Archive of Our Own

The lone voice floated through the stale air of the halls, granted a somewhat uncanny cadence from the constant crackling of the damaged voice box. Tall, arched windows framed the mud-covered swamps outside the manor, trees struggling to breathe under the weeping yellow sky. Occasionally, the blotted light from the sun would hit the ground at just the right angle to reveal shimmering metal buried in the dirt, strewn about like children’s toys beneath the growing murders of crows that called the Elliott manor home.

Inside, worker drones stood frozen in odd positions like mannequins, sickly yellow crosses replacing their eyes. The library housed most of the frozen drones now. Guests tended to react poorly to paralyzed servants standing motionless in corridors, so James and Louisa Mr. and Mrs. Elliott had them gathered quietly among the bookshelves where nobody important needed to look at them.

V had long since memorized the library, down to the most minute detail. What more was there to do, really, when trapped behind your own eyes? Counting days worked for a bit, but it got old fast. Few people visited this quiet corner of the manor besides the Elliotts, usually only when another frozen drone was added to the macabre display, so she couldn’t count those.

Her current subject was raindrops.

It never seemed to stop raining, so there was no shortage of material. It was stimulating, in a way, staring at the window across from her and predicting the path of each droplet as it slid down the foggy glass. Even when she guessed wrong, she felt a little thrill at the fact that there was something to break the monotony of forced stillness that wasn’t Mr. Elliott’s sneering visage.

Her focus snapped back to the silver-haired boy sitting with his back against a bookshelf as he pulled another novel from the seemingly endless pile in the wicker basket next to him. Opening to a random page, he began reading.

He always read out loud, even before all of this. V still wasn’t entirely sure why. Maybe he just hated silence. Maybe he thought the frozen drones enjoyed the stories.

Or maybe he pitied them.

She told herself it was the last option; the other alternatives were harder to think about.

“...and the knight kept returning to the tower every evening, even after the grandmother had given up on the princess inside.”

N snorted quietly. “Bit odd, if you ask me,” he said to no one in particular, before realizing where he was and what he was doing.

“...Biscuits.”

Oh my robo-god, N.

An insistent chirping noise rings through the air as a red battery indicator appears on the side of N’s visor, blinking steadily. If V could check her internal clock, she would have realized that several hours had passed since N had arrived. As it was, her only clue that it was getting late was a subtle lengthening of the shadows cast by the bookshelves.

“Ah, man…” he mutters, uncrossing his legs and pulling himself up. His matte-black butler uniform creases slightly as he bends to pick up the basket of books, grunting slightly at the sudden weight before going about the task of replacing the literature in its designated shelf.

A heavy feeling falls over V, watching him. Not jealousy; it’s good to see him walking when she can’t. Not fear either; she’s been through enough nights to know that there is no resistance against what waits for her.

The wings painted in oil-tinted blood on the wall behind her can attest to that.

It was like the sinking feeling that came before a storm; the dreadful certainty that, soon enough, the library would be cold and silent once more.

It was like a hunger.

Not for movement or oil (when had she started craving oil?) or even freedom, but for noise. For the company of another drone. For proof that someone remembered that she still existed.

If nobody remembers you exist, who says you ever existed at all?

N slips a pink ribbon into the story he just finished reading the excerpt from, sliding it reverently between a thick, leather-bound atlas and a thinner picture book. “I’ll see you soon, ‘kay?” he says, pointing imaginary finger guns at her.

Dork.

“...Right,” he says quietly, staring at her for a few more moments before turning his back, closing the door to the library behind him and shrouding his family in darkness once more.

Alone with her thoughts once more, she turns her mind to counting down in her head. It rarely took more than five minutes after N’s departure before-

“[Giggle]. Hello, big sister V.”

Right on time.

***

V shuddered awake with a gasp on a weathered couch with a warm, heavy weight atop her, wincing at the small spike of pain that shot through her core at the movement. Her optics came back online with agonizing slowness, each yellow bulb taking at least a minute to fully render her surroundings. For a fleeting moment, she saw arching glass windows instead of the impassive grey of the pod interior.

No, not impassive. The entire pod glowed with a warm purple light, courtesy of Uzi’s string of fairy lights ported over from her room when she began spending more time here than at the bunker. Impulsively, she checked her .mp4 folder, making sure the video was still there.

You knew exactly what you were doing, little toaster, she thought, but no real malice lay behind the sentiment. Who cares if their little walk had been a distraction? It was still fun in the end.

J lay slumped over her desk, seemingly having fallen asleep on top of an impressive stack of paperwork, while N quite literally seemed to have gone into his recharge cycle with his nose in a book.

Uzi…

…So that’s what the weight pressing against her stomach was.

A blinking prompt appeared just under the ever-present ‘Go home. You don’t belong with them’ notification from Cyn and the white overheat warning in the corner of her view.

Close folder? [Y/N]

Without a second thought, she entered, ‘Y’. The folder lagged slightly as it minimized back into her HUD, prompting an annoyed grimace from her. Her annoyance quickly turned to amusement, though, thinking of what J’s reaction to a lagging HUD would be.

Corpo would be buried 5 planets deep in denial.

A soft chuckle passed her lips, fading quickly into the early-morning quiet.

Silence settled over the pod again, softened by the faint buzz of the fairy lights strung across the ceiling.

V’s gaze went back to the minimized folder icon sitting in the corner of her HUD.

Then she looked away.

Then back again.

“...Oh, screw you,” she muttered, though whether she meant Cyn, Uzi or herself was unclear even to her.

Slowly, almost cautiously, she reopened the folder and scrolled down to the video.

Uzi_Lights.mp4.

She glanced around, making sure no one was watching, before letting her weight fall back on the couch. Her golden eye emotes were replaced by a static message:

[Playback in Progress - Disturb if you dare]

***

The video opens with a brief static flicker before the snowy landscape sharpens into focus, tall, white-capped trees whistling in the wind. Snow began to fall harder, frenzied flakes whipping every which way and melting on V’s chassis the moment they touched the scorching metal. She vents heavily, but not so loudly that her companion can hear her.

[Temperature Warning: External Conditions Unsuitable for Worker Drones. Return to Spire soon.]

“You know, people in flicks usually announce some kind of dramatic line before kidnapping someone,” Uzi muttered, her purple visor half-obscured beneath a strip of black fabric tied clumsily around her head. “You didn’t even give me a monologue or anything.”

[Facial Recognition: Uzi_Doorman (SysAdmin)]

“Where’s the fun in that?” V replied.

Uzi snorted. “J loves it; ask her. I swear to robo-god, does she have a playlist of monologues or something?”

“Yep,” V replied offhandedly, popping the p “Sorts it alphabetically and everything.”

Uzi paused. “...You’re serious.”

She hummed affirmatively, and even though Uzi’s face was covered, V could tell she was rolling her eyes. “Why am I not surprised?”

“Because it’s J. What do you expect?”

Uzi thought about it for a moment before shrugging and turning to face her. “Fair. How long until we get there? My legs frickin’ hurt.”

“Not long,” V promised.

“...You said that half an hour ago.”

“It’ll be worth it. Trust me.”

“You also said that half an hour ago.”

V put her hands on Uzi’s shoulders, steering her out of the way of a particularly thick tree and prompting a startled yip from the smaller drone. V immediately took her hands off. “Shit, my bad-”

“It’s fine, just… really hot.”

V paused, before a dangerous grin spread across her face-plates.

“That so, Doorman?”

Uzi paused before her visor lit up in understanding. “No- not like- that’s not- V!” she stuttered, pressing both of her hands to her visor in mortification. “I meant hot as in temperature, not- not that!”

“If you say so~.”

“Bite me,” Uzi muttered.

“Tempting,” V replied smoothly.

Uzi groaned but stayed silent, evidently having dug her grave enough that even she could see it.

Snow crunched beneath combat boots and peg-legs as they kept walking. The wind had begun to die down slightly, no longer howling through the trees so much as whispering through them. Uzi kept muttering under her breath for another few minutes, occasionally stumbling through the snow and swearing vengeance on every tree on Copper-9.

Eventually, though, even she quieted down.

Pale light spilled across the snowdrifts around them as they exited the tree grove, faint enough that V mistook it for moonlight at first.

V glanced up.

Ah.

“Well,” she said, unable to keep her grin out of her voice. “Clearly my timing skills are just as immaculate as I remember.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” demanded Uzi.

“You can take the blindfold off now,” V replied, ignoring the question.

“Finally,” said Uzi with an exasperated groan. “You have no idea how gross that thing smells.”

“Excuse me?” demanded V with mock outrage. “That’s my best blindfold! It smells fine!”

“It smells like oil. Why do you even have a blindfold in the first place?” Uzi asked curiously as she fiddled with the knot at the back. “Don’t you have, like, five eyes?”

“Seven,” she corrected. “And as for what I used it for…”

Several gruesome images flashed through her mind in the time it took her to blink, oil stains and pleading cries interspersed with her signature giggling mixing into a sudden cacophony.

At least I didn’t make them look.

“...You probably don’t want to know.”

“Sure,” Uzi said casually, completely ignoring V’s sudden shift in tone. “What is…”

She trailed off as the knot finally came undone, the fabric slipping from her optics with a soft swoosh. The worker inhaled sharply, every servo stock-still except for her eyelights, which darted around rapidly, scanning the sky.

“What…” she tried, but stalled halfway through the sentance.

“Surprise,” V said smugly.

The bands of purple and green trailing across the sky reflected in Uzi’s visor, her optics like miniature suns against the night. Her jaw unhinged, baby fangs glinting in the moonlight as she simply stared.

Got her.

V allowed herself a small snicker as she continued staring at Uzi’s still frame. “Good Robo-God, did I bluescreen you or something?” she chuckled, waving a hand in front of her visor.

Uzi didn’t respond.

“Hello? Copper-9 to Doorman?” she said, but Uzi was still silent. The smile dropped off V’s visor as she walked around to face Uzi directly instead of standing beside her. A purple loading icon was plastered on her visor, spinning steadily as the worker began to tip backward, stiff as a board.

“Shit-” V swore. At the speed disassemblers moved, the fall seemed to happen in slow motion. Uzi had barely made it halfway to the ground before conical forearms cradled her, arresting her fall in an instant.

The loading symbol on the worker’s visor immediately blinked back to purple ovals, which immediately hollowed as she came fully online. Uzi glanced at the starry sky, then at V holding her, then back at the sky.

“...Holy shit,” she said. “No way I actually bluescreened - that’s so pathetic, ugh!” she groaned, reaching for her visor and clawing at the glass exaggeratedly.

V rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I kinda figured that would do it,” she chuckled, before putting a finger to her chin. “...Not gonna lie, it was pretty pathetic,” she said in a mock thoughtful tone, and Uzi rounded on her with an irritation mark on her visor. V had to stifle a chuckle.

Feeding the fire again, huh?

Not that she could help herself - the emo was absolutely adorable when she got mad like this.

…

Robo-God, did she really just think that?

“You suck,” Uzi grumbled. “Remember I’m still your admin,” she said, before her irritation morphed into something more genuine. “But seriously, this is awesome, V!”

V absolutely did not grin like an idiot, and anyone who claimed otherwise would have the privilege of an in-depth conversation with her claws. “You like it?” she asked.

“Uh, duh,” said Uzi, punching her shoulder. “If anyone asks, I was never here, though,” she said, leaning closer to whisper into V’s audials.

V rolled her eyelights. “Sure, purple thing,” she said, before turning on one peg and beckoning Uzi to follow as she began walking.

“Robo-God, where to this time?” Uzi muttered under her breath, but there was no real irritation in it.

“I heard that!” V called in a singsong tone, thoroughly enjoying the way Uzi seemed to freeze for a moment before continuing with feigned nonchalance. “So?” the emo asked, speeding up slightly to keep pace with V’s long strides.

“So nothing, honestly,” V admitted with a shrug. “We’re just walking.”

Uzi scoffed in disbelief. “Seriously?”

“Yep.”

“Whatever,” groaned the worker. “Are you sure all this walking is good for you?”

Damn it.

“Uzi, I’m fine,” she said. Technically, it wasn’t a lie; the pain really had gone down to a somewhat bearable level, and talking with Uzi helped keep her mind off things. Sure, this trek probably wasn’t doing her core any favors, but it was worth it, in her opinion.

“V, you promised to tell me if you’re overheating-”

“Uzi, please,” V stressed, making the worker go silent immediately.

Now you’ve gone and made her mad. Happy?

“Look, sorry, it’s just-” V fumbled with her words for a moment. “Look, I’m fine for now. Can you trust me on that?”

Uzi looked into her optics for a moment before sighing. “Alright, V,” she said wearily.

She doesn’t believe you at all.

V shook her head irritably. Those were Cyn’s thoughts, not hers.

Her core beat a bit harder anyway.

“C’mere,” she said suddenly, motioning to take Uzi’s hand.

The worker pulled her hand away.

A cold wave washed over V, almost stopping her in her tracks.

Uzi noticed V’s reaction almost immediately. “No, V-” she began hurriedly. “V, you’re steaming right now.”

Still in a haze, V glanced down. Uzi was right; her entire body was wreathed in vapor like a tight-fitting cloak around her form. “Sorry,” she muttered.

“Hey, no, it’s fine,” Uzi said quickly. “That’s not your fault.”

A small hand fitted into her palm. Uzi winced at the sudden heat on her plating, but held on determinedly. “See?” she said shakily. “Fine.”

V sighed. “Uzi, I don’t want you hurting yourself for me,” she said, pulling her hand away reluctantly.

The worker was silent, and V understood the implication immediately.

V growled in frustration, running a hand down her visor. “Fine. How about this: I’ll tell you if it gets too bad, and you can adjust my core settings then.”

Uzi looked up at her, then tilted her visor to the sky. She was silent for a long moment before sighing. “All of this is really shitty, huh?” she mumbled, more to herself than V. Still, the disassembler nodded. Instead of responding or continuing their walk, though, she stopped and sat.

Uzi looked at her in confusion, but played along anyway when V patted the snow next to her, folding her legs.

“You know, I’m just gonna assume there’s a plan here,” the worker said, drawing a small smile out of V.

The taller drone pointed up, her fingers tracing a line in the sky before stopping over the brightest point. “See that?” she asked.

“What, the star? Kind of hard to miss,” Uzi scoffed.

“Do you know what star it is, though?”

“...I mean, I could pull up the database, but I’m guessing you don’t want me to…?”

“It’s Polaris,” said V. “Humans called it the North Star because it was always pointing north. Used it for navigation or something.”

Uzi was quiet.

Then:

“N told you that.”

V looked over at the worker in surprise. “Huh?”

“Well? Did he?”

“I mean, yeah, but… damn, Mrs. Holmes.”

Uzi’s eyelights fuzzed out, changing into question marks. “Mrs. Who?”

“Come on,” V said exasperatedly. “How do you consider yourself ‘emo’ and not know who Sherlock Holmes is? He literally studies murders!”

“No wonder you know about him, then,” said Uzi, blowing a raspberry at V, who clicked her tongue. “Touche.”

“Anyway,” she continued. “If you draw a few lines here, here and here…” she traced her finger across the sky as she spoke, eventually forming a spoon. “...You’ll find the Big Dipper.”

“V, that’s a spoon.”

V rolled her eyes. “Yes, but it’s an important spoon.”

Uzi stared at her.

V stared at Uzi.

Then, the disassembler snorted at the absurdity of her own statement. At the same time, Uzi sank to the floor, clutching her chest with how hard she was laughing.

“What?” V asked.

“An important spoon?” Uzi howled. “Do you hear yourself?”

“I mean, I’m not wrong…” V muttered.

“Guess not,” Uzi wiped a tear from her eye as she managed to stand up for a second before falling back to the ground with her shoulders shaking. “Oh my Robo-God, what is my life?” she asked out loud.

Something you can still enjoy.

A shadow passed over her mood with that thought, and she had to forcibly dislodge it from her processor. She could enjoy what was left of her life, and she would, Robo-Cancer be damned.

“V? Hello?” When the disassembler blinked, she realized Uzi was standing in front of her again, peering worriedly at her. “Are you… is everything…?” she avoided the question, waving her hands vaguely in the air like that would help express what she was asking.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” V replied, standing straighter as if to prove that point. “Just zoned out for a bit.”

“…Alright,” Uzi said hesitantly. “You wanna head back to the pod now?”

The worker must have seen V’s face crumple slightly, because she quickly explained, “Not because I don’t like this, believe me! It’s just… have you checked the time?”

V checked her HUD, and good Robo-God, it was almost daybreak.

“Shit!” she swore. “J’s going to murder me.”

She thought for a moment. “N might, too.”

“If we run, we can make it,” Uzi said, pulling her hoodie up to cover her hair.

She squeaked as V scooped her up in her arms and spread her bladed wings. “I have a better idea,” V said, dismissing the overheat warnings that popped up all over her visor.

“V, put me down right now. You can’t be flying with your… condition,” Uzi protested, blushing furiously.

“Lucky you, you get a close up view of the important spoon in the sky,” V remarked as her thrusters warmed up.

Uzi paused, then groaned. “Is nothing I say going to stop you?”

“Nope!”

“Good Robo-God,” she muttered. “Fine, as long as you drink oil back home.”

That made V pause for a moment.

Home?

“…Alright,” V said as a soft, fuzzy feeling spread across her chest. “I’ll do that, I guess.”

Without waiting any longer, she took off.

***

When V opened her eyes, smiling contentedly, she was met with rows and rows of books stacked neatly on a wooden shelf.

She made a small noise of surprise, turning in the chair she had apparently sleepwalked into and finding bookshelves all around her. Her core pounded as her processor didn’t recognize where she was for a moment, only that there were books around her and that she was holding one.

A warm amber light shone down on her as she looked down, her eyelights squinting to make out the words even in the ample lighting.

Her eyelights widened as she realized the book she was holding.

Slowly, almost hesitantly, she read the line her claws rested on out loud.

“…and the knight kept returning to the tower every evening,” she muttered almost wonderously, tracing the words as she read.

The warm feeling spread across her chest once more, like warm honey across her plating as she kept reading.

And it kept spreading.

And spreading.

“V?”

When she looked up, for a moment, she wasn’t facing a doorway. She was facing a yellow window, raindrops splattering against the glass like stars.

In front of her stood a worker drone in a familiar butler suit, calling her name.

“N?” she gasped, standing up. “N, you’re-”

Pain ripped through her plating, tearing her apart from the inside as the white overheat warning in the corner of her vision became yellow. Her core thundered as her grip on the book increased, and she stumbled back into the chair. A sharp, broken sound left her vocalizer, and he rushed over.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked worriedly.

What?

Her face alternated between a grimace and a frown as she glanced down at him.

Isn’t he taller than me?

“N, what do you mean? Don’t you remember-”

A sudden bout of coughing broke her sentence off, and she raised her elbow to cover it.

When she pulled away, the plating was stained more red than white. Chunks of… something had gotten into the crevices, making horrible squelching noises as she dropped her arm and the joints and hinges bit into the meat.

“You’re alright,” he said, smiling gently.

No, I’m not.

She tried to shake her head, but he was already moving. “Hey, what are you reading?” he asked.

“Uhh…” she tried, still confused.

“Oh, I remember this one!” he said with his usual excitement. “Do you want to read with me?”

Something’s wrong.

At the same time, though, he was looking at her with so much hope in his yellow white optics…

“Alright,” she agreed, sliding off the chair to sit with her legs folded next to him.

He whooped, then glanced around. “Was that too loud?” he whispered.

“No, you’re fine,” she replied, turning the page with one claw.

He looked unconvinced. “But Mr. and Mrs. Elliott! They might punish me!”

V frowned. “What?”

The frown disappeared from N’s face. “Nevermind!” he chirped. “Over here?”

“…Yeah,” she said uncertainly.

“Great!” he cleared his vocalizer, before reading. “And the knight kept returning to the tower every evening, even when the grandmother had given up on the princess inside-”

And then he went silent.

“N?” V asked, turning to look at him. His fingers still glided over the words in tandem with her own, but no sound came from him. “N, keep reading.”

“Right!” he said cheerfully. “And the knight kept returning-”

“Not from there,” V interrupted. “We’re on the next page.”

“Oh, my bad!” he said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “Is it the line about the knight?”

“No,” V flicked her tail in irritation even as a hole opened up in her chest. “Just keep reading from here.”

He paused, like he was uncertain.

Please just keep reading.

“N, please,” she whispered.

“How about you try reading?” he suggested.

“Why can’t you?” she asked.

Oh, no.

As a test, she turned the page and deliberately only looked at the first line. “N, what does that say?”

“Uh… oh! One night, the princess let a rope down the side of her castle, and the knight…” he trailed off.

“And after that?” she said, the void in her expanding.

“…I’m not sure, V,” he admitted.

You’re not real.

“Robo-God…” she breathed. Her core began to beat harder, and she would have winced at the sudden pain if the spreading emptiness in her wasn’t consuming every processing thread she had. “You’re not real, are you? You’re just my imagination.”

Please say no, N. Do it for me.

Please.

“How about we keep reading?” he asked. “Just let me know what that says, will you?”

“Why can’t you just be real?” she asked softly, completely ignoring the pain of the overheat warning going to yellow. If a dribble of blood oil dribbled down her chin, she either didn't notice or didn’t care enough to. All her focus was on this younger version of N, the one from before… all of this.

“Why?” she asked again, curling into a ball. Her plates pressed into each other, and the flat side of her claws that she held the book with began to dent the cover.

“I am real, V. What do you mean?” the memory said.

“Real for the rest of the world, too. Not just for me.”

Tear emotes began running down her visor.

“Why did all of this have to happen?” she said, her voice cracking. “Why- why did-”

Memory-N put his hand on her shoulder, standing on his tiptoes to reach.

She felt nothing.

The yellow overheating warning blinked one last time-

-before, for the first time she could remember, it advanced to orange.

Pain.

Pain was her entire world, everything she ever knew and ever would know. The world went red, then black as her optics failed one by one. Everything was spinning, and something foul streamed from her mouth, huge chunks spattering on the floor.

[WARNING! CONSUME OIL IMMEDIATELY!]

Desperately, she lunged at N.

What are you doing?

Her fangs closed around thin air, and the illusion kept on smiling steadfastly as it wavered slightly before dissipating completely.

“No,” she choked. “Come back, please, I’m sorry-”

“V!?” A voice came from the doorway, and she whipped her head towards it before heaving again at the sudden movement.

With a thunk, all of her plates unlatched, steam furiously venting from the synthetic tissue under the white armor. The casings fell away, leaving her almost completely black, like a cadaver stripped of skin.

Uzi gasped and rushed over, before stumbling back at the heat.

V brandished a shaking claw at her.

“You’re not real,” she whispered. “Go away.”

Uzi stared at hollowed eyelights. “V, what’s going on? Please, we can help you-”

The rest of the sentence was lost as a wave of darkness swamped her vision momentarily. Dimly, she registered herself whispering a single word over and over.

She made a noise of surprise as something was shoved into her mouth, and her fangs came down on reflex.

Uzi yelped as V completely severed half of her arm, and something in the disassembler’s stomach twisted. She chewed for a moment before swallowing, opening her mouth to apologize-

“More.”

What?

Her body was moving without her permission, the world moving in individual frames as she latched onto the stump of Uzi’s arm and sucked greedily at the leaking oil. Uzi winced, but she held still, letting V cool herself down with Uzi’s own blood.

Finally, the flow stopped, and V pulled back with a gasp.

The overheating warning moved back to yellow, and her mind gained a layer of clarity.

“Fuck!” she gasped. “No, no, no! Shit, Uzi, I’m so sorry-”

“V, it’s alright,” Uzi cut her off, grimacing as silvery fluid began pouring over the wound, slowly regenerating the missing arm. “It’s already regenerated.”

V glanced down in shame, and her eye caught on the book.

What was left of it, anyway.

The cover was completely blackened, and when she opened it, the words on the pages that hadn’t been turned to ash were completely illegible.

Another tear slipped down her visor.

You just can’t do anything right, can you?

You burn everyone around you.

You don’t deserve this.

“V, shut up.”

V snapped her head up, gazing at Uzi’s determined expression with hollowed eyelights.

“Whatever’s going on in there, tell your processor to shut the fuck up,” the worker continued. “You’re not a failure. This isn’t your fault, do you hear me? All of this is shitty, but it isn’t your fucking fault.”

“But-” V choked.

“No buts,” Uzi said, picking up some of the discarded plating. “You’re my friend, okay? We’re gonna figure this out, and Cyn can fucking bite me if she thinks otherwise.”

“How do you know about Cyn?” V asked, momentarily shocked as Uzi clasped metal around her forearms. The worker paused for a moment, suddenly nervous.

“…You talk in your sleep,” she admitted. “If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine.”

“I-” V cut herself off.

Footsteps came from the tunnel outside, and J and N appeared in the doorway in a panting heap, all 14 of their optics combined immediately flickering to V.

“V! Oh my Robo-God, what-” N gasped.

“She’s fine, guys,” Uzi said. “Help me put her plating back on.”

“Does she look ‘fine’ to you?” J hissed.

“If you help me out, she will be!” Uzi shot back. “If you’re going to be an asshole, then do it somewhere else!”

“V, what happened?” N asked as the girls bickered.

V winced, optics darting around the ruined room before settling back on him.

For a moment, a hard hat replaced his optic crown.

Then, it was gone.

“I…” she began, but trailed off. “Just- I just overheated again,” she mumbled.

“Oh,” N said simply. He poked at one of the plates on the floor, carefully avoiding the chunks of flesh. “And this is…?”

“Apparently getting to the orange heat warning turns me into a porcupine,” she grumbled.

“A what?” N asked.

“A porcupine. It’s…” she trailed off, realizing she’d said the word without knowing what it meant. “A thing,” she decided. “Don’t worry about it. All of this, I mean. I can clean it up.”

“You make not worrying hard,” he said, smiling ruefully.

“It’s not like I chose this,” she snapped.

“No! Not at all - that wasn’t what I meant, V,” N backtracked hurriedly. “I just feel like it would be easier if you told us when you were starting to feel bad. Easier to take care of you, I mean.”

“I do tell you!” she protested. At the look he gave her, though, she wilted. “Most of the time, anyway…”

He stayed quiet.

“Look, I’m working on it, okay?” V huffed. “You know I don’t like this.”

“None of us do, V,” he said gently. “We’re all just working on it.”

She let that sit for a moment, then scoffed. “Cyn must have messed up. You’re not supposed to be a disassembly drone.”

“Cyn?” N looked momentarily confused, before shaking his head. “Well, we’re here anyway,” he smiled. “Might as well make the most with what we’ve got, huh?”

“I guess,” she muttered halfheartedly, cringing at her slip.

The tears stopped flowing.

“Help me get this stuff on already,” she said, fitting her chest plate back on and fumbling with the clasp on her back.

“Sure!” he agreed. “Hey, guys! Can we get some help over here?”

J and Uzi, who both looked about one insult from killing each other, turned as one to look at V struggling to put on her casings.

They watched for a moment, then turned to each other.

“Truce?” Uzi asked.

“Truce,” J confirmed, and they walked over. J’s tail swept the flesh aside, dribbling acid on the larger parts to break them down as she knelt.

“Move over,” Uzi grumbled at N, blushing slightly as she did the chest clasp for V. The disassembler obliged, and slowly, piece by piece, they put V back together.

“Hey, uh…” Uzi said, and one of the orbs on V’s optic crown flickered to look at her. “You wanna go find some books soon? Y’know, cause these ones are kind of… totaled?”

V glanced around, looking closely at the shelves. Uzi was right; the colors on the spines had all become a mixture of sickly yellow and black streaks. No doubt her heat dump had melted the adhesives on the page, too…

She could accept.

Or…

A grin crossed her face.

“I dunno, Doorman,” she said casually. “That almost sounds like a date~.”

The purple glow behind her increased tenfold, and Uzi smacked her shoulder. “Ew, dude! Gross! Just as friends! God, you’re impossible,” she exclaimed.

V chuckled. “Alright, fine,” she agreed, pretending not to notice the little sigh of relief Uzi gave.

J rolled her eyes. “For the love of corporate, get a room,” she muttered.

V’s visor glowed a bit as she glared at her squad leader. “Robo-God, no,” she muttered, ignoring Uzi’s indignant sputtering. “Get your head out of the gutter.”

“I’m just saying, I know where you took her when we put up the lights,” J said with a wink.

Uzi groaned. “We literally just went on a walk. That’s it.”

“Saw the auroras, too?” J said. All of them knew the answer, and J smirked as she clasped the final casing onto V’s leg.

“Shut up,” V muttered, leaning on N to stand up.

“Thought so. You should clean your casings at some point, by the way. These are genuinely filthy,” J said.

“Is there a point?” V asked.

The mood in the room dampened slightly.

“…I think there is,” N finally supplied. “I’ll do mine, too. J?”

“Sure,” the squad leader replied. “I suppose routine maintenance never hurts.”

“It’s settled, then!” N said happily. “I’ll go find the things tomorrow. Sorry, Uzi - I don’t think workers can take off their casings,” he said.

“Nah, it’s fine,” Uzi reassured. “I’ve got some stuff I need to work on anyway without you lot distracting me.”

N gasped, pressing his palm to his core. “I’m hurt.”

V smiled, a real, genuine smile at her squad’s antics.

Then, a notification appeared in the corner of her screen.

[Cyn]: Aren’t they cute?

The smile vanished off her features.

[SD:V]: Shut up. You’re not welcome here.

Cyn replied almost instantly.

[Cyn]: Am I wrong? You certainly think the worker is.

[Cyn]: Such a shame when cute things break, don’t you think?

A low growl left her.

[SD:V]: You don’t get to fucking talk about her.

[Cyn]: Relax. I’m actually here to help, believe it or not.

[SD:V]: I don’t.

[Cyn]: I figured you wouldn’t.

[Cyn]: Do you remember the building where the two of you first met?

[Cyn]: Tomorrow evening, check for a package. It’s medicine.

[Cyn]: Call it a gift. From me to you.

[Cyn]: ;)

“V? Everything alright?”

N’s voice snapped her out of it, and she realized she was clenching at his coat tightly.

She took a deep vent in, then out.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just thought of something.”

“What was it?” he asked curiously.

Actually…

“I think I know where we can find some stuff for the casings,” she explained. “I found some in this building - we can go look.”

[Cyn]: Lying to him?

[Cyn]: You’re not a very good friend, are you?

“Shut up,” she snapped.

N recoiled slightly. “Uh…” he said.

Her eyelight widened. “Not you,” she said hurriedly.

“Is it Cyn?” Uzi whispered in her audials. “Can he talk to you?”

“She,” V whispered back, nodding. “She says she can fix me.”

“There’s nothing about you that we need to fix,” Uzi said. “Just something happening to you. There’s a difference.”

V’s core warmed.

“Alright.”

“What are you two whispering about this time?” J snapped.

“Nothing,” Uzi said hurriedly, before dipping her head again. “We’ll go together, okay?”

The worker stood up, but held V’s gaze. Hesitantly, she stretched her arm and motioned for V to take it.

The disassembler almost pulled her to the floor when she stood up, but Uzi remained upright.

She squeezed Uzi’s hand.

“Together.”