Chapter Text
Uzi was usually awake before her partners due to her horrendous sleep schedule. She would go to sleep before them, and wake up before them, every single day and today was no different.
As she tried to rise up, she felt multiple forces holding her down from behind her and on her chest.
N, her boyfriend, snuggled up to her chest plate, drooling slightly while he purred loudly. Uzi smiled at the sight, he was an idiot for sure, but he was her idiot. She kissed the top of his visor causing him to smile in his sleep, the gif of a dog sleeping on his visor changed to have the dog wagging its tail as it slept, causing Uzi to giggle slightly.
Turning around she saw the other sleeping Disassembly Drone, V, her girlfriend, sleeping soundly with her head pressed on top on Uzi's, with an arm that snaked of Uzi and N, pulling them all into one giant cuddle. Similar to N, V also tended to purr while her sleep mode was activated, which Uzi found adorable.
After a few minutes of admiring the sleeping murder robots, Uzi somehow managed to wiggle herself out of their tight grips, both were admittedly pretty clingy, but she didn't mind. After Uzi got up, she took off her pajamas and put on her hoodie and beanie before leaving the room and making her way towards the kitchen. She tried to stretch her joints, but a pain in her neck stopped her. Feeling the back of her neck, she felt a warm liquid and pulling her hand away, it turned out to be oil.
"God damn it, N..." She blushed slightly at the sight of the oil on the white plastic of her hand, remembering the previous night. N had woken her up as he was fidgeting in his sleep with his fangs out. Uzi noticed the low oil icon on the side of N's visor and let him unconsciously feed from her neck. He must've forgotten to lick the wound to repair it. Uzi grumbled tiredly as she made herself a cup of oil, you would think that she would've gotten used to the taste of oil. You'd be wrong. Uzi wished that she could drink coolant like a normal worker drone, but the Solver had other plans in mind. Her train of thought then went back to her life at that moment.
Since the Solver was defeated 5 years ago along with the disassembly drones becoming docile to the worker drones, Uzi's father, Khan, authorized a reclamation of the wasted city left behind after the collapse (he was devastated to leave his doors behind), and made amends with his daughter after Nori, Khan's wife, returned. Uzi was happier than ever in that moment, not only was she dating 2 weirdly hot robots, but her family was finally back to normal. However, that happiness wouldn't last. It was 4 years into the expedition when Khan disappeared, for months, the workers tried to search for the colony's de facto leader, but all they could find was his mustache.
Uzi felt herself tear up as she remembered when she received the news that Khan disappeared after going out on a scavenging run to find "Doors and door accessories." She wanted to yell, to scream, to cry until her core gave out. In that moment, she was never more grateful to have N and V in her life. Nori didn't take it well either, she holed herself up in Khan's residency and rarely came out or talked to anyone. Uzi wasn't even sure if her mother had cried herself to death or was just isolating herself from the world, hoping to be forgotten about. It made Uzi sick in the stomach.
During her deep thinking, her audio receptors failed to pick up the soft thuds of heavy flat feet making its way towards her, only snapping out of her thoughts when she felt a cold sensation trail up her neck, right where the punctures were as she felt the pain dissipate. Two arms wrapped around her waist and a chin rested upon her shoulder. She blushed as the one holding her spoke tiredly,
"Good morning, Uzi..." It was N. The smaller drone turned to her lover, smirking playfully as she started to caress the side of his head, causing his nanite tail to wag. Robo-Jesus, he was just like a dog.
"You forgot to clean up when you were done feeding." Uzi playfully scolded as N whined and pressed his visor to her shoulder as he sleepily apologized,
"...Sowwy..." Uzi felt herself blush more, who thought that a Disassembly Drone could be so dorky and lovable. Uzi placed a gentle kiss to the side of N's head and began to scratch his head now, causing his tail to wag faster.
"It's alright you big puppy." N hugged her tighter and let out a sleepy "Yay". This moment between the two drones wouldn't continue however as she felt another pair of arms wrap around her and N. Looking behind her, she could see V hugging both N and Uzi as she rested her head on top of Uzi's.
"Good morning to you too, ya big cat." V let out a soft grumble at that comment as Uzi continued making herself a cup of oil, and after doing so, tried to sit down at the apartment's nook, though, she found it difficult as there were two disassembly drones latched onto her. Uzi rolled her eyes and smirked,
"You guys can let go, you know..." N was the first one to move away from both Uzi and V, who audibly protested but did nothing. Uzi, did feel a small pang of sadness hit her core as N moved away but it was quickly disregarded as V still clung to Uzi like a lifeline. Uzi rolled her eyes and smirked at V,
"That includes you too, V." V didn't react for a few seconds but begrudgingly let go of the smaller drone's waist and mumbled something along the lines of "Bite Me" as she moved to make herself a cup of oil as well. Uzi let out a small giggle at the thought that she was starting to rub off on V. It had been clear for a while now that V was becoming more docile compared to her more sadistic self a few years ago. As Uzi calmed herself down, she noticed N walking away from the kitchen and back towards their room.
N would follow the same routine each morning. Wake up, get oil, go to the WDF headquarters, patrol the unclaimed parts of the city, report back, go home, sleep, and repeat. So, seeing N walk back to their room without drinking his daily intake of oil was concerning to V but Uzi believed it was since she let him feed from her last night. Uzi had given N, and V upgrades to their internal systems to allow them to go outside during the day and require a significantly smaller daily intake of oil compared to what they normally drank, but she hadn't been able to figure out how to get their cooling systems to accept coolant like the worker drones. Uzi and V watched as N entered their room with visible worry lines on his face, but he had a smile on his face, though it looked a little uncanny, but Uzi just shrugged her shoulders as N closed the DOOR™ and she turned to look at V who had a concerned look on her face,
"Maybe he's not hungry?" Uzi suggested as V downed the rest of her oil before setting her cup on the counter and adjusting her glasses. V shook her head,
"Something isn't right with N; I'll go check on him." Uzi was about to respond but stopped herself as she knew once V had her mind set on something, she'll get it done. V walked off towards the throuple's bedroom, leaving Uzi in the kitchen alone.
N was currently on the verge of a full-on mental breakdown with warnings about his rising mental instability completely covering his visor, thought, he simply ignored them focusing on a larger issue involving two black boxes he found while on patrol. He wanted to propose to V and Uzi for a while now, but he didn't realize how stressful it would be. The sudden knock on the DOOR™ just about made him bluescreen, as he swiftly hid the boxes away from whoever was entering the bedroom. The DOOR™ opened, revealing a worried V, who entered the room and sat next to N on the bed. V had a concerned look on her visor as she stared at N with all of her eyes and softly asked,
"N, what's wrong? You normally drink oil with me and Uzi every morning before heading out." V's soft voice was like music to N's audio receptors, though the tone she spoke in didn't make him relieved at all. N's visor depicted fast sweating as he looked around rapidly, trying to find an excuse for his behavior this morning as he pressed his index fingers together. Not facing V, he spoke,
"...It's my off day and I wanted to...sleep in...?" N gave a sheepish smile as he shrugged his shoulders, sweat beads running down his visor a thousand miles an hour. While he hoped that V would take his lie at face value, but N was a horrible liar, and V wasn't stupid. V's look didn't falter as she stared at him for a few more seconds before embracing him in a tight hug. N was frozen in shock before he felt his walls crumble down. He slowly returned the embrace, tightly clinging onto V as she gently ran circles on his back. N's voice trembled as he spoke again, "...I want to propose..." He felt V tense up before hugging him tighter as she quietly answered,
"...yes..." N felt tears sting his visor in happiness and his core tighten, but that happiness was quickly overwritten by sadness as he stayed quiet,
"...But will Uzi say yes...?" N asked, clinging to V tighter. V's expression dropped as she looked down at the male drone clinging to her as she gently started rubbing his head,
"Is it because you feel guilty about the 'death' of Nori? N, Uzi forgave you for that years ago, multiple times even. I...I don't know what you're feeling right now...but, whatever it is, it's wrong...she loves you N...I love you...WE love you..."
N stayed silent as V spoke, only clinging to her as he started shaking, his breathing picked up as he brought his eyes up from V's chest plating, staring into her visor as tears started to fall,
"It's not because of that...it's because...I..." He mumbled something incoherently as V softly stroked his hair,
"Can you say that again, N? I didn't hear you-"
"IT'S BECAUSE I KILLED KHAN!" V was taken aback, her eyes hollowed as she pulled away from N with a scared expression on her face, and he was angry, not at V or Uzi, but at himself. He hated seeing his girlfriend's sad, scared, angry, or any other negative emotion, he just wanted them to be happy. He let the tears run down his visor, not even attempting to wipe them off. He gently reached out for V's hand, "V, let me explain-"
"...What..."
The two disassembly drones were frightened at the sound of another voice, one they all knew two well and both had agreed was the worst sound in their life. They turn to the still open DOOR™way and see a certain purple haired worker drone standing there with her eyes hollowed to a pixel thin, tears stinging the edge of her pinkish purple eyes, and her lips just barely managing to suppress a cry.
"Evil giggle," a monotonous voice suddenly spoke and Uzi's tail made its way in front of Uzi and stared at N. "Looks like. Big. Brother. N. Killed your. Father. Uzi. Evil smirk"
N ignored Cyn's attempts to get a rise out of him, just frozen in place as his eyes on his visor hollowed, focusing on the smaller drone who collapsed to her knees and starting loudly crying. The sound made N want to rip out his core and crush it himself. He was snapped out of his thoughts as he felt and saw V rush off the bed and run to comfort Uzi, while he just stayed glued to the bed. He hurt the two most important people in his life the same day he was supposed to make it their happiest. V had embraced Uzi in a tight hug as the purple haired drone continued to cry her little core out and turned to face N, her honey yellow eyes still hollowed in a worried expression, begging him to help comfort Uzi without saying words. N wanted to. He wanted to do nothing more in that moment to make sure Uzi was comforted, to hold her, console her, and apologize until his voice box malfunctioned from over-use. But he couldn't dare move towards the two drones on the floor. His breathing started to pick up as he slowly backed away from the horror he created as the same mental stability warnings appeared on his visor again, but again, he ignored them as every single one of his eyes stared at Uzi. Uzi managed to pull her visor from her hands and look towards N, in complete and total fear. That was the last straw for N.
N turned sharply on his heel and ran towards the balcony door leading to the frozen wasteland of Copper-9, smashing through the window, spreading his wings, activating his anti-grav thrusters, as shooting off as fast as he could, pretending to not hear the pleas from Uzi to come back. He didn't dare turn back, knowing if he did, he wouldn't forgive himself.
There was no question how important Khan Doorman was to the former residents of Outpost 3; he had been the colony's savior and lead the worker drones to safety when the sky demons came. He was one of the few drones that actually took time to understand Nori on a deeper level than just her chaotic side that he fell in love with, and though he didn't really understand Uzi, when Nori returned Khan realized how much of a failure of a father he was. He abandoned his only daughter, one of the only things reminding him of Nori after she 'died', for dead after she accidentally let the disassembly drones inside the bunker, how he couldn't even defend his people when they were cornered in the shelter despite being the leader of the Worker Defense Force, and how he didn't even apologize to his daughter after she befriended a murder drone, captured another, and 'killed' the third, Khan realized he was not a good parent. When Nori returned, he got the ass-kicking of a lifetime from Nori after she found out, but Khan didn't protest, he knew he deserved it. After that day, Khan spent every moment he could with his family, he realized how everything he loved in his life could disappear in an instant. He still loved Nori, despite her being a heart, and he always loved his little girl, even after he said that "Doors are my real daughter." There aren't enough numbers to describe how many times he apologized to his wife and daughter, mostly Uzi, but every time he did, he would always be forgiven.
When Uzi had come to Khan and Nori and revealed she was dating N and V; Khan was skeptical and didn't approve. He would later regret it, as he always did. When he came to truly understand how much the trio loved each other, he apologized to the throuple, and accepted N and V into the Doorman family, considering N and V as his own code and circuits. He was proud of Uzi, not only had she saved the world from the Solver, not only did she bring the love of his life back, and she also allowed Khan to discard his cowardly ways and become stronger leader of the colony, especially when he led the workers to colonize the frozen city that surrounded Outpost 3.
Before he disappeared, Khan told his wife and daughter that he would go on an expedition for quote "Doors and Door Accessories." Even after all this time, he still loved doors. He assured them he would be back in a day or two as he claimed proudly, "There are too many doors in the city to let rot!" And so, he left his wife and daughter, not knowing that it would be the last time he would ever see the two of them again.
While Khan was scavenging, a joint in his leg went bust and broke down, slowing him down significantly. He wasn't done loving every single door in the city yet, but he knew that his family was waiting for him back home, and he couldn't scare them like that, never again. It had been 4 days since he left home and was certain a search party was looking for him; Uzi had promised that she would teach him what exactly Nightcore was and he was eager to get home just to spend time with her and Nori, the two most chaotic people in his life whom he loved so much. He looked up at the night sky, admiring the clear night view and the brightness of Copper-9's moons before he saw something flying through the air, a disassembly drone. Khan was relieved and lit a flare to try and catch the drone's attention, which he succeeded in as the drone started heading towards him. He was relieved to think N or V had come out searching for him as well, but as the drone got closer, he couldn't help but notice something that made his eyes hollow in fear. The drone heading towards him was not N or V, indicated by the two pigtails waving behind her as she charged at Khan with a terrifying smile and a large X on its visor. Khan turned around and tried to run but the broken joint made it difficult to run as he felt a sudden pain in his right arm and his chest. Looking down, he saw the oil flooding out of his arm, severed at the elbow and a yellow glow emitting from his torso, he could feel the nanite acid burning at his internals. The tail picked him up and threw him at the ground as he felt the weight of a murder drone straddle him, holding down his only other arm so he couldn't fight back. Khan felt tears prick at the edge of his visor as J got closer to his shoulder, fangs ready to puncture his steel chassis and to drain his oil. Khan thought this was the end, and so he spent it remembering about the family he will leave behind, and his little girl. Khan felt the fangs puncture his chassis, giving out a loud cry in response as he felt his oil being drained from him. He looked up to the sky, admiring the stars above while his systems shut down, he was too weak to fight...why now... His vents became shallower and raspier as the air intake system almost shut down, so he just closed his eyes and waited for the end. Suddenly, the weight of J was thrown off of him as another figure appeared in front of him, it was N.
"Oh, I forgot you made friends with the toasters, Liability..." J taunted as N just glared,
"I can't let you kill Khan, J..." N spoke with a threatening tone in his voice. It was weird to see N this protective over a drone that had only been in his life for half a decade. Khan felt his CPU going into sleep mode, he wanted to crawl away to somewhere safer, but every part of his chassis hurt, so he just succumbed to sleep as his visor showed that he went into sleep mode, though the leds in his visor were duller than usual.
When Khan woke up, he was on the rooftop of a skeletal skyscraper being held up by hopes and dreams. He tried to stand up but the immense pain that came from every part of his chassis stopped him before he could even sit up. He heard footsteps rush over to him and in his blurry vision, could clearly make out N standing above him, worry displayed all across his visor. "Khan! You're awake!" N chirped which caused Khan to groan, he could feel his internals burning and the palms of his hands sweat. Who the hell thought that would be a good idea?
"Help me up my boy..." Khan requested weakly and N quickly obliged, holding Khan's upper body up as Khan let out pained rasps through his vents. Looking down, Khan noticed that the hole in his torso was sealed up as well as the open wound on his right arm. N noticed the confusion on Khan's face and quickly explained with an embarrassed blush,
"Our saliva has repair nanites to heal any open wounds...so in order to help you, I had to..." N's voice trailed off as Khan had a small blush on his face but cleared his voice box into his fist,
"Thank you, N..." Khan sighed, "Nori's gonna kill me when I get back home," He turned back to N, "Gasolines' on me when we get back, I owe you one." N smiled again,
"Sure, I love doing anything!" Khan weakly chuckled as he looked over the ruined city, his facial expression dropping,
"...I'm not sure if I'm making it home though..." N gave a look of concern to his father figure, but let him continue, "I feel weak...that drone drained me quite a bit, not to mention my arm bleeding out...I don't think I'll be able to survive the night..." Khan's visor teared up as he choked on his words, "I don't think I'll be able to see my family again..."
N's eyes hollowed out as he grew panicked, "NO, KHAN! Don't say that! you'll get to see Nori and Uzi again!" He looked around frantically but stopped as a warning appeared on his visor.
OIL INTAKE RECCOMENDED
N's jaw dropped as he read that warning, he looked down at Khan, who was looking at N. Khan let out a sad smile as he spoke,
"Feed from me, N. I think I have enough left in me to get you home-" Khan was slapped by N who pulled him up by the collar. Khan's ghastly white visor meeting N's honey gold.
"I'M NOT EATING YOU KHAN!" N yelled as tears started to run down his visor. N pressed his head against Khan's chest plate as he whimpered, "...I can't do that" He looked back into Khan's eyes. "We're both gonna get home safe. You're gonna see Nori again, you're gonna see V again..." He paused, "...You're gonna see Uzi again, you just have to hang in there..." N pleaded to Khan, who just had a calm smile on his face.
"I've lived a long enough life N..." Khan grabbed a piece of scrap metal nearby, sharp enough to cut through the silicon in his chassis, tears ran down both of their faces as Khan grabbed N's hand tightly, "Just...promise me one thing, N...promise me you'll take care of my little girl, my Uzi...please..."
N wanted to shake his head, but he knew Khan was right, there's no way he could make it all the way back to Outpost 3 with how low his oil levels are. He just stared down at the metal Khan held in his hands before taking in a deep vent, tears streaming down his visor, and nodding. Khan smiled softly,
"Help me get this jacket off..." N obliged as he gently took off Khan's blue jacket and folded it nicely before setting it down on the roof. Khan took the piece of scrap metal in his hands and jammed it into the silicon lower of his torso. He grunted in pain but looked up at N with a pained but somber smile, "I love you...son..." N fought hard to stifle back a sob as he nodded rapidly,
"...I love you too...dad...I'll take care of Uzi, I promise..." Khan's smile grew wider as he gripped the piece of metal tightly and drug it across the silicon, tearing himself open with a pained yell as oil started to flow out of his body.
As soon as Khan's oil started to pool, N's hunting mode activated out of instinct and his visor changed to the standard disassembly X and his mouth opened wide, revealing his fangs as he instinctively drove his fangs into Khan's body, tearing him apart and consuming the wires, hardware, and oil that the body of a worker drone contained.
N found himself back on that same roof, Khan's mangled body resting there, his visor which would normally display FATAL ERROR long since burned out, but he still had that same peaceful smile on his silicon mouth. N was still disgusted by the act he committed a year ago and the thought that he was the one responsible for killing Khan still haunting him. N felt tears prick at his visor as he sat down next to the empty worker shell and hugged it tightly, sobbing coming from his vents as he hugged the corpse of the only father figure he ever knew. "I'm so sorry Khan...I couldn't protect Uzi....I hurt her...I hurt her so badly...I'm sorry..." He mumbled in-between sobs.
N had no idea how much time had passed as he sat on that roof with the corpse still in his arms, though he was snapped out of it as he felt a large gust of wind against him, that's right, there was supposed to be a blizzard tonight, a bad one in fact. N looked up from the body as another strong wind gust hit him, causing Khan's jacket to go flying in the wind. Panicked, N dropped Khan's body and took flight to retrieve Kahn's jacket, successfully doing so as he starts flying towards...somewhere...N didn't know where he was going, though he hoped anywhere but back to his girlfriends. A thousand thoughts went through his head as he flew, clinging tightly onto Khan's jacket, but N failed to notice another drone following him.
N hadn't been paying attention the past few minutes as he felt his body start to fall apart from the snow and wind, and he didn't notice the building in front of him, and before he could slow himself down, he slammed into the concrete, stopping all momentum as he started falling towards the ground, he lost all vision on his visor and headband as he fell, though he still kept a tight hold on the jacket even as he hit the ground. He could barely hear the footsteps that approached him, not caring at all who it was, with the last amount of strength he had, he held out the jacket to whoever was nearby him and manage to whisper,
"G-g-g-get this t-t-t-t-t-to, u-uz-uz-uzi..." His voicebox cracked as he felt his systems shut down, his main CPU must've been destroyed, he felt a pair of hands take the jacket, before speaking,
"...I'll bring this to your little toaster...N..."
N smiled soflty. It was the first time J had ever said his name.