Chapter Text
It had been 10 months since the decisive fight with the Absolute Solver, and all the denizens of Copper 9 are significantly better off for it. A specific Worker Drone was making his way back home on his own from playing in the ruins downtown, trudging through the snow. The district had been cleared of deceased worker drone corpses, yet he still wandered with light, wary feet. He did not need to worry about the infamous Disassembly Drones either: he had one as a good friend even. The night was still and silent with not even an errant snowflake blowing about.
The young Worker Drone was within a stone’s throw from the grand entrance to the subterranean, Warren-like bunker that was Outpost 3, when he heard something in the air. Looking up, he caught sight of a star that shone brighter than normal. This wasn’t good, he thought. But, before he could even move, the racing light sped down and landed just meters away from the giant gate of the Outpost, kicking up settled snow and asbestos flakes and causing them to blow about in the air, almost burying the teenage Worker.
Coughing against the sudden cloud of snow, he couldn’t immediately get a glimpse of what had landed, but after the draft settled down and the snow settled back down, he saw immediately what it was and jumped into action to investigate it carefully. He took steady steps towards the object, making sure moves and Also finding the pipe wrench he used as self defense from his backpack, slowly but surely. He got to within a foot of it, still cautious but not letting the discovery scare him. He got so close to it, he even managed to touch the object with a plastic-shelled finger.
”Whoa.” He muttered while he inspected the object closely with his emerald-lighted eyes. It was for sure a lot bigger up close, but he rarely even got close to similar things like it before now. But what made him freeze in place was the sudden whoosh of a hatch opening. This made the worker drone shudder as he looked to his right and see the main hatch opening wide like a maw, designed to release the very agents of destruction that had devastated his world once before. He could only flinch in anticipation as he waited to see the sulphuric lights of new sky demons appear from within…
Uzi and N were walking back to Uzi's apartment when they both saw Thad run and skid to a stop as he turned a corner in a corridor. He was shocked and digital sweat droplets were visible on his screen. Uzi and N were immediately worried and rushed over to their friend. "Thad? what's wrong?"
The kindly jock composed himself rather quickly. "Well, There's something strange outside. Like, you know those crab-like dropships?"
"Did J try to carbomb the spire ship... again?" Uzi questioned, with an incredulous look to boot. She, N, V and Lizzy oversaw that J fixed the spaceship that the corporate disassembly drone carbombed, as repentance for all the mess she caused. J fled soon after it was repaired, but now, Uzi was worried she may be after it again.
"No. That ship's a-okay... it's just..." That sratched the back of his helmet as he explained. "Well, its better if I showed you."
Thad went on ahead and Uzi followed ,with N trialing behind a few steps. It wasn't long until a figure with bladed wings and another figure with a phone out jumped him as he was about to follow Uzi out the main enterance of the bunker. N squeaked as he was dragged off to the side, and then realised who exactly did this.
"oh, Hi there V! Hi there Lizzy!" He cheerfully chimed in.
"Sup loser!" Lizzy affectionately responded as she put her phone away, shoving the device into her pocket. "It won't take a moment, but me and V here need a small favor."
"Uhh, sure! I... uhh... I love doing anything! But..." N stumbled over his own words and this made both the female worker and the female disassembler glance at each other. "I really need to go with Uzi right now. Thad said there's something weird with a dropship outside and needs our help!"
"Well... That's just it, N. We wanna know too. We're not asking for much, just some updates here and there." V explained, gesturing with open arms and tapping her chest with her fist to signidy trust. "Its just, anything happens around here... we want to know in case you guys don't come back. We only want what's best for everyone."
"Yeah, and secrets are blackmail too. especially against J." Lizzy added. "And especially when what happened when the planet went boom for some inexplicable reason, we gotta have someone there as backup. J nearly got away with carbombing stuff and whatever else she was doing, so... What do you say?"
N was clearly torn. He didn't have time to think it through. Uzi would be wondering where he was. So, in that case, he had to make a decision. and he chose to say yes. With a nod, N agreed. "Alright then... I guess I could fill you in with the-"
"N?! Where are you?!" Uzi's call echoed down the hallway and N had to get back to her as soon as possible. Lizzy and V stepped aside and N rushed off as fast as he could. When he was out of sight, Lizzy got her phone back out of her pocket and began to fiddle with something on it.
"But what I gotta wonder..." Lizzy commented. "Is why the heck the Dork and her BF are running outisde? Is it really just J causing trouble -again?"
V was still questioning that. She glanced over to Lizzy, her bestie, and flashed her this little mischeivous smile that only meant one thing. "Well, Why Not we investigate too, then?"
Lizzy snickered as they both looked on, pink and yellow fading into the darkness as they stealthily followed where N Went. The Disassembler was still trying to catch up to Uzi at this time. Uzi was calling out to N while waiting at one of the three doors that lead out. If N did not turn up, then they'd be forced to leave without him.
"Ugh! what's taking him so long?!" Uzi softly growled, very much wondering if N was okay and was growing concerned. She saw him rush over as fast as he could and skid to a stop, relieved to see he was alright. N rshed over to her and the door opened: No time to waste, they needed to get out through that door before it closes again. Uzi would ask N about that later.
Thad, who'd waited with them and stepped out with them, immediately led the two onwards to whatever he saw. However, it didn't take Uzi or N to see immediately what was wrong. They were shocked at even the sight of this intact dropship neatly parked a mere couple of hundred yards away from the Entrance of the bunker. Not even the original dropship that N piloted was this intact, seeing he did crash the Dropship at the heart of the spire on accident.
"Soo... This ship just appeared? Is that it, Thad?" Uzi inquired, confused and bemused. Thad scratched the back of his head and responded with a nod. Uzi sighed to herself, slacking her shoulders before gesturing for N and Thad to follow her as they carefully approached: something told them that Uzi spotted something. The three carefully took steps through the snow-covered ground, slowly but surely and making sure nobody made any noises or quick movements.
The trio approached the metallic spider and noticed its maw was open. This would have been the prelude of three yellow crosses that would indicate three hungry Sky Demons were waiting for prey to hunt... but it looked suspiciously empty right now. Tension raised as Uzi and N inspected the hatch carefully, and Thad looked around, keeping watch.
"Normally, these Dropships would have released their Disassembly drones by now, and we know for a fact that the last batch to do so ended up in Cabin Fever Labs... the Question is that is there any chance one of these ships coudl be put onto Autopilot... and most importantly: why would Cyn send and Empty Dropship to Copper 9?" Uzi commented as she inspected the hatch: the hatch on N's dropship had notable claw marks made when N, V and J clambered out of thier dropship, but this new Ship lacked that somehow...
"Zi? N&M's?" Thad notified them with words and gentle nudges. "I think there's someone watching us..."
"Huh... Wha?!"
-End of Chapter 1-