Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A simulated huff escaped her before her eyes darted around her bedroom. Uzi bit her lip for a moment, and her gaze wandered back to the desk before her. A few piles of flat disk-like objects were lying on its metal surface. The older drones at the bunker liked to refer to them as poker chips, but her generation just called them the latter. “It’s still not enough,” the short drone murmured to herself, hunched over at her chair, “I need just a bit more and then I can get it”. She had already flipped her room upside down in the search for forgotten disks, checked the living room couch for any hidden between the gaps and got paid by a few classmates to do their homework. Anxiety, or perhaps excitement, gnawed at her wires now that she was closer to her saving goals but not enough to have finally reached it. 

The purple-haired girl abruptly stood up from her seat and paced around her room, CPU wracking to find a quick solution. “Borrow from someone?” she whispered to nobody but herself. “I could grab some from Dad’s wallet… uuurgh, but then he’ll add ‘thief’ to the ‘disappointment of a child’ interviews.” Most often, there wasn’t someone to listen to her thoughts, but she was fine since listening to her own monologues was enough for her.  Well, there was Thad sometimes. He was the only drone who actually treated her as a peer… and as a friend. “WAIT, Thad!” Uzi’s whispering turned into a loud gasp of realisation, “Maybe he can lend me some chips!”

The short drone looked at the wall, her LED lights unfocused as she internally checked the time. Hell, class is soon. Uzi zipped towards her backpack and hastily placed it around her shoulders, almost falling backwards during her hurry. 

With determined focus, she exited her apartment unit and stomped through the bunker’s hallways. Other drones flinched away from her path; some curled up their synthetic lips upon sighting her and turned away to gossip with their fellow worker drones. 

“Sʜᴜsʜ, ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴜʀᴅᴇʀ ғʀᴇᴀᴋ ɪs ᴀʀᴏᴜɴᴅ!”
“Sʜᴇ’s, ʟɪᴋᴇ, sᴏ ᴀɢɢʀᴇssɪᴠᴇ! I sᴡᴇᴀʀ sʜᴇ’s ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴍᴜʀᴅᴇʀ ᴅʀᴏɴᴇ ᴛʜᴀɴ ᴡᴏʀᴋᴇʀ.”
“Hᴇʀ ғᴀsʜɪᴏɴ sᴛʏʟᴇ ɪs sᴏ ᴛʀᴀsʜ~” “Yᴇᴀʜ, sʜᴇ ᴘʀᴏʙᴀʙʟʏ ɢᴏᴛ ɪᴛ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴀ ᴅᴜᴍᴘsᴛᴇʀ ʙɪɴ~”
“Sʜᴇ sʜᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴅᴏ ʜᴇʀ ᴅᴀᴅ ᴀ ғᴀᴠᴏᴜʀ ᴀɴᴅ–”

“...” her metallic hands tightened around her backpack’s straps and quickened her pace, trying to stomp away as to disguise it with anger and tuning the world out with some good taste angsty teenage nightcore music.

At some point, she bumped into a hard obstacle, a quiet curse escaped her mouth, her digital eyebrows lowered as her optics searched for her anger’s target while getting into a verbal defensive stance. “Ouch, sorry, dude!” Anger switched to confusion and was then replaced by relief. “Oh, hi Thad,” the purple-haired girl said, trying not to sound awkward or cringe. 

Her arms folded, and she looked away for a few seconds before looking back at him. “Sorry for the bump, I was distracted thinking about some stuff,” a small blush formed on her screen for a few seconds before fading away. “No problem, it happens,” his tone was relaxed, slightly leaning into goofy happiness. “Wanna hang out after class?” the blond drone asked as they started walking beside each other towards their shared classroom, doing a joyful fistbump when answered with a nod from the other machine. “By the way…uhm…can you lend me some chips?”

“Sure! As long as you do my chemistry homework for like a week?” Thad chuckled and gave her a friendly punch on the shoulder. Fondness crept into her smirk, and LED lights, which she rolled and agreed to the deal with a few ‘yeah’s. “Did something at the traders’ market catch your eye?” he said with a soft smile as one of his hands rummaged through his shorts’ pocket before depositing some disks in her metallic palm, “Maybe a figure from that anime you were showing me last weekend?”

“Do you remember that project I am working on?” Her optics focused on him and tried to divert her other sensors’ attention towards the environment, lest she bump into someone else. 

“The railgun?”

“Yes, my sick as hell railgun!” Her voice got louder with excitement for a moment before she coughed and tried to recompose herself, “A trader from the north is resting here at the colony, and she has a functional battery core for sale.” Thad’s digital eyebrows momentarily lifted, and his optics softened with delight. “Oh, neat! Can I tag along?” She let out a contented noise and increased her walking pace, “Yeah, but let's get to class before the teacher locks us out!”

The sound of pixelated guns shooting and controller buttons being hurriedly pressed filled the angsty purple-themed bedroom, the antique TV’s screen displayed the text “You are dead”, and a long groan followed suit. “I bet they were using hacks,” Uzi grumbled into her pillow as her cold metal fingers tensed around the gaming controller before going slack and staring at the ceiling with a huff. “It was fun though,” Thad commented from his seat on the floor, his back resting against her bed’s side. “For you!” she snapped; however, it lacked any true bite. 

The sound of a buzzing alarm rang through the room, jolting both drones from their seats and making the purple-haired one fall from her bed with a yelp. All movement stalled before Uzi excitedly got up from the floor with a maniacal smile, “The trader should be at the Traders’ Market by now!” She grabbed a bag from her desk and snatched the baseball-hat-wearing drone's hand and helped him get to his feet. “Nice! Also, do you mind if we look at any stands with stickers? I want to make my skateboard cooler,” He hummed. “Yeah, sure, maybe if we're lucky we'll find band stuff too,” she shrugged her shoulders with a small smile, “I would kill for a new Dead Batteries’ poster.”

At first, her metallic hands grasped firmly around his, and her legs moved fast to compensate for her shorter stature. Gradually, her manic enthusiasm softened into simple, slightly more normal excitement, her hold loosened, and their walking pace slowed down to something more comfortable for both. “How much is the trader asking for? I heard battery cores are pricey,” Thad asked softly. “60 chips, less if I add objects she's looking for into the exchange,” she replied and lifted the bag she was holding with her other hand, “That's why I got this!” His green optics wandered to the white plastic bag, which held a vaguely rectangular shape. “And that would be?” A bit of curiosity sneaked into his laid-back tone. “You'll see,” she simply answered, and her smile resembled a square bracket (“]” this thing lol). 

Chapter Text

The sounds of chatting and bargaining echoed through what was once a massive warehouse, and columns were dispersed in strategic points to support its structure. Lines of stands, mostly classified by category, selling a variety of treasures and products, stretched across the room. Some sold simple tech parts such as motherboards and electronic chips, objects they scavenged from the abandoned human cities or their own crafts, like fabrics and other things. A great quantity of drones of all ages wandered through the paths the stands formed, their optics wandering for good deals and anything that managed to catch their eyes.

Uzi could only describe the place as one of the most popular locations in the enormous bunker her kind cowered in; She herself would sometimes pass by, look into new hardware for her computer or projects, and maybe loiter when she didn’t want to go home and look at her dad’s face. 

“Looks like the market is lively today,” Thad commented with a calm hum, “we better avoid some of the walkways since they sure look crowded.” A muffled grumble escaped from the purple-haired machine beside him, and she rolled her optics, “I would say more like ‘claustrophobic’, but that's daily living in the bunker.” The blond drone turned his head towards her, his mouth opened and closed a few times while his optics zoomed around from corner to corner. She isn't wrong, but it isn't that bad, right? Maybe I'm just used to it… Silence settled between the two, uncomfortable for one and inconsequential for the other.

They paused for a few minutes when they passed by a column that held a whiteboard showcasing a squiggly map of the stands’ location and some tips on where to find what. Whoever drew this probably didn’t have great hand coordination, had shit handwriting or was a kid model. Both of them discussed briefly what path to take, pointing out a few detours they could look at before continuing their little quest.

“Which do you think would match my skateboard more?“ Each of his hands held a package of small stickers related to sports, one being soccer and the other being basketball. Both of them were in the middle of a stand with three paper walls, which had shelves with drone-made crafts that ranged from keychains to jewellery. The stand's trader was slouched over a counter, his head resting on his crossed arms as he stared at customers with tired eyes. “Why don't you pick the one you like the most?” She lifted one of her digital eyebrows and shrugged her shoulders. “Well, I think both are equally cool, y'know?” He flipped the package to be able to look at them again, “I can't really pick between the two.” Thad's optics lifted, and his eyes slightly blurred as his CPU worked harder. His optics lifted and slightly blurred; it seemed his CPU was working harder than usual if the circling dots animation in the corner of his visor was any indication. 

“Look around and pick something with your vibe then,” the words suddenly escaped his mouth, and the dots animation disappeared. Her chassis froze for a few seconds before looking at him with a confused look. “Isn't the skateboard yours?” Her hand made a vague gesture by moving with her index finger pointed out. “I just think it would be neat to have a little reminder of you whenever I look at it,” his shoulder shrugged, and a little chuckle escaped his vocalizer. “Eeeeeeewwwww,” a pale shade of purple manifested as blushing in her visor, and she turned her head away. However, Thad knew the noise wasn't from genuine disgust and didn't let it sour his expression. 

Her digital eyes wandered to a crow-shaped sticker from the corner of the stand and reached for it. The corvidae was depicted lying on its back with its wings spread, both legs up and an annoyed look. She remained quiet and avoided eye contact as she passed the sticker to her friend. “Neat, crows are cool!” The lower part of his digital eyes squished with joy, “A dark type of cool, but cool anyway.” Her mouth struggled not to form a smile.

“Thad, is that you?” Both of them snapped their eyes towards the newcomer. A long groan left Uzi the moment her sensors recognised the blonde hair and helmet adorned by a yellow cat-ear-like wire bow, along with her ever-so-loyal popular girl clique. “Oh, hi Lizzy!” He greeted the drone, who squinted her eyes at them. “I didn't know you would be shopping,” the squareish bag in her hand swayed slightly as she continued to use the same arm to text on her phone, “If I knew I would've gotten you better company.” The robotic jock noticed how his friend's fists clenched. He took a deep breath, his smile became strained, “Liz, I can carry your bags another day.” Thad reached for the sleeve of Uzi's hoodie, placed a few chips on the stand's counter and muttered a small thank you to the trader before shoving the chosen sticker in his pocket and dragging Uzi away.

Their feet carried them forward for a while until the trader they were looking for entered their view. At some point during the walk, Thad had whispered a sorry to her. “She was the one being a glitch,” Uzi huffed, followed by a small growl, “Not you.” Her purple optics wandered to the stand she was so excited about earlier, observing its details. In the centre of it, there was a horizontal table covered by a long black cloth with a few shelves nearby holding a few technological components and pieces.  Her digital eyes squinted and brightened the moment her visual sensors spotted the energy core sitting at the corner of one of the shelves.

“Ms. Audra!” She approached and lifted the bag she was carrying, “I got the thing you asked for.” The shorter drone set it on the dark table and stared at the older drone with a mischievous smile. “Is it functional?” Her voice was soft as her hands removed the rectangular object from its plastic veil. “Yep, I fixed it myself,” she declared, “Also, thanks for reserving the energy core.” The trader squinted her good virtual eye as she turned the walky-talky in her hand for a better look. She pushed on a few buttons and nodded in satisfaction. The older drone got up from her seat, grabbed and placed the energy core on the table, before snatching a small cardboard box from under the table. Both of the young drones watched the lady carefully place it in the box, give it to Uzi and mumble a thank you. 

The shorter drone’s purple eyes fixated on the box in her hands, the purple eyes squinted, and Thad could only describe the smile that formed on her face plates as worrying. A giggle-turned-cackle released from her voicebox. She grabbed his metallic forearms and started to drag him towards the market’s exit. “Whoa, whoa, where are we going??” Thad asked, trying to keep up with her elated, quick pace. 

“We’re going outside to test the railgun!” She hesitated for a moment and looked back at him, “You can stay behind if you want to… be a coward and all.” His digital brows bumped together, and a slightly tight smile formed on his face. Both of them had spent their whole lives inside the bunker and only knew the outside world through tales and pictures taken by others; the only thing they knew for certain was that the outside world was dangerous. A shiver went down his robo-spine the moment his mind pictured the neon yellow death ‘x’ and sharp claws that scratch and growl outside the bunker doors every night, and that may take Uzi away forever in her courageous quest. This could be the last time he sees her. But maybe if they’re together, he could watch her back. “I’m going with you,” were the words that he settled down on saying, “There isn’t any talking you out of this, right?”

“Nothing can change my mind,” she replied with a humming sound and looked forward, looking at where they were going. Silence fell on the two for a few minutes. His inner systems informed him it was dusk and probably growing darker. “We could die,” Thad simply pointed out their future. “We could bring back a murder drone’s head,” her optics were fierce when she looked back at him. “Thad, can you imagine not having to play basketball in a hot, stuffy room?” The masculine-presenting machine struggled to think of anything that could defy such temptation. 

“Good…let’s grab my railgun and go!”

Chapter Text

The outside world was… bleak. 

As far as they could see, buildings reached the skies with cracks along their surface. Some leaned and creaked dangerously as if threatening to collapse forward and bury you in debris. Both young drones, for that reason alone, walked in the centre of the road while taking turns at keeping watch at the cloudy sky and the dark alleyways at ground level. 

The blond one kept close to his friend, with every odd metallic whine that echoed through the deserted city, his hand twitched as if ready to grab the robo-girl by the arm. It was the first time both of them had ever dared to visit the surface, and if Thad was being frank, he felt ready to return to the bunker they called home, considering the creatures he knew dwelled outside.

“Are we closer to the… death spire?” his words were soft and quiet as possible. “We’ll see it soon,” Uzi replied without looking back. The wind breezed roughly through her hair, although a bit constrained by the hoodie on top of her head. “So… just asking so I’m ready for anything, what exactly will we do when we get there?” He hesitated in his question since he had a vague idea in mind. The big picture of their quest was obvious: test the railgun. “We’ll sneak inside and shoot one when it’s busy doing… murderous robots stuff?” The latter part of her sentence had shifted into uncertainty, “I  don’t really know what they do when they aren’t slaughtering people.”

“Maybe they are like animals,” the robotic jock suggested, “I think there’s a lot of other things animals do when they aren’t eating.” Oddly, such an idea helped him to slightly calm down as his CPU tried to visualise what other types of behaviours murder drones took. Scratching surfaces was likely, considering the ones left outside the bunker; they were always light and thin, thanks to the durable material the massive door was made from. “They may be, that would technically make this poaching,” the emo-gothic drone’s amused voice interrupted his thoughts. “Do you think it would be badass to make murder-drone claws and teeth necklaces?”

Time seemed to be torturously long on the frosty planet; minutes or maybe hours of walking passed before a tall fang-shaped structure entered their sight. It reached for the skies, form twisting with each strong wind that caressed its surface, made of mangled corpses of their kind. Uzi and Thad stared at it in silence; the former chose to lower her hardened gaze and wander inside while the latter froze in place, staring for a few seconds before following his friend. Did they know… did they use to know any of the drones that made part of this macabre amalgamation? 

Silence permeated every inch of the location, save for the creaking of shifting partially melted corpses. Thad’s jaw was tense, his tongue tied and heavy as his core struggled to remain calm in the monsters’ den. The purple-haired drone’s hand grabbed his and led both behind a pile of trash and robotic carcass remains. “Now, we wait,” she whispered to him as quietly as her vocal synthesiser was capable. 

A thud echoed through the air, and like a demon that was summoned, it clung to the small spaceship in the centre with its wings spread wide. A worker's severed head rested between its claws, the creature lifted it and lapped at the dripping oil. The moment it ran dry, the head was crushed and tossed behind. Meanwhile, the murder beast was occupied, Uzi had positioned her railgun and sought the perfect shot. 

The monster’s head snapped towards their direction and lurched to the ground, but the green ray that bolted through the air was close but missed its intended target. The world stopped dead for all machines; the murderous drone growled, prepared to dash towards the workers, but a chunk of the unstable spire fell hard on its head. The sound of broken glass echoed, presumably from the yellow bulbs in its head and visor. It went limp and fell on the ground. 

“Shit,” Uzi barked, jumping from her position behind the mound of corpses, “I wanted to kill it and not some dumb fucking debris!” Her friend followed behind and crouched down near the once ferocious beast. “Well, your railgun works!” the jock pointed out, “ That’s what matters most.” Thad stood up and pushed the chunks of debris away from the downed predator for a better look. A shiver went down his spine, and he stumbled backwards the second he saw how its core still glowed. “It’s alive!” Uzi murmured in astonishment, “Do we need to kill it with a bus or something?”

“What do we do now?” the lad asked, his gaze wandered to the death spire’s exit, and his chest rumbled thanks to the nervousness plaguing his core. “We’ll drag it back to the bunker,”  her hands grabbed its deadly tail and weaved around its limbs, intending to restrict any mobility. “Everyone will see that I... no, we captured a murder drone!” They started to drag it across the snow, Thad doing it more on automatic than conscious choice. “We can learn how these things behave and what their weaknesses are.” 

Chapter Text

“HOLY DOOR, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Her father’s stammering voice echoed through the frost-bitten hallway; Uzi’s jaws tensed the moment it assaulted her hearing sensors. A groan escaped her mouth, she rolled her visual optics with annoyance and shifted her gaze towards the older drone at the end of the hallway.

Thad’s green eyes glanced from the father to the daughter and vice versa, his mouth opened slightly, but no sound left his voice synthesiser. After all, what explanation could they give him? What they were doing was clear, although very unusual. “Nothing you should worry about!” The purple-haired one declared with finality. A small grunt followed when she once again firmed her grasp on the dark coat’s fluffy collar, which belonged to an unconscious murder drone, and continued dragging it deeper into the bunker. Thad chose to help her in her efforts rather than stand in place like the frozen corpses that littered outside.

“WELL, I’M WORRIED,” the bunker leader’s whole chassis shook as he took a hesitant step, metallic hand slightly reaching out as if wanting to yank his daughter away from it. Fear kept double the arm’s length away from the thing, and consequently, the young drones. “Where… where did you even find it?” His hands flailed around, and his eyes were not only adorned by age lines but also by stress lines. “I knocked it out,” a smirk tugged at her lips as she walked, with effort, past her father, “I told you my railgun would work."

The older drone shook his head and moved past her to block her path. “Young lady, I won't allow you to keep that monster inside!” The shaking of his legs betrayed the pretend confidence he tried to muster. “Not asking for permission,” she said with a growl and shoved Khan to the side. “It won't live for long anyway. I will put it down once I learn what I need.”

“Sooooo, we're gonna keep it here?” The jock drone asked, his hand vaguely pointing out to a cell. This section of the bunker was rarely visited by its inhabitants; it was a hallway occupied with cells, side by side, with strong metal bars to keep possible prisoners from escaping. “What if it bends the bars and goes on a… murdering spree?” his voice quieted at the end.

“It won’t”, the purple-haired drone scoffed and turned to face the cell as her hand grabbed a card from her jacket’s pocket. She placed the object on an entrance reader situated on a wall beside its entrance. “The bars are made from the same material as the bunker’s doors”, she explained a bit more quietly. Uzi may hate the existence of the three huge doors, but she couldn’t deny the fact that they’re the reason her kind managed to survive this far, not that you would catch her saying that out loud. “Maybe we could chain it too?” Thad rubbed his own knuckles with a bit of unease, and his friend hummed in response. “When it wakes up, well, getting inside the cell would be… difficult.”

The tiny round lightbulb near the door head shifted from red to green and slid open. With a small grunt, the gothic drone dragged her murderous charge into its new ‘home’ while her blond companion disappeared for a moment before reappearing with something weighing in his hands. “Uh, wasn’t a cell enough for human prisoners?” Uzi lifted one of her digital eyebrows after she took a good look at it, registering it as a chain attached to a collar, “Kinda overkill if you ask me.” “I think this place was supposed to be a dog kennel too,” Thad shrugged and kneeled beside the death angel. “There were some dog bowls in the janitor’s closet,” he pointed out without looking back at the mentioned room further down the hallway. “Any other explanation would be… I don’t really wanna think about it,” he mumbled, placed the collar around the murder drone’s neck, and with a small click, it was locked. “Makes sense,” Uzi squinted her eyes at the floor for a few seconds, looking at nothing in particular.

She shook her head and connected the chain to a round steel loop on the corner of the cell. It would give the beast enough space to wander, but not enough to reach the door. Her purple optics wandered to its claws and metallic wings, both of which could be used as weapons if the beast wanted so. I should do something about that…

A pained hiss escaped his lips; the machine scrunched his optics tighter, bothered by the light beyond his visual sensors. His body curled up on itself; his hands tried to shield his true eyes with darkness, but only found the sharp thinness of his knife-claws, which allowed artificial light to leak between the gaps. Wait… what? N didn’t usually enter sleep mode with his hands in hunting claws mode. He also didn’t usually sleep on the ground, preferring to hang upside down from the spire’s roof.

A small whine escaped his voicebox as he stretched his limbs in the hopes of chasing the stiffness away from his body. His head hurt and felt… weird, but he couldn't recall any recent injury. No, he couldn't remember the past five hours of his life. The disassembler dimmed his visor and optic sensors with a sigh. He guessed he had probably tripped during a hunt or angered J somehow. He needed to be better so his boss would be proud of him, and maybe give V a reason to notice him. The latter thought made his tail wag, and his canister noisily clinked against the floor.  

A robotic noise echoed from the opposite side of wherever he was, the sound of optics blinking. Perhaps J had been kind enough to let him rest inside the ship, N hoped he wasn't interrupting her paperwork filling… He opened his jaws and his tongue slapped against his visor to clear any residual moisture, likely left behind by snow. It didn't smell like J. His chassis stiffened, he jolted to stand up, the world was a dizzy mess, his legs failed him, the disassembler chose to at least kneel on the floor and look with an ‘x’ on his visor towards the stranger scent’s owner. 

Two silhouettes were still on the other side, and many long strips of darkness stood side-by-side across the room. A hiss escaped his fanged teeth, and his tail flicked with unease. This was nowhere in the Spire. The strangers were short ones, smaller than a disassembly drone. Worker drones! With shaky limbs, he positioned himself, rushed forward and pounced in their direction. A pained yelp echoed across the room the moment his head collided with the very physical aspect of the long strips of darkness. Bars, those were prison bars. He froze for a short moment, core clenched with panic, his claws madly scratched at the floor, and his sharp teeth closed around the metallic structure in the hopes of chomping his way to freedom. 

It didn't bend or yield, nor did his teeth leave marks behind. He was stuck… he was stuck!! What a fool he was! He didn't know how he got there, but he could guess it was probably his fault. J would be so ashamed of him. The disassembler stumbled backwards until his back collided with the wall behind him, his gaze fixated on the worker drones beyond the cell while his chest fought to keep his breathing under control. 

Why did they take him? Where did they take him? … Would J and V look for him?