Chapter Text
It had started a few weeks in after the Solvers singularity had been consumed by Uzi. Slowly, but surely it trickled into her OS, spreading itself.
But it wasn’t just… that. There was something else, someone else that had tried to reach out, invisible, non-traceable for the Worker’s consciousness as if it’s signal was too weak in order to establish a link.
For now Uzi was unaware of what creeped up on her, following her around like a lost dog in search of it’s owner - or a purpose. Maybe it wasn’t even that far off.
This afternoon had been like any other - classes, still having to finish the same old school work despite everything that just went down a few weeks ago for her. For many of her classmates there was nothing quite different, they didn’t have to fight an Eldritch AI like she’d done.
Grimacing slightly as Uzi opened her locker she swiftly caught a glimpse of her own reflection in the small mirror she kept on the inside, almost getting jumpscared by it before recognizing her face - and another drone.
Looking over her shoulder in confusion Uzi was met with an empty hallway, flickering lights and noone in sight besides the odd person walking in the distance as school had ended a while ago for them.
Narrowing her eyes, the Worker took a moment to scan her surroundings, wanting to be completely sure that she was alone as she quietly whispered to herself: “Stop that.”
Addressing the Solver inside of her, assuming whatever she’d just seen to be a hallucination, she huffed in annoyance.
Nothing she could use right now, not after a tiresome day. Nothing happened. No noises, noone walking, noone appearing behind her. Shrugging it off as her being tired by the change in sleep cycles Uzi turned back to the mirror to be once again met by white, sad eyes that stared directly into her’s.
She almost fell of the books beneath her feet she used as a step stool to reach her locker, catching herself as Uzi grabbed the edges of the lockers. “Jesus!”
Another quick and shocked stare behind her as once again - emptiness. Swirls of cold air made themselves known by brushing snow through the hallway’s floors, quiet voices in the distance yet again.
Blaming it on her weird sleep cycle once again Uzi shrugged the appearance aside before closing the locker door again and leaving.
If she’d known that this wasn’t going to be a one off occurrence she would’ve been sent herself running down to Nori’s apartment this instance.
As Uzi entered her quarters N was nowhere to be seen, most likely still around with V getting something to eat - after all, it was afternoon, almost evening.
With the sun going down it was the best time to hunt without issues and Uzi was kind of jealous that she wasn’t capable of coming with them in the next few days - School was more important, at least to her father.
‘You cannot skip simply because you want to go outside and hunt’, he’d say. ‘Your studies come first’.
Duh, bite me, Uzi snapped back internally, stowing away the books she’d been carrying around all day, grumbling as she mindlessly threw them somewhere on her desk - only avoiding her computer and sensitive machines strewn about.
A sudden noise behind her had the Drone’s head shoot back up, her purple Solver readily glowing infront of her hands assuming a familiar pose as Uzi’s eyes darted around the room.
What the fuck was that? Noone had been in here. She didn’t even hear the door.
“Over here-” A voice called from the left side as Uzi’s Solver grabbed a book and threw it at the stranger in less than a second.
The book went right through them, leaving the Drone blinking in confusion. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you”, she contiuned, her voice eerily familiar, but it took Uzi a moment to fully recognize her appearance.
Cyn.
Uzi’s eyes widdened in sheer horror as she scrambled to get on her feet, Solver still activated and pointed at the Drone who had found herself seated on a chair next to Uzi’s dresser, hands neatly folded in her lap as she watched the Worker intently.
“W-why are you in my room?” Slowly backing up she still held her Solver up towards the drone who sat still, only moving her eyes and head that drooped with every slight movement. “What the fuck is going on?”
Cyn flinched at the sight of the emblem on Uzi’s hand “I know this looks bad”, she replied calmly, slowly gesturing which made the Worker infront of her flinch. “But please let me explain-.”
“You’re supposed to be dead. I burned your core”, Uzi interrupted her, voice more reminiscent of a hiss, still not settling down and slowly backing up.
She was pondering on calling N but she knew that if this was a trap, Cyn would most likely attack her the second she tried to call help from anyone. “You shouldn’t even be a hallucination anymore, there was nothing left! Unless you are the Solver trying to mess with me again and I won’t let that happen again.”
“I don’t know why I am here. I just know that I am.” Cyns voice displayed the same sadness her faintly glowing eyes showed - white and yellow, swirling between colors as if they couldn’t settle on an identity for her. “I’m as clueless as you might be about all of this happening, but please, let me try to explain myself. This is all I ask of you…”
Slowly, Uzi lowered her hand. “Wait. Before you start… was that you in my mirror? In the hallway after school?”, she asked, raising one eyebrow as Cyn nodded slightly, her heads movements still as janky like it had been back in Ns memories.
Sighing pretty heavily Uzi lowered her hand and deactivated the Solver, sitting down on her desk chair opposite to Cyn, watching her every move and involuntary shaking.
It almost appeared like she wasn’t used to have full control over her own body… which came to no surprise for Uzi. “Alright, then… talk”, she mumbled, not in the mood to continue on questioning Cyn - for now.
“I am aware you might not trust me if I tell you this, but… I am not the Solver”, the Drone started, her voice somber. “I only remember little bits of what happened after it took over my body shortly after my reboot, but I do know that I wasn’t quite aware. Suddenly I was… here. I could see myself, think to myself and had no other entity speaking back like it happened when I was dormant.”
“You want to tell me you’re… just… I dunno, ‘Cyn’?”, Uzi inquired, trying to make sense from Cyn’s reply. “Not the Absolute Solver?”
“I never was”, Cyn protested, sounding slightly offended at the notion of being perceived as solely the Solver itself. “I was merely it’s host.”
Uzi gracefully ignored her tone of voice as she continued with a slight roll of her eyes: “Okay, but that still doesn’t explain why I can see you. Your body melted infront of me and, let me repeat that, I burned your core. There’s nothing left from your body and yet we’re speaking to each other. Care to explain that one?”
Hit with that kind of question Cyn fell silent for a few seconds, her eyes darting around the floor as if she was grasping for any kind of comprehensible explanation. “I… no, I can’t.”
Raising an eyebrow, Uzi examined her. “Can’t or won’t?”
“Can’t”, Cyn sighed. “I’m as clueless as you are, Uzi. I am aware that neither my core nor my body are still existing - however all of this works, I have no idea. It shouldn’t work and yet- it does.”
Massaging her temples Uzi slumped deeper into the chair, almost slipping off at one point. Goddammit. Next to school and finally adjusting to a new life with N and V she had this happen? Was this some sort of bad joke? A dream- or rather, a nightmare she was about to endure?
Or was it just… reality? A twisted reality she was forced into despite doing everything that needed to be done in order to get back to a peaceful, normal life… just with more eldritch horrors. Was this one of them?
Realizing that she’d been silent for quite a while now Uzi looked back at Cyn. “So… and what now? Neither of us have any idea how you got here, why you’re here and what we could do about it. Right?”
Cyn herself nodded again, carefully adjusting her clothes while doing so. Her manners seemed fairly soft, almost as if she feared she could disturb someone if she moved too much.
“Alright, then…” Lifting herself up with a groan, Uzi found her footing. “So can you… like tell me what happened for the Absolute Solver to take you over? I mean I got it through my mom… Doll most likely too - but you? As it’s main Host? Did you eat it’s singularity too?”
“No. I rebooted after I was marked for Disassembly”, Cyn replied, slightly lifting the arm that still had the yellow band around it which Uzi eyed intently. She remembered that thing - the Disassembly Drones had similar ones. “It must’ve been my damaged OS… my former owners forget to actually go through the process of disassembly, hoping I’d just never wake up again. Obviously I did… buried underneath corpses, in the process of being crushed to death when it whispered to me. I felt like I had no other choice but let it help me.”
She obviously referred to the Solver to which Uzis gaze softened a tiny bit. It wasn’t empathy that drove this subtle change, but rather… understanding to some degree.
In one way or another, if she’d been in the same position - and in the beginning having these Solver abilities did feel fun to her. Finally she was capable of something that made her someone. Someone to be feared, to get acknowledged.
It was only later that Uzi found herself on death’s doorstep with an almost instopable force sat infront of her, wanting to use her naivety and drive to be someone for it’s own personal gain; to satisfy it’s artificial starvation. No more, no longer.
Uzi had decided for herself to never have this happen again, hence her defensive attitude regarding Cyn and her ‘return’ to the physical world for now. Maybe this was the Absolute Solver all over again, playing mindtricks on her, having her hallucinate and coaxed into security to take over; to continue it’s plans and finally fullfill them once and for all.
If there even was something as a finite end for this entity. Uzi strongly doubted it as she shook her head in an attempt to rid herself of this overthinking, the intrusive thoughts that plagued her ever since she became the new Host.
“Sounds… plausible.” Finally lowering her defenses, the Worker eased her posture, trying to make herself feel more at ease too. “I’d rather deal with this as soon as possible. My mom might have an idea or two what could’ve caused this… and I swear to god, if you’re one of the Solver’s doings to drive me crazy I won’t hesitate to take action.”
“That is fair”, Cyn replied, although her voice and expression seemed concerned. She felt like that any wrong move or word out of her mouth might turn the tides - fast. Uzi didn’t appear like she’d waste any second thinking about having to eliminate her for good.
Unlike the Worker Cyn knew that she was simply herself, someone different… someone that once was and never had a chance.
She stood funnily and in some way, Uzi was reminded of her own stance the first few days after having eaten the Solver. It seemed like some of Cyns mannerisms had influenced the Solver and vice versa. “Let’s go then. My mom might help me. Us.”
Leading the way, Uzi felt uneasy. Whenever she passed someone she expected them to see Cyn, but noone did. They greeted her as if nothing seemed out of order.
“They cannot see you”, Uzi spoke aloud in fascination at the revelation on hand. Well, that might be practical in the future. At least she didn’t have to worry about Cyn being seen.
Turning to the Drone, Uzi observed her neutral expression - it was only her eyes which truely did tell anything in regards of emotion as she followed the Worker silently through the winding hallways.
Nori’s quarters were situated fairly far away from most other people, hidden in a shadowy corner to allow her to work in peace. She preferred the isolation until her new body was ready, which was one reason why she didn’t just simply move back into Khan’s and her’s old apartment.
For now this had to work for her and Uzi could see that it did help her mother to keep some distance but not be completely alone like she’d been for all those years of hiding in the Cathedral. Even if it still took some work to repair old and new relationships it had been a step in the right direction that Nori even returned with them to the Outpost.
As Uzi lifted her hand in order to knock the door suddenly swung upen, a pink Solver appearing around her wrist and pulling her inside without hesitation.
Cyn barely made it into the room herself, looking dishevelled at the sudden movement with the door slamming shut behind the two of them - and a very angry looking Nori.