Chapter Text
Click. Click. Click.
J methodically clicked her pen, lost in thought. She was supposed to be home right now, relaxing after a long, arduous day of filing paperwork that should’ve been completed months ago. Seriously, was there no one in this desolate robo-hellhole capable of basic task management??
But no, a certain someone had to go and desiccate one of the bunkers only currently functioning blast doors with their stupid, tacky, overly-flashy laser gun. Leaving even more paperwork for J. Great.
She should’ve just left this stupid planet and perished in the vacuum of space like any other reasonable drone would have done. In fact, she almost did, before she was tragically intervened that is.
With the finite oil supply the spire provided, alongside a faulty ship that was likely to explode if she even attempted to exit the stratosphere, she was only left with one option. Well, in J's opinion, technically two. But as previously mentioned, that was shut down. After lots of persistence from the trio, and a little more concern for her wellbeing than her liking, she “agreed” to come live in the bunker.
Honestly, they probably would’ve dragged me here themselves I didn’t, she grumbled to herself.
…Why they still cared so much was beyond her.
That was around three weeks ago. Khan had provided her a small apartment in a more secluded area of the bunker, right next to V’s and N’s. He also gave her a job shortly after, something about bed rotting being an “unhealthy coping mechanism” according to his “parenting manual” and a bunch of other jabbering J barely paid mind to.
What a shame it had come to this, wasting away with stupid, pointless busywork. It was almost underwhelming for the life she had endured up to now. Maybe this was a punishment bestowed upon her by the universe, cursed to a life of monotony.
J’s internal monologue was cut short by a loud knocking at the door.
“Hey, ya in there, corpo?”
Oh, great. Just the drone she wanted to see. J inhaled sharply, smoothing out her clothing before replying.
“You may enter.”
She watched as the door cracked, her gaze being met by gradients of yellow and purple. Uzi glanced at J’s desk as she entered, taking note of the mountain of paper before turning back with a look of almost-remorse. “Sooooo… uhm, how’s it hanging?”
J’s eyes narrowed before giving a curt reply, “What do you think?” She crossed her legs, continuing to eye her with thinly veiled contempt. Uzi seemed to grow restless, torn between giving a snappy retort or keeping her mouth shut.
“Bite me!” She chose the former. “Can I not just check on you or something?”
J gawked at the thought of Uzi willingly expressing any amount of concern for her health. “Do you want something? Or did you just come here to annoy me?” What right did she have to “check up” on her anyway? She had been nothing but a nuisance since the moment they met—the little stunt pulled this morning further proved that.
Uzi grumbled before taking a deep breath, “the schools hosting a Prom do-over thingy or whatever, it’s next week. V says you’ve been doing too much brooding, so we thought we’d invite you.”
Whatever train of thought J had next was derailed, digital brow furrowing as she processed the response. “You’re… inviting me to a dance? A tacky high school dance?”
“Hey! It’s not tacky!” The purple haired drone stomped her foot in frustration, “we put a lot of effort into this, it’s not exactly easy to throw a nice party with limited resources.”
As if the universe wanted to further her point, a leaky pipe in the corner creaked loudly, startling both of them.
“Maybe we wouldn’t be so limited with our resources if you didn’t blow them up” the pigtailed drone snarled.
“That was an accident!” Uzi whined, “So my railgun blew up just a teensy bit, it’s a work in progress! building a whole gun from scratch is pretty difficult.”
J huffed, “well an ‘accident’ doesn’t rescind the amount of paperwork I have to file. Maybe you should keep your little projects away from the bunker.”
“Don’t tell me what to do!” Uzi abruptly turned away, taking a moment to collect herself before mumbling out, “just… show up, don’t show up, whatever.”
She made her way to the door, pausing before leaving.
“It would mean a lot to the others if you showed up. whether you like it or not, we- I mean- they still care about you.”
J decided to not acknowledge her little slip up, instead choosing to irritably flick her tail and silently turn away in her chair until Uzi finally slipped out of the room. She didn’t care how childish it was, anything to get the purple rat out of her space.
She stood shortly after, organizing her desk while she ruminated.
A dance, really? Serial designation J attending a school dance?? She pursed her lips, just the thought of being confined to a space with dozens of delinquent drones gave her a headache. How dare she! Insinuating I would ever indulge in such childish nonsense, What a pathetic excuse for a joke.
She paused her decluttering, glancing around her office. It wasn’t anything special, a small space with rustic (quite literally) walls that looked like they were a sneeze away from peeling off. In the center of the room sat a metal desk, a crummy worn-down computer, and her rolling chair. It creaked loudly whenever she turned at a particular angle, some days she contemplated tearing it to shreds.
She also had a small shelf to her left; On the top lay a case with a branded pen, it sat half opened and appeared to be recently polished. Various books and supplies resided inside the compartments, welcoming gifts from a bunch of meaningless faces she would never make a semblance of an attempt to know.
J shouldered on her jacket from a hanger in the corner and promptly made her exit, continuing to brood to herself as she followed her usual route to her apartment. What was so special about some dumb dance anyway, what made it so worth going to? Why was she giving so much thought to it?
Although J had never been to a Prom, she had attended many galas. Pompous guests, empty conversations, extravagant and stupid, frankly. It made her antsy just thinking about it.
…At least Tessa made it somewhat bearable.
She adjusted her tie in an attempt to distract herself, glancing up lightly. She peered through glass displays as she passed several shops—a few items catching her eye.
The patterning on this button up is actually quite nice.
She gazed blankly through the window for a few moments before snapping out of her thoughts. What are you thinking! You’re not going to that stupid event. She turned away, speed walking the rest of her way home.
J was one disturbance away from frying a circuit, her oil reserves were ticking to suboptimal levels as well. Ugh, I really need to start keeping a canister on me. How inefficient, she mumbled to herself.
As she finally neared her door, a grating voice called out behind her.
“Heya J! How was your day?”
The positivity N exuded was enough to kill anyone within a mile radius. Although in this case, living wasn't exactly in his favor if he didn’t vacate the vicinity within the next 5 seconds.
“N” J regarded, her voice taut. “My day was fine.”
He beamed at that, seemingly missing her strained tone. “That's great to hear! Uzi said she stopped by earlier, are ya gonna go to Prom?”
J, plainly, was done with questions for the day.
Maybe if I strangle him right now no one will notice? No, no, dimwit one and two would definitely find out. I’d be terminated immediately and they’d never let me step foot in the bunker again.
Actually, on second thought, that sounds pretty appealing right about now-
“Uhhh… earth to J? Ya there buddy? You’re kinda just staring at me blankly haha… it’s kinda unsettling!”
Unfortunately for N, a response never came. Before he could even blink J had disappeared behind her door. Well that certainly wasn’t the worst conversation we’ve had, N chuckled to himself.
A whole sentence this time!
J slumped as she entered her apartment, servos creaking uncomfortably. She slowly made her way to her kitchen—if you could even call it that. Her home was depressingly barren, filled only with the essential appliances that came with it. Decorating was a waste of time anyway, sooner or later they would regain their senses and boot her out of here.
The lights of the fridge flickered lightly as J peered inside, pulling out a large container with the word “oil” crudely written on it. She snatched a mug from her cupboard and poured, high temperature warning on her visor dissipating as she drank. The texture was atrocious, an unfortunate tradeoff for the extra relief the cold provided.
She couldn’t bother to find the energy for her usual nightly routines, feeling no need to change out of her uniform either. She settled on hanging from the rafters in her room, hoping to minimize any potential wrinkling.
J's room was filled with quite a few things despite her apparent gripe with decor, namely her paintings.
Skyscrapers littered every wall in the room, sketches and supplies strewn across the floor. Art was her only real escape from reality. Sometimes, if she lost herself staring at the buildings long enough, she could almost pretend she was back on earth.
J had only seen the city once, she recalled that day so vividly.
Tessa needed a new gown for an upcoming gala. Under normal circumstances, the Elliotts would just assign a random drone to the task—but this event was very important for their image. They wanted something professionally made so they found someone in town. Tessa had begged and begged and begged, until finally, her parents (begrudgingly) allowed her to drag J along under the condition she kept her “contained”.
She felt so small, sitting in the back of that limousine, awestruck by the towering buildings above. Tessa was just as amazed, it wasn’t often her parents took her away from home. She remembered the human taking both her hands excitedly, whispering next to her about ambitions of making it big in the city. For a second it felt almost plausible, they would leave the manor behind, buy a small apartment, Tessa would make a living doing oddball jobs repairing electronics with N, V, and J by her side. No one would tell them what to do anymore, they would live out the rest of their lives together.
Quit it. Those days are over now, there’s no point in thinking about it any longer.
Daydreaming at her paintings, she could almost forget how alone she felt. Almost.
As much as she tried to stop it, a thought buried in the back of her mind resurfaced as she slowly powered down.
Maybe attending Prom wasn’t the worst idea.