Work Text:
V stood in the midst of a ruined building, knee-deep in snow. The storm that almost always raged on Copper-9 had faded away, a small respite. A body was cooling nearby her, oil congealing as she stared into the middle distance. It was too quiet.
Nothing left to distract her from her thoughts, now. Just a dead drone and a dead world, and her.
She was trying not to look at the body. Not to think about it. About what she'd done. It didn't matter. She was surviving. Nothing else really mattered.
She enjoyed this, even. She enjoyed this. It was fun, making them squirm. It was fun.
So why couldn't she leave? Why couldn't she make her legs move? She was used to feeling nothing, but somehow… she felt worse. A deep abyss opening up underneath her.
What was she doing? Standing here, feeling sorry for herself. This was nothing new to her, she'd gone through this time and time again. It wasn't even like the worker she'd dismembered had done anything! It was like any other, it didn't look like her, or N, or J, hadn't said anything that gave her even a hint of deja vu.
And yet.
And then, the silence was broken. A set of feet dropped down outside the building, waves fluttering.
"V, you haven't moved for nearly twenty minutes. What's going on?" J rubbed her temple. "You better not have broken anything important. I like doing paperwork, but—" J cut herself off.
V swallowed, hands twitching as she turned to face J.
"I'm fine," V said stiffly, "Just… just a little out of it."
V marched forward, hoping to avoid any sort of serious talk with J. She couldn't do it. Not now.
"What do you mean 'out of it'?" J asked, "I don't want your numbers tanking."
"Oh my—" V cut herself off, "I'm fine."
"You were standing here for a third of an hour," J shot back, "You think that's something that I'm just going to brush off?"
"Yeah," V said, shrugging, "Don't make it a bigger deal than it has to be."
"Don't—" J cut herself off, sighing, "You don't have to do this, with me. I… I am genuinely worried, alright? Happy?"
"…" V hesitated, letting herself become a little more sincere, "It's… it's nothing, really. I just got a little… I got into a funk. I'll hunt a bit more, get out of that funk."
"I'll come with you," J said, "Make sure you're actually putting in the work."
"Fine," V bit out, "Come if you like. Don't blame me if you get squeamish."
V spread her wings, taking off in a random direction and forcing J to chase after her. V savored the feeling of the wind running under her wings, trying to outrace the thoughts that plagued her. She felt freer like this, like she could almost forget what she was, what she was going to do.
V made a few random turns. Left, right. She swooped down, rocketed back up. Her eyes flicked back, and she saw J struggling to predict her movements, to follow after her. That brought the barest hint of a smile to her face. It was nice to turn the tables, once in a while, to have J following after her lead.
Eventually, though, the fun had to end. V spotted a worker, a small moving dot amongst the white and grey beneath her.
V forced out a smile as she dropped down, rocketing towards the worker and skewering its core in a flash. She reared backwards, the oil splattering against the snow. She crouched down, pulling out tubes and wires, playing with them idly, only to drop them down listlessly.
"See?" V turned over to J, who'd settled down nearby, "I'm fine."
The two stared at each other for a moment.
"If you're hungry…" V shrugged, "I'm happy to share."
"You're usually a bit more enthusiastic…" J said, almost not directed at V, more a thought let loose.
"Oh my—" V stood up, "What is your problem?" V threw her hands up, marching towards J, "I mean, seriously? This is crazy behavior out of you! What… is this?"
"I… I don't…" J trailed off, "As I've said, I'm your boss, it's only natural that I keep a handle on—"
"For the love of-" V growled, "Enough with the corpo talk! Would it kill you to be vulnerable for just a second?"
J stared at V, stricken for a moment. She stepped forward, balling up her fists as she faced V, struggling with some other part of herself before she finally relented, sighing heavily before she sagged towards V, her arms gripping the other drone as she drew her into a tight hug.
"I… I care about you," J managed, "There. That's the truth. I just… you know, already. Don't you?"
"I mean, I don't know, I—" V blinked, "I don't… It's just been a while, you know? Who's going to… who'd care? If something happened to me. Really?"
"You know I'd care, and… well, it's clear that N would care," J said, taking a step back.
"N's made friends with rocks," V said, venom in her voice, "He'd get over it. And you would too. You'd be more annoyed than anything. Harder to meet quotas when you're one drone down."
"You think that?" J asked, crossing her arms.
"I know that," V shot back.
J's expression softened at that, before her gaze went somewhere far away. She stared through V for a moment, then focused back on her.
"You… you don't know everything about what's happening, V. You might think you do, but…" J's fingers twitched, "Everything I do is to keep us safe. To keep us together. I promise, I care about you. I don't want anything to happen to you. Not ever."
"… You mean that?" V asked, "Really?"
"I mean it," J said, taking V's hands in her own, "So just… please be okay."
"I'll try," V said, "I'll try."
V spread her wings, trying to escape the conversation, when J spoke up again.
"You haven't told me what's actually wrong, V," J prompted, placing one hand on her hip.
"… Believe me, this isn't something you can fix," V replied, "I'll work myself out of it. I always do."
"If you don't… well, you know where I'll be. Good hunting, V," J spread her wings and waited for V to take off before she did the same, flying alongside her for a moment before V broke off, slowly drifting away from her until she vanished from sight.
V might've been a monster, but… at least she was in good company.