Chapter 42

3rd POV

Uzi's optics glowed with excitement as she twirled her railgun overhead, breaking into a pre-emptive victory dance among the corpses of her kind. A wide grin spread across her face, her mechanical joints whirring as she spun in place.

She had done it! She had taken down a Disassembly Drone all by herself.

Unbeknownst to her, just a few meters behind, the headless body of the drone she had just defeated began to move.

Its torso twitched, fingers curling against the frozen ground as the liquid-like metal of its neck pulsed unnaturally. In a grotesque display, the metal reformed, reshaping into a fully restored head.

Uzi barely had time to react.

She froze mid-motion, her internal sensors screaming at her to turn around. Spinning sharply, she found herself face-to-face with the once-lifeless drone, now standing tall and fully functional.

"Oh, come on—" she swore under her breath, frantically scanning the area for a weapon.

With no options left, she grabbed the severed arm of a fallen drone and swung it with all her strength, aiming straight for the reformed drone's face.

The arm pinged harmlessly off its metallic skull.

The drone tilted its head, looking at her with childlike curiosity.

"Did you just hit me with that arm?"

Uzi stiffened.

It… talks?

Her thoughts stuttered as she processed the absurdity of the situation.

"Oh my god, it talks," she blurted, staring in stunned disbelief.

Then, pain flared through her fingers. She glanced down—her hand was slowly dissolving, the nanite-infused metal breaking apart beneath her optics.

The drone followed her gaze and blinked in realization.

"Oh! You stuck yourself."** N's voice was almost… helpful.** "Just put it in your mouth. Our saliva neutralizes the nanites."

Uzi, still mentally reeling from her situation, barely registered his words.

What the hell is happening right now?

Her gaze flickered toward the crashed landing pod in the centre of the spire. Her processors worked overtime, forming a plan.

"Hey, let's go inside that pod," she suggested quickly.

"Sure! I like doing anything!" the drone chirped.

Wasting no time, Uzi grabbed the confused Disassembly Drone by the wrist and dragged him toward the pod. The moment they stepped inside, she didn't hesitate—shoving her dissolving hand straight into his mouth.

1st POV – Morgan

Perched on the edge of the building my form resembled a gargoyle, from a distance I observed the strange exchange below with mild amusement.

A minute ago, the tall male drone had been a ruthless, unstoppable killer. Now, he was acting like a golden retriever.

The sudden shift was hilarious.

Unfortunately, my entertainment disappeared into the wreckage, as the smaller female drone dragged him inside the pod.

For a brief moment, I considered moving on.

But honestly?

They were by far the most interesting things in this wasteland.

If I followed them, maybe I'd find something even more entertaining along the way.

Grinning to myself, I slipped into the shadows, shifting my form into something more humanoid but still statuesque.

I wonder if robots get spooked in this universe.

3rd POV

Inside the pod, Uzi and N's argument was in full swing when a sudden sound sent a chill down her metallic spine.

N, still oblivious to any danger, perked up and happily narrated the situation as he checked the nearby screen.

"Oh! That'll be the rest of our squad. You're going to love them!" he said cheerfully.

He spun around in his chair, expecting to see Uzi still sitting there.

Instead… the chair was empty.

N blinked.

Confused, he stood up, stepping toward the pod door. Peeking outside, his optics scanned the area.

No Uzi.

However, something else caught his attention.

A statue.

A tall, strange figure, standing completely still near the pod's entrance.

Was that always there?

Before he could decide whether to investigate, the arrival of two more Disassembly Drones shattered his focus.

They landed heavily on the ice-covered ground, sending up a spray of snow.

"Oi, what happened here, N?" The more aggressive of the two, J, strode forward, her piercing yellow optics narrowing. "Did you trip and knock your sensors offline?"

Before N could answer, J smacked him upside the head.

His visor flickered, his system momentarily rebooting from the force of the hit.

As his vision stabilized, he finally processed what had happened.

"Oh… OH."

His panic levels skyrocketed as he remembered the fight, the railgun blast, and Uzi's escape.

If the others found out he had failed to kill a worker drone—and worse, that he had let her go free—he'd be in serious trouble.

"Uh… um…" His processors struggled to form an excuse.

"I forgot a… good excuse. Yes! A good excuse, over there! So, I need to go. Bye."

Before anyone could react, N launched into the air, disappearing in a blur of motion.

J blinked, watching his retreating form.

"…Well, that was suspicious."

V, the more laid-back of the two, pointed at something else.

"Almost as suspicious as that weird statue over there."

J ignored her. Instead, she spread her wings and took off after N, determined to get answers.

Sighing, V rolled her optics. She glanced at the statue one last time before following.

The moment they were gone… the statue shifted.

Flying high into the air N quickly locates the fleeing Uzi and locks on. Descending rapidly, he crashes straight into a snow drift a few metres behind her, his blade like claws already at the ready and his visor displaying the signature X that signifies disassembly drones are hunting.

Running through the snow Uzi barely looks back, behind her she can hear the sounds of N slowly closing in but she pushes onwards. Rushing through the first door of her colony's bunker she rapidly tries smashing the door key against its scanner.

Groaning slightly the multi ton metal door begins quickly closing, almost closing before jarring to a stop. Spinning rapidly Uzi's optics quivers in fear as she looks at the thin claws of a murder drone jammed in the almost closed door.

Twisting the claws begin to separate the two halves of the door, slowly revealing the drone they belong too. Behind her the drones of the WDF begin to panic as Uzi continues trying to shut the door.

"Hi fella's, want to let me in? No? I'll just let myself in." – N

Finishing his quip N's syringe tipped tail zips through the partial gap in the door, instantly piercing straight through the door card still within Uzi's outstretched hand. Groaning the doors begin to change directions, each one opening up one by one.

Panicking Uzi grabs her railgun and begins running deeper into the bunker, behind her N rapidly cuts down any worker drones he sees. Reaching the edge of the corridor Uzi's railgun turns green – indicating it recharged – and ever the brave drone she instantly stops.

Spinning in place she lowers the railgun as she searches for her target. Above her N rapidly crawled through the vents before dropping down on top of her, smacking the weapon away his hand turns into a sword and he uses it to pin her to the wall through her shoulder.

Hearing a hiss off to the side Uzi in her blind panic looks towards it's source and notices the final door opening. Khan, Uzi's father, is slowly revealed on the other side a wide smile slowly twisting into fear as he sees the bodies strewn along the hall.

"Dad! Pick up the gun, point and shoot. Trust me." – Uzi

Looking conflicted Khan alternates between the railgun on the floor by his feet and his daughter pinned to the wall by a murder drone. Sighing he breaks eye contact with Uzi and shuts the door.

Falling silent Uzi stops trying to pull the blade from her shoulder as she gives up fighting back.

N watching this silently slowly starts to frown as Uzi gives up, visor flickering back to his normal eyes he is about to say something when J,V the other two drones in his squad arrive.

"Wow good job N, I've been trying to get through those pesky doors for months. We should be able to get the rest of the way through the vents." – J

"Yay! Lower body count loses." – V

Emphasizing her personality V sprouts her wings and leaps into the vents above leaving J and N alone. Tossing Uzi to the side N gives her a sad look before ignoring her. Priming her wings J goes to jump into the vents but is interrupted by N.

"Um… not that I can't wait to go back to murdering these maybe not so different from us robots but do you by chance know what the company will do with us afterwards. I mean I'm not doubting the company but… they hate robots and we're… you know, robots?" – N

Sighing J retracts her wings, flicking the company branded pen around her claws she closed in on the nervously fidgeting N.

"Oh buddy, why'd you have to question the company. Now I've got to deal with you. Sorry." – J

Finishing her sentence J attaches a small ship onto N that causes him to start glitching and collapse to the ground. Turning she casually tosses the pen atop him before unfurling her wings and jumping into the vent.

1st Pov

Watching from a distance I casually munch some popcorn as the previously nice robot goes all murder happy. Watching the other two robots show up I decide to get closer and move up till I'm leaning against the outermost doorway.

Within the underground facility the robots seem to have a moral battle before one of the female murder bots attaches a virus chip to the male one I've been following.

Jumping into the vent I watch as she disappears from view, leaving only the two dying robots behind. Quickly glancing down at myself I confirm I'm still visible before internally questioning the robot's perception.

Shifting back to my original form I decide to save the weeping angel idea for another time. Popcorn bucket in hand I casually push off the door with my shoulder and head inside.

Stepping around pools of oil and over scattered parts I make no move to hide my presence as I get closer to my two targets. Bending down next to the male bot I begin casually inspecting it, behind me I notice the other one getting up by also note the railgun is out of range.

Jabbing at the glitching robot illicit a small response but he doesn't verbally acknowledge me.

Reaching out I sharpen my claws and grab hold of the chip attached to him but, receiving a attack from behind I sigh and extend a new appendage from my shoulder catching the broken pipe mid swing.

"DIE STRANGE MONSTER!" – Uzi

Yanking the pipe from the very violent robot's hands I casually toss it to the side whilst shooting a scathing glare at her.

"That wasn't very nice." – Morgan

Silence reins for a few seconds as even the twitching drone at my feet stops briefly.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" – Uzi

Breaking the silence the purple haired drone starts screaming at the same volume as a car, clamping my hand across her mouth I shift its shape to perfectly absorb the sound waves emanating from her, silencing her scream.

Undeterred the girl's optics shift into what I can only assume is an expression of determination, before she immediately bites down on my hand before backing off.

"You've got problems, robot girl." – Morgan

Reaching down without warning I extend my arm and rip the chip off the other robots chest, stopping the loading bar at 99%. Nudging him with my foot he groans in apparent pain before squirming around on the floor.

Deciding that's good enough I decide to deal with the violent one. Turning I stand to my full height, easily dwarfing the barely four foot tall robot. Gazing up at me her eyes tremor in apparent fear before stabilising as she looks at the recovering bot by my feet.

"Fight me strange monster!" – Uzi

"Why would I do that?" – Morgan

"I… don't actually know. Aren't you some evil monster here to avenge the human's or something like that?" – Uzi

"Nope, I'm a traveller. I have no idea what's going on or why you robots are so murderous." – Morgan

"Oh…" Lowering her guard the still unnamed robot looks between me, the male robot, and her railgun.

"Do you want to help?" Nervously looking me in the eyes the little bot indicates further in the base whilst talking to me.

"Sure, you bots seem like the most interesting things on this planet, and I can't have all my entertainment dying out just yet." – Morgan

"Right… well stop calling us 'bots,' 'robots,' or 'machine' we're drones, and I'm Uzi." Nodding nervously the now named Uzi introduces herself before slowly moving closer to her gun.

"You can call me Morgan; shall we get going?" Kicking the bot on the ground he sits up sharply before looking around. Uzi off to the side gets her gun and begins jumping up and down near the vent.

Chuckling I offer a hand to the oblivious murder bot on the floor. Taking my hand, he looks at me for a few seconds before speaking.

"Hi!, I'm serial designation N-0X0010010. But you can call me N."

Chuckling some more I pull the motionless robot to it's feet, straightening his hat I shrink down to my human size before approaching the last door.

"Well, shall we go save some drones?" - Morgan

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