Chapter Text
3:00 AM
DING DING DING DING
Uzi's hand slapped her own screen to disable the alarm before her dad could hear it. Her eyes slowly flickered online, and she stared at the ceiling. Processing the trauma of being awake for about 3 seconds, before she smirked with a mischievous glare. This was it! Tonight, she was going to sneak out of the bunker, into the Murder Drones' lair, find the robot liver or something to power up her railgun, and prove to everyone she is not a failure! She jumped up, so ready for action-
Except, something stopped her.
The Worker Drone blinked with surprise, slowly lowering her gaze towards her belly. Her eyes hollowed out when she noticed an arm wrapped around her, tightly - an arm that didn't look like Worker’s at all. It was shaped in a long cone with yellow warning stripes at the end... The shape she only ever saw in recordings from the outside.
Her sensors jumped into overdrive, making her dreadfully aware of warmth and pressure on her back. She was lying against something warm... Something big.
That's got to be some prank, right? Lizzy and Doll broke in, set it all up, and are ready to burst with laughter the moment she turns around, right? It gotta be... There was no other logical explanation.
She slowly peeked over her shoulder, trying to keep her fans as quiet as possible.
They hummed loudly as the fear settled in.
White hair. Yellow armband. Sharp fangs.
Many of her processes instantly crashed.
Robo-God. Robo-God. Robo-God!
What? How? Why?!
Why was there a fricking Disassembly Drone in her room?!
And why was it hugging her?!
Her processor overheated as she tried to understand. They... they broke into the bunker. Why would they come for her?! Did... did they know about the railgun? No, there was no way they actually would be scared. No one believed it would work. Would they? How would they know?
Uzi was trying her best not to hyperventilate - failing miserably. The thing purred through its sleep.
It was playing with her, she realized. It found a sleeping Worker girl and decided to give her a core attack upon waking up. To keep her for itself like some snack. Marinate her with fear. Let her feel how defenseless she was. Fricking sadists...
Her processor’s clock was speeding up. She needed to escape. She was small, even for a Worker - she could surely slip out... but would she manage to not wake up this thing? What was her alternative? Waiting for it to boot up on its own? It looked hungry... Drooling through sleep.
Uzi looked at the unfinished railgun at her desk... it wasn't there! Crap. Oh, it was leaning against her wardrobe instead. Weird, she thought, she left it somewhere else... no, there was no time for overanalyzing details!
If Murder Drones somehow got past the three big stupid doors... It meant the whole colony was in danger. She wished her railgun were finished... wait, that was it! If Murder Drones were here, then they couldn’t be at their lair! She could run there, grab the power source, and return to save the colony! Yes, that was it! Her big moment!
But first...
She moved under the Murder Drone’s arm, carefully, her eyes hollowed so much her screen was nearly black. The steel muscle didn't tighten around her - the drone didn't react. She attempted some more, trying to slowly slide herself from underneath it. Her hands reached the edge of the bed and gripped firmly, as she twisted and pulled herself away, as slowly as possible.
"Please don't wake up, please don't wake up, please don't wake up," she whispered to herself.
"Okay, I won't," murmured the Disassembly Drone.
Uzi froze for a solid minute. Holy crap, it talked?! She expected it to realize its food was running away, but it showed no other sign of awareness. Automated response from some low-priority process? Hopefully. She finally started moving again, soon slipping her torso and legs from underneath the arm. She paused as the Murder Drone shifted its position, but it only collapsed more onto her bed, its face buried in her sheets. Its tail wagged. She felt so violated on behalf of her bed.
Time for revenge would come later - for now, she crawled through the bed as quietly as she could, to finally land on her toes and sneak towards the railgun. Soon, it was hugged tightly to her chest. Even though it didn't work, she felt less defenseless with it.
She tiptoed to the door, keeping her gaze on the hostile. Only now she could get a better look at it. The winter jacket looked so stupidly official. So militaristic. Bleh. And it had this stupid ass expression of pure joy and happiness while sleeping. Dreaming of murdering helpless Workers no doubt. Disgusting. How could such an evil thing exist?
It was no time for pondering, though - Uzi slowly opened the door, slipped outside, and closed, praying for it not to creak. She sighed with relief once she was done. The Worker turned around, her gaze stopping at the room nearby, one she officially planned as her first stop after waking up. Her dad’s. Robo-God, she forgot about him! She couldn't just leave him there! He probably slept like a sheep, believing his doors would protect them forever. Wait... what if they came here for him?! He was the leader of the bunker, sort of. It just made sense to eliminate him first. Maybe. It’s not like he did much.
She slowly opened his door, peeking inside. His bed was empty. Why was it empty?! Did he have a night watch today or something? Had to. Her hand reached for the master key and grabbed it.
Then, she heard violent crunches of metal. Coming from the kitchen.
A shadow of another Murder Drone was visible on the floor. There were more of them in her apartment?! Uzi quickly calculated the angles. They had an open kitchen... meaning she would be perfectly in view when trying to exit the apartment... Crap.
Uzi crouched. She waited for the thing’s shadow to move, but it was just sitting there... and considering the noises and the movement of its shadow. Uzi gasped, covering her mouth. Was it... eating someone? Whom? Wait. No, there was no way...
Uzi couldn't stop herself. She peeked over the corner. Minimally. Just her sensors.
The thing was sitting at their kitchen table with a Worker Drone arm in its mouth, munching on it. Lots of oil everywhere. Gosh, so much oil. Uzi looked at the pieces of Worker at the table... a gag reflex appeared, as she saw the mutilated remains. She pulled back to lean against the wall, her palm pushed against her mouth, hyperventilating.
The body was damaged beyond recognition. It couldn't possibly be... But who else? No. Maybe it just dragged another Worker to the apartment, one it picked up on the way? Yes. Her dad's room had no sign of a fight. Quite the contrary. His bed was made perfectly. Yeah. It was some random drone’s corpse. Had to be.
Uzi sighed, then did the best thing that came to her mind. Slowly, she started crawling through the corridor, keeping herself pressed to the floor as much as possible. Trying to blend in. It was going well - she made it halfway through the opening. She was not looking at the Murder Drone. Uzi wasn't sure she would be able to control herself if she did.
"You know, I am feeling offended you think my sight is that bad," a sassy female voice said. Uzi froze. Her head slowly turned around to stare at a pair of unamused yellow eyes looking down at her. "Where are we sneaking to~?"
The Worker gulped. It wanted to play with her too. For some reason. Why would it talk otherwise? She was trying to think about something, to buy time, but how was she supposed to have a CHAT with a genocide machine?
"Ummm... I'm just... I mean..." Uzi stuttered nervously. "Ah, screw it!" She spun around, leaning her back against the wall and raising the railgun to aim at the head of the disassembler. It only lifted an eyebrow. "Don't move, monster! This is a magnetically amplified photon converger that can blast you off the planet's surface!"
"Huh?" asked the Disassembly Drone, staring at her with mild confusion. Suddenly, its eyes widened, before narrowing playfully. Its mouth opened wide to flash fangs. "Ohhh, I see! A little Worker wants to save her outpost from the big evil Murder Drones, hmmm~?"
Uzi jumped to her feet, raising the railgun even higher.
"Yes! You are screwed!" she yelled. "Now talk, why and how did you get here?!"
The Disassembly Drone got off the chair, its tail wagging with clear excitement. Its hands snapped into long claws as it started moving towards her, one step of high-heeled legs at a time. Looming with a psycho smile.
"Oohhhh, you think some silly, stupid door could stop us? After we got the scent of the most delicious oil on the planet?" she purred. “We simply couldn’t help ourselves from visiting~.”
Holy crap, that was some teenage vampire romance bullshit. Uzi didn't want to be a main character in a teenage vampire romance! Why was this happening?! No, Uzi, no time for being meta about it, focus!
"I am not bluffing! I am going to do it!" shouted Uzi, but the thing didn't stop coming closer, giggling maniacally. Uzi tried to step back, but her back only pressed tighter against the wall. Okay, her words weren't enough for intimidation. Please, malfunctioning railgun, save the day.
Uzi flipped the weapon’s safety off.
The disassembler stopped, as the gun started glowing green and discharging power. Its predatory gaze turned into a mix of surprise and worry.
"Wait, that's getting a bit too intense-"
"Ohhh, you think I won't do it?!" shouted Uzi, putting her finger on the trigger. "Don't come any closer!"
"Uzi, this is not-"
"How do you know my name?!"
Its eyes hollowed.
"Uzi... you know who I am, right?"
Uzi was counting the seconds she had before the unfinished railgun would trigger an explosion. Good thing she went maniac mode during the class presentation and could test it out.
"A genocide machine who will pay for all the murders you committed!" screamed Uzi.
"Uzi. Enough. Cut the roleplay. This isn't funny."
"The hell are you talking about?!"
The disassembler stared at her for a moment. Then turned its head towards Uzi's room.
"N!" it shouted, startling Uzi. "Get here! Now!"
It was calling the other guy, the one in her bedroom. Uzi had no time - especially as her railgun’s explosion countdown was near the end.
"Suck on this!" shouted Uzi, throwing the weapon at the disassembler. It actually opened its eyes wide and jumped to catch the glowing railgun. Uzi didn't look back as she turned around and rushed towards the door. Closing it behind her and locking with a quick code, before running forward as fast as she could. Her optics were purple with tears, as all she could think about was just getting as far from these things as possible.
She didn't stop running for a moment, even when the noises of Murder Drones were long gone. Her system was strained to maximum, and she had no idea she could achieve such high speed on those short (not short, properly sized!) legs. Well, she never had a true reason to run for her life, to be honest... Probably some... robo-adrenaline thing, yes.
Despite her whole OS being in a state of complete panic, she managed to analyze the situation. Priority number 1 - hide. What was the best place for that? Old, ruined ventilation systems. The area that collapsed about five years ago. The only means of travel was through little random gaps - too small for even Workers to push through. There was no way those overcompensating-by-size Murder Drones would squeeze in there.
Priority number 2 - figure out what the hell was going on! How did the Murder Drones even enter the bunker, and how many were there? Check Outpost’s status. Panic? Evacuation? Or maybe those genocide machines sneak into her apartment without triggering any alarms? She knew the perfect place to get intel - WDF's security room. And so conveniently, she could grab a shortcut through the ruined area. Perfect.
Priority number 3 - find a way to fight back... she... she was a bit out of ideas here. All she could think to do was stick to her original plan and hope she might be able to slip back into her apartment unnoticed. Maybe, if she was lucky, the Murder Drones would be gone - and her railgun would still be there, waiting.
She... would need to improve this part of her plan. Never mind! Information first! She could think on the run!
On her way, she spotted two people, just walking down the hall and chatting. Just some Workers, busy with their daily chores. So, no evacuation or panic was ongoing, it seemed.
"Hey, there are Murder Drones in the bunker!" shouted Uzi, jumping towards them and waving her hands. "You two need to hide! And warn others!"
The drones stopped and stared at her with surprise. They looked at each other. One of them shrugged, followed by the second one smirking playfully.
"Yeah, sure there are some," the stranger giggled, and Uzi's eyes widened with disbelief. She knew she was... not exactly a people person, but that was an emergency!
"I am not lying for attention or being overdramatic, like the last time I got on the bunker's speakers and started screaming about incoming doom!" shouted Uzi. "They really are here! They were in my apartment! And they are dangerous!"
Now, both Workers started laughing aloud, making Uzi step back with her eyes hollowed out.
"Ohhh, I bet they were in her apartment," said one of them teasingly. "And they were 'dangerous', hmmm? I imagine just what kind of 'danger', hmmmm?"
"Wait till her parents hear about it," laughed the other one.
Uzi didn't even have enough confidence to correct them to 'parent' and do a quick infodump about her family's trauma. Like she did on a regular basis. She was standing there, paralyzed, as the two strangers were laughing her warning off. Like she was just some joke. Uzi took another step back.
"I... I..." she uttered, feeling as if her vents got clogged. "Ugh, fine! Die! I tried!" she shouted, as she turned around with tears of humiliation in her eyes.
She couldn't believe people didn't want to believe her, even in such an emergency. Was her reputation really that bad? Well, one thing was clear: she couldn't count on others. Like always. She had to figure it out herself. It's okay, she always managed. Usually with both her robo-ass and ego beaten up a little... but there was no time for self-doubt!
Uzi soon reached the ruined area - the corridor’s open space was suddenly interrupted by piles of steel and concrete. Uzi spotted a gap big enough for her to squeeze in, and she quickly did. The small, chaotic tunnel led her deeper as she navigated this labyrinth.
"See Uzi? It's all okay, you are safe here," she whispered to herself. "Those stupid big dumb Murder Drones will never find you there with their oversized bodies, hehe. And zero chance to meet any moron Worker who doesn't believe you and will die painfully for that. Hah. See? It's actually good you are so small." She stopped for a moment as she realized what she had just said. Her head lowered to cast a shadow on her screen, before her neck arched up and she screamed at full volume. "Damn you, Murder Drones!!!"
She couldn't believe they had scared her enough that she admitted the truth about her size. Oh, they were going to pay for that. And for killing her mom. The priority wasn't really that important.
Eventually, she reached an opening, and she stepped out, finally getting up. She cleaned her jacket of dirt and looked around. Huh. There was a desk nearby, placed against a wall. A flame flickered in a gas lamp, casting dim light. Uzi stepped forward and inspected it. Lying on top was a map of this area. With lots of drawn marks and small annotations like "clean here", "integrity danger", or "leave it for later." Uzi narrowed her eyes. Apparently, someone had been working on repairs here recently. But... she didn't remember anything like this. This place was her to-go hiding zone; she would know if...
"Boo!"
Uzi jumped back and screamed as someone shouted just next to her audio input. She got scared so badly, her foot slipped, and she collapsed onto the ground with a grunt. The Worker looked up with angry eyes, but they quickly hollowed, as she spotted the owner of the voice.
It was like... a crab! But... covered with something that looked like... some gross flesh thing. And it had one purple glowing eye... It was standing on top of the table, and Uzi was somehow able to tell it was looking really pleased with itself.
"Ha! Got ya good!"
Uzi was left lying there speechless for a moment. Until her OS processed enough to make a minimal amount of sense. She raised her hand and pointed at this thing.
"Don't get any closer! You... umm... gross, crab spider flesh thing!"
The singular purple eye narrowed. Angry. Oh uh.
"Ouch, way to hit me right in the complex, kiddo. Now, I want to hear an apology followed by a compliment, or this 'crab spider flesh thing' is going to teach you a lesson in respect. Five..."
"What?" asked Uzi, utterly bamboozled.
"Four..." continued the small monster, but then, suddenly... "Threetwoonezero!"
And it lunged at her! With the eye curled into an amused gaze, as its four clawed legs aimed for Uzi's chest. The Worker reacted without thinking - her foot moved fast, and the kick landed perfectly. Her combat boot smacked the thing mid-jump, sending it flying away from Uzi. Right into a big hole nearby, leading into the bunker’s depths.
"Not agaaaaaaain", screamed the thing with an echo, as it disappeared in the void.
Uzi didn't even give it a second to crawl back. She was running once again, through the half-fixed corridors, heading directly for the WDF security room.
What the heck? What the heck? What the heck?
What was wrong with this day?!
Uzi waited for the WDF member responsible for CCTV to leave for his dinner break. She knew the schedules perfectly, since she snuck there plenty. Sometimes, to stare at some moronic Workers and laugh at them to make herself feel a little better (and less lonely, but shut up about it). Sometimes, to get tactical information about where her dad was before doing something irresponsible. Sometimes, just to prove how worthless WDF was, since even a loner teenager was able to bypass them.
This was the first time she had a good reason to be there, so as soon as the Worker left, she slipped inside. They were never locking doors. Ironic.
She sighed as she stood in front of a wall of glowing TVs. She stepped towards the console and took a look at the feeds. It seemed... like a regular day; Workers were buzzing around and occupied with work. She reached for the controls and started switching the cameras.
She had a list of places her dad was regularly at, and she knew the associated camera numbers by heart. Yet, as she was going through them, her core started clocking faster, as she couldn't find him anywhere.
"Come on, come on, come on," she growled, as she hit the end of the list. And started iterating from the start. In case he was just like... in a bathroom or something. "You have to be out there. I... I still have to prove to you that I am not a failure and rub it in your face. Don't you dare be... be..."
She couldn’t say it out loud. As her hands started shaking, one of her eyes glitched into a three-sided symbol. For a split second. She didn't notice it. Especially, as she had something much more important to focus on.
"Oh crap..." Uzi hissed as she spotted the Murder Drones. They were running around the bunker. Not in a chaotic manner, blindly, but organized. Swooping areas like someone who wasn't looking for just any Worker to hunt, but a very specific one... "They are looking for me."
Uzi started controlling the cameras, turning them to follow the movement of the Murder Drones. They were fast... and seemed to be familiar with the layout of the outpost much more than they should. Did they have a traitor inside? Was that how they managed to slip in?! Yeah, that would make sense. How else would they know to target her apartment specifically, to target her dad...
Suddenly, the female Disassembly Drone stopped and slowly looked over her shoulder, the yellow eyes staring directly into the camera's lens. The camera Uzi had just been turning to follow their position. The Worker gulped as the yellow eyes narrowed with suspicion. The Murder Drone poked her partner, and as he turned around, she pointed directly at the camera. His eyes widened, but then he nodded his head, and they both started running.
"Crap, crap, crap, crap..."
Uzi took a step back, her eyes jumping from screen to screen. There was no doubt - they were on their way. What to do? What to do?! Her safe hiding place was taken over by some weird crab monsters, and she got no useful information at all. She needed to run... but where? If they knew she was here, they would surely be able to calculate all possible routes she could take. Ugh, so many problems, so many problems... Quickly, Uzi, think! Or you will...
A surge of energy shot through her systems.
A triangular symbol appeared on her screen. All screens shattered at once. Uzi jumped back with a yelp as the glass fell down on the console. She stared at it in shock as the symbol disappeared from her screen. And then, in the darkness that swallowed the room... she stared in her own reflection in a multitude of broken TVs.
“...what?"
Her eyes. She stepped closer, with disbelief, leaning over the console to get a better look. Tilting her head left and right as she inspected her own reflection. There were no familiar purple eyes that looked at her with anger towards the world each morning in the bathroom mirror. Instead, she was staring at a mix of yellow and purple. Gradient. Gradient eyes. She never met a drone with such. They... they weren't supposed to have such. It shouldn’t be possible. And why yellow...
She then remembered the intense stares of the Disassembly Drones - and their color. Oh no. Oh, nonono... Uzi stepped back. They found her when she was sleeping. They had time to curl against her to give her a morning jumpscare. What... what else did they do to her?
"Am I... am I infected or something?" she gasped, touching her screen. Great. As if she wasn't enough of a freak already.
But then she remembered. Murder Drones on the way. No time for panicking now - she needed to survive. Her eyes drifted to the vent shaft nearby. Crawling through vents... Small space, lots of paths, maybe could work? She quickly locked the door with a random code, then dragged a drawer to climb it and reach the vent. The crate clasped shut, and soon she crawled away with rapid pace.
Uzi had expected to have more of a plan by now. She fought to keep her CPU clocking steady, but as she dragged herself onward, her OS failed to proivide any suggestion. The more anxious she became, the more frequently the tree-arrowed symbol flickered on her screen - though she never noticed it at all.