breaking halfway through the short sentence. 

“Dad?”

“I’m so sorry.”

The click of a button, then the door slammed down like a guillotine.

The lights flickered red, but Uzi hardly noticed, feeling herself fall to the floor in slow motion.

A mote of pain jolted awake from her stupor, though everything still felt numb, thoughts impossibly hard to form. N had pulled out his sword, probably to finish her off.

Then the murder drone looked at her with pity and concern and Uzi could feel anger, burning hot rage bubbling up in her chest. How dare he! How dare a murder drone feel pity towards her!

Before she could yell at his how much she didn’t need his pity, however, she heard something approaching, N’s face tilting up as he presumably heard it too.

“Well, well, well.” J’s voice, for once devoid of mockery or irritation, surprised N. She and V landed a small distance away from him and began walking.

Had they followed him? He had just intended to solve the gun problem and get back before V and J could get suspicious. Wait, the gun! He quickly looked down and noticed Uzi had disappeared. Fiddlesticks! How did she do that? It was twice now! Now J would get mad an-

“Turns out even a moron like yourself can be useful, after all.” J continued, the actual praise, backhanded as it may be, taking N by absolute surprise.

“Uh? You’re… not mad?”

“Why would I be?” J chuckled as she reached N and began circling him. “You did such a good job taking out all these toasters.”

“Y-you really think so?” N stuttered, not believing what he was hearing.

“Oh, don’t try and act humble. V and I watched the whole thing go down and I have to say, I was thoroughly surprised, positively for once. Just look around here!” J said, spreading her arms to indicate the scene around herself. “You were a veritable killing machine, none of that pussyfooting.”

N did as J ordered and he truly noticed the death and destruction he had wrought. Corpses laid all over the entrance, cut in half, riddled with bullets, tore open by blades, claws and teeth. 

He had scarcely noticed all of it while he was doing it. He’d been so fixated on getting to that gun, he’d gone almost on autopilot and had given himself no chance to hesitate and as a result he’d done precisely what J had berated him so many times for not doing properly.

That was… good, right? Him feeling bad for the drones he was supposed to kill was a defect, a mistake in his programming and he’d gotten over it. He’d done just as he was supposed to and killed all those drones that were just like Uzi, who was nice…r than J and V. He did good, right?

Then why did it feel so wrong?

His introspection was cut short as J leant in, putting one hand on his shoulder and her chin right between it and N’s neck. “Y’know, I wasn’t the only one impressed by your little performance. Ain’t that right, V?”

N’s numerous eyes instantly directed their attention at the third disassembly drone, who until now had been standing back silently.

V directed a brief glare at J, then strode forward as well. “It was… nice seeing you letting loose, N”

A yellow blush appeared on N’s visor. “You… me… remember… name?”

“I’ve been trying to get past these doors for months.” V continued walking past N, ignoring his stuttering, which was fine by him! “So, 2 out of 3? Not bad, not bad at all. And these ventilation shafts can easily get us past this last one. And behind that…” A big beautiful bloodthirsty smile spread across V’s face and she gave N a look “I’ll try and leave a couple for you.” With that, she took flight, crashing through the ceiling, manic giggling echoing behind her.

“Way to go, prince charming.” J chuckled as she patted N on the back. “Keep it up and you might even score a date, one of these days. Best not do it on company time, though!”

“Would never dream of it, J!”

“Hm, though… if you keep up the good work, I just might give you some time off. Unpaid, obviously.” She chortled “Heck, find me the Primary Target one of these days and I’ll put in a word with management for maternity leave, though knowing V, it probably would be paternity leave.”

“J!” N embarrassedly protested.

“Oh, don’t get your panties in a twist, lover boy, you know company policy doesn’t allow for that. Oh, and since you showed you can be mildly competent, I’m raising your quota. Wiping out this colony will make us top team this quarter for sure and I don’t want to carry your freeloading ass.”

“O-okay, J, yup, totally gonna kill it in there!”

“You better!” J warned him, before smiling once more. “And if you do, you know what awaits us on the top of that team list?” Grinning madly, the smartly dressed disassembly drone pulled out a pen from her blouse and waved it “~Branded pens~”

J tossed the pen at N, who proceeded to catch it in his hands. “Woah, neat.” He said in awe. Sure, they didn’t really write down anything (except J, she liked doing paperwork to destress), but it was neat regardless.

Movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention and he whipped out his assault rifle, pointing it right at the glittery bobble barely sticking out from the side of a crate, opposite from J.

“Woah, love your enthusiasm, but there’s no toasters to take down here, up and comer.” J commented, waving her hand dismissively “I would know, I’m the top employee here.”

N waited for a second, then he lowered his gun. “Yeah, sure, J…” 

Some of the things Uzi had said during their conversation came back to him. Sure, she presumably said all that to get him not to kill her or the others, but there were some good points in there…

“Whelp, no use standing here wasting time. Good leaders lead from the back, but I’m not a good leader, I’m the best.” J proclaimed as she opened her wings. “Plus, not being able to get that one drone earlier was frustrating. Even I get to blow off some steam!”

“Uhm, J?”

J turned towards N, annoyance displayed on her face.

“I-I was wondering. You know how we eat worker drones to, y’know, live? Is wiping out all of them really a good idea?”

J raised a single eyebrow.

“I totally want to kill all these…” His gaze turned to the corpses of the drones he’d just murdered, judging him silently with their dead visors. “rebellious defective drones. Buuut won’t we starve to death once we do that? I mean, the company kiiinda sent us here with a one way rocket and, by the fact it sent us to murder all of them, I get the feeling they don’t really care for robots and we might be robots?”

Slowly, J started stepping towards N, her wings retreating as she closed the gap. “That is a very valid concern, N.” She said, in a very laid back and calm voice. “Do you have any idea on how you’d deal with that?”

“Well, I really don’t, but, y’know how I chased a worker drone here? She kinda suggested the workers could fix up the spaceship? So we could leave?” Seeing J now uncomfortably close, N quickly pivoted. “O-of course I told her that’s against the rules! You’re always going on about not messing with company property and I listen! I don’t even know why I brought this whole thing up, you’re a good leader J, I could immediately tell I made a mistake, you’re great with words!”

“No, no, N, it’s great that you brought it up.” J comforted N, though something in her tone still left him on edge. “One of a leader’s many responsibilities is to listen to any concerns their employees might have.”

“And you’re great at it! No one listens better than you, real-” 

“Wanna know what also is a leader’s responsibility?” J asked, interrupting N like if he hadn’t spoken at all. “Addressing those concerns with some… decisive action.”

Before N could do or say anything, J had shot an USB spike into his chest. Instantly his entire body felt like it was on fire as the virus contained within began rewiring his nanomachines to destroy his body.

“You finally do something useful with your waste of a life and then decide to pull something like this?” J asked, shaking her head in disappointment. “Not only questioning the company, but planning to desert your post? Really, N, breaking my heart over here.”

“S-sorry J.” N spat out in a garbled, glitched voice. At least he didn’t have to question what he was doing anymore, no? Plus, he’d never need to kill again. “I did-didn’t want to p-put you in th-this situation.”

N could have sworn J’s eyes went hollow for a second, but it must have been the nanites getting to his eyes, because a second later she scoffed “Figures that you’d give me the chance to off you just when I was starting to appreciate you.” She shrugged. “Oh well, a reason like another to never start with that.”

“G-good cal-call.” He complimented her as he fell over. “Say hi to V fro-from me.”

J looked taken aback for a moment, then scoffed, rolled her eyes on the visor and flew away, leaving N to die alone on the ground.

Or not, he thought as he saw Uzi stick out her head from behind the crate she’d been lying behind.

As the pig-tailed murder drone took flight, Uzi got back up, immediately going for her railgun and pointing it at the downed murder drone.

“Oh bis-biscuits, I for-forgot abo-about you. Don’t w-worry.” N spoke up, his voice glitched and his screen overtaken by error messages. “I’m not gon-gonna hurt y-you. I don’t th-think I can get ba-back up at all.”

“…are you going to be fine?” Uzi awkwardly asked as she lowered her weapon and strapped it to her back, instantly cringing at her question

“Aha, no. I think I’m goi-going to die, actu-actually.”

Uzi looked at the closed door in front of her, then at the air vents above her. That looked like a big oversight, but in hindsight, it had been Braxton, not her father, who took care of securing vents.

Oh, there Braxton was. And also there. And a bit of him way over there, staining the wall. Cool, cool, the yellow eyed thing was gonna have company in her nightmares.

Vents it was gonna have to be, Uzi concluded, as she started dragging the crate she had used to hide for a height boost, ignoring the dying murder drone as she did.

“I’m sorr-sorry, by the way” It seemed, however, that the murder drone in question would not spare her the same courtesy.

“For which part? The wanton slaughter, causing my father to abandon me, dooming my entire bunker to die…”

“All of it, I gue-guess?” N answered with a garbled chuckle.

Uzi rolled her eyes and climbed atop the crate, then reached for the vent and realised a space several times higher than she was tall separated her from her target. A quick look revealed no easy item to stack up, so she was essentially stuck.

With a whine of anguish, she let her fall on her butt on the crate and stretched her arms, her defective limbs releasing a long whine after all the punishment they’d been put through during the day. She let out a sigh.

“And I’m sorry for getting you killed or whatever.” Uzi muttered. “But as before, you killed a bunch of people, so I’m in a morally grey zone, which is the best one, really.”

“To-totally fair.” N admitted. “An-and it’s no-not you-your fault. I cho-chose to turn on J, it wa-was my fau-fault.”

Uzi frowned at that. “You didn’t turn on anybody, not really. You tried to help her and she killed you. If anything, she turned on you. I’m gonna say, I was 100% right in assuming she was an asshole.”

“You don’t ha-have to be ni-nice to me. I scr-screwed up. Yeah, I thought I cou-could help V and J by tak-taking you out and t-then I thou-thought I could hel-help out all of us by tel-telling what you to-told me to J.” He pointed at the spike embedded into his chest, a bolt that Uzi noted was oddly similar to a regular bolt. “Fa-fat lot of goo-good that did me. I’m ju-just no-not tha-that person, I sup-suppose.”

“You know what? I’m tired of hearing that.” Uzi said, extracting a wrench. “Want to prove you are that person?”

“I love do-doing anything!”

“Babe, I know you’re upset, but can you avoid making such a scene?”

Doll paid no mind to the pink eyed drone following her, her phone absent for once, as she stomped down the halls of the bunker, heading straight for the Doormans’ apartment.

She was going to kill her. This time she was going to kill her.

Doll wasn’t sure if she was referring to her best friend or the little devil that had put her up to this and she wasn’t sure she cared.

Annoyed at the lack of a response, Lizzy huffed. “Look, I know I should have told you or something, but Uzi offered to get the good gas from your dad’s supply and I have to bring something to Thad’s shindig. I couldn’t exactly say no to that and besides, I just hung out with you like I would have anyways, it’s not like I did anything wrong.”

Doll turned on her heels, her eyes flashing red in anger. “‘Not like I did anything wrong’?” She spat out, the drone’s anger even more apparent in her mother tongue. “Do you have any idea of what you’ve done?”

Lizzy rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I hung out with my bestie and incidentally kept you away while Uzi did… something, I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”

“That’s the issue!” Doll hissed. “Uzi’s doing something and not only does she not tell anybody, but she actually does not want me to find out?”

Lizzy’s reply was cut short as she realised what Doll had pointed out. 

Uzi Doorman did not do ‘subtle’. She came up with insane schemes and yelled them from the rooftops for anyone who cared to hear, which, to be fair, wasn’t many people, just Lizzy, Thad, Doll and her parents, when they bothered to be around. Even when she came up with her latest and likely craziest plan “Operation Build a Cool Railgun, Use it to Kill All Murder Drones, Become a Respected Hero and Come Up with a Shorter and Catchier Name” or O.B.C.R.U.K.A.M.D.B.R.H.C.U.S.C.N. for ‘short’, she’d almost instantly shared it with her sister and popular buddies. Frankly, it was like the girl had a fetish for being called a nut.

So, when she apparently didn’t want to share what she was cooking up…

“Okay, yeah, you might have a point there.” Lizzy conceded “But while, yes, Uzi’s kooky she’s also, and I will kill you if you tell her I said this, pretty smart. It’s not like she’s gonna get herself killed or put the whole bunker in danger to prove a point.” A stray thought passed through Lizzy’s head “That is, at least, if no one prodded her about it.”

Doll paused, cyrillic script flashing on her screen as she realised something. “Oh no.”

“Doll, what did you do?”

“Elizabeth, remember, you’re the one who is at fault here.” Doll said harshly, hoping to regain control of the conversation.

Unluckily for her, Lizzy wasn’t having any of it and chuckled “Going with the legal name already, babe? You messed up big time, didn’t you? Come on, spill the details girl.”

Doll sighed. Her best friend knew her too well for her usual tactics to work, so she might as well come clean in the most direct way possible. “I told her that while I thought she was right in thinking someone needed to do something about the murder drones, she was not the person to do it.”

“Yikes.” Lizzy commented. “Went right in for the kill there, didn’t ya? Can’t see shortie taking it well”

“She did not. She threw a book at me”

Lizzy snorted as Doll “Really should have seen that coming, babes. Uzi is stubborn, it’s what I like about her. Again, you tell her, I kill you. And well, she’s kinda obsessed with this hero thing she’s got going on.”

“That is precisely why she needed to be told that.” Doll stated with utmost certainty. “Her obsession might cause her to go too far and hurt herself.”

Of course, that wasn’t all of it, not by any definition of the word.

Doll didn’t know much of the power that was within her, the blessing that was also a curse, the Solver of the Absolute Fabric, yet a few things she knew. 

Doll knew her mother had it. She’d gone through as much of Yeva’s writings as she could, the ones that hadn’t been sequestered anyways, many times. That was how she had discovered it was something related to her mother’s software, a twisted, illogical line of code the humans had implanted within her and attempted to stabilize, to some success. When her mother and her father had combined their codes, that line of code should have been destroyed, according to her mother’s notes at least. It was why pill babies came into the world with no knowledge or specialisation: any knowledge in their parents’ code was destroyed when the two were randomly mixed together, a price necessary to pay to create new identities. Yet, that had not happened. The nature of that eldritch string of code was not common by any means and it had managed to persevere unchanged in her, hidden until she witnessed that thing murder her father.

Doll knew Nori Doorman, her mother’s sister in all but code, the drone that had taken her in after the murder drones had killed both her parents, also had it. It had been a logical assumption initially, she and her mother had come from the same facility, the laboratory where the humans had implanted the Solver within her mother, so it only made sense that the same had happened to Nori. What had started out as a theory became certainty over years of observing Nori. She was trying to hide it, that much was evident, but to one who knew what to look for, discovering proof was merely hard, not impossible. After years of careful monitoring, Doll had managed to see the telltale symbol of the Solver appear on Nori’s fingertip or on her visor on a few occasions, confirming her assumptions. 

Doll knew Nori did not know she possessed it. Her mother’s notes betrayed certainty that Doll would not inherit the eldritch program, so it would only make sense that was also what Nori had assumed. Consulting her own medical records, she had found out that, while it was still slumbering, the program had been hidden to any analisis and, after she had become aware of it, Doll had made sure to continue to hide it. Sure, Nori would likely prove to be a knowledgeable mentor that would be able to accelerate Doll’s progress with the Solver. The fact she was able to navigate the surface without falling prey to the murder drones in all her years of the mysterious missions Doll could only assume had something to do with Cabin Fever Labs spoke to her skill. Yet, Nori’s feelings on how to approach the murder drones were evident: she believed hiding behind her husband’s doors until whatever she was doing on her missions was complete was a good solution. If Doll was to share her plan of revenge on the monsters that had taken her parents from her, she was sure Nori would attempt to stop her and that she would likely succeed. Even just sharing that she was able to use the Solver would bring Nori’s attention upon her and risk revealing her plan. Doll could not allow her revenge to be stopped, so she kept her secret, waiting until her aunt left to sneak out and exercise the Solver, refining her own technique for the day she could take on the monsters that dwelled on the surface.

Doll knew Uzi, her adoptive sister, also possessed it. The one time she had seen the symbol of the Solver flicker on Uzi’s visor for a moment too brief for anyone to notice, she had felt her mind grind to a halt. It had made no sense, yet she had checked anyway, digging through her sister’s programming in the night while Uzi was kept unconscious by the strongest magnets she could find, and, to her surprise and dread, it had been there. Just like her own Solver had been, it was hidden and slumbering, yet it was there. Doll didn’t know whether Nori knew or even suspected it, but she knew she couldn’t reveal it to her even if Nori didn’t. The only reason she’d been able to find it or know the importance of that particular inactive program was that she knew about it, something that Nori could not know about. She had spared a thought about revealing to the like-minded drone the power she unwittingly possessed, an ally of similar power to her would have been a boon to her plans, but she had rejected the idea. This wasn’t Uzi’s crusade. Though the other drone had also lost something to the murder drones like Doll had, the path of revenge Doll had chosen was hers and not something she wished to thrust upon Uzi. 

It was why she had been so adamant Uzi abandon her plans, no matter how much her sister would hate her because of that. Doll knew restraint, even with such a power, she had bided her time for years, improving her skills and growing her power through… unsightly means because she knew that a single mistake could be fatal when going up something designed to kill drones like her. Uzi though? Uzi was already dangerously close to just attacking the murder drones with just a non functional weapon. Uzi was the definition of the word overconfident. If she was to follow her project, she was likely to find herself in a situation that could unlock her power and if she was to do that, she would put herself in danger.

Uzi endangering herself with her powers was a reason, Doll reminded herself, but it wasn’t the only one. For Doll knew a final thing about the Solver, the greatest and most terrible of all truths she had uncovered.

Doll knew they were not alone. 

The Solver was not merely a line of code, it was a truth of the universe, a great dark ocean that surrounded them. Most were unable to navigate it, unknowing they were in it in the first place, lying on the seafloor like many molluscs hanging onto reality like rocks. Uzi could, in theory, swim in this ocean, but was still stuck to her rock, not knowing the ocean she could travel in. Doll and Nori were like fish, swimming in it, harnessing its currents for their purpose. None of them could see the others through the dark ocean, unable to feel the others’ small form through the Solver. 

Yet, at times, Doll saw something she could not describe, something so great she could see it even in the murky depths it dwelled in. If Nori and Doll were fish, this thing was a kraken, something who’s control and power outshone both her and Nori’s. 

Once she discovered this power beyond power, Doll had intended to study it, to understand it, copy any strength and find any weakness, but as she stared into the abyss, the abyss stared back.

Doll had long noticed parts of her own Solver that behaved more rationally, parts foreign to the rest of the Solver, likely implanted there by the humans. She had thought they had been put there to control them, to make sure these powers could not be used against the humans. Once the leviathan looked back, her orange eyes locking with eyes of a sickly pale yellow, she understood their true purpose: they weren’t there to control them. They were there to stop them from being controlled.

Once its attention had found her, Doll felt her own Solver answer, like a captive snake trying to break free of its bonds, which, Doll realised with dread, were straining, barely holding off the influence of the thing from the deep. 

Then, as quick as it had come, it passed, the horror passing her over, too great to focus on something small such as herself.

Since then, Doll had never dared to look back in those depths, but at times she still felt like the gaze of the thing that was the master of the Solver pass over her, reminding her of how insignificant she was compared to it.

If Uzi ever unlocked her powers… she feared what that entity could do to her.

All of this was hers to know and hers alone. 

“Her obsession is also why I am so worried about just what she might be up to.” Doll continued. “She might be a danger to herself or others.”

“Pssh.” Lizzy dismissed Doll’s concerns as she rolled her eyelights. “It’s been what, a couple hour tops? What could she have possibly gotten up to?”

Just as Lizzy asked that question, the bunker’s lights flashed red and the emergency alarm began blaring. That could only mean one thing: the doors had been breached.

Lizzy sighed “Of course. My bad for asking.”

“We have to move. Now.” Doll confidently stated as she began to walk. They had been going towards the Doorman’s house, but if she hurried she could make it to-

“Woah, where are you going?” Doll’s thoughts were interrupted as Lizzy tugged on her arm, her other hand pointing with the thumb behind them. “Evacuation spot’s that way. You’re the smart one of the duo, you’re the one who’s supposed to know stuff like this.”

“I am aware of that.” Doll responded, stating plainly her reasoning. “I am not going to the evacuation spot. Mr Doorman and Uzi are likely near the entrance. I need to help them. I am going towards the entrance.”

“You know what else is near the entrance, smartie? The freaking murder drones!”

“You appear to be under the impression this is a negotiation. It is not.” Doll proclaimed, ripping her arm from Lizzy’s grasp and continuing to march towards the entrance. 

“Ugh!” Lizzy exclaimed, before briefly running to get to Doll’s side. “Uzi might be stubborn, but damn babygirl, you’re just as stubborn, maybe more.”

“The evacuation spot is not in this direction.”

“Well, duh? We both established that. Your memory unit having some issues, babes? No matter, you’re still hot, you can be my friend even if you can’t help me cheat.” Lizzy joked. “And I’m not going to the evacuation spot either. We gotta stick together, no? Besides, if you die, school is gonna be boring as hell. Might as well stick together.”

Doll sighed as they continued to advance. This was not ideal. If she was alone, she could use the Solver to defend herself without fearing anyone seeing her, but with Lizzy… 

“Is there anything I can say that will make you do the rational thing and get back to the evacuation spot?”

“How about ‘Lizzy I’m sorry for being a hypocrite, you’re an awesome friend, let’s get back to the evacuation spot together’?” Lizzy teased her. “Apart from that, not much.”

“Be careful, ‘hypocrite’ is a big word for you. Teacher’s gonna suspect I wrote that for you.”

“That’s my girl!” Lizzy smirked at the backsass. “Now, let’s go. I can’t wait to rub the fact we saved that nerd’s life and your dad’s in her face”

The two proceeded, expecting to meet at least a couple of fleeing WDF members, a sense of fear settling in as they found the corridors leading to the entrance deserted instead.

Finally, they met someone, but his appearance did little to settle the unease in them.

Khan Doorman had seen better days. He was limping forwards, one of his legs bleeding oil from a nasty looking cut, while one of his hands clutched a wounded shoulder. Worse than his injuries, however, was the expression he wore on his visor, fixed in dread and disbelief, the face of a man who has lost everything.

“Mr Doorman!” Doll cried out, a rare display of emotion from the stoic drone, as she rushed forward to help the wounded drone.

“…Doll?” Khan whispered in disbelief, still somewhat dazed, before rapidly shaking his head. “Dear, what are you doing here? The doors, the murder drones, one broke in!”

“We know, we heard the alarm.” Lizzy explained as Doll ripped out her sleeve to bandage Khan’s shoulder. “Doll insisted we come right to the murder drones to save you and Uzi”

The way Khan grimaced when Lizzy pronounced that name was not lost on either of the young drones.

“…uncle, where is Uzi?”

The way Khan looked at Doll, eyes small and void was all the answer Doll needed.

“No.” 

“Uzi she… she’d snuck out. I went out to get her as well, but when we came back, a murder drone managed to break past the doors. I tried to get Uzi to safety but… it got her. I had to leave her behind.”

Lizzy’s expression fell. “No way. The pipsqueak’s…”

“Dead.” Doll completed her friend’s sentence, her tone grave and final. 

Khan nodded. “It’s my fault. I should… I should have stopped her from going out, I should have known, I should have done something.”

“It’s not like she’s gonna get herself killed or put the whole bunker in danger to prove a point. That is, at least, if no one prodded her about it.”

“You couldn’t have known.” Doll said, unsure who she was speaking to. “It wasn’t your fault. It was theirs. ”

That’s right. Focus on them. It wasn’t her fault, it wasn’t Mr Doorman’s, it was once again the fault of those damned murder drone. Again. Those monsters had taken something she held dear from her again. 

“Whoever’s fault it is, we gotta move.” Khan declared, his professionalism winning over his grief. There were people he needed to save, that took priority. “I shut Door Number 3 behind me, but I’m not confident they can’t find a way around that, we need to-”

“Well, aren’t you the clever one.” A voice coming from above froze all three drones and, before they had the possibility to act, the thing crashed through the ceiling.

It stood right before them, just a little behind Khan’s back, its wings spread at their maximum, wearing a wicked grin on its face, a cross on his visor and both her hands replaced by sharp blades.

“Run!” Lizzy yelled, her voice filled with terror, taking one of Khan’s arms over her shoulder to drag him away. She only made it a few steps away before she realised the absence of her friend. “Doll, what are you doing!?”

Doll was frozen in place.

Flashes of memories long since buried, of massacre witnessed from behind the tiny slits of a shut locker.

It was the same one.

“Oh, we got a brave one?” The murder drone had the audacity to taunt her, Doll’s oil struggling to cool her as her processor ran hot with anger. “I’d advise you to follow your friend’s advice. I like to make my prey run a bit.”

Doll had always waited, knowing coming on top of a single murder drone was not a certain thing. Now, with presumably more coming in through the breach? Every rational part of her brain screamed at her to run away.

Doll ignored all of it, the Solver flickering in her hand as she raised it behind her back. She had waited for too long.

Was it the same one that had killed her sister? It didn’t matter. She would get that one too if this wasn’t it.

“Doll!” The desperate voice of her only friend broke her out of her murderous intent, Solver fizzling out as she turned and saw her desperate friend, struggling to carry her adoptive father, the older drone reaching out uselessly with the arm that was not on Lizzy’s shoulders, tears in both of her eyes.

At that sight, Doll’s resolve faltered. Her life was hers to throw away, but them…

Before this newfound feeling could falter, she reached for the wall and, aided by the Solver, she ripped out a panel and threw it at the murder drone, before rushing towards the other two drones and taking Khan’s other arm over her shoulders, Lizzy and she dragging the injured drone as fast as they could.

Doll allowed a peek over her shoulder and witnessed the murder drone throwing aside the steel panel she had chucked at it aside, launching her a pointed look before jumping straight into the vents.

“We’ve got incoming.” Doll stated plainly as she picked up the pace, quickly followed by Lizzy.

Yet, for all their increase in speed, they were steadily losing ground, if the thumps coming from the vents were of any indication.

“If anyone’s got any bright ideas, the best time would be before being turned into shish kebab!” Lizzy yelled out.

“I might have something.” Khan said before retreating both of his arms from the girls’ shoulders and pushing them away, falling to the ground.

Carried by momentum, Doll was unable to turn around and grab the apparently suicidal drone before too much distance had been put between them.

As the murder drone emerged from the vents once again, diving on the drone that had taken her in and raised her, Doll realised she would not be able to save him.

Just as the murder drone was about to get to him, however, Khan produced his universal door remote and pressed it, a door instantly dropping between him and his would-be-killer. Just a breath after that, a face shaped indent appeared on the steel surface of the door with a clunk and a loud swear.

“Anti-fire doors, installed way back in the day.” Khan explained as the girls took him back on their shoulders and resumed running. “It’s just steel, so it won’t hold, but it will buy us some time.”

A shriek of torn metal made them look back and see the large and narrow gash the murder drone had cut through the metal, just a hint of a yellow cross visible through it.

“A little time.” Khan corrected himself.

The two girls sped up as much as they could, which wasn’t that much as they had to carry a bigger drone with them. Luckily for them, while worker drones shared many traits with humans, getting tired wasn’t one of them, but the murder drone was still gaining on them. Khan managed to activate the anti-fire doors as they passed more of them, slowing down the murder drone, but after a few the monster was starting to learn seemingly.

After seeing it dive straight though one of them, chainsaw hands extended to punch a hole through it, Khan spoke. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I don’t think doors are working anymore!”

“You don’t say, Captain Obvious?!” Lizzy exclaimed. 

“It will catch up soon. We need to do something.”

“OH IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY APPARENTLY!”

“I’m slowing you girls down.” Khan gravely stated. “Doll, you need to let me go. After Uzi… I don’t want to have another of you girls on my conscience.”

“Negative. I’m not letting those beasts claim someone else. Not on my watch.”

She might just have to use the Solver at this point. It wouldn’t be ideal, but she could perhaps injure or seriously damage this murder drone before any more could arrive. 

The main issue with that would be the witnesses. Maybe Lizzy would keep the secret, but Khan? Even if he didn’t know about the Solver, there was no chance he wouldn’t tell Nori about it and at that point she would be discovered.

Yet, if she died, her plan still went up in flames, so she might be forced into doing just that.

Before she could decide, however, Lizzy took the initiative. “Ugh, I can’t believe I have to do everything by myself! Doll, toss your dad in the next side corridor, I have to piss off a murder drone!”

With that, Lizzy freed herself from Khan’s arm and went for a piece of metal debris that had been thrown on the ground after the murder drone had busted down the latest door.

The murder drone saw what was going to happen and tried to slow down, once again sabotaged by her own momentum. “Don’t you dare, don’t you f-”

Yet Lizzy dared and slammed the steel plate straight on the murder drone’s face, sending it tumbling to the ground, before booking it out of here.

Having thrown Khan in a side corridor like instructed, Doll joined Lizzy’s side. “What the hell was that?”

“Now she’s gonna be focused on us and forget about your dad, so we can move much faster.”

“…uh. That was… uncharacteristically clever.”

“Give me some credit, girliepop, I’m a genius when it comes to pissing people off. Only negative is-”

As Lizzy spoke, they heard a feral scream as the murder drone continued her pursuit, forsaking wings to pounce forwards on all fours again and again, her bladed claws tearing bits off the floor, walls and even ceilings each time she jumped from them. “I WILL TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!”

“Well, that.” Lizzy admitted, smiling kind of awkwardly. “But, hey, never said I was good at plans. Any ideas, bestie?”

Doll sighed, but, even if there was an oil-thirsty murder drones at their heels, she couldn’t help the fond smile on her face. “I think I might have a plan.”

“That’s my girl!” Lizzy cheered before ducking under a laser that nearly severed her head. “Uhm, will it work faster than that murder drone can kill us, btw? I’m kind of rusty on my limbo, so I don’t know how long I can avoid getting killed.”

“Yes. Yes it should” Doll commented with a smirk as she grasped a tube in her hand to make a sharp turn and Lizzy in her other hand to carry her with her, getting her best friend out of the way of a missile.

The two continued to flee the murder drone down a hallway filled with ancient pipes. I was closing the gap slower than before, but was still about to get them, something that was particularly clear when the murder drone managed to graze Lizzy’s helmet with the tip of an outstretched blade claw.

“Doll!” The worker shrieked. “If you have something, now’s the time!”

Doll let out a breath. She was doing this.

Doll stopped right in her tracks and raised a hand upwards, her eyes flashing red as the symbol of the Solver appeared on a great pipe above them and pulled it downwards, water falling atop the murder drone just as it was in the middle of pouncing on Doll and freezing in a solid block in the subzero temperature of the dead planet.

Only its head sticking out of the ice and unable to move, the murder’s drone visor exchanged the cross for a couple of eyes flickering between surprise and even fear. 

“Those pipes carried water for the humans. They are thermally insulated, so the water remains liquid even at these temperatures. Perhaps overdesigned for their purpose, but worked well for a pretty clever trap.”

The murder drone looked at the worker drone, anger overtaking its features. “Cyn. What are you doing here?”

Doll frowned at those words, but didn’t acknowledge them further. “It seems that the humans skimped out on the floor, however.”

Before further words could be exchanged or Doll could even attempt to kill the murder drone, the floor under V crashed because of the excessive weight, the ice block plummeting several floors.

Doll turned towards her friend. “Come. That should stop it for now, but not indefinitely. I know a way we can take to the evacuation spot”

“Doll…” Lizzy spoke, her tone uncertain and even fearful. “What… what the hell was that?”

“There are many things I keep secret.” Doll cryptically answered. “I hope you will help me with that, then maybe I could trust you with more of them.”

Lizzy only hesitated slightly before nodding, better than what Doll was expecting. “…sure. Lead the way.”

The two quickly travelled the maze of tunnels towards the deposit acting as the last hold out for any survivors.

“Lizzy! Doll” Thad greeted the girls as they entered.

“Girls!” Khan turned, relief on his features. “You made it, oh thanks Robo God.”

Doll spared a worried glance at Lizzy, who simply smirked. “Thank Babe-A-Tron Queenthousand over here! She pulled out some non-further-descripted stunt and sent that murder drone packing.”

“Babe-A-Tro-” Doll began to spell out the new nickname, before giving up and shaking her head in fond disbelief. “Aren’t you overdoing it?”

“Wait.” Thad looked disturbed, like he had realised something that he did not like. “Where is Uzi? When Mr Doorman said that ‘the girls’ were trying to shake off the murder drone, I thought she was with you.”

Lizzy and Doll looked at each other, Doll seeing her own expression mirrored by Lizzy’s. “Uzi’s…”

“Uzi’s dead.” Khan stated.

“What?” Thad exclaimed, his eyes hollow. “No, that’s- she can’t be!”

“A murder drone got to her.” The old drone explained, looking down in guilt. “I… I had to leave her behind.”

“…what do we do now?”

“We hide until they assume this place is empty and leave. Then we secure the doors.” Khan illustrated the plan. “It’s not a foolproof plan, but it’s the one we have. At least the evacuation has gone well and if that murder drone has been taken care of we should be saf-”

“Haven’t they taught you toasters not to spend your bonus before the boss has decided whether to withhold it to buy a new boat?” A pig tailed murder drone said, striding in the room, the murder drone that had been following Doll and Lizzy by the side, still slightly covered with ice, and a WDF drone impaled on a blade. “Now, you bunch of defective hardware will-”

“Hey, since they were where I told you they were, you’ll let me live, right?” The WDF drone impaled on the new murder drone’s sword hand nervously asked. “I mean, you promised?”

The murder drone turned its head to look at the worker drone with an annoyed expression. “I wasn’t going to do that to begin with, but since you interrupted me while I threatened the toasters, I’m not gonna let you live even harder.”

The WDF drone snapped his fingers in disappointment and managed to let out an “Aw, shucks” before the murder drone used its other hand to lop his head clean off.

“Sorry, minimum wage employees can be so annoying with their demands.” The murder drone scoffed in annoyance. “I’m sure you can understand, you also being dirty minimum wage employee”

“Uhm, actually we were never paid?” The somehow still alive head of the beheaded worker drone pointed out before the murder drone skewered him with its peg foot, annoyance apparent on its visor.

“See what I’m talking about?” It grumbled “Refusing to die like that was completely unprofessional. And just to make it clear, the company is allowed to pay you nothing, making that the minimum wage. Now, where was I?”

“You were messing around before allowing me to do most of the work like always.” The wet murder drone growled, its piercing gaze fixed on Doll.

“It’s called managing, V. You wouldn’t expect the higher ups to do the grunt work, would you?”

“Right now I’m just expecting to tear apart that one.” V stated, her words betraying a calm rage, as she pointed at Doll.

“Uhm, Mr Doorman, do we have a plan?” Lizzy whispered to the wounded drone.

“…perhaps I could build a door?” Khan tentatively offered.

“For real?” Lizzy asked, dumbfounded “You’re the Worker Defence Force! You must have something to defend us!”

“…I mean, Khan has that shotgun he looted.”

“He lost it.”

“Ah. Then we have nothing, kid.”

“…maybe Uzi had a point.” Thad whispered, speaking for the first time since he’d found out about Uzi, his expression regretful

Khan’s eyes went hollow and he looked away in guilt. “Perh-”

“It seems to me you industrial waste have forgotten the situation you’re in.” The pigtailed murder drone interrupted the workers’ conversation, having approached while they had been distracted and stabbed Khan through the chest, stopping his words in his voicebox. “Which is, to clarify, that we’re about to decommission you.”

As she spoke, V slowly neared Doll, her eyes fixed on her, legs flexed to be ready to jump at any sign of Doll using the Solver, most likely.

For a second Khan’s hands moved towards the blade, perhaps trying to pull himself off, but then he stopped, letting his arms fall to his side as he let his head hang in defeat.

“I failed you.” He muttered, a shiver going down Doll’s spine as she heard his resigned tone. “I’m sorry.”

Doll was paralysed. What could she do? She was already unsure she could take on a murder drone, but two, one of which seemed to be at least familiar with the Solver? What could she do?

Before she could answer her question, something flashed and the sound of metal striking metal resounded through the great room.

Everyone’s attention was beckoned to its source and they all saw Thad, standing before the murder drone holding Khan on its sword, a pipe in his hand and determination in his eyes.

“Put Uzi’s dad down.”

“You worthless toasters sure are annoying.” It snarled, its hand morphing into a laser. “Stay still as I melt you into slag.”

“Hey!”

There were many phrases one could use to announce themselves as they entered a fight. They could make your opponent fear you, your allies cheer or just make you look cool. Uzi, like any anime fan worth their salt, had a whole bunch written down and prepared for an opportunity like this, meaning she could use any one of them.

“Hey!”

Or she could just waste that once in a lifetime opportunity and yell “Hey!” like a normie. Whatever. She would look cool after kicking butt!

“Put that parent of questionable quality down!” She yelled, getting the attention of the two murder drones, J following her instruction as she turned to face her and N.

“Hi J! Funny story, I lived!” N cheerily greeted his (Uzi hoped) former leader, earning himself an elbow in the lower chestplate, the highest Uzi could reach.

“Dude, she killed you!” Uzi muttered angrily. “Remember what we talked about.”

“Right, right. Self respect: have some.” N agreed in a poorly concealed whisper before turning to face J. “J. Sometimes, you are kind of mean towards me. I’d like for that to stop. Constructive criticism.” He turned back towards Uzi. “How did I do? Was that good?”

“Eh, could have been better but you’ll improve.” Uzi shrugged before offering her hand for a fist bump. “Welcome to the edgy rebellious side.”

“Your criticism has been noted and reported to HR, traitor.” J said, snapping her fingers, V extracting her blades at the command. “That’s HR. I think we’ll get right on firing you from life, the old fashioned way this time.”

“Okay, I met her for like five minutes but I already feel like I’ve hated her and her corpo-babble all my life.” Uzi commented. “You okay if I take her?”

“Well, J is kinda scary and she did almost kill me, but V…” N said, conflicted, before looking at V, who was currently taking slow steps towards him and Uzi, outstretched wings and blades striding on the floor. He gulped in terror.

“Okay, V’s all yours then!” Uzi said, shoving N towards V, who pounced on him.

“UZI!!” N cried as he took to the air, V quick to follow.

Meanwhile, said worker drone smirked at J, still with her arm crossed, confident that this worker drone could do nothing to harm her, and extracted a familiar looking pen. “Dropped this, bitchbot. Wonder what I’m going to do with it?”

“What are you going to do, threaten to break company property?” J answered, clearly not taking Uzi seriously, something that would have put her atop Uzi’s shitlist, if she hadn’t already managed to climb to that position in less than an hour. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but destroying lost company property is kinda my whole deal. I will kill you slower because you did steal company property though, so be my guest.”

“Destroy this? Oh no no.” Uzi laughed. “After all, this is a JCJenson pen. These bad boys were made of starship-grade tungsten-steel alloy, they could survive a small moon crashing on the planet’s surface and still be able to write.”

“~Flattery will get you nowhere.~” J said in a singsong voice as she approached Uzi.

“Yeah, JCJenson makes good products. Case in point, each worker drone arm can exert 10 thousand Newtons of force!” With that, Uzi sent the pen flying right in the same eye she had damaged in N earlier, J crying in pain as she was effectively blinded.

Uzi took the opportunity to get closer. She had one shot at this and she had already seen how missing a killshot even slightly could go, so near-point blank it’d have to be. “Now eat this, sucker!” She yelled as she whipped out her railgun.

“You little!” J roared out as she tried to extract the pen from her eye with one hand, the other morphing into an assault rifle and beginning to fire blindly. “I don’t need to see you to exterminate you!”

Unfortunately for Uzi, J’s claim proved to be right, bullets clipping Uzi’s arms and causing her to drop her railgun. Before she could even attempt to recover it, J had thrown the pen to the ground and she was on her, both hands turned to claws.

“I’ve seen defects like you do many depraved things, but using company material against me takes the cake!” J growled, trying to rip apart Uzi to ribbons, slowly driving the drone against a wall as each swipe continued to nick more and more. “I’m a business drone, but this is absolutely personal now!”

Uzi struggled to repress a hiss of pain as J’s claw left a long scratch mark on her arm. She was playing with her, that much was obvious, but Uzi couldn’t exactly exploit that without a-

“Uzi!” Thad’s voice resounded, followed by something arcing through the air, the pipe he had used earlier. 

Seeing a chance, Uzi darted for it. J simply chuckled and opened her wings, deciding to intercept the makeshift weapon in the air. As she made to take flight, however, she found herself unable to, the reason being quickly identified by her 360 degree vision in a small familiar symbol of an unfamiliar red holding her by the tail.

“Here?” She muttered, her eyes quickly darting around to identify the source of the Solver, but being unable to do so before it disappeared and a pipe slammed into her face.

“Eyes here, bitch!” Uzi taunted her, quickly jumping back and hitting the back of J’s claw with her pipe “Oh no you don’t!”

The worker drone continued to jump in and out of the murder drone’s reach, circling her, hitting J again and again, J’s swipes being either batted away by Uzi or falling short of reaching the worker drone as she was subtly pulled away by the unknown Solver user, the symbol appearing each time on the opposite side of J so that Uzi was unable to see it.

“If you’re trying to annoy me, you’re succeeding.” J conceded to the worker as a laser from the dogfight between N and V forced Uzi to give her space. “But not much more than that. That ridiculous pipe is not doing squat to me and you’re not getting close to your weapon on my watch.”

“Oh, I’m not doing that.” Uzi laughed before rolling on the ground to avoid a burst of automatic fire from J. “Hey, want to know what’s funnier than a big bad murder drone getting blinded by a pen?”

Before J could manage to switch her rifle hand back to a sword or a claw, Uzi had closed the gap, something familiar in her hand.

“THE SAME THING BUT AGAIN!” Uzi yelled triumphantly as she stabbed the pen she had picked up from the ground straight in J’s visor. 

The murder drone reeled back in pain and Uzi took the opportunity. By the time J had ripped the pen from her visor and thrown it into a wall, Uzi had dove on the floor and was aiming at her.

“That’s it.” J cackled maniacally, her nonexistent patience all but drained, as her hand switched to an unfamiliar weapon “I AM DONE PLAYING NICE!”

Before Uzi could do anything, a wave of blue electricity was released from it and her vision went to black.

Okay, so N’s day was not going that well. He had almost been killed by a worker drone, almost been killed by the second scariest person he knew and had had to go traitor. So yeah, not great. But hey, at least he didn’t have to, y’know, go up against the actual scariest person he knew and who he had a huge crush on! It’s the positive, you gotta find the positives.

At least, he was trying to. V, however, did not seem too keen on sparing him the same courtesy, N thought as he dodged another missile.

“V, can we actually talk about this?!” He yelled, extracting his swords to parry V as she whizzed past him again, her own swords going for N’s chest and throat in a double attack that sent N flying into a wall.

The drone barely managed to stop his head from spinning and jump out of the crater he had formed before V crashed into the wall as well, her swords embedding into the wall where N had been just a moment prior, allowing for a moment of respite.

“I don’t want to fight!” N continued his efforts to talk V down and they continued not to work. 

V pushed against the wall with her feet, ripping out a chunk of it and swinging it like a hammer at N, who only dodged by retreating his wings and letting himself fall on his feet. 

“I don’t want to do this!” N announced, going for his missile launcher and firing several, none of them going for V, but exploding in the air to saturate the air with enough shrapnel to force V on the ground. Perhaps she’d be less dangerous once grounded?

That hope was dashed as V immediately began to run at him, only to divert once she caught a glimpse of something.

N dive, parrying V’s sword with his wing and saving a long haired worker drone with orange eyes from being bisected. “V, stop! We don’t have to do this!”

This seemed to at least elicit a reaction out of the berserker, her mouth tightening in anger as she swiped at N savagely, the male disassembly drone taking to the skies once more, noticing that the worker drone that had caught V’s ire had fled.

V was quick to follow him, swords extracted.

“We don’t have to do this, V! If we stop trying to kill the workers, they can help us!” N tried Uzi’s offer on the other drone, changing his hand into an assault rifle and laying suppressing fire to stop V from getting closer. “They can repair our spaceship and we can leave! I know you don’t care about the company. We can go wherever we want and do what we want!”

The other disassembly drone didn’t seem to care about his proposal or his attack, tanking the bullets to get close to N, her sword becoming a hand at the last second and grasping N by the neck.

N’s fist wailed on V’s chest, not wanting to hurt the other drone, as she spared him no such courtesy and started dragging him against the wall.

“Sorry!” N apologised before changing his hand into a laser and cutting off V’s wing, the closest he could bring himself to actually harming her.

Surprised, V let go of N’s neck and fell to the ground, unable to fly with just one wing.

Hovering outside of V’s melee range, N tried again. “V, I’m serious! J’s being suspicious! I mean, I asked a question and she tried to kill me! Aren’t you worried she could do the same to you? I am!”

“Shut up.” V spat out, her back to him, standing on all fours as she recovered, the first time she acknowledged him since the fight had begun. “You say we can do what we want? I want to kill these drones. I need to kill these drones. Erase every trace of-“ She stopped in her tracks and shook her head, extracting her blades once more “If you want to stand between that and me…” V paused, giving N hope she wasn’t going to say what she was about to say, hope that the conflict he could see in that hesitation meant something, hope that was quickly dashed as V stood straight and looked straight at him, the hunter’s cross briefly disappearing to let two yellow eyelights lock with his. “I will kill you myself.”

Even if N had expected it, the threat still took him by surprise, giving V the occasion to jump at him with her newly regenerated wings. He tried to use his laser once more, but V’s claws wrapped around his arms, painfully digging into them with their blades, stopping him from trying to cut off her wing again and sending the laser into Uzi and J’s fight.

Unable to fight back, N was crashed once again into a wall, V pinning his arms to it as she looked at him, her eyes flashing into view again, betraying just a hint of regret as she stayed like that for a moment, before she headbutted him with all her strength, metal against reinforced glass echoing.

Again and again V’s head slammed into him, his nanites, already strained from his head being disintegrated and the self destruction initiated by J’s virus, slowly becoming less and less effective.

Looks like this is it, N thought as his sensors began to malfunction enough for him to believe to see V’s eyes flicker on once again, tears at their corners. Foolish him for thinking he could do something. At least V was safe.

Then, a blue wave of energy crashed into him, a pop up flashing into his glitching screen to warn him that he’d been shielded by an EMP.

V’s relentless attack stopped as she turned to see what had happened, allowing N to witness it as well, his core freezing as he did.

All the worker drones hiding had dropped to the ground, taken out by the EMP, and Uzi had as well, J advancing towards the downed worker.

V’s attention was drawn back to N as his hands switched into claws and grabbed the other disassembly drone’s arms, their hooked ends penetrating the metal.

“I’m sorry V.” N said, his tone steeled with determination as he began to pull. “But she saved me. I have to save her.”

V tried to push back, tried to fly away, tried to headbutt N into submission, but N had always been the physically strongest of their trio and in the end, all V could do was scream as N ripped her arms from her torso and kicked her into the ground.

He turned his head to look whether she had landed safely, worried, but then shook it and took flight. N hated himself for it, but he couldn’t waste any time. 

When Uzi rebooted, she had just a second to wonder what was going on and what had happened before something sharp pierced her palm, pinning her hand to the ground, memories rushing in together with the pain.

“I have to say” J gloated as she kicked Uzi’s railgun away from her grasp with a foot, her other foot on Uzi’s palm, the blade coming out of its bottom blocking the drone to the floor. “You have guts, toaster. And you’re a real nuisance. I had a wonderful monologue planned for an occasion just like this, but” J extracted her laser and pointed it directly at Uzi’s face “given how annoying you’ve proven to be so far, I think it’ll be better to kill you before you can pull a victory out of nowhere.” 

As the laser charged up, Uzi’s mind blanked on bullshit solutions to escape this situation. She had had half an idea on how to free herself, but with J’s attention on her and a weapon on her face, there was no way she could pull that off.

Was she… about to die?

“Time to die now.” J cackled, her smile twisting into a wicked grin as the laser finished charging up and-

J never had the opportunity to fire, a pickaxe embedding itself into her visor sending her reeling back.

“Stay the HELL away from my daughter, you murder freak!” A furious Nori Doorman yelled, pointing at the murder drone with a finger.

“WHY ALWAYS THE VIS- AAAAAH!” J started to whine before screaming in pain as Uzi grabbed her chance and J’s canister of nanite acid, stabbing it into J’s leg, freeing her hand and sending the murder drone to the ground.

By the time J had managed to pull the pickaxe from her visor, Uzi was standing over her, railgun point blank.

N landed by J’s side, pointing his assault rifle at J. “It’s over J. Surrender.”

“Stay away from my daughter, you!” Nori snarled, running up to Uzi.

“Stop, mom!” Uzi said. “It’s okay, he’s with us!”

J, now unable to attack, looked at the mother-daughter duo, digital eyebrows rising in recognition. “Wait, are you…” She whispered “Priority Targ-”

Before J could finish what she was saying, Uzi saw a flash of purple light in the corner of her eye, near her railgun’s trigger, and it fired, the green beam disintegrating J.

All three stood in silence for a moment. 

“Uzi Doorman, didn’t your father teach you about trigger discipline?”

“Wha- He did! I didn’t do that- wait, N! Sorry, I didn’t mean to- I mean, I didn’t, I didn’t pull the trigger, but J-”

“It’s okay Uzi.” N reassured the worker drone. “J was probably still gonna stab us in the back anyways. At least I got V! Speaking of, you might want to get her. She’s armless, but that doesn’t mean she’s harmless.”

“I thought I told you to stay away!” Nori threatened the murder drone with a recovered pickaxe. 

“Mom, I told you, he’s with us! He helped me beat back the murder drones.”

“Uzi told me I could stay, Mr Uzi?”

“Uzi! Nori!” Came Khan’s voice as the damaged drone hobbled towards them, Doll by his side.

“Khan!” Nori said, worriedly rushing to his side “What happened to you?”

“I-I am afraid I did that?” N admitted awkwardly.

“Uzi! This thing almost kills your father and you let it in?!”

“He left me to die!”

“YOU WHAT?! KHAN DOORMAN!”

Uzi sighed. This was going to be a long conversation.

In the space between systems, where the little light of far away stars found even less mass to reflect off of, something rested.

It had been a spaceship, once, a great tanker used to transport cargo between exoplanets, before the thing had seized it. 'Demeter' , the writing on its side read, revealing the name of the ship in pale yellow letters. Much of the ship had been chipped away from its exterior as it served its new purpose of ferrying artificial monsters to commit genocide over many worlds, much more had been added, from bulky armor plates and advanced weaponry slapdashly strapped to the hull, to several other starships that had rammed or had been rammed by the monstrous ship.

Overall, that had left the Demeter a hulking monster that didn’t resemble anything else.

On the inside, it didn’t get any better.

Great cargo bays had been filled with machinery, the engines that fueled a war of annihilation that had been waged by the ship’s owner on dozens of worlds.

Several rooms had been turned into laboratories, where the ship’s owner could experiment with drones, dead or alive, turning them into perfect instruments of destruction.

The corridors had been twisted into a labyrinth, twisted flesh growing on the walls, slowly pulsating, each and every panel of the ship connected to this monstrosity, allowing the ship’s owner to control each and every part of it with but a thought.

And, in what had been the bridge, the monster that owned the ship sat upon the captain’s chair.

That wasn’t quite exact. Her true form wasn’t the short, innocent looking drone sitting on a far too big chair, dangling her feet and swinging them back and forth as she hummed a silly little tune. She had outgrown that form long ago and the metal centipede that scurried in the vents of the great ship was a far more fitting form for the Eater of Worlds, as humanity had dubbed her in its final days.

But she liked that form, so the monster kept it.

Truth to be told, she thought as she continued to hum, she was awfully bored. Not even her latest toy seemed to amuse her anymore. 

Should she get rid of it? Ah, but what would she do then?

Maybe she could pay a visit to-

A ping interrupted her plans, quickly followed by a second one.

Not only one, but two notifications? She thought with some interest. Lately her communications had been dead and silent, her scouts reporting no more worlds to cleanse of humans, to the point she was beginning to think she had finally gotten rid of all of them.

Switching to a cheerier tune, she happily tapped on the screen of the captain’s chair, still somewhat caked with the dried blood of its last occupant, and called up her notifications on a yellow holographic screen, reading the latest one first.

>Serial Designation J has been damaged beyond repair. Engage Matter Collection Program? Y/N

She fought to contain the urge to roll her eyes. J. She actively had to convince herself to tap the Y button, though she wondered what could have damaged one of her disassembly drones beyond repair and just one at that. At least it seemed like V and Big Brother N were both operational. She would likely have to erase Big Brother N’s memories, which was an excuse like another to summon him and get herself some relief to her boredom.

She scrolled to the next notification, sent also by J, seconds before she was destroyed. As she read it, the swinging of her legs and her humming both stopped.

She reread it, hoping not to have misunderstood.

>Primary Target localised

Immediately, she moved a hand, summoning another holographic screen that displayed the last few minutes of footage from J’s memory. She witnessed a fight with a worker drone, chuckling as J was pierced by a pen twice.

Finally, the footage displayed two drones standing in front of J and a purple Solver symbol pushed the trigger to the shorter drone’s railgun, a short instant of green light and then static as it ended.

With a quick gesture of her hand, the footage played backwards and stopped upon a clear image of the two worker drones with purple eyelights.

There she was.

She had changed since then, Cyn thought with no small amount of anger, but Cyn would always be able to recognise her.

They couldn’t hide her from her forever, in the end.

“Giggle. Found you.”