Murder Drones: The Archangel-Project

N walked out of the landing pod as two malformed figures descended onto the ground. He looked farther up and saw another drone's outline following closely behind.

Who is that?

The smaller glitchy figure looked off towards the exit and then back towards N.

"What happened?"

"V…?"

"What?"

N couldn't recognize her by looking, but V's voice was indistinguishable. 

"I… I can't see."

Another voice came out from the taller drone beside V.

"What are you talking about N? Let me see."

L, the leader of N's squad, stepped closer and put his hand on N's visor. He slowly ran his hands along N's head before giving it a smack.

Ow…

N's head dropped slightly and he closed his eyes. When they opened his vision had returned to normal. L looked into his eyes for a second. His vision had returned to him, and he could now clearly see V and L standing close. He paid no attention to the third drone yet.

"Is that better buddy?"

"Yeah… What happened to me?

V put her hands on her hips and spoke.

"I asked you that question already! I'm guessing that pool of oil over there is yours."

V pointed with her thumb to where N had woken up before meeting Uzi.

Wait… Uzi…

His mind twisted and warped slowly as his memories returned to him. The once glitched memory of Uzi was now clear to him. 

Uzi…

The girl was short and had matching purple eyes and hair. She was a worker drone, and N had let her get away. He let a worker drone invade their home, learn some of their secrets, and get away with a weapon that could possibly kill them all.

Oh biscuits…

"OH biscuits!"

N turned his head and spotted Uzi's footprints that seemed to be retreating back to one of the worker drone colonies. 

"What?"

V's voice churned in his head as the memories of Uzi faded.

"I uhm, need to go do something… I'll be back soon!"

Before the others could reply N launched off the ground and flew off.

V locked eyes with L.

"That's… Insanely suspicious, right?

L nodded before looking off where N flew.

"Let's follow him, come on S."

The disassembly drone that was following V and L, a short female with waist length hair, stepped closer and rolled her eyes.

"Why do I have to come? Can't I just wait here?"

L raised an eye and turned towards her.

"If that thing you spoke about finds us, wouldn't it be better for you to be in a group rather than alone?"

S's eyes widened in fear for a moment before she uncrossed her arms and spread her wings.

"I.. I guess so…"

L spread his wings and V followed as he spoke one word while taking off.

"Exactly"

-

Uzi ran desperately in the snow as the bunker entrance edged closer and closer.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! GO FASTER!"

She slammed her hand against the dense metal door as the sound flooded into the surrounding area. 

"IT'S ME, UZI, HURRY UP AND LET ME IN."

Her body shook as the door opened. Uzi ran inside and began to frantically press her father's keycard against the inner panel. She stepped past a male drone as he called out.

"What's wrong Uzi?"

One of her father's coworkers was staring at her with a confused expression. 

"Nothing, nothing is wrong, I was just, uhm, excited to come back…"

"If you say so. If you're looking for your father, he is out grabbin a pa-"

His voice was cut off as the bunker door was stopped just before it fully closed. Uzi watched in horror as the drone's chest was penetrated by N's acidic stinger.

The male worker drone clutched his chest tightly and looked up at Uzi for a moment.

"W-what? U-Uzi how cou-…"

He went limp then collapsed as oil began to leak out of the now lifeless husk's slowly dissolving chest.

"RUN!"

One of the other workers shouted out and began to retreat towards the other bunker doors. The rest followed his lead and began to run as N retracted his stinger and plunged it into Door 1's control panel.

Door 1 began to slowly open up once more as N's smile grew wider and wider. He stepped into the bunker and locked eyes with Uzi.

Uzi's body froze for a moment. She tried to lift the railgun to her enemy however her body rejected the command. 

Please… PLEASE…

N tilted his head as his hollow footsteps echoed in the hallway. The other drones of the WDF, the Worker Defense Force, had already fled into Outpost 3. Uzi was alone, all alone, in the hallway with the murder drone.

"I can't let you keep that Uzi…"

"B-bite me!"

"I won't let you shoot my friends with that!"

I… NEED… TO DO THIS!

She shut her eyes for a moment and then reopened them with a new found resolve. Uzi's hands forced the railgun up to her shoulder as the sights locked onto N. He snapped his head back to its original position and let out a small laugh.

"Not this time Uzi…"

Within a split second N had reached Uzi and was already pinning her by the neck against the wall. The railgun flew out of her grip, but Uzi gripped the wrench in her back pocket and stabbed it through N's shoulder.

He didn't flinch or recoil at all despite the wrench penetrating his metal skin. N squeezed her neck and repeatedly slammed her against the bunker walls. 

N-not even a reaction…?

Uzi closed her eyes in both pain and fear. The consistent slamming was suddenly stopped. 

Something was dropped farther into the bunker.

"Uzi…"

"D-DAD, H-HELP ME!"

Her throat was gripped tighter by N as Uzi's neck began to collapse under the immense pressure of the disassembly drone's hands. She coughed and squeezed N's wrists as he snapped his head towards Khan.

"…"

"D-dad…"

Khan lowered his head and shut his eyes as Door 2 closed. 

Dad…?

She watched helplessly as the man who'd raised her left her for dead. Uzi faintly heard Door 3 close as loud sirens began to blare throughout the bunker.

N's surprised eyes replaced the "X" on his visor. Uzi's mouth was open slightly as sadness corrupted her vision. After a few seconds, Uzi muttered to herself.

"H-he… He didn't even think twice…"

N looked back towards her and softened his grip as he stared at Uzi with pity as her eyes blankly fixated on the floor.

"I-… Uhm, I'm sorry."

Uzi stopped gripping N's wrist. Her entire body went limp as she finally accepted her fate. Khan, Uzi's own father, had abandoned her. 

"…H-he left me…"

N's grip loosened once more as Uzi began to sob silently to herself. Her body slid down the wall and onto the floor.

N clutched his hand and looked around for a moment. He stared at the vent directly above. 

"I-I'm sorry… I really enjoyed talking to you, Uzi."

"…"

"You should hide… The others will get here soon."

The only reply N got was more soft cries as Uzi's body stayed limp on the floor.

"I don't want you to die, Uzi…" 

She finally replied.

"Why…?"

Uzi tilted her head up and looked at N. Little emotion was shown in the female worker drone's eyes.

"The others treat me like a dog. You didn't."

N scratched the back of his head.

"I know we didn't talk for long, but I was thinking about what you said…"

"What?-"

"You said the company might get rid of us once we kill all the worker drones. I think what you said makes sense."

N sat down beside Uzi's head. She only looked at him vaguely as he spoke.

"Do you really think they'll get rid of us?"

Uzi hesitated for a moment before replying.

"I…"

She pushed off the floor and sat against the wall. Her head still hung low and her body shook as she spoke.

"…Yes…"

"Then what should I do? I don't want my friends to end up dead."

"We can escape…"

"What?"

"I-… We can repair your l-landing pod and get off Copper-9. We can go back to earth. We'll take the f-fight to those humans that left us to die here…

"Fight… The humans…?"

"Yes."

"But why?"

Uzi looked up at N.

"W-what do you think of humans?"

"I-"

N snapped his head towards the exit of the bunker. He wrapped his stinger around Uzi carefully but quickly and flung her into a large pile of boxes near Door 2. He forced Uzi's wrench out of his shoulder and tossed it towards the boxes as his wound quickly began to repair.

Three drones landed in front of the bunker door.

V stepped inside and looked around while she spoke

"Wow N, I've been trying to get into this place since foreverrrrrrr!"

"Good Job N, you're doing amazing today man!"

N stood still as L walked up and patted him on the back. He shifted his weight side to side while silently praying.

Please stay still Uzi. Please stay still.

N had little idea why he cared so much. Uzi was just a measly worker drone with wild fantasies. However despite the doubts in his mind, N couldn't help but feel a sort of truth to her words. 

"T-thanks L."

L looked up into the vent above N and smiled. 

"Those alarms are pissing me off. Why don't we go pay this colony a visit guys?"

V smirked as she drew her claws.

A female drone called out past V and L towards the entrance of the bunker.

"I'm uh, gonna stay here. You guys can go ahead. I'll watch the exit."

N raised an eyebrow and tilted his head past L. He saw Serial Designation S, a female disassembly drone, standing near Door 1's busted control panel. 

"S?"

"Hiiii N…"

He looked at L for a moment.

"Something attacked her squad so she ran. V found her while we were clearing out that colony earlier."

"You make it look like I'm a coward! That THING didn't just attack us! IT KILLED E!"

N opened his mouth slightly. He didn't know Serial Designation E very well but he was always friendly whenever they spoke.

"E's dead?"

"Y-yes… He didn't last more than a few seconds…"

V rolled her eyes and walked past N and L.

"Yeah yeah, poor E, can we just get to killing these stupid workers?"

L shrugged and V took off into the vents.

"Hey uhm, L?"

Before he could take off after V, L turned around and faced N.

"What is it bud?"

"Soooo… A worker drone earlier may have possibly suggested that the company only sent us here to die off after we get rid of the worker drones, and that same worker kind of maybe made me start to realize that the company doesn't really like robots, and, you know, we're like… Robots…"

"…"

"They also kind of said they could fix our landing pod and help us escape the planet so we wouldn't be stuck here to die…"

L's voice was cold and concerned.

"N… Is that what you really think?"

N laughed nervously and put his hands together.

"Oh biscuits… It's really funny how I can instantly tell that I messed up, and that you're probably really really really mad at me right now and it's sort of scaring me, haha!"

L's face turned to a mix of sadness and disappointment. He put one of his hands on N's shoulder and hugged him with the opposite arm. 

"I'm so sorry buddy…"

"What are you ta-"

N's shoulder was injected with a chip as his body froze completely. He fell to the floor and began to glitch.

"The worker drones are corrupted N… That's why the company sent us… I-I'm sorry you had to go out like this buddy. It's just protocol N. Please don't hate me for it."

N's voice glitched as he struggled to move even a finger.

"I c-could n-never hate y-you L. Y-you're so aw-awe-awesome."

"Damn it N…"

L clenched his fist and spread his wings as he shot up into the vents.