Chapter Text
“ Zi!! ”
Uzi startled and gripped her pen so tightly it bent.
“Zi!! Zi!!!” Thad continued to yell, running up to her desk and shaking it.
“Dude, chill out! I’m right here!” Uzi hissed, grabbing Thad’s hands to cease the shaking.
“You gotta come see this!” Thad insisted, ignoring Uzi‘s complaints.
An annoyed tic appeared on Uzi’s visor, “If it’s anything football-related, I’m not interested.”
“No, seriously, you’ll love this!” Thad argued.
“I do not love your stupid ball tricks or hormonal male screeching.”
“Hormonal what —??” Thad questioned before shaking his head to regain focus and grabbing Uzi’s shoulder, a serious look on his face, “Zi, there’s a Murder Drone outside.”
Uzi blinked.
“Where.”
———
If there was one thing Khan had learned from Uzi’s late mother, it would be reckless courage.
“Frank! Get its left side! Brandon, get its right!” Khan barked out orders, watching the members of the WDF scramble to surround the beast.
Uzi and Thad heard loud growls and snarls all the way down the hall— accompanied by the zaps of taser guns and her dad’s pistol. The nose only made Uzi run faster— only to be stopped just before they stepped outside.
“What are you kids doing here? It’s not safe!” Ron, another WDF worker, halted them.
“Oh, come on!!” Uzi pleaded, placing her hands on Ron’s arm in front of her and trying to use it as leverage to see past him, “Just a peak!!”
“I know you, Missy, and ‘just a peak’ isn’t what you say it is,” Ron shot down sternly before giving Thad a pointed look, “And didn’t I tell you not to go running your mouth about this?”
Thad cupped his hands behind his back and rocked back and forth on his heels, whistling sheepishly as he avoided eye contact. Ron sighed heavily and — as gently as he could — pushed back a squirming Uzi.
“I’m sorry, but it’s for your own safety,” He told her, “Your father said not to let y’all within even 20 feet of the thing.”
Uzi groaned loudly, “That’s so not fair!! We won’t, like, run in or anything! It’ll be just like watching lions at the zoo!!”
“Lions are tame compared to Murder Drones. And this is not a zoo!!” Ron exasperated, pinching his non-existent nose, “Is this what your father deals with 24/7…?”
“I literally took one on the other day just fine!” Uzi argued.
Ron gave her a ‘really?’ look, “If by ‘just fine’ you mean the bare minimum which is coming back alive , then yes. But you also nearly lost your arm, hand, and vision in your right eye! Plus your oil levels were darn near depleted!!”
“Okay, and? ” Uzi sassed and Ron sputtered in shock at her insanity.
Uzi was about to continue arguing with Ron when she felt Thad sling an arm over her shoulder and pulling her in close.
“This is, like, an awful idea and I’ll definitely get my butt grounded, but… ” He whispered to her, “I might have an idea.”
Uzi raised a digital eyebrow, “Go on…”
“What are you two troublemakers whispering about over there?” Ron asked, sweat drops materializing on his visor, “You’re making me anxious.”
“Taxes,” Uzi deadpanned.
“ Liar! ”
“ BOOK IT! ” Thad suddenly shouted, detaching himself from Uzi and attempting to run past Ron.
“Oh, no, you don’t!!” Ron reacted with lightning-fast reflexes, yanking Thad back before he could get too far. While he was busy with Thad, however, Uzi sprinted past his other side.
“ HEY!! ” He cried only for Uzi to look back briefly and stick her tongue out condescendingly.
“Eat shit!!” She cackled maniacally as Thad cheered her on from behind.
Despite his best efforts, Ron wasn’t able to catch up to Uzi before she reached Door 1— perks of being small, she supposed. Made her lighter on her feet.
An excited grin spread across Uzi’s face plates the moment she finally stepped out into the snow. It was then that she saw her dad and the others struggling — but not failing — to fight off the deadly beast.
The Murder Drone gave a mighty hiss and swiped its claws at Frank, only for Frank to jump back as Brandon shot it with another stun gun.
Uzi watched as the beast’s body locked up and fell to the ground— not quite immobile, as it still trembled with aggression and its tail swung wildly behind it, but incapacitated nonetheless.
“Khan! We don’t have many stun guns left!” Frank reported, throwing his already two used ones to the ground and grabbing another from his belt.
“Damn things and their shock resistance,” Khan grumbled, the lines of his visor showing his age more prominent than usual.
“Keep at it with all we got! It's weaker than when it arrived. Hopefully what we have will be enough,” He said, pointing his pistol at the Murder Drone and shooting its head. While a shot like that would’ve killed a Worker, the Murder Drone merely helped and growled as its screen glitched.
Now that it wasn’t moving as much, Uzi was able to get a good look at it— and she realized rather quickly that it was a he and she knew him.
Memories of the night she snuck out two weeks ago flooded her mind—
Oil dripped down Uzi’s almost completely severed arm, exposed and torn wires sparking violently as she panted heavily.
The Murder Drone lay unmoving before her, its body severely beaten up from their vicious scuffle.
Granted, Uzi didn’t look much better— but at least she was still standing.
“Tsk,” Uzi glared at the beast, a small amount of oil seeping through her teeth as she used all her strength to stomp on the beast’s back, causing it— him to yelp.
“Let this be a warning…” She growled, the left side of her visor — and currently the only functioning side — flashing the text BadassMCmoment.exe for a moment.
The Murder Drone looked up at her with his torn-up face— the X on his screen continuously glitching. Three of the five lights on his head were broken and leaking fluids while a large crack covered its visor. Oil — his oil — covered a good portion of his head, but Uzi could tell the damage was slowly starting to repair itself. Literally so unfair.
Nonetheless, she continued, “If you or any of your other murder friends come near our bunker again, I will kill you.”
Uzi couldn’t exactly tell what the monster beneath her was thinking— hell, she wasn’t sure if he was thinking at all. She didn’t even know if he could understand her. However… she could tell by the tremor that racked through his frame that her message got across. Loud and clear.
Since Uzi was an Untrained Neutral Network, the Murder Drones had terrorized and killed her kind. She had dreamed of the day she was big enough to kill one of the bastards— honestly, she regretted not going through with it two weeks ago, but judging from the fact that they hadn’t been attacked since, her message seemed to have worked.
At least… until tonight.
Uzi wasn’t sure what had gotten into the thing… Had he come back for revenge? Did he forget? Was he stupid? Whatever the answer was, Uzi made a promise and she was going to keep it.
Your kind killed my mother. She growled internally, her violet eyes glitching from sheer anger. Hell, YOU might’ve been the one who did it. I don’t show mercy again.
The Murder Drone tried to push himself up on shaky arms as the effects of the taser started to wear off. Frank immediately went to shoot at him again but was stopped when he slapped the gun away with his tail, nicking Frank’s hand in the process and causing him to hiss from the burn of the acid.
“Keep it down!!” Khan ordered, shooting at the Murder Drone’s arms to destabilize him.
Just as Brandon was about to join in, his digital eyes hollowed as he called out, “Uzi! Get back!!”
His warning cut the attention of both Khan and the Murder Drone, who both looked at Uzi fearlessly walking towards the angelic-looking monster.
“Uzi! Are you out of your mind!?” Khan scolded, though his expression was stressed— scared even. For Uzi.
“I told this thing I’d kill him if he ever came back,” she said, continuing to walk despite her father‘s protests, “And I meant it.”
She grabbed Frank’s taser gun he’d dropped as she walked and mindlessly dug her hand into it and ripped out the power source.
Unlike her father and the others, she knew where to strike. She knew where to kill it.
She stomped her boot into the snow, feeling the soft ice flatten as she dropped the gun and held the power core.
“Remember me?” She asked the Murder Drone bitterly.
She expected a hiss or snarl— some kind— any kind of challenging noise from him. She expected him to bare his razor-sharp fangs and attempt to rip out her core with his tail. She expected him to stand up with the last bit of strength he had and try to use his height to intimidate her.
She expected a lot of things, truthfully, these things were unpredictable…. Yet, somehow, he did the last thing she’d expected.
He surrendered.
But it was… different.
Uzi watched in bewilderment as the Murder Drone swapped out his claws for normal, non-threatening hands and lowered himself to the ground, his tail ceasing all movement far away from Uzi.
She watched as he folded his hands neatly on top of each other at her feet and placed his chin on top of them… and then laid there in the snow, in a completely docile, unmoving position.
“…Huh?” She mustered out after a long beat. Judging from the silence around her, everyone else was just as confused.
For a moment, she wondered if he was giving up. Accepting his defeat— his death. But no… that wasn’t it.
Because after he’d settled down, he looked up at Uzi with an expression that damn near made her core stop running.
The intimidating X she — and every Worker in existence — had grown so used to was gone. Instead replaced by normal, sad eyes. Pleading almost.
And suddenly, the strangeness of the entire situation finally clicked for Uzi.
She knew what this thing was capable of. She had fought a head-on not even a month ago.
While she had no doubt in her mind that her father was smart and Frank and Brandon were capable… a few stun guns and a pistol wouldn’t have kept this sky demon pinned.
Uzi knew of his seemingly endless arsenal of weapons— yet, all she’d seen him use tonight were his claws and tail… and it was all defensive.
“Why…?” She breathed out as if the beast would answer her.
“Uzi?” Khan asked in a hushed whisper behind her as if anything louder would set the Murder Drone off.
The Murder Drone lowered his head and nudged Uzi’s boot with the barely noticeable snout all drones seemed to have… Begrudgingly, she was reminded of a puppy.
Looking over his body, Uzi noticed a lot of markings and wounds that she knew weren’t inflicted by her dad and the others… and she also noticed that none of his wounds were healing. Which was extremely unusual for the seemingly immortal demon.
The last thing she noticed was how blazingly hot he was. At first, she’d been so distracted by the fighting and her own malicious thoughts that she didn’t see how his breaths came out in steam clouds— or how the snow melted beneath him.
His whole frame was trembling— the sound was loud against everyone’s silence. She watched as a ‘HIGH TEMP’ warning flashed across his screen and briefly wondered how the hell he was still online.
He was surrendering his life. No… He was fighting for it.
Whatever had hurt him before must’ve been insufferable if he was in this condition…
And he was asking Uzi for help.
“You got a lot of nerve…” Uzi muttered after what felt like an eternity, narrowing her eyes at the Murder Drone, “What makes you think I’d help you? Because I spared you? That wasn’t mercy. That was a warning! ” She spat.
But the large drone before her didn’t cower at her words— only whimpered the ‘HIGH TEMP’ warning appeared again and he nudged her boot harder.
She heard a strange sound— a faint, incoherent whisper that didn’t sound like words… but she felt them almost. Like she could somewhat understand them. And they sounded like a plea.
Uzi groaned and rubbed her face hard, an annoyed tic appearing on her visor as she wondered if she was genuinely considering this…
“You—” She went to address the Murder Drone but paused when he gave one last whimper—
WARNING: SYSTEMS OVERHEATED.
ENTERING SYS. SELF-PRESERVATION COMA.
SHUTTING DOWN . . .
The messages flashed across his screen quickly, giving Uzi just enough time to read them before every light on the beast's body went dark— and he was still.
Her eye twitched.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
“Is it… dead?” Brandon asked, hesitantly taking a step forward.
“No,” Uzi replied, making him freeze, “But definitely won’t come back online unless he receives medical attention… or something… ”
“Well… great!” Brandon breathed out, “We just won’t give it to ‘em!”
“And can easily dismember the body and dispose of it. Possibly burn it…” Frank added.
“ No, ” Uzi said firmly, glaring at the two men. Reasonably, they both looked confused.
“Uzi…” Khan called from behind and she turned to face him, “What are you thinking?”
“I’m gonna fix it,” She told him vaguely, as if by some miracle he would allow that to slide.
Khan blinked a couple of times in shock before shaking his head, his expression growing more stern, “Absolutely not. I won’t allow that.”
“I don’t care! I can do what I want!”
“But why!? You’re not giving me a reason! ” Khan argued.
“It’s none of your business!!” Uzi retaliated.
Khan huffed, “Now I’m sure you’ve got a screw loose. It is every bit of my business.
“My job is to keep you and everyone in the colony safe. The murder drones have killed hundreds of us. That thing is the reason your mother is dead!”
Uzi pursed her lips, her core tightening at the mention of her mother. She knew her father was beyond livid… he never mentioned her mother like this.
When she didn’t respond, Khan sighed heavily and his expressions softened up…
“You… are the last thing I have left,” He said, his voice quiet, “The one thing I’m fighting for. I don’t understand why you’re doing this. Please… talk to me.”
I can’t… Uzi avoided eye contact. Because… I don’t know why I’m doing this either.
“…I have to do this,” She settled on saying— that being the only thing she actually knew.
Why? She wasn’t sure. She didn’t know why. But something was gnawing at her. Clawing at her core and telling her she needed to.
She spared her father a glance and her core tightened at how heartbroken he looked…
After a moment, he swallowed thickly and inhaled deeply, seemingly pulling himself together before he said:
“I’m sorry, but I will not allow you to come back into this bunker with that thing.”
That should’ve been reason enough for Uzi. Should’ve been enough to convince her to drop whatever the hell she was thinking of doing and go back with her father… but she didn’t.
“…Then I’ll go elsewhere,” She declared, reaching down and grabbing hold of the Murder Drone’s coat.
“Baby Bat, please… ” Khan begged, the nickname from her childhood slipping out like it hadn’t been years since he last said it.
For a moment, it was almost enough… almost.
But instead, Uzi started to drag the Murder Drone’s motionless body through the snow, leaving her father and colony behind.