Chapter Text
The sound of metallic wings filled the air as a disassembly drone soared by. Its wings slowed, allowing for a smooth landing on the ground. The drone’s gaze locked onto the pod ship it had arrived in—damaged and nonfunctional, but in the process of being repaired. The company had sent them to Copper-9 to wipe out the planet's worker drones, and this was their base of operations.
The disassembly drone stepped into the pod, scanning the dim interior. A single worker drone cowered under a table, oblivious to the towering figure now looming within the pod. The disassembly drone saw an opportunity that was rather unique and rare nowadays.
Its hand shaped into sharp claws with a menacing click, and its mouth stretched into a nightmarish grin, revealing razor-sharp teeth that could put a shark to shame. The sight alone could make an entire room tremble in fear. Carefully, the disassembly drone silently crept towards its soon-to-be prey.
Step by step—inch by inch, it drew closer and closer to the oblivious worker drone. The disassembler could already savor the anticipation of an easy prey. The panicked screams that would fill the room and please its earing.....
But just as the disassembly drone was within reach, the worker drone slipped out from beneath the table. With a knowing smirk, it grabbed a green-glowing weapon that had been strategically placed beside them. The disassembly drone froze, its eyes widening in shock.
The smug expression on the worker drone's face told the disassembly drone everything it needed to know. The worker's next words only confirmed their suspicion.
"Gotcha," the worker drone said smugly, taking a leisurely look at its would-be attacker. The smirk widened as the disassembly drone muttered in defeat.
"You're no fun," the disassembly drone grumbled, deactivating its claws and allowing its shark-like maw to close. The worker drone laughed with a mocking and triumphant tone.
"If you're going to try to scare me," the worker started with a teasing tone, "maybe don't be so loud while flying next time, huh?" The disassembly drone rolled its eyes, exasperated.
"So... Uzi," the taller drone began, as it sat on a nearby table while watching the female and petite worker drone. "How was school?"
"Oh, you know... the usual crap," Uzi replied dryly. "But hey, it’s Friday. You know what that means, right, V?" she asked with a smirk, addressing the disassembly drone by her name. The disassembly drone smirked knowingly as the worker gave her finger guns.
"Yeah, it means you’ll be hanging around us more—oh." V’s reply was cut short by a sound coming from behind the pod. She immediately recognized its meaning. "The others are back," she announced.
Her partners returned from patrol.
Spotting the purple haired worker drone alongside V, the taller of the two new arrivals, the male disassembler, was the first to speak upon seeing the scene of a disassembly drone fraternize with a worker.
"Oh, hey Uzi! Hey V!" he called out enthusiastically.
"Hey, N. Hey, J," Uzi replied, acknowledging the duo. J, the leader of the group, merely nodded with a curt "Sup" in response.
It was finally Friday, which meant Uzi had the weekend to do whatever she wanted. She could spend the rest of the day with the disassembly drones. Grabbing her bag from her bedroom, she filled it with snacks, games, and other essential things she could use either to pass the time with the drones or repair their ship. She didn’t bother leaving a note for her father to let him know she wouldn’t be at home tonight and would be staying with her friends instead. She knew he wouldn’t notice her absence, too consumed by work and his endless grief over her late mother.
Uzi wasn’t dumb; quite the opposite. She’d once had some of the best grades in school, but being mocked as a “nerd” for earning a single high grade while not even receiving a simple “Congratulations on getting the best grade in the whole school!” had drained any enthusiasm she had for academic-related terms.
Her sharp mind wasn’t just limited to schoolwork, though. Uzi also had the insight to see through her father—Khan Doorman himself. She understood that the reason he seemed so distant wasn’t just his grief—it was because he saw her as a painful reminder of his late wife.
Their similarities in both appearance and personality were undeniable. Don't get it wrong, Uzi missed her mother as well. She just wished that her father could see her for who she truly was, rather than the shadow of someone he had lost.
So, Uzi channeled her focus into what she loved most: Mechanical work.
That was what gave her purpose and independence, something that school and her father’s grief could never provide. She had to be exceptionally skilled for the disassembly drones—including V and J—to trust her enough to tinker with their ship without issue. In fact, without her mechanical expertise, she would’ve never created the one thing that drove her to eventually meet the drones that she now spends so much time with.
With everything packed, Uzi only had one more step: Sneaking out the door and into the night. Putting it like this, it might seem harder than it actually is, but this was something she’d been doing for over a year without being noticed or even suspected.
With the keycard she had stolen years ago—not her fault if her father locked those doors with easily stealable keys—Uzi had unlocked the large door in front of her. The moment it swung open, the sight waiting behind it made her jump backwards.
“OH ROBO-JESUS!” she blurted, startled by what—or rather, who—she saw standing behind the door.
"And just where are you going?" asked her father, Khan—standing there with a tablet in his hand. Uzi noticed it was displaying security camera footage—explaining exactly how he’d known she was behind the door.
“Uhm…” Uzi stammered, her mind racing. She hadn’t anticipated bumping into her father, much less him interrogating her. Crap. Just what was she supposed to say? She was caught red-handed sneaking out the outpost!
“I was... uh…” Uzi hesitated, and then, in her own panic, she grasped for the first excuse that came to mind. “…going to sneak out to make out with my... boyfriend? That I definitely have?” she finished awkwardly.
Yeah, that wasn’t going to work. Judging by the way her father burst out laughing, it definitely didn’t. After he stopped laughing
“Seriously, where are you going at this hour—and on a Sunday, no less?” he pressed, clearly not buying her excuse.
“Okay, okay, you caught me!” Uzi exclaimed, throwing her hands up in defeat. She scrambled to come up with something better . “I, uh… I need to measure the exterior hydraulic mechanisms of Door One. For a school project! Yeah! I’m working on… big ol’ doors. Just like my old man builds!” she said with an awkward grin.
Her father’s expression shifted slightly—he seemed to believe this one a little more, but she could tell she wasn’t quite in the clear yet.
“I want to join the WDF and hide behind doors like cowards, playing cards all day…” she muttered under her breath. Her father chuckled.
“We don’t just play cards—” Khan started, but was promptly interrupted as the door behind him opened, revealing a group of WDF members doing exactly that. One of them, Braxton, glanced over.
“Hey, Khan! Can you grab a fresh pack?" We’ve been playing so much that the numbers have faded!” He called out, before noticing Uzi’s presence. “Oh, hey, Uzi!”
Her father quickly shut the door without a word.
“You were saying?” Uzi said, smirking as if she won the lottery.
“Well…” he began, taking a moment to compose himself. “When you build doors this good—”
Khan suddenly turned to the door and hugged it as though it were a beloved pet. “Good door. Good door,” he whispered dreamily. Uzi couldn’t help but cringe; her father was clearly a bit too attached to his work.
“There’s no need to fight! Uzi, this is great news!” he declared, turning his attention back to her in a second. “Here!” He handed her a wrench with a gentle smile, without a warning, his tone grew oddly sentimental. “The wrench I used to tighten bolts on my first door prototypes,” he said, his expression darkening momentarily. “And… to put your mother out of her misery when the Murder Drones got to her with that nanite acid…”
Uzi stiffened. Her father’s sudden tonal shift was unsettling, even for her. And she wasn’t exactly easy to scare—she was friends with the Disassembly Drones and planned to crash with them that night, after all! But this was… something else.
Thankfully, Khan’s tone quickly returned to normal as he placed the wrench in her hands. “I want you to have it!” he said cheerfully.
“Neat." Uzi muttered, eyeing her father warily. "Therapy’s fun,” she added.
Khan threw the door open again and called out to the WDF members, “Guys! My daughter is into doors!”
A chorus of cheers erupted from the group. Unfortunately for them, another door opened moments later, allowing snow and a bitterly cold breeze to swirl into the room. The cheers quickly turned to grumbles.
“She’s gonna be outside for a bit, examining the exterior of Door One!” Khan announced, before turning back to Uzi. “Your door-specific destiny awaits!” he said with a proud smile.
Uzi blinked. “Uh… go doors!” she said weakly as she stepped outside. The door closed behind her, but not before she caught a glimpse of her father tearing up and exclaiming, “They grow up so fast!”
Finally, she was free. She let a sigh of relief escape her as she made a mental note: next time she tried to sneak out, she definitely needed to disable the security cameras before-hand.
.... Heh, dumbass didn't even saw the backpack she was carrying around!
"Hey guys," Uzi started, still slightly nervous after her recent encounter with her own father. "I brought DVDs," she said, showing them to the gang.
"Yay!" N exclaimed in his usual overexcited tone.
"Cool," J said with a smirk on her lips, giving a thumbs up in approval.
"Finally, something fun to do!" V added. "I was getting bored out of my mind."
"And before I forget," Uzi began again, "I got caught sneaking out."
The disassembly drones' eyes widened in shock. Uzi couldn't blame them—after sneaking away effortlessly for a year, the thought of getting caught was unsettling.
"But I came up with an excuse and managed to get away," she continued, giving them a thumbs up. Relief washed over their faces as they collectively exhaled the air they’d been holding.
"Oh, thank God," J muttered. "You need to be more careful next time."
"I know," Uzi replied. "Those cameras are such a pain. I should deactivate them next time... but that might look suspicious. Cameras are suddenly going offline without any reason?" She trailed off, frowning.
"You got caught because of the cameras?" J asked. Uzi nodded.
"This could be a huge problem," Uzi murmured.
"Don't you know how to hack?" V asked. Uzi's eyes flashed with offense.
"Of course I do! What do you think I am?" she snapped. She'd just been talking about hacking the cameras one second earlier, but dismissed it because it might arouse suspicion and jeopardize their plans. And now V dared to ask such a question? Uzi was one of the most skilled hackers on all of Copper-9!
"So," V continued, "you could hack into the system, figure out the blind spots, and use them to your advantage while sneaking out, right? As a bonus, you could even monitor the workers' movements."
J blinked in surprise. V wasn't stupid—far from it—but she usually relied on brute strength and sheer aggression rather brains and strategy. Seeing her suggest a clever, well-thought-out solution was... unexpected, to say the least.
"Wow, V..." J began with a smirk. "I always knew you had a brain, but I never thought you knew how to use it."
"Oh, bite me!" V snapped, clearly offended.
"Hey!" Uzi interjected, even more offended. "What did I say about stealing my catchphrase?"
"That was a smart plan, V!" N chimed in cheerfully.
"Shut up, idiot!" V retorted, though her voice softened as she added, almost inaudibly, "...Thanks."
A faint blush crept across her visor. Stupid emotions. Stupid crushes. They always made her feel ridiculous.
To her utter dismay, she caught Uzi and J's smirks widening. She glared at them as she felt her blush deepening even further.
As it was Friday, the only thing they needed to do was get the couch ready, set up the DVDs, and hit play. The movie began—a human horror classic from 1996, Scream.
Uzi's dislike of humans hadn’t lessened in the slightest, but she couldn’t deny it: humans made some really cool stuff. Shows, movies, and most importantly, anime.
As the thought of her disdain for humans crossed her mind, Uzi couldn't help but recall the arguments she’d had with J. And not just J—there were heated discussions with V, and even N. The memories of those exchanges surfaced uninvited.
Change was happening to all of them, slowly but surely, ever since they’d made their deal.
Uzi still remembered every argument they’d shared... and she was certain they hadn’t forgotten either.
V had a knack for spotting psychopaths, and this time was no exception—she had identified the killer, or rather, the two killers of them, rather quickly even before they were revealed to the public.
"Wow, V," N started with genuine curiosity in his voice, before he asked the question that everyone in the squad had. "How do you always guess them right?"
V only shrugged in response. Uzi smirked.
"One psycho recognizes another," Uzi teased, earning herself a middle finger from the disassembler.
The shrill wail of alarms shattered the moment, signaling the approach of something—or someone. J bolted to the console, her eyes widening in horror at the sensor readings.
"Uzi, you need to get out..." J's voice trembled, the shock palpable.
Uzi whipped her head toward J. "Get out? Why?"
She didn’t need to ask again. One glance at the sensors and her heart sank. Three figures loomed in the display.
"Shit..." Uzi whispered, her voice barely audible over the pounding in her ears.
X landed on the snow, followed by Z, M, and Y, who landed on his side. X glanced at the ship pod in front of him, spotting the squad's leader crawling atop it.
“And just what are YOU doing here?” J hissed, glaring at X and his squad.
“I was sent here because of your sheer incompetence, that’s why,” X sneered, cutting straight to the point.
X was a tall disassembly drone with a fluffy silver tuft. He wore nothing but an oversized grey jacket that resembled those of the jock bullies in those cliche but classic high school movies. The leader of the squad that unwelcomely arrived at their area.
J raised an eyebrow, clearly offended.
“Excuse me?” she demanded.
X and a few of his teammates rolled their eyes as the other two squad members wandered off to the outside of the ship.
“For months—almost a year now—your kill count has been at no higher than zero,” X said, causing the three disassemblers to frown in confusion.
‘Zero kills?’ V wondered. Sure, their kill count had significantly decreased since their deal with Uzi, but they still took down worker drones that weren’t from Outpost-. or Uzi’s outpost.
They knew that if their kill count were truly zero, they’d have attracted unwanted attention from the humans. Their kill count might no longer top the ranks like it used to a year ago, but it wasn’t remotely close to zero. So, how could this be?
“What kind of drug are you on?” V sneered. She might have been spending more time with her squad, which now essentially included Uzi, but her kill count was still comfortably above average.
X scowled, clearly irritated by her remark.
“The company sent us here,” X stated firmly. “So you’d better choose your words carefully, pal,” he added, prompting V to burst into laughter.
“I decide what I’m careful with, pal.” V shot back. X rolled his eyes as his teammate—Serial Designation Z—interjected.
Z was a rather petite-looking female disassembly drone—she had short silver hair that went down to her shoulders, cut in shag style. She wore a cropped black leather jacket, and she had legs that were completely black, except for three yellow striped patterns on it.
“Then let us give you an example of what you should fear, punk!” Z declared. V jumped, landing gracefully in front of her.
“Go ahead and try,” V hissed as N tried to pull her back, attempting to prevent a fight.
J glanced behind her and saw Uzi still on the move, quick on her feet. They just needed to buy more time or, if lucky, make the intruders leave entirely. Turning back to the disassemblers, J sneered.
“We’ve been killing drones every day at an above-average rate,” J said. “Congratulations, someone has just made a fool out of you,” she added venomously.
X's eyes widened at his anger at the verbal jab against him.
“Why don’t you see for yourself, idiot?!” He pressed his watch, projecting a hologram with a text message:
‘Hello, Squad X. I would like to inform you that, due to Squad J’s lack of kills over the past nine months, you are tasked with confirming whether they and their squad are fulfilling their duties. Their current kill count stands at zero for precisely nine months, twenty hours, forty-two minutes, and thirty-nine seconds.’
The message left Squad J utterly stunned. First of all, since when were these watches issued to disassembler drones? Second, how could their kill count be zero when they’d killed at least 20 worker drones just yesterday?
Sure, it was below the 50-per-day average, but zero? No way. Clearly, this was either a prank or a case of mistaken data.
J sighed, rolling her eyes. “Look, pal, if my kill count had been zero for that long, I’d have overheated and died by now, wouldn’t I?” she retorted, lying through her teeth. Most of the oil she consumed didn’t come from deceased worker drones.
Lie or not, J’s point was hard for X to ignore. Despite this, he tried to do so anyway.
“Then how do you explain this message?” he hissed.
“Someone probably sent it as a prank or something—simple as that,” J said.
“It CAN’T be that simple!” X shouted, as if he were a child throwing a tantrum. “Have you never even touched these watches?” he demanded.
“Why the actual hell would I even have one of those watches?!” J snapped, her reply clearly shocking the newcomers.
“Did you receive the message?” X pressed. J’s frown was answer enough.
X groaned, facepalming, as Serial Designation M—one of his teammates—asked, “When’s the last time you got a message from the company?”
M had an above-average height for a disassembly drone—his short silver hair was slicked back. He wore a common suit with a black tie, and at the top of his head rested the very same pilot hat N wore daily.
“I don’t know… a year, maybe a little more?” J replied nonchalantly.
“Are you all just going to keep arguing, or can I kill that worker running?” Z interrupted, causing N, V, and J’s hearts to skip a beat. Uzi was the only worker they could think of.
“Worker?” Y asked, turning in time to spot the fleeing figure.
'Fuck' echoed repeatedly as N, V, and J confirmed that the fleeing drone was, indeed, Uzi.
Uzi was racing toward the outpost, her railgun slung over her shoulder—a fortunate decision, given how far the outpost was. No matter how fast she ran, she might not make it in time. The snow crunched beneath her boots as she pushed herself forward harder, her steps pounding with determination. She wouldn’t stop until she reached the doors, threw them open, and got the hell inside.
As she approached, her keycard was already in hand, ready to swipe. The doors slid open with a hiss, and the drones inside groaned in unison as the icy wind invaded their card game.
“BITE ME!” Uzi shouted, storming in and frantically trying to close the door. “Close it, close it, close it!” she pleaded, her hands moving faster and faster, desperate for the door to obey her command and slide shut.
She prayed no disassembly drones—other than N, V, or J—had followed her inside. The worker drones stared at her, bewildered. She’d been outside for two hours, and now she was barging in like this?
Her hopes soared as the doors began to close. But then, her heart plummeted. Claws appeared between the narrowing gap, prying the doors open.
Her pulse froze—no, it wasn’t just her pulse. She felt nothing beating inside her, only a primal instinct screaming at her to run.
“They were here for over a year, and they couldn’t accomplish what we did in less than five minutes,” X sneered, his thoughts dripping with disdain. Pathetic, he mused in his own mind. Can’t believe those idiots were at the top of the company rankings a year ago.
X’s tail slithered through the door, stabbing the scanner on the worker's hand and shattering it to pieces in the process. The door slid open, granting him and his squad entrance to the outpost.
“Nice game you’ve got going,” M remarked coldly. “We’ll be taking it.”
As the worker drones scattered in panic, one hesitated. “Uh… we have others for you—”
The worker’s words were cut short as M’s claw impaled him, slamming him against the wall. M raised his claw higher.
“I wasn’t asking,” he growled, slashing downward.
The worker’s head exploded, leaving nothing but a splatter of oil staining the wall. Meanwhile, Y opened fire on the fleeing drones, one bullet punching clean through a worker’s chest. Z pounced on another, before she started tearing them apart limb by limb.
One worker managed to catch up to the shorter drone that had led them inside.
“Hey, Uzi, I just realized—no one’s said my name out loud, so I’m just letting you know that I’m—” Whatever he was about to say remained unheard as Z sliced him clean in half.
A door slid open nearby, revealing a worker drone standing behind it.
“Oh, hey Uzi!" a drone commented, stepping inside the room. "Pretty nice hydraulics, huh?” When he stepped inside, he froze after a single glance at the carnage.
Bodies were strewn across the hallway, oil pooling everywhere. The drone’s gaze darted to the disassembly squad, then to Uzi. X recalled the name from the sliced-in-half worker’s final words and the newcomer's dropping her name before the realization.
“Oh god, what have you done?” the worker gasped. Unfortunately for them, X had no time for drama.
He landed in front of Uzi and another worker drone, the impact blowing them backwards. Uzi, the purple one, recovered rather quickly, her balance impeccable and impressive for such a short worker drone. She raised some kind of a.... gun at him? Ha!
X chuckled, his amusement growing as V, N, and J arrived, their expressions dumbfounded.
“Thanks for leading us in,” X mocked. “I’ll make sure to credit you to your comrades and to the company, Uzi.”
“Bite me!" Uzi shouted defiantly, her finger tightening on the trigger, ready to blow their cores. "Dad, get down!”
“Uzi, you led a murder drone in?” Khan wailed. “My beautiful doors!”
“Not the fucking time, Dad! Get d—” Uzi’s words turned into a gasp as X’s wing impaled her shoulder, slamming her against the wall. Oil sprayed from the wound.
X chuckled darkly, watching Khan spiral into panic as he watched his own daughter getting stabbed. But much to his surprise, Uzi jabbed at the yellow light on his wing—the weak spot of the disassembly drones’ wings. The light flickered off, and X’s grip faltered, forcing him to release her.
Not wasting a single second, Uzi had tackled X and knocked him to the ground, sending him crashing into a pile of oil-filled metallic barrels.
“Fuck!” X snarled in pain, watching Uzi lead her father away. His wings refused to move until the yellow light flickered back on. X’s head snapped toward his teammates, who stood frozen in shock. Above them, N, V, and J burst through the ceiling, ready to claim their own kills.....
He was not gonna be the second place for those pricks again.
“What are you all waiting for?!” X roared at his squad.
Uzi ran, pulling her father away from the carnage they had just escaped. Her father was even more dumbfounded than she was—his mouth hung open in shock, his eyes trembling, frozen in place. Her steps quickened, faster and faster, as she silently prayed that N, V, or J would find a solution to all of this.
For almost a year—an entire year—since she had secretly struck a deal with the disassembly drones, things had been relatively smooth. Sure, there were arguments here and there, but nothing like this. This disaster threatened to undo everything they had worked so hard to achieve, flushing it all down the drain.
Her eyes darted behind her, scanning for any pursuers. No one. But it was a shame she couldn’t see through the ceiling. Something burst through it, landing gracefully on the ground with a force that shook the earth, crushing the ground beneath them. The impact sent Khan tumbling onto his backside and caused Uzi to stumble backwards. She turned to face the attacker, only to be met with a familiar face.
It was N. For a brief moment, their eyes locked. Uzi’s gaze flickered to Khan, then back to N.
Not knowing what else to do, she tackled N against a wall, eliciting a startled yelp from him. Seeing his expression, she leaned in and whispered urgently, “Pretend.” Her voice carried the weight of her fears—how badly things could spiral if they made even one wrong move.
Luckily, N understood the message. He pushed her off gently, pinning her to the ground in a mock struggle. Suddenly, two more disassemblers crashed through the ceiling with a deafening noise. Thankfully, it was J and V. Like N, their eyes locked with Uzi’s, understanding passing silently between their squad.
Uzi scrambled to her feet as she pushed N off her, adopting a fighting stance. N moved to J and V’s side, whispering something to them. Without hesitation, V lunged at Uzi, pinning her to the ground.
Uzi let out a fake yelp as V slammed her down, taking care not to hurt her more fragile friend. J, however, stood awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Luckily, Khan was too stunned by the staged fight to notice J’s lackluster acting.
Uzi glanced at J, signaling with her eyes—first to J’s acid tail, then to her own hand. J took a moment to understand the request. Hesitantly, she followed Uzi’s silent command, stabbing a hole through Uzi’s hand with her tail. Uzi screamed in genuine pain, causing J to flinch, immediately regretting her compliance.
V and Uzi continued their fake struggle at the ground. Uzi kicked V lightly in the stomach—not hard enough to hurt, but enough to push her off. She turned to her father, shouting.
“Dad, go!” as N pinned her against the wall with his wings. Khan froze, paralyzed by indecision.
“Go!” Uzi yelled again, her voice trembling under the weight of their crumbling world. “I’ll hold them off. Just go!”
Khan took a step back, his breath knocked out of him. With a shaking hand, he pressed a button, closing the door that separated him from his daughter and the disassembly drones.
As the door sealed shut, Uzi exhaled in relief, finally dropping her act. At least her father had listened to her once in their life, just this one time. But her friends didn’t share her relief.
“He just left her,” J muttered in disbelief, as though seeking confirmation from the others.
“He did,” V replied, her hollow eyes mirroring J’s shock.
All of them were relieved to finally drop the act—though some were less at ease than others after witnessing Khan’s decision to close the door on his own daughter. He had left her behind to "fight" against three disassembly drones alone, a decision that didn’t seem to bother Uzi at all. However, they had no time to dwell on it; they needed to find a solution and fast.
Scanning the area with their equipment, J found no one in their area, including the newcomers. Uzi pushed herself to her feet with N’s help, wincing as pain radiated from the hole in her hand. J hesitated before stepping closer.
“S-Sorry…” she muttered, gently taking Uzi’s injured hand and pressing it to her mouth. Her saliva worked to neutralize the acid left behind and mend the stab wound—the stab wound she had only done because Uzi had silently ordered her to.
“It’s fine,” Uzi reassured her, brushing the incident off. “We needed to get out of my father’s view so we could figure this out.”
As Uzi spoke, N, V, and J joined her, their minds racing to come up with a plan. Once J was done and spat Uzi’s hand from her mouth. Uzi's hand was now completely healed and as good as new.
Uzi brought up one immediate problem that she didn't even realize until now.
“My railgun. I dropped it when they attacked me.”
“I’ll go get it,” N volunteered, launching into the air to search for the lost weapon.
Turning back to the others, Uzi’s expression sharpened. “Now… how sharp you said those pens were again, J?” she asked, a glint of determination flashing in her eyes.
Both V and J exchanged knowing smirks. Their friend had a plan.
“So, they found our evacuation spot,” Khan said, watching Lizzy and Doll help Thad to his feet after he’d been thrown across the floor by one of the disassemblers. “But if we build a door really quick—”
“Are you kidding me?!” Thad snapped, interrupting Khan with a grunt. “You’re the WDF, right? Defend!” He spat the words out, groaning as he noticed the workers responsible for working as WDF members hesitating, taking a step back and away from what they were supposed to defend against.
“For real?” Thad muttered, disappointed.
Without any warning, a laugh echoed through the room. Thad jumped, his eyes darting to the disassemblers—just in time to see one drop from above, stabbing him through the shoulder with their wings. Thad yelped, clutching his wound as the disassembly drone stared him down as she pulled him off his feet.
“Finally! I thought you three would never arrive!” one of the disassembly drones said—the leader, Thad guessed—just as three more drones appeared.
“We were just having our own fun somewhere else,” one of the newcomers shot back, holding someone. Thad squinted. Was that Uzi?!
The purple-haired drone dangled in the grasp of a disassembly drone that looked like a girl wearing a cropped coat. Without ceremony, the drone threw Uzi to the ground, her body sprawling across the floor nearby them.
“So, I guess we can kill everybody and save the chit-chat for later?” the drone holding Thad suggested. Much to everyone’s surprise, the disassembler who had thrown Uzi started cackling at the idea.
“Aw, did you hear that, J?” she said, shoving a pigtailed drone lightly with her elbow. “She thinks we’re here to help 'em!” Her tone was mocking.
“Aw, I heard it, V,” ‘J’ replied, smirking as if she was as amused as the 'V' girl. “I’m sorry, but the ones who are going to die here…”
“It’s you!” a voice shouted, cutting her off. Thad recognized it just as a pen was shoved through the disassembly drone’s headband, causing her to drop him to the ground.
Thad yelped as he hit the floor, quickly dragging himself closer to the others. The disassembly drone yanked the pen out of her headband, staring at it in surprise. Before she could react, a worker drone leapt forward, drop kicking the pen back into her headband—this time through a different light.
The worker drone vaulted off the disassembler with a smooth backflip, soaring across the room and landing smoothly beside the other disassemblers: ‘J,’ ‘V,’ and one whose name Thad didn’t know yet.
To everyone’s shock, the worker drone was Uzi—very alive and definitely not dead. She fist-bumped the disassemblers she stood alongside, smirking.
“The fuck?!” the leader shouted, staring at Uzi in disbelief. She was alive—and acting friendly with disassembly drones?!
Was Uzi happy that their deal had to be revealed? Not at all. The number of problems it brought to them could fill every inch of an infinite list.
But were the workers’ and newcomers’ faces worth it? Absolutely. The shock was priceless—the way their jaws practically hit the floor after the reveal was hilarious.
Sadly, Uzi didn’t have time to savor their reactions. One of the newcomers—the one she’d thrown the pen at, Z, if she remembered J’s briefing correctly—was already snapping the pen in half and lunging at her for revenge.
Whoever, before Z could reach her, V’s fist slammed into her visor mid-air, sending her flying before she crashed into a wall. The one disassembler she presumed to be Y leapt to Z’s defense—who rose to her feet, as the two of them prepared to charge at V.
If Uzi was not mistaken, Y was the one with the pixie hair—nothing's new about him, casual black clothing, and average height.
“Come on, fuckers!” V shouted, drawing her swords. “I can take both of you on, alone!” she roared.
Meanwhile, X aimed at J furiously, his hand morphing into a handgun as he got ready to engage in a fight with J. Due to the already picked pairs, that left Uzi and N to deal with M in a two-against-one combat scenario.
M was slightly shorter than N, and he simply didn’t stand a chance. Against Uzi and N together? He was as good as dead.
V’s sword clashed against Z’s, sending Z stumbling backwards. Y readied a punch, but V ducked just in time, before she slammed her elbow into Y’s stomach. He gasped, staggering backwards before V’s knuckle smashed into his visor, sending him sprawling to the ground with a yelp.
Z’s fist struck V’s back, knocking her forward. She spun around just in time to see Z’s next punch hurtling toward her visor. The impact made her yelp as she stumbled.
Clutching her face in pain, V caught sight of a third punch coming her way. She ducked, narrowly avoiding it, before she retaliated with a punch to Z’s chest, knocking the wind out of her. Seizing the moment, V clutched Z’s arm before she twisted it behind her, restraining Z in an armlock, eliciting a sharp cry from the disassembler.
Still gasping for air, Z attempted to sweep V’s legs, but V anticipated the move. She lifted her left leg and drove her knee into Z’s waist, drawing a pained shout from her. Getting a glance of Y rising to his feet, V immediately flipped Z over herself, slamming her hard against a wall. The impact cracked Z’s visor, as she crumpled to the ground with a blurry mind.
Y lunged forward, aiming a punch at V’s chest, but she leaned her body aside, causing him to miss her. He swung again, this time at her visor, but V blocked it with her forearm. With a swift counter, she drove her fist into Y’s core, his breath being taken out of him.
V followed up with a powerful uppercut to Y’s chin, sending him flying several feet into the air before he crashed onto the ground below.
V surveyed the scene: Z lay sprawled on the ground. Y gasping for air.
“Is that all you’ve got?” V teased, a smirk playing on her lips. “I’m disappointed.”
J and X, unlike V versus Z and Y, were far closer in terms of power, making their battle much more evenly matched.
X swung his sword in a sharp arc, but J ducked just in time, causing the blade to miss its mark. Seizing the moment, J attempted an uppercut, but X sidestepped her strike. Her fist grazed past him as he grabbed her arm, pulling her off her feet and tossing her through the air.
She landed hard, sprawling across the ground. X wasted no time and lunged forward, aiming to plunge his sword into J's chest. But J blocked the attack, gripping the blade tightly.
She planted her legs against X's stomach. With a well-landed kick, she knocked X upwards. X got launched into the air.
X crashed into the ceiling, crushing it upon the impact. J launched herself toward him, her sword poised for a decisive strike. She thrust it forward, aiming for X's core, but he swiped to the side, causing her blade to pierce the ceiling instead.
"Traitor!" X roared, his sword clashing against J's. "Siding with the worker drones!" he hissed, his fury palpable.
J clenched her fist and drove it into X's stomach, knocking him backwards. Without hesitation, she activated her submachine gun, ready to unleash a hail of bullets.
"My motives are my own, and they don't concern you!" J declared as her gunfire lit up the room in flashes of yellow. X dodged and weaved, narrowly avoiding the onslaught.
While J’s battle was evenly matched, the same couldn’t be said for N and Uzi’s. Their opponent, M, had few to no advantages against them.
M was overwhelmed—not just by the smaller worker drone’s agility and combat skills, but also by the towering disassembly drone’s sheer strength and advanced weaponry skills. Even worse, their coordinated teamwork made the fight nearly impossible for him to manage.
N fired a missile at M, who successfully ducked as it passed inches above his hat. What he didn’t expect was their next move. His eyes hollowed as the purple-haired worker drone soared toward him, landing a powerful kick across his face that sent him staggering back.
Before he could recover, N’s fist collided with his chin in a vicious uppercut, launching him into the air. M barely had time to gasp before another blow struck him—this time, a brutal kick to his core that launched him across the room.
His situation only worsened when N stepped down hard on his core, slamming him against the concrete ground with enough force to crater the ground in a shape that looked like the disassembler drone. N hunched, legs tensed, preparing to launch himself back into the air. M, trapped under his opponent’s foot, was pressed even deeper into the crushed ground as N leaped.
M’s breath came in ragged gasps from the relentless beating. He barely had time to react when something small—sharp—struck his wing’s weak spot: the yellow light.
As the wing fell, its yellow glow flickered before dimming to black. It wouldn’t function again until reset. M realized then—it wasn’t just luck.
The worker drone hadn't hit X’s weak spot by accident. She knew exactly what she was doing. She had targeted it deliberately, fully aware of the consequences.
There were only two explanations: Either the workers had somehow gained knowledge about their weaknesses—unlikely, considering they were always too busy hiding like cowards to study their enemies.
The other explanation was clearly the right one. She knew because the others had told her. They trusted her enough to reveal their weaknesses, their fragile spots…
This partnership hadn’t just begun in the last few minutes, had it? No—this had been festering for much longer. That betrayal, that recklessness—it had likely been unfolding for months. And those fools hadn’t merely sided with the worker drone; they had handed her their vulnerabilities.
M yanked the pen from his wing. With no better use for it, he snapped it clean in half. His fury ignited.
He launched himself toward the worker drone. She barely had time for her eyes to hollow before his body slammed into hers, knocking her off her feet and shoving her roughly backward until she crashed onto the ground.
He readied his rifle. He would be fixing the mistake of J's squad. He would tear holes through that worker's head—
BOOM.
The deafening blast of a shotgun cut through his thoughts. An aching pain exploded through him as his lower arm—and his rifle—were blown apart.
M’s head snapped toward the source of the shot, just in time to see N barreling toward him at high speed. He barely registered the punch before it smashed into his visor, cracking it. M was knocked backward. Before he could even hit the ground, something seized his legs.
N. The disassembler drone’s grip tightened around his legs, yanking him back with brutal strength. And then, before M could process what was happening—he was spinning.
N hurled M into the air, sending him tumbling. He barely had time to register the holes being torn through his chassis as shot after shot from N’s shotgun blasted into him, propelling him higher with each hit.
Then N flew toward him, positioning himself above M. A crushing kick slammed against M’s back. He plummeted to the ground.
Concrete screamed as he crashed into the ground, leaving another deep crater in his wake.
M lay there for a moment, mind dazed from the impact. When he finally turned his head, he saw the worker drone grinning smugly, injured but defiant. With her uninjured arm, she leveled a gun at him. Her expression darkened.
“Fuck you,” she muttered.
M had no time to react—no time to perceive what happened next. The entire room ignited in green.
Blinding emerald light engulfed M’s visor, its searing intensity ripping through him in an instant. In less than a second, the heat all but erased him—his form dissolving into near nothingness before he even had a chance to react.
Before the green light bathed the room in emerald, J and X’s battle had been evenly matched. J threw a punch and X dodged. X retaliated an,d J evaded.
She managed to land a hit, but X countered effortlessly. J staggered as X’s right hook smashed across her face.
“Fucker!” he roared, throwing another punch—J ducked, his fist slicing through the air just above her head.
J’s knee met X’s stomach, knocking him backwards as he gasped for breath. X drew his sword, swinging for her neck—but J met his blade with her own. Steel clashing in a fierce grind.
J launched her left fist forward, but X blocked with his wrist, grabbing her arm. Her eyes went hollow as he lifted and tossed her effortlessly, sending her airborne before she crashed to the ground.
"You and your squad were at the top a year ago!" X shouted. "And yet, you—"
He never finished. J spun, her leg smashing against his visor. X was sent flying, crashing hard onto the floor.
"Shut it!" J snarled, springing to her feet. She swapped her sword for an SMG and opened fire, attempting to tear holes into X’s chassis—but he took flight, evading every shot.
J followed him, chasing through the air. But X was already ahead, raising his own SMG. Their shots collided midair, nullifying each other in bursts of energy.
They exchanged fire, dodging and weaving—until an emerald flash consumed the room.
Both fighters turned instinctively toward the blinding light. When it faded, there was nothing left of M except a corpse. Uzi stood over the remains, victorious, with N by her side.
Uzi spat at the remnants. J snapped her attention back to X, who hovered, dumbfounded. A worker had reduced a disassembly to ashes. X’s hollow eyes flicked to J.
J smirked and rocketed forward, stopping inches above his head before her leg slammed into his skull. X tumbled from the air, crashing hard into the ground.
Groaning, he limped to his feet and looked upward—but J was already gone. When he turned forward, her blade was inches from his throat.
J pressed down hard, forcing X to hunch over the ground as she pushed him back. His eyes, hollow with realization, locked onto hers.
J’s sword overpowered his, slashing clean through X’s shoulder, severing his left arm. A second strike carved off his other limb. X staggered backward.
J swung again, slicing through his knees and cutting him down entirely. He collapsed to the ground, broken and defeated.
J took a moment to observe V’s battle—N joined her. X’s teammates were losing fast.
“Sorry,” a voice called.
J turned sharply—Uzi stood there, smirking at X’s mangled state.
“Guess I showed up late to help, huh?” she quipped. “Go on. Finish it.”
She handed J an uncharged railgun, its display showing 29 minutes left for a full recharge—but J wouldn’t need to wait.
She grabbed it without hesitation, switching her hand to an open wrist. Uzi’s railgun aligned with J’s arm, scanning briefly before she handed it back. J flexed her wrist.
“You wanna know the difference between you and me, X?”
Her railgun materialized—gold and black, unlike Uzi’s green and black. Unlike hers, J’s was already loaded.
“Unlike you,” she said, aiming at X’s core.
His hollow eyes trembled, knowing exactly what was about to happen.
“I’m not the company’s dog.”
She pulled the trigger. The room erupted in blinding gold light.
As golden light bathed the room, V sent Z stumbling with a punch, and she crashed to the floor. N struck Y’s core with his fist, knocking the wind out of him. The two adversaries collapsed, overwhelmed by the unrelenting force of N and V.
It didn’t take long for Uzi and J to step into formation beside their squad, their gazes locked on Y and Z, whose hollowed eyes foreshadowed their impending doom. N and J brandished their swords while Uzi, still needing to wait 28 minutes for her railgun to recharge, grabbed the nearest pen. J swiftly plucked it from her grasp and handed her the retractable sword instead. V, however, had no interest in blades—claws were her weapon of choice.
Y and Z barely stood a chance. Uzi took the first step, sword raised, prepared to strike, just as N and J positioned themselves to slash, while V readied to tear apart.
V charged forward, shoving her hand through Z’s chest before it ripped her core off, and tearing it from his body. Meanwhile, J and Uzi’s blades forced Y into submission, slicing through his limbs until only his head remained attached to his torso.
J smirked at her fallen opponent before turning to N. “All yours,” she said.
Uzi glanced at her, memories rushing back—J’s words when she had taken X down: “I’m not a dog,” J had said. Uzi recalled their exchange, a battle of sharp words before friendship had emerged from the ashes.
“That’s some big talk coming from a barely sentient toaster!”
“Well, I’d rather be barely sentient than not sentient at all!”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?!”
“It means I’m not a dog like you—the company’s obedient little pet!”
In the present, Uzi turned to J, giving her a nod of approval. J smirked, and both directed their attention to N.
N’s sword carved across Y’s chassis, exposing the core within. Without hesitation, he reached in, yanked it free, and began stabbing it mercilessly with his acid tail.
V, meanwhile, chose a different method to end Z. She tightened her grip, clutching it harder and harder, crushing the core in her grasp until it exploded into a thick puddle of a black liquid.
With N’s final stab, Y’s core met its demise. Their fight was over. Their enemies had been slain.
...And if the fight was over, that meant—
Uzi stood frozen—their plan had worked, but that meant the workers knew. Their deal, their actions—everything was out in the open. They had fought without hesitation, without time to think of the consequences, but now...
She had told herself she was ready—for the hatred, the exile, the harsh words. She had lied. She wasn’t ready for any of it.
Least of all—for the unexpected sound of cheering.
The cheering only grew louder, but so did Uzi’s and her friends’ confusion. They had braced for the worst—cans hurled at them, insults spat in their direction. Yet, they weren’t prepared for the worst… much less for the best.
And still, as Uzi took in the sound, the sight of the workers celebrating, she felt a small smile tug at her lips. She stepped forward—only for J’s sword to flash in front of her, making her instinctively jump back. Uzi turned to J, startled, only to find her glare fixed on her father.
“Why?” J demanded, her tone sharp, unforgiving.
Khan remained silent, but J pressed on. “You had no idea about our deal, so why did you leave her—your own daughter—for what could have been her death?!”
Gasps rippled through the crowd. The words hitting them like a storm. Uzi froze.
She had never thought of it that way. The weight of countless stares bore down on her—from the disassembly drones to Khan, then back to her. Murmurs swelled in the air.
“Deal?”
“Left for dead?”
“Uzi made a deal with them?”
Uzi barely had time to react before J grabbed hold of her, pulling her onto the taller drone’s back.
“Wha— J—What are you doing?!”
“We’re leaving, Uzi,” J said firmly. “None of them cared enough to even realize you’ve spent more time with their sworn enemies than them.”
As J's wings shot up. She looked at the crowd one last time. "If anyone here disagrees, you guys might as well bite us!"
She took flight, N and V following suit, each briefly shooting a glare at Khan before ascending. The disassemblers crashed through the fragile ceiling, escaping into the open sky. As they ascended, Uzi hesitated—glancing back one last time while still clinging to J’s back.
Back at their shipping pod, exhaustion weighed too heavily on them to celebrate their victory over the newcomers. Instead, they surrendered themselves to sleep. N and V drifted off quickly, curled together in their sleep.
Uzi, however, wasn’t so lucky. J’s words echoed in her mind: "None of them cared enough to even realize you’ve spent more time with their sworn enemies than them."
What was she supposed to feel about that? Part of her agreed—J was right. Thad was the only one who had never turned his back on her when she needed him. The rest? Just a collection of idiots, bullies too blind to even notice that Uzi vanished every weekend.
And yet… another part of her hesitated. J had been brutal. Maybe too brutal?
No, J was just protecting her....
"J, are you awake?" Uzi whispered.
"Yep… Can’t sleep?" J responded, keeping her voice low so as not to wake N and V.
Uzi couldn’t deny that J’s words had truth to them—but doubt still gnawed at her. She chose to ignore it, just for a moment, to ask the question lingering in her mind.
"Don’t you think you were too… harsh, back there?" she murmured weakly.
J was silent for a beat before answering.
"Not at all," she said. "They ignored you for years. Your father never even bothered to check if you were home after school. He didn’t care enough to be in the same house as you."
J’s voice softened slightly, but her conviction remained. "You deserve better than them, Uzi… You just haven’t realized it yet."
Uzi turned to J, searching for something in her expression.
"...J," she whispered.
"Yeah?"
"...Thank you."
J smirked. "No problem, purple toaster."
She pulled Uzi closer, offering silent comfort to the smaller drone. Uzi felt herself relax as she rested against J's chest, who placed her head atop Uzi’s head. In their quiet embrace, sleep finally reached them.