Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Down the ruined street of the abandoned metropolis, a lone worker ran in the middle of the road, panting with exhaustion as he looked behind him with hollow eyes. So far, he saw nothing besides the ruined buildings-but that wasn't right. Where was the sky demon who pursued him five minutes ago? He was right behind him the last he checked! Did he lose him somehow? Was he sa-

Crack!

A bullet tore through the drone’s leg, causing him to fall face first into the snow. Groaning, he turned himself over with his hands, hearing a faint whoosh before a black and yellow mass slammed in front of him, dust kicking up from its feet.

The poor worker recognized all the telltale signs-the massive silver wings, the sharp talons for hands, and the yellow burning X staring into his soul. He opened his mouth to scream-a scream that never came.

In one fluid motion, the monster’s claws sliced off the head cleanly, rolling on the ground as a red FATAL ERROR flickered on his visor, mouth silently agape. The X likewise flickered into a pair of tired yellow eyes, watching the head roll to a stop. With a sigh, the demon carefully carved an incision through the worker’s chest, before prying it open to reveal his internals.

Serial Designation N’s mouth watered at the sight of fresh oil, his pupils dilating as he pulled out some kind of tank from his kill, popping it into his mouth without a second thought. He hummed in pleasure as he felt the oil run down his throat, finally cooling his overheating systems.

It was the first proper meal he had eaten in days.

As he dug in, N found himself quite content with his meal, having spent hours looking for any worker in the vicinity. He had no idea what this guy was doing all by himself, but the disassembler vowed not to let him get away even if the sun came up. Yes, he was that desperate.

But now he no longer had to worry! He had a kill, and a proper meal for the first time in a while! With daylight soon approaching, all he had to do was report this kill to J! Yup, one kill after nearly a week of hunting!

N’s eyes widened once he finished his thoughts, realizing how stupid he sounded.

“Oh biscuits, she’s gonna kill me.”

This was his only kill for four days-four days in which he hadn’t filled out his quota. Four days where his squad leader progressively grew angrier at his incompetence. Four days of insults and beatings.

And the worst part was it wasn’t his fault.

Lately, the number of workers in the city had drastically decreased, forcing the team to hunt farther and longer for their prey. No longer did they come in groups, but in ones and twos. If N had to guess, the workers had finally gotten smart and started hiding much better, maybe even finding their way to the fortified outposts. Whatever the case, there was less prey to go around.

Yet the quotas kept piling up. Nobody was able to properly fulfill them-even V was struggling despite her exceptional hunting skills. This, combined with a gradual overheating, had led to certain behavioral changes for the squad. V grew even more distant, not bothering with talking to either one of them now-not like that was anything new. N found it much harder to remain positive, growing increasingly frustrated as the overheating got worse. His smiles were forced, and he couldn’t find it in himself to make jokes or be cheerful in general. And J…simply got angrier.

Infuriated at the lack of progress and her own overheating, she started berating the two of them more often and telling them to work harder, to the point where V found herself at the center of her boss’s rants, usually responding by glaring back with teeth bared. Of course, that was as far as it went with her.

J saved the worst for N. Constantly insulting him, beating him, and making his life more miserable overall. He wasn’t sure whether she did this as a form of stress relief, or out of genuine hatred, but he ended up with dents and cracks all over his body by the time she finished. These sessions lasted far longer than previous ones, sometimes taking the entire night as she continually kicked and clawed at him, spewing insults all the while.

He tried to take it, he really did. But a small part of his mind increasingly grew angrier at his situation-the overheating, the beating, the insults-everything. It told him to lash out, release his anger. Only then would things be better.

So far he had managed to suppress it, albeit barely. His smiles grew shakier, and his eyes twitched more often. J had never noticed this, only caring about making her subordinates' life miserable. Still, he resisted-unlike his leader, he wasn’t a spiteful person at all! He wouldn’t stoop that low!

“Just grin and bear it, N, just grin and bear it…”

Shaking his head, the boy realized that he had completely drained the corpse of oil. All that remained was the head. Feeling slightly better, he stood up, walking over to retrieve it.

Just as he reached it, he heard a whoosh, a pair of silver wings zipping over him before looping in the air, slowing down to land on the street below. The wings spread outward as they descended, revealing-

"Oh no."

Serial Designation J touched down with the grace of an angel, retracting her wings before strolling over to his kill. Briefly eyeing it, she snapped her cold gaze back onto the boy, who stood at attention with a salute, stressed optics meeting her piercing glare.

“What was she doing here? Shouldn’t she be in another sector? What is she gonna do-”

“Well?”

J’s irate tone tore him back to the present, small beads of sweat rolling down his visor as he struggled to respond.

“H-hey boss! I-I found a worker! My first one!” He gulped as her glare grew harsher, optics hollowing out.

“You found one?” She sneered. “After four days of hunting…you found one?!”

“Y-yes ma’am! Just one!” Retrieving the head with his tail, he came up with a desperate peace offering as he held it up. “I already ate, y-you can have the rest if you want!”

For the longest time, J simply stared at him with her angry gaze, all noise around them ceasing as his core beat, knowing full well what would happen next.

Crack!

In a blur, J shot forward, punching him directly in the visor. Dropping the head, he barely had time to groan before something sharp ripped through his stomach, oil gushing all over the white snow. Warning labels flashed into his vision as another crack reverberated throughout his head, followed by a slash to the arm.

He felt the sharp end of her tail stab into his knee, causing him to fall on his back, just as a sharp peg stabbed itself into his wounded stomach, causing him to cry out.

“YOU USELESS MORON!” J screamed as she dug deeper into his wound, watching as he writhed beneath her. “After four days of incompetency and laziness, you only managed to find one toaster?! ONE?!”

Her tail stabbed him in his shoulder, the nanites burning through his armor as his regenerative properties struggled to keep up. 

“You worthless pile of scrap! I should have you TERMINATED!”

She lunged down, claws piercing his chest as she straddled his ruined body, eyes flickering between a hateful scowl and X. “I have had enough of your performance, you fucking liability! You have done nothing to help alleviate this quota, and we are suffering because of it! Words cannot describe how disappointed the company is of us, of you!”

She twisted her claws in his chest, baring her fangs as he howled in pain. 

“This is what you get for not doing your job! This. Is. ALL. YOUR. FAULT!”

She punctuated this by tearing a piece of his internals from his body, holding it in her claw. 

He wanted so badly to tell her it wasn't his fault, that he tried finding workers from dusk to dawn, that he was suffering from overheating just as bad as his team, and the oil was growing scarce by the week. He wanted to rebuke her accusations…but couldn’t. It wasn’t his place to do so. No matter how loudly the voice told him otherwise.

He watched as J stared at his torn skin, steam billowing from her mouth as her warm body scalded his. At this point, the squad leader was no longer thinking clearly, her CPU filled with hunger and hatred for her useless subordinate.

So why not combine the two?

Without warning, she shoved the piece of metal into her mouth, groaning as she shredded it under her teeth, the oil feeling like pure ecstasy. Staring back down at the horrified boy, her visor switched to an X as her mouth changed from a snarl to an eerie smile.

“It’s a good thing you ate…since I haven’t found anything today. Maybe this-” Ripping another part of his plastic skin off his chest, “Will give you more incentive to do your job properly.” Finishing by gnashing it between her fangs.

N stared in complete shock and alarm at what his leader was doing to him. She was eating him. 

In her failing, starving mind, no longer did she view him as a teammate, but as a source of emergency food instead.

A multitude of emotions crashed through his CPU-shock, fear, dismay, disgust…

And Anger.

How dare she blame him for things out of his control?! How dare she cannibalize him for oil?! How dare she?!

The voice he tried so long to hold back now rang throughout his head like an alarm, overpowering every other emotion until only pure, unbridled rage remained.

And in that moment, Serial Designation N snapped.

His vision grew fuzzy like a bull seeing red. Despite his extensive injuries and his leader sitting on him, he shot up from the snow, letting out an angry growl as J tumbled back, X flickering to a shocked expression.

Moving his right arm back, he didn’t even register transforming it into a long, black sword before thrusting forward hard.

A loud crack, followed by the twisting of metal and plastic as J let out a short gasp, the blade running deeper into her body until-

Crunch.

Something wet and slimy exploded all over his blade, the haze instantly dissipating as he regained control of himself, staring in horror at the grisly scene in front of him.

J sat between his legs, his blade deep into the center of her chest…exactly where the core was.

Her mouth opened and closed without sound, as her dim, hollow optics gawked into his. A dark pool of oil ran all over her uniform, staining her yellow undershirt black.

Her body spasmed. Once. Twice. Her arms suddenly went limp, head rolling to the side as her mouth went slack.

Her eyelights soon flickered out, only for a new, very familiar message to appear in its place.

FATAL ERROR.

N’s world stopped as he gazed at the red text, slowly realizing what he had just done.

“Oh no…”

Chapter Text

N stared at J’s body wide-eyed, sword still embedded on her chest. For a minute, he didn’t move a single inch, too shocked to register what just happened…until it hit him.

He just attacked his leader. He killed her.

“No…no no NO!”

That wasn’t possible! Disassembly drones couldn’t die-not from wounds like that! They could heal! Hell, he healed from worse, especially after her violent outbursts!

He quickly retracted his sword, the oily blade sliding into his arm. The unsupported body began to fall back, only for his free hand to catch it by the shoulder. J’s head lolled as he pulled her back, visor still displaying the familiar red text. Gripping both her arms, he lightly shook her limp torso.

“J?! J?! Are you okay?! Please wake up!”

Her limbs and head moved loosely, but the red on her screen never disappeared. He noticed her headband sensors were also shut off, leaving them gray instead of yellow, but he ignored it as he continued shaking her.

“J please! Wake up! I-I’m so sorry, I did-I just- AGHH!!”

Shutting his eyes, N took a deep breath, barely recomposing himself-there was no time to be panicking! Looking back at his leader, he started again in a strained and shaky voice.

“J-J, please, wake up…I’m sorry! I don’t know what came over me but-oh biscuits, I know you’re still in there! I just gotta…wake you up somehow! Yeah!”

Scanning her body, he locked onto the wound in her chest, the gaping hole surrounded by wet oil and torn clothing. He knew exactly how to fix this!

“I am so sorry for this…uhhh, you’ll thank me later!”

Moving his head closer to the wound, he stuck out his slimy tongue and immediately got to work, vigorously licking the wound to smother it in repair nanites. Maybe that was the reason she was unconscious, he had to seal the wound!

But no matter how many times he doused the hole, it simply refused to heal. He grew more desperate and confused as he continued-the nanites should’ve taken effect by now! There was no reason it shouldn't work…

…unless the skin he was trying to mend was already dead. That was the only type of wound they couldn’t repair…

“NO! Don’t think like that! She’s not dead! Maybe your nanites aren’t good enough…yeah, that's gotta be it!”

Pulling back from her chest, he couldn’t help but blush upon realizing how he was healing her body, almost like something out of a-

“Bad thoughts! Bad thoughts!” Slapping the side of his head, he attempted to focus on his original goal. If he couldn’t heal her wound with his nanites, then maybe he needed a different solution…

Scanning the street, he quickly spotted a nearby auto parts store, his face lighting up. He knew that it probably wouldn’t have any drone parts, but there were definitely tools and supplies he could use to repair her! It wasn’t ideal, but certainly better than nothing!

Cradling J’s body close to his, he slowly stood up, legs shaking the entire time. The body itself wasn’t heavy, but N felt so…uncomfortable holding her like this, as if she would wake up right then and there and “discipline” him again for touching her.

Turning towards the store, he slowly trudged in its direction, watching his surroundings as the day grew brighter… wait.

“Oh no, the suns coming out!”

Checking his time, he realized he had less than two hours left to get back to the spire in time. Spreading his wings, he prepared to take flight and carry the body back to-

“Aghhh, no! I can’t do that!”

The spire had nothing to repair her with! On top of that, he’d have to explain to his other squadmate what happened to their leader!

“Maybe I could just say she got ambushed by some workers…” Looking down at the clean sword wound in her chest, he shook his head. “ No way V’s ever gonna believe that! We haven’t encountered any workers that fought back, and she’ll know that was no ordinary blade that ki-wounded her! She might not remember my name, but she definitely knows her stuff!”

He wasn’t sure how she would react upon finding out, but he’d seen what she did to her prey, and did not want to be on the receiving end. Even if she somehow believed his lies, he couldn’t afford the risk-he needed to fix this before the company got wind of his insubordination.

But that would have to wait for tomorrow. Already the night sky was brightening, and he needed a place to keep his leader safe. Spotting a dumpster next to the shop, he quickly threw the lid open, carefully placing J on the metal floor. He stared at her for a bit, still hoping she’d wake up despite his conscience telling him otherwise.

“W-wait here for the day, o-okay? I…I’m so, so sorry!”

With that, he slammed the lid shut, marking the side of the dumpster with his claws in order to find it the next night. Praying nobody would find her until then, he spread his wings wide, before shooting into the sky back to the spire.

N didn’t even register the return trip home, too caught up in his thoughts as he landed in front of the pod. He was late, and he half expected J to storm out and give him another beating-only to realize this was no longer the case, for now…

Hearing a whoosh, he turned around to see Serial Designation V land a short distance away, kicking up snow around her. Retracting her wings, he noticed the oil splattered all over her jacket-seems she had better luck than he did for once.

Walking deeper into the structure, she didn’t bother to register his presence as usual, hopping on the pod with a single leap before peering inside. At this point, he was quite used to this, having given up talking to her a week ag-

“J?” He snapped his gaze on her, quickly noticing how she raised her head from the entrance, scanning the spire.

“J?! I got your stupid numbers!” Hopping off the pod, she walked a short distance around, a scowl plastered on her face. “Where the hell is that bitch?”

That was the first time N ever heard her call J a vulgar name, although he figured it was warranted given how she’d been treating them lately. He had no time to ponder further as V spun around and locked eyes with him.

“Where’s J?”

The question was asked with a mix of boredom and annoyance, yet it sent shockwaves crashing through his systems. For the first time in forever, V talked to him-and of course it was a question he’d been dreading this entire time!

“I uhhh…” N scratched his head as he put on a nervous smile, V’s gaze boring into his optics. After running though numerous possibilities, he decided to stick with the simplest lie.

“IIII haven’t seen her! At all! I’ve got no idea where she could be! Uhhh yeah, that’s a pretty good question!”

Robo-God everything about that answer was forced, especially the shaky smile he put on.

V continued staring at him before looking away, shaking her head.

“She’s never been this late before…probably got stuck in some ruins.” The female disassembler let out a humorless chuckle “Ha! Serves her right then…”

She looked back at him with a bored expression. “Whatever. I’m going to sleep, don’t bother me.”

“N-no problem V! I’m sure J’s gonna turn out fine! Yeah…”

He didn’t even finish his sentence before V spread her wings again, shooting towards an overhang above them before wrapping her tail around the pole, wings covering her body.

Upon watching her cover up, he let out a quiet sigh of relief, dropping the smile as he wondered how much longer he could keep this up. 

Hopefully he can fix his leader tomorrow…

Turning in for the day, N spent hours struggling to power down as the night's events replayed in his head.

Chapter Text

N slammed into the ground on all fours, snow spraying everywhere as he retracted his wings. Standing up, he spotted the auto shop and the marked dumpster next to it, and slowly made his way over there, his nervousness growing with each step.

Earlier tonight, he woke up to discover V already gone-she was always an early riser when it came to hunting. Then again, she might also be looking for J. Despite her obvious disdain towards her, she was still their leader, and a squad is supposed to be there for each other, no matter what position they’re in.

“If only they treated me like that…”

N’s eyes widened, clamping down on that thought hard. How could he say that about his squadmates, after everything they’ve been through? Surely they care enough to not leave him for dead…right?

Regardless, he flew low to the shop, checking his surroundings for any signs of his psychotic squadmate or any other drones. What happened between N and J needed to remain a secret…at least until he found a way to repair her.

Approaching the dumpster, he paused, wondering if she was still in there. What if a worker found her while scavenging? What if V already searched this area? What if J woke up, stumbling across the snow with her wou-

He cut his thoughts off again, shaking his head. There were no footprints or oil stains around the dumpster, and the lid remained closed. She was still in there, she had to be. Without wasting any more time, he threw the cover open, bracing for the worst.

“...Oh good, she’s still inside…safe and dead unconscious! Now what?”

N turned to the store, realizing he now had the time to actually figure out how to fix her. Reaching inside, he gingerly carried her body bridal style, before walking inside the building, the snowy ground giving way to concrete flooring.

The auto parts store had been thoroughly gutted by the elements and looting. Empty shelves lined the walls where car parts, fluids, and tools used to be, and the cashier desk was stripped of all electronics. Broken glass and empty antifreeze canisters lay scattered all over the floor-it seemed to him some of the drones drank the stuff.

Walking deeper inside the store, he noticed more shelves lined with frozen tires, the only items that hadn't been stolen along with several workbenches and tool cabinets. Approaching the longest table, he set her body down, moving her limbs and tail alongside her body before sighing.

“All right, what to do, what to do…maybe I should check out that wound first.”

Switching one of his hands for a flashlight, N leaned over J’s chest, shining the beam into the gaping hole in the middle of her suit. 

His face quickly cringed in disgust upon seeing the inside. Black gunk was splattered all over the interior, along with the broken remains of a metal ribcage. Behind the silver ‘bones’ seemed to be several ‘organs’ presumably pumps and tanks for her systems, all covered in black and red. Everything besides the ribcage seemed to be relatively intact, until he looked at the core.

What was once a mass of metal and strangely enough, flesh, now lay in two pieces, hanging from several tendrils connected to her endoskeleton. The cut made through the core was clean, meaning this was where his sword ended up. Checking the interior of each halve only revealed more fleshy bits fused with the metal remains as if they were cobbled together. At this point, the tendrils and muscles had lost their original color, a sickly pale gray instead of their reddish hue mixed in with the silver metal and black oil.

N turned off his flashlight, slowly backed away from the table…and promptly vomited oil all over the floor.

“WHY IS THERE FLESH IN HER?!”

He didn’t even bother holding in his screams as he coughed up the last bit of oil, leaning on a table as his mind reeled from what he saw. It didn’t make sense. None of this made sense.

Why in the world did her insides look like that? Who or what put that in there? How did this combination even work? Did his core look like that?

So many questions, and absolutely zero answers. His head spun as he gasped for air, images of her ruined core and interior replaying in his CPU over and over again…

It took him ten minutes to eventually calm down.

Letting out a shaky breath, N hesitantly walked back to the table, having decided to shelve his questions for later-fixing his leader was his top priority. Peering down the hole again, he saw how the two halves were hanging, an indication of the broken core. He also took note of the clean cut between them, as if he could simply put them back together.

“Wait-maybe I could weld it back!”

N still had very little idea what he was doing, but figured that repairing the offline core would be a good start. After all, he had a soldering torch in his hand, he just had to line the halves up! Easy! He just had to take them out without damaging anything else.

He decided the first step was clearing the wound area of any debris for better access. Switching his hand to a claw, he muttered an apology before carefully slicing down the middle of J’s uniform, stopping at the hem. He slowly moved aside the now ruined clothing, exposing her smooth porcelain chest and her rubber midsection.

Once again, N found himself blushing profusely at the inappropriateness of the situation, struggling to banish those thoughts as he reached for the wound, carefully inserting his talons inside. 

It took every ounce of his servos to prevent his fingers from shaking, using his flashlight to guide his claws towards a core piece. After what seemed like an eternity, he carefully grasped the halve, slowly raising it from her chest. Exhaling a sigh of relief, he set it aside before going back in to retrieve the other piece.

Within ten more minutes, he had both core pieces laying next to her body, oil and blood soaking the wood-colored top. To a normal certified technician, a core in this state would’ve been automatically deemed irreparable and sent for disassembly. For N though, he only saw an opportunity to fix his mistake and bring his leader back. No matter what his conscience said otherwise.

Moving the cores to an adjacent table, he switched his left hand for the torch, while using his free hand and the back of his tail to align the pieces, making sure the stinger was pointed away from the core. Once he finished, he kept them together with his hand, activating the torch with a whoosh of blue flame. Steadying his nerves one last time, he lowered the torch and went to work.

N had no idea how much time passed as he welded the halves together, slowly rotating the core in his hand. He watched the solder slowly join the pieces once again, being careful to avoid any fleshy parts that were attached to the outside. Never in his life had he done something so delicate, and with this much precision, yet here he was, welding J’s core back together as if he was a natural. Safe to say, he was doing a pretty good job-or at least he liked to think so.

“I wonder what J would think if she saw this…

She’d probably still beat me for touching her core or something.”

Once again he pushed those thoughts to the back of his head as he worked-he’d unpack everything later after he saved his boss and had some time to himself.

-

It was finally done.

N still had no idea how much time elapsed when he started, but none of that mattered anymore-not when he made his first step in progress.

Before him was J’s core, now fully welded together and looking like its former self, at least that’s what he thought. Regardless, he fixed it, and was ready to reinstall into its former owner.

Carefully lifting the core with his claws, he slowly inserted it back into her chest, placing it into the same spot as before. He adjusted the position a few times, using his memories as a reference to reattach any cables and tendrils that he loosened previously. Granted, he still wasn’t sure if he got the order correct, but ultimately decided to go with his instincts. They helped him in welding the core, and would certainly help him again.

N withdrew his hand, and couldn’t help but smile a little at his handiwork. The core, once again whole, was clearly visible through the center of J’s chest, wired up and good to go. The only thing left to do was reactivate it.

He moved away from the table, hand on his chin as he pondered his options. Drones like him obviously ran on electricity alongside oil, and the core was already connected to her oil pumps (or at least the parts he assumed to be parts) All it needed was a little spark of energy to restart its systems, nanites, and eventually CPU, resulting in an exhausted, starving, but ultimately alive J.

N had no idea how a disassembler's systems truly worked, especially after everything he’d seen in her body, so he was going off on educated guesses at this point. If the previous mechanics working in this store saw his thought process, they would probably call him insane.

Nevertheless, N needed a source of power, and spent some time pondering where he could get that, scanning the shelves in the distance. He saw more tires, car body parts, car batteries, spare hoods-

“Wait, batteries?” Zooming in, he located the car battery shelf, immediately spotting several black boxes with yellow voltage markings painted on the sides.

“Holy biscuits, that’s it! That’s the power source I need!”

Rushing over to the shelf, N quickly inspected the batteries for any kind of damage while reading the description. “JcJenson Car Batteries…‘Literally lasts forever’...14 volts, this is perfect!”

Pulling out one of the plastic cases, he sped back towards the table, setting it on a nearby chair as before going back to the front. Searching the shelves, he eventually returned with a pair of jumper cables, plugging them into the battery.

He wasn’t sure how, but deep down he had an instinctual knowledge on jumpstarting a battery. It was one of many skills he was able to do, despite having no need for them, including dusting furniture and strangely enough, bartending. He always wondered why these skills were even programmed in his CPU, although right now he was simply glad he knew what he was doing.

He made sure to grab the smallest cables before returning to J, carefully inserting both clamps into her core as not to break them. Once he secured them, he moved towards the battery, his hand hovering over the switch. He tested it out a few minutes before to make sure it worked, all he had to do was flip the battery on.

Would this work? Was this really the proper way to bring her back? Should he even do it, especially with how she treated him in the past?

Did she deserve to be saved?

N didn’t know how to feel about that last question, considering she tried killing him before his outburst. If she woke up…she might do it again, not even thanking him for his work. And he would have to put her down, again.

…Even so, he only had so long before V-and the company-found out what he did, and he would be the one who died. If he brought her back, things might go back to normal. A cruel normal, but one where he was alive.

With that final thought in mind, he shut his eyes, flipping the switch on.

Chapter Text

Bzzzzt!

J’s body convulsed, limbs flailing as blue sparks ran down her frame. Realizing she had nothing holding her down, N quickly grabbed two heavy towels and grabbed her arms, the towels preventing his own electrocution. Looking into her visor, all he saw were lines of code rapidly glitching out, letters turning white and yellow as a strange symbol occasionally flickered into view, but was too corrupted for him to register.

The lights on her headband and arms flashed yellow and red, and he could see more flashes coming from her core. He had no idea how long he needed to keep the battery on-in fact, he wasn’t even sure whether the voltage was too much or not enough. His only hope was that she would eventually wake up.

Smoke soon began rising from her body, and he heard several pops and cracks coming from her chest, eyes hollowing in horror as he recognized the potential danger. If he left her body like this for too long, the oil remaining inside could catch fire, and that was the last thing he wanted.

Still indecisive on whether he should shut the battery off, the boy reacted on instinct, releasing her arms as he ran to the battery, his hand slamming the switch off.

And just like that, the buzzing and sparks ceased.

The only sounds in the store was the hissing of steam, and N’s own panting as he struggled to calm himself down. Turning to the body, he expected to see her visor lit up, or any indication she was alive.

Nothing.

Her visor and headband had returned to darkness, while her limbs were sprawled across the table, not even twitching from the ordeal.

“J…?”

No response.

“Maybe I should wait…she’ll come back online any minute now! I’m sure of it!”

One minute passed, and J did not wake up. “A little longer then!”

Two minutes came and went, followed by three, and five…and J still did not move.

N was prepared to make another excuse to wait just a little longer, that she was somehow alive…except he couldn’t.

J’s dead. A voice echoed in his mind. And you can’t change that.

He wanted to rebut, to argue that there was still a chance she wasn’t, that her core was somehow fixed and rebooting right now-but he didn't.

Instead, he felt the energy drain from him, as he stared at the corpse of his squad leader, and soon felt a great sadness replace the feeling.

Once again, he failed. Once again, he was useless.

If J was alive, she’d be having a field day over criticizing his attempts…except she couldn’t, because she was dead, just like he always knew.

N didn’t know what to say-he had nothing to say. He sighed, his eyelights dimming as he frowned at his failure. Slowly, he turned away to the exit, his feet shuffling on the ground, head hanging low. He couldn’t think of anything else right now, only that he was a total failu-

Bang!

He snapped his head around, dim eyes immediately brightening as he looked for the source of the sound. Another bang sounded throughout the store, coming directly from J’s table.

He took a hesitant step forward, unsure of what the sound was-and then all hell broke loose.

J’s body started spasming again, only this time seemed to be more violent. The jumper cables still attached to her were flung from her stomach as her torso twisted in unnatural angles. Her arms and legs danced uncontrollably, several sickening crunches with each movement, while her tail thrashed all over the place, forcing the boy back out of fear.

His eyes landed on her head, visor and headband once again flashing yellow. He couldn’t read the text anymore, as her head thrashed in place, her pigtails flying. Still held back by the tail, he watched for another minute before finally deciding to do something to stop her convulsions.

“J?!”

No sooner had her name left his lips, J’s entire body stopped.

N barely had time to register what happened before she sat straight up and opened her mouth. 

“BZZZREEBBZZTREEE!!!”

The high-pitched, staticky screech assaulted his audio receptors, forcing him to cover his nonexistent ears in pain. His eyes shut, he crouched down for a minute before realizing the scream had finally ceased. Looking up, he slowly raised himself to his full height as he stared at his very much alive squad leader. “J?”

With a disgusting snap, her head instantly turned to her left, facing N’s own-and causing him to yelp in shock.

J looked… wrong.

Three of her headband bulbs were showing as red, with the other two remaining yellow. Her mouth hung open, her lower jaw lightly swinging back and forth, while the head itself was angled to the right like one of those monsters he’d seen on old movie covers.

Last but not least were her eyes. Her right had been replaced with a yellow warning symbol, while her left was completely hollow, a thin ring staring soulessly into his own optics. Occasionally, the yellow lighting would flicker to white, and under closer inspection, he found a line of text flash in the bottom left corner.

The words only lasted for a few seconds before winking out, but what he did see sent shivers down his spine.

Administrator Connection Lost.

“What…what does that mean?”

N shook his head, that was something to worry about later. The most important thing was that his abusive leader was finally alive!

“J! You're back!”

Silence greeted him as J continued to stare at him blankly.

“Yeah…pretty rough wake up call amiright? Ha ha ha…Are you gonna say anything?”

More silence.

“Uhh J? No offense, but you're kinda freaking me out here…I just need you to say something, anything, so I know if you’re okay!”

The only sound that came was the snap of J’s head, now tilting the other way. N’s smile faltered as sweat rolled down his visor. “You good J…?”

A bust of static, this time much lower in frequency erupted from her voice box. J’s eye looked down and furrowed in what appeared to be frustration. Her jaw clacked shut, opening again to release another burst of static, followed by several more. Upon listening to a minute of scattered pops, squeaks, and white noise, N came to a horrifying conclusion: her voice box was damaged.

“Oh biscuits…I messed up, didn’t I?”

J did not answer, electing to drag her legs off the table, before sliding over the edge. No sooner had her pegs hit the ground, she immediately keeled over, hands flailing as she screeched in panic.

N wasted zero time moving, hands gripping her sides and keeping her upright. The staticky screeching stopped as her head snapped towards his face, staring in what he assumed to be shock.

“Whoops! Easy there buddy!”

Bracing for her to slap him like she usually did, he opened his eyes in confusion upon feeling nothing. Instead, J continued staring at him, one of her arms flimsily moving to grip the table behind her. Seeing what she was doing, he raised her to lean against the counter, slowly releasing her upon regaining her balance.

Stepping back, he allowed her to stand by herself, and immediately saw just how… damaged she was. Her free arm hung loosely at her side, while her peg-legs were now bent inward, shaking as if they struggled to maintain her weight. J’s tail simply sat on the floor, occasionally twitching with the rest of her body, and her head lolled back to the right. Her entire posture, once prideful and commanding, now seemed to be sickly, frail, and familiar.

N’s eyes lowered to her chest, gasping in shock upon seeing the still-open wound, core shining through the hole. “J! Your nanites…”

She simply continued staring at him, responding with a confused squawk. “W-why haven’t you healed?! What’s wrong with… wait.”

He fell silent upon reaching a suitable conclusion; she needed oil. Her reserves were certainly low after everything he did to her, and explained why she looked so damaged in the first place. Knowing full well what he needed to do, he turned back to the squad leader as he attempted to sound reassuring.

“Hey boss…I know I’m not supposed to be giving you orders, but I need you to wait here, okay? I’m gonna get you some oil, I’ll only be gone for five minutes! Promise! Just wait here, ‘kay? Cool!”

Shooting her a pair of finger guns, he dashed outside before she could object, leaping into the sky as his wings deployed. Soaring over the buildings, he quickly scanned the ground, watching for any movement until- there! A heat signature just two blocks away, perfect!

Shooting forward like a fighter jet, he rapidly closed in on the lone worker, the poor drone looking up too late to see the oncoming Angel of Death. Crashing to the ground, N shot his wing out, impaling the worker in the shoulder, drawing him close before stabbing him in the gut with his claws, giving him no time to scream.

Pulling his talons out, he quickly inspected the fresh corpse for any additional leaks and subsequently held it to his chest, rocketing into the sky once again. This time he didn’t bother flying like he usually did and instead barreled directly towards the shop to fix his leader.

Spreading his wings out, he slowed his descent before gently touching down, being sure not to damage the corpse. Upon retracting his blades, he walked back inside, moving towards the workshop benches-only to find nothing there.

“Uhhh, J?”

A loud crash nearby, followed by noisy slurping. Eyes raised in confusion, he slowly advanced around a nearby shelf, and found J on the other side, having somehow walked over there without falling.

She was currently guzzling down a bottle of antifreeze, the blue liquid running down her face onto her ruined suit. N dropped the body to the floor and quickly rushed to the pigtailed drone, snatching the bottle from her hands. J looked at him in what seemed to be confusion and made a questioning chirp.

“Ahahaha…We don’t drink that J, sorry!” He forced a strained smile to his face, half expecting her to claw him right then and there. Upon only receiving a dead stare, he decided to redirect her attention, moving out of the way to reveal the corpse behind him.

“Here’s some oil I got, all for you! I’m sure you’ll like that a lot better…”

J snapped towards the body, her eye somehow thinning more as her mouth swung open. For a minute, she simply stood there, still as a statue. Giving her a worried look, N wondered if she could even sense the oil.

“IIII could cut it open if you-”

J shot forward, moving at a speed that betrayed her previous posture and fell on all fours over the body. Not bothering to use her claws, she punched her fingers straight through its chest before prying it open with a feral growl. Oil splattered everywhere as she bent down and proceeded to devour the insides with her sharp teeth, nauseating squelching coming from the ruined corpse as N stared in horrified awe, mouth hanging wide open.

J never ate like that… even V had more decency when gobbling up her meal. He wanted so badly to turn away, yet unable to do so in a sort of disgusted awe, watching as his once-dignified leader ripped an arm from its socket before shoving it down her gullet.

He didn’t know how long it took, but the noisy crunching and slurping finally ceased, J slowly rising on her wobbly feet. Stepping away, she turned back towards him, revealing a revolting mess of metal and oil in place of the corpse. Tearing his eyes away, he noticed she had returned to staring at him, unsure of what she was trying to say.

“Uhhhh…You’re welcome!”

A short buzz was his only response.

Checking the time, he realized they only had an hour left before the sun rose-and return to an unsuspecting V. He had no idea how he was even going to explain this to her, especially with all of that damage. Looking towards her chest, he noticed the hole seemed to be slowly healing, the nanites once again coming back to life. Sighing in relief, he found himself glad that she was starting to repair herself.

All that was left was to get to the spire before daybreak.

Motioning J to follow, he led the way out of the store, looking back to make sure she didn’t fall over. Despite her slow, erratic steps, she managed to pass through the broken doors without incident, the two of them standing in the middle of the street.

“Alright boss! Let’s get back home and bring the good news to V!” Hearing no response, he opted for a fake smile as he spread his wings, waiting for J to follow suit.

…She didn’t. In fact, she simply stood there with a dumb look on her face, unsure what her partner wanted her to do. N’s smile instantly faded as he realized her wings might’ve been damaged as well-seems like the nanites were taking longer than he thought.

He could wait of course, but with the sky slowly brightening and the threat of burning alive hanging over them, he had to do something to save her. Twiddling his thumbs, he mentally argued with himself for a few seconds before finally coming to a conclusion.

“J…I’m so sorry for what I’m about to do, but you’ll thank me later!”

She made no response before finding herself lifted up by his arms, the boy carrying her in a bridal position. She gawked at him in shock, hollow eye widening, yet made no move to dislodge herself. Looking down on her, N found himself blushing again at their current position and her now-healed chest, still exposed through her tattered jacket.

Shaking his head, he launched himself into the air, clutching her tightly as he raced back to the spire.

-

A large winged shape barreled into the spire entrance, throwing up snow as his feet slammed on the ground. Stowing his wings, N sighed in relief-had he arrived ten minutes later, the sun's rays would have burned them. Slowly lowering himself, he waited until his cargo slid out of his grasp, awkwardly standing up as she stared at her surroundings with the same, hollow-eyed expression she first woke up with.

“Well J, here we are! Home sweet home!”

No response, the damaged squad leader seemingly ignoring him as she trudged forward, slowly approaching the pod. 

N cautiously followed her, making sure she didn’t trip on the numerous corpses as he wondered how he was going to repair her frame now that she was alive. He didn’t even know where to start-

“Yo, I’m back.”

Whirling around, he came face to face with a disinterested V, hand on her hip. Peering behind him, she saw the back of her squad leader and raised her eyebrow, cutting him off as he attempted a greeting.

“Well well well, look who found their way back! I was so worried that you’d end up as-WHAT THE FUCK?!”

All it took was the pigtailed drone to turn towards her subordinate, the disassembler’s eyes widening in shock upon seeing her ragged appearance.

For a long while, nobody moved, eyes staring at each other while the wind blew through the entrance. V was the first to snap out of it, eyes narrowing in suspension before jabbing a claw towards her leader.

“N, what happened? Did you find her like this?”

“Uh.”

Out of all the answers he could’ve given her, his frazzled CPU settled on the dumbest one, unable to conjure a proper response. Struggling to elaborate, he almost didn’t notice a buzzing sound behind him, nervously looking behind her to see J with her teeth bared, seemingly hissing at her other female subordinate.

“What the hell’s wrong with her?”

Jolting back to V, he gave her his weakest smile as he attempted to defuse the situation.

“Weell…turns out J got uh, damaged by the sun the other day! I found her hiding in an apartment, and did my best to heal her! Not entirely sure why she’s still a bit uhhh, like that, but it’s probably internal damage. Nothing that a good night’s rest can’t fix!”

Giving her a shaky thumbs up, she switched between him and J for a few more seconds, finally sighing in exasperation.

“Whatever, I’m too tired for this crap. I’m gonna hit the rack.” Brushing past him, she gave J a pointed glare. “Don’t even think about waking me in your condition…whatever that is.”
The pigtailed drone returned the scowl, buzzing in agitation one last time before V shot up towards the overhang, shielding herself with her wings.

A warm hand snapped J out of her anger, looking back to see a tired but smiling N standing behind her. Her tense posture immediately relaxed, and her arms slumped to her sides once again.

“There we go…let’s get you to bed, huh?”

Upon receiving a single nod, N glanced back towards the pod, aka her personal office space. He knew he was forbidden from entering that sacred place, but feared J was too weak to scale the ladder to the roof hatch. Carefully lifting her up again, he leapt to the top of the pod with a single bound, opening the hatch with his tail before hopping inside. 

Setting her on the empty pilot’s seat, he stood back as J went back to staring at him for the umpteenth time, making him nervous and fidgety under her hollow gaze.

“Well, here you go! Uh…just try and rest easy, alright…? Okay, goodnightandseeyoutomorrow!”

Without waiting for a response, he sped back up the ladder, slamming the hatch shut. Making another short leap to his perch, he hung upside down and tried making himself comfortable, exhausting soon sweeping over him.

“When I wake up, she’ll be all fixed up, and things’ll go back to normal…yeah, back to normal…”

Chapter Text

N slowly woke to the sounds of wind and silence, peeking through his wings to see if anything was out of place. Glancing towards V’s perch, he once again found it empty-seems like some things never changed.

Leaping down, he landed softly on the ground before retracting his wings, turning towards the pod. So far it appeared as he left it, the hatch still sealed shut. Climbing up the side, he paused outside the entrance, wondering if his leader had gotten any better. Sure, yesterday was…bizarre to say the least, but hopefully with more oil she managed to heal herself during recharge. Hopefully.

“Welp…here goes…”

Opening the hatch, he slowly climbed down the ladder to not disturb J in case she was sleeping. Reaching the bottom, he turned around to face the rest of the pod, expecting the worst.

J had not been asleep-his best assumption was that she woke earlier but decided to remain inside. Currently she was hunched over her personal drawer, grabbing a fistful of JcJenson branded pens, the very pens she always treasured, and made damn sure nobody touched them, lest they receive a brutal beating. Company merchandise was sacred to her for whatever reason, and the pens were no exception.

At least back then they weren’t.

N watched in shock as she raised the pens to her face, briefly inspecting them before shoving the utensils into her gaping maw with an audible crunch. Teeth gnashed plastic to pieces as ink splattered across her face, mixing with the already dry oil around her lips. Gulping down the remains, she casually dipped her hand inside the drawer to grab other things to eat.

“Yuuup…this is totally normal. Nothing wrong here at all. She just got a little hungry. Yeah, that's it.”

Upon seeing her pull a branded coffee mug out, N decided to make himself known.

“Morning, J! How ya feeling?”

J froze, her head instantly snapping in his direction, visor still displaying the hollow eye and warning symbol.

“Bzzzzzt.”

This was her only response before her body spasmed. Her grip on the mug loosened, and it shattered on the metal floor. The sound startled her into stumbling back, legs wobbling to keep her steady.

N rushed to her side and kept her from falling, releasing her shoulders once she regained footing. She continued staring at him the entire time, her arms hanging out like some kind of dinosaur as she tilted her head.

“Okay, I guess you haven't gotten better then.” N said with disappointment in his voice. Another buzz was his only response.

Why wasn’t she healing? The question bounced around his CPU, running different scenarios and yet coming up short every time. Her nanites were working, he’d seen them in action already! They should’ve healed her by now, corrected her limbs and fixed her broken voice box…unless there was something else preventing that.

Maybe it was his rushed repair? Entirely possible, and he had no idea what he did wrong-after all, he’d done things based on assumptions and blind luck. The only way to see what needed to be fixed was to open her body up again…

And that was the last thing he wanted to do.

Memories of the flesh mixed with metal were embedded in his head, and he couldn’t help but shutter at the realization that he had the same things in his body as well. It felt so wrong, out of place for a drone of his design. Did J know?

Maybe she did or didn’t, but she wasn’t exactly in a talkative condition right now. The only thing he could do was feed her more oil, and hope for the best. This was also the perfect excuse to get away from her and his own problems.

“Say buddy…I’m gonna go out and look for some oil. I’ll bring you back a bunch, so you won’t have to do it yourself-not saying that you can’t, but I really don’t think you should, at least until you're healed. Just-just stay here for the night, alright? I’ll be back in a few, promise!”

Not waiting for a response, he clambered up the ladder, hauling himself out before deploying his wings and flying into the dark. The cool wind hit his face as he accelerated away from the spire into the city beyond.

He wasn’t sure where he was going, or how far. He certainly wasn’t in his sector, but he no longer cared. He just needed to find a place where he could be alone, reflect on the past couple of days so to speak.

Spying a deserted skyscraper towering over the landscape, he slowed down, wings splayed out until he gently touched down on one of the numerous floors. Settling down, he took in his surroundings inside the barren floor, completely gutted through years of decay and loot. Walking to the other side, he sat on the ledge, staring into the abandoned city below.

He knew he should be looking for worker drones, but he didn’t exactly feel like it now, especially with everything that happened. He kept thinking about J of all things, how she tried to eat him, how he almost killed her, and the things he did just to bring her back-except she really wasn’t herself at the moment.

Why, though? Why did he do all of this for a leader who despised him, beat him, insulted him on a daily basis? Did she deserve his help, or even oil for that matter? It's not like she ever gave him any.

Why did he care so much?

It wasn’t just J either. He’d know V for a long time, and yet she repeatedly ignored him, not even flinching as he got the crap kicked out of him. Granted, she never abused him in any sort of way, but it still hurt, no matter how hard he tried denying it. The only reason she did start talking to him was to ask about their leader's health. The two girls may have hated each other, and yet she still gave her more attention than with him.

He’d been used to this all of his life…and yet he didn’t know if he could continue like this. He could’ve done a number of things after J died, chief among them running away-and yet he brought her back, even if it was out of fear and desperation.

Why. Did. He. Care.

Disassemblers like him shouldn’t care, instead focusing on their jobs…except for him. The odd one out. The drone who tried making his squad more than a band of killers…and he was shunned because of it.

“Maybe everything I did was a mistake…”

Sighing, he got up and walked towards the stairs, not bothering to count the number of floors he passed until reaching the bottom. Trudging through the ruined lobby, he paused, glancing out the broken doors to the outside. Internal problems or not, he still had a job to do. Failing to do so would result in punishment…or worse.

He walked outside, ready to begin a long night of hunting, when he heard a clatter behind him. Swinging around, his scanners detected nothing, not even a single heat signature.

“Must’ve been the wind…”

Turning forward, he was about to resume his walk when something gripped his left shoulder and squeezed.

A girly shriek echoed down the street as N whipped around, hand transforming into a cannon and aiming it directly at-

“J?!”

There she was, in all her broken glory. Bent legs, limp tail, hunched back, and that same dead stare from her remaining optic, standing as if she hadn’t just spontaneously appeared out of nowhere.

“WHAT THE-HOW DID YOU-HUH?!”

Stowing his laser, he let out a shuddering breath, shaking his head before hesitantly looking up, making sure his optics weren’t malfunctioning. It took him another minute to calm down before he finally spoke up.

“J…how…how did you get here?! I thought you were back at the spire…I didn’t-did you use your wings?!”

“Bzzt.”

The squad leader shambled closer to him, her face looking deep into his optics as the boy remained silent, unsure of how to continue.

Turing away, she staggered to some nearby rubble, pulling an iron rod from the concrete before chewing on it like some candy. Her tail occasionally twitched on the ground as she ate, seemingly ignoring N’s bewildered expression.

He groaned to himself, holding his head as his CPU repeatedly crashed from trying to determine how she even found him in the first place. He didn’t know what to say or do at this point…at least she wasn’t hitting him though.

Looking back, he noticed she had finished her meal, and was once again staring off into nothing, head lolling to the side once more.

“Ohhhh…what am I gonna do?”

Thinking for a minute, he decided to simply roll with what he had, clapping his hands to get J’s attention.

“Okay! Since you are feeling better- I guess -I’m uhhh…’happy’ that you decided to join me! That way I can give you the oil fresh, right!”

J still did not respond. In fact, she seemed to be sensing something in the distance-something N’s own sensors couldn’t pick up. Confusion overtook his face as he tried to guess what was wrong.

“Um, J? You alright-”

The pigtailed disassembler dropped to all fours and scrambled away like some mad beetle, scurrying across the street before disappearing inside one of the adjacent buildings.

“J, wait up!” running across the snow, he tried keeping up with her, having no idea what had caused her to act like his. He didn’t even know how she managed to go that fast, especially on all fours. Running inside, he moved around the hallways, attempting to locate her through the thermal sensor with no luck. She didn’t even have a heat signature!

Rounding the corner, he heard a loud crash, followed by a scream. Running to the room where the sound originated, he stopped right outside the doorway to see a bizarre sight.

The damaged squad leader had somehow pinned a random worker to the floor, the drone attempting to kick her off the entire time. J hissed at him, raising her hand and slamming it on the drone’s face. A large crack appeared, and he screamed in pain, but still thrashed underneath her.

J glared at her hand, shaking it loosely before slamming it down again, this time into the ground. Over and over her hand banged on the concrete, both N and the drone stopping to gaze on in total confusion. Stepping forward, he attempted to speak over the clanging. “J, you good?”

She responded by slamming her hand so hard it cracked the concrete-and forcibly switching it into its claw form. The disassembler stopped her tantrum, staring at her newly deployed talons briefly before turning back to the pinned worker, mouth turning into an unhinged smile.

The drone barely screamed as the claw went through its throat, ripping its head from the socket as oil spewed everywhere. Raising her other hand, she also transformed it into a claw without issue this time, plunging it through his chest and slicing down, releasing his oily innards. Bending her head down, she proceeded to rabidly devour everything inside the poor drone, more oil drenching her face, clothes and hair.

N watched with a look of shock, disgust, and queasiness, still not used to the excessive gore that drenched the room. It was so unnerving to see J in this animalistic state-the same J who once drank oil from wine glasses in her downtime!

“What happened to you…what did I do?”

After a few minutes-or an hour, he lost track of time-she finally finished, the worker’s shell devoid of any oil. Sitting up, she reached for the head laying nearby, bringing it to her other claw. Thinking she was going to make more of a mess, he backed away, ready to give her space, only to watch as she did something else. Carefully carving a hole in the bottom of the head, she removed what was left of the neck, leaving a perfect circle in the bottom. Balancing the head, J turned towards him, lifting it up as she remained seated.

He simply watched, at least until she moved the head again in his direction-almost as if she was beckoning him to take it. Still, he remained hesitant.

“Uhhhh…you want me to take it?”

She responded with a staticky pop, once more raising the oil-laden head.

Never in a million years would he dream of her doing this, offering him oil. She never gave him anything, hating him so much she told him one time that “you don’t deserve anything from me.” He expected this, of course, but it still hurt to hear…

And yet here she was, offering a head full of rich, warm, oil even after she claimed her prey without assistance. 

How…generous.

“Okay, I’ll take it…” stepping forward, he reached down to her level, carefully gripping the head by its sides before pulling away, raising the vessel to his lips. He stopped, giving her one final look before he drank.

“Thanks.”

He could’ve sworn he saw a smile on her face as he drank the warm contents-but didn’t see anything once he finished, having returned to her slack-jawed gaze into nothing.

No. She would never smile at him. Just a trick of the light, that’s all.

Lowering the head, he gave her another long look before groaning in frustration, the female disassembler turning to him in confusion as he promptly had a mini-mental breakdown over his thoughts on his leader. Sliding to the floor, he burrowed his visor in his hands, too busy stressing to notice J crawl next to him, giving him a dumbfounded stare.

“Oh Robo-God, what am I going to do with you?”

Chapter Text

Once N finally calmed down, he decided to spend the rest of the day resuming his hunt-even with everything going on with his boss, he still had a job to do. They wandered down the empty streets, the boy opting not to use his wings in order to keep track of his pigtailed counterpart.

N didn’t really say much as he trudged through the snow; his head swirled with various thoughts, from what was wrong with J, to her current behavior, and of course past memories that were still painful to recall. He felt confused and utterly lost, unable to come up with an answer to any of the questions he had. He paid no mind to his surroundings, too distracted to think about hunting, simply walking as long as he could.

J was a different story however. She would often slog near him, her legs constantly wobbling and tail dragging on the ground. Her arms hung loosely at her sides, claws still deployed. She’d either stare at him or the abandoned buildings nearby, her remaining sensors scanning the area.

Sometimes though, she got curious of the various sounds echoing across the street, usually debris falling on the ground. She instantly tensed at each noise, and occasionally wandered away to investigate. In this state, her movements became less awkward, her head jerking around for the source, even going on all fours when approaching a nearby building. N, being the distracted drone he was, hardly realized when she was away-a testament to the unusual silence she maintained.

Nevertheless, all of her investigations revealed nothing out of place, only spying rubble and empty rooms instead of workers. (She did catch a keybug in an abandoned cafe at one point) As a result, she would merely return to her subordinate’s side, resuming her awkward gait.

Eventually , the sun soon started peeking out from behind the buildings, signaling the end of their ‘hunt’. N turned towards J, his tone neutral despite a small, strained smile.

“Looks like we better head back…boss. May I?”

Raising his hands, J stared at him for a few seconds before nodding, climbing into a bridal position against his chest. Ignoring the cuts her claws were making as she held onto him, he spread his wings and rocketed towards his home.

Upon returning, he released his cargo, immediately spying V leaning against the pod, picking her teeth. For once she was actually the first one to return-J always made sure to arrive before her subordinates in order to chew them out.

V glanced up at them, her eyes narrowing in suspicion when she saw how her leader still wasn’t functioning properly. Once again, J stopped in her tracks and narrowed her own eye, a hiss escaping from her open mouth. Sensing a fight, N jogged over between the two and was about to say something when V simply scoffed, raising her wings and flying to her perch to rest.

“Seems like she’s not in a talking mood again…what else is new?”

Shaking his head, he turned back to J, telling her to have a good day before flying towards his own perch. Looking down, he saw her staring up at him for a few more seconds until she turned to scuttle inside the pod, actually managing to open and close the hatch on her own.

“Least she’s somewhat improving…” Sighing, the boy drifted off into sleep, blocking out his troubles for the day.

-

Tap tap tap.

What was that? He was still sleeping, so he assumed it was a part of his dream-pretty weird considering all he saw was a black void.

Tap tap tap.

That sound was getting annoying now…maybe he should wake up?

Yeah, it was probably time before he got in trouble.

Opening his optics, N’s tired eyelights popped onto his screen, drifting around for a moment before abruptly settling on another visor directly in front of his-one with a hollow eye and a yellow warning symbol.

“AHHHH!”

Flailing his arms, his tail loosened from his perch, the disassembler falling a short distance to the ground with a resounding thud. Snow flew everywhere as he collapsed on his back, face scrunched up in pain.

“Ohhhh…”

Still trying to regain his bearings, he failed to hear the faint skittering on the corpse wall, with the same visor that he saw earlier popping into view. Once again, terror rose through his circuits.

“Nonono, don't eat me! DON-oh, …it’s you.”

A short buzz confirmed his statement, and he breathed out in relief, closing his eyes before opening them in confusion. “Wait a minute, what are you doing J? Why did you-”

Tap.

A sharp claw briefly rapped on his visor again, drawing his attention to the rest of her person. The pigtailed drone was sitting on her knees, holding onto an empty head as she raised it to her face, making squeaks and pops all the while.

It took a moment for him to decipher what she meant, his face soon lighting up in recognition. “Ohhh, right! We’re supposed to be looking for oil! For you of course! I-I’m so sorry, I must’ve slept in late!”

A part of him wanted to berate her for scaring him like that, but he didn’t have the heart to do so-he was never the confrontational type, and refused to talk back to his leader. No matter how much she deserved it.

Climbing to his feet, he looked around the spire-V was unsurprisingly gone again, allowing him and J to leave in peace. Walking outside, he decided not to go too far this time, due to the latter’s wings still unable to deploy. Approaching a derelict car, he turned to his leader, thinking of what exactly they could do.

“Okay…I guess we can go near that one outpost, see if there’s any workers out. Honestly, I doubt it, but it doesn’t hurt to try! Right?”

Another buzz and a head cock was his only response.

“ Sigh… You’re so much better at planning then I ever was…probably the only good thing about you.”

J gave him a curious look, this time giving him a questioning buzz. Realizing what he just said, his eyes widened as he let out a nervous chuckle.

“Ahaha, nothing J, nothing! You’re still awesome no matter what! Just…ignore that last part alright? Cool, let's go!”

Abruptly turning around, he rapidly marched in the direction of the bunker, ignoring his leader’s look as she followed a short distance behind him.

Eventually, the pair reached the colony, stopping a few yards away. In the past, this colony gave them particular trouble as it had a massive titanium door blocking the entrance. Months of vigorous attempts to breach it all ended in failure, evident in the numerous claw slashes and scorch marks. This in turn drove J to further anger…before she was “killed”, of course.

Scanning the area, N’s core jumped upon seeing a target; a lone worker drone standing on a ladder, doing some kind of maintenance on the door, completely oblivious to his presence. Perfect.

“All right J, let’s go an-wait, nevermind, she’s gone… sigh.”

Several yards away, the worker screwed in a bolt onto the door, replacing the previous one that rusted out. His work done, he stepped down the ladder and looked at the gray metal slab with hands on his hips, letting out a low whistle.

“Ol’ Khan sure knows how to build ‘em pretty…if only his daughter could appreciate the beaut-”

Clang!

The drone whipped around, eyelights widening in shock and horror. There, splayed out on all fours on top of a car, was a murder drone with silver pigtails, her single eye flickering yellow and white as she let out a low hiss.

The worker dropped his tools and prepared to scream-only for the disassembler to blitz forward and decapitate him with a clean sweep of her claws. The moment his headless corpse landed on the ground she was upon it, tearing into her chest and devouring his insides, the snow around them quickly turning black.

N cautiously approached the feasting J, looking around to make sure there were no other workers nearby as he took the head, drinking the remaining oil without a word. Looking back at her, he noticed that her tail was twitching more frequently, almost like it normally would on the three of them. He took it as a good sign-more evidence she was slowly healing.

Eventually, his leader finished her meal, slowly standing up to face him. Upon seeing the empty head in his hands, she looked around, head cracking on her neck, until locking optics on the ladder. Approaching it, she bent down to the red toolbox sitting near it, staring at it for a few minutes before reaching over.

“Uh, what’cha looking for, boss? We’ve got tools back on the ship.”

She ignored him, clawed hand grasping a  silver wrench. At least, she tried to, the wrench instantly slipping through her grasp. She tried again, watching with her narrowed optic as she lost her grip. Buzzing in frustration, she shoved her claw into the toolbox, shredding the metal box in an attempt to grasp the shiny object, gradually making a mess on the ground.

N knew what the problem was, despite his initial confusion. Murder drone claws weren’t exactly known for grasping small objects. She needed to change back into hand form, but apparently didn’t realize it.

Should he help her? Did she deserve to be helped after never helping him?

He shook his head. “No…I’m better than that. Even if my teammates aren’t, I know better than to leave her like that.”

Approaching the increasingly frustrated disassembler, he carefully reached for her wrist just as she was about to plunge it into the box again, gently stopping her thrust. J turned to him with what appeared to be surprise.

“Hey buddy…I don’t think you're doing it right. You gotta switch to your hands, like this!” He demonstrated with his free hand, the other drone watching the process as he switched. “Can you do that?”

J held out her arm, staring at the claw for a solid minute, before raising it further to slam it into the ground like last time. N quickly caught on and snatched her wrist once more.

“No, no, no, don’t do that! You can’t be hurting yourself! You gotta switch on your own…I wish I could explain how, but even I don’t know how it works! I just do it!”

She cocked her head, eye flickering between him and her claw.

“Just pause for a minute…and think about it, okay? Stop and think about what you want your hand to do.”

To his surprise, she appeared to do just that, shutting her optic and freezing up like a statue. A full minute went by, and still no movement from the prone disassembler. N started to worry if she somehow shut down again.

“J? You still with me?”

He was about to shake her shoulder when her claw suddenly retracted, a white four digit hand taking its place. Her visor brightened, and her optic stared at it with newfound fascination.

N couldn’t help but cheer. “Y-you did it, J! Good job! See, you’re getting better!”

The disassembler looked him in the eye, and for several seconds the yellow eye and warning sign flickered white, causing him to catch his breath. Disassembly drone displays should not be white…yet why did it look so familiar?
So distracted with his thoughts, he didn’t see her reach inside the ruined toolbox, finally pulling out the wrench with her real hand. Holding it up, the silver tool glinted in the moonlight, catching his attention. “O-oh wow, that’s pretty cool, I guess!”

J lowered the wrench, nudging him with the end. Glancing down, he watched as she prodded him several more times before he realized what she wanted.

“You…you want me to take it?”

She nodded eagerly, the boy pausing at her offer. J certainly never gave him anything physical, much less a gift! Why she wanted to do so now was strange…but he decided not to dwell on it. After all, he loved gifts!

Grasping the wrench, he slowly put it inside his jacket-he’d figure out where he would stash it later. Looking back, he said the only thing he could say in this situation.

“Thanks…I like it.”

Even with J’s mouth partially hanging open, he could tell how it curled upwards into a faint but toothy smile-a genuine smile.

A part of him was touched by her random act of kindness, his core slightly warming up.

Another part of him thought he was going completely insane.

"Yup…totally normal…biscuits.”

Chapter Text

It had been a little more than two weeks since N ‘repaired’ his boss…and things were getting to be routine, to say the least.

Every day, the two drones would wake up and wander a short distance away from the spire. (V left extra early to avoid interacting with J) Once outside, they would hunt for prey, although the pigtailed drone took a more active role than he ever did.

N noticed that her senses seemed to be improved, compared to the rest of the squad. Disassembly drones had advanced sensors allowing them to detect prey several yards away, regardless of conditions. However, J seemed to be detecting distant workers long before he did, their heat signatures revealing themselves after she got a hold of them. He also noticed how she utilized only her claws and very recently, her tail with each kill. Perhaps it was because of the lingering damage, but these two seemed to be the only weapons she used during her hunts.

It took awhile to get used to the mess she made after her kills, but it was the aftermath that really caught his attention. Despite her new habits, she was surprisingly open when it came to sharing. Usually, she left the head intact for him to grab, sometimes making an opening to allow easier access. When handing it over, she made sure not to spill any on the snow, waiting until he grabbed it to let go.

This was very unlike the J from before. She wouldn’t share with anyone, especially him. He even remembered her saying. “I’ll give you a mouthful of bullets before giving you a single drop of my oil!”

He’d gotten so used to comments like these, and found himself thrown off guard ever since she decided to share. It wasn’t the only thing she did for him though…

Recently, J found N’s hidden “goodie stash” deep inside the spire. It was a small hole hidden in the wall, filled with various trinkets N collected during his hunts, ranging from stuffed animals to books about dogs and cats. He’d add onto it whenever he had downtime, making sure his leader never found it whenever she returned, as apparently it was against “company policy” to collect random items on the clock. (This of course did not apply to her) V learned the hard way when J found her stash, incinerating it much to the femme fatale’s fury. 

It was the only time the two of them ever got physical, barely prevented by his intervention, which in turn earned him a free beating.

Regardless, he didn’t realize she discovered it until he found a pair of drone arms along with the rest of his stuff. Originally confused at the origin, he didn’t think much of it until he decided to stay up late one day, spotting her scuttling to his cove to deposit more items. Being too tired to confront her about it, he more or less pushed the incident aside

Over time, the trinkets started piling up; worker limbs, broken electronics, glittering jewelry, clothing, and various company paraphernalia. The hole grew bigger in size, the drone having burrowed deeper to allow more room. 

It wasn’t until he discovered a Sidewinder missile laying amongst the new treasure did he say something-to this day, he had no idea where she’d even found the weapon in the first place or how she carried it back. Upon listening to his confused questioning about the missile and the trinkets, J simply responded with a light chirp.

How he wished he could understand her better…

Needless to say, he didn’t have the will to stop her, and so she continued adding to what was now their goodie stash.

By the end of the second week, N no longer knew how to feel about his leader’s behavior. In fact, a part of him started to…enjoy her presence. It was the first time he’d ever been treated with respect and kindness. Granted, she couldn’t exactly vocalize her intent, but her actions spoke louder than what sounds she made, and that was more than enough for him. He didn’t know how long J would remain like this before returning to her normal state, but decided to make the best of it-like today.

“Good work, boss!”

N had finally caught up to the pigtailed drone, having tracked down another stray worker hiding within the skyscrapers. Unlike most of their prey, this drone was armed with a machete, and attempted to fight back against the beastly disassembler.

The fight only lasted a few seconds before his head flew off, the large knife clattering to the floor. N managed to catch the body part just in time, as J happily tore into her new meal. The two of them sat there for a time, enjoying the warm sweet oil in silence.

It wasn’t until J stood up did N realize something was wrong. The uniform she typically wore-the expensive suit that signified her rank and pride-was practically falling apart. He knew he damaged the clothing while cutting it open during her core surgery, but the wear and tear grew worse over time. The suit itself was barely recognizable, hanging off her shoulders in tatters while revealing her hunched chassis. Her skirt fared little better, the ends frayed and dirty. Any more damage, and she would’ve been naked at this point!

N blushed profusely at her nearly exposed body, turning away as she looked in confusion. As much as he wanted to deny it, he couldn’t help but find her, well… attractive even in her current state. Sure, V hardly wore anything other than her jacket all the time, but he realized that J also had a lot of featu-

“Nopenopenope, NOPE! We are not thinking like that, especially since she’s still the boss! Doing that would break…company policy…yeah, that’s it!”

The disassembler shoved down these impure thoughts to the darkest recess of his mind, willfully forgetting his observations. Rather, he paid more attention to the fact that her clothes were falling apart and in desperate need of replacement.

“ Ahem… No offense J, but your uniform looks preeeetty rough…why don’t we get you some new clothes?”

J stared at him for several long seconds before nodding her head, a low buzz coming from her voice box.

“Cool, cool! I know just where to find them! Follow me!”

He led her outside, walking several blocks to the downtown mall. The building, once an icon of the city, now stood completely abandoned and thoroughly looted by the workers and himself-it was where he found most of his trinkets after all. However, he knew there was still plenty of stuff inside, chief among them intact clothes.

Wandering inside the vast interior, it didn’t take long for the duo to find a large department store housing various garments. Upon reaching the women’s section, J immediately started grabbing shirts off the racks, not needing any further input. N kept an eye on her as he looked around the rest of the store for anything that caught his eye.

Walking inside the dressing room, the pigtailed drone spent a long time changing while he remained distracted, having wandered off to the kitchen appliances aisle. He spotted a set of silverware in immaculate condition, light glinting off the ornate utensils as he remembered when she found the silver wrench near the colony. 

“J would like these…” Stuffing them inside his pocket for their treasure pile, he heard the dressing room door opening in the distance, as J stumbled into view a few seconds later.

Instead of the tattered uniform he associated her with since the team’s arrival, she now wore a black, long-sleeved turtleneck with skinny beige pants covering her legs. What surprised him even more was how she managed to tuck in the sweater, topping it off with a brown leather belt around the waist.

To say she looked good was a severe understatement, and he could no longer hide it.

“Whoa…you look amazing!”

J stood there for a moment before her mouth curled into a smile-the first genuine smile that ever graced her face. It was more of a toothy grin than anything, yet carried a warmth so unlike her, it made him grin in return. Any thoughts about their past was instantly forgotten, replaced by a mutual comfort the two found each other as they smiled.

Her tail soon started to wag, needle waving back and fourth as a low rumble came from her throat, the squad leader bashfully looking away. Was she…purring?

The rumbling abruptly ceased upon snapping her head back to him again, her eye narrowed in excitement. She trotted away, the boy curiously following until they reached the men’s section. Grabbing two pairs of shirts, she thrusted them into his body as he stammered in response.

“You…you want me to try them?”

“Bzzzt!” Followed by an enthusiastic headshake.

N paused for a moment, looking back and forth at the clothes until his smile brightened once again.

“Sure, I love doing anything!”

And so they spent the rest of the night playing dress up, forgetting about their jobs and everything else as they enjoyed each other's company.

Neither of them noticed the pair of narrowed yellow eyes glaring at them from the shadows.

Chapter Text

For the first time in his life, N felt…content.

It had only been a few weeks since his boss’s revival, but things were simply better now with her change in attitude. He had no idea if his repairs caused it, or if she actually had a change of heart while she was out.

Frankly, a part of him didn’t care-he was happy, and that meant the world to him after years of isolation and abuse.

Yesterday was the highlight of his time with J, spending all night in the abandoned mall until sunrise. They returned with their arms full of clothes, both for him and her, stowing them in the pile before heading to bed. When he woke up the next morning, the pigtailed drone greeted him with her toothy grin, her visor lit up in joy.

Everything was going splendidly for them…and yet he couldn’t help the seeds of doubt that remained in his head, having been there ever since his arrival. A small part refused to paint J in a positive light, repeatedly trying to show him ancient memories of her before her injury, the J that yelled, kicked, hurt. 

N did his best to repress those memories, telling himself that she changed for the better, but they still persisted, revealing themselves whenever he went to sleep. It hurt to watch, and he sometimes struggled to smile whenever he woke up face to face with his leader-although they were less strained than their past interactions.

V was also someone he grew nervous about, albeit for different reasons. Lately, it seemed the disassembler tried her hardest to avoid the two each night, always leaving and arriving early to not interact with them. The few times he did see her, she looked at him with suspicion, and J with contempt.

N knew the two female drones never got along in the past, but neither of them showed their hostility since J reserved the worst for him. Lately, he noticed how the squad leader became agitated at her presence, hissing quietly as she glared at her subordinate each time they returned. Of course, N distracted her from doing anything more, yet the antagonism remained.

He really wanted to know what was the deal between them, and figured V had the answer, but she was in no mood to talk to him for whatever reason, just like always.

The boy found himself growing… bitter regarding her personality and actions, wishing she would just talk to him normally instead of running off.

Nevertheless, he had other concerns, specifically regarding J and her body. Although she appeared to be doing better, he noticed that some of her attachments still weren’t functioning, including her wings. Even with her speed on land, a disassembler without wings was like an armless worker, unable to effectively carry out their tasks.

This led to today, with N deciding to at least try and fix her issue. Upon waking up, he led his partner outside the spire to a clearing two blocks away-enough space to begin their tests.

“Okay, boss,” N cleared his throat, making sure J was paying attention as he continued. “We’re gonna figure out how to deploy your wings, just like your claws. I know it may seem hard to do in your…condition, but I have faith in you! Baby steps, alright?”

“Bzzzt!” J eagerly shook her head, tail wagging profusely.

N cracked a grin, stretching his joints. “Good! Alright, now watch closely. I’m gonna deploy my wings, and see if you can try on your own. Ready…now!”

At the last word, his metallic appendages slid from his back, unfurling to their full length to reveal the bladed feathers, shining in the moonlight. Raising his silver wings, N looked back at his leader to see if she followed suit.

J simply stood there with her legs bent, her body shaking for a solid minute as she closed her eye. Eventually, she gave up, arms drooping down in defeat. N’s smile faltered, realizing more work needed to be done to get her wings out.

“Awww man…what’s the matter, buddy? Are they refusing to deploy, or do you not know how?”

He flinched, wishing he worded that last part better. The pigtailed drone gave a quiet sigh, tail lowering to the ground. Clenching her fists, she seemingly tried again, her body shaking even harder as her eye glitched, gritting her teeth in exertion.

Once again, nothing happened. Once again, she dropped her arms, shaking her head and buzzing quietly. Opening her eye, she shook even harder, her breathing growing heavier.

“Hey, easy J! Try not to overdo it!”

He reached out to lay a hand on her shoulder, only for her to jerk away with a gasp. Looking up at him, he saw tears running down her visor as his core cracked in response. “J…It…It’s okay. Just calm down and-”

The drone stomped off, hands switching to claws as she approached a derelict car. Letting out a low growl, she swung her talons into the trunk, rusted metal tearing on impact as she began ripping off chunks in fury.

N stood back, not wanting to intervene in her current state-he’d seen how she hunted, and did not want to be on the receiving end, even if it was accidental. J continued to rage, demolishing the car with each strike as rusted debris flew in the air, hacking away until the vehicle was unrecognizable. Letting out a feral screech, she slammed her claws into the wreckage one last time and flattening it, before staggering back to inspect her handiwork.

Falling on her knees, the disassembler lowered her head and began to mournfully buzz, her frame shuddering as more tears appeared on her visor. 

At this point, N refused to stand back any longer. Stowing his wings, he cautiously walked to the prone drone, kneeling down as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

“Shhh…it’s okay J, it’s alright…you didn’t do anything wrong…it's going to be alright…”

The shuddering stopped, but the tears continued to fall, so he decided to comfort her in a different way. Raising his hand to the top of her head, he slowly began rubbing it back and forth, like one would do to a cat or dog. (He read about the method from a pet magazine) He made sure to keep his hand away from her bulbs, softly scratching in the middle as he moved down, soon rubbing between her pigtails.

J’s tears ceased to materialize on her visor, and her breathing calmed down. Her eye remained shut, but this time in peace instead of stress. Leaning her head into his hand, she allowed him to continue as the end of her tail slowly wrapped around his, much to the boy's surprise. 

His shock only grew when the once-cold drone began to purr, just like in the mall. He heard the rumbling deep within her throat, a small smile soon gracing her lips as he continued to pet her head. Surprise soon turned to happiness, and he couldn’t help but return the smile tenfold.

“Awww…”

Just as he began moving his hand up her head again, something gray and yellow shot out from the right side of her back, extending towards the sky as its feathers shimmered. Glancing up, the excitement in his voice returned once more.

“Look J! Your wing’s out, your wing’s out! You did it!”

J followed his gaze, her smile growing to match his goofy grin as her appendage flexed in the sky. She did it…they did it!

“See J?! I knew you could do-”

At that moment, the other wing launched itself from her back, the tip abruptly slamming into his face as he spoke. He heard something shatter followed by a gasp as his vision went red, numerous warning symbols popping up. His screen went to static before he hit the ground-and revealed an old memory he wished to forget.

-

“USELESS MORON!”

N groaned as the sharp blades of a wing sliced through his right shoulder, cleaving his arm from its socket. Another wingtip burrowed itself through his chest, lifting him up and slamming him against a nearby wall, his hat falling to the snowy ground from the impact.

The boy hissed in pain, nanites working overtime to fix the damage, yet there was nothing stopping his attacker from inflicting more pain however she saw fit. All he could do was wait until she stopped. 

If she stopped.

“Look at me.”

N barely heard the low growl in front, too busy staring at the oil spreading across his jacket. Everything felt like utter hell, he just wanted her to get it over wi-

“I said LOOK AT ME!!”

A silver claw slashed his legs, forcing him to jerk his head up as he cried in pain, his visor glitching out upon seeing two burning orbs glaring into his soul.

The pigtailed demon scoffed at his pathetic face, flexing her claw as her wing pinned him further against the wall. Walking up to him, she reached for his neck, talons cutting through his skin as she began speaking.

“This is the last time you’ll ever ruin MY hunt, synergistic liability. I can’t stand the atrocious performance you put on a daily basis, and it’s reflecting on my reports! NO ONE screws up my reports!”

N weakly nodded in response, coughing up oil.

“If you don’t improve your act, then I will dispose of you like the rest of those corrupted toasters. Incompetence will not be tolerated on my team! Do you understand?”

Silence, followed by a snarl.

“DO YOU UNDERSTAND, SERIAL DESIGNATION N?!”

“Y-yesss Jaaay….IIII u-understanddd…”

The wing instantly retracted from his chest, followed by her claw. N dropped to the ground, groaning in pain as he continued hacking up oil.

“Clean yourself up. Don’t keep me waiting.”

The last thing he saw before passing out was the twin tailed monster turning her back to him, walking into the distance.

-

N jolted awake with a gasp, his visor instantly flickering on followed by several pop ups which he quickly dismissed. Covering his chest, he realized there were no wounds on his body, letting out a sigh of relief.

“I…I’m still here…I’m still here…”

Movement flashed on his left, his head turning to face the very same demon who almost killed him so many nights ago without remorse.

Jumping back, N raised his hands, his mouth opening as if to beg her to stop, to make it all end-only to freeze upon seeing a single hollow eye instead of two glaring orbs.

J stared at him in shock and confusion, her mouth open as if she was saying something, but remained silent, her wings towering over her bent figure.

Oh, right…he was showing her how to open her wings. He was not being tortured or insulted…even though it probably should've happened by now. That’s how it worked between them, right?

He shook his head, dismissing the thought as he met her gaze, the memory still fresh in her head. When he finally spoke, his voice was weak, nervous, as if she was ready to yell at him.

“G-good job J…let’s g-get back, yeah?”

Turning away, he began walking back towards the spire, numerous thoughts swirling around his head restlessly with each step.

Behind him, his companion slowly followed, wondering what just happened to him…and why he looked so scared when he finally woke up. Was it because of the accident? She really wanted to apologize to him…if she could.

Either way, she didn't like it when he was scared. She didn’t like the feeling of her core breaking upon seeing his reaction, and she didn’t like to be alone as she slowly followed his footsteps.

All she wanted was for him to be at her side again. Only then would they be… complete.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Booting Up…

Wakey Wakey.

A pair of yellow eye lights flickered on as her voice box let out a low buzz. Slowly sitting up, she glanced around the interior of the pod before moving off the mattress she retrieved a few days ago, her body occasionally spasming as she stood.

Normally, J would be eager to get out of bed, so she could go on adventures with the one drone she cared about, but ever since she accidentally hit him with her newfound wings, things haven't been the same to say the least.

The past two days, he had grown more…distant, for lack of a better word. Sure, he still accompanied her on their hunts, but he was much less talkative, maintaining a neutral tone instead of the energetic ramblings he sometimes went on. J could listen to his words for hours, not really caring what he said, only enjoying the sound of his voice.

Unfortunately, N didn’t really do that anymore. It was as if some kind of rift opened up between them, and she didn’t know why.

Okay, it was probably because of her wings. But that was an accident! She tried apologizing, and apparently he never noticed!

J let out a low growl, angered at her malfunctioning voice box that prevented her from speaking his language. She understood exactly what he said, yet was somehow unable to speak to him properly. Again, she had no idea why, and hoped he would fix it someday…once he forgave her actions.

Was it really about the wings, or something else entirely?

The way he looked at her, with that fearful expression, simply broke her core. Was he actually scared of her? Why? She didn’t do anything to him-at least, as far as she knew!

J tried thinking back to see if she had hurt him in some way before the incident, yet found nothing in return. Then again, her memory banks appeared damaged, with static over some of the files, preventing her use entirely.

Still, she couldn’t find a single memory where she had hurt him, or even scared him! And yet here he was with that haunted look…

The pigtailed drone whined in misery, slumping into one of the pod’s chairs as she stared at her reflection in the darkened screens. She hated everything about this, about her. She had no idea what she did, yet believed it was still her fault for hurting him, unintentionally or otherwise.

She just wanted them to be happy… was that too much to ask for?

J sat there for what seemed to be forever, silently brooding to herself, replaying his frightened expression over and over again…until an idea suddenly popped in her head.

What if she gave him something like an apology gift?

She knew he enjoyed her endless offerings, just like she enjoyed his. Maybe this would convey her message properly, and he could reciprocate! They could be together again!

Springing to her feet, J wasted no time in clambering up the ladder, opening the hatch as she stepped into the spire's interior. Looking up, she noticed the other female drone was gone-again. (How she despised that drone-she didn’t trust her one bit!)

Glancing towards N’s perch, she saw his wrapped-up body hanging from his perch, several Zs covering his visor. She wanted so badly to come up to him, and show him how she truely felt-but now wasn’t the time. Gift first, apology hugs later!

Silently slinking out of the spire, she headed straight for the abandoned mall the two spend countless hours in, often collecting souvenirs or playing dress-up. Even after plundering it, the building was still full of trinkets, all ripe for the taking. In her newfound resolve, she got on all fours and rapidly scuttled towards the mall-sure, she could walk there, but that was simply too slow for her, her current posture being better suited for speed and stealth. She briefly went inside several buildings on the way there, her sensors scanning the area for any workers outside. If she could catch one, then the oil-filled corpse would be a nice bonus alongside her gift!

Finally arriving at the mall, J went inside, standing upright as she wandered to the department store, her processor wondering what would be appropriate for him. Moving down the aisles, she scanned the leftover clothes, coming to the racks for anything nice. She eventually found a nice suit and dress pants, pulling them off before moving deeper inside. A strong possibility, but she could do better.

Reaching the home appliances section, she moved between the shelves, looking for anything that caught her eye. Most of the items here were gone or broken, but there were still a few goodies here and there-she just had to look really hard to find them.

Picking up a basket, she strolled through the area, putting the suit, some ornaments, and a few silver items inside as a few possible choices. She still wasn’t satisfied with her current options, as this gift needed to have meaning to it, something he actually liked, and express just how sorry she was-

There.

Resting on a top shelf was a small glass dog, the light glinting off its surface. Carefully picking it up, she noted the immaculate condition despite the planet's harsh conditions. It was… perfect.

Smiling, she put the dog into a suit pocket, discarding the rest of the items as she didn’t need them anymore. She knew he would enjoy this, and bring back the smile that warmed her core.

She made her way to the exit, a pep in her awkward gait as she grinned, eagerly anticipating her return to the spire. All she needed to do was find him and show how sorry-

“What’s up, boss.”

J froze, her head snapped forward towards the entrance of the store.

Leaning on the frame wall of the entrance was the other drone living in the spire, V if she recalled correctly, arms crossed as she gave the pigtailed disassembler a harsh glare. J dropped the basket to the side, sliding it with her own foot as she narrowed her own eyes. What did she want? Couldn’t she tell she was in the middle of something?

“I think you and I need to have a little chat. ”

The way she spat out those words set J further on edge, teeth bared as she let out a low hiss as a warning. She didn’t know what this drone wanted from her after ignoring them numerous times, but whatever happened, she was more than ready to defend herself.

No one would get between her and N.

-

V often prided herself as the most observant of the trio.

Granted, it was usually when she hunted for any drones unlucky enough to be in her vicinity, but she could also tell her teammates true feelings, even if they weren't talking about it. Like how N was actively hurting for the longest time, always hiding it with fake grins and jokes after a ruthless beating or when he was dangerously low on oil. It pained her to see him like this, but couldn’t break character-not now.

…Or how much J changed when she returned with N after going missing for one night, resembling nothing like her old self.

From constantly following N around whenever he went outside, to how she was unable to speak or even walk properly, stumbling around as if she suddenly wasn’t used to her body. Hell, even her hunting style was unrecognizable, possessing an aggression the femme fatale couldn’t match on her best day.

And of course, how she interacted with N each time they hung out. No more beatings, no more insults, nothing of the sort anymore. Instead, she treated him with trust…and affection?!

V knew something was wrong the moment she saw them wandering outside the spire, and immediately pondered multiple theories as she continued observing them from a distance.

Now, all that was left was to confirm said suspensions.

“I know this isn’t you J.” The pigtailed drone hissed at her, assuming a defensive stance as V casually unsheathed one of her claws, idly picking on her teeth. “I mean, come on, when have you ever treated him nice? Makes me wonder if you hit your head that night you disappeared.”

J didn’t respond, her remaining eye narrowed in disdain. V didn’t feel intimidated at all-the two of them never liked each other, but J knew better than to push her crap in after her hunts. There was a reason she was the most effective drone in the squad, and she intended to keep it that way.

“It’s just so…unlike you, Miss Corporate. Not sure what happened during that night, but judging how N answered me, it must’ve been something bad.” 

She said the last part with complete nonchalance, running one of her talons through her fangs.

“Honestly, it would’ve been better if you hadn’t come back at all…instead of pretending to act like someone else.” Dropping her hand, she let out a sigh, shaking her head at the lack of response. Clearly, her former squad leader wouldn’t tell her what was going on despite the verbal jabs.

“Alright then…time to drop the charade and get to the point, huh?”

Pushing herself away from the wall, V slowly walked directly in front of J, her glare hardening as she decided to test her lead theory.

“You know, playing the cripple would definitely fool someone as gullible as N, but that shit won’t work on me again, Cyn.”

“J” froze, eye raised in what seemed to be confusion at that last part. V couldn’t help but growl-of course she’d try and play dumb, just like in the manor!

Her awkward gait, the glitching visor, the way she hunted, the unbearable affection-these were all tricks that the little demon pulled to get past N and Tessa, nothing more, nothing less! This was her primary theory after spending dozens of hours observing her actions, which led her here, somewhere without N stopping her from what needed to be done. It was the only reason, definitely not affected by a bout of jealousy or any other of those dumb feelings, not at all!

“Don’t play stupid with me! What the hell did you do to her that night?!” V’s hands instantly switched to swords, steadily advancing as the shocked J began backing up. “Why are you here?! We did our jobs, you promised to leave us alone! So why are you here, in her body?!”

The pigtailed disassembler’s hands swapped to claws, letting out a low buzz as a warning-one V utterly ignored. “You think this is some kind of sick joke, don't you? Playing nice with N dressed up as the bitch who used to abuse him! Are you trying to MOCK me?!”

J stopped, visor flickering between anger and confusion as she remained silent. A small part of V told her that maybe she had this all wrong-Cyn would’ve definitely responded by now in that robotic drawl she’d grown to hate. Something should've happened, instead of…this.

“...It doesn’t matter. I don’t know how, but it’s her, it has to be.”

V raised her swords, tail over her head in anticipation.

“You may have ruined our lives, transformed us into monsters, and think you own us for your plans or whatever…but you are never hurting him again, no matter what happens…

“This time, I’ll make sure of it.”

Without warning, V charged forward, visor switching to an X as she closed the gap within a second.

Clang!

Blades met claws as J found herself being pushed back by the other disassembler, unable to free her talons. V’s tail instantly darted for her visor, only for the drone to dodge the blow with a snap of the neck, finally pushing her arms outwards.

Now freed, the two girls stumbled back, before charging again. The sound of metal striking metal rang throughout the building as they both parried blows in an attempt to hit the other. V found herself surprised that her former “boss” was able to keep up with her despite the awkward stance she usually put up. Chalking it up to Cyn’s machinations, she decided to break the deadlock and end this quickly.

J swung forward with one of her talons in a bid to strike her counterpart, but V unexpectedly moved back, dodging the blow and leaving her exposed. A black blade sliced into her stomach, the tip tearing her sweater and drawing oil yet failing to dig into her frame. J retreated as she hissed in pain, allowing V to jump right at her, both of their bodies crashing to the floor. Switching to her own claws, she swiped at her face in a bid to blind her, scratching the glass as she felt a fistful of talons sink into her waist, before J kneed her in the gut.

Rolling away, the drone got up on all fours, snarling as her tail whipped in the air. V sucked in air, her repair nanites working overtime, and jumped back onto her feet, her right arm transforming into an MP5 to level it at J.

J leapt forth, ignoring the bullets as she sailed towards her opponent-and running straight into V’s talons instead, backhanding her face and sending her flying to the side. Crashing into a nearby rack, she barely had time to react as V swapped for a grenade launcher and fired.

Boom!

Smoke filled the store as the rack was seemingly obliterated, a fire roaring in the disassembler’s place. V raised her launcher, scanning the spot for any signs of a body-only to hear the sound of shattering glass. Whipping around, she saw a black shape smash itself through the store’s display window, scurrying off into the mall plaza. The girl scowled, rushing outside to follow her target.

“How the hell is that freak alive?!”

Deploying her wings, V went airborne as she held out both grenade launchers, firing multiple rounds at the fleeing disassembler. Explosions rocked the building, J dodging each shot as she scuttled into multiple storefronts to use as shelter. V pursued her, remaining in the air as she rained fire into the stores, blowing out the interiors to flush her out. Eventually, J ducked into a cafe as a shell slammed behind her seconds later, a fireball rising from the entrance.

Upon seeing no activity in the burning restaurant, V touched down and approached the entrance, raising her launchers to make sure she was dead. Heat was their greatest weakness, and she would burn her corpse to ensure that monster didn’t show itse-

Crack!

Something slammed into V’s shoulder, pinning her against the wall as she cried in pain. Looking at the object digging through her frame, she realized it was a disassembler’s wing, turning to see J stagger towards her and applying more pressure as the wall cracked under the force. Parts of her clothes and hair were burned away, exposing the charred metal underneath, yet the drone seemingly ignored the pain, pure rage flashing in her eye as she approached her.

Raising her claw, she prepared to strike, but V raised her still-deployed launcher to the floor in front of them, bracing herself for even more pain.

Boom!

The force slammed V right through the wall, throwing her outside the plaza as dust and snow covered her body. Slowly sitting up, her eyes widened to see a furious J running out of the hole, missing an arm and dragging her mangled wing behind. “SHI-”

J tackled her back down, her remaining claw digging into her chest. Ignoring the burning pain, V punched her in the visor with her regular hand, finally shattering the damaged glass as she let out a pained, staticy shriek. Reeling from the impact, the pigtailed drone had no time to dodge the nanite tail jabbing into her back, the acid burning through her chassis as she found herself thrown off her opponent’s body onto her back.

Multiple warnings flashed through her damaged screen as she attempted to heal herself, blindly spitting into her claw and lathering the burn wound with her saliva, relief coursing through her upon the pain disappearing. She moved onto her shattered screen, waiting as the nanites quickly healed the glass and optics as her vision finally came online.

V groaned, pushing herself back on her feet before limping to the downed J, apparently covering herself with saliva to heal her wounds. Gritting her teeth, she slowly reached her body, slamming her foot on her chest.

J cried out in pain, her repaired optics revealing the other disassembler towering over her, a peg digging into her chestplate. She attempted to raise her remaining arm to cut it off, only for another peg to pin that to the ground, finding both her wings and tail unresponsive.

She was trapped.

V sneered at her broken form, stepping off her chest while her sword slid out of her arm. “End of the line, Cyn…I don’t know if you’ll come back after this, but I’ll keep killing you again and again until you leave us the hell alone.” 

Never again would she take orders from that freak-not after killing her boss and using her corpse to woo N. Staring into the drones eye, she waited for the inevitable, robotic threat or mocking response Cyn was known for, yet the more she stared down at J’s visor…the more she hesitated. Even with all of the damage, she didn’t see any indication of the monster’s corruption-no weird symbol or tendrils bursting through her. The eye that stared back was filled with fear, a completely foreign concept to the Solver host, at least in her experience. Still, the nagging voice in her head remained, forcing her to hold back a little longer.

“What if this isn’t Cyn? Do I...do I have this all wrong?”

She shook her head. No matter, she had to finish this here and now before that thing transformed into something she couldn’t fight easily. Raising her blade, she aimed directly at the core to ensure its destruction, before plunging down with her remaining strength.

Clang!

V’s eyes widened as another blade blocked her own, forcing her back into combat mode to fight this new threa-

“V! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

“N?!”

Turning to the voice, she saw the drone she swore to protect standing over J’s body, sword out as he gave her the coldest glare she’d ever seen on his face. Her mind was sent reeling as she struggled to figure out how he’d even found them as he continued yelling.

“I asked you a question, V! What are you DOING?!”

No time, no time to explain, he wouldn’t understand. Shaking her head, she raised her blade to respond. 

“Get out of my way, N! You shouldn’t be here-I have to finish this!”

“Are you crazy?!” N stepped in front of their boss, his own blades crossed defensively. “You’re trying to kill her!”

“No shit Sherlock, just move PLEASE!”

“It’s not her,” V gasped out. “I don’t know what it is, but that thing is NOT her! I have to kill it, I have to protect us!”

N’s face morphed into incredulous confusion, shaking his head. “I’ve got no idea what you're talking about, but this isn’t the way! Tell me what’s going on, and why you’re trying to kill her!”

“I-I can’t do that! You wouldn’t understand, you’re LUCKY to not understand! Just get out of my way!”

“No.” The boy extended his wings, blocking J’s body from her view. “You are NOT hurting her, not on my watch! You’ve gone far enough, and I’m not gonna let you continue!”

This wasn’t supposed to be happening, V thought to herself as she took another step back. She was fairly injured, her reserves were running low, and she wasn’t ready to fight her crush other teammate. Contrary to what J said about him, N was a very capable fighter, and she would break before he ever did.

“Why the hell is he even defending her anyways?! With the way she’s treated him, he should be happy that I’m doing this! Does it even matt-”

“V, answer me! Why were you trying to kill her?”

Her head throbbed in pain as she shut her eyes. The battle, the Solver, J, N, everything was crashing down on her, it was simply too much, too much-

“AHHGGG, DAMNIT!” 

Screaming in rage, she swung her blades at a nearby bench, N tensing as debris flew everywhere. He watched in utter confusion as she began rampaging through the plaza, destroying more benches and tables for a solid minute before her wings sprang out, the drone turning back to him with a crazed, hollow look in her eyes.

“V, wait! Don-”

The disassembler shot through the skylight, glass shattering everywhere as she flew out and over the mall, a crack ringing out upon her going supersonic.

N simply stood there, a stunned expression on his face as the last of the glass settled on the floor, a single question floating through his mind:

“Why did this happen?”

He waited for a few more minutes to make sure she didn’t come back, before finally turning towards the injured J, his core freezing upon seeing her condition.

Oil pooled under her broken body, her right arm completely gone. Her clothes were completely shredded and burned, revealing her charred and dented chassis that leaked even more oil. Her visor was shattered, although the three red and two yellow bulbs on her head remained active, occasionally flickering and dimming.

He breathed a sigh of relief- she was somehow still alive. Kneeling down, he began spitting into his own hand, applying his saliva to any wounds on her body. Within less than a minute, the openings sealed, leaving the missing arm as the only injury.

“It’ll heal itself once I give her oil…I hope.”

Carefully moving his arms under her body, he lifted her up bridal style, gently moving her wing on his shoulder before slowly walking to the mall exit. Keeping her nestled in his chest, he trudged all the way back to the spire, his sensors scanning the area for different threats as his CPU swam with disbelief and despair.

He was lucky enough to have heard the explosions when he went looking for her. If he had arrived too late…

N shuddered at the thought, resuming his journey. Yet a single question remained embedded in his head, refusing to budge no matter how he tried pushing it back.

Why?

Chapter Text

N sighed as he slumped down in the pilot’s chair, staring at J’s prone form lying on the mattress inside the pod. He was exhausted after a long and stressful night, yet he couldn’t rest because of what happened.

Upon making his way back to the spire, he had set his leader down, making sure nobody was inside. Unsurprisingly, he did not see V’s form anywhere- if he had to guess, she flew far from either of them following the mall fight. He couldn’t worry about her though, not when J was currently bleeding out from her wounds.

Her clothes were practically ruined-he had to remove them in order to gain better access to her body. He began cleaning off any oil staining her chassis, and healed whatever cuts and scratches her repair nanites hadn’t reached yet. The missing arm took longer, having to reform itself from scratch, so he fed her oil from himself. Slicing his wrist, he pried open her mouth before letting it drip inside, her unconscious form processing the lubricant and making her systems run more efficiently.

Thirty minutes later, her arm had fully reformed, liquid metal shaping the joints and hardening over. (He decided not to unpack how disassembler’s repair systems worked) Seeing how she was good as new, he went into their goodie stash, retrieving an oversized light blue wool sweater that he carefully dressed her in, and carried her inside the pod to rest.

This led him back to now, staring at her prone form as he contemplated the recent events. First and foremost; Why did V try killing her?

Ever since he repaired his leader, neither of the girls had interacted with each other, save for the seemingly petty rivalry that silently sprang between them. He’d always known the two never liked each other-even before, J disapproved of her subordinates' wild and messy methods, only tolerating it because of her high kill count. Upon her repair, the pigtailed drone sometimes hissed while V glared back, yet that was as far as it went.

So what pushed her to kill her anyways? The fact that V went to such an extreme baffled him, having no answer to her actions. There was only one lead regarding her motives-and that was the conversation they had in the mall, the longest V’s ever talked to him.

“That thing is NOT her! I have to kill it, I have to protect us!”

Protect them from who, though? J?

N shook his head in disbelief. J might've disliked V, but wouldn’t have tried hurting her. If anything, she’d become more…docile for a lack of better words. To him, at least.

Maybe he was missing something, so he looked back again for any hints.

“You wouldn’t understand, you’re LUCKY to not understand!”

Now THAT got his attention.

Understand what? The comment was so vague, yet it seemed to carry more meaning than he realized, as if knowing it would be harmful to his mind…and this only made him want to know what it was! What didn’t he understand?!

He shut his eyes for a few seconds, struggling to wrap his head around the possible meaning, before coming to another realization.

“V knows something I don’t, doesn’t she?”

No one answered him as he pondered his theory, slowly starting to make sense over time. Her standoffish behavior, pretending not to know who he is-she was clearly hiding something, and was apparently determined to keep it in the dark as long as possible…

But what did she know?! It was obviously big enough to warrant an attempt on J’s life, but it still didn’t explain her actions. Just how bad was her secret to call his ignorance “lucky”?

Actually, the more he thought about it, the angrier he became at her. She acted as if she was doing him a favor by killing J, yet refused to give him a proper reason, acting as if he should just let it happen. On top of that, her secret was so big that it apparently required her to blow him off, ignore his existence, and leave him at the mercy of an (formerly) abusive boss, doing nothing to help him. Was her stupid secret THAT important to leave him high and dry?!

And to think he used to chase after her like some lovesick puppy!

Growling, he crushed the chair’s armrests, the rage he felt long ago boiling to the surface. Everything she had done wasn’t because of “faulty hardware”, but deliberate…she probably knew he was hurt by her avoidance, and did nothing-up until several hours ago!

“‘Protecting me’ my butt,” He muttered to himself. “Who does she think she is telling me that? She expects me to trust her when I get none in return?!”

The pain cut through his core, aching worse than all the times J used to beat and insult him…at least she was up front about her former disdain. What V did to him though was practically unforgivable-lying to him, knowingly hurting his feelings, and trying to kill the one drone who actually cared about him…

…The same one who was once his abuser.

N groaned, resting his head in his hands. The hypocrisy was getting unbearable and made his CPU ache. He just needed some rest at this point, from everything.

A low buzz woke him from his stupor, tired eye lights glancing up at the mattress that soon hollowed in surprise. J’s visor was finally blinking on, static giving way to the empty eye and warning sign he’d grown used to.

Despite his fraying mental state, he forcefully pushed any ill thoughts to the back of his head. “Worry about that later when she’s better, N!”

Rushing out of his seat, he sat on his knees beside her, getting a better view of her face. She seemed to be physically fine, although her eye glanced around the room in a panic.

“Hey J?” He softly said. “Hey, you’re okay now, you’re safe.”

He reached out and gripped her exposed shoulder, watching as she locked eyes in shocked relief. She chirped in relief, her mouth wobbling uneasily. N gave her a gentle smile, squeezing her shoulder blade in assurance. “It’s me boss, don’t worry. You’re safe, you’re okay…”

She frowned, tearing her eye away as she let out a sad whine. Her body shivered and contorted into the fetal position, legs reaching up to her chest. The boy’s core sank at the sight-never in a million years did his boss look so vulnerable and pathetic. A small, bitter part of his mind relished the sight, but he locked it down hard.

He leaned closer, trying to coax her into relaxing. “I’m right here, I’m not going anywhere. You’re safe, I promise…”

A few seconds passed as she turned to him again, visor gazing into his before blacking out, eye lights winking out. N internally panicked, fearing the worst-only for static to appear on the screen, followed by bold yellow text in the center.

I’m Sorry.

N’s core stopped, his CPU resetting itself from shock. “Did she…did she just talk?!”

He couldn’t believe it-she was properly communicating with him, showing that she was still cognizant enough to respond appropriately…it was amazing!

J visor flashed again, the “I’m sorry” fading in and out before her real eyes finally popped back in, giving him an uncertain look.

He could barely contain his excitement, yet could tell this was not the time to do so. Already tears were falling down her visor, the drone whining again as the message glitched back on her screen, body shaking all the while. It took a moment for everything to click; she was blaming herself for what happened.

It was the first time she’d apologized to him…ever. All his life, she’d shown nothing but contempt, not appearing to regret anything she did to him. Eventually, he learned to accept responsibility, seeing she wouldn’t as his leader…but that was back then, during different times.

Now she was silently begging for his forgiveness, all torn up and weak. He didn’t know if she was apologizing for the years of abuse-hell, he wasn’t sure if she was being genuine! He should simply leave her there to wallow in her misery, to get a taste of how he felt after all this time!

That’s what most people would’ve done…but N was not most people.

Leaning down, he grasped her other shoulder and whispered how he actually felt in her receptor.

“I forgive you.”

The reaction was instantaneous. J squeezed her eye shut, hands shooting around his chest, before dragging him onto the mattress. He had no time to react as her tail snaked around his, vials clinking together. Her legs wrapped around his pelvis, pushing the two warm bodies even closer together, her head directly under his.

The pigtailed drone began emitting a series of noises-buzzes, chirps, pops, and static bursts as she shook in sorrow, the tears rolling across her screen having doubled. She burrowed into his chest, desperate for comfort as he attempted to give some in return, hands rubbing her back. He shushed and whispered soothing words, allowing her to grip him tightly until she calmed down.

It seemed to last an eternity for the two, laying on the mattress trying to find solace in each other. Eventually, J’s buzzes gave way to a loud purring, her voice box vibrating in her throat. Looking down, he noticed she was in sleep mode, body falling limp and grip relaxing. He didn’t know whether he’d actually succeeded, or she simply cried herself to sleep, but she was calm, and that’s all that mattered.

Her legs were still locked in place, preventing him from moving back to his chair. Lightly sighing, he deployed his wings, wrapping them around each other to form a silver cocoon inside the pod.

Stifling a yawn, he allowed his systems to finally shut down, keeping her close as he drifted off into dreamland. Tomorrow was another day, and he’d have all the time to unpack his feelings and reflections.

Tonight, he’d rest with her, and keep her safe.

-

Sitting on the roof of an abandoned skyscraper was a slender murder drone, yellow eyes glaring into the distance. She was able to see anything below her-especially when it came to prey. As of right now though…she really didn’t feel like hunting. Instead, she struggled to answer the one question floating in her head.

Why?

Why had N stopped her? Why did he stand up for his abusive boss? Why didn’t things go her way?!

V was confused, angry, and lost. She ground her teeth as she continued glaring into the distance, replaying the night's events over and over in her head. If he hadn’t showed up, then she could’ve finished Cyn off, and prevented the nightmare that plagued her mind from turning into a reality. She was so close- but then again, how certain was she that her former boss was controlled by that freak? She had none of the hallmarks of the beast outside of her physical appearance, and didn’t even say anything-in fact, she tried running away! Was going after her… wrong?

The disassembler shook her head, growling in frustration. It didn’t matter! So what if it was actually J instead of Cyn? She’d grown to hate their pigtailed leader, always insufferable ever since they were workers, and only grown worse after making planetfall! Killing her would’ve been a blessing in disguise for both her and N-if it weren’t for the latter interfering!

“Goddammit, why’d you stop me N? She treats you like utter crap, and you still defend her!”

He should have let her finish the job. Yet for some reason, he became attached to their boss, especially after the night they came back together. To this day she didn’t know how, but J did a face-heel turn and suddenly became nicer to him. It was hard to tell whether she was faking it, but he seemed to be enamored by her, always hanging out together as if they were a thing!

“Just who the hell does this bitch think she is?! Years of torturing and belittling him, and now they’re practically inseparable! I never treated him like trash, I simply…did what was best for him…”

Oh really? Another voice rang through her head-her own but much softer, from a more innocent time- You call years of ignoring him ‘what was best’? Even after he tried talking to you numerous times?

“Of course it was! I couldn't let him remember-I had to do it! As long as we do our jobs, that freak will leave us alone!”

And you never once considered how this affected him?

“You think I enjoyed doing this? I did-I didn't have a choi-”

Liar! The voice shouted. You could’ve started over with him, even if he never remembered our past! But no, you got selfish and left him high and dry for J to beat him! He was alone, desperate for attention…and now he’s got some, but not from you!

“If that thing’s really J, then she’s just using him. She’d never treat him with respect-not unless she wants something! She’s probably using him to-"

And what if she isn’t? What if she actually feels bad about all the abuse she put him through?

“You’re wrong!” V shouted at the top of her lungs, standing up. “She’s faking it! I care more for him than she ever will!”

You did a poor job at showing it! The voice snarled. You destroyed years of love and care between us-last night proveed he wants nothing to do with you anymore!

“SHUT UP!” 

Transforming her arm into a rocket launcher, she sent a missile screaming to the streets below, before firing another, and another. Orange fireballs rose into the night sky, and yet she didn’t stop until she emptied her magazine.

She flopped back down exhausted, having burned through a significant portion of her oil reserve-but she didn’t care. Everything she worked for, sacrificed to keep N safe, was gone. The look in his eyes said it all; he wanted nothing to do with her anymore.

And that’s probably for the best. The voice resumed. He doesn’t have to suffer anymore, even if it’s with the person who once disliked him.

V curled into a ball, tears forming in her eyes. “S-Shut up…”

You finally got what you wanted, ‘Serial Designation V’; you’re no longer attached to him. You destroyed what we once had…all for his ‘safety’. 

“S-Stop…p-please…”

You’re alone now… just like he was.

Nobody heard the lonely wails of the broken disassembler, her cries joining the howling wind into the rest of the night.

Chapter Text

Roughly a week had passed since the mall incident, and already N was experiencing some changes both inside and outside the spire (besides V’s continued absence).

For starters, he no longer slept outside the pod hanging upside down. Instead, he rested on the mattress that J also slept on. Originally, he tried sleeping on the chair out of courtesy for the pigtailed drone, but she refused to allow him to do so, dragging him out of his seat to lie near her. After a couple incidents, he finally obliged, finding that sleeping on his back was strangely much more comfortable than hanging from a pole-funny how life worked…

Speaking of J, this led to the other, more obvious change that became a part of his life. Ever since she woke up, the drone had been…clingy to say the least. From going to bed to walking outside, a part of her was always touching him in a variety of ways. Usually, it was her tail wrapped around his arm, or her hand gripping his (much to his embarrassment), only separating when she was chasing down an unfortunate worker. Sleeping resulted in cuddles very much like before, often burying her face in his chest till he woke, or hugs tight enough to trap him in place. The latter resulted in him kindly asking her to let go, although she was very stubborn about it.

He wished he could say he was surprised at her behavior, but he wasn’t. After all, she almost died until he barely saved her, and knew that near-death situations tended to change people’s attitude and personality-something he was relatively familiar with.

Still, a part of him didn’t know how to feel about receiving hugs and touches from J of all people, the same drone who once beat him daily. He suspected that his hasty repairs had something to do with her close attachment to him, and was unsure what would happen if she ever recovered her memory, or if he told her what really happened…

And yet, he found himself not wanting to. Sure, some of the cuddles came off as possessive, but overall, it really felt nice receiving this much affection from someone else. He had once believed himself to be undeserving of such attention due to the nature of his work combined with his coworkers previous attitudes, but now he couldn’t get enough of it. Every time they spent together was fun, comfortable, safe- almost made him forget about everything that happened in the past.

Almost…

He decided to unpack these issues later, when he felt comfortable doing so. At the moment, J needed him, and he wasn’t going to throw away their developing relationship over what happened before. He wanted to move on, and actually enjoy himself for once…just like now.

Him and J were currently outside the spire, walking down the empty streets without a care in the world. The female disassembler was currently leading, her tail wrapped around his wrist as she happily trotted forward, turning him this way and that. N simply let her, a faint smile on his face as he checked his surroundings. He hadn't seen V or any other disassembler so far, but he wanted to be sure in case they needed to defend themselves. Eventually the pair reached the front of the mall, where N’s smile promptly dropped as he recalled the last time he was here.

“Um J…you sure you wanna go here, buddy?”

J turned back to him, her own expression mirroring his before a two pairs of text appeared on her visor.

A Gift.

For You.

The drone's eye lights reappeared on her screen, her hollow eye gazing at him in an almost pleading manner as she let out a low whine.

N still had reservations on returning to this place…but how could he resist that cute face?

“A gift for me? Alright…just be careful.”

“Bzzzt!”

J happily chirped in response, her hands bent almost like a dog as she pulled him closer with her tail. Spinning around, the drone pushed open the door, dragging the boy into the mall.

They walked through the main plaza, passing the destroyed section where J and V fought last time. The female drone decided to avoid looking at the destruction, forcing the painful memories down as she pressed forward-this was supposed to be a special occasion for the drone who saved her life!

Eventually, they reached the entrance of the department store, before she abruptly halted in front of him. N ran into her back, causing them to shuffle forward as he gave a frantic apology. However, J wasn’t focused on that; rather, she realized that her gifts may have been destroyed during the brief fighting in the store. She really hoped they weren't, but wanted to check to make sure.

Besides, she still wanted to surprise him, and bring back that warm smile she loved to see.

Turning around, she released his arm as another message flashed from her visor: Wait Here, adding a grin after.

N gave her a nervous laugh, unsure on whether it was safe, but not wanting to stop her-he was actually quite excited about this gift! “O-Okay, just call me or something if you need me, alright?”

She responded with a chirp and head shake, turning around and practically skipping inside the store.

N sighed as he watched her go, putting his hands in his pockets. He decided to give her at least ten minutes before he went inside to check, just to be sure she was actually safe. In the meantime, he began whistling a tune, echoing around the empty plaza.

A clattering sound cut his tune short, the boy whipping around just in time to see a blue-eyed worker peering at him from a corner. The drone instantly panicked, darting the other way as his boots thudded against the tile floor.

N stood there momentarily dumbfounded, not expecting to see any workers in the mall. However, his base programming took over, urging him to pursue the prey. It wouldn’t take him that long to hunt it down before J came back, right? Besides, maybe he could surprise her with a free meal!

He couldn’t help but grin as his visor switched to its trademark X, wings unfurling behind his back. Shooting into the air, he rounded the corner and looked down the large corridor, catching sight of the drone running to another clearing in the plaza. A single flap, and he surged forward, covering the distance within seconds and overshooting the worker just as he reached the center of the clearing.

He landed with a thud in front of the drone, a crack forming beneath his feet as he outstretched his wings, making himself look more like the angel of death feared by so many in the city. The drone fell on his rear, eyes hollowing out as he scrambled backwards in vain.

“Going somewhere?” N chuckled out, drawing his claws. “You probably heard my whistling, but you really shouldn't have investigated…bad move on your part, buddy.”

The worker stopped scooting backwards, staring at the disassembler before giving him a cocky grin. “I could say the same for you, ‘buddy’.”

The X disappeared in favor of furrowed brows. “Wha-”

Boom!

Something exploded over N, rubble falling from the ceiling as he jerked his head up-just in time to see the massive overhead chandelier falling straight for him.

“Biscuits!”

A tremendous crash was the last thing he heard as his vision abruptly cut out.

-

The worker stared at where the murder drone once stood, now buried under the ruined chandelier and tons of rubble. His mouth hung open in shock before turning into laughter, wiping his visor free of dust as he stood up.

“Hell yeah, we got him!”

As if on cue, more worker drones emerged from the nearby stores, numbering around eight as they converged on the wreckage pile. All of them wore body armor and carried rusty AKs in their hands, pointing them at the pile as they drew closer. Upon seeing nothing burst out of the rubble, they collectively sighed in relief, lowering their weapons as they traded smiles.

“Stay down, you freak!”

“That’ll show him!

“Nice plan, Captain!”

“Thank you, boys.” Another drone emerged from the shadows, this one wearing a green camouflage military uniform with a bandolier of bullets across his chest and a red beret perched on his brown hair. Hanging near his hip was an M60 machine gun, swaying on its strap as he approached the pile.

Pulling out a cigar, he stuck it into his mouth as one of his men lit it for him. Taking a long drag, his orange eyes watched the smoke waft into the air before he spoke once more.

“After numerous attempts and casualties, we have done what no worker has ever done before; we’ve trapped a murder drone!” A cheer rose from the small crowd as they lifted up their rifles, the captain raising his hand to resume speaking. “Now, the only thing left is to finish it off! Crack out the jerry cans boys, let’s do this!”

At his command, two drones ran back into the store to retrieve the canisters as one of his men turned to him. “Can’t we just shoot it to death, Cap? I really wanna shoot something!”

“That means we have to dig this thing out before shooting it. Burning it is a lot easier, and a lot more painful. I want to make that monster suffer!”

The two drones returned with the fuel canisters, preparing to dump their contents all over the wreckage. The rest of them stepped back, eager to witness the ensuing bonfire.

Clang!

Something shattered in the distance, echoing across the mall as the drones looked around in fear, raising their rifles once more. “What the hell was that?”

Another crash, this time closer and coming from the corridor where the murder drone had been lured from. Snapping their guns in that direction, the workers tensed up, the captain taking the center with his machine gun. Nobody moved, their eyes scanning the surrounding area for any signs of intruders.

“I-Is it another murder drone?”

“Shut up!” The leader growled at his subordinate. “Whatever’s coming, we’ll blast it to pieces!”

For several long minutes, nothing happened, the drones growing more tense at the lack of sounds.

Suddenly, a clatter was heard from a nearby storefront, a shadow dashing inside. 

“FIRE!”

A dozen guns opened up, bullets ripping through the store with reckless abandon. Casings bounced on the floor, and the deafening roar soon gave way to silence as most of their magazines ran out.

“Reload!”

The captain’s men hastily did as ordered, while he glared at what was left of the storefront, the dust clearing to reveal the numerous bullet holes plastered on the walls and floor.

“Did we get it?!”

“I dunno, can’t tell!”

The captain glanced around his group to make sure they finished reloading before giving his orders. “Josh, Murph! Get in there and check it out!”

The two named drones nervously advanced forward, barrels pointed at the store while the rest watched. As they drew closer, everyone tensed up once more, as if expecting something to jump out. Josh peered inside the store, brown eyes rapidly flickering over the room before calling back. “I think we’re cle-”

A low, feral hiss echoed throughout the plaza, putting the men on edge once more. They swiveled around, pointing their rifles this way and that as the captain wondered what he should do next, his eyes scanning his surroundings.

For all of their alertness and preparation, neither him nor his team bothered to look up at the glowing yellow lights on the ceiling.

Crash!

A black and white shape slammed into the ground, turning the two drones underneath to black paste. The rest of the unit jumped back with a collective gasp, but it was too late. Releasing an ear-piercing shriek, the figure jumped to the drones nearest to it, claws slashing through their skin like butter. Three heads flew into the air, clattering on the floor as the floor was stained with more oil.

“FIRE, FIRE!”

The rest of the drones fired wildly, guns on full auto as they attempted to track the beast, but it was simply too fast for them, dodging through tracers like a twisted ballerina. Silver talons flying through the air, it cut down more drones in rapid succession. Oil spraying all over the air as AKs and body parts flew everywhere, the workers barely having time to scream before turning into oily scrap.

The captain managed to get away from the bloodbath, ending up near Josh and Murph. Finger on the trigger, the M60 barked to life, spewing dozens of rounds at the shape rapidly drawing closer to them. Inside, he was panicking, having watched his entire unit get butchered in seconds, but he gave a loud war cry instead in a dumb show of inspiration for his remaining drones.

The figure shot forward again, and this time he got a clear view of its feminine body and twin pigtails as it decapitated his last two troops with a single claw swipe- another murder drone. Nevertheless, he kept firing, going through his entire belt even as she used one of her wings to block his fire.

Blitzing forward again, it swiped with its claw once more, knocking the gun out of his hands as it shattered on the ground. He had no time to react before her other claw impaled him in the chest, jerking him forward towards her face.

The last thing the captain saw was a hateful glare from her sole eye and the warning symbol over the other as she let out another snarl, opening her mouth and shoving his head inside.

-

N woke to the sound of digging, rays of yellow light cutting through the darkness. There was so much weight on his chest, and he couldn’t help but groan as his CPU swam. The last thing he remembered was the ceiling coming down on his head for some reason… he wasn’t dead, was he?

Apparently, someone heard his goran, the digging growing more intense as the rubble soon gave way, light filling his visor. Squinting his eyes, it took a moment before his optics finally cleared to reveal the source of the light.

A yellow eye and a warning symbol stared down at him, a small gasp coming from the figure as their eyes remained locked.

“...J?”

The pigtailed drone immediately scooted out of sight, and he was about to call for her again when he felt his entire body being drug out of the pile of rubble, his back on the floor as he stared at the ruined ceiling above.

J’s face blocked his vision once more, and the drone promptly collapsed on his body, her head on his chest as she let out a series of pops and whines. Her hands wrapped around his body and squeezed tightly, her visor flashing between her eyes and words such as Safe and Alive. It didn’t take long for N to put two and two together.

“I’m fine buddy…I’m alive…just a bit winded is all, haha.”

J didn’t move, so he reached out to rub the top of her head instead. The soothing motions of his hands seemed to have an effect, her whines turning to purrs as she closed her eyes, her mouth curling into a relieved smile.

The two of them stayed like that for a while, the squad leader purring her core away while her subordinate continued rubbing her head. Eventually, she moved off his chest, the warm smile remaining as he returned the favor.

“Thanks J…I really appreciate it.”

He got a happy buzz in response, chuckling as he started to lift himself up.

“Well, just give me one second and I’ll-Whoa!”

He felt his entire body lift into the air, J’s face remaining over his until he found his head resting near her chest. It took him several long seconds to realize what had happened.

J had somehow lifted him up-just like he did to her several times before-all without difficulty. She wasn’t even struggling this time!

“Uhhh…”

He couldn’t help but blush brightly as she gave him a curious stare, cocking her head.

“Wow…you got stronger J…err, good job.”

She beamed at the compliment, slowly walking away from the rubble pile. Looking around, he noticed the numerous fresh drone corpses and discarded weaponry lying on the floor. He was about to ask her what happened when he felt something nudge him.

J’s tail snaked over his chest, dropping a small wrapped object in his hands. Looking between her and the item, he hesitantly removed the wrapper, revealing a tiny glass dog shining in his fingertips.

N’s face exploded in a wide grin- this must’ve been the gift she was talking about!

“Awww, thank you!” He happily exclaimed, not caring about his current position or anything else as he snuggled into her chest. To say he was touched was an understatement- despite receiving so many gifts from her in the past, this one felt special, warming his core to no end.

J buzzed blissfully in response, holding him closer as she slowly made her way out of the building, grabbing one of the heads with her tail to feed him later. Already she felt so much better, physically and mentally, especially after saving his life from those cruel workers. Yes, everything was going to be just fine .

Both drones had been through so much, yet they were perfectly content with their current lives, regardless of the past. Nothing was going to change that, no matter how big or small.

Chapter Text

“RUN, RU-AGHHHHH!”

The worker barely had any chance to escape before a black mass pounced on him, pinning him to the floor as he thrashed in vain, soon screaming some more once it began tearing into his chest with its claws.

The worker’s comrades attempted to escape the building they had been hiding in prior to being discovered, but a large shadow blocked the entrance, yellow X shining in the dark. It was the last thing they saw before several gunshots rang out, the remaining drones collapsing to the ground with holes in their visors.

Just like that, it was over, and the building fell silent once again save for the crunching of metal and splashing oil. The figure in the entrance switched his visor to regular optics, strolling in the room as he hummed a tune to himself, idly snatching a corpse off the floor with his tail in the process.

It was a very good hunt for the murder drone and his “partner”...and he couldn’t wait to dig in with her.

“Hey J, there’s a few more bodies in the hallway in case you want some more. I’ve got enough for myself.”

The pigtailed drone looked up from her crouched position, oil staining her mouth. She smiled at her subordinate and gave a light chirp, her visor switching to yellow text at the same time.

Thank You N :)

N couldn’t help but chuckle at the display-ever since he showed her how to emote on her screen, she had been replying to him with at least one smiley face each time. In another time, his former boss would have chewed him out for being “unprofessional”, but it was a good thing she finally warmed up and was now enjoying his antics.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed ever since he brought her back to life, yet every day afterwards was practically stress free and eventually fun. (Outside of the mall incidents, of course.) They had the freedom to do whatever they wanted, and almost always did so together, never wanting to leave each other’s side.

Well…that was more J than N, to be honest. She was very clingy with him, especially when they went to sleep, and made sure he remained in her eyesight to prevent another ambush from happening again. Still, it was nice to see her care so much about him, after spending years berating and abusing the boy. It was almost like the female drone was attempting to make up for those dark times, and he found himself glad to finally move on from that nasty chapter in his life.

However, this still left him remembering one other drone who, while not having beat him even once, consistently ignored and pretended to forget his existence, no matter how many times he tried talking to her. It was clear V was hiding something from him, but he remained hurt by her willful ignorance of his situation. He wanted her to at least come back and apologize for what she’d done-then he’d be more than happy to start over and become friends!

Unfortunately, this had still not happened. V never returned to the spire after the first mall fight, and any attempts on finding her turned out to be fruitless. It was clear the female disassembler was hiding her tracks well-and every time N went outside to search her whereabouts, he was forced to limit himself to a small area to conduct his search, mainly because J traveled with him, weighing him down as he flew, (She still did not know how to properly use her wings) and she often prevented him from looking further out of fear and anger over the incident. N attempted to explain his rationale, but understood why she felt that way, and decided not to push it lest he make her trauma worse.

He found himself wondering how V was doing all by her lonesome. Despite him being slightly upset with her, he hoped she was doing alright and would eventually return to the spire on good terms.

Shaking his head, the drone drank oil from the corpse he was holding, trying to push those thoughts to the back of his head. Tonight was supposed to be a fun night for him and J-he could worry about his internal conflicts later!

He had just finished draining the body when J emerged into the hallway, oil caking her mouth. She gave him a grin as she approached him, leaning against his body and softly purring.

“Aw, don’t tell me you want me to clean your face off!” He lightheartedly scolded her. She eagerly shook her head, her eye glinting mischievously.

Giving a playful sigh, N ripped off part of the corpse’s jacket, using it as a rag to wipe her mouth clean. She gave him a content buzz upon finishing and leaned against his head, her tail wrapping around his own.

“You still hungry?”

She nodded once again, gazing towards the remaining corpses in anticipation. Chuckling once more, N started to move towards them when something on the floor caught his eye. Stooping low to pick it up, he raised it to his face, a curious J looking over his shoulder.

It was an old magazine, partially torn and with several pages already falling off. He couldn’t even tell what the title was, but it was the picture on the front that drew his attention. It was a large table with several humans sitting around it, with what appeared to be their version of food covering the entire length. From what he could tell, everyone present was happily eating from their plates, talking and laughing silently as several candles on the table illuminated the space with a comfortable glow.

N didn’t know too much of human customs, but this picture seemed to be… vaguely familiar, to say the least.

It also looked pretty fun to be in!

As he gazed at the cover, an idea popped in his head. He might not have as many people as he would’ve liked, but he could still make this work!

“Hey J…why don’t we eat these bodies elsewhere instead of here? Somewhere… nicer?”

The drone perked up with a questioning look in her eye, quickly morphing into excitement a few minutes later. She happily chirped and shook her head, and N’s smile broadened, already walking to the nearest corpse.

“Alright! Here’s what we're going to do…”

-

It took them ten minutes to find a suitable location, and ten more to move the bodies from their original spot to here, but it was definitely worth it in his opinion.

The location in question appeared to have been a high-end restaurant at one time, decked out with fancy furniture and skeleton patrons wearing expensive clothing. Even after the wear and tear, the place still retained some of its former beauty-and giving them more than enough cover from the sun in case they stayed over.

Already, he had found a large table matching the one in the picture, and dragged it to the center of the room to set up two chairs, before switching to decorations. Grabbing several ornate candle holders and a few pieces of shiny silverware, he neatly organized them across the table with delicate care, and soon lit the candles up with his built-in lighter, grinning in delight as small flames appeared on each stick.

J for her part was entrusted with preparing the “food”, carefully carving up the remaining corpses as she placed the parts on embellished plates, with N helping out in adjusting their positions. Two wine glasses were filled to the brim with oil, and finally, a single drone head was placed on a large platter in the center of the table between several other smaller dishes and utensils.

Everything was finally ready for both drones to enjoy.

The yellow glow of the candles provided a nice atmosphere to the darkened restaurant, and the oil and other internals somehow looked better on the plates-at least in N’s opinion. Sitting down on one end, he waited for J to take her seat across from him, before grabbing his utensils and taking a small bite from his plate.

The taste was absolutely delicious. Granted, it was no different from the oil he ate off the ground, but the fact he ate it off a plate instead of the ground made it that much better. Humming in delight to himself, he continued eating more, and was about to ask J for her opinion when he glanced at her plate.

She hadn't touched a single piece of her meal. In fact, the silverware remained where they were as she seemingly stared at them, almost as if she didn’t know how to use it…

Oh right …she didn’t.

N had completely forgotten about that, and now felt incredibly stupid as she continued to stare with an unreadable expression. He cleared his throat, breaking her attention as he spoke sheepishly.

“Heh, I guess you don’t know how to use those, huh…?”

She shook her head, and extended one of her claws, preparing to grab the tasty morsel from her plate.

“Waitwaitwait, don't! I can show you!”

He knew it was probably a hassle to teach her, but he wanted this to remain somewhat civilized-this was a special night after all!

The pigtailed drone stopped and gave him an angry pout, her eye narrowing in annoyance. She wanted to eat, why did he have to show her how?!

N on the other hand couldn’t help but find her expression cute. Regardless, he maintained her composure, lifting up his fork to demonstrate.

“Okay…first you’ll need to hold it like this, yeah? Then use the prongs to pick up your food and eat it from there! Simple as that! Can you try that for me?”

J continued pouting for another minute before reluctantly sighing, sheathing her claws and using one of her hands to pick up her fork. “Good job! Now put the prongs through your meal!”

She slammed the fork into her food hard, breaking the plate underneath it. N’s smile instantly faltered, realizing he should've been more specific in his wording. 

“Oh…whoops.”

J gave him a glare, looking back and forth between him and her ruined plate as he attempted to salvage the situation. “I-I can come over and show yo-”

Stop >:(

The words on her screen immediately shut him up, now growing more worried as she slowly stood up, maintaining a hard glare. He didn’t dare move from his seat as she sulked around the table, eventually reaching his chair with a stomp. He slowly raised his hands, digital sweat rolling down his visor.

Scoot Back.

He did as ordered, moving his chair slightly back with a scraping sound. Upon giving himself and the table more berth, J continued staring at him for several more seconds before letting out a chuff, turning around and sitting on his lap.

N’s reaction was instantaneous, a massive blush overcoming his screen, but the squad leader didn’t stop there. She proceeded to curl in on herself as she laid on her side, her tail wrapping around his waist before finally finishing with adjusting her body, laying on his lap like an overgrown cat.

He said nothing as she looked up at him once again, except this time it appeared to be much less aggressive, almost like she was expecting something from him.

It didn’t take long for him to put the pieces together; she wanted him to feed her.

Despite his blush, he gave her a reassuring smile, scooting back towards his table and picking a piece of wiring from his plate. Raising the fork over her face, he waited until she opened her mouth before gently inserting it inside, watching as she licked the fork clean.

Her face switched to a pleased expression, a steady purr rumbling from her voicebox.

At this point, N could no longer help himself, using his free hand to rub the top of her head, the purr increasing in intensity as she closed her eye, shifting closer to his chest. 

He continued feeding her with his fork, her mouth opening and closing without any prompting, her satisfied look remaining as her body sent vibrations to his chest and knees. He felt himself relaxing by the minute, enjoying the quiet atmosphere and the adorable noises she made.

The two of them spent the rest of the night in the dark restaurant, basking in each other’s company as they quietly ate.

-

Deep inside a bunker several miles away, a door slid open to reveal a small bedroom illuminated by dark purple lighting. Blueprints and scrap metal littered the floor, while the bed was left in a disheveled state, even more plans scattered across the sheets.

A short, purple-haired worker drone stormed inside, her violet eyelights in a scowl. She wore a black hoodie and similarly colored beanie, her feet covered in striped purple socks and grey combat boots. Grunting in frustration, she threw what appeared to be a futuristic rifle on her desk, knocking pencils and papers off it.

Today was not a good day for her.

What was supposed to be an awesome demonstration of her sick-as-hell railgun turned into a complete disaster, thanks to the faulty core she used to power it. This ended in an explosion, enormous ridicule, and a thorough scolding from her useless father who decided to care about her performance for once.

“Uzi Doorman, don’t bring firearms to school! Uzi Doorman, stop being weird! Uzi Doorman, why can’t you be obsessed with doors instead?! UGHH!”

The drone slumped in her seat, groaning in frustration. Shaking her head, she glared at her unfinished railgun, realizing she needed a new power core-again.

“I fucking hate it here!” She shouted, spinning the chair in a circle. 

She was so close to finishing it! All she needed was a stable power source for this thing to work properly, and then she could go out and kill the monsters outside her dad’s steel doors. Then she would show that old fart how useful she actually was!

Unfortunately, the only reliable cores were outside the bunker…in the infamous corpse spire where the murder drones resided. It would be almost suicidal to sneak inside alone and snatch one for herself before unleashing the power of her railgun on those monsters. Most people would’ve abandoned such a mission at that point…but Uzi wasn’t most people.

Tomorrow night was game day for her. She had already swiped her dad’s spare door access key on her way back home, and only needed to conduct light repairs on her weapon before setting out. Once she reached the spire and accomplished her lifelong goal in killing those things… everything would change.

People would stop mocking her, and take her seriously for once. Her dad would be forced to acknowledge her existence, and grovel at her feet on how cowardly and wrong he was to hide behind his stupid doors. Uzi Doorman would go down as a hero, and would inspire the rest of her lazy colony to free themselves from their self-imposed imprisonment.

“Oh yeah…” She chuckled to herself as she leaned back, staring at the ceiling. “Tomorrow, I’m gonna be making history! I’ll show them all what I can really do!”

She soon turned to maniacal cackling for several seconds before a voice interrupted her fit. “Is everything alright there, young lady?”

“Bite me, dad!”

Chapter Text

The wind howled through the abandoned streets, throwing light gusts of snowflakes in front of Uzi’s visor. She lowered her head, holding out one of her arms as she continued trudging through the snow, watching her every step.

Around her, the boulevard was completely empty, save for the numerous skeletons scattered inside cars and buildings surrounding her. The twin moons shone above her, illuminating the area with a dim glow. She used it as a reference, slowly walking as her eyes darted left and right for any signs of murder drones.

To most workers, walking at night was a guaranteed death sentence. Everyone knew this was the time when the sky demons went on their hunts, slaughtering any hapless drone caught in their sights. It was suicidal to do something like this, and by all accounts, Uzi should’ve wound up dead the moment she stepped out of the bunker…but she was confident enough to think otherwise.

So far, her luck held up. After coming up with a lame excuse to study the door’s exterior design, her father had foolishly allowed her to do so without any objections, too busy daydreaming of the day she would become a door engineer like him. (The mere notion disgusted her to the core) Upon wandering outside, there were no signs of any murder drones in the area, and she made good progress as a result, marching straight to the spires location without a second thought.

It didn’t take long until she finally reached the looming structure she’d seen in the few photos she had of their home, in all its grotesque glory. Even now, she was awestruck by the size of it, haphazardly towering between two ruined skyscrapers, the entire structure made up of hundreds-if not thousands-of worker drone corpses in various states of ruin. Some of their visors were still active, ominously flashing the Fatal Error message as some kind of keep-out sign for anyone daring to intrude such as herself.

The sight made Uzi pause for a minute, a shrivel of doubt entering through her processor. She was about to sneak into the home of the most dangerous drones on the planet, and until she found that power core, she was completely defenseless against any attacks. This wasn’t like the countless video games she played where she’d respawn if she died-this was real life, and there would be no coming back if things went south.

She was really starting to wonder whether all of this was worth it in the first place…

“Get a grip Uzi! Once you get that core, you can blast those monsters to pieces! You’ve made it this far-don’t chicken out!”

Yeah, that was a lot better, agreeing with her mental self. Steeling her gaze, she continued forward and into the gaping entrance of the spire, the moonlight temporarily blocked out before reappearing through the distant hole in the top.

Quickly taking in her surroundings, she saw the remains of what appeared to be some kind of drop pod in between the numerous drone corpses. The steel cylindrical structure jutted out of the snow at a slight angle, four landing arms sprawled around like an octopus. The emo’s curiosity momentarily took over, wondering if the pod could be fixed into some sort of walker or even spaceship, but quickly shook her head. Power cell first, everything else later.

She resumed walking, albeit much more quietly as she silently made her way around the pod, eyes scanning the ground beneath her for the telltale glow. She could hear her core thrum inside her chest, yet pushed on despite her nerves. She just had to look a little more…

There!

A greenish glow emanating from a large hole in the side of the spire- a power core. She couldn’t help but crack a grin, restraining herself from simply dashing over there and snatching her prize. She continued sneaking her way towards the hole, optics locked on the pod until she finally reached the entrance. Whipping around, she reached for the core resting near her feet…only for her excitement to morph into confusion.

“What the hell?”

Inside the hole was not only the core, but dozens of other items piled against the wall, ranging from clothes, electronics, shiny trinkets, random drone limbs, a few ornate furniture pieces, and even a large missile resting near the back. Uzi simply stared at the mess-obviously the murder drones had “collected” these items like a hoarder, but why? It made no sense for a bunch of soulless killing machines! What was even the purpose for doing so in the first place?!

She continued gawking for a few more seconds before shaking her head, glancing back at the power cell. Again, she’d figure this out later. Snatching the green object from the ground, she used her free hand to whip out the railgun strapped to her back, flipping it around in a flashy motion and slamming in the cell with a satisfying clack. Grinning triumphantly, she prepared to switch her weapon on to see if it would actually wor-

Clang!

The sound echoed around the spire, startling Uzi and forcing her to dive to the ground, clutching her weapon to her chest. Snapping her head from the snow, she quietly crawled to a derelict car outside of the hole, and upon righting herself, cautiously peeked her head from behind the vehicle.

Lifting itself from the top of the pod was a murder drone, in the steel fresh. All the grainy photos and stories Uzi heard didn’t even compare to what she was looking at right now. The thing towered over the pod, its slender body covered by a black trenchcoat, and topped off with silver hair and a pilot’s cap. She saw the tail sway back and forth, the tip glowing yellow, yet to her frustration couldn’t even see its face, only the back of its body. Crouching down, the drone quietly closed the hatch, as if it didn’t want to wake anyone sleeping inside-although she didn’t see other murder drones hanging around.

The drone extended its large, silver wings and jumped off the pod, gently descending to the floor. With the snow crunching under its feet, the metal monster slowly made its way to a nearby pile of corpses, softly humming to itself before grabbing a head and munching down on the body part.

The goth ducked back behind the car, clutching her railgun tightly. The murder drone was all by itself, and was currently distracted. She could either sneak out while it feasted and return to the bunker with her finished weapon…or she could use this as an opportunity to give a live-fire demonstration to this thing.

Uzi smirked at the second thought, confidence rushing through her wires. All she had to do was point and shoot at its exposed back. Moving to the other side of the car, the worker raised her railgun and adjusted her stance, moving one of her feet back.

Crunch.

Her boot inadvertently stepped into a random corpse’s visor, the shattered glass echoing around the spire. Uzi’s eyes hollowed in shock and fear as the drone whipped around, throwing aside the head and locking onto the purple intruder with a neon yellow X.

“...Shit.”

The worker only had seconds to react before the drone leapt into the air, claws deployed and a fanged mouth hanging wide open. Uzi dove to the side as it slammed into her previous spot, debris flying everywhere. Scrambling back, she hauled herself up and flipped off the safety-only for a claw to backhand the gun from her grip.

“NO!”

The railgun clattered several feet away, thankfully intact, but now she was completely unarmed. The monster swiped again, and she jumped to avoid the blow, doing several fancy backflips away from the drone. Landing on her feet, she looked around in awe at what she did.

“And they said pirating all that anim-”

She never got to finish her epic one-liner as the drone bounded over to her, tail flailing around like a whip. Rolling to the side, Uzi felt its razor tip fly over her, the monster letting out a frustrated grunt. For once, her short stature was actually helping her!

Finding herself near the now-charged railgun, she sprang up once more, snatching it up and staring down the sights as the weapon crackled and glowed in her hands. The murder drone stood dead center, swapping one claw for a machine gun-yet seemingly hesitated in opening fire. It stared at the weapon in what seemed to be confusion, but Uzi wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass.

“Bite me.”

BOOM!

A green bolt blinded her optics, the rest of the spire lighting up in tandem as the recoil forced the small worker back. Shaking her head, her vision slowly cleared up as the echo of the explosion rapidly faded, silence returning to the corpse tower once more. The goth looked up, the railgun still held up high just in case while the dust settled.

The murder drone was still standing in the same spot…without its head. The thing’s legs gave out, and Uzi watched its body collapse to the floor with a deafening clatter.

The worker didn’t move for several long seconds, her shock gradually turning to joy upon the realization finally setting in.

“Holy crap…I did it! I DID IT! Suck on that, Dad!”

Uzi laughed in delight and relief, raising her head to the sky. For the first time in history, a worker drone actually killed one of the fearsome murder drones! She’d done it! She was going to be so famou-

Crash!

The pod’s hatch burst from its hinges, flying into the air as another figure dove out the entrance, landing on the ground with a loud thud. Uzi whipped around, aiming her railgun at the cloud of snow being thrown up from the impact-only to realize too late it was still in its charging cycle. She could only watch in horror as the snow eventually settled down, revealing another murder drone.

This one appeared to be more feminine in body build, her “feet” being pointed stilts with black garter straps painted on. A sky blue oversized sweater covered her body, and her silver hair was tied back into twin pigtails behind the three yellow and two red bulbs mounted on her head.

What caught Uzi’s attention though was her visor. Instead of the X of the first drone, there was a single hollow eye on the right side of the screen, while a yellow warning sign covered the left. Either way, her single eyelight locked with the emo’s two purple ones that also widened in surprise and fear.

This murder drone… looked absolutely pissed.

-

Everything happened too fast for J to process the moment she awoke with her N no longer lying nearby.

Having heard several strange sounds outside the pod, she scrambled out of the hatch only to see a green flash throughout the spire…

…and N’s headless body falling to the ground.

She didn’t even have time to mourn before hearing an obnoxious cackle cutting through the air, coming from a short, strangely-dressed worker.

The moment she set her optics upon that…purple thing, everything that she was going through in her head abruptly stopped and shattered. It took her no time at all to realize that once again, she was too late. Once again, N was potentially dead…and all because of yet another worker drone.

And this… toaster …had the gall to laugh?!

At that moment, J saw red. Everything in her processor shut down, with one single objective remaining; make this drone pay.

Throwing herself out the pod, she landed on all fours, claws springing out as she let out an ear-piercing shriek. The staticy scream filled with rage and sorrow rang throughout the spire, the purple drone stumbling back just as the disassembler lunged for her.

Her prey dodged to the right, J swiping nothing but snow as she whipped around, her tail thrashing behind her. Already the drone was running towards the exit, jumping over body parts as it clutched the weapon that killed her N.

J let out a frustrated snarl, her wings emerging from her back and tearing through her sweater. Despite several attempts with her partner, she still didn’t know how to fly, often flailing them around as he dodged her accidental swings. However, she had other uses for her appendages.

Tucking the silver blades in, she slammed the wingtips into the ground, using them to lift her body up and into the air, sailing over the pod. Spreading her wings to slow her descent, she landed directly in front of the fleeing worker with a hard thud, knocking it on its back. She swung her right wing at the purple drone and punted it into the wall.

The thing let out a pained grunt and dropped its weapon, purple eyelights glancing up to see the furious disassembler charge once more. It jumped to the left-but ended up getting its back slashed by one of her claws.

“AHHH!”

J could smell the oil leaking from the drone's body, watching as it stumbled away. The purple thing groaned again, scurrying back and picking up a discarded arm, waving it around like a bat.

“D-Don’t even think about it, creep!”

From the scared tone of her voice, the disassembler realized that “it” was in fact a she, and for some reason the revelation only made her angrier. She slowly walked forward, claws outstretched on either side.

The smaller drone stepped back, optics scanning for a way out of this uneven fight. 

Too late.

J blitzed forward once more, swiping the limb out of the worker's now-injured hand. Another slash, and her arm received three more cuts. The drone jumped to the side, doing a pathetic barrel roll and picking up yet another limb. Her movements would’ve made J laugh if it weren’t for what this thing did to N. Realistically, she could end this quickly, but that was simply too quick for a worker like her, not after everything she did.

J wanted to make her suffer.

The purple drone threw the limb at the advancing disassembler, and another. J simply swatted them aside for a few seconds before extending her wing again, spinning her on her feet. Two more slashes, and a steady trickle of oil dotted the white snow underneath. The worker turned to run, only to receive yet another wound on her back as J steadily pursued.

Grunting in pain, and with oil running down her limbs and clothes, the purple worker staggered towards the derelict car near the pod, crawling underneath in a desperate attempt to shelter from the disassembler. J hissed again, narrowing her eye before jumping on the roof. The rusty metal shrieked as it caved in, practically trapping the worker underneath.

All she could do was cry in pain and fear as the pigtailed drone stared at the chassis beneath her, contemplating on whether to tear her out or simply crush her to death. She eventually opted for the latter, slamming her wingtips into the ruined car and slowly pushing downward. The vehicle sank further in on itself as it groaned in protest, the worker’s cries growing even more panicked as she struggled to free herself.

J ignored the childish cries beneath the rusted metal, pressing her entire weight on the car. This toaster had absolutely zero sympathy from her after invading their home, killing N, and laughing about it afterwards. She wouldn’t even bother drinking any of this thing’s oil once she died, simply leaving her there as a reminder of what happened tonight.

Through all the noise, the former squad leader heard a voice from outside the vehicle, but she didn’t care. Nothing would distract her from killing this weak drone!

Well, almost nothing.

A hand grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, lifting her up and away from the flattened car. She snarled and thrashed in the grip, whoever did this was going to regret stopping he-

“J!”

Her eye widened at the voice, her entire body going limp as she was gently placed on the snow. That voice, that kind, gentle voice she’d grown to cherish…could it be…

“J! What’s going on? Are you alright?”

She whipped around towards the source…towards a very alive N standing behind her, a concerned expression on his face. Her processor promptly short circuited, staring at him like a ghost, her lips trembling in shock. The boy cocked his head in confusion as he spoke as calmly as possible.

“Hey…are you goo-”

He didn’t get a chance to finish, the pigtailed drone slamming into his body like a truck. Letting out a yelp, N fell to the ground and found himself pinned by a sobbing J, pops and squeaks emanating from her broken voice box. Her arms wrapped tightly around his chest, clinging onto him as if it was the last time she’d ever hold him like this. Over and over again, her processor repeated the same mantra in relief:

He was alive, he was alive…she wasn’t too late after all…

N gradually returned the hug, rubbing her back as he whispered soothing words into her receptor. He wasn't exactly sure why she was tearing apart the old car near the pod, as he had trouble remembering the last hour of his life, but knew she was in a fragile state, and would do anything in his power to ease her stress once more.

They laid there for a while, simply cuddling one another with the snow melting underneath their chassis until N finally decided to ask her what happened. Just as he was about to do so, a blue spark jumped between both of their visors, startling them out of their moment. J let out a surprised buzz, having no idea what that even was, yet for some reason it warmed her circuits, and she couldn’t help but blush slightly in response.

For N, the effect was much more pronounced, his eyelights blinking out before a series of text glitched into view.

Memory Recovery in Progress. Standby…

A loading bar underneath quickly filled up, and the text promptly disappeared, his eyes returning with a sharp gasp. The boy raised himself forward with a stunned expression, and J found herself sitting on his lap, worsening her blush.

N however didn’t register that part, his CPU replaying everything he missed-from waking up and getting himself a quick drink as J slept, to fighting that strange purple worker drone armed with a green, futuristic gun before finally blowing his head off. He simply sat there for a moment, trying to contemplate how this even happened…and subsequently panicked.

“Ohhhh…OOOHHHH! I-uh-left a dangerous weap-I mean excuse on the loose! I-I gotta stop it!”

J didn’t know what he was talking about at first as he rambled, but upon catching his cut off “weapon”, she immediately grinned, sliding off his lap and jumping on her feet. N didn’t need to worry about this “dangerous” worker anymore…because she had trapped the purple thing herself! They could drag her weak body from under the car and feast on her insides together, just like at the restaurant!

Without waiting for him, she scuttled towards the car, using her wingtips to lift her on top. Looking down, she prepared to tear this drone out…only to frown in confusion upon scanning the area with her sensors.

The worker wasn’t there anymore!

She let out a bewildered chirp, tearing through the undercarriage with her claws to confirm this possibility. Upon finding nothing underneath, she snarled in fury, lifting herself from the ruined vehicle. How the hell did that little…oh.

There was a trail of oil leaking from under the car, followed by a series of footprints leading straight towards the exit. J looked to and from the car and the prints in the snow until a voice snapped her out of her stupor.

“Oh… that’s why you were on that car!”

Standing behind her was N, now realizing what had happened when J was crushing the vehicle-and how he basically interrupted her from killing her prey. The female disassembler whipped around, having come to the same conclusion judging by the very annoyed look on her face.

“Haha, whoops…at least it left a trail for us to follow!”

N gave her a sheepish smile, pointing to the entrance as he scratched the back of his head. J only rolled her eye in response, huffing as text appeared on her visor.

You’re catching her this time.

The boy only grinned as he gave her a shaky salute, wings emerging from his back. “Yes ma’am!”

He would never have even considered this before, but he loved doing anything for her now!

Chapter Text

Uzi groaned in pain, stumbling across the snowy wasteland as she attempted to widen the distance between herself and the spire. Oil ran down her clothes, ruining her favorite sweater-but that was the least of her worries.

To say her little expedition to activate her railgun and kill the big bad murder drone went poorly was a tremendous understatement. 

She wasn’t expecting that second drone to be there, nor was she counting on her railgun having such a long recharge time. And of course, how the pigtailed monster was a much better fighter than her partner-hence the constant bleeding and the fact she ended up losing her railgun.

She really underestimated these things, huh?

“Damnit…”

Staggering to a nearby car, she leaned on the side, groaning again at the oil streaming down her chassis and her torn sweater. She swore once more at the condition of her clothes, and raised the end up to see how bad the wound was.

Wait…

“...Where’d it go?”

The scar she thought she received back at the spire simply wasn’t there anymore. Sure, oil stained the metal where it leaked, but there was no sign of the actual wound, like it was never there.

Uzi frantically checked the rest of her body where she’d gotten slashed-and was met with intact skin, with leftover oil being the only evidence of her wounds.

“What the hell?!”

Workers didn’t…self heal! Any wounds a drone sustained needed to have it welded shut in order to stop the flow of oil. It was literally impossible for their body to stitch themselves up!

“I’ve gotta be hallucinating,” Uzi thought, running her finger over where a scar once was. “There's just no way…”

Crack!

The distant sonic boom snapped her attention away from her skin-she spat out another curse in the direction. She heard enough stories from survivors to know what that was, meaning she needed to run like hell to reach her home.

The goth set off once more, boots thumping in the snow as she used everything in her servos to reach the bunker doors. Thanks to her wounds no longer existing, she could now run like a normal, cowardly drone.

The irony was not lost upon her.

Five minutes of hard running later, she soon saw the imposing door lit up by the two floodlights. Her core thudding in her chest, she quickened her pace, the distance steadily shortening with each step. All she needed was to reach the doors and she’d be home fr-

Crash!

A black and white blur slammed in front of the worker, throwing her on her back. She shook her head as the snow rapidly settled, revealing the same murder drone who’s head she blew off back in the spire.

Uzi wanted to scream in fear and rage so bad, having zero idea how that thing even survived the blast. It was as if her life’s work was literally thrown in her face like a pie-every hour and sweatdrop was simply a waste of time in the end.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have the time to reflect on her decisions, considering the drone in front of her was giving her a hard glare with its real eyelights, mouth curled into a frown and arms crossed over chest.

The emo drone slowly got to her feet, raising her hands shakily as she attempted to defuse the situation, too scared to realize the stupidity of the idea.

“H-Hey dude…I-I like didn’t mean to-”

She didn’t get far as a series of rapid footsteps thudded behind her, followed by a force slamming into her back. Uzi fell face first into the snow, the back of her head pinned to the ground by a sharp claw as the force on her body increased pressure. Upon hearing a low, feral hiss near her audio receptors, she knew exactly who this was.

“Crap…”

The pigtailed murder drone pressed down on her even harder, her frame creaking from the stress. She felt the hot air from her gaping maw, followed by saliva dripping from the monster’s fangs. Uzi squirmed desperately, but was trapped and unable to move out at all.

She heard a sigh in front of her, before another voice cut through the air, this one sounding like a young man-the murder drone she originally shot.

“Y’know, blowing my head off with that fancy laser gun wasn’t very cool of you.”

The fact he misidentified her gun, followed by him sounding like a disappointed parent caused Uzi to think with her mouth instead.

“Bite me! It's my sick as hell railgu-Ow OW OW! STOP, PLEASE!”

The pigtailed drone’s claw dug through her beanie into her skull, drawing oil and causing the emo to snap back into reality. The thing snarled at her, drenching the worker with spit and hot air.

The male drone sighed again, and she could imagine him just shaking his head like her father. “That’s not how you should talk to strangers now, right? Especially if said strangers can kill you in a heartbeat.”

Uzi fell silent once more, desperately pleading to Robo-God for some divine intervention-she was so close to being crushed into the ground.

“I guess I should ask, why were you there in the first place? Figured a giant spire made of worker corpses was a preeeetty obvious warning sign for potential trespassers.”

“Urg…I…I was trying to find parts for my railgun…I didn't know you were there! I was just…defending myself! Yeah!”

“Uh huh…” Uzi’s core sank at the response, like he didn’t believe her. “Oh yeah, he definitely doesn’t.”

“Well…keeping you alive would be a pretty bad idea, don’t you think? Seeing how you tried killing us with a custom made weapon makes you a walking threat! So yeah…got no choice but to disassemble you, buddy. Take it away, J!”

The named drone instantly started giggling, applying pressure to Uzi’s head. Grunting in pain, she realized she only had a few seconds before her brains were splattered all over the snow. Frantically racking through her head to say something, anything to stop the execution, she spent a few agonizing seconds going over countless theoreticals before finally reaching a possible solution.

Now she only had to live long enough for both drones to hear her out.

“WAITWAITWAIT! I CAN HELP YOU!”

She screamed so loudly J stopped pressing on her head in confusion, giving a startled chirp. Silence settled over the area before the male drone started speaking again.

“...And how can a worker drone exactly help us? Besides the free oil, of course.”

“TH-THAT’S IT! I CAN GET YOU FREE OIL! WITHOUT THE KILLING!!!”

“...”

“...”

“Ummm, I'm not following. Mind explaining?”

Uzi knew what she was about to say next would get her in serious trouble-if anyone found out. Regardless, it was the only solution she had to stop them from devouring her without a second thought.

“There’s…there’s o-oil in the colony I live in. I can give it to you…but-”

“You mean you’ll let us in the colony?!” His voice was a mixture of excitement, confusion, and even worry-though she couldn’t blame him for her poor word choice. Ignoring J’s aroused buzzing, the emo attempted to correct herself.

“NO, no! I meant-like get you oil a different way! We have oil pumps inside!”

“...Oil pumps?”

“Yeah! We normally use them for drones who are bleeding out, but it’s the same grade we use and you…drink, I guess! The exact same!”

“...”

“And it's practically an unlimited source!”

“Go on…”

“So, like, I can run in and get you plenty for you and your girlfriend! I'll use the big containers we have to store it and take it to the spire! You don't have to hunt, or try and break into the colony, I’ll just bring it to you! I swear I’ll do it…if you let me live!”

She heard the murder drone stutter upon the word “girlfriend”- what was up with that?- but silence followed once more, the wind and her core beating the only things she could hear.

Uzi knew she was breaking so many rules just by mentioning those pumps-no one outside of certified medics were allowed to operate them. However, she figured as long as she could feed them on a daily basis, then maybe, maybe, they might spare her life.

The male eventually cleared his throat. “So…you’ll give us worker-grade oil every night …in exchange for your life.”

“YES!”

“What’s stopping us from breaking into the bunker to get it ourselves though? No offense, but we technically don’t need you to make oil runs to and from the spire.”

“Crapcrapcrap! Think of something Uzi, THINK!”

“Uhhh…you know that railgun I used to blow your head off? Yeah, we got a whole bunch of them back in the colony! Every single member of the WDF is armed and ready to shoot any murder drone trying to break inside! I would know because I’m their leader’s daughter!”

“Smooth Uzi, real smooth. Praising your deadbeat dad and making his door-loving circlejerk sound like a bunch of badasses! Oh yeah, this’ll definitely fly!”

Regardless, it seemed to work, judging by the frightened gasp of the male. “No way…really?!”

“Yup…really. So you can either fight your way through and regenerate over and over until you can’t…or you can spare me and I’ll keep this whole thing a secret, in return for daily oil deliveries!”

“Whaddya say, dude?”

For several long minutes, nothing happened, the worker unable to see anything from her position. Finally, the male cleared his throat to speak. “Alright J…get off her.”

A confused grunt followed, the mentioned female apparently not understanding.

“You heard me, let her go please…d-don’t give me that look!” The drone whined, another pause and a low growl. “J, you heard her. We get a free shipment of oil, all within the comfort of our-yes, yes, I know you like hunting better, but this is a great risk-free opportunity! Think about it!”

“...I know it’s not our job, but I’m not gonna turn down free oil…and I really don’t wanna go through dying again. Please, J.”

Uzi heard a long, drawn out sigh, and the claw on her head immediately withdrew. She had no time to react before she was grabbed by the scruff of her hoodie and hauled up on her feet, facing the murder drone she’d been speaking to for the last several minutes.

He looked…surprisingly normal for the killing machine she blew up earlier, with curly hair and a black pilot’s cap on top. His yellow eyelights shone down on her, and his mouth was in a neutral expression, a far cry from the snarl he displayed back at the spire.

The male instantly changed his expression to a disarming smile, holding out his hand. “Well, looks like you’ve got yourself a deal! As long as you keep your end of the bargain, me and J will gladly keep ours! Right J?”

A hiss behind her was the only response he got.

“Thank you! By the way, my name’s Serial Designation N, or N for short! And it seems you already met J! What’s your name partner?”

“It’s…Uzi.” She followed up with meeting his handshake.

“Nice to meet you, Uzi-you have a very cool name!” He briefly shook her hand with an iron grip. 

“T-Thanks…” The emo attempted to pull away, but N held on a bit longer, his jovial tone turning serious as he leaned over her. 

“Just remember Uzi…if you don’t honor your end of the deal, we will find a way inside, regardless of the railguns and bunker doors. And we. Will. Kill you and everyone else inside. I’m giving you a second chance here buddy… don’t throw it away. ”

Uzi vigorously shook her head, sweat rolling down her visor. “No way dude, I-I’ll do it! I’ll get you that oil, I swear!”

Like a flick of a switch, N’s expression instantly brightened once more, releasing her hand as his friendly smile returned. “Good! Pleasure doing business with you then! Stay safe on your way home, and see you tomorrow!”

The worker was shoved forward as N moved out of the way, the path to the colony clear. Her feet started moving again, the emo speed walking past the tall drone and looking back. She gave the two a nervous smile, raising her hand in farewell. “O-Okay, B-Bye guys!”

N returned to wave, smile still plastered on his face. “Bye Uzi!”

J simply gave her the nastiest glare the worker had ever seen, using her claws to point between her visor and Uzi’s. 

The purple worker jogged the rest of the way home without turning back. She had a lot to think about.

-

N watched Uzi leave, happy that things worked out. After all, he’d basically guaranteed themselves a lifetime supply of oil! No more hunting for hours, no more scrounging the depleted reserves-it would be delivered right at his doorstep, warm and ready to serve!

He let out a chuckle at the thought! “Haha, I knew she’d come around! Wasn’t exactly expecting to do this for the drone who blew my head off, but either way, it worked out! Say, my negotiation skills are pretty good, aren’t they J?”

“...”

“...J?”

The drone turned to meet a furious pigtailed squad leader, her sole eye burning straight into his core with her teeth bared.

Yellow sweat immediately dripped down his visor, his smile turning shaky. “W-What? I-I got us a deal! I’m s-sure she’ll hold up her end, I-I know she will! Are y-you worried about that?”

No response from the angry drone.

“C-C’mon buddy! It wasn’t that bad!”

J’s glare intensified, a long, drawn out hiss emanating from her voice box. With heavy, deliberate steps, she moved directly into his face, visors almost touching as she continued hissing.

His visor flushing, N attempted to move back, raising a hand in defense. “J…I know -you don’t approve but OW!”

Before he even finished, J chomped directly onto his fingers hard-not enough to draw oil, but denting the polymer skin underneath her teeth.

“O-Ow! T-That hurt J! Let go, please!”

The pigtailed drone refused to budge for several seconds, N weakly attempting to pull away until she finally did so, practically spitting out his hand. The boy winced at the contact, cradling his digits before wiping it clean on his sleeve.

J promptly turned away from her mate partner, whacking the vial of her tail on his screen with an audible clink! N flinched again, his face pouting as he watched her walk away.

“J-Jaaaay! I-I’m sorry! I know she tried to kill me but-but it worked out in the end, right? Right?!”

She simply ignored him, storming through the snow back to the spire. 

“P-Please! Answer me! I’ll let you have the first serving tomorrow okay? Promise!”

N simply followed her trail, begging and pleading the entire time as J refused to face him, the two of them walking all the way home.

It took a very long time before she finally accepted his apologies, via countless headpats and pampering until the two of them eventually fell asleep inside the pod, ending the drawn out, stressful but ultimately bloodless night. 

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

N woke to the sound of purring below his head, followed by a warm weight on top of his body. Slowly looking down, he saw the visor of a sleeping J resting on his chest, the Sleep Mode text shining brightly as her mouth was curled in a thin smile. Her arms were wrapped tightly around his waist as her body rested on his, and he felt their tails tangled between each other.

He couldn’t help but smile at her face though, even as a warm blush overcame his features. It was quite adorable the way she slept-he wished she’d bring out this side more often in the past, before she di-

“Nope, not opening that can of worms right now. I’ve got enough on my plate as is.”

Besides, he was quite content with his current life. The pair had grown closer than ever before-what happened last night only solidified that bond. Once again, she saved him, leaving him in her debt-not that he minded, of course. He’d find something really fun for them to do, just like always!

Stifling a yawn, N decided to get ready for the day, attempting to raise his arms from her grasp.

They didn’t budge. Apparently her grip was a lot tighter than he thought…

He tried sitting up-only to find himself unable to push against her body. For a minute, he was confused, considering she weighed significantly less than him. Looking around his surroundings, his eyes widened upon realizing why he was stuck.

J’s wings were fully deployed, having curled around the two like a protective shell. To top it off, the wingtips were burrowed deep into the metal floor, creating an anchor to trap him in. He would have to push against her hard in order to break free-and wake her up in the process.

N knew why she did this-to say he was flattered was an understatement. But he really wanted to get up and get a cup of oil from the reserves, not to mention making the spire presentable for their visitor!

He tried moving his legs, and found she had looped her tail around them to prevent any movement. Not expecting this kind of restraint, he lay back down with a defeated sigh, his head thudding on the mattress underneath him.

The text on J’s visor instantly disappeared, the familiar warning sign and eye taking their place. She stared at him with a curious look until he realized she was awake, jerking his head back up with a cheerful expression.

“Oh! G-Good evening, J!”

The pigtailed drone responded with a light chirp, the smile on her face growing warmer. “Well that’s a good sign-maybe she’ll let me out now that we’re awake!”

N cleared his throat, his eyes pleading in his attempt to free himself. “Hey…since we’re up, do you think you could let me get out of b-”
He didn’t finish as J’s smile immediately disappeared, dropping her head back into his chest. She adjusted her weight, the pressure on his body slightly increasing as her wings pushed down and her grip tightened.

“Jaaay! Please? We’re safe now, there’s no need for this!”

The former squad leader only shook her head, not bothering to meet his gaze as she let out an annoyed grunt.

“I-I thought you forgave me! I even gave you headpats!”

Another shake of the head- clearly she hadn’t moved on one bit!

Scrambling through his head, N waited for a few seconds until an idea popped up, his last gamble at freeing himself.

“Hey…if you let me go…I won’t just give you headpats, I-I’ll give you bellyrubs! We haven’t tried that before!”

J perked her head up at the strange yet fun-sounding activity, cocking her head in intrigue.

N’s eyes became more animated as he continued, his knowledge of dogs paying off once more. “Bellyrubs are for good boys and girls, and you’ve been a very good girl! I wanna reward you with something that you’ll definitely love-but I can't do that until you let me go! Can you do that for me J? Please…?” As he gave her his best puppy eyes he could muster.

J stared at him with a deadpan expression for the longest time, N’s smile faltering in resignation. Maybe he got a bit carried away there…

Text flickered onto her visor, one that gave him instant relief.

Fine.

With that, her wings slowly retracted from the floor, curling into her back as she untangled her tail from his legs. She moved away from his body, allowing him to sit up at last. The boy’s smile returned in full force, and he couldn’t help but chirp “Thank you!” in response.

J gave him another pout, having given up in trapping cuddling him all night, and made her displeasure further known with more text.

I hate you so much >:(

Once, those words actually carried weight behind them. But N saw right through the facade, having spent enough time to realize when she was being serious or sassy. He giggled at the response, offering his own in the sweetest voice he could muster.

“Awww…love you too, J.”

The pigtailed drone, now sitting on her knees, stopped pouting instantly, a huge blush overcoming her visor. She let out a short gasp, startling N out of his gaze just in time to see her jerk her head away, her screen glowing yellow.

“Uhhh…you okay boss?”

Somehow the glow grew even brighter, and her tail began wagging at his words. Letting out a frustrated whine, she grabbed the cord with one hand, but that didn’t stop the tip from wiggling in her grasp.

“J?”

N sat there, bewildered at the drone’s reaction. Why was she acting like this now, after making all that fuss? He only told her that he loved her as a joke, nothing embarrassing!

The boy froze, repeating his saying in his head in an attempt to analyze how it could possibly be offensive to her…except it wasn’t. 

Much the opposite in fact.

“Oh….Ohhhhhhh! Was…Was I really that dense?”

He told her he loved her-love being strong feelings of affection.

And judging by her reaction… she…she responded positively.

The blush, the tail-wagging, looking away like a lovestruck schoolgirl- did she actually-

“F-Focus N! We can’t jump to conclusions right now!”

Taking a steady breath, he calmed his nerves, waiting for a few more seconds before he finally turned back to the blushing J.

He needed to know.

“Hey…boss?”

The drone slowly turned towards him, a glow still prevalent on her face.

“Did you…did you think I was…serious when I said I loved you?”

J didn’t move for a long minute, hollow eye staring directly into his. N felt a bit uncomfortable and was about to apologize when she nodded, followed by a message.

…Yes…

“Oh my Robo-God.”

Serial Designation J, his commander who once abused and insulted him on a daily basis…had admitted to loving him, the useless murder drone who couldn't possibly be loved.

At least, that’s what he thought.

A tidal wave of emotions overwhelmed his head, unable to settle on one. A part of him was wary at her admission-it was too abrupt, this wasn’t like J at all, he was hallucinating-while another part outright denied the admission, drawing on his one sided affection for V.

And yet…there was another part of him that felt…ecstatic to have someone who genuinely cared for him, the memories of the pair flashing to mind. And there was one last faction, while cautious of whether she was in the right state of mind, said one thing to the rest of his processor:

Give her a chance.

After what felt like an eternity, N finally made his decision.

“I…I appreciate that…in fact, I’ve started to like you as well. A lot.”

J’s eye widened in shock, but stayed silent as he continued. “Over the past couple weeks…you’re actually a really sweet person, someone who cares about their friends. I didn’t think you were capable of showing this back then…but you’ve changed for the better, if I’m being honest, and I can’t help but admire that.”

“I didn’t know you felt so strongly about me in return…and it’s quite a bit to handle. I was never the best at being loved…I didn’t think myself as capable of being that someone.”

He turned away as the past surged in the forefront once again, idly rubbing his arm. Upon noticing his expression, J gave a sympathetic whine, scooting closer and resting her shoulder on his.

“I’m pretty nervous about all of this…it’s just so much for me to handle…but if you really do care for me, if you…love me…then…”

N sighed, turning towards the pigtailed drone with a tired smile. “I’m willing to give it a shot.”

J stared at him with a wide eye before lunging at him, sending them both to the bed. Once again, she wrapped her arms around him as she purred loudly against his chest, letting out happy buzzes and beeps and nuzzling into his head. N chuckled in response, returning the hug and stroking her shoulders, pulling away to get a better look at her.

“She really is beautiful, isn’t she? I…I really hope she means it. Even with our history…I want to believe.”

Giggling at her antics, he cleared his throat, snapping her back to attention. “I know you’re happy about this, but I…I kinda wanna take things slow, if you don’t mind. Like I said, it’s a lot to take in, and I don’t wanna rush into things neither of us are comfortable with alright?”

She took a moment to process his words, realizing he was right in wanting some space in their intimacy (Even after everything the two did.) J nodded in agreement, prodding N to move forward.

“Good…Good. Glad you understand…”

“Soooo…I guess we’re dating buddies now, huh?”

The two of them fell silent for a few seconds before bursting into a series of giggles, J nuzzling into him one more. Hugging her tightly, the boy savored the moment, eventually planting a small kiss on top of her head once he finished his laughing fit.

J blushed once more at the contact, her tail wrapping around his, and he simply let it happen, giving a warm smile.

For the first time in his life…he was loved. 

Was being loved by the person who once abused him before being badly injured at his hands a risky decision for the both of them? Maybe. But N was done with that past, done with being alone.

J cared for him enough to change opinions of each other, and that made him feel more alive than he’d ever been during his time here.

It almost felt like a wild dream in a way… and he wished that dream would never end.

-

Ding!

 The soft chime of the oil pump snapped Uzi out of her stupor, alerting her that the tank beneath the spout was now topped off. Carefully lowering it from the machine, she screwed in the lid tightly before lifting it into her camping backpack, followed by another silver canister full of warm drone-grade oil.

Ever since returning to the bunker that fateful night, the goth thought long and hard over her encounter and deal, realizing she was absolutely stupid for doing what she did. From barging into their home without scouting to making a risky deal she needed to fulfill daily, that night had been nothing but mistakes for the teenage drone, almost resulting in her death.

In short, it was a very harsh reality check for her rebellious personality. Regardless of her beliefs, skills, and weaponry, she was still a fragile worker drone by the end of the day, and a perfect target for the apex predators roaming outside their home.

She hated that this was the truth. She hated that she was almost killed because of it.

“Focus, Uzi. You can angst over your life decisions later. Tonight, you have an impression to make."

Letting out a sigh, she checked around the empty clinic for any witnesses before creeping out of the entrance, silently locking the door behind her. If it weren’t for her formidable lock-picking skills, the deal would’ve been off long ago!

Creeping her way down the hall, she eventually arrived at the doors, gaining a more confident air upon approaching the first set, pulling out her keycard to make her way through. Arriving at Door 1, she ran into the WDF members sitting around the table, playing the same card games they always played. Hearing the door behind them open, they turned towards the purple haired worker standing nearby, giving her questioning looks.

“Okay dude, time to baffle them with bullshit again!”

“Heeeey guys, how ya doin? Good to see you working hard again! Anyways, I’m gonna check out Door 3’s mechanisms again for my internship-gotta memorize those hinges or whatever!”

“Doorman’s kid, glad to see you! Sure, go right ahead! I’m happy that you told your old man you wanted to take over his job in the future! Guess you were inspired after all!”

“Yup, you know it! Anyways, tell dad I said hi and that his doors are the best, alright? I’ll even bring back some trivia!”

“Awesome! Me and the boys can’t wait! Have fun!”

“Okay, seeyoubackhopefully!”

Slam!

Uzi sighed in relief upon the doors closing behind her, shaking her head as she dropped the fake smile. All it took was for her to tell her dad she really liked doors to grant her unlimited access outside the colony in the hopes of being his successor. All of a sudden, he actually cared for her again!

“Ugh…I feel gross just for saying all that…crap.”

Letting out an angry sigh over living her new lie, she marched into the deserted city before her, keeping an eye out for anyone or anything following her. She forced the fear from the other night to the back of her head, trying to focus on the business at hand yet was unable to tear herself away from her near-death experience.

Nevertheless, she kept walking until finally reaching the towering spire of death that marked the murder drones home. Pausing outside the entrance, flashbacks repeatedly played in her head of the encounters with N and J, fear slowly overtaking her systems once more…

The sound of playful giggling snapped her out of it, echoing from within the structure. Raising an eyebrow, Uzi waited for one of the pair to rush out and try to kill her-only for nothing to happen. The laughter continued unabated, carried through the wind.

She wanted to turn and run so badly… but she had a job to do. She couldn’t back out now.

Slowly entering the spire, she drew closer as the giggling grew louder, eventually reaching the pod and the source of the commotion.

Sitting on a discarded crate near the metal cylinder was N, his yellow eyelights glowing in delight as he let out a happy laugh-far from the mocking cackles she heard from survivors and audio clips. Lying on his lap was an equally giddy J, her smile reflecting his.

The male drone was currently tickling her stomach under her sweater, the pair laughing in tandem. J’s tail swished as she kicked her peg legs, writhing in his grip as her laughs grew louder, visor glowing brightly in a blush.

Uzi simply stared at the pair flabbergasted, having no idea that these metal monsters were even capable of acts like this-they looked more like a happy couple than anything! The sight left her stunned, not to mention a bit jealous, as no one gave her that kind of treatment, especially her father.

For some reason, she wished it was her sitting in N’s lap, tickling her stomach to no end.

The emo gawked for another minute before realizing why she was here in the first place- better to do it while they’re distracted to notice. Bracing herself, she loudly cleared her throat.

The sound jolted N out of his tickle session, letting out an unmurderlike yelp and dropping J in the process. The pigtailed drone gave a confused grunt upon landing in the snow, whipping around in a frenzy until her optics locked onto a familiar shade of purple.

“Whoops! Sorry J!” She ignored N as he helped her up, letting out a low, threatening hiss at the purple worker who stepped back in fear. Spotting theri new visitor, the boy quickly brushed himself up, also getting on his feet.

“O-Oh! Hey Uzi! Glad you made it! I-uhhh hope your trip was uneventful here!”

“Uhhh…yeah. It was.”

“Cool! Did you get the oil?”

“Y-Yup! One minute.”

Uzi set her backpack on the ground, unzipping it and withdrawing the two containers. Lifting them up, she hesitantly approached the two murder drones, noticing how their eyes dilated upon seeing the silver cans she held.

J attempted to rush forward and grab one herself, but N held onto her collar, keeping her in place. “N-Not yet buddy! Give her time.”

Uzi sat the cans near their feet, quickly backing away to her back pack. N bent down and reached for both of them, handing one to J in the process. Unscrewing the cap, he drank the oil straight from the spout, his body shuddering in delight at the warm oil.

For her part, J tore the lid off with her teeth, chugging down the oil as she held her can up, black droplets running down her face. Her body also shook, and Uzi soon heard both drones moan sensually at their meal, looking away with a flushed expression.

After what seemed like an eternity for the trio, the murder drones finished their meal, with N returning the cap to the canister. Walking towards the goth worker, he set down the metal tank near her feet and smiled. “Thanks Uzi!”

“Y-Yeah, no proble-WHOA!”

Uzi ducked as J lobbed her empty canister at the drone’s head, landing with a clang as she stumbled to the ground. The pigtailed drone gave her a malicious smirk, causing the purple worker to shoot her an ugly glare.

N sighed in disappointment, turning to the misbehaving drone as he crossed his arms. “What did I tell you about harassing the worker, J?”

He received a hiss in response.

“No excuses! I thought you knew better than that…especially after calling you a good girl.”

J’s expression instantly changed to a pleading one, rushing over towards the male and giving an apologetic whimper, hands clasped together as she stared up at his visor.

Uzi simply watched with an incredulous look.

“What the fuck is going on? Is he really going to fall for that?”

“ Sigh… I know, I know. She tried hurting us. But we need to forgive and move on, now that she’s learned her lesson.”

“Yes he did…you gotta be kidding me.”

“Sorry about that Uzi! J didn’t mean to do that, she’s still stressed from the other night…but thank you for the oil regardless! It was really good-seems like those pumps are the real deal after all!”

Doing her best to hold in her anger, she forced a smile on her face. “Y-Yeah! I’ll bring more tomorrow-if you’d like!”

N and J gave her wide grins-one friendly, one hostile. “Of course! Keep doing what you’re doing, and we’ll all be happy! Anyways, that’s all for now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some important business to take care of, haha!”

“I can see that! Okay, same place, same time…havefunandbye!”

Without further ado, Uzi all but rushed out of the spire, not daring to look back. She kept running until she was far enough to no longer see it, turning to see if they followed her.

To her relief, they didn't-presumably back in their tickle session again.

Whatever.

Trudging back to the bunker, the worker prepared herself for the inevitable trivia game for her dad and her coworkers, desperately trying to forget everything she saw- even if a part of her longed for that kind of attention between the “emotionless” monsters.

This was her life now.

Chapter Text

Uzi had a lot to think about lately, so much so that she ended up making a diary of her ramblings and experiences for the past few days.

Of course, she made damn sure her father or anyone else for that matter found it, keeping it buried under the pile of scrap she used for her railgun. The only time she pulled it out was after her “door-inspection trips”, often spending a few more hours writing and theorizing before finally calling it quits for the night.

First and foremost on her analysis? The murder drones she fed, N and J.

She saw how they interacted with each other and her, taking mental notes of each and every action or word said. She would rerun these recordings upon returning to the colony, adding them onto her diary in immense detail.

They were close. Very close. She could tell they adored each other almost nonstop.

Yet for some reason…their relationship didn’t make any sense to her.

First was N himself. The murder drone was nothing like she expected of someone who killed and fed on her kind daily, being polite and affable each time they talked. He never called her any derogatory nicknames, or acted like he was superior to her kind-none of that. Instead, he treated her like an actual person!

Every time they’d meet, he always started off with some form of “Hi Uzi!” Not freak, not weirdo, but by her real name. He’d also ask her dozens of questions-not about the colony’s defenses or numbers, but general life instead. And judging by his reaction, he seemed enthralled by her seemingly mundane life.

“So Uzi…what’s this ‘school’ you keep mentioning? What do you guys do there? Is it fun?”

The emo gave him a questioning look, wondering why in the world he’d want to know about the boring institution that did anything but actually teach her. She was tempted to blow him off, not really wanting to get into the painful details of her class life, but J’s constant glare told her to reconsider.

Sighing, Uzi’s tired purple eyelights met his bright yellow ones as she proceeded to explain the education system to both murder drones, more or less reading off the curriculum she saved (and ignored) in her CPU.

Unsurprisingly, J seemed uninterested, going back to preeing the feathers of her deployed wings. But N? He had the most intrigued, adorable expression on his face, occasionally nodding every time she paused.

Upon finishing her explanation, he immediately asked his next question.

“What’s homework?”

This…conversation, amongst many more confused Uzi to no end.

“Why the hell would a murder drone be so interested in our lives? Why is he even talking to me in the first place?! All I am is a glorified courier to them-there’s no reason he should act…like us! Is this guy even a mass murderer?! I mean, J doesn’t act like that at all!”

Oh right, the second piece of the wired puzzle…J.

The pigtailed drone acted the complete opposite of N, or any drone for that matter. For one, she seemed to be much more animalistic, using hisses and snarls in place of words-Uzi never heard her speak even once!

She often had her claws out, either grooming her feathers or playing around with discarded worker limbs, but those moments were relatively rare as far as she could tell. Most of the time, she simply lay curled up like some kind of overgrown cat, her tail twitching erratically. When moving around, the murder drone would alternate between walking normally and moving on all fours, especially when scaling walls. Despite having wings, Uzi never saw her use them for flight, instead acting as a shield or extra limbs to anchor her body when she was on all fours.

Come to think about it, J seemed to be a cross between a cat and some sort of lizard, having learned about the two in her classes. However,  it seemed to be more of the former, judging by how she often curled up near or on N, receiving heatpats in return.

Not to mention the purring that came from her afterwards.

All in all, J was much more feral than her male counterpart-two totally different attitudes and behaviours. And yet…they somehow got along.

No-they were extremely close on that count! She’d seen the affection they gave each other and vice versa, but never understood how two drones that were the polar opposite of each other could be like this, without even trying! 

Why did they have that…and not her?

Uzi didn’t have any friends in school, her father was mostly absent, and everyone else wrote her off as a lost cause. Sure, Thad was nice to her, but she suspected it was more a show of pity at this point-he only hung out with her when they were alone, and no more than ten minutes to boot.

Other than him, she had no one else.

Seeing these… drones playing around and cuddling up with each other awoke some feelings inside her that she didn’t think were possible, chief amongst them jealousy and loneliness. She’d never admit it, but Uzi wanted to be held and treated with love, to have someone who would talk to her normally and care about her interests and quirks. The goth always knew she was a loner…but after seeing them several times, she hated the feeling now.

She hated everything about her empty life.

Ding!

Oh, right. She’d been drifting off again while refilling the tank.

“Are things ever gonna change?”

“...Oh well, can’t worry about that now if I wanna live.”

Five minutes went by, and she was making her way out of the clinic with full tanks of oil. Five minutes later, she reached the doors, making another poor excuse to go outside and watching in dismay as her dad’s friends hailed her as “The next Khan Doorman.”

“Ew.”

Soon she found herself outside the bunker, steadily making her way towards the spire. The trip itself was relatively uneventful-though for some reason she had the feeling that she was being watched.

Uzi brushed it aside as a case of nerves, despite having done this several times already. Sure, N wasn’t going to kill her now, but she still didn’t trust J one bit. Keeping an eye out, she eventually made it to the spires entrance, walking near the pod and setting her backpack down.

Within seconds, the hatch swung open, and the male murder drone clambered out the entrance with a grin on his face-he always knew whenever she showed up. As he jumped down, Uzi heard a clatter behind her, whipping her head towards the wall. Skittering like a bug was the pigtailed drone herself, using her wingtips as extra appendages as she slowly made her way to the pair. The worker couldn’t see her face for once-mainly because she was holding a literal drone corpse by the throat, its body clattering as it was dragged down the wall.

“Again, EW!”

Shaking her head in disgust, Uzi turned back towards N who gave her a chipper wave and warm smile.

“Hiya Uzi!”

“Here we go again…”

-

Outside of her father and the WDF guards near the entrance, no one knew about the “door inspections” Uzi went on a nightly basis. The old worker was originally going to put up a new magazine bragging about how his daughter finally grew up and “embraced her true passion”, but forgot to do so since he decided to busy himself with a new door design for the colony. Even if it was released, no one would really care, as they didn’t have to see the angsty drone or her insane creations as much, and more or less went about their business.

Overall, things remained relatively the same, with the colony being completely oblivious to what was happening outside.

However, one worker knew better than to fall for that kind of thinking.

Doll wasn’t exactly close with Uzi. Sure, their mothers might have been sisters in the past, but the two of them never really saw eye to eye with each other, Uzi being more rowdy while the Russian remained quiet and reserved. When both of their mothers died to the sky demons outside, it severed the last solid link they had towards each other, having no time, interest, or obligation to hang with one another.

Eventually, Doll found her own friend group amongst the divas and socialites, while Uzi became a social hermit who rambled about railguns and conspiracy theories. It didn’t take long for everyone to ignore her or bully her, and at least in the former, the red-eyed drone was no exception.

Granted, she never liked seeing Uzi get insulted and hurt, nor did she partake in any of those activities, but what could she honestly do? In the colony, talking to the resident emo was a guaranteed social death, and she preferred to keep the few friendships she had-especially with Lizzy.

That being said, Doll couldn’t help but admire her in a certain way-the girl, while foolish and naive, was a lot braver than the rest of the colony when it came to defending themselves. Sometimes, she wished she had the same level of courage when it came to finding and dispatching her parent’s killer. Though in her opinion, simply walking towards the murder drone’s lair with a flawed railgun wasn’t the best idea, especially when it blew up in class.

Either way, it was typical Uzi behavior for the past several weeks…until one day, it wasn’t.

The first sign of change was when she overheard her father boasting how his daughter was finally into doors while she walked near the WDF office. The worker did a double take upon hearing those words-Uzi absolutely despised doors.

She waited until one of the guards came out, and asked him how that even happened, to which he responded; “She’s really interested in her old man’s hydraulics now! She’s gonna be inspecting them every night, even during school weeks! He’s gonna put in a real nice word for her too in the daily paper! Ain't you excited that you’ll have a celebrity in your classroom now?!”

Uzi? A celebrity? Please.

And Khan never did publish that article anyways…but that was beside the point.

Doll knew Uzi hated doors with a passion, openly insulting them when she had the chance, a byproduct of her father complex. So for her to go out and willingly inspect them for several hours outside the bunker certainly raised a lot of questions from the Russian.

As a result, she decided to follow her this time, and boy was she surprised. 

She watched the goth enter the clinic after-hours and exit with her backpack, apparently having loaded something heavy judging by how her short stature struggled with the weight. As Uzi made her way to the doors, Doll trailed far behind her, peeking behind corners to track her movements.

Already the purple-haired worker was at the main gates, engaging in (forced) banter with the rest of her father’s coworkers. Once she slipped out, Doll would bring the powers her mother taught her into play. She still had a loose grasp of what it actually did, but it helped her access oil from the closed clinic-and would certainly help her traverse the snowy wasteland beyond.

The colony doors slammed shut with a thud, and she closed her eyes to mentally will her powers, ready to follow su-

“There you are, Dolly!”

Doll gasped, whipping around just in time to see a blonde, pink-eyed worker drone wearing a cheerleading uniform standing behind her, giving an annoyed glare.

[L-Lizzy?]

“Uh, yeah? What are you even doing? I’ve been trying to call you forever now!” The girl held up her cellphone, revealing the number of times she dialed her bestie.

“Shit.”

[I…I muted it. Sorry, but I was in the middle of something.]

Lizzy cocked an eyebrow. “Busy doing what? Following Hot Topic around like some lost puppy?”

Doll’s eyes widened in shock. [How did you-were you following me?!]

“Girl, I saw how you were looking at her just now…don’t tell me you’re actually getting the hots for h-”

[Wha-EW, NO! We’re RELATED, Lizzy!] Doll’s visor flushed in embarrassed frustration. [I thought you knew that!]

“Whoa, chillax, I totally knew that!” The cheerleader defensively raised her hands up, having not paid attention when Doll told her about it a while ago. “Besides, I was messing with you! You really think you’d ditch me for any drone in this place?!”

The Russian looked away, not used to being reminded of their very close relationship. Lizzy cracked a grin, relishing the sight as the other drone stuttered.

[C-Come on, not now! This is serious!]

“Alright, alright, I’ll stop. Now tell me…what’s going on with you and her? I wanna know everything!” Already she had her phone whipped out, ready to type any potential gossip. Dolls expression instantly changed to a scowl, swiping the device from her grip.

“Hey!”

[No, this stays between us!]

“...Ugh, fiiiiine. Just tell me, please!”

[Very well…have you noticed Uzi acting strange lately?]

“Whatever do you mean? She’s always weird.” Lizzy shrugged her shoulders, unconcerned about her angsty classmate.

[Yes, well she hasn’t been her loud, obnoxious self in nearly a week. She’s quiet for once, reserved, as if she’s trying to hide something. I also overheard her father brag about how she likes doors all of a sudden. I know we don’t exactly get along, but that is not Uzi.]

“Okay, and?”

[Today I decided to speak to her about it, while her father was at work. On the way there, I saw her leave the house, and I followed her all the way to the clinic. I didn’t want to make my presence known at the time, so I waited outside until she came out, wearing a heavy duty backpack she had trouble carrying. She walked to the doors, and I was ready to see what she would do next…until you arrived.]

Once again, Lizzy rolled her eyes at Doll’s annoyance. “So what? Maybe she finally decided to grow up for once, embrace her destiny or whatever.”

[Then why would she go inside the clinic after-hours? I’m the only one who needs to go there at that time.]

“How would I know? L-Look, I’m sure she’s fine, there’s no reason to-”

[She’s my cousin, Lizzy. Even if we don’t get along, I still care for her somewhat! I just don’t want her going out and doing something stupid, you know?]

“Doll, listen,” Lizzy had a serious expression for once. “I know that she spouts off these crazy ideas of killing murder drones and what-not, but she’s all bark and no bite. No one is dumb enough to go out there and try fighting those things, not even her! Besides, the doors have, like, cameras outside, so she’ll be fine as long as she stays nearby. It’s totally safe!”

[And what if you’re wrong?] Doll shot back. [What if she’s doing a lot more than standing outside the doors? The backpack, her actions-nothing about it makes sense! And do any of those lazy bastards check the cameras in the first place?! That’s how the murder drones got in the first time!]

The cheerleader’s eyes hollowed as her friend spoke in a rapid, panicked voice. She knew where this was going. “Dolly, calm down.”

[How can I calm down when I don’t know what she’s doing?! If she’s doing something stupid out there, it could cost us everything here! Those monsters could get in again, and kill us, kill you!]

“Doll, wait!”

[Even with my abilities I can’t stop them! The WDF can’t stop them! Uzi’s toy certainly won’t kill them! If she’s not out there ‘inspecting doors’, then what the hell is she actually doi-]

“DOLL!”

The Russian was silenced by her friend's outburst, simply staring back with a terrified look. Lizzy’s former sassiness was replaced with a fearful expression…one she hadn’t seen since the night her parents died.

“Girl, listen to me…Uzi’s not doing anything stupid, even outside. She knows what’s out there, and I’m sure she values her life more than anything. Nothings gonna happen, we’ll be fine, I swear…”

Even as she tried calming her down, a part of Lizzy felt unsure about her own words, as if she was already wrong on all counts. Regardless, she pushed forward.

“Look, just ask her what she’s doing, alright? I’m sure she’ll tell you…I think.”

Doll let out a snort at her suggestion. [Is my bestie telling me to talk to the girl she despises? That’s a first.]

“You know what I mean! Either way…I’m sure everything's fine. I know everything's fine. There’s no reason to worry now.”

To reinforce her point, the blonde gave her a tight hug, rubbing her back as the other drone reciprocated. A warm blush formed on her visor, but she didn’t care, as they’d done this many times before-and all of them felt special for both of them.

Lizzy had been there for Doll ever since her parents were killed, having allowed her to move into her own home. Their already strong friendship blossomed into something more, and she wanted to let her know she was there for her, no matter how she felt.

She just wanted her to be okay.

The two drones stayed like that for a while before slowly separating, their visors glowing pink and red. Holding her hand, Lizzy gently guided Doll away from the corner, even as she looked back at the sealed doors. 

Tomorrow she would ask Uzi what was happening. She trusted her to not do anything too crazy, and the Russian figured she could use the opportunity to start repairing their relationship. Maybe the goth could feel less lonely as they interacted, and open up to each other more.

But that could wait for now. The two girls walked back to their dorm together, ready to turn in for the night, assured that nothing bad would happen.

In their blissful ignorance, neither worker realized just how wrong they were on all counts.

Chapter Text

N slammed his back against the wall, panting heavily. He ran several blocks down just to find an adequate hiding spot, and despite being a robot felt completely worn out. Digital sweat rolled down his visor, and his hands shook, eventually lowering them down to his knees.

Sighing to himself, he slowed his breathing, eventually leaning against the wall as relief washed over his systems. He was safe, there was no reason to wor-

Crash!

Something fell over less than a block away, causing the boy to straighten up. N’s eyes hollowed out, and he carefully peaked around the corner to peer down the street.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing there.

He knew better than to think like that though. After all, countless workers made the same mistake.

N slowly scooted away from the wall, deeper inside the building he resided in. All he saw was a ruined lobby, the rotting desk sitting in the middle. Everything else had either been destroyed or looted.

He walked past the desk, eventually making it to several ruined elevator shafts. Peering inside one, he realized the door was open, revealing the empty space below. It was pitch black, the bottom practically invisible to normal sensors.

“Maybe if I lay low, I'll be safe…”

Carefully, N entered the shaft, turning to gently pull the doors closed. Once he did so, he crouched on the floor, dimming his lights in the process. He even pulled his limbs inside his coat to hide the white skin underneath.

Another crash sounded, this time within the building he hid in. N silently cursed, switching off his visor yet keeping his real eyes online, rapidly scanning his surroundings.

A low, feminine giggle soon reverberated throughout the structure, echoing through the shaft. His core pounded in his chest, the boy wishing he could stop it for once in his life. All he could do was lay there and wait for the danger to pass-if it did.

For a long while, he saw and heard nothing besides the wind howling throughout the shaft. His sensors still detected nothing, and the minutes seemed like hours as he sat on the floor completely frozen.

He really wanted to move and see if he was in the clear, but he knew better than that. Staying put was the only option he had at the moment.

A clattering sound alerted him, still unable to detect anything despite switching through multiple settings. The giggle flared up again, this time going for much longer before moving away, fading into the wind.

N’s oil had never been so chilled before.

“I should probably move…or not. What should I do?!”

The drone proceeded to have an internal battle with himself on whether to move out of his hiding spot. He hadn’t seen his pursuer, yet judging by the sounds she was incredibly close. If he stayed here she would eventually find him. He needed to make his mind up now.

One minute later, he did. Slowly and silently, he uncurled himself, looking around all the while until finally standing up. Turning towards the elevator doors, he prepared to pry them open as quietly as he could.

Something lightly tapped his shoulder, confusing the drone as he turned-and found himself face-to-face with another drone visor, one word shining across its screen.

Boo.

N let out a girly scream, reverberating throughout the elevator shaft just as the other drone leapt off the wall to tackle him. Both bodies collapsed to the floor, and soon giggling joined his screams for a few seconds before finally dying down. 

Catching his breath, N found himself lying face first on the floor, his arms pinned down as a warm body pressed against his back. He simply sat there for a few seconds before his face broke into a pout.

“How?!”

The giggling restarted once more, resulting in an annoyed whine from his voice box.

“I was doing so good too, I didn’t even make a sound…c’mon J, stop that!”

The female disassembler shook her head, raising herself off his back. N started to lift himself up, only to be flipped completely around, finally facing the drone who caught him.

J was essentially straddling him, visor displaying her signature eye and warning sign as she grinned. He had no time to say anything before the drone raised her hands, wiggling her fingers.

N knew exactly what was going to happen next. “Waitwaitwait, I’m not REA-HAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!”

The pigtailed drone attacked his flexible waist with her digits, tickling him all the way to his core. N laughed like there was no tomorrow, eyes shut and tears flowing as the shaft rang with his beallows. He writhed under her body, unable to stop the tickle torture she was dishing out to him. 

This continued for several long minutes until a warning sign popped onto his visor, prompting J to stop. N’s laughter died down to giggling of his own, his eyes soon reappearing completely dazed, a lazy smile on his face.

“Hehehehe…Jaaaaaay…I think you broke meeeee!”

He giggled again, both drones grinning like idiots. The female drone fell onto him again, her head resting on his chest as she began purring in delight. N’s hands wrapped themselves around her body, bringing them even closer.

He couldn’t keep that smile off his face, too exhausted to do anything other than hug the only drone who cared for him. Nuzzling his face into her hair, J’s purrs grew louder as he rubbed her back.

Needless to say, it was a satisfying conclusion to their long, drawn out game of hide and seek.

As the two of them lay there, N couldn’t help but think about his current relationship with his (ex?) boss, cuddled up like cats. Several weeks ago, he’d never dream of being this close to her.

Several weeks ago…she despised his presence.

N stilled at that thought, the rubs ceasing and his smile fading. He remembered all of the abuse the old J put him through-the beatings, the name callings, the utter contempt she held for his mere existence. He never understood it, but took it regardless like a good soldier would-until one day, he decided not to anymore.

He almost killed her, to the point where she came out a completely different person-and now they were hugging each other without a single care.

A part of him felt… uneasy about this, how they jumped so fast without considering their history. J never apologized to him directly about the abuse…but did she even remember?

If so, was N simply taking advantage of her injury instead of actually addressing the problem?

It made him uncomfortable, not wanting to destroy the relationship they had, but feeling the issue would reappear at a later time. He didn’t know whether it would make him a bad person…and he somewhat didn’t want to find out.

N was essentially trapped between his morals and feelings, a never ending war inside his mind.

“Oh Robo-God, what am I gonna do?”

“Bzzzzt?”

He looked down to see J staring up at him with a concerned expression. The two of them locked eyes for a moment before N smiled, brushing back her hair.

“Sorry buddy…it’s nothing, just a bit tired is all.”

He’d save his thoughts for another day, just like every other time.

J continued giving him a quizzical look before purring again, resting the side of her face against his chest. In response, he gave a small kiss to the top of her head-he couldn’t help but fawn over how adorable she looked!

Her visor gained a vibrant blush, and she tightened her grip, tail coiling around his. N chuckled and slowly lifted himself up.

“Alright J…let’s go back home. Uzi probably delivered our oil by now…hope she saw the note outside the pod…”

J simply whined in annoyance, her grip remaining around his waist. “I know, I know, but we can cuddle more when we get back and refuel! Promise!”

The drone looked at her…mate? Boyfriend? It didn’t matter, he was hers either way. Text appeared on her visor, temporarily replacing her eyes.

Fine. Headpats Too.

N chuckled at her remark, lifting her off his body as she let go. “Anything for you, J.”

Standing up, he unfurled his silver wings, having enough space to deploy them fully. J climbed onto his back shortly after, legs wrapping around his waist as her arms crossed from behind his neck. He felt her nuzzle into the back of his head as he made sure she was secured, before leaping up towards the opening at the end of the shaft.

Gently rising out of the building, the pair of disassemblers flew over the desolate city, the twin moons shining brightly on the snow below. N’s wings shimmered, and he glided across the cool sky while J peered from behind his shoulder. Their tails were still coiled together, reflecting their seemingly unbreakable bond.

N smiled, even as the thoughts from before attempted to break into his mind once more. He was perfectly content with his life, and wouldn’t do anything to change it at the moment. Everything could wait for a later time…when he was ready.

-

Uzi trudged through the snow, having dropped off the oil inside their pod that totally wasn’t a spaceship. She wasn’t surprised there was a note left behind-it was such an N thing to do, despite only knowing the murder drone for a few days now. He was sickeningly polite and considerate, displaying an attitude the rest of her colony neglected to show her. 

If it weren’t for J being present, maybe they’d be a lot closer than mere acquaintances…but who was she kidding?

The emo let out a frustrated sigh, kicking a nearby skull across the street as she slowly made her way home. She didn’t know where they ran off to, and despite having the entire spire to herself, she wasn't really feeling it at the moment.

Everything Uzi saw about the murder drones felt alien to her, after all this time. They seemed to be more… lively compared to the rest of the workers back home. 

Sure, she may have tried killing them in the beginning, but they (or at least N) seemed to forgive her for it, and even gave her attention whenever they weren’t playing with each other!

Granted, J’s form at that was throwing trash at her and giving her nasty glares, but at least she acknowledged her!

…Unlike her classmates. Unlike her father.

Even his newfound admiration towards her revolved around his doors. He essentially blurred the lines between the two-every praise he gave her was tied to his job, and sounded so artificial, practically sickening her.

And that gave an excuse for her classmates to bully her even harder.

Uzi growled out a curse, kicking another skull. Her heroic endeavor outside was a complete failure that almost got her killed. She really thought she was going to be the main character of this deluded fantasy she wholeheartedly believed in…and now was living her life as an errand drone to two dangerous predators, the rest of the colony none the wiser.

Uzi Doorman was never supposed to be the hero. She was, and alway will be, a lonely drone.

Whoosh!

The sound interrupted her thoughts, the worker’s eyes widening upon recognizing the flap of wings, but she had no time to react as a mass slammed into her back, knocking her into the snow. A heavy weight pinned her down, and she saw a cone-shaped arm with yellow hazard stripes hold her own arms. Her mind reeled from the impact, and she soon began blurting out words.

“N?! Wha-I brought you your oil! Why-”

“I’m not N.”

An unmistakably female voice cut her off, confusing her even further. “Huh?”

Uzi got no answer, as the arms retracted to grab the back of her hoodie, lifting her off the ground. Raising the worker in the air, it spun her around, her scared visor staring at the figure standing before her.

It was a female murder drone, but certainly not J. This one didn’t have the garter straps on her black and white legs, and her silver hair was in a bob-cut. She wore a cropped leather jacket that exposed her waist, throwing the worker in a loop as she looked back at the drone's face.

She gave Uzi an angry scowl, using her free hand to unsheathe a set of shiny claws before speaking.

“Now I’m only gonna ask you this once, toaster. How the hell do you know N’s name?!”

Uzi really wanted to retort with who this chick was, or how she knew the murder drone in the spire-she’d never seen this one before! However, she decided not to anger her further, swallowing audibly as she responded.

“I…I ran into him outside the spire, okay?! W-We made a deal that I'd give him and his girlfriend oil from the colony, i-in return for my life! I-If you don’t believe me, just ask him, I swear!”

The drone cocked her head, still holding onto Uzi’s hoodie. 

“Girlfriend?” She spat. “Ugh, whatever. What was your dumb ass even doing outside that bunker anyways? Why haven’t they tried to break in themselves?”

“I-I was looking for spare parts! And there’s a lot of guns in the colony! Really powerful guns! I-It was easier giving them the oil outside instead! For all of us!”

The murder drone continued staring at her with a glare, more sweat rolling down Uzi’s visor. “Please believe me, oh God PLEASE!”

She did this for a few more seconds before dropping the emo to the ground. Uzi grunted in slight pain, clambering onto her feet-only to be met with the end of a nanite acid tail, silver blade shining in the moonlight.

The murder drone sighed, expression slightly relaxing. “Alright, listen up and listen good. Today’s your lucky day…meaning I’m not gonna eat you. I had something earlier anyways.”

Uzi let out a sigh of relief, but the stinger jabbed towards her face, barely touching the glass of her visor.

“However, you’re not in the clear just yet. I know about your little oil runs, I’ve been tracking your movements for the past couple days. I want you to keep doing your runs when you get back tomorrow, without telling them about me.”

“H-Huh? Why? Aren’t you wi-”

“Shut!” The tail moved towards her core, silencing her. “You’re my little worker now, which means you do exactly what I say. Otherwise, I’ll string your intestines up on those street lights over there. You got that, yes or no?”

“...Yes.”

“Good.” The drone gave a fake smile before reverting back to her serious expression. “As I was saying, you’re gonna keep doing your deliveries, and then come to me and report back what you saw. I’ll cut you a break tonight, since they left early, but I want detailed descriptions on what N and J are doing in the spire, what they talked about-everything. Do not leave anything out. Am I clear?”

Uzi slowly shook her head. “Yes.”

“On top of that, I want an oil canister of my own too. Lately it’s been getting hard to reach other workers, and as much as I enjoy hunting, I find it a lot easier if toasters like you bring me oil for free, not to mention your bunker’s an absolute pain to breach. Get me my share once you’re done with those two.”

She paused, seemingly thinking for a few seconds until returning her glare to the worker, leaning her taller body forward

“And one more thing; do not tell either of them I exist, even if they try to beat it out of you. I can guarantee you a painful death if you utter a single word of my existence. Understood?”

“Yeah…Yeah, I got it.”

The drone nodded, retracting her tail behind her back. “See that building over there?” She pointed towards a large office with a wrecked jumbo-tron encircling the lower end. “I’ll be camping out over there for you to come by. Don’t even think about skipping or not showing up at all…I’m sure they warned you already about backing out of their own deal.”

Uzi didn’t say anything, giving a faint nod as her lips trembled.

“Same applies here, so be there.” The murder drone walked off, unfurling her wings. “I’ll be seeing you tomorrow, shortstack…you better keep that oil warm for me.”

“W-Wait!” Uzi couldn’t stop herself from speaking, the taller drone turning to give her a confused glare. “W-What’s your name? S-So I can call you something, you know?”

The drone continued glowering at her, making the emo wonder if she did the wrong thing…until finally relenting with a sigh, shaking her head.

“...V, Serial Designation V. You?”

“Umm…Uzi.”

V cocked an eyebrow. “Like the gun?”

“Yes…” The worker responded with annoyance.

The murder drone chuckled, sporting a wry grin. “Well then ‘Uzi’...see you soon.”

Without another word, V shot into the air, throwing snow all over the poor drone.

Uzi didn’t move for several long minutes, her mind still reeling from what just happened. So many questions remained…along with new responsibilities and tasks. Everything just became riskier, and there wasn’t a single thing she could do to change that.

She sat on the snow, shutting her hollow eyes, and let out a long, mournful groan, burying her visor into her hands.

“Am I seriously every murder drone’s bitch now?”

The howling wind was the only response to the thrice-damned worker sitting in the middle of the street.

“I should’ve never left the colony…”

Chapter Text

N sighed with a content smile on his face, resting on the mattress at the pod’s floor. Curled up at his side was the pigtailed drone he’d grown to love, her head over his chest as she purred softly, the vibrations running through his body.

Back in the old days, J hated physical contact unless it was to beat him, often keeping to herself whenever she wasn’t barking orders at him and V. As a result, he didn’t really think about giving her a hug or any sort of contact, knowing full well what would happen next. Nor did he expect her to do the same for him in return.

Oh, how things changed so fast…and for the better.

The disassembler let out a chuckle at the thought, raising his hand to stroke J’s head, his fingers running through her silver strands and pigtails. She purred louder in response, mushing her body even closer to his as the pair grew warmer. It was a comfortable warmth though, not like the overheated N used to experience often. In his opinion, he wouldn’t mind if they stayed like this forever, cuddling all day inside the pod and away from the icy cold.

So in the end, that’s what he decided to do.

J was having slightly different thoughts about their current position. Sure, she was quite cozy in his embrace, and didn’t want to move anywhere else. However, it wasn’t just the comfy warmth she was enjoying.

Recently, the former squad leader had taken notice of her N’s…body model, especially after the little “incident” a few days ago…

J dropped into the pod, another shiny object in her possession. She didn’t know exactly what it was, so she figured N had an idea. She knew he was inside, so she didn't bother announcing her presence in any way.

What she didn’t anticipate was for the boy to be in the middle of changing into some of the new clothes he had.

“Uh-J?! What are-Wha…OH NO! DON’T LOOK!”

Realizing her mistake, she quickly scampered out of the pod, slamming the door shut as a bright blush glowed on her face.

Granted, she did apologize, and he didn’t hold it against her since he forgot to lock the door…but the image of his half-naked body was burned into her processor, refusing to leave.

And the more she thought about it… the more she wanted to see what the rest of him looked like.

Something within her programming demanded J to rip off the trench coat he wore and explore the rest of his body in full detail, the warm feeling in her chest steadily increasing. Of course, she tried to fight it off, as this wasn’t how she should be viewing her… boyfriend? Mate? J didn’t know, but they hadn’t done anything intimate yet-what if he rejected her?

What if he didn’t?

The war in her head raged on and on, to the point where she couldn’t take it anymore. Letting out a pitiful whine, the pigtailed drone curled against him even more.

N noticed this and the heat emanating from her body, growing slightly concerned at this change of behavior. 

“J? Are you okay?”

She whined again in response, nuzzling her head into his chest. The purring grew louder, and her legs began rubbing against each other. Still, he didn’t think much of it, raising his head in concern.

“Hey buddy, how are you doing? You’re starting to worry me.”

J still didn’t say anything, but stopped moving her legs, instead wrapping them around his own. Before he realized it, the drone shifted her weight directly onto his chest, arms gripping his waist as she essentially straddled him.

N’s eyes widened in surprise. “J-J?!”

She looked up at him with her remaining optic, squinted in what appeared to be desperation. He also noticed the yellow blush lines underneath, followed by the increased panting from her mouth.

“Is she sick? Oh biscuits, I have to help her!”

Clearing his throat, N met her gaze with a worried expression, moving his hands to her shoulders. “Woah, okay! I-I think something's going on here…lemme just get you up so we can run diagnosti-”

No sooner as he attempted to sit up, J pushed him back down on the mattress, a needy whine escaping from her lips.

“J! Wha-What’s going on?!”

She continued whining, pressing her body closer to his as her blush increased, hands roaming all over his body. At this point, the heat inside was simply unbearable, and she found herself unable to think properly as she felt up N’s body, the cautious side of her mind fading into white noise. 

All J knew was that she needed him now.

And she didn’t bother hiding it anymore.

-

I Need You.

N stared at the three words in utter shock, unable to comprehend what she even meant by that. The wheels turned in his head, running through various answers.

“What does she want from me? Is it help? Is it food? Or is it…”

“Oh…OH.”

His eyes widened at the realization, a massive blush overtaking his visor.

He knew exactly what she was talking about, considering he used to fantasize himself doing something similar with V back when he had his crush. Only now, this was coming from his boss of all people-and she was initiating it!

A part of him wondered how this even happened, that maybe they were moving too fast, and definitely crossing some major boundaries should they follow through. It would be a lot to take in, and he wasn’t sure how to go about that part…

…Yet at the same time, he loved doing anything. And if it made her happy, so be it!

Clearing his throat, N took several long seconds to collect himself before finally speaking. 

“Okay…I…I’d be...happy to help,” He paused again, the blush intensifying as he stared into her optics. “But only if you’re up for it. We don’t have to if you’re not comfortable.”

J gave him an unreadable look, seemingly pondering her options until finally breaking into a giddy smile, her blush matching his.

I’d Love To.

And with that, she dove forward, lips slamming into his.

N was slightly taken aback, but quickly recovered, returning the kiss as she moaned at the contact. Their lips parted, and long slimy tongues immediately began exploring each other’s mouths, relishing the taste of leftover oil in the process.

Both drones stayed like this, never dominating one another in their kiss but making sure it remained intense as they moaned into their mouths. Eventually, they broke off for air, panting heavily as saliva dribbled from their lips.

“ Pant, keep…keep going Jaybird…”

J beamed and chirped in response, moving away from his face towards his body. Her hands sprang into action, grappling for his belt and yanking it off before rapidly undoing the buttons. Simultaneously, N reached for the bottom of her sweater and lifted it off her frame, being mindful to not damage it even as lust overcame his senses.

Within seconds, their clothes were discarded next to the mattress, allowing them a good, hard look at their naked bodies.

To J, N’s frame was somewhat similar to hers-flat chest and curvy near the waist. However, his chest was definitely bigger, giving him a lean look despite the lack of actual muscles. She could see his yellow core glowing brightly, and her hands roamed down towards the rubber midsection, practically gaping in awe as she reached his white thighs.

Oh yes…this was much better than when she last viewed it.

As for N…well, he already knew how well-built female disassembly drones were-case in point being V. Now that he had a good look at his leader’s body though, he realized just how attractive she truly was. Her chest, while not as wide as his, was more pronounced, adding on to her already voluptuous curves around her body. His own hands squished her waist, eliciting another moan from the stunning drone sitting on him.

And if he was being honest…the painted-on garter straps on her thighs were doing plenty to his CPU.

“You’re so beautiful, J.”

You As Well, N.

Both drones blushed at the comment, before glancing down at each other's pelvises. They knew what lay behind the barely visible hatches in the center, and they were extremely nervous on what was to come. Holding her cheek, N sighed to temporarily clear his head.

“Are you absolutely sure you're ready? It’s gonna be the first time…for both of us.”

J nodded feverishly, unable to hold her anticipation any longer as lust clouded her own head. She refused to wait.

Nodding back, the drone reached towards her pelvis, tracing the hatch seams with one finger as she shook in his grip. Gently pressing downwards, it quietly clicked open, revealing a pair of yellow folds dripping in a clear moisture from the small inlet in between.

N stilled at the sight, his own breath growing shallow as his eyes locked in place. So distracted that he didn’t notice J’s hand reached down to his own hatch and clicked it open, revealing a yellowish appendage that practically slid out, already coated in precum. He gasped at the action, inadvertently thrusting his hips-and his length-into her hand.

“Ah! J-Jaaay…”

She giggled at his reaction, only to let out her own gasp as he plunged his fingers into her folds. Letting out a low moan, the pigtailed drone leaned towards him as he slowly thrusted them in and out, already overloaded by the sheer pleasure flooding her head. Eventually, N withdrew his now-soaked hand, entranced by how slick it was-at least until she bent down and swallowed it.

J licked each and every one of his fingers clean, groaning at the taste of herself. As she pulled her mouth from his digits, one thought ran through her head:

More.

She pushed her lover back down on the mattress, the drone gasping in surprise as he landed on his back. Scooting down between his legs, J briefly stared at his erect cock before diving down and wrapping her mouth around the length, taking it in its entirety as she bobbed her head up and down, swallowing any spilled code leaking outside.

Now it was N’s turn to moan in ecstasy, arching his back as his hands reached around her head, grabbing her pigtails. Instinct took over, and he didn’t bother restraining himself as he thrusted into her mouth, using her hair as handlebars. The pod instantly filled with wet slurping and moans, with the disassembler occasionally calling out her name.

“ Ah! J! I-I’m close! Jaaaaay!”

Within two minutes, he promptly came, clear liquid rushing down her throat. J shuddered in delight at the overwhelming taste, her visor flickering as she moaned. Eventually, he finished and she raised herself from his cock, code running down her mouth. 

Letting out a giggle, J moved herself on top of N, straddling herself once more. Already her vulva was leaking over his member, practically pulsing in anticipation on the inevitable. Having recovered, N gripped her sides, brightly blushing at what transpired and still enraptured by her beauty.

All it took was one nod between the pair, before he gently lowered his partner onto his shaft.

J let out a high-pitched squeal, static cutting through her voicebox. She gripped his shoulders, leaning over him as tears fell from her eye. He gave her a reassuring smile, pressing his lips on her forehead.

“Shhh…you did good, biscuit, you’re doing so good for me…”

The ex-squad leader returned the favor, kissing him deeply as she slowly began sliding up and down, a few squeaks and chirps coming from her mouth. She shook as the initial pain grew to pleasure, the feeling of N inside her absolutely euphoric as she picked up speed.

N soon found himself overwhelmed at the sensation, and his hips bucked in response, meeting hers with a clack! Both drones shuddered and moaned, yet remained in an embrace even after finishing their kiss.

The sound of polymer slapping polymer soon filled the pod, the pair gaining speed as they panted and keened in delight. Both their visors occasionally glitched out, and their tails coiled around each other, locking them further together. N’s mind was a warm, mushy mess, his only directive in pleasuring himself and his girl further as his cock became thoroughly soaked in her own code.

J’s mind was in a similar state as well, only hers was a bit more extreme. She didn’t want to simply ride him until they climaxed-no, that would not do one bit. She had to show her N that he was hers, and that she needed him to give her this moment, now and forever. She could feel herself getting closer, and decided to enact her urges immediately.

J’s hands moved towards N’s arms, pulling them back and over his head as she pinned them to the floor. He yelped in surprise, not expecting this change in behavior.

“U-uhh, J? AH!”

She slammed her pelvis down hard, eliciting a lustful howl from her male counterpart. J sped up afterwards, the clacks growing louder as she leaned closer to his head. For his part, N’s thrusts grew erratic, determined to match her speed as he felt a knot in his stomach growing tighter.

The two drones stared closely at each other, steam and saliva billowing from their mouths. Excess heat vented from their bodies, and the pod slightly shook as they picked up speed.

J cracked her mouth into a wide grin, her screen fizzling out to reveal one word.

MINE.

No longer in a coherent state of mind, N soon yelled in agreement. “Y-YES! I’M ALL Y-YOURS JAYBIRD! ALL YOUUURRSSS!”

His words ended in a howl, J joining him as she promptly climaxed. Her coded spilled all over his torso, ruining the sheets underneath. Lunging towards his neck, she buried her fangs into his right shoulder, biting down and messily drawing oil.

This was enough to push N over the edge, groaning in pain and pleasure as he shoved his cock into her vagina, his own synthetic semen flooding her womb. He continuously pumped inside the drone as she screamed into his shoulder, her rubber midsections slowly swelling up until finally petering out.

Both drones collapsed into the stained mattress with a thud, screens briefly flickering out before eventually rebooting. Limbs became entangled with each other, and their tails were intertwined as they simultaneously panted, ecstasy replaced with exhaustion.

J licked the oil off N’s shoulder, sealing the wound yet leaving two deep puncture marks embedded in the white metal-her eternal mark on his body.

N slowly wrapped his hands around her body, not wanting to lift either of them up despite the mess they made. J seemed to agree, slowly wrapping her legs around his and pressing their bodies closer, remaining tethered as his code sloshed in her belly. She moaned at the contact, and he stroked her hair in response as he shushed the pigtailed drone.

“You did so good, Jaybird…that was wonderful.”

Looking back up, she chirped weakly, a tired smile gracing her face.

Thank You…For Doing This.

“Anytime…I’m yours after all, remember?”

J blushed once more, but sleep rapidly overwhelmed her systems, slumping down and shutting off as her core purred loudly.

N chuckled at the sight, purring in sync as he also went into sleep mode, smiles across both their faces. There was certainly going to be a lot to unpack tomorrow night, yet at the moment he simply wanted to enjoy this moment with the drone he cherished

As the disassemblers held each other in their sleep, both of them felt a sense of pure joy and satisfaction at what they did tonight…and hoped they could do it again in the near future.

Chapter Text

“What have I done?!”

This was the very first question N woke up to, the previous night’s euphoric feelings finally wearing off in exchange for shock. Upon waking up, J was nowhere to be found-normally he’d go look for her, but he figured she was just outside the pod. Besides, he really needed some time to himself, especially after… that.

Suddenly, he became very self-conscious of his bare appearance, immediately wrapping the blanket around his body with a bright blush. While doing so, he couldn’t help but remember the gentle caresses she gave him earlier, and how good it fe-

“ No! Bad N! You can’t be thinking like that, it's very inappropriate!”

For some reason, he had trouble believing in himself, as he did enjoy himself…but at what cost?

The J in the past would’ve never exposed herself like this, much less to him! He didn’t even think he’d get this far-they should’ve slowed down first, set boundaries and talked about their relatively new relationship instead of jumping headfirst into the action. Technically, he shouldn't have suggested it to her in the first place!

Did he take advantage of her current state?

That wasn’t right either! J was the one who initiated it, with her actions and seductive looks at his body. And it wasn’t forced since he did ask her if she wanted to go ahead with this!

So maybe it was safe after all? 

Or not, considering their history?

“Ooooohhhh!!!”

N buried his head into his hands, CPU overloaded by his conflicting thoughts. He was still relatively new to this whole “relationship” thing-how was he supposed to know what to do?! All he knew was that it felt good, and that they both consented to it! There wasn’t anything wrong with that! Outside of how J was back then.

“Maybe I should talk to her about it,” He thought, having raised his head towards the hatch. “We need to be sure that whatever we do, we both agree to it, even if it isn’t…intimate.”

N liked that idea, already sounding good in his head. With that, he slowly got up and reached for his jacket so he could go outside.

“...Where’s my coat?”

-

Sitting on top of the derelict car she almost crushed that purple worker with, J curled in on herself, holding her N’s coat tightly against her own body. She couldn’t help but notice how it smelled like cinnamon, and thoroughly enjoyed the sensation through her sensors.

Well..almost.

The pigtailed drone had done the unthinkable. She approached N in a moment of vulnerability…and he reciprocated, ultimately extinguishing the fire within her stomach. Although she had mostly returned to normal, she could still feel the sensations and whatever was left over inside, making her unconsciously shudder.

J shook her head, trying to dispel the naughty thoughts. While she did enjoy the experience overall, a part of her was…conflicted in whether coming onto him was too early and hasty-after all, she was mostly acting upon her instincts and urges at that point.

She didn’t know if this was a boundary they shouldn’t have crossed at the time. In fact, a very small part of her mind was slightly repulsed by what they did, although she couldn’t explain why.

Either way, she didn’t know how to feel about this going forward, nor did she want to see N’s reaction upon recovering-hence why she was outside in the first place.

How would he feel about any of this?

J whined in frustration, curling into herself further, head buried behind her knees. She hated being this way, even when both of them had clearly enjoyed it. She just wanted to know that everything was okay…

“Uh, J?”

Perking her head up, the disassembler saw N’s head poking outside the pod, waving a hand. “Hey buddy, how ya feeling?”

She froze for a few seconds, blush creeping into her visor before nodding, unsure of whether to move from her spot.

“That's…that’s good! I was wondering if you could come inside so we can, y'know, talk!”

J didn’t move, eyes locked onto him as his shaky smile faltered.

“...Plus I'd like my jacket back, if that’s alright with you!”

Oh. Right. She was still wearing it. She should probably give it back…

J hopped down the car, slowly making her way to the pod. N crept back down, and J reentered a minute later, shuffling to a nearby chair as she tried avoiding ogling his half bare body. 

It was a good thing he wore the blanket around him, wasn’t it?

N sat in the opposite seat, twiddling his thumbs. “Okay…well.” He exhaled, attempting to regain his focus until finally speaking.

“First of all…are you okay? Do you have any kind of pain? Considering it was our first time, I just wanna make sure everything’s good.”

J closed her eyes, focusing on any possible pain from last night-only to find none. She activated her visor in response.

I’m Okay. Just Tired. You?

“Oh! I’m good, just a bit worn out, haha.” The boy rubbed the side of his neck, inadvertently revealing the large bite mark she left. Her expression changed to worry, already typing out a new response.

Did I Hurt You? I’m Sorry For The Bite.

N’s visor blushed as well, feeling the mark on his polymer skin. “N-No, no! Don’t feel bad, it’s not hurting or bleeding now!” He looked down in embarrassment, screen lit up as he mumbled. 

“If I’m being honest…I actually liked it.”

Now it was J’s turn to be flustered, the two drones sitting in uncomfortable silence at the revelation. It only lasted a minute, yet felt a lifetime before N cleared his throat.

“A-Anyways…I…I know you and I enjoyed ourselves the other night, so to speak…and I just wanted to clarify some things, now that it’s over, if you don’t mind.”

J nervously nodded, still unable to look him in the eyes.

“If you wanna do this again…I’m perfectly okay with it as long as you are…but please ask me before we do so. The same rule will apply to me; that way, we can be on the same page once we get to it.”

She nodded again, now listening tentatively as he continued speaking.

“I also wanna make sure you trust me in doing stuff like this. I know both of us have been open over the last couple weeks-it’s just a precaution in case one of us gets hurt.”

He looked at her body, specifically her stomach area. “Are you sure you're doing okay down there? I definitely left something in there, haha.”

N felt like slapping himself for that comment-how was he supposed to know what to ask?!

J didn’t take offense though, simply shaking her head while rubbing her midsection, not at all looking uncomfortable.

“Cool…cool. I guess that settles it, unless you wanna add something?”

She shook her head again, already curling into her seat. She was still tired from last night, and felt like sleeping in today as well. Hopefully N would join her once they got their daily oil from that worker.

“Uhhh…can I have my jacket back? Please?”

All he received was one last head shake before she fell into sleep mode, mouth slightly hanging open. The disassembler nervously looked around the pod, realizing he had to get another spare set of clothes prior to Uzi arriving. Slowly standing up, he walked to the makeshift closet in the back, picking out a white T-shirt to wear for the night.

Hopefully she didn’t ask too many questions about what happened the other night, considering she didn’t announce her presence when dropping off the cans.

“I’m sure it’s fine, she probably thought we were sleeping in…yeah, that’s it.”

Reassured by his thought, he climbed up the ladder, ready to receive his free oil.

-

"Are you sure you gotta go, buddy?"

“Uhhhh, yeah! Can't stay too long, gotta go! Bye!”

“O-Okay, see you tomorrow, Uzi! Stay safe!”

The emo worker gave a quick wave and trotted out of the spire, her fake smile falling as soon as she was out of sight. Sighing in relief, she began waking deeper into the city to meet her other contact.

So far, everything seemed to be going her way-in a sense. Her dad still believed in her crappy lie, and N apologized for yesterday, saying how he and J slept in the entire night, hence why they never met. Uzi simply brushed it off, saying that she understood before quickly moving the subject. The two of them talked about nothing for a bit, with the murder drone none the wiser as to what she heard the other night.

Actually, she was doing a good job repressing it-all it took was a quick magnet hit to pretend nothing happened before setting out. She never really used the stuff frequently like some of her classmates, only to relieve stress and forget some really nasty things said or done to her. Thankfully her dad never noticed, and she managed to remain sober whenever she used it.

Now Uzi wished she had brought along said magnet, considering her next destination. She hadn’t seen V the other night-a good way to avoid an explanation. However, she had to make up something once meeting up with the female murder drone, as she wasn’t the type to take excuses.

“Robo-God, why is it always the female drones who are assholes? Doesn’t matter who they are, they’re harder to deal with than any of the guys, including N! Now I gotta make up something to say before she kills me…”

Uzi shook her head, having already reached V’s hideout. All she needed to do was sound convincing, just like every other lie she spewed…simple enough.

Slowly walking in, glass crunched under her boots as she looked around the darkened room, seeing no signs of the murder drone. The emo stepped inside the adjacent room, servos tensing the longer she looked-that drone should have greeted her by now…

“Maybe she’s hunting again?”

Regardless, she decided to make sure it was empty. “Yo V? You in here?”

“...Over here.”

The voice she heard was definitely V’s…yet sounded so wrong-more subdued and dull than her usual brash attitude. Cocking an eyebrow, Uzi headed over to where she heard the other drone speak, turning the corner into another room.

Seated behind a large table was the femme fatale herself, practically slumped in her chair. Her arms and legs were practically splayed out, hanging out of the chair as she looked at the worker with a dim, hazy visor. The aggressiveness in her eyes was completely gone, replaced by a hollow, dejected look.

Piled on the table were several red gas canisters, some of them already empty, lying on their sides. It didn’t take Uzi long to connect the dots and realize what was happening, having witnessed this plenty of times in the bunker.

“...Oh shit. They can get wasted too.”

“Ssssssup, Zi?” V drawed out, head lolling to one side. “Just the worker I wanted to ssssee.”

Dragging one of the canisters off the table, the drone took a long swig of its contents, acrid gasoline dripping down her face before dropping it on the floor completely drained. Uzi simply stared at her with a shocked expression, trying to take the site in as the other drone continued.

“Yeah…I was *hic* waiting for you, my cute little worker…” She let out a broken giggle, propping her head up with her hand. “You…you’re the only one who’s been there for me…after I left my team. Yeah.”

Uzi pretended not to hear the first part. “Uhhh…thanks?”

“S’no problem…you, you wanna know why I left the team?” V gave her no chance to respond as she spoke. “I’m sure you already know, d-don’t you?”

“Whaaat are you talking about? I have zero idea why you left.” 

In all honesty, she didn’t. In the few days they spent with each other, V never talked about why she wasn’t with the rest of the squad, only asking about what they were doing. They didn’t talk about anything else. 

V narrowed her eyes, slowly sliding to her feet. “Yeah you do…c’mon, you’re smarter than that.” She stood up on wobbly pegs, catching herself on the table before looking up. “C’mon, tell me.”

“I-I don’t know, honest!” Uzi slowly backed up towards the exit, not liking how this conversation was going. In response, the female murder drone lifted one of her arms, replacing it with an MP5.

“Fffffuckin tell me…or I’ll give the walls a new paint job.” Even with her unsteady aim, Uzi knew she would definitely hit her, and froze, arms raised. She was about to object when V spoke up again. “I…I saw you there yesterday…what did you see o-or hear?”

“Shit.”

She didn’t realize V followed her to the spire, likely having an idea of what went down in the pod-she just needed confirmation. Uzi mentally cursed again, having just repressed that horrible memory-she really wished she brought that magnet!

“Welp…guess I can’t hide the truth from her, can I?”

“ Sigh… When I was at the spire yesterday…I heard your murder buddies in there sounding like Rebecca and Darren every time they sneak into the bathroom together.”

V gave her a confused look, obviously not understanding the analogy. Uzi shook her head and decided to just tell her.

“They were banging, okay?”

The murder drone simply stood there frozen for several long seconds, until finally stowing her weapon, hand slamming onto the desk. “I knew it!”

“...Yeah.”

“I-I saw the whole thing, through the thermals! Going at each other like a couple o’ jackrabbits! God DAMNIT!”

V angrily knocked over the canisters off the table, clattering onto the ground as Uzi jumped back. Her eyes widened, looking at the angry drone and the exit. “Hey-look, I’m sorry-”

“Sorry? Sorry?!” She laughed, hobbling around the table. “What do you gotta be sorry for?! You-you aren’t the one who’s fuckin’ him. ‘F anyones sorry, it’s gotta be HER!”

V jabbed her claw at a random wall, her eyes angry yet unfocused as she made her way over to the slowly backing Uzi. “I don’t understand! How the hell did that bitch seduce him?! She hated him!”

This caused the emo to freeze in confusion. “What?”

“‘S true! Every single day she’d drag N out an’ yell an’ hit him, over and over and OVER!” V almost lost her balance , leaning against the wall for support. “She was nothin’ but cruel, even when we were workers! ‘S just she got worse after what that thing did to us!”

Uzi sputtered at the last part, forgetting about the possible danger she was in. “W-Wait, you guys used to be workers?!”

“YEAH! But that’s not the point! Not anymore! How-How did she even get him to FUCK her like that?! After everything she’s done! Now t-they’re all lovey-dovey and crap, kissing and cuddling without a care! An-And he’s obsessed with her! I-I know he is! I don’t understand!”

“...I don’t understand any of this either.”

“See? See?! Now you’re gettin’ it!” V stumbled closer, towering over the small drone who’s back was against the wall. She could smell the gas coming from her breath.

“Now you know! It’s his fault! It’s HER fault! It’s…It’s…It’s my fault.”

The disassembler slumped against the wall, losing any energy she previously had, her angry expression turning to melancholic realization. Uzi stood there, more confused than scared as she attempted to process the drunken rant.

“I said it’s my fault…” V drawled, having slid down to the floor. “I…I ignored N for s-so long, blew him off every time…and let him get hurt by her. I was scared…was too much of a fuckin’ coward to even say his name!”

Tears rolled down her visor as she rested her head against the wall. “I l-loved him…I really did…that’s why I did it…and it c-costed me everything.” She choked out a sob. “H-He moved on, didn’t he? S’pecially after J somehow g-got nicer…and I thought it was that thing controlling her…I don’t even know anymore!”

Uzi watched her snivel, unsure of what to do next.

“I-I tried killin’ her, y’know? Thought it’d make things better…he saved her. He saved her, and h-he hates me now. I know he does. I pushed him away f-for years, became an asshole and tried killing our ex-boss…someone who loves him. I never wanted to do that to him.”

“T-tell me Zi, does he still hate me?”

V’s voice cracked near the end, causing both drones to wince. Uzi slowly shook her head, an unknown emotion bubbling up to her chest. “He never talked about you, or whatever happened with J. I…I didn’t know about any of this. I swear.” Her voice was unusually soft, something she hadn’t previously thought herself capable of doing.

“Do I feel bad for this thing?”

V sat there, eyes downcast as she continued whimpering. She didn’t say anything for the longest time, and the emo didn’t dare interrupt the silence out of fear and a strange sense of respect.

The silver-haired drone turned her head, yellow eyes locking with the worker’s purple. Her voice came out as a whisper.

“Am I a bad person, Zi?”

Uzi’s mind blanked out, focusing on that question as they continued to stare.

A part of her felt the answer was obvious. This thing killed hundreds of drones- of course she’s a monster. Her ruining a relationship with N is her own fault, and certainly wouldn’t do any good for her victims. Just because she realized who she was didn’t change anything…right?

Yet another part of her CPU felt…understanding, in a way. All she saw was a broken, lonely drone who made some really bad decisions in her life. She obviously regretted pushing N away and had no other outlet, hence her drunken state. She needed comfort, reassurance to at least get through this before things become worse.

Uzi never had the luxury of receiving said comfort, nor did she consider herself a source of it…but the thought of her watching someone else undergo the same depressive loneliness felt wrong. Nobody deserved to go through what she went through in the colony, even if it was a murder drone.

Taking a deep breath, Uzi made her decision.

“I…I don’t think you’re a bad person, V.”

Her eyes widened, tears falling freely down her visor. “W-Why?”

“If you were one, you wouldn’t admit your mistakes in the first place. You’d probably have no problem with hurting him if you didn’t feel bad…believe me, I would know.”

Uzi walked closer despite the danger, giving her best sympathetic glance as her own eyes hollowed out. “Did you handle it correctly? Not really, in my opinion-I don’t exactly know the full story. But at least you recognize what you’ve done…even like this. So no, you’re not as bad as you think.”

If she was being honest with herself, Uzi didn’t know how genuine this felt or sounded. After all, she was dealing with an intoxicated, unstable murder drone-one had to be careful on what to say. Still, that small sympathetic part remained, the feeling slowly intensifying as she stood there.

V broke her gaze, looking down at her legs for a little while longer. Before Uzi could say anything else, the drone snapped back and lunged at her without warning, wrapping her arms around her neck.

Only then did she truly sob, tears flowing across her screen as her body shook, grip tightening around the worker without actually hurting her. It took several seconds for Uzi to realize this was a hug.

Her first actual hug.

Even her father never did that for her…and yet it felt nice. Comfortable. Warm. Safe.

Slowly reaching around V’s jacket, she returned the gesture, lightly resting her hands on her back. The drone paid no mind, tightening the hug further as she continued wailing into her hoodie, tail wrapping around her waist. Uzi’s own visor flushed in embarrassment, yet remained tethered to the taller drone, slowly but surely melting into the embrace.

She didn’t know how long they’d sit here for, nor did she know if V would even remember this when she sobered up. They certainly had a lot to unpack in the coming days, and she wasn’t sure how willing the murder drone was in discussing that.

But for now, worker and disassembler simply held each other, feeling warm and comfortable in their arms despite the depressing atmosphere. 

And neither wanted to let go.

Chapter Text

For the first time in a long while, V was nervous.

Not angry or depressed like she usually was, no. Instead she found herself apprehensive of what was coming up-or more specifically who.

 Ever since she woke up in her hideout, the disassembler had been constantly replaying last night’s events with the purple worker who ended up hugging and comforting her after losing herself. Never in a million years did she dream of being held like that ever again…and honestly, it kinda felt nice. Maybe her mind didn’t know what to make of it, but her body certainly craved more, despite her best attempts to ignore the feeling.

Still, it was a worker drone who did this, even after V dumped everything on it-no, her. The trauma, the regret, and everything in between.

“Crap,” She thought, eyes widening. “I told her too much.”

And now she was coming back, like she was supposed to.

What were they going to talk about?

It’s not like either drone could ignore what happened between them, and V was sure the drone had questions about this. She wondered if she could threaten her partner into silence, yet a part of her felt wrong for doing so, the hug replaying over and over. That worker, Uzi… she could’ve run away, or not done anything at all, but she did the opposite instead. Was coercion really a way to pay her back?

“Ughhhh, why am I even thinking like this?! She’s just a dumb toaster! She got lucky! She…she didn’t have to go that far…”

V sighed, shaking her head as she got up from her mattress, kicking aside the empty gas canisters. Apparently Uzi had moved her to bed when she passed out in her arms-another act of kindness that clung to her regardless of how she felt.

The drone walked out of the room, leaning against the wall and holding her head in one hand. She still felt dizzy from the gas in her systems, and didn’t feel like hunting as a result. Fortunately, there were plenty of reserves in the hideout.

Grabbing a canister from the shelf, V practically chugged the entire drink, setting aside the can as the cold oil ran down her throat. Despite preferring it warm, the drink at least helped combat the haze in her CPU.

She walked towards the entrance of the building, looking out into the desolate cityscape beyond for the recognizable purple. Tapping one of her claws against the frame, the drone’s eyes flickered back and forth with apprehension.

“Where is she? She should’ve been here by now.”

V’s tail twitched, and she bit her lip. She was anticipating this visit for some reason, but not partially sure what to say outside of asking for the reports. Would Uzi push the matter, or pretend it never happened?

What if she didn’t show up in the first place, too scared to come back after being stuck in this bizarre situation? There was no way V could stop her-after all, her home was a fortified bunker.

And honestly…she didn’t have it in her to blame the worker for feeling that way.

“I definitely messed up…” She muttered, shaking her head. She was supposed to be the responsible one, keeping everything in line with her coping mechanism emotional detachment, unfazed by anything in this cold world.

…Well, almost anything.

V felt even more miserable now, scowling at the landscape. As much as she wanted to deny it, she had nobody to blame but herself, having pushed away the only person who cared into the hands of her former boss, who seemingly discarded her previous, hostile attitude.

It was probably too late to go back and apologize to N. Why should he after trying to kill his new love, or ignoring him for years, or outright lying about their pa-

The crunching of boots on snow snapped V out of her spiral, turning towards the purple-haired drone marching towards the hideout, head hanging low. Stopping before the disassembler, the worker looked up, eyelights dim with exhaustion. Her clothes appeared to be relatively  disheveled as well, as if she never changed out of them from before.

V couldn’t help but show concern at her appearance, yellow eyes widening slightly. 

“...What happened to you?”

Her question had no signs of any snark, yet the emo jumped back in surprise, eyes widening before shaking her head.

“Uh-nothing, nothing. Just stayed up late. Yeah.”

V wanted to tell her that was unhealthy for some reason, but held her tongue-she shouldn’t be this worried over a single toaster who she more or less controlled.

Right.

Uzi shifted her weight, fiddling with her backpack straps, seemingly distracted. “Umm…you gonna let me in?”

The disassembler stepped back, also shaking her head. “Yeah, yeah. Come in.”

“Goddamnit, focus V! It's not a big deal!”

Pausing for a few more seconds, Uzi eventually entered the hideout, the taller drone following in her wake. Walking into the “bedroom”, she set down her backpack near the shelf and knelt down, swapping out the empty oil canisters for full warm ones. She worked for five minutes without speaking before zipping up her pack, standing back on her feet.

V simply watched her with a surprisingly neutral expression-normally she’d put on her annoyed mask to anyone speaking to her, in an attempt to push everyone away. This time, she didn't feel like doing this-not with her, at least.

Uzi turned to face her, both drones staring at each other until V decided to break the uncomfortable silence.

“Sooo…what happened with J and N?”

The worker looked away, her expression becoming more anxious.”Um, not a whole lot to be honest. I gave him some oil, we talked about school, and I left. J was there, but she didn’t talk much…not like she ever talked in the first place.”

V nodded, finding herself curious about this “school” Uzi mentioned but moved on to her other question. “What were they doing?”

“Not a whole lot? I mean, she was leaning on him-not asleep, but she didn’t mess with me for once. Like I said, I didn’t stick around to see what they did after. So…yeah. That’s it.”

A pang of sadness ripped through V’s core, yet her face remained the same. “...Okay.”

The room fell back into silence, both worker and disassembler awkwardly standing in front of each other, unsure of what to say next. The wind outside was the only thing that could be heard, and now it seemed to be louder than normal.

V found herself very uncomfortable at this situation, and decided to simply dismiss Uzi. She said all she needed to say, and there was no reason to keep her any longer than she shou-

“Hey, how are you feeling?”

She blinked, looking back at the worker who just spoke. Uzi looked away momentarily, twiddling her thumbs. “After last night, I mean.”

“Umm…” Her tail swished as she struggled to come up with a response. “I’m better now. Thanks, I guess.”

V felt like slapping herself. She thanked a worker?! WHY?!

She attempted to casually brush off the murder machine showing her gratitude. “Yeah, it’s whatever.”

They fell back into silence-but only for a few seconds as Uzi spoke up again.

“I…I’ve got some questions about last night…if you don’t mind.” Sweat appeared on her visor as she tapped her foot. “You totally don’t have to answer though! I’m just…curious, I guess? Or not-I don’t know, bite me. I probably shouldn't be asking you this in the first place. I’ll just go.” She turned around, ready to retrieve her backpack and leave.

Something compelled V to stop the girl from exiting the building though, and she went along with it despite her internal confusion. “N-No, no, it’s alright…what do you wanna know?”

She was probably going to regret this, yet her curiosity won out, wanting to hear this worker out.

Uzi turned back around and gave her a confused look. “You sure? Like I said, you don’t have-”

“But I want to.” V blurted out. “Since you’re here, might as well ask.”

“O-Okay.”

The drone looked up at her nervously, stuffing her hands in her hoodie pockets. She paused, seemingly thinking of what to say before finally deciding on her first question.

“So when you were…out of it, you said that you and N used to be workers. Is this…true?”

“FUCK!”

Okay, this might’ve been a mistake after all.

V considered killing her right then and there to protect her secret she carelessly let slip, yet found herself strangely unwilling unable to do so.

But what could she possibly say?

A war raged within her CPU on different responses, from blowing her off to claiming the gas was doing the talking. None of them sat right, feeling compelled to at least somewhat give her an actual answer. In fact, she found herself tired of constantly lying and denying to others, the stress eating her up from inside.

So she settled on that instead.

“Yes…we were workers before becoming disassemblers.”

Uzi’s eyes widened in shock, her mind reeling from the bombshell V basically confirmed that night. It wasn’t just drunken rambling-the very monsters that preyed on their kind were the same models at one time!

“Wha…What?”

“It was a long time ago, and I hardly remember any of it nowadays, but we were just like you one time.” V looked down at her hands, remembering when they weren’t so bulky and dangerous, as was the rest of her body.

The emo’s mouth moved open automatically, still stunned by the revelation. “...How?”

“I…I was a servant drone back on Earth, alongside N and J. I know we worked for a while…until one day, we were… taken away.”

“...By who?”

“The company.”

This was the part where the truth ended-the worker knew too much. She didn’t need to know about that thing.

“They took us back to the factory, wiped our memories, and transformed us into this.” V raised her hand, swapping it out for a claw. “We didn’t wake up until we reached Copper 9, with prewritten orders and a thirst for oil.

“And you workers just so happened to be the most convenient source of our thirst.”

“Because without oil, you’d overheat and die, right?” Uzi asked, recovering just in time.

The disassembler nodded, slightly impressed at her answer-seems N told her about their functions. “Correct.”

“...And you couldn’t just… break your programming? Why didn’t you guys look for an alternative source like oil pumps or what-not?”

V sighed, hearing the slight resentment in her voice. “We…Look. We didn’t have much of a choice, alright? Our programming…it’s different from our old worker subroutines. JcJenson made us more animalistic by nature-stuff like hunting is now hard-wired into our systems. We weren’t supposed to look for an alternative source; our job was to kill your kind and fulfill the quota. It didn’t help that J was in charge, practically obsessed with the company and on our backs about meeting the daily count.

“And I was the best hunter. I…I knew what I was doing, I won’t lie to you. In your eyes, it’s practically cannibalism, but it was survival in mine. I got over my fears relatively quickly and went with the program. Been doing it for twenty years.”

More lies coming from her mouth. While the programming part was true, everything else served as a cover for the real purpose of their origins. She hated it, she really did…but decided to keep it from Uzi regardless; she didn’t need to know.

The worker’s expression flipped from shock, to disgust, and finally confusion, waving her hands to interrupt. “Hold on-if you guys were supposedly wiped and reprogrammed to kill us, how are you even telling me any of this? Did they forget to wipe you somehow?”

“...Yes, they did. I’ve kept it a secret from the rest since.” V bit her lips, praying this wouldn’t come back to bite her in the ass.

Uzi stared at her for a few seconds before letting out a scoff, shaking her head. “Frickin’ humans…of course they’d force you to do their dirty work! Lemme guess; the reason they used workers is because it was cheap, right?!”

“...I guess?”

“I knew it! Robo-God, they’re even worse than I thought!” She angrily paced around the room, angrily muttering to herself. “This changes everything now! You aren’t just a bunch of harmless monsters, you’re practically slaves with weapons and built-in weaknesses! That’s why they made you so inefficient! How didn’t we even know about this?!”

V simply nodded, a part of her regretting ever opening her mouth. However, admitting part of the truth felt strangely… liberating after all these years.

“Just don’t tell her about the monster who really made us…I’ve given her more than I ever have to…N…”

She frowned at the realization. The disassembler had entrusted all of this to a worker before her closest friend and first love. V glowered, huffing as she glanced away.

“I’ve been a shitty person to N, haven’t I?”

“What about her?”

“V?”

She looked down to see Uzi standing before her, concern on her face. “You good?”

“...Now that I’m bringing this up, not really…I haven’t told either of my squadmates this.”

“Why?”

V winced at the question, looking away. Uzi’s expression softened, realizing she might be pushing it with her questions. “Hey, you don’t have to answer if-”

“No! No…I need to come clean…to someone at least. I just-I can’t do this anymore.” She backed up to a nearby chair, practically collapsing into her seat as her eyes furrowed, the goth taking the seat next to her.

“It’s been…hard, being the only one who remembers. Neither N or J changed much from their original personalities, but I did…and I never wanted them to go through what I did. So I cut myself off, putting everything into my ‘job’ instead…and look where that got me.”

She bitterly laughed. “It’s no wonder he’s with her now.”

“...You two were close, weren’t you?”

“Ever since we were workers, yeah.”

Uzi nodded, having confirmed another part of her drunken rambles. “And now he doesn’t even remember you being friends…that sucks, dude. Screw those humans.”

“It’s mostly my fault though…I ignored him all those years, and left him at the hands of that abusive bitch.”

That caught Uzi’s attention. “J? Abusive? She’s practically lovey-dovey with him!”

“That's the thing; she’s never been like that for as long as I've known her. Always strict, commanding, and treating everyone else like crap. N was her least favorite for a while, even going as far as hitting him whenever he failed hunts. I…didn’t stop her at the time, since I kept to myself…that was a mistake.”

A few days prior to me leaving though, she went through a complete 180 and started treating N nicely all of a sudden. They went out on hunts, and walked hand in hand, always fawning over him for some reason. She even changed her behavior, showing off her animalistic programming to its fullest extent. And he just went along with it…which I never understood! I mean-how can you just go along with someone like that?! How can you hold hands and kiss each other?! Because she started treating you nicely out of the blue?!”

Uzi thought over the words, still trying to process everything while coming up with an adequate response. “...Maybe he kinda got desperate? From what I’ve learned, he was alone for most of his life. I mean, N never told me how he and J hooked up, but it was relatively recent. And with what you said…yeah. That might’ve been it.”

“Damn!” the disassembler leaned over, hands on her head. “How couldn’t I have noticed?!”

“I guess you pushed him way too far. Which no offense, but that was a pretty crappy thing to do. Even if he didn’t remember, you shouldn't have abandoned him like that, instead of waiting until his boss had a change of heart or whatever.”

The emo abruptly reeled back at her words, having just criticized her kind’s predator of her previous actions. But V nodded, raising her head.

“Y’know, you’re absolutely right. I am a shitty friend, and I should’ve done something about it.”

“Then why don’t you apologize?”

Such a simple question, yet it made V wince once more. “Yeah…I can’t do that.”

“Seriously?!” Uzi exploded, anger overtaking her previous worries. “I haven’t known N that long, but he’s literally the kind of guy who’d apologize for not greeting you right away! What’s so hard about going over there and-”

“I tried killing J, okay?! I-I thought she was…taking advantage of him, and automatically assumed the worst! I overreacted and ambushed her in that abandoned mall a while back! And he saved her! He knows who I really am, and he’ll never forgive me! I just…GAH! I FUCKED UP LIKE I ALWAYS DO!”

V slumped further into her seat, her fury fizzling out as her tail sagged. Uzi stared at her in shock for the upteenth time, repeatedly blindsided by these admissions.

“...Wow. I…didn’t know that.”

“H-He never told you?”

“No.”

“Oh…”

The howling wind overtook the space once more. Neither drone knew what they wanted to say at this point, processing years of truths and traumas within the span of twenty minutes. Uzi idly kicked her feet, while V dragged her tail on the floor, hollow eyelights displayed on both visors.

This time it was the taller drone who broke the silence. “I think you should go…I need to be alone now…”

The emo slowly nodded, not wanting to test her patience any longer. Wordlessly, she slid off the seat, slinging her backpack over yet pausing as she continued gazing at the defeated drone.

“Same time tomorrow?”

V glanced up, shaking her head. “Nah…I won’t force you anymore. If you wanna head back to the bunker after N, I won’t stop you. It’s probably better that way anyways…you didn’t need to hear any of this.”

The worker stayed silent, an unreadable expression on her face. The disassembler heard her footsteps slowly pass by her seat, until they were near the entrance, stopping on the other side.

“I said you could go. I won’t stop you.”

“...”

“Hello? Are you deaf?”

“Yeah, no.”

V turned to Uzi, staring back incredulously. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You heard me,” The shorter drone gave her a resolved expression. “You’re clearly not doing okay, and as much as I should just walk away… I can’t. Not after all of that. So I’ll come back with some fresh oil, and we’ll pick up where we left off. If you don’t wanna, that’s fine too-we can talk about whatever for all I care. But you’re not getting out of this.”

“...Why?”

“You make for good company, I guess.”

“HA! You’re crazier than you look!” V couldn’t help but smirk at that. “What, bunker life too boring for you?”

“More than you think.”

Interesting…

Uzi checked her phone, eyes widening at the time. “Aw, crap! I gotta get back to the colony and lie to my dad again! Just don’t run off or kill me tomorrow, alright? Kay, cool, seeyoulaterandbye!”

With a simple wave, the short worker sprinted off into the streets, eventually disappearing between the wreckage.

V was too surprised to answer, staring at where she’d been. She practically dumped everything on Uzi without thinking, and instead of simply running…she was returning?!

She didn’t know what to think anymore.

Yet try as she might, a small part of the disassembler couldn’t help but anticipate this strange worker’s return…finally having someone to talk to after years of isolating herself.

Maybe this wasn’t a bad thing.

-

“HOLY. SHIT.”

Those were the two words cycling through Uzi’s head as she neared the bunker doors, having sprinted all the way back home. Whipping out her keycard, she scanned it and watched the titanium slabs roll upwards, revealing the warm interior and the guards currently “on duty” around the poker table.

What happened next was a blur, not even registering the greetings as she speedwalked all the way home. She was pretty sure she ran into her father at some point, but was too absorbed in her thoughts to remember the conversation. She needed to go to her room and write everything down- now.

V had given her so much information within that short period-too much if she was being honest. Disassemblers being converted workers, their programming, J’s original personality, and N’s relationships-it honestly made her head spin.

Whatever. She needed to write this down and hang it up onto her board. Tomorrow, she’d swing by again to learn more about all of this, combining it with whatever N told her to validate her findings.only after would she make her decision regarding the cannibalistic drones outside.

Honestly she was feeling giddy on the prospect. Sure she talked with N, but V proved to be much more interesting, like she was hiding major details underneath that threatening, psychotic exterior. Something about the short-haired girl drew her in like a fish on a reel, eager for more.

Plus, it was nice having a heart to heart with someone who didn’t ignore or brush her off. Even if she was doing most of the talking.

Uzi shook her head, fast approaching her residence. She was probably going to lose sleep from her research, but she no longer cared. There was simply so much to work with, and she couldn’t wait anymore!

(As the emo drone entered her residence, she never noticed a pair of red eyelights silently watching from a nearby corner, slipping back into the shadows upon the door slamming shut.)

Chapter Text

N couldn’t stop giggling as his pigtailed lover launched herself at his back, clinging to him like a koala. It didn’t help matters when she began running her fingers across his chest, rapidly tickling him without remorse.

“Hee-hahaha! S-STOOOOOOP, HAHAHA!”

J responded with a series of chirps and buzzes as she smirked, signaling her intentions to continue. The disassembler continued stumbling around, laughing to the point where his visor glitched from the numerous tears streaming down his face.

This was one of many activities they did together each night, with the female drone taking charge every time with how aggressive she became as they played. He had no idea where she built up all this stamina, but he often found himself completely spent near the end-something J deliberately ignored as she continued to wear him out.

Despite this, N didn’t mind-on the contrary, he actually enjoyed what they did, even at the cost of his exhaustion. He’d do anything to keep her happy. Even with their painful past hanging over them like a shadow.

Eventually, he decided to take charge for once, dropping to his knees as he leaned forward. Not expecting this, J immediately relaxed her grip and flew from his back with a surprised squawk, landing face first into a snowpile.

N couldn’t help but laugh even harder at her predicament, standing to his feet as she slowly raised herself from the mound.

“Hahaha, got you! You should be careful next tiiiime~!”

J finally stood up, tail twitching erratically before spinning around to face him. Tonight, she actually changed clothes, wearing a black T-shirt with yellow gym shorts, revealing her curves and thighs for all to see. N wasn’t sure if she was trying to make him more flustered around her, but it had been working ever since she came out to show him, unable to draw his gaze from the painted garter straps he’d grown to love.

However, he wasn’t blushing at her this time. In fact, he was paying attention to her face, still caked in leftover snow. Her singular eye glared into his core as her mouth curled into an angry frown-he even saw a tick mark on the corner of her screen.

N’s laughter instantly died down from the scowl she gave him. “Ohhhh…uh, sorry?”

A low hiss was his only response, the pigtailed drone slowly advancing on him as her claws flexed in the moonlight. The boy backed away, hands raised defensively as sweat ran down his screen.

“N-Now hold on Jaybird, we can talk about this-please, t-theres no need for thi-”

Too late.

J sprung off her feet, claws outstretched as she bared her fangs. N screamed in terror, attempting to spring away-only for the incoming drone to slam squarely into his chest. Both disassemblers tumbled to the ground, snow spraying everywhere as they rolled around, yelping and grunting in protest.

N found his arms restrained as J wrapped her own around his chest, interlocking her claws to lock him in. He attempted to move back with his feet, dragging his back across the ground, only for her tail to tie them together, ceasing any movement he made. Gulping, he glanced at her face with a weak smile, meeting her narrowed eye with his hollow ones.

“H-Hey! I said I was sorry! It won’t happen again, I swear!”

J gave him another hiss, before yellow text appeared on her visor.

That won’t do…you need to be given a lesson >:(

N’s face blanched upon reading those words, realizing there was no way out of this. His voice shook as he slowly asked another question.

“What…What kind of lesson?”

This time, J gave him an evil grin, fangs glinting on the moonlight

I think you know what I’m talking about.

A heavy blush promptly overtook N’s screen-he knew exactly what was going to happen next. It was something either used to show further affection-or discipline him if he “misbehaved”

N always found himself both terrified and excited each time this happened.

“O-Okay…just be gentle…”

He moved his head back, exposing his neck and upper shoulder for her to see. J gave a low chitter, slowly moving to his polymer skin until her mouth was only inches away, hot air tickling the area. N braced himself for what was about to happen, squeezing his eyes shut.

Without further delay, J dove forward, opening her mouth and sinking her fangs into the boy’s neck, the skin cracking on impact. Black oil seeped from the wounds, staining the area as her canines dug deeper. N let out a cry of pain, eyes shooting open as the rest of his body locked up in response, warning messages blaring through his HUD. He chose to ignore them though, slowly relaxing once the pain dissipated.

J proceeded to greedily drink up the spilled oil, licking it clean with her long tongue before sucking the rest through her teeth, the sweet taste intoxicating for the pigtailed drone. She hummed in delight, pressing her body to his as she ingested more, eye closed as a blush crossed her visor.

N’s whimpers soon turned to a pleased moan, feeling the oil leave his body as his lover continued draining him, eyes rolling to the top of his screen. The blush remained, and his body further relaxed as the online reserve meter tracked the steadily decreasing oil, warning him to replenish his stocks.

N didn’t care to close it though, too distracted by his own ecstasy as J continued taking his lifeblood, both drones moaning in unison at the bloody transaction.

Maybe there was something wrong with him, considering he used to be starved of oil in the past and almost being devoured by his leader , but N loved whenever J did this to him, despite the risks. It was a way to cement their unexpected but happy relationship, a bond bound through oil ever since that memorable night in the pod.

And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Three minutes later, J finally decided to finish up, pulling her fangs from N’s neck as he gasped at the cool air hitting his wounds, oil still trickling out. She licked the remains from the area, dousing it in repair nanites before repeatedly kissing the spot to ensure it healed properly.

N’s systems told him that 15% of his reserves were drained, but he didn’t care-as long as J got her fill, he was happy. Raising his head, he soon made eye contact with his former boss, who was now giving him a worried look.

Are you okay?

It took a few seconds for him to respond, slowly nodding as a smile crept across his face. “Yeah…I’m good. Just a bit woozy, that’s all.”

J frowned, loosening her grip as she reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a silver canister. She handed it to him, watching as he unscrewed the cap and drank the oil inside, replenishing his reserves.

Draining the container, he released it from his mouth, sighing in contentment as he placed it back in his pocket. “Much better…”

J let out a happy chirp in response, now straddling him with both hands on either side of his head. They stared at one another with lovestruck eyes, unable to tear themselves away the longer they looked. 

Eventually, neither of them had the strength to hold back anymore, meeting in the middle as their lips slammed into each other, humming in affection all the while.

N’s hands reached behind J’s head, caressing her hair as she grabbed his cheeks, holding him up as they deepened the kiss, tongues wrapping around each other without competition. He could taste leftovers of his own oil the entire time, shifting his body to better accommodate the pigtail drone.

Their tails tied together, and they stayed like this for a long while, enjoying the moment outside, snow falling all around as the twin moons illuminated their bodies.

Out of nowhere, a large blue spark zapped between their visors, causing both screens to immediately glitch out. N gasped, falling back to the ground as J stared at him with a shocked expression, her eye finally stabilizing.

They felt the electricity coursing through their wires, a tingling sensation all over their bodies… but one both disassemblers thoroughly enjoyed despite the lack of explanation.

N simply chuckled, reaching out and pulling J into a hug, pressing their cores together. The pigtailed drone let out a surprised squawk, but immediately melted into the embrace, purring loudly as she nuzzled her head into his.

Both drones lay there, keeping each other warm regardless of their condition or surroundings without a care in the world. However, several changes were happening to their systems, courtesy of the shared spark.

In the corner of N’s visor, small text appeared for a split second before fizzling away, rapidly replaced by more until finally disappearing for good.

Error! Connection with Administrator: Cyn Lost! Searching for new Administrator…

Connection Found!

This Unit is now under the Control of Administrator: SD J

J’s visor was also undergoing a similar experience in the corner of her visor, updates lasting for only a few seconds.

Attention: SD J is now Administrator of SD N!

Alert! Memory Bank Sync has been Restored! Restoration in Progress…

Neither drone noticed these changes, already drifting off to sleep mode.

-

“...And that’s when I collapsed the entrance with a missile, blocking those poor toasters in before slaughtering them like fish in a barrel! It was fun hearing them scream~ ”

V cackled at the recollection, a yellow X momentarily flashing over her visor before finishing, grinning at her audience. “So yeah…that was probably my best experience of hunting down your kind! Pretty neat, huh?”

“Yeah…” 

Uzi shifted in her seat, an uncomfortable expression on her visor. She had just listened to how the femme fatale slaughtered an entire colony within eight minutes in gruesome detail, deciding to not remember a good portion of her story when she came back.

V gave her a pout, unsatisfied with her reaction. “Oh c’mon! You gotta admit, it was pretty good! Neither of my teammates did what I accomplished that day-at least give me some credit!”

The worker sighed in defeat, realizing she wasn’t going to get out of this. “ Fiiiine. Good job for killing all of those poor, defenseless worker drones, V. You were a real badass in genociding those guys, and definitely deserve a medal.”

The disassembler scoffed, rolling her eyes. “You’re no fun.”

“Excuse me-I’m not like you! I don’t get a kick from slaughtering a shit ton of drones who can’t even fight back! If I’m gonna kill someone, I at least want them to fight back… or be human in that regard.”

“Going on about killing all humans again? Seems like we’re more alike than you think.”

“Bite me! You know that’s different!”

The two drones proceeded to get into an argument over whether it was better to kill drones or humans, though it never escalated beyond trading a few barbs and name-calling.

Conversations like these were relatively common between Uzi and V, having opened up a lot more ever since the night when they actually talked with one another. At first, it started with simple questions regarding their background and what they did, but quickly became more casual and open upon both drones sharing several interests, chief among them being weapons, fighting, their own crippling loneliness , and surprisingly manga, as V read a few issues while scavenging the city.

Thus, they quickly bonded despite their obvious differences, and chatted every time Uzi returned from feeding N and J. For the disassembler, she was happy to finally have a normal conversation with someone else, even if it was a worker- it had been ages since she had anyone talk to her, or allowed someone to do so in the first place.

On the other hand, Uzi was secretly grateful for her new… partner? Friend? She didn’t know what to call her at this point, but unlike everyone else back in the colony, this drone actually listened and treated her with a modicum of respect, even with the teasing and name calling. If she was being honest, the emo enjoyed these interactions, as she felt compelled to snark back without having to worry about V taking offense.

For better or worse, this was their only source of happiness in their boring, dreary, lonely lives, even if it only lasted for a couple hours per day.

Eventually, the argument died down, both drones having run out of jabs to provoke the other, and were now sitting comfortably in V’s hideout, listening to the wind blowing outside. The disassembler glanced at the purple-haired worker resting in the chair across her, reclining back with a content expression on her face with her eyes shut.

“Don’t tell me you’re tired already, purple thing.” She teased, watching as her optics snapped open with an eye roll. “What, am I boring you with my tales of my hunting prowess?”

“No, no, it’s not that,” Uzi scoffed, sitting back up again. “It’s just…it’s just that this is the only time I can talk about crap like this without being bullied or called a freak, y’know?”

V’s expression faltered, already familiar with Uzi’s life in the bunker. She was honestly surprised how ostracized this drone was by her peers for seemingly no reason, despite living in the same place. From what she understood, workers were very social machines, always preferring company over being alone. She was once no different . To see one who was deliberately left alone, with almost zero interaction made her…uncomfortable, to say the least.

“Oh c’mon, don’t listen to those jerks…can’t they realize you’re all in the same boat when it comes to surviving us?”

“Apparently not.” Uzi spat, shaking her head. “My classmates would rather worry about high school drama or throwing parties rather than-I don’t know-defending themselves, or beating you murder drones in the first place!” She paused, realizing what she said. “No offense, of course.”

“None taken. I’m guessing you’re the only one who cares?”

“Well duh! We can’t just sit there behind those doors, thinking this is the only solution. But every time I bring it up, they call me crazy! The class, the adults, even my own father! None of us care whenever people die outside! Nobody but me, and for the longest time, I wanted to show them!

“I…I wanted to be the hero of my colony.”

Uzi’s shoulders slumped, and her eyelights glanced at her feet with a defeated expression. “...And for that, I was mocked and bullied by everyone around me, for as long as I can remember.”

The worker glanced up at her sole audience, letting out a humorless chuckle. “You know what they did to me during class earlier today? Snuck a glitter bomb into my backpack when I wasn’t looking. Thank Robo-God it detonated before I opened my bag, I didn’t want that crap on me…but I had to spend the rest of the day cleaning everything out, and it’s still glittery!” She scowled, lifting up her bag and opening it for V to see. Sure enough, there were numerous sparkles inside, glinting in the moonlight. “Fuckin’ Rebecca…she’s such a jerk!”

“Damn…” This was one of many stories V had heard about Uzi’s bullying problems, all of them petty yet fully intent on making the worker’s life miserable while everyone else laughed in response. Honestly, these acts disgusted her to no end, as this told her how pathetic her colony really was. Did they really have to dump all of this crap onto one drone at the expense of her happiness?!

“That sucks…want me to kill them?” One of her claws instinctively unsheathed at the words, as her face turned deadly serious. Uzi’s eyes hollowed out, dropping the bag as she waved her hands in desperation.

“N-No! No! You’re not going in there and killing anyone! We already talked about this!”

“So you’re just gonna let them do this to you?” V asked with a tinge of frustration. “How else is this gonna stop if you don’t make an example out of those assholes?!” The emo moved to respond, but V leapt out of her seat, crouching down as she leaned over her smaller partner.

“C’mon, just lead me to the worst of the bunch…I’ll make sure they’ll ever regret screwing with you. I’ll even leave their corpse out as a message to what happens if they mess with my little emo drone!” She cracked a sinister smile at the end.

Uzi’s face flushed with how close they were, pushing back with one hand. “Dude, I already said no! A-And I’m not yours! Do you think I’m some kind of pet?!”

“Well, you are technically our prey, so…”

“Gross! Go away!” She violently scooted her chair back, giving her a flustered scowl. V giggled in response, shaking her head.

“Relax, I was kidding! Maybe…” She received a scoff, before straightening her expression. “But seriously, they can’t keep doing this to you…does your ‘father’ actually not care about what’s going on?”

“All he cares about is his stupid doors…” Uzi growled, resuming the conversation. “I’m surprised he hasn’t married them yet. Either way, I’ve got no one to rely on back there…I doubt they’d even care if I up and disappeared one day.”

V frowned at this statement, but decided to try and comfort her, even if she wasn’t very good at it. “Well…not sure how much this means to you, considering our differences, but I’ll be here for you…just say the word, alright?”

Uzi’s expression softened, giving the taller girl a grateful look. “...Thanks, I guess. Never expected to get help from a murder drone.”

“Don’t mention it, consider this payback for all the free oil you’ve been giving me.”

She mulled over her words for a bit, before turning her smile into a smirk. “Aww, what’s next? You’re gonna quit hunting and finally start acting like a worker? You big softie.”

“HAH! As if!”

Both drones chuckled in amusement, enjoying each other’s presence in the cold, darkened room.

Unfortunately, all good things came to an end as the emo checked the time, her optics widening as she jumped off the chair.

“Crap! I gotta get back home, otherwise dad’s gonna ask a million questions that’ll stop me from going to bed!”

“Leaving me already, and for your deadbeat father? I’m hurt.”

“Oh, bite me. I’ll be back tomorrow, so don’t go crying over me just yet, yeah?”

“Sure…now run along, shortie, or else you’ll be chased out! Maybe I’ll even get inside that damn bunker once those doors open!” V flashed her X again and raised her claws, yet made no effort to carry out her faux threat.

“I’d totally dust you, peg legs! See ya!” Giving a mock salute, Uzi turned on her heels and bolted out of the building, determined to make it back before her “shift” outside the doors ended for the night. The disassembler simply watched her go, a small smile on her face as the purple dot soon disappeared into the snowy landscape. Likewise, Uzi had a giddy grin plastered over hers, her only complaint that she couldn’t stay longer with the murder drone who once threatened her.

Despite their situation, one thing remained constant between both drones; they couldn’t wait to see each other again.

Chapter Text

Uzi lost track of how many times she’d been seeing V, but either way she didn’t care; the female murder drone was simply… awesome to be around.

Funny she said that, considering she almost killed the worker when they first met, along with all the baggage she carried with N and J. However, the more they hung out, the more she realized this big bad drone was just as lonely, if not more.

At least in the colony, Uzi could occasionally talk to Thad. But V? 

No one, ever since she left the squad.

The emo worker was her only sort of contact…even with their differences.

And honestly? Uzi enjoyed every moment, stemming back to when she hugged a crying V in her arms.

Well, most of the time.

“Yo, purple thing.”

Uzi groaned, shaking her head as she turned towards the nearby disassembler seated next to her. “You know that’s not my name, right? How many times have I told you to stop calling me that?”

V smirked in response. “Not enough, apparently.”

Sighing, the worker drug her bag nearby, fishing out a bag of batteries to eat.

“Ugh, whatever. What do you want?”

“You remember telling me about how you built some kind of railgun or whatnot?”

Uzi perked up, caught off guard on how she knew that before her memory caught up-she had told V about her pet project a few days back.

(Of course, she said nothing about using it against N, but hopefully the murder drone didn’t ask him. Hopefully.)

“Uhhh, yeah? What about it?”

“You know how you said it blew up during testing?”

“Y-Yeah…” Uzi was forced to lie about the status of her railgun, telling V that it exploded due to a faulty power core inside her colony. Again, nothing about using it outside the bunker or anywhere for that matter. “You gonna rub it in my face some more?” She snarked with an annoyed tone, not wanting to be reminded of her failure either way.

“Nah, I’m not that petty,” V replied, smoothing her hair back and gazing at her clawed hand. “I was just wondering…if you could install one on me.”

“...W-What?”

“You heard me.” Despite the nonchalant tone, there was a hint of reluctance, as if the drone was nervous to ask her worker friend for an upgrade like this.

“Why? Don’t you have, like, an arsenal or whatever?”

“Yeah…but another weapon to help me hunt my prey wouldn’t hurt…” V gave her a sadistic grin as her voice dipped, before reverting back to her previous posture. “...And also because it sounded cool. I guess.”

Ugh, really?! Is that all you care about? Killing my kind with a cool-” Uzi froze mid rant as she processed the second part of V’s sentence. “Wait…you thought my railgun was cool?”

“Uh, yeah? What kind of worker builds an energy weapon from scratch? I’d say that’s pretty badass compared to what I’ve seen in others!”

The emo froze at the compliment, a faint blush near her eyes yet she shook her head, facing away from her friend. 

This was the first time anyone complimented her at all …not including her father’s praise of doors, or course.

“Thanks, I guess?” She cringed at how uneasy her statement was, whirling back around to put on a brave face. “And of course it's badass!...Besides the blowing up part at least.”

V snickered. “Yeah, yeah don’t mention it…anyways, can you do it?”

Uzi thought about this for a bit, unsure of whether giving a murder drone a weapon designed to kill it was a good idea, especially with her former squadmates in the area…

Then again, she couldn't help but trust V with handling such a device. Any sane drone would be yelling and berating her for even considering such a notion…but as far as she was concerned, they could bite her. V had plenty of opportunities to kill her and she didn’t. Besides, she was the only drone who actually listened and cared, something the rest of the colony willfully neglected.

So what was the worst that could happen?

Uzi sighed, rolling her eyes. “Alright, you win…I’ll help you.”

V’s eyes slightly widened, not expecting her to agree so quickly. “Y-You will?”

“Ugh, don’t make me take it back!”

“Alright, that’s cool!” The taller drone gave a genuine smile. “Thanks, Uzi.”

“Like you said, don’t mention it…” She waved her hand before glancing at the ground, brow furrowing in realization. “...Although it’s probably gonna take awhile. I gotta rebuild this thing from scratch and find a suitable power core…great.”

“Hmmm…You know, I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”

Uzi glanced up in confusion. “How so?”

“My weapons compartment can literally form any weapon contained in our database,” V explained, raising an arm and retracting her hand. “The company wanted us to be versatile in combat, and gave us a bunch of stuff to download and use. If it's there, I can form it.”

V quickly switched through various weaponry, both melee and ranged. “Really, all I would need is a diagram or schematic of your railgun so I can form it in my arms-the process won’t take me long at all. As for the power of your gun…we’ll worry about that after.”

She turned towards Uzi, lowering her arm. “So do you have a blueprint of your little toy?”

The worker snapped herself back to reality, having been completely enthralled with V’s description of her arsenal. “U-Uh yeah! I’ve got it saved in my CPU, just gotta send the link.” She paused, looking at the murder drone’s arms. “By the way, you need to show me how those weapon-arms work in detail later. That’s sooooo rad! Please, lemme see it!”

V giggled, slightly turning to hide the faint blush on her visor as well. Uzi was genuinely interested in her and her abilities…it had been so long since someone last showed the same level of enthusiasm as she did.

“Yeah, we can do that later…just gimme those plans so I can test this baby out.”

Frantically nodding, Uzi quickly airdropped the entire blueprint to V’s CPU with zero hesitation, the disassembler receiving it within seconds. Analyzing the schematics, the drone was once again impressed with the quality and sturdiness of the gun-this worker clearly had skills for making this in the first place.

Downloading the plan, it soon embedded itself inside the weapons systems, becoming an option within the menu screen. Clicking the tab, V raised her right arm, retracting her hand and waiting for the gun to form.

Gears whirred, and several clicks were heard inside the cone shaped limb before the iris door slid open…and out emerged a long, futuristic rifle barrel, glowing green with energy as it buzzed to life. Uzi’s jaw dropped at the sight-it looked exactly like her own railgun, minus the trigger of course.

“That was so fast…how does this chick even work?!”

V whistled in appreciation at her newest addon. “That’s what I’m talking about! Running pretty hot too…but that doesn’t matter! Wanna see a live demonstration?” She gleefully asked, eyes wide with excitement.

Uzi mimicked her look, vigorously shaking her head. “Hell yeah dude! Let's go!”

Within seconds the two drones stumbled outside the building, wandering in the middle of the street looking for a target. 

“Right there!” 

Pointing at a wrecked bus, the worker scurried behind her friend as she raised her new weapon, the crackles growing louder as the barrel shook in anticipation. Aiming it at the bus, V’s X flashed on her visor as she let out an insane giggle.

“Here we go, shorty! HAHAHA!”

BOOM!

A neon green beam erupted from the railgun, obliterating the bus within seconds. Snow was blown everywhere as the flash blinded both drones, receptors ringing from the blast.

Hesitantly opening her optics, Uzi peered behind V as the dust settled, waving her hand to clear the air. The female murder drone lowered her smoking weapon, regular eyes flickering back onto her screen.

“Holy crap…”

Where the bus once sat was now a charred pile of mangled metal, practically melting into the snow. Silence overtook the group for a few seconds before the worker jumped into the air, pumping her fists.

“WHOOO! THAT WAS AWESOME!”

“Damn straight!” V cockily responded, blowing the smoke from her railgun. “You did good Zi! This thing is a blast!”

“HAH! I told you it was badass when it worked!”

“I really did…maybe a bit too well…took up a lot of energy…ugh…” A warning symbol flashed onto V’s visor, prompting Uzi to turn towards the following words.

Warning! Reserves Low! Replenish Immediately!

“Oh crap…”

Enthusiasm turned to concern as V stumbled forward, collapsing on her hands and knees. Steam rose from her body, the drone panting heavily as static clouded her vision, numerous warning popups blocking everything.

“U-Uzi…” Her voice glitched heavily. “I…I n-need…need o-oil…”

“Y-Yeah, got it!” Unslinging her backpack, the worker rummaged through its contents…only to realize there weren’t any oil cans left. She gave everything to J and N beforehand, and V already drank hers the moment she arrived. All the cans inside her hideout were completely empty!

“Nonono, CRAP!”

Uzi began panicking, unable to come up with anything as V continued overheating nearby, the snow melting around her frame.

“Where the hell am I gonna get oil now?! There’s not enough time to run back to the colony, and all the bodies here are completely dry…how will I even do thi-

“Wait.”

Uzi was wrong. There was a source of oil nearby after all.

It was a stupid, almost suicidal idea.

But it was the only one she had.

Raising her arm, she placed it in front of V’s drooling mouth, rolling up my sleeve. The drone looked up in confusion, optics meeting Uzi’s hesitant ones.

“W-What are you-”

“Just…Damnit just bite me already!” She yelped, glancing away.

V’s hunting protocols instantly activated upon detecting the warm oil underneath her chassis…and she didn’t wait any longer.

Lunging down, the murder drone bit into her metal arm hard, oil spurting everywhere as her fangs embedded themselves deep within. Uzi let out a shriek, holding her arm in place as she grimaced in pain, eyes narrowed and dim.

The taller drone wasted no time in draining every drop inside the worker, her reserve steadily decreasing. Dizziness began setting in, yet Uzi held fast even as her servos slowly shut down.

It felt like an eternity for both drones, yet in reality V’s tank was soon refilled within a few minutes, an alarm dinging in response. Snapping out of kill mode, she regained her senses, gentle coolness overtaking her body once more.

The oil…was absolutely delicious, more than any other she tried in the past. All of it came from the one drone she befriended…Uzi…

Suddenly her eyes widened, glancing at the arm stuck in her mouth. Practically spitting it out, she turned towards the rest of the worker, just in time to see her swaying on her knees.

Panic set in almost immediately. “Crap, UZI!”

Grabbing the drone by her shoulders, she pulled her closer to where Uzi was cradled in her lap, eye lights glitching and stuttering. Raising the injured arm, V licked it several times over to seal the wound, repair nanites working overdrive. 

Lowering her to lock eyes, V gripped Uzi tightly as if she would disappear any moment.

“Fuck, I’m so sorry Zi, I-I didn’t mean to take that much, I couldn’t help it…I-I’m sorry…”

A full minute passed before the emo groaned, shaking her head. Her systems were slowly recovering, even with the lower oil reserves inside. 

“Are you…Are you topped off?”

“Y-Yeah…” V paused, looking away unsure before opening her mouth again. “...Thanks.”

“N-No problem…”

Uzi turned back around to hide the growing blush on her visor, even after everything that happened.

She should’ve felt terrified, or incredibly sore from having her lifeblood guzzled by V. In fact, that’s what she normally would have done back in her old “kill all humans" days!

Yet out of all her thoughts, there was one that stood out the most;

“Why…did I like that?”

She mentally slapped herself in response.

“No, I didn't like that, bite me! I…I just gotta somehow make it back without passing out…yeah.”

Turning back towards V, she put on the best glare she could muster.

“We…We are never talking about this.”

The taller drone glanced away guiltily, Uzi’s oil still coating her tongue.

“...Noted.”

-

Doll leaned against the wall, red eye lights peering around the corner in search of a certain drone. Any minute now she would be walking through here back to her unit, acting as if nothing had happened.

Perhaps Khan and his lackeys were convinced, but the Russian drone knew better than to believe that poor excuse of a lie.

She’d spent the past week monitoring Uzi’s movements to and from the colony door, wondering what took her so long in “inspecting” and "repairing" the exterior door after so many times. Yesterday, she decided to teleport outside and see for herself.

This action took a significant amount of her reserves-she was still mastering her inherited curse-but that one trip confirmed her suspicions instantly.

The worker should’ve gone back and told the WDF members on the other side that their newest “intern” was nowhere near Door 1, her footprints leading away from the titanium slab into the streets beyond.

However, Doll wanted to hear the truth from her cousin before proving anything or notifying anyone else.

Where was Uzi going? Why did she lie about her door job? What was she doing outside the bunker in the first place?

She didn’t have to wait long, boots squeaking on the floor as they slowly drew closer to her position, the drone tensing up in anticipation.

As soon as she saw the black sweater emerge into view, Doll reached out and yanked the sleeve, pulling the smaller worker behind the corner with her.

“H-Hey, what the-”

Thud!

Uzi found herself pinned to the wall, staring directly at a dead serious Doll still holding onto her clothes. Her eyes widened in shock, any insults temporarily dying in her voicebox.

[Uzi…We need to talk.]

“D-Doll?!” Surprise quickly turned to incredulity as the emo’s purple eye lights narrowed. “W-What the hell are you doing?!”

Doll didn’t respond, instead taking in her appearance from head to toe.

“Strange…her eye lights are dimmer than usual. Not to mention she kind of sounds…tired?”

“Hey! Answer me!”

Uzi shoved off Doll’s hands, causing the drone to step back. “Y-You kidnap me out of the blue and now you’re staring at me weird! Is this some kind of prank?! Did that bitch Lizzy tell you to do-”

“Oh hell no. ”

[STOP.]

The other drone immediately silenced her insults, yet maintained her glare.

[You will not insult my best friend like that.] She growled, flexing her fingers. [This has nothing to do with her…in fact, it has to do with you.]

“...What do you mean?” Uzi snarked, rubbing her right arm. “You barely talk to me in the first place, and now wanna play fifty questions on me?”

“Damnit…I was hoping things would be more civil. But she just had to mention Lizzy…” Sighing internally, Doll decided to cut to the chase.

[Where have you been this past week?]

Uzi raised her eyebrows, yet the frown never disappeared. “Working on the doors like my dad…what? Did you miss the numerous newspaper clips and ads of him bragging about how his daughter made the ‘right choice?’”

There was a bitter undertone near the end, clearly despising her role in the colony.

Doll knew better than to believe that though.

[Spare me your nonsense. I know you’ve been doing anything but actually working on those doors. As a matter of fact, I went outside the other day and found no sign of you at all, instead finding your footprints leading towards the city.]

Uzi’s face blanched at her words. “Wha-How did you even-”

[I’m not sure why anyone would lie to such an extreme and willingly risk their lives to the sky demons, but I have a feeling it has nothing to do with your father or doors.]

Doll sighed, shaking her head as she attempted to soften her voice. [Listen…I haven’t told anyone about this…yet. I’m just worried, that’s all, and I’m incredibly confused as to why you’re doing this. What is so important out there to endanger yourself?]

No response, the emo glancing away.

[Don’t tell me it’s your railgun…come on, Uzi. Talk to me.]

The silence stretched on for two minutes, the worker never meeting her gaze.

Eventually, Uzi’s dimmed eye lights narrowed once more, shooting Doll an ugly scowl.

“Talk to you?” She spat, letting out a mirthless chuckle. “You wanna talk to me? After years of ignoring and bullying me, you finally decided to grow a fucking conscience?!”

“She’s deflecting! I need to get back on track!”

[Uzi, I-]

“SHUT UP!”

The emo stomped to her face, jabbing a finger. “Why do you care so much, huh?! Are you gonna use my answer to spread rumors and make my life even more miserable?! I mean, that’s the only reason you’d ever approach someone like me in the first place!”

Doll opened her mouth, but her cousin interrupted her once more. “NO! You have no right to act like this after blowing me off for so long! I don’t know if you’re processor’s fried from hanging out with that bimbo, but you’re completely wrong! I’ve worked on those stupid doors, and my dad can vouch for me! I’m not falling for your tricks and blackmail!”

[Damnit Uzi, you’ve got it all wrong! I-]

“BITE ME!”

Uzi shoved Doll back, causing her to stumble further back. The Solver within her flared in rage, yet she clamped down on it hard- she didn’t need to see this. 

“Just leave me the hell alone! You do this to me again, and I’ll knock the lights out of you, creep!”

Without another word Uzi barged past the Russian, storming the rest of the way towards her house.

Doll was tempted to follow…but knew it would make the situation worse. Instead, she slumped her head against the wall, letting out a low, agonizing groan.

“Well that failed spectacularly…” She mentally cursed herself several times, knocking her head against the concrete a few more times. “Why was I so aggressive with her? I should’ve known better than to antagonize her…”

She knew she messed up big time, and that there would never be another chance. Uzi would go to extreme lengths to avoid her presence now-even with the Solver, Doll knew the smaller worker excelled at hiding whenever she didn’t feel like dealing with running into her bullies.

Besides…their relationship was beyond strained, both girls having spent so long in opposite spectrums. While Doll attained status with Lizzy’s cheerleading squad, Uzi became a recluse mocked and ignored by the class and teachers. There simply wasn’t any way of having a normal conversation with her resenting everything about the colony-and the Russian drone was no exception.

Doll sighed once more, glancing towards where Uzi stomped off to. A small part of her wanted to run to her unit and apologize for her conduct…but it was far too late for that.

“Seems like I’ll need to find another way…and break the news before she gets worse than hurt."

-

As the sun rose over the corpse spire, two disassembly drones slept soundly on the mattress of their landing pod, peaceful expressions on both their faces as they cuddled each other tightly.

A line of yellow text suddenly burst onto the female drone’s visor, yet she did not stir in the slightest as words rapidly ran down the screen.

Memory Restoration Progress…60%

ETA: 12 Hours

And just like that, the text disappeared back into black without a single sound.

Chapter Text

The wind howled around the corpse spire, creating an eerie echo as it went between every crack and crevice of the mounds of bodies, causing the entire structure groaning in protest. Overhead, lightning flashed and thunder roared, the sky completely darkened and dumped endless snow all over the city.

It was another one of Copper 9’s toxic death storms, the winds and hail ripping through anything that wasn’t hardened against the elements. The storm posed a major threat to drones, as they could either be buried underneath tons of snow or fried to death by the numerous lightning strikes. As a result, every robot-both worker and disassembler-hunkered down for the night, simply awaiting the end of the storm.

This may have fouled the mood for some-but not for a certain yellow eyed drone who woke up with a smile, even with all the commotion outside.

Turning over on his mattress, N happily gazed at his pigtailed girlfriend, feeling eager yet silent as he waited for her to stir- she might’ve loved him, but she certainly loved her beauty sleep more!

Fortunately he didn’t have to wait long, as the screen flickered to a single eye light and a red warning sign, both glancing up towards him.

“Good morning, Jaybird~”

N happily nuzzled his head against J’s, purring the entire time. She let out a series of weak chirps, reciprocating in kind. They stayed like this for a little while, cores purring and faces brushing each other until the taller drone finally pulled away-but not before giving her a light peck.

Blushes adorned both their screens, buzzing in content at each other’s affection. Standing up, N helped J to her feet before glancing towards the door, listening to the muffled wind outside.

“Seems to be a bit breezy outside…” He joked, pulling up tonight’s forecast and immediately seeing how bad it was. “Oh yeah, very breezy, haha.”

Closing the page, he met J’s inquisitive gaze once more. “Well buddy, looks like we won’t be going out to hunt or play, we got a toxic death storm on our hands.”

A pitiful whine escaped from her lips, the drone hanging her head low in response.

“I know sweetie, I know.” Reaching forward, N patted her head a few times as he frowned. “We’ll have to stay here till it’s over…this probably means Uzi won’t be showing up with our daily rations either…”

N’s hand lingered on J’s head before pulling away, smiling once more

“On the other hand, we’ve got plenty of reserves! And since we’re staying indoors, you know what that means…”

Pulling away, he went to a nearby locker and flung the door open, revealing a stash of board and card games piled atop each other. 

“Game night!”

J’s eye brightened in response, tail wagging as she grinned in delight.

“Alright then!” N started, gesturing at the contents. “Which one do you w-”

The pigtailed drone shot forward, yanking the box of Monopoly straight out of the locker before plopping down on the floor with a pleading expression.

N simply chuckled at the sight.

“Some things never change, I guess…”

Shaking his head, he sat down with her, pulling out the contents and setting up the board to play.

Nights like these were usually when the weather wasn’t good for exploring, or if both drones were simply too bored and lazy to go outside the spire. In an attempt to find activities to do inside the pod, N collected board games and books from various locations throughout the city, putting them inside the locker to access them easier.

The first couple game nights did not end in a victory, as J didn’t really know how to play, and N felt too bad to claim victory in such a one-sided match, so he decided to teach her the best he could. It seemed to work, as she was quite a fast learner and soon mastered a couple of the games, especially Monopoly. This one became her absolute favorite-and N found himself losing almost every single time they played.

This didn’t bother him in the slightest-if she had fun, so did he.

The game kicked off like any other round, with J soon gaining property while N struggled to keep up. Both drones forgot about the storm blowing outside the longer they played, and eventually it ended with yet another win for J.

She wasted no time in bragging about it either.

Another Win for J ;)

“Yep…” N chuckled sheepishly as he viewed the board, having been thoroughly outplayed despite his best efforts. “Looks like it!”

J grinned proudly at him, tail wagging rapidly. He couldn’t help but notice how adorable she looked right now, sitting on the floor in her oversized shirt and happily gazing up at him.

A long time ago, such an appearance would have been alien to him, having never seen his leader smile once their entire time being here. She spoke harshly, a permanent scowl on her face as she berated and beat him daily, never letting up until he was barely conscious. He remembered that fateful night when she almost killed him, ready to tear him apart for food before he… before he stabbed her directly through her core.

N shook his head, burying the thought. That was a long time ago…and both drones had changed for the better since. He still wasn’t sure why J started acting differently, but she eventually turned to love him, and he did the same to her.

Maybe it was unhealthy…but he didn’t care. Their relationship was stronger than ever…and he hoped it would stay that way.

The sounds of shuffling brought him back, just in time to see the pigtailed drone crawling around the board towards him. She pounced before he could react, knocking them to the floor as loud purring vibrated from her voicebox. Laying her entire body on top of his, their tails intertwined with a clink!

N giggled, nuzzling his face against J’s hair, arms wrapping around her body. He purred soon afterwards, receiving several buzzes and chirps in response. No words were exchanged, both drones simply enjoying each other’s company as thunder boomed outside the pod.

Eventually, N sighed, patting J’s back to get her attention. “All right buddy…as much as you wanna cuddle with me, why don’t we do it somewhere more comfortable, yeah?”

Glancing towards the mattress stuffed in the corner, J vigorously nodded her head, perfectly content with hugging her partner for the rest of the night. She slowly slid off his body, freeing her tail before standing up, offering a hand to the taller boy.

N clasped it with a smile, allowing her to haul him off the floor. Interlocking their fingers, J tugged him forward across the pod to their makeshift bed.

Both drones wagged their tails in anticipation, soon reaching the mattress to do exactly what they did several minutes earlier.

But that didn’t matter to N…as long as she was comfortable.

BZZZZZZZZT!

J’s body suddenly froze, limbs locking up as a loud crackle reverberated throughout the pod, snapping N out of his thoughts once more. Blue sparks coursed through her shell, one of them shocking his hand in the process. 

“Agh!”

Yelping, N pulled away from her grip, hobbling back as he rubbed his hand for a few seconds. Shaking off the shock, he glanced back up…

…Only to see his J fall facefirst into the mattress with a muffled thud.

“JAY!”

Bewilderment turned to panic as he rushed to the bed, dropping to his knees as he quickly turned the disassembler over to check her condition.

Steam rose from J’s plating, limbs completely unresponsive to his touch. Worst of all, every single light was out on her body and sensors-save for a single loading symbol on her visor.

“Nononono…w-what happened?!”

What N saw made no sense to him, optics locked onto the buffering icon. It told him nothing outside of the fact that she was inactive for the time being-there wasn’t even an error message under the symbol.

“J-J?! Can you hear me?! W-Wake up buddy!”

He shook her around, head lolling back on the mattress-yet still no signs of life.

“C’mon J! Talk to me!”

No response, save for the howling wind outside.

N let out a shaky breath, raising his hands to his head as he desperately glanced around the pod.

“W-What do I do? What am I gonna DO?!”

Troubleshooting software was not in N’s skillset-J was the only one entrusted with such information. Outside of fixing her core in that auto shop, he didn’t know anything about how a disassembler’s programming worked, especially if something went wrong with it.

But he had to do something-her life could be at stake!

Jumping to his feet, N rushed to the pod’s console, grabbing random tools he thought he would need before moving to a nearby drawer, ripping it open as the lock popped off. Inside was the unused JcJenson maintenance manual J guarded back in the old days, claiming it was the single most important object aboard the squad’s pod.

Since she was the only one who read it at the time, N had no idea what the book actually contained. But with any luck, it contained something in regards to their programming.

Hopefully.

Glancing back at the destroyed drawer, he couldn’t help but feel a little guilty at his invasion of her privacy-even if it was for her good.

“S-Sorry!”

Rushing back, N practically threw the book and equipment near the bed, hovering over her face once more-only to find that her screen had changed again, this time to two lines of text.

Memory Restoration of Serial Designation J: 100%

Rebooting in 5...4…

N’s eyes widened at the sight, doing a double take at her screen.

3…2…1

“W-Wait wha-!”

J’s screen went entirely black for roughly a second…before two yellow eyes popped into view.

-

Pain.

So much pain.

This was the first thing Serial Designation J felt upon booting up, her HUD quickly filling with lines of code. She had no time to recover as dozens of warnings popped into view, alerting her of numerous damage she was certain she didn’t have before.

Warning: Right Optic Damaged. 50% Functionality.

Warning: Sensors Damaged. 60% Functionality.

Warning: Flight Systems Damaged. 20% Functionality.

The list went on and on, systems both large and small coming up as damaged. J stared at them completely flabbergasted before finally stirring herself into action, deleting each popup to clear her screen.

“...What in the four-quarter profits happened to me? And why isn’t any of this repairing?”

This was the other thing she noticed as she closed each window-her repair nanites were seemingly nonfunctional. The only time they’d be deactivated was if her oil reserves were empty… perhaps that was the case.

J quickly checked her storage tank as her systems slowly rebooted…but found them completely topped off.

“The hell…?”

The situation now made even less sense for her-it was as if something or someone tampered with her systems while she was out. She didn’t know, and the lack of any recent memories wasn’t helping.

“What is this…could it be the company’s doi-”

Memory Restoration for Serial Designation J: 100%

Rebooting in 5…4…3…2…1

Rise and Grind, Girlboss!

J’s optics opened…and almost simultaneously, all of her memories suddenly reappeared within her CPU.

It was like a tsunami hitting her square in the face, countless replays and data logs instantly overwhelming her processor. She let out a pained grunt at the feeling, except it came out wrong, a staticky gurgle instead of her voice. J winced at the horrible sound emerging from her throat- was her voicebox seriously damaged too?!

J’s reactivated optics fared no better, blinding light filling her vision-or at least part of it. Her right side continuously glitched and filled with static, alternating between static and camera feed. All the while, a continuous whine filled her receptors as they struggled to recalibrate and adding even more discomfort to the injured drone.

All around, J felt her entire body and systems on fire, threatening to torch her core into ash. 

It. Was. Hell.

But J wasn’t one to give up. Oh no, the company forbade it!

Temporarily disconnecting herself from her memory banks, J shut down her defective optic, as well as the two top sensors that also had similar issues. She vowed to fix them at a later time once everything cleared. The remaining optic and receptors slowly stabilized, the blinding white fading to an overhead light on a metal ceiling-the pod’s ceiling to be exact.

“Oh good, at least I’m not stranded in the middle of nowhere…”

The receptors finally came back online as well, the ringing fading in place of shouting…panicked shouting.

“J…J…Jaybird?! T-Thank Robo-God you’re awake! Are you okay?!”

J winced at the volume, gritting her teeth at the incredibly annoying voice she’d grown to hate since they landed here… wait.

"Grown to hate?"

This drone was familiar!

“JAY!”

Her remaining optic snapped onto another pair of yellow eyelights gazing back, stress lines underneath. She saw white hair…and that adorable stupid pilots cap perched right on top-

The drone’s own eye widened in recognition.

“N-N-N…?”

The name ended with an electronic squeak that made her wince in pain, yet N’s reaction was much different, eyes hollowing out.

“OHMY-JAY! Y-YOU CAN TALK?!”

“Of course I can talk you idiot, even with this busted voicebox!” Was what J would’ve said if it weren’t for her squadmate encasing her in a tight bear hug.

“I-I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! YOU TALKED! YOU ACTUALLY TALKED SINCE I FIXED YOU!”

As N continued excitedly rambling, J struggled to figure out his words.

“What did he mean by ‘fixed’?”

There was no way she entrusted him with repairs, much less on herself, yet she was missing context here.

Perhaps she should reconnect to her now-rebooted memory banks. Without hesitation, she did so.

What she saw…crashed into her like a freight train.

Dozens upon dozens of memories, all of them involving her and N in some way…yet it was wrong. 

She didn’t know how to describe it-from neither of them doing their jobs, to him being the only drone to actually talk-hell, even how she acted like a completely different drone-J barely processed them, too stunned to register what she saw with every second.

This wasn’t her. This was not her!

Since when did she act so… affectionately to someone as useless as N in the first place? And why did she enjoy it?

Shaking her head, J continued on, skipping past entire time blocks and tuning out N’s ramblings. None of the memories seemed correct-she did things she would never do, and only raised more questions than answers. She knew something happened to cause all these changes in the first place… so where did everything go wro-

Suddenly another memory opened up, one from several weeks ago. There was a space of missing data in between that file and the next, meaning she was somehow inactive during that time. Without hesitation, she opened it, instantly recognizing the setting she was in.

It was the night N brought in one kill for the entire week- only one. J had gone to hear his excuse, and of course ‘discipline’ him for his failure.

She remembered knocking him to the ground, feeling more angry and hungry than usual, ripping out a piece of his body to teach him a ‘lesson’ even though it was unnecessarily extreme …and a black sword piercing her chest, a glowing yellow X being the last thing she saw before the world went dark.  

N’s sword and X.

It took J no time to connect the dots, even as the replay ended.

“He killed me…”

Her vision returned, allowing J to see her squadmate’s smile…the very same face she saw when his sword burrowed itself through her core.

“He… HE KILLED ME!”

Pure panic shot through her body, a strangled squeak leaving her throat as N noticed the change, cocking his head in concern.

“Uhhh J? Are…Are you oka-”

Crack!

J’s fist slammed into his visor, shattering glass all over the mattress. The drone stumbled back, letting out a pained groan and releasing his grip from her. J crawled back, glancing back and forth as she struggled to regain her bearing. She let out ragged breaths, images of her death continuously flashing through her mind.

Somehow she came back to life despite what happened…and N kept her as a prisoner. This was her only guess in why she ended up here with him.

She needed to get out of here. Now.

Scrambling to her feet, J immediately spotted the ladder leading to the outside hatch. She wasted no time in crossing the pod and gripping the bottom rungs, even as she heard N slowly get up. 

“I need help…I don’t know what happened to me, but I can't fight him like this! Maybe V’s outside? Does she even know? Surely she would’ve noticed what happened to me, rig-”

“J! W-What are you doing?!”

Turning back, she saw a panicked N rushing towards her, visor completely repaired. “Y-You can’t go outside, it’s too dangerous!”

Letting out a whimper, J began climbing up the ladder-only for a pair of arms wrapping themselves around her legs. Why did it feel so good?

“J-Jay! Stop! Talk to me, please!”

She attempted to pull away yet N refused to let go, firmly holding her in place.

“What’s wrong buddy?! W-Was it something I did? I just wanna help!”

J’s mind swam, imagery of N killing her filling her CPU and causing sheer terror to flood her systems.

“J!”

“Letmegoletmegoletmegoletmego-”

“J pleas-”

“L-LET M-ME G-G-GOOO-O-OO!”

Her voice came out incredibly scratchy and glitchy, sounding like a broken record, but it was certainly loud enough to halt N’s tugging, the disassembler gaping at her with completely hollow eyes.

And J didn't hesitate a second longer.

Thunk!

The tip of her tail slammed into his visor again, emptying more than half of its nanites into the glass. Yellow liquid hissed through N’s head, melting through the screen into his processor inside. His sensor lights flickered, and the rest of the body tumbled back, arms unwrapping themselves from J’s legs.

Thud!

N’s body lay on the steel floor, arms sprawled out as a hole was melted through his face, steam rising from the dissolving liquid. Aside from the occasional twitching, it sat there completely unmoving.

J knew better than to think he was dead. It would only be a matter of time before the nanites wore out, and his head regenerated fully. The moron would wake up completely fine besides a major headache, yet it would buy her enough time to escape the pod.

The squad leader should’ve felt some kind of vindication for at least dealing her ‘killer’ a significant blow, even if it was temporary…but the more she stared at his body, the more she felt… pitied him.

As if the mere notion of hurting N wounded J to no end, going against everything she stood for.

What did she stand for again?

The drone shook her head, turning back to the escape hatch. Now wasn’t the time to figure out her feelings on the matter later-right now she needed to get out of here.

Popping open the hatch, a blast of frigid air greeted the squad leader clambering outside, snow blowing around the spire and into the pod. Scanning the area, J saw no signs of V anywhere within the structure.

No matter. She needed to leave before N recovered.

Jumping down onto the snow, J shuffled forward, raising her arm out to shield her visor from the harsh sleet whistling through the entrance. Apparently there was a snowstorm raging outside, and judging by what her sensors told her, flying was a no-go in these conditions.

Regardless, she unfurled her wings, wrapping them protectively around her body. The metal feathers rattled against the snow, threatening to pull them apart any second. Glancing outside through a crack, all J saw was a white wall outside the spire, along with the faint silhouettes of skyscrapers in the distance.

It was incredibly dangerous to go out in this type of weather, regardless of her operational status. But she needed to hunker down somewhere far from the spire- from N- at least until she managed to find some sort of backup from the company.

Yet as much as she wanted to run away…a part of her couldn’t. She didn’t understand why such a small fragment refused to leave her N behind, despite being a useless synergistic liability-turned traitor… why did it hurt to think of him like that?

J growled, shaking her head. Now wasn’t the time to think about this. She needed to leave.

Forcing her feet to move, she stepped outside, buffeted by the wind and threatening to throw her off balance. For a moment, the drone wondered how she would even make it for several feet in this weather-before instinct abruptly took over.

Unsheathing her claws, J threw herself down on all fours, her wings adjusting themselves to cover her back. A part of her was disgusted how she looked more like some kind of feral animal in this pose, although the pose itself seemed to be extremely familiar. It was yet another thing to investigate once she found shelter.

As if on instinct, the squad leader crawled forward, gripping the ground as she scampered away from the spire with surprising ease, the wings acting like a protective shell around the rest of her body.

J fled into the night, the howling snow covering up her tracks. Behind her, the corpse spire sat dark and empty, its sole occupant lying within the pod surrounded by trinkets that suddenly no longer had a purpose.

Chapter Text

Pain.

This was the first thing N felt upon waking up, optics revealing the metal ceiling as his head throbbed harshly. Quietly groaning, he slowly sat up from the floor, hand rubbing the back of his skull as he winced.

“What…What happened?”

For some reason his memory wasn’t coming back to him yet-so he called for the one drone who could possibly tell him what went down.

“J?”

No response.

Confused, N quickly glanced around the pod, finding nothing but a board game nearby, along with whatever else he had inside.

Yet there was no sign of the pigtailed disassembler at all.

N’s brow furrowed further, double checking the small space.

“J? W-Where are y-”

Suddenly his head throbbed, causing the boy to groan once more. At the same time, his CPU finally finished recovering his recent memories-up to the point where he was knocked offline.

…Or in other words, decapitated by the drone he’d grown to love.

A sharp gasp left N’s throat, eyes hollowing at the memory.

“She…SHE KILLED ME!”

Jumping to his feet, N began pacing around the pod, clutching his head as he replayed the memory over and over in sheer disbelief.

“I don’t understand,” he muttered to himself. “W-Why did she do that? Why was she so scared? What did I do?!”

The pod suddenly felt claustrophobic, the walls seemingly pressing in with each step. His breathing ragged, N immediately clambered up the stairs to the exit, the door banging open with a single punch.

Hauling himself to the roof, the boy glanced around the rest of the spire for any signs of J-but she was long gone.

“I-I don’t understand…why? W-What even happened?!”

None of this made any sense! Even before she cut his head off, J acted in fear towards N, begging him to get away the entire time despite his best attempts at calming her down, as if he was some kind of monster!

…And all of this started the moment she woke from her temporary coma.

Was that it?

Sitting on the edge of the pod, N closed his eyes and replayed the memory again-from the beginning, still struggling to calm himself down so he could think.

He recalled the abrupt shutdown J went through, how for two minutes he was unable to wake her up…and the only hint of whatever was wrong with her being a buffering icon, followed by two lines of text:

Memory Restoration for Serial Designation J: 100%

Rebooting in 5…4…3…2…1.

“Memory restoration…” N muttered, shaking his head. It didn’t make sense to him-there was no reason for her systems to restore her memories when there was nothing to restore in the first place! Sure, J might’ve changed her personality upon being fixed, but she was still J, right? 

…Right?

N closed his eyes once more, rewatching the aftermath of her awakening. He focused on her expression, staring at him with hollow, terrified eyes as if he’d done something monstrous. How she struggled against his grip despite his attempts at calming her down. And what she screamed right before knocking him offline.

“L-LET M-ME G-G-GOOOOOO!”

Why? Why would she fight him after all this time? Did it have to do with the reboot? What could he have possibly done to her that would elicit such a reac-

“...Oh no.”

N’s eyes snapped open, staring at the entrance in horror as he realized the truth.

“No…no, no, no…”

How could he have been this stupid? After everything that happened, after everything he did, how could he have been this blind to the truth?

The only reason J reacted the way she did…was because she remembered.

She.

Remembered.

Everything.

Down to the night when he killed her in self defense.

It should've been obvious why she acted so “differently”...somehow her CPU had been reset, changing her into a completely different person!

And instead of investigating and actually fixing this issue, N just took it for granted!

All this time, he hadn’t questioned her changes once, despite all of the signs. He became comfortable with her new attitude, more or less encouraged her behaviour, and eventually fell for the very drone who once beat him on a daily basis.

Hell, he even went as far as to make love to her-something her real self would’ve been disgusted by!

“Oh Robo God…I used her! Everything was wrong with her, and I used her!”

N clutched his head as he was overcome with guilt and terror, the magnitude of these past months crashing down on him. All this time, their shared moments, the love between them…it wasn’t equal. 

It wasn’t with her.

In all fairness, he didn’t mean to. He was lonely and desperate for any kind of positive connection; who was he to turn it down when J began showing empathy after waking up, despite their history?

But at the same time…it was wrong. This “love” wasn’t like those he’d seen from the few romance novels he read in his spare time. Instead, all of this started from when he plunged that sword into her chest, having finally been pushed to the brink.

His attempts at “fixing” unknowingly made everything worse…and now that the real J was awake…

A low groan emerged from N’s throat, turning into a half-choked sob. His body shook, the mess of emotions overloading his CPU.

He didn’t know what was real or fake anymore.

Hands trembling, he stared at the spire entrance, a part of him almost hoping J would walk inside, and the two of them could go back to being the loving couple they were.

But he knew better…she probably wanted nothing to do with him now that she remembered.

“...She hates me now doesn’t she? We…We can’t go…back…”

Curling into a ball, N tucked his head from the wind and did his best to shut his optics.

Even this wasn’t enough to stifle the low sobs from his voice box.

-

Uzi trudged through the snow, eyes locked onto the spire looming above. 

“Another day, another run…” She grumbled to herself, tightening the backpack against her shoulders.

Ever since her run-in with Doll, the emo had to be more careful with retrieving the oil now, constantly checking her back for anyone tailing her. Despite seeing no one following her, she couldn’t help but feel watched regardless, increasing her paranoia by the minute. It was to the point where she actually preferred the snowy wastes compared to the tight corridors of her bunker.

Thankfully, her father along with the rest of the WDF were none the wiser, still buying her lies and allowing her to exit the colony each night. She was still able to fulfill her end of the bargain with the spire residents…and also to hang out with the only friend who cared about her.

Uzi couldn’t help the small yet warm smile grace her face upon remembering that last part. Her relationship with V had grown to the point where she almost forgot the taller drone was a vicious predator of her species, not to mention their initial meeting with each other. The two clicked with each other so well, and she felt comfortable with lowering her edgy barriers around her friend, revealing a personality that would’ve felt foreign to her past self.

V also dropped the threatening facade, save for when she messed around with Uzi. Both drones were comfortable to trust each other and happy to bond over whatever they wanted.

Even so, Uzi realized that their friendship wasn’t the only thing that drew her to V. 

Perhaps it was the sometimes “flirty” attitude the murder drone took on whenever she wanted to fluster the worker. Or maybe it was the curvy, voluptuous body that wasn’t even covered by that short jacket of hers, leaving nothing to the imagina-

Smack!

The emo slapped a hand against her head, letting out a flustered groan.

“Not now, Uzi! Stop thinking about how weirdly hot V-AGHH! I DID IT AGAIN!”

It took a full minute for her to finally calm herself down and lock those intrusive thoughts away. She had a job to do, and this wasn’t the place or time to fool around!

Marching into the spire, Uzi was ready to call out for the two residents she provided for…only to see N slumped against the broken landing pod, head down and hands hugging his legs. His tail lay unmoving nearby, yellow lights glowing softly.

One glance was enough to tell her something was wrong-along with the lack of J’s presence. Uzi slowly crept forward, hand outsteached as she spoke in an unusually quiet voice.

“N?”

No response, the boy not moving an inch. Against her better judgement, the worker carefully approached him, softly tapping his shoulder with her hand.

“Uh…N?”

His head finally raised itself for Uzi to see-and her core stopped in shock. 

N looked…depressed.

His eye lights were dim, hollow, and leaking digital tears, not to mention the sad frown creasing his face. Stress marks were beneath his eyes, and his hair appeared to be more disheveled than usual.

This…this was completely unnatural to see on the normally cheerful boy, having never frowned or cried in her presence. But this only confirmed her suspicions that something bad happened while she was away.

Was it because she wasn’t able to make her last run due to the storm? Or something else entirely?

Either way, she needed to find out.

“Dude…are you okay?”

Even with a statement this casual, Uzi’s words were soft and concerned, doing her best to not come off as uncaring. (A trait that became easier the more she hung out with V)

N gazed into her optics for a few seconds longer before turning to the entrance, slowly blinking.

“N-No…nothing’s okay anymore.”

Uzi’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean by that?” She glanced around the spire again. “Where’s J?”

“Gone.”

Returning to N, his words rang through her receptors, dull and completely lifeless.

“...What?”

“She’s gone, Uzi.” He continued, letting out a small sniffle. “She…she isn’t coming back?”

What did he mean by “gone”?

Before she could dwell on it further, N suddenly stood up, his entire body shaking as he continued staring at the entrance.

“I…I messed up. I messed up bad.” He rambled, tears flowing down his screen. “F-For the longest time, I thought we were real, t-that we actually loved each other…”

Uzi wasn’t exactly following, having been startled by how abruptly he got up. She stepped back to give him space, yet was still confused by what was happening.

“W-What do you mean, dude?” She asked, shrugging off her backpack. “What are you say-”

N snapped his head towards her, causing the smaller worker to freeze in place.

“I lied to her Uzi,” He began, eyes hollowing further. “I hurt her, fixed her up, and proceeded to lead her on the biggest lie I’ve ever committed. I-I didn’t even know I was lying, and neither did she! And then-and then she woke up and remembered-”

A hand slapped itself over his mouth, muffled sobs emanating from his shaking form. Turning away, he leaned headfirst against the pod, free hand curling into a fist.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He slammed his balled hand into the metal exterior several times, creating a large dent on the side. The pod itself vibrated with each blow, echoing around the spire.

Uzi jumped back in fright, tripping over her backpack and landing on her butt. She watched wide-eyed as his tail thrashed, the boy punching the pod one last time.

BANG!

The deafening echo soon faded into silence, N’s fist remaining on the side. Slowly lifting his head, the murder drone removed his hand from his mouth, yet did not turn back towards Uzi.

“...You’re good, Uzi.” He said in a dead tone. “You no longer need to come here to give us oil. Just leave what you have here. I’ll manage.”

“W-Wait. What?”

“Just go…there’s nothing you can do here anyways.” N turned his head slightly, hair blowing in the wind. “...Thank you for your help.”

He bent his knees before leaping onto the pod’s roof, lifting the hatch open. Snapping out of her stupor, Uzi scrambled onto her feet.

“H-Hey, wait!”

Clang!

The hatch slamming shut was her only response, N having jumped inside the pod and leaving her alone once more. The emo simply stood there, eyes wide and mouth agape, struggling to process everything she just witnessed.

“What…what the hell?”

Nothing about this made any sense. From N’s attitude to how J was seemingly “gone”-it baffled her to no end. All she knew was that something happened between her last visit and now…during the death storm that grounded the colony and the murder drones.

Something bad.

Uzi’s core felt heavier than usual now, despite not having a deeper connection to either drone. Sure, she talked with N (and did her best to ignore J’s antics), but there was plenty she didn’t know about either drone outside of being V’s squadmates. There was no reason to feel this concerned for them, especially when they forced her to make these oil runs in the first place.

Yet she couldn’t think about them like that. Not after seeing how broken N was. In her eyes, he always seemed to be happy, and J was a significant source of that happiness.

Now it was gone…and she didn’t know why, or what to do.

By all accounts, Uzi should’ve simply gone to V, pretend none of this happened, and returned to the bunker. She was no longer under any obligation to resupply the spire with stolen oil.

But this wasn't in Uzi’s nature. Not after what she saw.

“I gotta tell V,” She muttered to herself. “She’ll probably have an idea of what’s going on.”

It was the only solution that came to mind-and she highly doubted N wanted to see her at the moment.

Turning back around, Uzi quickly jogged out of the spire, leaving her backpack and oil behind as she raced towards the one drone who could help uncover whatever happened between N and J.

She hoped she wasn’t too late…yet at the same time couldn’t help but feel things were going to get worse before they became better.

Chapter Text

The wind howled around the landscape, echoing through the gutted buildings to create an unsettling symphony of whistles throughout the streets. Metal creaked and clanged from abandoned vehicles as the remains of flags flapped on their masts.

Looming over the ruined buildings was a massive skyscraper, the remains of its sign simply reading “Hotel”. The structure was as decrepit inside as it was outside, most of the interior missing due to time, exposure, and excessive looting by the workers.

However, a few of the many rooms were still reasonably intact, their furnishings left as they were since the core collapse. The hotel had not received any guests afterwards…at least, until very recently.

Within one of these rooms was a lone, pigtailed disassembly drone, laying on the worn bed as she stared at the ceiling, eyes remaining hollow. She had broken in here to escape the sun, having traveled far from her previous home-

“Home?”

The drone scoffed, scrunching her eyes in distaste. The spire wasn't a home-it was a base of operations for the company’s workers! Its only use was to shelter the disassemblers during the day, and gather kills when their shift was over. It was never meant for any of them to stay inside and slack off, or decorate it with useless trinkets and mattresses!

And yet…she missed it, didn’t she?

Serial Designation J groaned at this, turning in the bed. 

“No, no, NO! Stop it! That liability ruined the spire with his…with his…”

She couldn’t continue her thought, anger clouding her head the more she remembered the spire.

“Aghhhh!”

Her vocals were scratchy and worn, as if something (or someone) had damaged her vocal chords. No longer did her voice have the professional tone that made others stand to attention-now she sounded so weak. Alien. Defective.

J hated being defective. And now she knows why.

“N…”

His name was growled through her throat, the disassembler gritting her teeth in fury.

“How dare that lovely, backstabbing moron fool me for so long?!”

She slammed her head against the mattress, sinking further into the cotton as her claws twitched with unbridled rage.

“Eeeeennnn…”

Everything N did was a blatant violation of protocol, starting with that fateful night. He was lucky enough to offline her with his swords-a move she would’ve never expected from someone she regarded as a pushover-and had essentially mutinied against corporate and Boss. It was essentially a death sentence for him if she would’ve returned or if V found out.

She expected the coward to run and hide like he always did in the past…but no. Instead, N did the unthinkable; the idiot somehow resurrected his leader, defying any and all logic in terms of robotics-only for everything to come out wrong! 

“That liability, saving ruining everything as usual even after betraying me!”

Her sensors were damaged, and wings rendered completely useless. She found her posture to be more…animalistic, finding herself on all fours and making sounds completely unnatural to a disassembler.

She remembered how she crawled around and tore through workers like a rabid dog, disregarding all pretenses of being proper. And all the while, N sat there…and did nothing but watch and chat as if she was a normal drone.

“He did nothing to fix me, that dumbass! Just kept rambling about cute useless shit while I wasn’t even cognizant! Did he not realize something was wrong with me?!”

J loved hated how he gave her so much attention in this state as if he was a mate friend. It was just like how he tried to talk to V in the past-only this braindead, alternate not-J reciprocated.

It disgusted her how her traitorous subordinate treated her like his crush-

J froze again, head spinning at the mention of her other squadmate.

“V…”

Memories of the psychotic disassembler trying to kill her flashed through her head, her yelling something about Cyn boss she didn’t know. The recollections were hazy and scattered that time, having been severely damaged from V’s assault. It chilled J as she looked at the remains, how much hatred her coworker showed her despite having served unquestionably for years without complaint-what the hell was going on?!

N’s face flashed into view again, saving her just as V was about to stab her through the core…tending to her wounds and offering desperate reassurances as he carried her away…

“Why…why, why, why?! What’s even happening here?! N kills me, brings me back without my memories…and yet I was somehow happy?!”

J’s hand turned into a claw, slashing through the mattress as she let out a guttural scream. 

She didn’t understand anything at all. Whatever he did to her CPU was worse than she thought, considering how she unwillingly got close to him as part of his love manipulation. The drone figured N only kept her alive in order to reassure the company everything was fine and the squad was still whole.

Yet none of this explained V’s freakout, filled with spite over boss someone she confused J with-she wasn’t sure what was going through that psycho’s processors, if anything at all. It just…nothing made sense.

 “Whatever…I’ll figure out V’s deal later.” 

Already J’s head throbbed just by thinking of her near-death experience. She wasn’t even sure where V was, or if she could even be reasoned with. As a result, the drone decided to return to the aftermath of the attack, to see how much her other traitorous subordinate continued to exploit her.

Taking a deep breath, J fell back into her memory banks, steeling herself for what was about to come.

She watched as N slowly woke her up, still cooing at her and treating her affectionately disgustingly. In return, J found herself…apologizing?

The pigtailed disassembler let out a hiss at the notion.

“Why the hell would I ever apologize to that moron?! He’s the one who’s always screwing up! I never did anything to him outside of discipline and…and…”

Numerous flashbacks suddenly filled her systems, calling upon every time J beat, insulted, and banned N from the spire, each instance stronger than the last. Despite all of these actions being consequences of his incompetence, J couldn’t help but feel something else outside of the usual disdain and disappointment…

Regret.

For the first time ever, a very small part of J was actually remorseful for the pain she caused him, the excessive punishments over small, fixable mistakes, and how she got worse until the day she died…the same day where she was about to eat him.

J slapped herself in the head so hard her eye lights glitched.

“NO! No, no, no! I don’t regret anything I did to him-every disciplinary action was warranted! He deserved everything that was coming to him after screwing up all the time! Yes…he most certainly did…”

(For some reason J found her thoughts less convincing than normal.)

Refocusing on her memories, J quickly scanned through them, basically different scenes where the two of them bonded even more, cuddling and playing with each other daily. V was no longer present at this point-J assumed she must’ve deserted after the confrontation with N. She couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of concern and relief, knowing the disassembler wasn’t trying to kill her again yet still confused about the entire situation.

Regardless, she continued looking at their interactions, wanting to feel disgusted yet that small part of hers felt incredibly warm, almost drawn to N’s playful antics…

“No! Why would I even think that?! It’s not like I care for him in any-”

A memory suddenly flashed in J’s head…revealing the night where both drones confessed their love towards one another.

She could see it clearly. How a joking comment turned into something more, with N prodding out her admission only to turn around and admit the same truth in return.

How the pigtailed drone lunged at him, wrapping them in a tight hug as they giggled and laughed, finally together despite everything that happened.

A choked gasp left her throat, the drone tossing around the bed.

“No…I…I’m supposed to love hate him! How…what…since when did I-”

Another memory, this time showing N and J inside the pod, with the female drone squirming uncomfortably before lunging towards her mate subordinate and-

J suddenly shot up, mouth hanging wide open.

“Oh…Oh my Robo-God…”

Despite her hoarse voice, the shock was undeniably present, refusing to believe the recording playing inside her head.

J made love to N.

She willingly made love to him.

A bright blush overtook her visor, hands trembling as she struggled to deny the vivid images in her CPU…yet how could she when these memories were timestamped?

“I…” Her thoughts refused to surface properly, leaving them incomplete. “No…”

The recording looped again, showing the two drones in incredible detail.

How they undressed each other with lustful gazes scanning their bodies.

How J wrapped her tongue around N’s member, while he worked her own entrance with his.

The sounds of clacking and squelches as J rode N to climax, eyes rolled back before pinning him to the mattress, a single word emblazoned on her visor.

MINE.

She had called N hers. Hers to kiss. Hers to claim. Hers to love.

N. Was. Hers.

And if that wasn’t enough proof…the popup that appeared confirmed this.

SD J is Currently Administrator for SD N

Any Changes to SD N’s OS are Automatically Approved by JcJenson In Spaaaace!

Have Fun!

N wasn’t Cyn’s the company's anymore, nor was he a mere subordinate in J’s squad…he was officially hers.

Serial Designation J simply stared at the popup for what seemed to be an eternity, no longer able to deny the words and images flashing before her.

The disassembler tried to remain composed. She really did, even as a torrent of emotions roared through her entire frame…until she no longer could.

J snapped her head towards the ceiling…and screamed.

“AAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!”

It was a raw, unfiltered scream echoing throughout the building, carried by the harsh wind. J screamed, and screamed, and screamed, glitches and pops occasionally interrupting but never decreasing in volume.

She couldn't think coherently anymore, too overwhelmed by everything inside her head. Pain assaulted her systems, overheating warnings popping up the more she screamed. J wanted it to stop, for everything to stop.

The pigtailed drone barely registered her arm turning into a gun, raising the barrel to her shrieking face and pulling the trigger without a second thought.

Bang!

The world suddenly went dark-save for an emergency shutdown notification flashing on her HUD for a few seconds before abruptly disappearing. Only then did J fall into the blissful, unfeeling silence she always wanted.

For the time being, at least.

-

“...So yeah, that’s when I dropped off the oil and headed back.”

The purple-haired worker drone sighed in exasperation, slumping against the chair as she shook her head.

“I mean…I get you knew this guy longer than me, but I’ve never seen him depressed like that before…considering how he used to act, it looked…wrong? Ugh, I don’t know, bite me.” She huffed at the last part, glaring at her boots and stewing over what she said.

V said nothing in response…yet she shared her friend’s sentiments wholly.

In the 20 years she worked with him in Copper 9-and much longer back on Earth-N was always a cheerful person. Not once did he ever show a sign of sadness or depression, even on his worst days.

Hell, he came back from J’s beatings with a smile on his face! It was a trait V never understood yet always loved grew fond of, pushing through everything they experienced in their lives.

But now things have changed. From what Uzi told her, N was no longer cheerful…and J was no longer present.

Something incredibly bad happened between the two lovebirds. V could no longer say what, considering present J was completely different than the one she used to interact with…but then again, nobody knew the entire story.

Sighing, the disassembler turned to her friend. “So he never told you the exact cause of their…breakup? Only that he lied?”

This was the only clue provided-not that it helped in any capacity.

“Yeah…” Uzi muttered. “Flipped out about it too. I did not realize you guys were that strong when it came to punching crap.”

V tapped her foot on the floor, thinking over everything that was said. There was hardly any information…and even less actions to take. It frustrated her to no end, especially since she was never one to resolve conflicts-not the mental ones at least.

That’s what you get for suppressing your feelings and ignoring your only friend. 

Despite the same soft voice from long ago echoing inside her head once more, the drone chose to ignore it.

“So whaddya thinking?” Uzi asked, looking at V with concern. “I mean, I understand you’re…estranged from those two for lack of better words, but I can tell you’re not liking this either, right?”

“Correct.” V breathed out. “Despite our differences…they’re still my squadmates. And with everyone split apart, I’m…I’m worried, Zi. Worried for N and even J. At least when they were together I was content with the situation…then again, maybe I should’ve come back or something. Clear up the mess I made. I don’t know.”

Resting her head in her hands, V stared at the floor with an unreadable expression.

“I don’t know what to do or say anymore. Killing’s all I’ve ever known.”

It was true. V had spent far too much time distancing herself from her squadmates, especially N, and getting her claws soaked in oil. She was not a people person in the slightest. Even when she was a worker, V was too shy and timid to interact properly with others-save for N. She didn’t have the confidence to step forward and fix things-not then, and certainly not now.

Would N even forgive her at this point? Or was it already too late?

Just as V was about to stew in her misery and frustrations further, Uzi spoke up, her voice uncharacteristically soft.

“...I don’t believe that for one second, V.”

The drone turned to her friend in surprise. “Come again?”

“If killing’s the only thing you’ve ever known, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Simple as that.” Uzi smirked at her words, leaning back against the chair. “I don’t know what happened between you and your squad…but I believe you when you said you cared. If you didn’t, you would’ve told me by now.”

The little worker looked her directly in the eyes with unusual confidence. “You care, V. About me, your team-maybe you're not very good at showing it…but you’re not the only one who feels that way.”

V returned her gaze, finding herself drawn to Uzi’s words. According to her, the disassembler cared about others…and despite her initial disbelief, she was right.

She almost couldn't believe it the longer she stared into the worker’s eyes. Without thinking, V’s mouth opened in response.

“...So I guess you care for me too?”

It was an honest question, one without sarcasm or mirth. Despite this, Uzi glanced away, a purple blush overtaking her screen.

“I-uhhhh…yeah. Of course I do. Dummy.”

V snickered at her reaction. “Cute.”

“B-But this isn’t about me!” Uzi sputtered, scrambling to recover face. “This is about your squad! S-So what are we gonna do about it?”

Oh. Right. They still had that to worry about.

Calming herself, V simply shrugged. “I guess the only solution would be returning to the spire and talking to N…but I’m not sure if I’m ready, considering I’ve been out here for so long?”

“I mean…do you want to?”

“I…I do.” The taller drone clarified. “I’m just pretty nervous, I guess.” She wrung her hands to ease herself.

Uzi hummed. “Well, maybe I could come with you.”

V jerked up in surprise. “You will?”

“I mean, isn’t that what caring friends do?” The worker retorted. “If you don’t feel confident, I’m not gonna let you go alone dude. I’ll gladly stick by your side and help…just like I have before. Only if you want me to, of course.”

At this point, V didn’t even feel hesitance on this part anymore, a warm feeling bubbling in her chest after Uzi’s support. Reaching out, she patted the other drone on the knee with a small, genuine smile.

“I do, short stuff…I’d love for you to come.” She paused, struggling to get the two hardest words out of her voice box. “Thank you.”

Uzi blushed again, yet returned the smile without hesitation. “No problem, dude. H-Happy to help.”

The two sat there for a little while, gazing into each other’s eyes. Uzi’s visor continued glowing, and even V felt hers warm up a bit.

However, the small worker snapped out of the trance, jumping to her feet. “Crap, it's almost morning! Gotta get back to the bunker! Y-You wanna try tomorrow?”

Recovering herself, V shook her head. “Sure. Whatever works for you, I guess.”

“C-Cool. We’ll come up with a game plan before meeting up with N, yeah? Alright, seeyoulaterandbye!”

Without anything further, Uzi rushed outside and into the deserted streets. V chuckled at her rushed exit, yet the warm feeling remained inside her chest, feeling better about returning to the spire and making up for what she did to N in that mall so long ago.

“Thanks again Uzi…I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

-

Uzi rushed to the colony door, panting as she skidded to a halt. Shaking her head, she felt the blush finally recede from her visor, leaving the drone normal once more.

“God, what is V doing to me?”

Every interaction seemed to reinforce her feelings towards the murder drone day by day. Still, she was happy she could help her crush close friend in fixing whatever feud she had with the rest of her squad. Maybe they could even figure out where J disappeared to after consoling N.

Either way, it was something for much later. Right now, she had to keep up appearances and walk back to her room as if nothing had happened outside. Perhaps her father would quiz her on the doors again, but she was used to this by now.

Knocking on the door, Uzi stepped back and watched the titanium slab groan open, chunks of ice flaking off. She fully expected to see the same four idiots playing rummy on the table once more, and prepared for the usual greetings they would give her.

Stepping inside, Door 3 slammed shut as Uzi’s visor finally cleared of snow…only for the girl to pause at the sight before her.

The same guards were there…though none of them were at the table. Instead, they stood in front of the second door along with several other WDF personnel, seemingly blocking her from passing the entrance. All of them carried clubs, and looked upon the smaller worker with cold glares.

Yet it was the drone standing before them that made Uzi freeze in place, core sinking as her hollow gaze met a pair of white, tired eye lights.

“...Dad?”

Khan Doorman sighed, shaking his head before staring at her intensely. The old man then spoke, a tinge of disappointment in his exhausted tone.

“Uzi…it’s time we talk about what you’ve really been up to these past couple weeks.”

Chapter Text

N hadn’t stopped pacing ever since he woke up.

Already it was three hours into the night, yet the drone had repeatedly wandered back and forth around the spire, no direction or urgency in his steps. The snow was covered in overlapping footprints crisscrossing the area–no space was left untouched.

Still, N kept wandering, head down and eyes dim. His tail drooped low, occasionally dragging in the snow yet he didn’t really care. All he could do was wander…and think.

The pod sat in the middle of his paths, cold and empty. He hadn’t stepped foot inside ever since J left–it was simply too suffocating for the drone. Instead, he slept outside as he used to in the past, except he didn’t even bother hanging upside down anymore–simply laying in the snow no matter how uncomfortable it was.

…He’d gotten too used to being cozy, hadn’t he? 

The boy sighed, now dragging his feet across the ground, eyes dimming further.

There was nothing here anymore. No coziness, no happiness…no J.

“Not that it was really her in the first place…”

At the intrusive thought, N stopped in his tracks, breath hitching. His fingers trembled as he fought to keep his composure, memories of better times crashing back in full force.

They weren’t real. Not because they hadn’t happened, but because the person N made them with wasn’t J—just a cheap, braindead imitation that’d had the misfortune of getting attached. And he’d only encouraged it instead of fixing it.

The real J had already shown him the errors of his ways. How horrified she was when she realized he basically exploited her. She was right to run away.

Still…N missed her.

He knew it was wrong, and still he let himself fall into it. He missed how she’d nuzzle up to him, buzzing and purring with that innocent warmth; the quiet moments spent wandering the wastes, just the two of them, pretending the world wasn’t what it was. That imitation of J made him feel like he had value. Like he was loved.

It almost made him forget how J used to be.

The real J was commanding, cruel, and always simmering with frustration—most of it directed at N. She tore into him with words and claws alike, branding him useless, incompetent, a waste of parts. As prey dwindled, her “punishments” worsened, each one carving fresh wounds that only ever healed so she could reopen them.

It all came to a head that night—the night she lunged for him, trying to devour him in her rage and hunger… and the night he finally fought back.

After killing her, N should have walked away and let her corpse decay where it fell. He knew what he’d done—killing a squadmate, killing J—was treason in the company’s eyes, and they would come for him with everything they had. His only chance was to run. To flee as far and as fast as he could, without pausing, without looking over his shoulder, without mourning.

And yet he did the exact opposite—a desperate attempt to rectify his mistakes, no matter how impossible it should’ve been.
It became the best and worst decision of his life.

N wasn’t sure how much of it was regret, and how much was something far more complicated—something he didn’t have the strength to unravel.

Maybe this was for the best—even if it hurt. J finally saw things as they were, without the illusion he’d clung to. No more pretending, no more borrowed comfort. She was herself again, memories intact, free from the imitation he’d let her become.

And N knew he couldn’t force things back. Not when he’d seen the fear in her eyes.

“Fear…J was scared of me.”

N let out a short, humorless chuckle as he gazed up at the spire, the corpse walls looming over him. For the first time, J was terrified of him—something he never thought would happen.
A small, bitter part of him couldn’t help feeling a twisted sense of satisfaction, as if he’d finally gotten back at her for all the times she’d made him feel her wrath.

N growled, crushing the thought. He hadn’t meant for her to feel scared–-all he wanted was to feel loved, even if it was a massive lie.

“And look where that got me.”

Tears streamed down his face, the boy trembling in the middle of the spire.

“I’m sorry, J…” He choked out, hugging himself tightly. “Robo-God I’m so sorry…”

He lingered there, shivering in the cold, digital tears streaking across his screen. After a while, warmth began building in his body—a reminder that he needed oil soon, or he would overheat.

Maybe he should let himself burn up, as there was nothing left.

N groaned, shaking his head and burying the line of thought he refused to look at. Trudging to the pod, he absently grabbed a worker's head from the nearby pile, puncturing the visor and letting the cool oil pour into his mouth. His systems satisfied, he tossed the head to the side, before slumping to the ground, staring at the spire’s entrance.

“I wonder how J’s holding up…she must be so scared and alone right now…”

“Good,” the dark part of N’s memory hissed. “She never cared about you. She won’t now, not after you used her. Let go. Leave her behind.”

He almost agreed with that dark judgment.

Almost.

Even after everything, a stubborn part of him ached for J… and, somehow, he couldn’t shake the belief that she ached for him too.

Back in the pod, once she’d recovered her memories, she could have killed him. Yes, she decapitated him—but both disassemblers knew how to truly end one another. Nothing had stopped J from pouncing on his defenseless body, tearing his core from his chest.

Yet, for whatever reason… she didn’t. Maybe she was too scared, too disoriented to act—or maybe it was something else entirely.

N’s mind refused to believe it was mere coincidence. One way or another, J had spared him, even after weeks of inadvertent deception. And despite everything, N genuinely cared for her. There had been no calculation, no deliberate manipulation—he had simply fallen for the pigtailed drone, hard.

And he was still falling for her.

“Ughhh…biscuits.”

He whined quietly, curling tighter into his own frame, as if trying to disappear. Thoughts and feelings collided inside him, each insisting he do something, anything, instead of letting himself crumble.

Hours blurred together. One, two, maybe three. He stayed curled on the ground, trapped in the maelstrom of his own mind, each thought contradicting the last. His CPU churned with conflicting emotions…

…Until a single idea cut through the noise.

It was rough, incomplete, maybe reckless—but it called to him, screaming to be acted on.

And despite his reservations… N decided it was the best course of action… at least, he hoped it was.

“I need to fix this…now where do I start?”

-

Tick…tick…tick…

The repurposed classroom was barren, save for a constantly ticking clock on the wall and a large desk in the middle. Uzi sat at one end, doing her best to remain both disinterested and annoyed as she glared at her father sitting on the other side, hands clasped together.

The usual brightness in his face had vanished, replaced by weariness and something heavier—disappointment, resignation. His dim gaze lingered on the table, as the clock’s seconds dragged by.

He knew.

And Uzi couldn’t shake the certainty that soon, she would too.

Khan sighed, unclasping his hands and finally glancing towards his daughter, his expression unchanged.

“You were never inspecting those doors, were you?”

Uzi should’ve said no, admitted that she wasn’t following the job her father had assigned her, despite the risks outside. But a surge of defensiveness coursed through her systems—an automatic reaction whenever she was called out.

She should’ve stayed quiet. She didn’t.

“What’s it to you?” Uzi snapped, keeping her posture. “I mean sure, I didn’t stay by the doors the entire three or four hours I was outside, but do you honestly expect me to just stare at them the entire time like an idiot?”

“...So you were exploring beyond the doors each time too.”

It wasn’t even a question, just confirmation from Khan. Somehow, this only troubled the emo further.

“Of course I was! We’re not allowed outside this stupid bunker outside of general maintenance–I got curious! What do you want me to say?!”

Khan shook his head, sighing once more. He paused for a moment, looking to the floor before reaching down and pulling out a black suitcase, resting it on the table.

Uzi perked an eyebrow. Just where was this going? They didn’t know where she was heading each time… right?

Opening the case, the older drone pulled out several black-white polaroids, laying them in front of him as he spoke.

“Recently, I had someone come up to me regarding your job outside the colony–someone who deeply cared about you. They managed to follow you and take several pictures to prove you weren’t at the bunker doors.”

He slid out three before Uzi, each one showing her wandering the ruined city, back turned to the camera. At this, the drone’s core dropped, eyes widening in disbelief at the images.

“Someone was following me? How?! I made sure I was alone! Who would even do that in the first place?!”

Khan’s voice brought her back to the present. “Now, wandering the city at night, unsupervised, is reckless on its own. Then again, I figured a lot of kids your age would’ve done the same thing,” He chuckled humorlessly, glancing up at the ceiling. “Probably would’ve earned you a slap on the wrist and scolding from me. Nothing serious either way…”

Suddenly he whipped back towards his daughter, his eyes hardening. “That is, until she showed me this.”

Thud!

Uzi jumped in her seat as Khan slammed a single picture in the center of the table, roughly sliding it to her. Instinctively gripping the paper, she gazed at the polaroid with a mixture of recognition and dread, eyes hollowing with every second.

The image showed her again, back turned as ever… yet this time, she wasn’t alone.

V was there, her silhouette unmistakable. Uzi’s core clenched. She knew when it had been taken—their final meeting yesterday, the moment they had waved goodbye, now preserved in a single photograph.

“Oh fuck…”

“You were meeting with a murder drone, Uzi.” Khan spat, anger barely restrained by his composure. “The very monsters that prey on our kind. Why?”

No response from the emo drone, still shocked by the revelation. Digging through the briefcase, Khan pulled out several more images, all of them displaying her interactions with V.

“There's more,” He snapped. “More interactions between you and that demon. Honestly I’m surprised that this thing didn’t kill you, given how bloodthirsty they are…”

Khan continued ranting, yet Uzi’s receptors perked up at the mention of thing. The drone she became fast friends with, being called all these names…it set her off more than it should.

“She’s not a thing! She’s not a monster!” Uzi snapped. “V’s better than anyone here—you wouldn’t get it!”

Immediately, she realized how badly she’d overstepped.

“You…You’ve been talking to it!” Khan exclaimed, disbelief covering his face. “D-Do you realize how foolish that was?! Not to mention why it was willing to spare you, unless…”

He paused, a dreadful realization crossing his CPU. “...Unless it was trying to use you to get inside the colony!”

“What?!” Uzi blurted. “NO! No way! She wasn’t planning any of that! I mean–look! I-I know it’s a long story but you have to-”

“No! I’ve heard enough! How could you let yourself do this, knowing you’re putting our entire home at risk?!” Her father snapped. “Those beasts killed your mother, for crying out loud! And yet you think this demon is your friend?!”

“Dad, lemme explain-!”

“NO! What you did was reckless! I-I’m sorry Uzi, but I can’t trust you to be outside the colony anymore–or anywhere for that matter! I have to rethink my entire strategy for keeping our home secure!”

The door slid open, and a pair of WDF guards arrived, quickly taking up positions behind Uzi as she leapt from her seat. 

“W-Wait, what is this?! I need to te-”

“Gentlemen, please escort my daughter back to her unit.” Khan sternly ordered. “Make sure she doesn’t leave until I return.” Turning back to Uzi, the old drone gave her a disappointed stare. “We…We’ll talk later. Don't leave your room till then.”

“No!” 

Uzi lunged forward, only to be yanked back by the guards. They dragged her out of the classroom as she thrashed wildly.

“L-Let me go! She’s not a monster! She cares about me—more than this place, more than any of you!”

“I care about you!” Khan barked, anger creasing his features. “And so does Doll! Not that thing! She’s the one who took the pictures in the first place, knowing you’d deny it!”

At the mention of Doll, Uzi ceased struggling, face morphing into disbelief. “Doll…?”

The man sighed as he collected the photos, putting them back into his briefcase. “I know we haven’t been close to you…but we’re your family, Uzi…the only two left. We can talk about it, the three of us–make some kind of compromise. But you’re not going to leave this colony anytime soon, especially for that murder drone

“Like I said…just stay in your room, Uzi. I’ll come back later.”

The guards pushed her into the corridor, moving at a deliberate, controlled pace as they guided her back to her unit. Uzi’s steps were heavy, her face frozen in shock, unable to process the chaos of the last five minutes.

Doll had been trailing her. She had taken photos.

One thought consumed her as they walked: how?

She made sure her trail was clear each time, yet the Russian drone managed to somehow remain out of sight even as she entered and exited. Her head spun, a myriad of emotions rushing through her. Anger, disbelief, unease…and sadness.

“...I'm not gonna be able to see V again."