Archive of Our Own ^beta

>> ERROR: CENTRAL PROCESSOR MALFUNCTIONING. REROUTING SYSTEMS…

V1 cancelled the command before it went through. Its head twitched as a result, but everything remained online. It lowered its visual and auditory settings as far as they could go without leaving it essentially deaf and blind. Then sighed and turned its visuals up slightly so it could see its project without fucking it up.

Greed’s sun was unrelenting. V1’s fans were overclocking themselves and it desperately needed to replace its coolant. Even the blood pumping in its body felt impossibly hot. Its heat shields could only do so much when it spent hours and hours hunched over the body it worked tirelessly on.

The elements had not been kind to the remnants of V2. Sandstorms had scratched off most of its paint, the terrible heat drying up any form of liquid that might have been left. Its single arm and legs were horribly twisted and torn apart, and its wing blades were nearly all shattered into tiny pieces. Then there was the matter of its completely crushed chassis. Fragile mechanisms dented and bent, fuel lines shredded, wires frayed and stripped.

And yet V1 still worked.

V2 was made with V1’s blueprints. Sure, V2’s chassis was larger and more durable, but the schematics were largely identical. With diagrams it had bought from the Terminals (it argued it should get them for free, but they were stubborn) and observing its own anatomy, V1 was confident that it could restore V2’s body to have some semblance of functionality.

After V2 had fully shut down, V1 had carefully opened up the hatch on the side of its successor's head. Much to its surprise and relief, its CPU chip was fully intact, nestled snugly in its designated spot. V1 had gently pried the CPU out, storing V2’s brain in a compartment in its own chassis to keep it safe from the harshness of Greed.

And now, after V1 had thoroughly explored as much of Hell as it was allowed, it brought itself back to Greed to fix its sibling.

>> OPENING PUBLIC COMMUNICATION CHANNEL…

>> V1: Hey, V2.
>> V1: You can’t hear me, but I figured it would be nice to talk out loud. Or my equivalent of talking out loud, anyway.

It flinched when V2’s remaining arm made a dreadful straining noise as V1 rotated it to gain access to the wires on the other side.

>> V1: Shit, I really did a number on you, huh? Sorry about that again. I got a little carried away and now you’re just a pile of scrap in the most hellish place in Hell.
>> V1: Cause, wow, this place fucking sucks.

V1 continued sending messages into the ether, not really caring if there were any machines in range that could pick up the public signal. As much of a distraction as they would be for V1’s work, it would welcome the company in the desolate desert.

>> V1: And I’ll need to figure out how to make you a new arm, by the way.
>> V1: Cause I am keeping these ones.

It poked V2’s dark optic with the knuckleblaster and waved with the whiplash.

>> V1: Way too much fun to have this many limbs.

>> WARNING: INTERNAL SYSTEMS OVERHEATING. USING EXCESSIVE FUEL.

>> V1: would you kindly fuck off i am in the middle of something

>> FUEL LEVEL: 20%

>> V1: oh shit okay fine maybe time to find angel
>> V1: Be back soon, Vee. Try not to die while I’m gone.

It hobbled its way to the elevator to head down to Wrath, hoping Gabriel would be at the island. The trip felt impossibly long and, by the time the doors dinged open pleasantly, V1’s secondary arms had both powered down from the lack of fuel. And it was reaching a point where its legs would soon give out.

V1 saw the door to the cabin ajar, signaling the angel inhabitant was somewhere nearby. It sprinted rather ungracefully out of the elevator, screeching through its voice box to get Gabriel’s attention from wherever he was.

>> FUEL LEVEL: 10%

>> WARNING: FUEL LEVEL CRITICAL. LOWER LIMBS DISABLED.

V1’s face slammed into the soft ground as its legs suddenly powered down. It lifted itself up with its working arms and whirred in relief as it saw Gabriel sprint from around a corner, looking very startled. Then his gaze fell onto V1 and the machine saw his body relax.

“Machine? What are you- what happened-”

“BLOOD. FUEL.”

V1’s voice was chipper despite its low fuel. Gabriel was here. He would make sure it was okay, then it could get back to fixing V2.

Gabriel sighed, grabbing Justice from inside the cabin and sliding the blade casually across his palm. V1 managed to use its two remaining arms to maneuver itself into an upright position. Its legs were splayed out in front of it, its useless arms laying in its lap. One hand rested on the ground behind it while the other grasped hungrily at Gabriel’s bleeding palm. He pressed it into the center of its chestplate and watched as the blood fell into the crevices in its chassis.

“Better?” he asked, amusement replacing concern.

“Much,” it signed. “Sorry for the short notice.” Despite their new arrangement, it still didn’t like taking his blood without a spar. But it was in no condition to fight, though it would find a way to make it up to him later.

“You never let yourself get this low,” Gabriel chastised it. “And I’m noticing there’s no external damage to your chassis. You want to tell me what you were doing that put you in this situation?”

V1 shrugged. “Nothing exciting. Lost track of time.”

“You, a machine with an internal clock, lost track of time?”

Well it wasn’t a lie. It did lose track and got its first warning while it was in the middle of figuring out how V2’s legs worked. But it knew Gabriel was relatively nearby and didn’t want to have to backtrack its current progress, so it pushed on further. And continued to ignore the warnings until it was in the position it was currently in.

“And the reasoning behind why your chassis feels like you’ve been swimming in lava?”

“Was in Greed. You know how it is,” it replied evasively.

“V1, I thought we established we are not enemies anymore,” he huffed with thinly veiled annoyance. “I am not going to smite you down for having hobbies. I am just worried that you are doing something that will get you hurt.”

V1 felt its legs and secondary arms power back on. It flexed its fingers experimentally and bent its knees so it was sitting cross legged. Gabriel’s hand stayed firmly on its chestplate while it continued to refuel. The secret compartment was on its left side, where its heart would be as a human, and close to where Gabriel’s thumb was pressed to the metal.

It had let Gabriel see and feel its own internals. And he had shown it his face under the helm. It was clear that there was plenty of trust between them these days. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to tell him about its project. Maybe he could help.

Hesitantly, V1 scooched Gabriel’s hand to the right before gently pressing its fingers against the hidden hatch. With a soft click, a panel flipped up, revealing V2’s CPU as well as an array of folded pieces of paper from Gabriel’s handwritten notes. He didn’t need to know that V1 kept those, though.

It carefully lifted the CPU out of its chassis and held it in the palm of its feedbacker in between it and Gabriel. V1 could almost feel it humming through its carbon fiber palm. V2 was still very much alive, if inactive in its current state.

“I’m sorry but…what is that?” Gabriel startled it out of its trance and it used its main arm to explain as best as it could in sign.

“CPU. Stands for ‘central processing unit’. Usually just call it a processor. Works in machines much like a human brain would. Makes decisions, runs calculations, processes all kinds of data. Controls all of the other modules we’re programmed to have. Some are more advanced, some are only programmed to do minimal tasks.”

V1 pointed at its head where its own central processor was located. “Mine can usually run several programs and modules at once without slowing down. Threat assessment, maximizing efficiency, battle tactics, etc etc. It’s why I was so expensive to build.” It couldn’t help but flare its wings with pride. “It usually only has errors when I go too long without a proper restart to clear my data cache. To store ‘memories’ and shit I don’t actively need sitting in my processor.”

Then it rubbed its thumb over the CPU in its hand. “This is V2’s processor. Its brain. Everything that makes V2, V2.”

It hadn’t explained much about V2 to Gabriel, but he knew that it was V1’s successor and that V1 had killed it in battle. He didn’t know how desperately V1 missed having its sibling around, even if all they did was annoy the shit out of one another. And the grief from its new emotional module made it feel even more hollow.

“Its body is still in Greed,” it continued, “but it’s super fucked up. I’ve been trying to… fix it. But I’m worried that if I try and move it, I’ll fuck it up even more. So I’ve been spending most of my time there working on it. And I may or may not have dismissed my low fuel warnings one too many times,” it added, glancing away from Gabriel’s helm.

Gabriel was silent for a few moments, his body still except for the slow rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. He wore none of his armor, as was commonplace while he was on the island. But he had apparently gotten the virtues to smuggle some more of his casual clothes out of Heaven. He now wore a lightweight shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a pair of thick, black pants, and, of course, his helm. V1 finally took note of the dirt that was smeared on his knees, arms, and hands.

“Working hard on gardening?” it asked, hoping to change the subject.

“Yes, I have been. When I suppose I should clearly be worrying about my idiotic machine instead,” he sighed. “I only wish you would be more careful.”

“I was made for taking down Earthmovers. Careful is my middle name.”

“You know what I mean.”

He tapped his fingers idly against V1’s chest. “I think I may have an idea that would benefit both of us in this scenario,” he offered.

V1 tilted its head. “Hit me with it.”

“If you would like, I could try to teleport V2 to the island,” he suggested. “You wouldn’t have to suffer in Greed’s heat and I wouldn’t have to worry about you pushing yourself to the breaking point.”

It was a tempting offer. Though the idea of even attempting to move its successor still worried V1.

“I must reiterate that it is extremely fragile,” it warned. “I don’t want it to break anymore than it already is.”

“I wouldn’t even need to technically move it,” he clarified. “I can just put my hand on its chassis and instantly move it into the bunker under the well you’ve been staying in. It probably won't even shift.”

V1 fidgeted with its hands before responding. “You promise?”

“On the moon.”

“... Fine. But I want to come with you.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” The angel brought his free hand up to run along the side of V1’s face. It leaned into his touch, its optic closing with a sigh.

Gabriel then pointed at his hand still pressed against V1’s chassis. “Are you done, by the way?” he asked.

V1 whirred in amusement. It had been done for a while now. Gabriel lifted his hand away and saw that the wound had already healed over. Pink subtly tinged the tips of his wings and he hastily stood up.

“Let’s- let’s head to Greed, then,” he stuttered.

V1 nodded and gripped onto the angel’s forearm, shutting its optic to lessen the vertigo it always got when teleporting. But it was starting to get used to the sensation and only swayed slightly when Gabriel touched down inside the pyramid the machines had fought in.

“Through there,” it signed and pointed at the broken wall V2 had retreated though. V1 flinched as it remembered the way it chased after its successor when it could have let it go. It shoved the memory aside and clambored through the opening.

Gabriel lifted a wing to shield his eyes as he watched V1 carefully crawl on the outside of the pyramid. His helm shifted down to the small platform at the bottom where V1 could still see the blood splatter of V2’s broken body.

As V1 slid down the side, Gabriel kept pace next to it in the air, his wings spread wide as he flew. It noticed that he, almost subconsciously, kept one wing spread over V1 to protect it from the sunlight and keep it from overheating. A fruitless endeavor, since the gesture only made its internals heat up anyway. He was a stupidly sweet angel, even if he didn’t realize it.

V1 landed on the platform with a thud, dusting itself off as Gabriel landed neatly beside it, his wings sending up a cloud of sand. It gestured vaguely at V2, suddenly embarrassed by the whole thing.

“Well, this is it,” it said. “And this layer sucks ass, by the way.”

“Mm, that I can agree with.”

Gabriel crouched down and cautiously placed his hand gently on a stable section of V2’s chassis. He almost seemed to caress its plating and V1 heard him mutter some kind of prayer under his breath. There was no God to answer him, so V1 assumed it was a force of habit or for his own peace of mind. When he was done, Gabriel extended his other arm for V1 to hold on to.

“This will work. Want it somewhere specific in your room?” he asked.

“Big table along the far wall. Got rid of those old computers and added a workstation. Should be big enough to hold V2.”

Gabriel hummed for a moment as he pictured the area. “Got it. Ready?”

V1 grasped tightly to Gabriel’s other arm, but kept its optic open this time. It didn’t want to take its vision away from V2 for even an instant.

“As much as I can be.”

The angel took a deep breath and vertigo slammed into V1 for the second time in an hour. But it managed to keep its vision clear as the bunker underneath the well came into view.

V1 had done some cleaning, mostly discarding all of the old technology and junk the previous inhabitant had and replacing it with various trinkets it found around Hell that it liked. It also added some better lighting that made it easier to actually see. And it created another entrance with a staircase so it didn’t have to swim every time it wanted a nap.

And as it looked, it saw V2’s body was now carefully laid on the table, not a piece out of place.

It chirped happily, squeezing Gabriel’s arm tighter and fluttering its wings. “Thank you, angel. Nicely done,” it signed rapidly, raising a shutter to smile at him.

He chuckled, and his wings turned gold with pride. “It was nothing, truly,” he replied.

V1 rested its head against his bicep, staring at him with a wide optic. It wasn’t in the mood for working, and it was feeling quite energized with the ichor in its system. “Want to spar? I need a break from working, anyway.”

The golden coloring spread further up his wings. “You do not have to convince me, machine.”

Even out of Greed’s harsh sunlight, reconstructing V2 was still hard and slow work.

It was hard enough to be able to get the proper parts from the terminals without spending a fortune in credits. V1 had ended up striking a deal where the terminals would give it whatever parts it needed in exchange for a portion of its Cyber Grind credits until it paid off its loan.

It needed to blow off some steam after that.

But the problem came from trying to assemble everything. V1 was a warmachine built for efficiency. It rarely had to do repairs on its own body that didn’t already happen automatically. Combined with the fear of fucking up V2 even more, it struggled immensely.

“FUCKI-I-ING BULLSH-HHIT” it ranted to Gabriel while it was struggling to get a screwdriver in between plates of metal. Its voice box was laced with static that betrayed its frustration. “V2 STUPID.”

The angel lounged on the bed in V1’s bunker with a book in his hands, quietly reading. V1 hadn’t asked him to keep it company, but it was nice to have someone around to listen to its heated ranting.

“You do not mean that,” Gabriel said neutrally, not looking up from his book. “You would not be doing this if you did not care about it.”

“STILL STUPID. V2 STUPID. STUPID FU-U-CKING BOT. STUPID AND DEAD.”

“If you used the same processing power to say things other than insults, you might become the first machine philosopher.”

“FUCK YOU.”

Gabriel had made it take a break at that point.

And then there were the many nights that passed where Gabriel would turn in to rest, begging V1 to do the same, but it refused to stop working. Without Gabriel there to keep its temper in check, V1 oftentimes ended up throwing its tools across the room in a fit of frustrated rage. It would then take the elevator down to Violence and spend the rest of the night destroying everything Hell threw at it.

Tonight it was in the Garden of Forking Paths. V1 was in the middle of slamming the knuckleblaster repeatedly into the desecrated body of a mannequin, exploding its internal organs and taking all the blood it could get.

It was V1, the greatest machine humanity had made and it couldn’t even fix another V model. Multiple days and nights had already been spent hunched over V2, trying to at least fix its arm and leg. But those were the easy parts. What would it do when it needed to rewire everything? When it needed to replace its synthetic organs? When it needed to eventually create another fucking arm-

It held a chunk of flesh in its hands, feeling the blood seep into its chassis, when it heard a crack like thunder accompanied by the subtle flapping of wings behind it. It didn’t turn around, instead choosing to whip out the electric railcannon and point it towards where it knew Gabriel’s chest would be while it kept rooting around in the mannequin corpse.

“LEAVE,” it ordered. “NOT NOW ANGEL.” It was not in the mood for one of his righteous lectures right now.

“Machine.” Gabriel’s voice had a harshness to it that it hadn’t heard in a long time “V1, it’s late. You should not be here. When was the last time you had a restart?”

Too many days.

“FUCK OFF,” it warned. Its finger was dancing on the trigger.

Gabriel made a frustrated sound and V1 heard his wings rustling. “How do you expect to fix V2 when you can’t even take care of yourself?”

V1 snapped and whirled around, jumping Gabriel with an angry scream. They both tumbled to the ground and V1 used two arms to restrain Gabriel’s, another to squeeze his throat, and the last one to press the railcannon to his temple. It squeezed its legs around his own, keeping him pinned. The angel weakly struggled beneath V1’s vice grip as his air was cut off.

“BASTARD ANGEL,” it screeched at him. “PIECE OF SHIT.”

V1 nearly shot him then and there when he started to laugh. “You… haven’t been… like this in… in a long time.”

Not since Gluttony, it guessed.

It could feel his fluttering pulse beneath its fingers. His wings thrashed desperately around them and his shattered halo flickered as he struggled to breath. It could feel its own wings buzzing with rage and adrenaline, their harsh, red light reflecting off of Gabriel’s shining armor. V1 wanted to kill him. It wanted to feel the life fade away beneath it before it gorged itself on his blood.

V1 suddenly flung itself away from him. No, it didn’t want to kill him. Why did it think that? He was the only good thing it still had, it didn’t want to hurt him. Its chassis shook as it watched and listened to its angel coughing and gasping for breath, its own fans heaving in its chest.

“I… I understand you are frustrated,” he rasped as he got to his feet, “but burning yourself at both ends will only do you more harm. I know this first hand. You need to rest.”

It could feel its processor struggling to understand his words and its vision was starting to get fuzzy at the edges. V1 knew he was right. It had pushed itself too far this time. The adrenaline was wearing off, leaving it feeling pure exhaustion all the way in its synthetic organs. V1 tried to take a step, and nearly stumbled to the ground.

Gabriel was there in an instant, slowly and gently picking it up. It didn’t fight back, going limp into his arms and pressing the side of its head into his chest. It was so tired. Tired and frustrated and angry with V2, with Hell, but mostly with itself.

Maybe it did need a restart. As soon as possible, preferably.

Gabriel teleported them out of Violence, appearing in his cabin in seconds. He laid V1 down on the bed while he worked on taking off his armor. Its vision was covered in a layer of static and it was only vaguely aware of Gabriel speaking.

It felt simultaneously like a second and several hours before V1 felt Gabriel’s weight settle next to it. His arms gently wrapped around V1, tucking it carefully against his body. It sighed as Gabriel ran his hand across its back and it nestled its head underneath his own, its rage disappearing.

And in its place was shame and guilt.

“I hurt you,” it signed weakly.

“Yes, you did,” he admitted quietly.

V1 signed with a flurry of rapid hand movements. “I wanted to kill you. I don’t know why. I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want you to die.” Trying to convince itself more than him.

“Shh, I know you don’t.”

“I don’t know why I did any of that.”

It hadn’t seen him take off his helm, but it could feel his facial wings brushing against the top of its head. His mouth pressed against the metal in a series of kisses and he hummed softly as he pulled V1 closer.

“I’m sorry.” It was shaking against Gabriel’s chest. I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry.”

“You are forgiven,” he murmured.

“I don’t deserve it.”

“Forgiveness is mine to give as I please,” he said firmly. “I may have been hurt, but I am alive and in one piece. And you clearly feel remorse for your actions. So I am forgiving you.”

“I can’t promise it won’t happen again.”

“A risk I am willing to take.”

“You are stupid. A very stupid angel.”

“A stupid angel you are stuck with, machine.”

He was far too kind to V1. Too kind and entirely too patient. It wrapped all of its arms around Gabriel and felt his wing lay across its body like a blanket. It didn’t deserve this much comfort from someone it nearly killed not ten minutes ago. But Gabriel kept rubbing its back, and it felt more and more at ease, eventually letting itself be molded to fit in his grasp.

“Just rest for now,” he whispered. “We can try some different tactics when you wake.”

V1 had powered down before he finished speaking.

>> V1: what the fuck

>> ESTHER: good to see you too blue xx

V1 had powered back on to realize that it was almost midday, Gabriel was nowhere to be seen, and that its processor felt considerably lighter. So it decided to jump right back into the V2 reconstruction project before it lost any steam.

Only to enter the bunker and see Gabriel with Esther, the mindflayer from the warehouse. V1 was stunned and extremely confused to see them in the same space.

>> V1: ???? why??? are you??? here????

>> ESTHER: ask your handsome angel over there hes the one that asked me to come

V1 twitched. “Gabriel. Sidebar.” It stabbed its thumb upwards to get its point across.

“Why is Esther here??” it signed aggressively once the two of them were on the island’s surface. “How did you even find her??”

“You do remember I left a note with her when you were avoiding me for weeks, right?” he asked with an amused tilt of his head. “And sign language has become a common language for machines down here to know. It was not hard to communicate with her.”

“And she is here because…?”

“I figured an extra hand helping with V2 wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

“You didn’t think to maybe, oh I don’t know, run that by me first?”

“I thought she was your friend,” he shrugged. “Didn’t she give you your emotional module? And don’t you see her everytime you go to that machine safe haven?”

“Yes and yes, but I do not think that makes us friends.” So why did it feel the desire to be proven wrong?

“Good luck telling that to her.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “She speaks very highly of you, V1. But,” he added with a sigh, “it is ultimately your choice if she stays or not. I will not argue if you want her to leave.”

God fucking dammit. It hated how painfully easy it was to agree with him. Especially when he gave V1 a choice in the matter. It wasn’t used to being given choices. And it had to admit it did enjoy Esther’s company. But only a little bit, of course.

“She can stay,” it signed at last. “But I reserve the right to make her leave at any point.”

“It is your bunker and your project,” he chuckled. “Any and all choices are yours to make.”

Esther was still floating where they had left her, and she was currently looking at her hands as if inspecting the nails she didn’t have.

>> ESTHER: done with your little tantrum blue?

>> V1: I will accept your help. But you’re going to listen to me, okay?

>> ESTHER: anything you say ;)
>> ESTHER: but yeah ofc
>> ESTHER: Wanna switch to sign so your angel can speak to us?

>> V1: This should be fine. We’ll need all hands on deck for this. But if you need to tell him something, signing would be best.

>> ESTHER: You got it, boss.

As the two machines got to work with Gabriel supervising, V1 soon realized Esther clearly knew what the fuck she was doing. She maneuvered through V2’s chassis with ease and obvious skill, as if she was as familiar with it as she was with her own body. She didn’t use many tools, instead choosing to use her tendrils to reach into smaller spaces. Eventually, V1 stuck to telling her what she needed to do while watching to make sure she didn’t break anything vital.

It was only when Esther effortlessly slotted one of V2’s new synthetic organs into place that V1 was fully and properly stunned.

>> V1: How the fuck are you doing that.

>> ESTHER: Doing what?

>> V1: I don’t know. Like, repairing shit like you’re one of my old technicians.

She made a trilling noise that functioned as her laugh.

>> ESTHER: You’re a cutie, Blue. I made my own body from bits of scrap and whatever shit I could convince the terminals to give me. I have to repair it all on my own, too. I don’t have a fancy repair nexus like you V models, you know.
>> ESTHER: So I’ve gotten good at figuring out what makes us machines tick.
>> ESTHER: That and the fact that I’ve fucked a few.

>> V1: Didn’t need that much information.

>> ESTHER: <3
>> ESTHER: But I digress. This is a lot more complicated than my own internals, so I’m using a combination of my own experiences and the blueprints of both of your bodies.
>> ESTHER: And it helps that you’re telling me what to do.
>> ESTHER: wonder if your angel over there appreciates that ;)

>> V1: Can we not discuss my sex life while we’re both elbow deep in my dead sibling’s guts.

>> ESTHER: LMAOOO

By the time the sun set on the island, Esther had managed to get most of V2’s internals in a much more suitable state. It at least had a whole new set of working synthetic organs and all of the ruined fuel lines and wires had been completely taken out.

“Blue here already did a pretty good job of fixing V2’s legs and arm,” she signed to V1 and Gabriel. “So there isn’t much else to do with those. Maybe replace some of the pistons, but that will be easier if V2 is online to help with the calibration. I can probably finish rewiring everything in a couple of days or so. But the wings are a whole other issue.”

Esther held up a cracked piece of resin, but it lacked the bright yellow light that radiated from V1’s own wings. “Making a new resin wing and all the sensors would be easy peasy.” She sighed and tossed the resin to the ground. “But remaking the actual hard light interior? Even I don’t have the skillset for that.”

Gabriel shifted and held out his hands. A sphere of teal light appeared in his palms before he formed it into a long, thin rectangle. The same shape as V1’s wing blades.

“I am unsure if this would work,” he admitted while examining his handiwork, “but I believe it may be worth a try, yes?”

Esther trilled and hovered in front of Gabriel, running her hands along the hard light. “You sure are full of surprises, honey,” she signed. “And it’s made of Hell energy. How are you able to do that?”

Gabriel glanced away and V1 saw his hands twitch. “Hell’s energy has… replaced the spot where the Father’s Light had been. But it has seemingly chosen to leave me with many of my angelic abilities. Healing, using light to form objects, and teleportation, to name a few.”

“Mm fascinating. No wonder Blue likes you so much.”

“OKAY TIME FOR BED,” V1 signed while pushing a blushing Gabriel towards the exit. “Gabriel here needs his rest, don’t you angel? Yeah, he gets real cranky if he doesn't get a full night of sleep. But we’ll see you again tomorrow.”

Esther laughed again, her hands covering where her mouth might have been. “Yes, yes, of course. I’ll be here bright and early for more repairs.”

She waved before teleporting out of the room, and hopefully towards the elevator.

>> ESTHER: try not to break him too badly <3

V1 had never been more thankful that Gabriel couldn’t see the communication line.

>> ESTHER: whenever youre ready v

V1’s fans shuddered as it looked down at V2. A week of hard work made its successor look almost good as new. With Esther’s assistance, the two had rewired everything exactly as the blueprints had described, fitted it with new fuel tanks, created all new synthetic organs, and even gave it a new coat of red paint. And V1 had taken great care to make sure V2’s vocal interface was fully repaired before slotting it back into its chassis.

V2’s wings were no longer yellow, but a bright cyan from the hard light made of Hell energy, courtesy of Gabriel. V1 had spent a couple days just working on making sure all the sensors on the new resin coating were working properly. The new blades slotted perfectly into the ports on its wings and maintained a full range of motion.

The only thing they couldn’t add was a new arm. Esther did her best on finishing V1’s shoddy work on its legs and remaining arm and said she could maybe work something up, but it would be difficult to attach with V2 still unresponsive. So they settled to wait until it woke up and Esther did her best to seal off the ports until they were ready to use.

Gabriel had also spent several minutes filling up V2’s tanks with fresh blood. It involved him sitting on the ground while holding a bleeding hand over the glass container until it was full. The entire process left him very low on blood and extremely woozy that V1 had to carry him into the cabin.

And now the only thing left to do now was insert the CPU.

V1 stood on the left side of the table next to V2’s head. Gabriel was behind it, one hand gently placed on its shoulder, while Esther floated across from V1 on the right side of the table. V1 could see the slot in V2’s head where the CPU went, the port recently cleaned by Esther’s careful hands. It pressed the feedbacker to its chest and pulled the processor out of its chassis.

>> V1: no time like the present i guess
>> V1: maybe be careful i dont know how itll react

>> ESTHER: aye aye

V1 steadied its hands and pulled the tray from V2’s head before gently sliding in the CPU. With a quiet click, it shut the compartment and waited for V2’s internals to kick on.

A moment passed. Then two. V1’s fans were silent as it stood completely still. It didn’t think Gabriel was breathing behind it. Even Esther had quieted all of her systems that made gently whirring sounds.

A single beep so quiet V1 almost didn’t hear it. Then it heard the steady increase of whirring fans. There was a subtle twitch from one of V2’s fingers. Its optic flickered once, twice, before it slowly settled on a dim glow. The shutter weakly blinked a few times before it tried to focus on V1.

“What-” V2 started to say, but its voice was garbled with static. “What the fuck?”

>> V1: QUERY: STATUS OF MODEL_V2

>> V2: okay okay jeez yeah im good
>> V2: come here before i change my mind

V2 weakly raised its one arm from the table and beckoned towards V1. It wasted no time.

It swiftly leaned down and wrapped all four arms around V2 in a crushing hug, who chirped and held on to V1 with its own.

>> V2: careful dickhead
>> V2: i just came back from the dead im fuckin fragile

>> V1: vee vee vee vee vee vee
>> V1: youre okay youre okay youre okay
>> V1: im so sorry i didnt want any of that to happen i didnt want you dead
>> V1: and i missed you so much that it actually fucked me up for a while
>> V1: im just glad youre back

>> V2: since when were you this emotional vi damn
>> V2: but its good to see you too
>> V2: and who the fuck are these guys
>> V2: is that a fucking angel and a mindflayer
>> V2: what the fuck

>> V1: theyre friends dont worry i will explain everything later
>> V1: but you need to rest for now
>> V1: like you said you just came back from the dead

V2 tapped its fingers against V1’s back. “You can… stop crushing me now,” it rasped, gaining more control over its voice box. “Hard to rest with… four fucking arms squeezing me.”

Reluctantly, V1 let go and gently placed V2 back against the table. It sighed as all of its systems powered back on and looked just about ready to slip into sleep mode there on the metal table.

V1 couldn’t let that happen. It expertly picked V2 up and carried it in its arms.

“What the fuck, put me down,” V2 ordered. “I will not be treated like some damsel in distress-”

It whirred as V1 walked over and placed it in the bunker’s bed. V1 expertly swaddled V2 up in the blankets so it couldn’t move before fluffing up the pillow and laying V2’s head on it.

“Stay here,” it commanded. “And rest. Can talk more when you’re fully operational.”

V2 looked as though it was going to retort, but its optic was already struggling to stay open and it relented. “Fine. Whatever. Only because I want to and not because you told me.”

V1 gently placed its head on top of V2’s and sighed as it felt the steady whirr of V2’s mechanisms instead of cold, dead steel.

>> V1: Sleep well, Vee.

There was no response for several seconds. Then:

>> V2: i will
>> V2: and thank you vi
>> V2: its good to be back
>> V2: <3

>> V1: <3

“Just come find me when it’s ready to finish the final tests,” Esther signed as V2’s optic closed and it settled into sleep mode. “But I suspect that will take a couple days.”

V1 nodded. The mindflayer had done so much for V1 already, and she was offering even more help. Before it could stop, it found itself kneeling in front of Esther and taking her hands into its own.

“THANK YOU,” it warbled. “THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.”

V1 beeped as Esther suddenly lifted it off the ground and pulled it into a tight hug.

>> ESTHER: of course blue <333 thats what friends are for

Gabriel approached them and wrapped his own arms around V1 and Esther, his wings pulling the three of them into a tight embrace. V1’s fans whined and it buried its head into Esther’s shoulder, letting all of the fear and stress melt away in an instant. They stayed like that until V1’s processor let it drift off into sleep.