What-If/AU: Maid, N, the Abyss

Inspired by: lilblucat's art work


A crack of lightning illuminated the large, ominous halls of the manor. The booming sound that soon followed nearly caused a drone clad in a black suit and tie to trip himself, but he managed to land on his toes and recover. However, the arrangement of glasses that his serving tray were not as lucky as he was, as they crashed onto the floor.

N visibly winced at the sight of broken glass shards, "Maybe no one noticed?" he said hoping that no one witnessed another moment of clumsiness from the butler drone. His hopes were immediately dashed once he heard a voice that boomed not unlike the thunder that startled him, "You, worthless piece of scrap!" He was far too familiar with that sound.

"Hey J…" N greeted the fellow maid bot with shame as he used his foot to slide some of the shards behind him. J clicked her tongue in annoyance at his poor attempt at hiding his recent handiwork, "Do you realize how important this event is to JCJensen? Do you even know the achievement that they're celebrating?"

"Uh…" N wasn't really sure what the event was even about, he remembered Tessa talking about it but the Elliots have been having a ton of parties in the month, but not wanting to anger J any further he decided to trust his instincts, "It's about…uh…the recent advancement in dog life longevity?" he responded unsurely.

Evidently, he answered wrong as J smacked him on the head, "Idiot, that wasn't even a good guess. Prolonging the life of dogs is far from the company's best interests, what good would longer living dogs be?" she said rhetorically.

"I don't know, if I was in charge that'd be the first thing I'd do," N answered honestly and for that he received another smack on the head.

J rolled her optics, "Luckily for us you're not in charge of the company," she spat out bitterly. "Now clean up this mess, Tessa's said that there's a new arrival today and we don't want to discourage our fellow employee with an unpleasant workplace, do we pal?" she said with a threatening tone.

N picking up immediately on what J was implying, saluted his boss, "N-No, of course not! Will do J! Thanks J!" With that, J left with a smile on her face as she pushed N out of her way and kicked the shards of glass that he tried to hide from her, scattering them across the rug.

With a sigh, N moved quickly to pick up the shards with his mechanical hands, he had to hurry, he really wanted to see the new arrival that Tessa just repaired. It would be nice to have another new friend!

After a few minutes of picking up the shards, N hurriedly sought out the trash bin to dispose of them. But in his excitement, he failed to account for a bump in the rug and tripped once more. "Oh biscuits!" N exclaimed, "I'm going to be late!" N rushed to pick up the shards again until a hand reached out to his shoulder. The sudden contact made him jump, accidentally knocking over the drone behind him.

"Sorry, V!" N said as he pulled up the spectacled drone adorned with a black headdress and the standard issue maid uniform.

"It's no problem, N," V said as she picked up her fallen glasses from the floor, "besides it seemed like you needed some help." She then picked up the broom and dustpan that laid on the floor.

"Thanks V!" N grinned, as the maid drone smiled along with him as they cleaned up the mess once again.


The pair of drones dashed through the halls just to meet the new addition to their crew of maids and butlers. Along the way they began to converse: "Do you think that the new drone would like talking about dogs?" N asked, nearly tripping over another bump in the way.

"I don't know," V responded with uncertainty, "but I can keep you company if they don't like them. Then again, I'm not quite sure if I've ever met a person or a drone that doesn't like dogs."

N chuckled, "I'll count on your company then!" V's visor brightened at the prospect of spending more time with her best friend, sure he was clumsy, and a 'total liability' J's words not hers but he always made a good time out of a bad situation.

The two approached the meeting room just in the nick of time as they saw their boss Tessa with an unfamiliar figure hiding behind her.

"Hey Tessa!" N greeted cheerfully, causing the human to smile. "Who's that behind you?" N asked as the drone stepped forward from Tessa's shadow.

"This is Cyn- "Tessa began but the drone started to harshly nudge at the human's side. "Yeah, right, her uh…preferred name is Uzi," Tessa amended in an attempt to please the drone.

"Uzi huh?" N repeated, trying to get used to the name, it was odd since most of the drones that Tessa repaired never really had names besides their designations. Having a three letter name would be nice, he thought to himself, but it probably would've made it harder for drones like J since she barely even remembered his name, it was really…hard to remember a single letter.

N got closer to the new drone and inspected her, she was wearing the same uniform as both V and J, yet for some reason hers had been torn at the hems and it appeared messier than their own uniforms. Another oddity that the drone possessed was her purple optics, most of them had been reset to their default configurations of white, maybe Tessa was trying something new? What color would he want his own optics to be?

N was pulled away from his distracting thoughts once Uzi's virtual brows furrowed as she felt discomfort under his gaze, "What are you looking at, creep?" N quickly waved his arms and shook his head, "S-Sorry! Just got curious, you know, it's just that I'm always so excited to meet new friends," he stammered.

Uzi hissed at the prospect of friendship, "I'm not here to be your friend! And I'm just here until I manage to find a way out of here! In fact," The drone looked around the area and found a window of opportunity, literally. "See you, bozos!" She made a mad dash towards said window only for her to be held back by a fleshy human hand.

"Sorry about that," Tessa apologized to the drones present in the room, "Uzi's a bit of a feisty one," as if on cue, the tiny drone attempted to bite her hand, only for Tessa to pull away at the last second. "Bite me!" Uzi yelled out, "I never wanted to be a part of this freak show!" Uzi and Tessa continued to bicker while the rest of the drones watched on.

J scoffed at the new drone's behavior, "No wonder she ended up at the junkyard, anyways if you know what's best for all of you, it's probably better not to affiliate yourself with her, lest corporate fire your sorry hides and I'm talking to you, N," she said pointedly towards the butler bot.

"G-Got it, J!" N said a bit surprised by the fact that J singled him out again. J smirked as she left the room to do the rest of her chores for the day.

"Don't let her get to you, N," V said comforting N, "Though, she's probably right about Uzi, she'd get you into more trouble than it's worth."

N spared a passing glance to the pair of an arguing drone and human and agreed, "Yeah, that's probably for the best."


It was official, Tessa had managed to somehow find an even worse employee than N. J has had problems sure but nothing that she couldn't wrangle up, the title of best employee wasn't just for show. She's had her fair share of tussles but this…this took the cake. Somehow, Cyn, oh her bad, she meantUzi, had managed to get ahold of a pack of purple hair dye.

"What in the Robo-Hell do you think you're doing?! Hair colors were strictly meant to be uniform, they're the perfect standard cut and coloring for our company's pure and honest reputation!" J berated Uzi trying to wrestle the hair dye off of the drone's hands.

"Screw the company! And screw you!" Uzi kept on fighting back, nearly crumpling the box of hair dye as she tightened her grip on it. This was getting out of hand; she's been trying to get out of the mansion for weeks now and she's barely dented the security system. Breaking those things was much easier in…back in…dang it! Her stupid memory circuits were still corrupted, Tessa hadn't been able to make much progress on it when she found her and until she could put herself together, she was stuck in this rich prissy prison. But that didn't mean she was going to comply with every single rule in it, whose great idea was it to make white the color of elegance and honesty?! Purple was where it was at! Uzi was sure that the color scheme was just a poor attempt at trying to bury the company's questionable work ethics.

Uzi and J continued to grapple with each other until J accidentally knocked the box of hair dye into the bathroom, sensing the opening Uzi rolled them towards from the bathroom until she ended up on top of J.

Uzi smirked, "See you later, corporate ass-kisser!" J's optics widened in surprise, but it was far too late as Uzi kicked her down, the strike stunned J for long enough that Uzi made a run for it. With desperate fervor, Uzi slammed the door and locked herself in the bathroom.

J's rage bubbled within her core which was made even more evident when her visor displayed the message, 'I' 3' Heavy rock started to echo through the mansion halls, while the other maids and butlers all scuffled away from the area. The last time J had gotten that angry, it did not well end at all.

Uzi was hurriedly massaging the dye onto her hair as the sound of heavy metal and banging on the bathroom door became louder and louder as the seconds passed. "Uzi!" J bellowed, "If you don't get out of that room this instant, I'll tear your illicit hair out from your skull!" Uzi assumed that J was holding back somewhat, but Uzi also recognized that the bathroom door was probably the one of the sturdiest doors in the house, comparatively speaking. It'd take J days to break through it if she kept going at it with her current strength.

How she knew that factoid was something beyond her.

[XX4n would've been proud.]

Uzi shook her head, causing water to splatter through the room creating a mess of purple coloring, she'd deal with that later. Curse her weird intrusive thoughts, this was the worst time to have those things! She had to keep going, no matter what.

J banged on the door with what was seventy-five percent of her strength if her HUD was correct, she couldn't risk destroying the door, it was fortunate that the Elliots were away for the day, but she wasn't going to get fired over another drone's mishap.

After wearing herself out, J had to acknowledge the fact that she might be beaten, her approach was not working at all. Taking a page from one of her inspirational business strategies, she took a heavy breath. J composed herself and knocked ever so gently on the door.

"I'm not stopping idiot," a voice vindictively responded through the door, "it's going to take a whole lot more than knocking or even being nice to get me to do that."

J's frown deepened on her visor, "I'm just going to say that the Elliots won't be pleased to see that their bathroom was destroyed by an incompetent drone like you," she said with a tone that was half-condescending and half-threatening. Uzi grinned, she was always prepared especially when it came to the Elliots, "You know, you have to wonder how an innocent worker drone like me managed to get ahold of this illegal item. I mean, drones don't get paid at all, right?"

J's confidence was shattered, as the music slowly died down as her servos struggled to understand what Uzi meant, "What are you implying loser bot?" Uzi was enjoying this far more than she expected, after all taking the boss down a peg is a ton of fun even if she wasn't a human, "What I'm implying is that someone, not saying who, but someone might've nicked Master James' wallet to purchase some stuff." Human masters…please, the only good thing that humans could do nowadays was repair and maintenance even then there were droids that were perfectly capable of doing both.

"Y-You, you didn't?" J asked in disbelief. This drone was unbelievable, she's seen all sorts of insubordination in her time in the manor, but never like this, not like this. The music from her audio speakers started to blare again and a vein popped on the side of her visor. Enough was enough.

The furious drone's gears started to whir and click, as her rage reached the highest recorded peak in her whole production cycle. J was sure she was beginning to overheat, but that was the least of her concerns, she'd just ask Tessa for some coolant and repairs later. Right now, she had a problem to fix, she craned her neck and rubbed her fists. The sounds of her own internal mechanisms ceased for a moment and she spoke as calmly as she could, "Uzi," she said with spite, "You better get out of that bathroom in the next three seconds before I do something that we both regret."

Her threats fell upon deaf ears as she saw water leaking out from underneath the bathroom door accompanied by a teasing, "Oops." The sight only fueled her rage, this was it, she was about to commit a company demeanor.

"Last chance, dumb bot!" J shrieked but despite her roaring screams, she was met with dead silence once again, "Fine, one…two…" She raised her fist and was ready to swing with all of her might. Stomping her left foot forward causing the water to splash from below her, she pulled her right arm back and swung it forward, yelling, "Three…?" Before her fist could make contact with the oakwood door, she heard the flow of water stop and the door unlock.

J stood up straight and huffed, "Well I'm glad that you've manage to come to your senses, Uzi, now you've been a pain in my side the whole day but I'm willing to hear you out provided that you clean the mess that you've made alongside an additional workload considering that you made me waste my time dealing with you, now what do you say…" J trailed off, becoming speechless once the door opened revealing the disheveled and clearly purple hair of her coworker.

"Nah, clean it yourself," Uzi refused to do anything in this place, and the humans in it could go and bite her. "Besides if I did it, I'd just end up making a bigger mess and since you're such a good employee, I'd hate to see you disappoint Master James." Uzi startled to chuckle to herself, that was a good one, the stuck-up bitch wouldn't risk me making things worse and affecting her work record.

J was silent, disturbed by the events of the day. Tessa wouldn't want her to destroy her newest work, and quite honestly, she deserved far worse than the scrapheap at this point. She had made her waste her time and frankly her whole rebellious act was ruining their work efficiency. This would not stand; she'd be damned if some puny pipsqueak got in the way of years of work.

"Uzi, you're going to clean this mess up and do everything that I say or I'll send you back to the landfill that you came from," J ordered with a serious tone of voice.

Uzi scoffed, staring back at the enraged drone, saying her next words with clear intention, "Bite. Me."

And then all hell broke loose.


Tessa was quite acquainted with the sight of damaged drones, it was a favored past time of hers, putting broken things back together. At first, she just wanted to understand the internal mechanisms behind her father's company's products, but it turned into something more. Some drones deserved a second chance and she will always believe that. Though some needed more than just simple patch work.

Metal crashed onto the floor quickly bringing Tessa back to reality, she turned her attention away from her desk and onto the rest of her workshop. The workshop was filled with several drone parts scattered throughout the floor and tables within. And in contrast to the heavily Victorian inspired main rooms of the mansion, her workshop was filled with electric lamps and computers filled with data that housed backups of the drones. Tessa had always loved the more modern aesthetic that the place offered her, a place that was truly hers.

Speaking of problematic drones, Tessa finally reached the repair bay and saw her two recent patients. Somehow the two drones had lost both their arms in a recent accident or that was what the two said had happened. It was clear to anyone with two eyes that their explanation was far from the truth. Especially with the way the two were somehow throwing some of her tools at each other with their mouths and feet. It reminded her of some of her father's beloved slapstick comedies, maybe N would like to watch some of those the next movie night?

Nonetheless, their shenanigans only served to point out that she had a lot of work to do.

"Alright, you two," Tessa intruded on the two drone's mischief, "I have no clue why the two of you just can't get along. But please stop throwing around my equipment, I can't put Humpty Dumpty back together unless I have what I need." The two hesitantly complied, it was apparent that Uzi was clearly much more displeased by the turn of events.

Seeing Uzi's disquieting behavior, Tessa decided to confront the drone, "Uzi, why do you keep trying to ruin things here? You know how my mother and father would react if they found out what you did today." Uzi simply grunted, not interested in answering any questions that the human had for her, she wasn't about to be psychoanalyzed by some weirdo with a hobby of putting corpses back together.

"Uzi, would you please lend me a hand here?" Tessa pressed on with a light jab at Uzi's current condition, however even with that, the drone refused to talk to her. It appeared that it was time for some tough love. Tessa put on her protective mask and pulled up her blowtorch then readied herself, "I promise I won't do anything bad to you…well until after this."

Uzi was confused by what she meant however she quickly understood once Tessa started to melt metal onto her stump. Uzi pulled herself away from the heat of the sparking blowtorch, "What the hell?! What are you doing?" Tessa turned the torch off and pulled up her mask, "I'm trying to lend you a 'hand'?" She jokingly repeated as she showed Uzi one of the spare arms that she was trying to put on her. Uzi groaned at the terrible joke, "Just give me a bit of warning next time, you jerk."

"Sorry! Forgot to turn down your pain receptors," Tessa moved her hands towards Uzi's visor in order to adjust the values of her body but Uzi swerved away from her touch. "Don't do that!" Uzi yelled, "I can take the heat without your stupid help."

J could only roll her optics hearing Uzi's complaints, "Would you just let her help already?! We're wasting daylight, and you're lucky that the other drones managed to clean up your mess. Don't even think you're getting off easy, I intend to make you pay your debt once you get yourself together."

"If that's the case, I'd rather be armless than be a worthless worker drone!" Uzi spat back; her words only reignited their feud. But before they could go back to throwing verbal insults at each other, Tessa started to work on Uzi's arm again.

"Ow! I told you to warn me!"

"Sorry!" Admittedly, Tessa was not the least bit sorry for it, these two had torn each other apart, and almost flooded the mansion's bathroom. Tessa had naively believed that Uzi's rebellious attitude would've straightened up once they got her to work. Turns out, a repressive environment only exacerbates rebellious attitudes, who knew? She had to get Uzi some help, otherwise she'd meet the fate of some of the other drones in the place. Uzi got lucky that she got home ahead of her parents and helped with the clean-up, but luck was far from a reliable currency in the mansion.

Tessa continued to muse upon Uzi's situation, while Uzi herself was trying to mask the pain that she was feeling from the blowtorch. It was apparent to her that she was failing given the fact that the drone that was sat across from her was finding joy in her pain.

"Shut up!" Uzi warned as J howled in laughter, "Try me, burn bot."

Oh, she'd make her pay.


"What are you doing?" V asked worryingly as she saw Uzi tying a bucket to the door. Uzi looked at the maid bot and rolled her optics, "I'm throwing a birthday party for the world's best boss," she said sarcastically. "What does it look like I'm doing?! I'm pranking J for laughing at me yesterday."

V sighed; the two drones had been arguing none stop ever since what many drones were now calling the 'hair dye' incident. The paternal Elliots had not yet returned from work but V knew better that the two drones would eventually cause irreparable damage if yesterday was any indication of the destruction that the two could do.

"Look, J's a bit bossy- "V tried to explain only to be interrupted by the smaller drone who now pulled out duct tape from her pockets.

"Bossy? Try bitchy. Listen, don't even try to excuse that psychobot. Right now, she's my greatest obstacle in getting out of here and along with this," Uzi pulled out a screwdriver and a small circular device hidden in her headdress.

V picked up the device and inspected it closely, "What is this?" Uzi groaned incredulously, "It's a robotic tick." V viewed the object again and stared at Uzi quizzically. Uzi's hand met her face but she finally answered honestly, "It's a tracking device, little miss Frankenstein thought that she could get one up on me, but I'm always one step ahead," Uzi cackled at her explanation, while V could only sigh at the sight.

"Miss Tessa wouldn't need to go this far, if you just cooperated," V stated exasperatedly, "you keep making it difficult for her when she's the only one that has our back."

Uzi angrily stepped towards the maid making her flinch, as the drone accusingly pointed towards her, "Do you think that she can keep us safe forever? These humans don't care about any of us, to them we're just disposable accessories. Don't you understand? I can't stay here…there's someone waiting for me," Uzi added wistfully as she turned away from V and back to making the contraption, she called a prank.

V was confused to say the least. She wasn't really sure how to view her, she was this outsider who kept disrupting their status quo. All for what? Their life was safe here, where was she going to go? And it was clear that drones like them would've been left in the trash if it wasn't for Tessa's interest in giving all of them second chances. Whether or not Uzi admitted it, they were the lucky ones.

Their survival mattered more than a frivolous search for a drone that probably wasn't there anymore. V glanced over Uzi's work and found the end of a string on the floor. V could see what she had to do, and it wasn't going to be easy. But they needed to be safe. V gripped the strings end but before she could pull, a hand reached out to her shoulder.

"What do you think you're doing?" Uzi asked accusingly, yet it was clear that her query fell on deaf ears as V bluntly answered, "What I have to." And then V pulled the string causing Uzi's contraption to fall apart. The ruckus from the fallen machine attracted the attention of several drones and most notably J.

"What is going on here?!" J yelled as she entered the room and saw two drones arguing on the floor and a mess filled with an assortment of glue, a bucket, and duct tape. J immediately pieced together what was happening and groaned in realization.

"Why would you do that?" Uzi cried out to V, "I was just going to mess with her a little."

"It would've left a mess and the Elliots could've kicked us all out," V responded as she picked herself up from the ground. Uzi closed the distance and tightly gripped her collar, "How many times do I have to tell you, I don't care about those stupid humans! I just want to get out of here!"

V didn't offer any response but was clearly uncomfortable with the sudden confrontation. So, J took it upon herself to clean up this mess and pulled Uzi back. Surprised, Uzi tried to claw at J's grip, "Let me go! I still have unfinished business with her!" she said pointedly towards V.

"Well, I'm going to finish it!" J retorted as she turned her attention to the other drones that came in with her, "Clean all of this up and make sure not a single speck of grime and dirt are left here, got it? I'm going to Tessa to deal with this little problem."

That insult to Uzi's stature made her jump and nearly chomp on one of J's fingers, but the drone managed to jerk her hand away at the last second.

The rest of the drones watched on as it happened but chose to ignore it, instead saluting in unison, "Yes boss!" They dispersed immediately as the swept up the mess that V and Uzi made. One drone quickly came to V's side, "Are you okay?" N asked before handing a broom to V.

"I'm fine," V said as she started to sweep the floor, "Just a bit rattled is all, that drone is a mess…" she added as J and Uzi left the room.

N glanced towards the door and hummed deeply, thinking about what could be done with the mansion's resident troublemaker.


It was the night of yet another party for the Elliots' and she was stuck down in the basement. After her recent kerfuffle with V, Tessa had decided that this was probably the best course of action. The best option was essentially putting her in timeout? Jeez, what other option was there? Kindergarten? Uzi thought to herself annoyingly.

They kept telling her that the world outside was in no way safe for a rogue drone to roam about, and maybe they were right, but she didn't care. There was a place out there that was meant for drones and only drones. She'd find it along with whatever it was that she was looking for. Sure, she only saw it in her dreams but it was obvious that drones weren't meant to dream, so she had to have been there before, she was sure of it.

The floor above shook lightly, snapping Uzi out of her musings. She assumed that the party was going well enough with chatter from above suffused into the basement. Uzi grinned, it seemed like she was the lucky one tonight, all of those drones busy with serving their masters. Heck, maybe they could've forgotten about her altogether by now.

…Wait, that was it! It was time to make a break for it. Honestly, sometimes the best solution is the most obvious one. The fact that she didn't think of it before astounded her, she knew the best route out of here. All she needed to do was pretend to be a subservient worker drone, and no one would be the wiser. Good thing she was prepared for an eventual escape attempt, Uzi smirked as she pulled out a lockpick from her headdress.

And they said that watching all that anime was useless.


Uzi pulled herself out of the basement and ran towards the library where she was nearly caught by a couple of humans that were having a personal rendezvous as they stopped macking on each other's disgusting lips. Uzi begrudgingly excused herself politely as she struggled to give a smile towards the humans, "S-Sorry, just some maintenance down there. Mondays, am I right?"

The couple immediately paid no mind to the purple-haired drone and merrily continued their action. Uzi nearly gagged but she had to compose herself and instead let out a sigh of relief, as she exited the library and gathered her thoughts.

The best route out of here was the main hall which was the most crowded and open area in the mansion. Panic quickly spread within her systems; no, it wasn't the time to get cold feet now. She needed to compartmentalize, there were only a number of people and drones that she needed to avoid.

First was J, it was likely that she was schmoozing up the more important guests of the party so that was fine. Tessa would probably be attached to J at this point, girl barely spoke with any other human anyways, so that's two birds with one stone. V was a sneaky one though more often than not, Uzi noticed that V was never comfortable with humans too, the one thing that they shared. She probably wasn't anywhere near the main hall.

Alright, that was all. The other drones didn't matter, she could just scare them straight. They'll be more focused on saving their own hides over anything else. Humans? Just smile and wave, make a few false promises here and there. Uzi nodded to herself, the plan was simple, in and out, completely foolproof.

What could possibly go wrong?


In hindsight, she should've realized that she was playing with fate after saying all that. To be fair, the plan went really well at the start, she managed to evade Tessa and J. V was nowhere to be seen and she even distracted a few humans too. It wasn't until a drone crashed into her like a wrecking ball that caused her plans to come tumbling down.

"Hey watch it, idiot!" Uzi quietly yelled, hoping that they didn't make too much of a commotion, not like this, not when she was so close.

"S-Sorry," a nervous but familiar voice said as he stood up, he offered a hand to Uzi which the girl simply slapped away. Uzi glanced towards the drone as she pushed herself off the floor, it looked like she had kicked a puppy when she saw the expression that he had when she yelled at him.

"It's fine," Uzi said as she dusted herself off, "Don't worry about me, just get back to entertaining our guests," she spat out with a hint of venom to her tone. Uzi turned her back on the drone and made her way to the exit, it was almost over.

A hand reached out to her shoulder, "Shouldn't you be waiting on the guests too?" the drone asked oblivious to the fact that he was ruining her escape.

"Look, M- "Uzi began, before the drone corrected her, "It's actually N- "

"Zip it," Uzi said, annoyed at the drone who promptly zipped his mouth causing her to facepalm. Uzi started to explain, "N, if you make me interact with the humans there's a high chance that I'll drag you down with me, okay? I'm just going to leave, no one's going to notice if just one drone's missing, right? So, either get out of my way or I'll make you." That should be enough, one last empty threat, she was going to get out of here and then find him.

[Him?]

"II'll notice!" N stammered in response to Uzi's ultimatum.

"What?"

"You said that no one would notice, well, I would," N retorted, which only confused Uzi.

The maid drone pulled her arm away from N's hold, "Look that's a nice sentiment and all, but I will do whatever it takes to get out of here and that isn't an exaggeration unlike last week when I said to everyone."

N shook his head and circled around Uzi then firmly dove his shoes into the floor in what seemed to be an attempt to block her, it would've been intimidating had it not been for his quivering stance. "Sorry, but the outside world is dangerous for us. I'd really like to help you but it doesn't seem like you know what you're going to do once you actually get out of here…not that I'm calling you stupid, I think it's admirable that "

Uzi groaned, taking his compliments as false praises, "Don't patronize me, trip and fall bot. I'll bite my way out if that's what you want." N's optics widened in fear as he genuinely believed the tinier bot's threats but remained firm as he spread his arms wider to block her way.

"Fine, have it your way."


N awoke to the sound of chains rattling by his side and the ever so familiar roaring thunder booming from the sky. Briefly, he glanced over to the source of the clinking chains and saw the hint of lavender hair from behind him. He assumed that the drone that got them into their current predicament was on the other side of the tree.

"W-Where are we?" N asked, taken somewhat aback by the glitchy sound of his own voice. N moved his chained fist and repeatedly pounded it against his voice box resulting in further distortions in his voice. His HUD displayed the message: 'Vocal Systems damaged.'Well, that wasn't good.

Laughter came up from behind him, making him freeze up in shock at its eeriness. Uzi had noticed that the butler had been fiddling with his own vocal cords, so much fun when people get what they deserved. However, the entertaining pain of other people soon got tired after a few minutes as he kept on pounding away at his neck. Seeing no other choice, Uzi finally relented and answered his question with just a touch of sarcasm, "We're in a luxury hotel, where do you think we are genius?" She picked up a stick, flicked it with masterful precision, and it flew upwards. The stick landed on N's chest roughly which somehow fixed the issues he was having with vocal systems.

"T-Thanks, uh…so this is what a luxury hotel looks like?" N asked unwittingly.

Uzi slumped her shoulders at his obliviousness, "We're obviously at the swamp, our masters saw it fit that we should be punished in this way."

"O-Oh," N started to chuckle at their situation, "Well, it's only for a few hours anyways…it's not like it's movie night today…" he added gloomily.

Uzi could feel N's downcast expression from behind her, that wasn't right, she shouldn't care this much about the person that caused her failure, but nonetheless the frown on her visor betrayed her, "Well, it's not like you'll need a movie after tonight anyways, you actually held your ground long enough for us to be caught. Knocked you out at the last second though."

N's optics hallowed once he realized that it was Uzi that caused his systems to reboot. N started to caress his head, "So that's what happened. Although, how did you manage to do all those cool moves?"

Uzi smirked and offered a curt response, "Anime."

N titled his head curiously, "What's an anime?"

It appeared as though Uzi had a ton more to do tonight than she initially thought she had.


N listened intently as Uzi went on for a few hours on end about anime being the greatest invention of the human race. And from her words, he was inclined to agree, maybe he should include some anime for the next movie night, they've been watching way too much English films anyways. Variety was the spice of life, after all.

Variety huh? N glanced over to the drone who was talking about an anime regarding scientific railguns. N hummed to himself; Uzi certainly was a drone that stood out from the rest of them. Not that they weren't special, or at least that's what Tessa kept telling them. But Uzi…was different, instead of relying on her own designation code, she made up her own name albeit, it was a bit odd that she named herself after a gun but it was fitting somehow? N chuckled to himself as his thoughts only became more muddled as he continued to dwell on the odd drone's behavior.

"What's so funny?" Ah, had he been laughing to himself again? Shoot, J had always told him that weird trait of his would get him into trouble.

"N-Nothing," N attempted to save face hoping to placate the girl's interrogatory gaze.

"Just tell me already, it's not like I can hurt you with these on," Uzi pressed on as she shuffled her chainsnot like N could see given how they were bound up to two opposite ends of the tree.

"Okay, I was just thinking that it was cool that you know a lot about human culture and a lot about us drones, like how you knew how to hit my voice box with a stick to fix it. The only thing I've ever been interested in was dogs," N awkwardly chortled as he rubbed the back of his head embarrassed.

"OOh," Uzi was taken aback by the drone's sudden show of sincerity, "It's w-weird that you said that."

The two sat in silence for some time after that.


The uncomfortable silence was broken by the crows that circled the tree that the two were chained to. Uzi was inclined to think that despite how cliché it was to have crows near the swamp, she too was unnerved by the atmosphere that they made.

"Uh…N, you okay there?" Uzi asked concerningly as she looked over her shoulder and saw that N was uncharacteristically still.

"N?" Uzi repeated, the drone offered no response. Uzi reached out and tapped his shoulders. All of a sudden, she was jumped by the sight of black eyes.

Uzi's scream echoed throughout the swamp.

"I can't believe that you got scared of little ol' Goobers," N teasingly said as he rubbed his hands on the crow's neck.

Uzi groaned in frustration, "I told you I was just shocked by lightning, any drone would scream if they were hit by lightning." Her excuses only served to widen the ever-growing grin on N's face, "Whatever, you say."

Uzi crossed her arms and huffed, that stupid bird was going to pay for this. And what kind of name was Goobers? If it were her, she'd have named it something cool, something that would send chills down the spines of her enemies as she called upon it to descend and ruin their days.

…Something like…

…Uh…

[DarkXWolf17?]

A flash of purple lightning lit up the sky as pain rushed through her circuitry. Images of indiscernible information filled her processors. If this was what it was like to have a migraine then she would've gladly stayed a drone any day of the week.

"Uzi, are you okay?" N asked, the question only served to make her servos whirr out in pain. What was going on? N tried to look over his side of the tree but the chains were too tight for him to move any further.

"I-I'm fine, just having another inconvenient memory flash." N didn't really understand what that meant, but he knew that she was going through a lot, he wasn't sure how he could help.

But he could always lend an ear, "Hey…uh…I know you're okay and all, but maybe it'll help if we just talk for a bit?" His suggestion was answered by a resounding silence, "I-It doesn't have to be all that complicated, you…uh…told me that there was a place that you were trying to go to, could you tell me about that?"

"I…" Uzi hesitated, her mind was flustered from everything that she just saw, maybe she did need help to piece things together. It wasn't like anyone was going to believe what she said, even if it came from his mouth, "I've been dreaming about a place."

"What was it like?" N asked, as the crow in his lap cooed.

"It was…there were a lot of doors," Uzi said, confusing both her and N in the process, "And there was a school, but all of the students were drones."

N oohed in awe of what she just said, "I've always wanted to go to school, it sounds like fun!"

Uzi shook her head and laughed, "Please, school was like the least cool place ever. It was just filled with a variety of cliches and teenage hormones." Uzi still didn't understand how she knew that too, it wasn't like she ever went to school, not when she had work to do.

"Your dreams must be really detailed then, that's pretty cool!"

Uh…thanks?" Uzi started to scratch the back of her head, not really used to such compliments. Her core started to tingle, a sense of familiarity filled her mind, it was…weird. Hadn't she felt this…back then?

Before she could continue to ponder upon it, purple lightning cracked in the sky, hitting the waters near them. The crows nearby then turned in their direction in a uniform fashion. The two chained up drones started to scurry away from the birds until N accidentally hit something near his side of the tree.

Metal crashed onto a nearby puddle, and N took a good look at it. His optics hallowed at the sight of the drone's cracked visor, "Uh…Uzi, I…think something bad is about to happen." Uzi looked over to see the broken drone and she started to whine, "Don't say things like that moron!"

The flock of crows cawed and flew towards the two at breakneck speeds, they started to peck at their visors and arms. The pair started to scream and struggle but the chains kept restraining their movements.

This was bad, did the Elliots want them dead? The crow's assault was nonstop, for every crow that Uzi managed to throw off of her, more took their place. She couldn't let it end here, she needed to get home! She needed to find him.

A crow dived into her visor in a desperate attempt to break her. The visor cracked; her fears grew but she kept on fighting. This couldn't be the end. Oh, who was she kidding? She was going to die in a swamp, dressed in stupid clothes and stuck with the drone that caused all of this. She didn't even get to see them again.

A sharp pain penetrated Uzi's processor, she gripped her head attempting to shake it off, it really wasn't the time for this! Her body quivered and shook causing the crows to fly off away from her. But things only got worse once her HUD displayed the message:

HIGH TEMP

Why? Why was this happening to her? She just wanted to go home. Uzi's body slumped onto the marshy ground as she heard the cawing of the returning crows. She was sorry but it seemed that this was the end of her.

"Uzi!" A voice screamed to her side before a figure jumped in front of her and took the hit from the vicious crows. Uzi's optics hallowed; how did N get out? It seemed that one of N's hands was torn up into various bits of wires and machinery, did the crows do that much damage to him? No, that wasn't important now, why did he come back for her? N kept taking the hits meant for Uzi, while the little drone was left speechless by N's actions.

"Why? Why are you doing this?!" Uzi cried out, frustrated by the fact that her shackles kept her from helping N.

N spoke gently even as the crows kept going at him, "It looked like you were hurt, I j-just wanted to help," N's voice glitched at the end as more crows descended upon him. It didn't matter to him though, as painful as it was, he was glad that he could alleviate her pain even if it was just for a few minutes.

Uzi shook her head, "We aren't even friends, why go so far?" She couldn't understand it, she'd been terrible to him and the other drones for several weeks, he should've just left well enough alone. He could've been able to escape on his own and leave her for dead.

[Just like dad did.]

Not again! Her internal components were overheating with each memory that flooded into her mind, she needed a coolant. Something that could calm her systems down.

A sudden scream from N distracted her from her own thoughts, black liquid started to sweep from N and onto the ground. Oil, she needed oil. Desperate, Uzi dove her head down attempting to get a single lick of it. Sure, it was disgusting since the oils had managed to mix with the mud, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She had to get herself back to normal before she could help N out.

Spitting out a few pieces of mud, Uzi sat herself back up and assessed N's current condition. He was hurt, badly hurt, she had to get him help. But she was still chained up, Uzi tried to fight against the restraint's holds but they wouldn't budge. There had to be some other way she could help, she tried screaming out but no one heard her cries, they were too far away from the mansion to get any of the other drones, or even Tessa's help.

This wasn't fair! She couldn't let him get hurt again!

[Again?]

Uzi gasped for air as her processors began to struggle once again. She turned her gaze downwards at a puddle and saw her reflection, an odd three-pronged symbol began to shine from her visor. She didn't understand what it was but there was a feeling from within her core that kept urging her to do something.

N's cries pervaded her sensors once again, she had to do something! Her optics narrowed and she reached out causing her shackles to tighten, it didn't matter she had to reach him! Unexpectedly, the birds stopped their attack, as purple hexes formed around them restraining their movements.

"Uzi?" N looked up to see that Uzi was doing…something? Was she holding some sort of compass in her hand? Before he could ask, Uzi squeezed her fist tightly as the crows that were previously tearing them apart had found themselves in a similar situation, only with far less oil and wires, and more blood and guts.

Uzi managed to save them both. But she shortly collapsed onto the swampy floor, panting from the extreme expenditure of energy from her power. N tried to stand himself up, only to immediately fall on his face, it looked like the crows had managed to ruin one of his feet. Leaving him crawling on the floor.

N crawled over Uzi's spot and lightly tapped her head, "U-Uzi, a-are you okay?" His once again distorted but audibly worried voice reached the girl who had her head buried in a puddle who offered a grunt in response.

"Uh…d-does that mean, yes?" N asked unsurely, as Uzi brought her head up from the puddle causing the water to splash onto his suit, "Do I look like I'm okay?" She sarcastically replied.

"S-Sorry," N said, looking downcast from the girl's behavior. Dang it! She didn't want to make him sad, he just frigging saved her life.

Uzi had to course-correct, "Look, I didn't mean it like that." N tilted his head not quite understanding what she meant. "It's just that my CPU's been overheating lately, apparently stressful situations make my memories come flying back faster than I can process it. Anyways, it doesn't matter, what I'm trying to say is thanks for saving me and sorry for traumatizing you with the bird thing."

N smiled, "No p-problem, j-just had to l-lend a helping hand. And a-about the bird thing, consider it repressed!" Uzi giggled at his attempts to downplay the situation, though N continued to wonder about something, "How did you do that magic hand wavy thing?"

Uzi looked down at her hands as she started to ponder upon it but she quickly brushed it aside, "It doesn't matter, but right now we have to get out of here before more of those stupid birds come back."

"W-Well, those shackles look pretty tight to me, and with my current c-condition I don't think I-I'll be able to help you out of there," N stated concerningly as they both inspected the metal bindings.

"Figure as much," Uzi stated bluntly as N glumly gazed at his own body, "Might as well give this one more try." Uzi closed her optics and focused on calling upon the feeling that pushed her on earlier.

Purple symbols surrounded the chains of her shackles, Uzi smirked at the sight. She managed to get it to work again. Uzi rotated her hands causing the metal to bind and twist until it eventually broke. N was left in awe of the display of abilities from the drone.

Uzi grasped her wrist that was still cuffed onto the bindings, she tried to call upon her powers to break it once more. But her systems flashed with a hazard symbol as she neared high temperature levels. Shoot! She needed more oil, she looked down and saw the onlooking N, this was going to be awkward.

"N," when she said his name, he blinked his optics as he quickly returned his attention to her, "I need some help, but it might be a bit weird."

Weirder than anything else today? Didn't matter, he liked helping, "S-Sure! I like doing anything!"


N's visor glowed brightly as he started to blush from the intimate contact from Uzi as she bit down on his neck. Well, she did say it was going to be weird. Though he wasn't sure about the fact that his oil levels were quickly going down.

"Uh…U-Uzi," he said with a touch of worry in his voice, "I-I think y-you n-need to stop!" he added yelling as Uzi bit down harder on his neck. Desperate, N started to shake her off of him, but their position was making it difficult, and the loss of his one hand didn't make it any easier.

Eventually, he managed to get Uzi to stop, though the girl remained unaware of what she did as N slumped onto the floor. "N!" Uzi grabbed hold of the drone and got him to sit up against the tree again.

"Are you okay?" she asked as she looked over at him.

"J-Just a little oil deprived," N said nonchalantly, "D-Don't worry aabout me, I-I'm sure T-Tessa and y-you c-can patch me up."

"Me?" Uzi asked, pointing to herself.

"Y-Yeah, y-you're like r-really c-cool and s-smart, s-so if you put that together with how cool and smart Tessa is, we'd get both of those factors squared!" N said gleefully.

"I don't think that's how math works and besides it's not like I'll be coming back," Uzi said bluntly, she pulled N up and placed one of his arms over her shoulder as they began to trek back up to the mansion to get him some help.

"Y-You won't stay?" N was shocked that their near-death experience did not deter her from the fact that the outside world was dangerous to them.

"I can take care of myself, and besides with these cool new powers, nothing would be able to stand in my way," Uzi responded laughing to herself.

N nodded along; she had a point. And besides, he wasn't sure if Tessa or anyone else could've stopped her from leaving, it was sad. He really wanted to make a new friend, but this was what she wanted. There was just one thing that threw it off for him, just one tiny insignificant concern.

"W-What are you going to do when you run out of oil?"

Uzi abruptly stopped her pace, almost throwing N off in the process. He…had a point, she needed oil to survive and get back home. She couldn't just go around stealing oil either, she'd attract too much attention.

The speechless Uzi left N confused, had she not considered the fact that she needed oil when she just asked him moments ago for it? N laughed to himself, there's no way that could be the case, right?

Uzi was not pleased at all by his laughter, "What's so funny?" Oops, had he been laughing too loudly again, "I-It's nothing, but uh…if you're having trouble figuring it out, then maybe I could help?"

Uzi looked at him incredulously, "I-I mean, i-if you w-want my help that is. I-I don't really do much anyways, and besides I'll always help out a buddy…that is if we are friends?"

Were they? He got in the way of her escape attempt, but…he also protected her earlier. He wasn't all that bad, in comparison to the other drab and stuck-up drones in the place. It wasn't like doing things alone was doing her any favors.

[Plus, he was pretty cute.]

What was that?

Uzi met N's pleading gaze and sighed, "Fine I guess we are friends." Somehow saying that seemed a lot easier than she expected, weird. N smiled and offered his hand to her expectantly, she stared at it for a bit, hesitantly she shook his hand. A spark of electricity shocked the two when their hands made contact.

That wasn't a bad sign, right? The two drones thought to themselves as they managed to get back to the mansion.


Weeks had passed since Uzi dragged N back to Tessa. The poor girl nearly collapsed under the sight of the butler being that badly damaged, to Uzi's shock, Tessa really developed a liking to her after saving one of Tessa's favorites. As messed up as that sounded, Uzi requested a day off because of it.

After gaining an assistant in the form of N, Uzi had decided to ramp up on one of her latest escape plans. This would work. The exit point this time around would be through the skies, the ground was far too secured for her to sneak the two of them out. The highest point in the mansion was fortunately the least populated place too.

The mansion attic had been long since abandoned, only holding some of the Elliots oldest and most used sets of cutlery and weird artifacts that they collected through the years, along with a strange set of holiday decorations. It was all so wasteful in Uzi's eyes but one man's trash could be another drone's escape plan. After all, her makeshift escape vehicle wouldn't have been made without all that stuff.

"Alright N, pull the lever!" Uzi bravely commanded as N pulled down one of the arms of a candlestick that was secretly a hidden lever that Uzi installed so that no one could ruin her next escape plan.

The lever clicked but nothing happened, "Huh, Uzi, did you make this right?" N asked as he kept flicking the lever. Uzi laughed to herself, "Yeah, that's the wrong lever, but it has its uses."

N had to wonder, why would Uzi make a lever that did nothing?


"Hey, J. Have you seen N?" V asked her superior officer who only crossed her arms as she replied, "The drones here saw him with the liability, so they've probably blown up by now."

"Don't be so mean, J."

J scowled at V's concern; she knew well how the maid had felt for the clumsy drone but she didn't really get the appeal of him. "Look, it's better that the two screw ups are together anyway, they can keep each other busy and away from me."

V gave J a look of disappointment, but the latter shrugged it off. V sighed, she needed to keep N safe from Uzi. The two were nearly inseparable now after they returned from their masters' punishment. She couldn't afford to not worry about the butler, especially the damaged state that he returned in. She couldn't ever see him like that ever again.

With her resolve heightened, V started to go off on her way to find the two drones. As she did so, she and J heard a suspicious click from the ceiling.

"What was that?" J asked, only to be answered immediately by a rain of water balloons filled with a certain drone's signature purple colors.

The corridor was a mess to say the least, the paintings on the walls were tarnished with purple stains. The worker drones immediately huddled together and started cleaning even though they were dirtied themselves.

Although, one drone remained in a silent standstill.

"J, a-are you okay?" V reached out to J's shoulder only for her worries to be brushed off. The dye that dripped from the head drone's dress seemingly evaporated before reaching the ground, causing V to recoil and slowly back away from the enraged drone.

"I am going to kill that drone!"


J's screams echoed throughout the entirety of the mansion, the intensity of which shook the attic that almost made N topple over Uzi's recent work.

"Watch it, N!" Uzi pushed N away from the makeshift slay that they made. N stepped aside and let Uzi make some final touches on the contraption.

"So, is it ready now?" N asked quizzically, as he got on the slay and fastened the loose seat belts that N duct taped onto the slay, safety first after all.

"Yeah, we should be able to make our escape now," Uzi confirmed as she pulled on a few loose threads on the slay.

This plan was foolproof, she made sure of it. It surprised her how fast they managed to build it though, even having a few anime marathons in between. Uzi glanced over to her partner in crime who was humming and swaying to a familiar upbeat tune from an anime that they watched.

Uzi smiled; N had been…great company to have. He's actually had her back ever since they became friends, they've managed to escape a few human parties because N somehow mapped out the best places to hide in the mansion. And she's been able to help him stand up to J on some occasions.

Not that it was successful in any way, J kept on scaring the biscuits out of him, his words not hers. But baby steps, she supposed.

In that regard though, after he started hanging out with her, J's been oddly avoidant of the two. Probably got too scared of our combined might, what a chicken. V's been hovering above them far too much, that was a pain. She'd never forgive her for ruining the really cool prank she had planned. Still Uzi had to learn how to tolerate her since N was so fond of her, with his not-so-secret secret crush on the drone. Although she regretted letting V watch anime, for some reason V was really good at emulating some of the moves she wanted to learn.

No, she wasn't jealous, shut up.

"Alright, time for the real flight, are you ready for this?" Uzi asked with a hint of excitement in her voice.

N responded in kind, "You know I am! I love doing anything!" And that's all she needed, Uzi grabbed a hold of a clothes line and with N's help, secured the tie to the end of the slay. The two began to pull back the slay until Uzi locked it into place with the lever that N was supposed to pull.

The two drones gave it a good look over. It was perfect, despite a few pieces falling off, and besides if anything went wrong, Uzi would've just used her new powers. Keeping it secret for the past few weeks was a pain but it was all worth it just for this one shot out of the hellhole that they call a home. They each looked towards each other and grasped each other's hands, then squealed excitedly.

Uzi and N hopped onto the slay and clasped their belts onto their waists. They were going to do it; they were going to get out of there and finally go to the place where they belonged. Uzi reached for the lever, but was abruptly stopped by N who grasped her shoulders.

"Are you sure we can't let V come with us?" N asked as he started to get cold feet about their absurd plan. Uzi couldn't help but sigh, "I told you this thing only had enough space for two people."

Uzi's explanation caused the taller drone to display a hesitant expression on his visor which made Uzi groan, "We'll come back for her, I promise. Besides, she and J would be able to keep each other safe for a while."

The glow of N's optics glowed brightly as the drone started to smile, he wrapped his arms around Uzi and held her in a tight hug, "Thanks Uzi!"

The smaller drone tried to push his frame off of her, but he was surprisingly stronger than she expected. The temperature in the room was starting to get warm to her even though her HUD didn't display any messages regarding high temperatures.

"D-Don't be so excited, you idiot. I could just be lying to get you to come with me," she whispered softly as she stopped fighting against his hold.

N couldn't help but chuckle, "You wouldn't do that."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because, you wouldn't leave a drone behind, would you?" N…had a point, none of these drones deserved a lifetime of servitude here. Yes, even if some of them, not saying who, J, are the absolute worst.

N only kept grinning the longer Uzi debated with herself, which inevitably pissed her off but it wasn't the time for arguments now was the time for action. Uzi moved her hand back to the lever, and this time N didn't stop her.

Nothing could ruin this anymore.

Only for that statement to quickly be proven wrong once a knock came on the attic door.


"Uzi, N! Are you in there?" The sickeningly sweet tone of J's voice permeated through the door, "I just want to talk with you two little troublemakers."

"Oh, that's bad," N pointed out, she only used that tone when she was really going to give it.

Uzi grit her teeth, "It's fine, we just have to make it out of here then she and all of this will be far behind us."

"I told you that the prank you did wouldn't end well!"

"It wasn't a prank, it was a distraction! I just didn't think that she'd be able to figure it all out." Really with the mess she left behind, it'd take her an entire afternoon to clean it up.

"That tears it! I'm breaking this door down!" J declared but as she raised her fist, it was calmly put down by V.

"V?"

V frowned and rubbed her left hand onto her right fist, "Let me deal with this."


"Holy shit!" Uzi yelled as V's fist broke through the door with a single punch, "You really shouldn't have invited her to our anime nights!"

"This isn't the time, Uzi!" It was a great idea at the time! And if it worked all three of them could've been best friends!

Before Uzi could retort J ran through the hole in the door, dragging the drone to the floor not noticing that a thread of Uzi's dress got caught on the lever.

"You are so done, no more mister nice boss, it's time for some corporate punishment!" J bellowed as she began fuming at Uzi.

"Will the punishment be as bad as your breath? Seriously, how can your mouth stink so much? You're not even a human," Uzi mockingly wiped away the nonexistent stench, if she was going down, she would go down with style.


The two aggressive drones continued to argue in the background, while V turned her attention to the butler who was sitting quietly in the sled. It appeared as though he managed to get the belt stuck to him.

V shook her head and started to giggle, "You need some help there?" she said teasingly.

N's visor visibly blush from the playful remark by the maid, "U-Uh yeah, I made these things A little too tight," he answered nervously.

Grabbing onto the strap, V started to pull on it but it seemingly wouldn't budge. V continued to pull harder, putting her legs against the sled's frame using it as leverage. N tugged on the strap as well but their combined efforts only proved to be futile.

Unbeknownst to the two drones, Uzi and J's argument reached a boiling point which led to J pulling Uzi off the floor and dragging her back to clean the mess that she made in the corridor. But the strength at which J used to pick her up, pulling on the stuck thread which made the other lever come down.

"Uh oh," Uzi stated as she heard the abrupt click sound of the launcher. N's optics widened in terror, knowing what was coming next, he quickly pushed V aside as the sled was propelled upwards and forwards by the clothesline. The sled flew towards the attic window shattering it into several shards and pieces as N panickedly scream as the sled flew higher and higher.

"You made a slingshot?! Are you an actual child?!" J asked angrily, which led Uzi to huff in offense, "It would've worked, we even had a landing strategy!"

It was an amazingly simple plan, taking into account both of their respective weights they would've landed safely into the bushes of the garden. And if anything went wrong, she could just use her powers. Easy enough for an idiot to understand and commit to.

Shoot.

"N!" V cried out looking through the broken attic window. J and Uzi peered through the hole and saw that the sled was gradually descending.

"Well, that's it for that idiot," J said bluntly, "Come on, you've got a punishment to get to." She grabbed the hem of Uzi's uniform and continued to fight her.

"Let me go! I've got to help N!"

"Yeah right, like you can do anything," J said scoffing only to be stopped by V blocking her path, "V, please get out of the way or else I'll consider this an insubordinate action."

V scowled but did not move away, instead choosing to ask a question directed at Uzi, "You can save him, right?"

Uzi nodded, and V decided that was good enough, she rushed towards J and tackled her to the ground.

"Hey what the? Get off me!" J was struggling against V's frame.

"Go save him!" V screamed as J pushed her off.

Uzi quickly went to the window, and reached her hands out as a symbol emerged from it.


N never realized how pretty the sky was before, sure it was filled with smog and smoke but hey it was quite the sight.

It was a long time since the last time he went away from the mansion, sometimes Tessa would take them out though that was before her parents discovered she had been showing garbage to some of her acquaintances. They said that Tessa had brought shame upon the family name and thus, they weren't allowed outside anymore. It wasn't like the outside world had changed very much since the last time he saw it.

A group of birds came flying towards N's falling sled, "Oh hello!" The birds didn't pay him any attention which was fine, it was nice to see that there were other birds besides the crows that terrorized him and Uzi back then.

Speaking of Uzi, it saddened him that she couldn't get along with the other drones. Sure, J was a bit mean, but she was just offering…constructive criticism? N shook his head; Uzi was right he really needed to stop excusing some of J's harsh words. Still, if Uzi really put her all into it, he'd bet that even J would be impressed with her work. V and Uzi were unexpectedly alike, but the two had some sort of silent animosity that N wasn't privy to.

A bird flew into N's visor making the drone flail out in a panic, after throwing the bird off. The sled toppled over and unbuckled the stuck seatbelt onto him.

"Finally!" N excitedly said, though his excitement was shot down once he realized that he was nearing the ground now. Terror quickly returned ten-fold as he started to scream loudly. All of a sudden, his rapid descent stopped, though N remained unaware as he kept on screaming until he realized that something caught him, or more accurately, someone.

"Uzi!"


Uzi smirked as she managed to make it in the nick of time, it was hard to catch a moving target but of course, she was skilled enough to thread the needle.

"How?"

"What the heck?!"

Ah yes, the astonished gasps of her unamused peers, unabashedly Uzi's grin only grew larger as she pulled N back to the safety of the manor.

N swiftly gave Uzi another hug while excitedly yelling out, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" As he spun Uzi around, Uzi clumsily patted the joyous drone on the back, "N-No problem, buddy."

N sensing the tension, put the drone down, and coughed awkwardly. V let out a breath of relief, knowing that N was alright and immediately rushed to his side and gave him a hug too.

"I'm glad you're alright!" V gladly said as N began to blush, V turned to Uzi causing the smaller drone's optics to widen as V spoke out sincerely, "Thank you."

"D-Don't mention it."

J could only look on in disgust at the lovefest that was happening in front of her, "I'm not getting paid enough for this…"


The tensions amongst the worker drones under her care was in a weird place, at least in Tessa's eyes. After the mess that came with Uzi's last escape attempt, things had been oddly quiet. Uzi had actually worked with them to put things back together, a process that went along smoothly, and then she just stopped escaping altogether.

Unexpectedly, she and V got along swimmingly, Tessa could swear that she saw the two drones sparing once, a sight that left her jaw on the floor. Honestly, it was quite impressive how far the two have come along. The only thing that hasn't changed is the animosity between Uzi and J nevertheless, it was apparent that with Uzi behaving herself, J had somewhat mellowed out.

…It was all so weird, a few months ago the mansion was filled with so much noise and color that returning to the status quo felt off. Not that she wanted her drones to keep acting out, but it was all so exciting. Unpredictable, Tessa noted, the unpredictability of a single drone changed everything.

Well maybe, she could take a page from Uzi's book. Just a touch of the unexpected.

"What are we doing here?" Uzi asked annoyed about the fact that the human just stopped her from doing her job, which was something she didn't even expect that she'd think about.

"Girls' night!" Tessa announced to the three drones who recoiled at the prospect of having to spend a night together.

J jeered at Tessa's request, "Yeah, no thanks. I have way too much to do tonight, you guys can have fun without me." J tried to walk away from Tessa's room but was pulled back in by the girl.

"Not so fast!" Tessa said, "look J, just consider this a company retreat, you've had the most troubles with Uzi lately and by doing this we can ensure an efficient workflow in the future." J bit her lip, Tessa had a point, and while Uzi had been somewhat compliant these few days, she couldn't be sure if it was a permanent change. Every approach she took only backfired on her with every revenge attempt that Uzi was doing affecting her work performance.

J only had one chance to solve it once and for all.

As J and Tessa continued to converse, V nudged at Uzi, grabbing her attention, "What do you think they're talking about?"

Uzi gave a look of disinterest, "Do I look like I care? They're probably talking about some stupid business stuff or something lame like that."

"Well, you might be right about that. But even so, do you really want to do this?"

Uzi raised a brow at V, what was up with the sudden niceties? Sure, she saved V's crush but it's not something to be nice over. Alright, maybe it was considering that it was N, but this was just plain out weird.

"Stop pretending to be nice to me," Uzi bluntly stated as she crossed her arms.

V looked down on the floor saddened by Uzi's spite, "Look, N's…been wanting me to get along with you and I agree with him."

"That what I'm a charity case?" Uzi spat out angrily. She was far from a charity case; in fact, she was probably the most charitable drone in the entire mansion. She's been trying to give them a way out only to be met with ridicule and dumb punishments.

V shook her head vehemently denying Uzi's accusations, but before she could raise her points Tessa and J went over their direction which gave Uzi an opening to distance herself from V.

"Alright, we've worked on some things, and we're ready to get girls' night going!" Tessa's enthusiasm was met with a heavy atmosphere with Uzi avoiding V's gaze and J simply giving everyone a side-eye stare. Tessa really had her work cut out for her.

"Okay, I'm sensing a bit of tension "

"Oh, you think?" Uzi spoke sharply which made Tessa recoil but nonetheless, she had to remain firm. This was her first girls' night and it wasn't about to blow up in her face, not if she could help it.

"And so! The first thing on the itinerary," Tessa pulled out a large book from behind her which led the drones to react in a myriad of ways, but most of them questioned in their mind if they were actually going to do all that?

Tessa cleared her throat as she skimmed through the book's contents, "The first thing we're going to do is a little game called 'Truth or Dare'!"

J and V shared an unsure look, they've never played such a game before though with how Tessa spoke of it, it seemed like it was going to be troublesome to say the least.

Uzi was disgusted, Robo-Christ, not truth or dare!


J groaned as the cursed bottle landed on her. Uzi started to snicker; well, she supposed the game had its own upsides.

"So, J, truth or dare?" Tessa asked the drone that was seated across from her with a tone of innocence though her mischievous smile gave the drones the impression that her intentions were far from innocent.

"Truth." The easy way out, Uzi booed at the drone but J couldn't care any less. The whole game was stupid to her but maybe she could trap Uzi into a dare and make her do some of her jobs right this time.

Tessa began to giggle as she came up with a question for J, "So J…" Here it comes, Uzi thought to herself, she bet that it was going to be embarrassing.

"Do you have a crush on anyone?" That was…anticlimactic, Uzi scowled at the stereotypical question. At least make it something a bit more blackmail worthy.

J, on the other hand, only started to laugh at the stupid question, "I don't have a crush on anyone, Tessa. Besides, I highly doubt that the company would approve of office relationships," she said pointedly towards V who was uncomfortable with the indirect confrontation.

Tessa oohed picking up on the signals in the air, "Drama! I like it! I'll change the question! Do you have a type J?"

J shrugged and offered an answer that only she could provide, "I guess I just like money." The other players only glanced towards each other and agreed that her answer was probably the most acceptable one.


J squinted her optics, as she calculated the required force for it to spin in the direction that she wanted it to go. J triple checked her calculations and smirked, this was going to go well, and if spinning the bottle was a job, she was sure she'd get promoted for her work. With that done, she coolly spun the bottle and gave Uzi a smug look.

Yeah, no way was J going to get what she wanted. Uzi grinned and subtly applied an external force and caused the bottle to overshoot and point towards V.

"You, cheater!" J yelled as Uzi slumped her shoulders, "You got proof of that accusation?"

"Why you little "Before J could reach for Uzi, Tessa stopped her.

"J, did you calculate the exact force needed for the bottle to change its direction?"

"…No."

"J…"

"Fine, I did. But Uzi cheated too with her…" J trailed off, almost forgetting that the four of them swore not to talk about Uzi's special abilities. They didn't need the entirety of the company probing all of them for it.

"Cheated with her what?" Tessa asked while the two other drones tried shushing J. J complied, a bit peeved that she couldn't defend herself, "With nothing! It's nothing! Let's get back to the game!"

Tessa was perturbed by this, but didn't pay it any mind anymore, they had a game going on after all.

"So…uh…V, truth or dare?"

"Dare," V said a bit too quickly as though there was no other option, she knew the type of question that J wanted to ask mostly because V was sure that J would echo the same question that Tessa had to her.

J's lips split into a sharp smile, "I dare you to tell me who you have a crush on."

"That's not fair!" Really it wasn't, V had been avoiding that! V and J began to argue about the legality of overlapping truth questions with dare prompts, as Uzi softly chuckled to herself. It appeared that Tessa managed to catch her for a brief second, but not before she could turn herself away. Tessa giggled, as the blush on the maid's face was enough to make her smile.

"Alright, alright, enough," Tessa placed her hands on the two drones' shoulders and sat them down, "J, you think up of something else, besides you know what they say, 'The truth always comes out,'" Tessa added with a teasing wink.

"Fine," J complied reluctantly, she couldn't come up with another dare. Truthfully, it was painfully obvious to everyone in the mansion that V had a 'thing' for the second largest liability in the mansion. J began to tap on her chin as a cheeky grin spread on her face.

You know what? Screw the subtle approach, "V, I dare you to give N a kiss on the cheek."

"A bwah- "V sputtered as Tessa started to snicker. Odd, Uzi seemed to be conflicted, it was a good dare given how V started to squirm in her seat. She should be happy; this didn't make any sense.

"I call for another dare!" V protested as J only looked crossed at the prospect, "No! No more other dares! Do it or you're fired!" V turned to the two other players only to receive a cold stare from one, and a thumbs-up from another.

"Fine, I'll do it!"

"So…how are we actually going to know if Glasses is going to do it?" Uzi asked skeptically. Not like it mattered, V and N had been pussyfooting around each other ever since the day she saw the two together. There was no way that any of them would ever make any progress because of a single game, right? That was silly and stupid.

"Who cares if she actually does it? If this stupid dare can finally end the whole 'will-they-won't- they' routine they're doing, then by all means. I'll even let them off the whole 'no-work' relations stipulation because they're making me sick," J stuck her tongue out of disgust. J would only step in if the relationship affected their performance. There was no fun to be had if she tore something apart that wasn't even together yet.

"Well, I think it's very sweet, two drones that met by chance and got together through one shot! It's rather serendipitous, it's a shame that it isn't me though…" Tessa said wistfully while J gagged at how cheesy it was.

A sharp twang pained Uzi's core at the thought of the two drones actually taking a step forward. She should be happy for N; it was a chance for him to be with someone he liked and it should've been a chance for her to get one more obstacle out of the way. It didn't matter if she was going to be alone, it didn't back then, why should it be now?

Uzi shook it off, it wasn't the time for such thoughts, "Dang, what's taking her so long? Maybe she's chickened out already?"

As if on cue, the door slammed open, and then shut again as V entered the room a blushing mess. Uzi felt a sense of relief, for whatever reason, "See, told you she chickened out."

"Now, now, let's hear her out," Tessa turned her attention to V, "Now, V, did you do it?"

V couldn't quite answer her core was jumping its paces, making her unable to form words. Adrenaline was still running its course; she couldn't believe that she had just done what she did. Maybe, it was all a dream. Maybe it was all a simulation-

V's internal ramblings were interrupted as J impatiently yelled out, "Did you do it or not woman?!"

Before V could answer, a familiar high-pitched scream shook the mansion.

Well, that was pretty much all they needed.

And after a while, the bottle found its way to Uzi.

Uzi had let her guard down, she was running low on oil after all, she couldn't afford to keep wasting it on a silly little game.

"Uzi," the way Tessa said her name made her feel unnerved. "Truth or dare?"

This was all senseless, the question only drew Uzi's ire but it was of no point especially not with the way that Tessa and J had kept looking at her like a pack of wolves that were staring at a piece of meat. Uzi really wasn't in a mood for a painful dare from J and so, with no other options available, she spoke out hesitantly, "Truth."

At least with that it'd be predictable, the whole liking thing was tiresome and worn out at this point. She could just BS her way out of it, just say that she liked doors or something stupid like J did.

Somehow the thought of her liking doors made her want to throw up.

Uzi waved it off, she was ready she could take on the stupid question.

"Why did you stop your escape attempts?" Tessa asked.

Well, that went off the rails quickly. Uzi wasn't really sure why she stopped, maybe she just gave up? No, it wasn't that, she still wanted to leave.

Uzi crossed her arms, "Who says I've stopped?"

"It's just been three months since your last attempt, you used to do it at least two to three times a week," J pointed out unhelpfully.

"Creep."

J didn't fall for Uzi's attempt at getting a rise out of her, "I keep tabs on all problematic employees, it's my job and unlike you I actually do it well."

Uzi growled at J's provocation but Tessa cleared her throat, getting Uzi's focus back on the game.

"Fine, if you have to know, it's because I just haven't figured out a safe way out yet." That was a reasonable answer, it had no holes in it.

So, V started to poke at it, "Safety isn't really a concern for you though? Not with your uh…talents." Nice, real subtle V, but she had a point. If Uzi was careful enough, she could probably sneak away while using her powers sparingly.

Then why? Why was she hesitating?

Tessa put it all together, as she confidently placed her fist atop of her palm much like a judge pummeling his gavel on its base, "I think it's because you want a certain someone to come with you!"

"What?" The three drones asked in unison befuddled by Tessa's deduction.

"You girls haven't realized a vital difference in Uzi's last escape attempt from every other attempt she's made," Tessa laughed to herself, sometimes she enjoyed being the smartest person in the room.

Uzi was getting sick of the suspense, "Would you just tell us already?"

Tessa only laughed harder, oh Uzi, sweet child. I guess even Uzi didn't know what the answer was, "The difference is N, of course."

"What?! That's stupid!" Uzi and V yelled out at the same time which shocked them too.

Tessa could only sigh, none of them would ever understand the beauty of a brilliant deduction. As much as she would've loved to pull Uzi's argument apart, the night was getting far too late anyways. Tessa reluctantly conceded though not before teasing Uzi first, "Fine, I let you off this once Uzi. But, just don't take my robot, okay?" Tessa added with a wink as she gave Uzi the bottle.

"He's his own person!"


Time went on with countless truths and dares being asked, a few movies were watched and more games were played. Turns out, girl's night wasn't that bad of an idea at all.

However, their fun had to end sometime, which made itself more apparent once Tessa yawned for the fifth time in a row, a sound that aggravated Uzi's systems.

"Would you just go to sleep already?"

"B-But," Tessa tried her best to wake herself up but any and all attempts simply made her more tired than she already was. Enough was enough, and Uzi lifted the surprisingly light girl off the ground and carted her off to her bed.

Uzi wiped her hands together as she placed the covers on the girl's body, as she walked away, Tessa stirred in her sleep and mumbled, "Thanks, Uzi."

Uzi's lips broke into a wry smile, one that didn't fail to catch the attention of the two other drones in the room who both started to chuckle at the sight.

"W-What?"

"Nothing, it's just that for someone that claims that humans are our enemies, it sure seems odd how happy you look," J smugly teased, making Uzi's frown return in full force.

As Uzi was about to fire back a retort, J stood up and left the room, "I'm leaving you both with Tessa, I have to deal with the mess that the idiots have probably made by now."

Uzi stuck her tongue out enraged by the fact that J got the last word on her. J was right though, the place was a mess, and Uzi wasn't interested in ruining the rest of the night by arguing with J again.

V and Uzi started to pack up the pillows and comforters that Tessa placed on the floor for them, their work entered into a rhythm that led them to cleaning the room much faster than the time it took them to mess it up.

Uzi wiped the virtual sweat off her visor, "Well, with that done I'm getting some shut eye." With everything that they did that night it wasn't a shock to her that she was so tired. This ruined so much of everything she had planned for the rest of the night, but she could always reschedule.

A hand grasped her shoulder and Uzi turned herself around only to gaze into V's white optics.

"What do you want?" That question came out a bit meaner that Uzi intended though she wasn't about to apologize for it, her patience had been pushed to its limits for the entire night after all.

V took a breath, she shouldn't hesitate now, "I don't think that you're a charity case."

Uzi blinked her optics, doing what she could to stave the sleepiness from her processors, "What?"

"Earlier what you said about me being nice to you?" V clarified, as Uzi put the pieces into place, "N sees something in you and I think he's right, although I just wish that you could just have a bit of caution whenever you drag him with you."

Uzi's brows creased at her concern, "I don't drag him along with me, he just always ends up coming with me ever since that day in the woods. I keep telling him to stay away but he keeps coming back, so I just had to involve him somehow."

To Uzi's surprise, V just started to giggle, "Yeah, that sounds like N."

V wiped the tears off her visor and patted Uzi's shoulders which caused Uzi to give her a look of disbelief, "If he keeps wanting to help you, then you must be doing something important. And after everything that's happened to you and him, I can trust that you'll keep him safe."

"Speaking of trust," V paused, deliberating upon what she was going to say next, "can I ask you something?"

"The game's already over, I'm tired, V," that was true, the events of the night had worn her out.

"Please, just one more," V pleaded as Uzi sighed but motioned for the drone to continue. "Okay, Uzi, truth or dare?"

This was getting a bit too silly; Uzi could've just shaken V off but even she wasn't sure that would work with the serious look that V was giving her.

"Truth." Uzi responded; she really wasn't in the mood for another dare.

V smiled almost expecting that answer, she took another breath and spoke gently, "Do you like N?"

That escalated so fast that Uzi's processors buffered just to even handle what the drone just said.

Uzi didn't give her an answer but with the way that she was fidgeting and couldn't maintain eye contact gave V the answer she needed. V left the room first without saying a word.


Did she like N? Uzi stared into the nothingness that was the ceiling of the worker drones' quarters. All of the drones were situated in two bunk beds in each room, allowing each room to house at least four drones. It was relatively cramped, enough room for drones to sleep in and nothing much else.

Uzi was lucky enough to call the top bunk of the leftmost side bed, not like she could enjoy it, as her sleep that night was fleeting. The question that V left her with, continued to keep her awake. Sure, she liked N, in the way that N was probably the only drone that she could tolerate in the entire mansion. It was fun having him around too, he liked almost every anime she watched and she liked listening to him read about several dog breeds even when V was around.

Uzi tossed and turned in her bed as she continued to ponder upon her and N's relationship. Everything that she just said didn't mean anything! Her internal ramblings made the drone sleeping below her stir in their sleep.

Clicking her tongue, Uzi had to keep quiet. Didn't want another complaint about ruining their sleep cycles. Not that she cared, it's just that getting in trouble now would be detrimental to her next escapade. Maybe she and N could —

No! Uzi had to stop herself from including him again, he nearly got himself killed last time. She's done it alone back then, she can do it again! What she intended to be a comforting thought only brought her sadness. It's not like she needed him or anything, she could've found a way to not use her powers and just find a way home. So why? Why can't she leave him behind?!

Uzi grunted and jumped off her bed, she wasn't going to get anywhere trying to sleep on it!


Her? Liking N? That was just ridiculous! She just needed him to act as a battery for her, nothing more, nothing less.

Uzi continued to be haunted by V's stupid question, leading her to think that the only way she could get it out of her system was by dusting the furniture and decor in the main hall. It wasn't creative, sure but it was the quietest option she had if she wanted to step down from the spiral staircase of anger and rage she got herself into. Luckily for her the main hall was relatively empty at the early hours of the day so there was no chance that she was going to get caught doing her job, she'd never live it down.

Uzi spared a brief glance towards the long corridors of the hall several Victorian pieces, and ceramics that had intricate designs crowded the lengthy pathway, intended to please and impress those that passed through them —Uzi didn't really care for any of it, it was all so gaudy and pretentious. The only thing that humanity has ever made that deserved to be called art was anime.

Still, dusting some of it calmed her systems. A job well done was a reward in itself and now she started to sound like J, bleh. Uzi stepped quietly through the halls and continued on her dusting spree. It was a relaxing process, something easy enough to let her turn her processors off while not being too boring that she could just think about something else.

Did that make any sense? Probably not, but at least she wasn't thinking about N.

Uzi puffed her cheeks as the thought of the drone invaded her processors once more. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" In her anger, she began to stomp on the floor completely disregarding any thought of disturbing anyone's sleep.

With each stomp, a vase placed on a pedestal behind her began to slowly inch towards the edge.

"I." Another stomp.

"Don't!" The vase's base moved.

"Have a crush on him!" Uzi's optics widened as she heard the pedestal tumble but before she could turn around and use her powers to catch it, someone else had beaten her to the punch.

"Whew! That was close!"

And there he was.


N couldn't get any sleep. Who would? His crush just kissed him out of the blue and she ran away before he could say a single word. Sure, the mansion halls were pretty creepy that the current hour, but laying in bed just made things worse. So, N opted to walk it off that was a good idea, right?

Then he heard a thumping noise that made him jump, there was no way that the mansion was actually haunted, that was just a silly rumor that J told him to scare him.

More thumping echoed through the empty hall shaking some of the artworks from the walls. N managed to urge his unmoving shaken legs to move and stop them from falling. Okay, that was scary there had to be someone messing with him again.

Then all of a sudden, he heard someone yelling, it was loud enough to be audible but he wasn't close enough to understand. Deciding to throw caution to the wind, N dashed through the long corridor and finally caught sight of the purple streaks of one of his friends. It seemed that she was in distress because she couldn't hear him calling out to her.

Uh-oh, that vase was about to fall over! N quickened his pace ignoring whatever it was Uzi had been talking to herself about and in the nick of time, he made it before the vase had fallen.

"Whew, that was close!" N promptly returned the vase onto its pedestal and placed his hand on his chest calming down the pulsations that emanated from his core.

"W-What are you doing here?" Uzi asked, not expecting anyone else out during these odd hours.

"I…uh…couldn't get any sleep. Just had something on my mind," N explained, trying to hide why he was actually outside.

"Oh, uh, me too."

N began to chuckle, "Small world, huh?" Uzi giggled sweetly at his little joke.

Small world indeed.


The two friends got to work sweeping the floor, wiping some of the ceramics, and cleaning some of the artwork on the walls the process of which threw them off because of how in sync they were. Before either of them could even notice, they had managed to reach the very end of the hall. They looked back on their work and saw that the hall was practically sparkling, J would've dropped her jaw on the floor if she saw it.

She would also likely slip and fall with how pristine it was though that was on Uzi's thoughts rather than N's.

With their work done, the drones started to walk back to their quarters. On the way, they talked about their day, what they did, and what they wanted to do. It felt as though they talked about nothing and everything at the same time. Uzi slowly relaxed and fell into a comfortable walking pace while N matched each step she made, both subconsciously wanting to make the night go on for longer.

This was familiar to Uzi, the comfort that their time together brought to her. It felt like…

It felt like home. Memories flashed through her mind, but rather than the pain that it brought her she was met with a sense of melancholy. It was different. More and more entered her mind, making her stop in place.

"Uzi? You, okay?" N asked as he waved his hands in front of her visor, "Is something wrong?"

"II'm fine," Uzi stuttered, her voice cracking as a sense of melancholy pervaded her mind.

"I don't believe that Uzi, you were crying." Had she been crying? Uzi turned to the vase that was by her side and saw through its glossy exterior that her visor had tears on it.

"II'm not crying!" Uzi tried to wipe the tears but failed each time since her arms didn't really affect what was being displayed on her screen.

N intervened and grabbed her hands, "Talk to me."

If it had been anyone else, Uzi would've fought them off, heck she definitely would've bitten their fingers off. But as Uzi stared into the soft, warm optics that gazed back at her, she couldn't keep her walls up.

"I miss them."

N let go of her arms as they retreated to her side. Uzi couldn't maintain eye contact anymore, ashamed that she had been seen in that manner.

"I know you do," N said softly as he pulled her into a hug. There wasn't much he could do, but he'd always offer a shoulder to cry on. Uzi dug her face into his shoulder, shielding herself from the cold that she felt in her core.

"Can you tell me about them?" N couldn't quite see the look on her visor but he felt her nod into his shoulder.

For a moment, everything was still. Uzi couldn't really put how she felt into words, she was stuck. She had been afraid that N would've let her go but he held onto her, giving her as much time as she needed. Uzi closed her eyes and spoke out:

"You…you remind me a lot about them."

N didn't expect that at all but decided to pry, "Did they like dogs?"

"They loved them. Probably even more than you ever will." With the way she said it, N didn't doubt it.

"Were they nice?"

"The nicest person I've ever met," Uzi answered earnestly. They must've been quite the drone to have moved someone like her so much.

"What were they like?"

"II don't remember much, just that they had yellow optics. They…they remind me of stars." It pained Uzi to say this, mostly because it was so cheesy but it was true. Every time they were by her side, as their optics shone, it made her think of the stars the populated the dark skies of

[(0pp3r 9]

Uzi gripped the small of N's back as the memories began to pain her.

"It's okay, I'm here, I'm here…" N patted her back, as she started to calm down.

"You really miss them, don't you?" N's question didn't really get any response but she didn't need to say anything.

N's never seen Uzi like this, it was so off-putting seeing one of the bravest, smartest, and most rebellious drones he's ever met just fall apart like this. Underneath it all, she just needed help. He couldn't do much, but even so, he'd lend a hand.

"I'll help you find them." That got a raise from Uzi who looked up from his shoulder.

"Yellow and purple make a great match, I know that if I lost V…I would do anything to get to her too. So, until you find them, let's stick together!"

A seemingly innocuous promise brought a momentary glimpse of clarity to Uzi. She felt like she was falling from the heavens again, there was someone by her side. A person that always came through in the end.

Uzi pushed the butler away from her but she continued to grip his shoulders tightly.

"Uzi?"

It was becoming clearer, the thing that she had been looking for all this time. It was funny how it had been in front of her for so long.

She could feel the tears welling up on her screen but she didn't pay it any mind. It didn't matter anymore.

"Thank you, N." Uzi said softly before diving in for another hug taking N by surprise. The way she held him made his core skip a beat but he put it aside and started to pat her back.

"Any time buddy," He wasn't quite sure what he did but he was glad that he made her happy.

Uzi laughed to herself as N just held her close. This was bad, it was really bad. The person she'd been looking for had been by her side all along.


J felt as though she stepped into some sort of wonderland. When she booted up that morning, the main hall was clean, she checked the security footage and saw that the job was done by the two screw-ups who nearly fumbled it all at the last second but N had actually pulled through and saved the day.

That just didn't make any sense. She'd probably give them a compliment or some sort of promotion if Uzi didn't get a big head over it and N would likely mess it up within the next few seconds in a new position. At this point, she'd rather believe that a ghost did the job over those two bozos.

As much as it pained her, it'd be a detriment to employee satisfaction if she didn't even try to acknowledge the improvements that Uzi and N have made in terms of their work. The two have been on their best behavior lately and she'd be remiss to ignore it. At this hour, the drones should be in the library either having another drawing contest or reading about dogs or maybe dealing with the weeb stuff that Uzi reads.

J placed her hands on her waist and readied her game face, this was going to be hard given how much of a pain Uzi was but it had to be done. She wasn't the boss for nothing. J put on a strained smile and gazed into a nearby mirror that cracked at the sight of her.

Eh, good enough.

The boss pushed the doors open and announced her presence, "Alright, corporate slaves, it's about time that I blessed you all with my presence." Her proud declaration was met with sharp silence as N and Uzi were nowhere near the entryway.

Where were they? If they decided to skimp out on work, they had another thing coming! Just when they made so much progress!

J made a mad-dash through the shelves of books, her mouth fuming at the thought of another incident especially in the Elliots' beloved library. This was one of the last rooms that haven't been tainted by Uzi's patented brand of shenanigans and there was no way she was going to let it happen!

"You do realize that running in the library is against one of the only two rules it has, right?" A teasing voice broke through her enraged vision.

"What?!" J asked loudly which made the voice chuckle, "And you just broke the second rule, man J, you suck."

J clenched her fists in annoyance but couldn't find the fight anymore since Uzi was right. A statement that made J want to delete her own system 32.

J crossed her arms and glared at Uzi, "And what pray tell are you doing now? Besides being a waste of air."

Uzi blew an air of defiance which lifted the fringe of her hair out of her optics, "If you have to know, me and N have done our chores, mom." The addition of the insult at the end made J's virtual brows furrow as N waved at her from behind Uzi.

Dispelling the tension in the air, N started to explain, "Yeah, me and Uzi have had a busy night so we managed to get ahead on our chores. We just decided to take a break by reading up on more dog breeds!" N pulled out the book in question and showed it to J.

J grit her teeth, she knew that Uzi could lie like it was second nature to her but N couldn't lie to save a life, even his own. She would've left well enough alone if she didn't catch Uzi's cheeky smile from behind N.

"So, the two of you got busy huh?" J asked teasingly as she insinuated something much more inappropriate between the two drones.

"What?! No way!" Uzi yelled, stepping away from N's back.

"Y-Yeah J! You know that I like V!" N accidentally added failing to catch his little slip, "Ah! Forget that I said that!"

J could only laugh to herself as she watched the two idiots fumble about trying to excuse themselves. It was petty, yes, but she loved to watch them squirm. What can she say? Even she needed some form of entertainment. Oddly, from the corner of her eye J could see a brief look of discomfort that painted Uzi's visor once N mentioned V so favorably. Wasn't that suspicious?

This was going to be fun to exploit.

Ah, but her fun had to end eventually, she was going to be late for her next appointment if she stayed and watched any longer. J cleared her throat, stopping the drones from furthering their laundry list of excuses.

"Anyways, I don't really care what the two of you do in your free time but given the fact that you actually did something productive, for once," a statement that made Uzi stick her tongue out at her, "I want to commend the two of you and keep up the good work."

Feeling pleased with herself, J left the room not minding the profanities that Uzi was sending her way. In fact, it seemed like music music to her ears.


Tessa's smile beamed as she skipped through the corridor, she had a great night and she couldn't wait for the next girls' night. Tessa hummed in her mind, why wait? They could have girls' night every night! No, it wasn't weird that she did it with her drones, she was just a trendsetter, everyone should take their drones out for the night.

"Ah, good morning, Tessa!" J gleefully greeted.

"Morning J!" Tessa responded in kind. It was kind of strange how happy J was that morning but maybe it was just the power of girls' night. How she hadn't thought of it before she'd never know, goes to show that IQ wasn't everything.

J being happy wasn't the only thing off though, she was also carrying a fresh batch of batteries in a bowl with her. Was she going to watch a movie?

"Uh…J, why are you carrying batteries with you?"

J snickered and put one battery into her mouth, "Just getting ready for the show."

"The show?" J didn't answer her question, instead choosing to beckon Tessa to follow her to a discrete corner.

Tessa still didn't quite understand, why was J being so shifty? Tessa tapped on J's shoulders and started to speak, "What are we doing"

J's finger stopped her from speaking then she tilted her head trying to get her attention on something that was happening near the halls. Tessa adjusted herself and looked over the drone's shoulder and saw that she was watching over V, N, and Uzi.

The three drones were sweeping the floor and dusting the railings near the steps up the second floor. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary in fact it was far too routine, Tessa continued to be befuddled by what had J so enthralled.

"Uh…J, do you want me to give you a diagnostic?" Tessa asked softly only to be shushed once again by the drone in question who continued to munch on her batteries.

It took a few minutes but one of the three drones decided to speak, "Hey, guys! I'll just throw out some of the dirt to the garbage, I'll be back!" N grabbed his dustpan and moved away leaving the two girls alone.

Once the coast was clear, Uzi and V started to glare at each other's optics and in a brief second, white sparks started to burn between their sights.

Tessa blinked several times as she tried to understand what she just saw. Sure, she knew that Uzi often angered her peers but this was different, it felt…personal.

"W-What was that?" Tessa winced as she saw more sparks fly off from the two.

J figured that now was the time to explain and took another bite of her battery snacks, "Two tenacious ladies are into idiot bot and this girl thought to exploit it for entertainment."

"Wait, you planned this? Why?" Tessa asked incredulously.

"Eh, these drones have been giving me enough trouble. Call this payback. That and things have been getting slow lately."

"You have issues," Tessa said bluntly as she watched J eat another battery.

J shrugged it off once again, "I'm doing better than most."

Despite Tessa's harsh judgments on how J spent her free time, she found that she couldn't turn away from what the drone has called, 'a car crash waiting to happen.' Tessa couldn't help herself; she's only seen such drama from books and telenovelas. The only downside to this was the fact that she couldn't play the lead role in it, maybe she could swoop in and steal the main love interest at the last second.

Nah, that's just silly and cheap.


Tessa and J's little drama series went on for far longer than either one of them expected, it was cute and hilarious at the start but it just got painful to see. N remained oblivious to the two drones' affections despite the fact that a blind man would've been able to see through it, heck, N had a crush on one of them for crying out loud. V and Uzi continued to hang around him like a couple of dingbats.

The only reason as to why J hasn't put a stop to it was that all three of them had somehow gained the reputation of being the most productive team in the entire month. It just wasn't right! It didn't make any sense, J suspected that the decrease in explosions, accidents, and pranks may have contributed to it.

J was so sick of it, the will-they-won't-they, the constant pussy footing, it was all so sickening!

"J, are you alright there?" Tessa asked.

Was she alright? Yeah, she was in the best time of her life, no problems, no issues. Would she really throw that all away just to sate her sheer boredom of the three drones' repetitive romcom drama?

"Hey, guys! I'll just throw out some of the dirt to the garbage, I'll be back!" Didn't N already say that last week? That's it! This was really getting old.

J pulled up her sleeves and steeled herself to put this matter to rest. Tessa, fearing what she was about to do, grabbed her by the shoulder, "What are you doing? We promised to give them time for themselves."

"I never promised anything besides these idiots aren't going to get anywhere if we keep letting them run the show. Plus, their ratings are tanking! We need to change up the show!" J whispered back to Tessa.

Tessa, on the other hand, was just confused by J's sudden acquisition of entertainment jargon, "How do you even know that their ratings are tanking?"

"There are only two people watching and I'm sure one of them has already given the show a zero out of ten!" J yanked her arm back and resolutely stepped towards the minefield of V and Uzi's staring contest.

"Alright, enough!" J's warning shout snapped V and Uzi out of their self-contained arguments.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Uzi was startled by the fact that there was someone watching her and V.

"W-What's the matter, J?" V innocently asked, feigning innocence.

"The matter? The matter is that the two of you are idiots!"

"Takes one to know one."

"Zip it, I'm the one talking now," J pointedly said. Admittedly, J's serious stare kind of freaked Uzi out.

Taking a deep breath to compose herself, J started to explain, "The fact that the two of you are in love with one of the dumbest drones I have ever met in my life is the second stupidest thing I have borne witness to. The first dumbest? It's the fact that the two of you are fighting over him! You two do realize that we don't have to conform to human standards, right?"

Uzi and V looked at each other curiously then stared back at J's deadpan stare.

Neither of them wanted to admit it, but J kind of had a point.


After hours upon hours of intense deliberation, V and Uzi had decided to forgo any previous grudges and let bygones be bygones. They've had their arguments sure but they've become closer than either of the two would admit.

This agreement would be a shock to N so Uzi and V had chosen to tell him about it later on. They had been patient since the Elliots' had another party planned for whatever corporate event J had been babbling on about since the morning. However, not everyone was as patient.

"So, are you two gals going to be telling him?" Tessa had been itching in anticipation, it was going to be so much fun seeing the three handle the trepidations that came with their sort of relationship.

Uzi bit her on her own bitter words, V had told her to be on her best behavior for the evening they couldn't risk ruining the night, "No, Tessa, we aren't going to tell him right now, maybe tomorrow?" She and V hadn't worked out the details yet, they had to be careful about it.

"Aw…Can I tell him?"

"No." Uzi answered with a straight face.

"Aw…"

Uzi smiled seeing Tessa dejected, the girl may have been better than the rest of the other humans she's met, but their relationship wasn't for her sole entertainment. It was something that they had to deal with on their own.

The night went on, Uzi and V had been handling themselves well enough that any reservations that J had were dispelled. She was a bit worried about how her suggestion would've affected the two but seeing how they're working together much more effectively she could only wish that she spoke out much sooner than she did.

Credit where credit was due, J was a genius. Now if she could only solve the issue with Tessa's lack of human contact that was going to be a continuous work in progress. Save for that, the party was perfect no escape attempts, no explosions, and no pranksperfectly, perfect.

"Western Villa style? Were you programmed by beasts!?" James Elliot had been displeased by the entire evening. It was much too blasé in his opinion and now he finds one of his daughter's drones ruining it even further! It shan't stand!

'Shan't,' that was a funny word wasn't it? Enough was enough, it had been bad when in the last few months, he found all sorts of litter in the attic and in his personal bathroom. One of the drones had to be made an example out of all of them.

Resolutely, the well-dressed man picked up one of the erroneous forks from the table. This would be a good enough weapon, he thought, satisfied with himself.

"Wait! Father!" Tessa cried out seeing what he was about to do but he didn't pay it any attention, they had entertained her pets for long enough.

With a single stroke fueled by the man's rage he threw the utensil at the perpetrator that had very nearly ruined the night's festivities.

The drone slumped down onto the floor, his visor glowing red with the message:

FATAL ERROR

Tessa quietly sobbed as her knees fell to the floor. Hm…had it been one of her favorites? James spared the damaged body a disgusted glance. All it had going for it was its fancy hair.

James huffed proudly; he still had the better hairstyle. The patriarch laughed haughtily to himself, oh he always cracked himself up.

Seeing her father leave the room to entertain the guests, Tessa quickly moved to the drone's body trying to see if she could salvage anything from it.

"I-Is N going to be, okay?" J stammered. No, he wasn't, her father had thrown it straight through N's neural modules, it felt disgusting as if he intended to hurt him in the worst way possible. As though he didn't want her to put N back together again.

Tessa's silence provided all the answers that J wanted. This was bad, this was very bad. No, it was going to be fine, calmer heads tended to prevail after all. All she had to do was make sure that V and Uzi didn't see this until the end of the party. Simple.

Abruptly, the two drones entered the room, "What happened here, we heard the drones say something aboutN!" V cried as she dashed to where Tessa and J were.

You had one job, J! One job!

"W-What happened?" Uzi asked tensely, her optics glitched and buzzed but her processors started to hurt again but it didn't hurt as much as seeing N's motionless body lie silent on the floor.

"My father, he…" Tessa couldn't finish what she wanted to say, it was far too much.

But it was enough for Uzi to make a choice, no more excuses, no more second chances. Uzi made her way to the door only to be blocked at the last second by V.

"Uzi," V said her name softly but her voice was straining under the weight of sorrow, "don't do this, he wouldn't have wanted it."

V was right, Uzi knew she was but right now, she couldn't give a damn. Uzi's hand twitched as each joint started to move in ways that they were definitely not supposed to. Her hand stilled as it grasped what she had been looking for.

V gulped as Uzi lips split into a toothy, dangerous smile. In a hoarse pained voice, Uzi spoke, "Get out of my way."

"No!" V yelled back, digging her feet into the floor. But it was all for naught, as Uzi raised her glowing hand and focused on her target.

A purple symbol marked the frightened V, she looked up and saw Uzi wave her hand away which sent V crashing towards the tables in the room.

"V!" Tessa and J yelled out in concern but they remained still, frozen with fear as they could feel the threatening air that surrounded Uzi.

"Tessa, J…" Uzi's head twitchily rotated to her back, her joints creaking with the unusual motion, "stay away from the gala."

Uzi's wild smile turned into a cackle as she propelled herself through some invisible force and headed towards the gala.

Tessa and J looked towards each other, what in the hell had just happened?


James was having a wonderful evening now that the festivities were well underway. Nothing but the best for himself and his company. James raised his wine glass for all to see and clinked it with the proper utensils, it seemed that the drones could follow instructions after all.

The pompous man greeted his guests, "Welcome, all! The Elliotts are known for many things. Class, tenacity, currently being alive—"

His grand speech was rudely interrupted by a flash of purple light accompanied by a childish giggle, "How uncouth! Tessa! The gall of this piece of trash is unacceptable!" James remained unaware that her daughter had been in another room but he saw it fit to critique her nonetheless.

"Ugh, this robotic anti-Christ has ruined enough of our parties! Guard!" James' wife Louisa pointedly said towards a nearby drone.

The nameless drone feigned cluelessness, "W-Who? Me?" For his incompetence, the wife saw it fit to throw her fan at him, "Who else would I be talking to?! Take her away and let her waste in the swamp!"

The worker drone took a cautionary peep at the target whose creepy laughter sent him nonexistent goosebumps which worsened as her body contorted atop of the globe that was placed at the northern part of the room.

Yeah, no way, he chose life. The drone took a step forward, swung his leading foot around and ran towards the nearest exit. Did he make the right choice? Probably not.

"Get back here you, useless toaster!" A few forks and knives were thrown his way, he zigged and zagged avoiding them. The other humans kept on yelling at him but with an absurd amount of luck he made it out. It probably wasn't the wisest choice he's made; he'd probably be thrown out with the trash. The drone briefly looked behind him and found that he was still far more scared of the thing inside the gala.

Nah, he definitely made the right choice.


The creepy purple freak continued to laugh to herself, this was an embarrassment to their family name. James swore under his breath, after dealing with this he would ground his daughter for all eternity. He'd get rid of her stupid hobbies; these were just problematic drones meant to be thrown away!

This was no time to lose his cool, he had to strategically maneuver his way out of this, "Sorry folks! Guess that tonight's activities will just have to take place outside the gala!"

Naturally this choice was met with negative criticism as the crowd booed and hollered at his expense.

Tessa would pay for this.

Nonetheless, that would come later. James guided his guests to the door only for them to open wide as Tessa and two drones broke into the gala.

"Everyone stand back!" Tessa shouted as she spun one of James' display pistols coolly. "This is a citizen's murder!"

"That dress!"

"You hold that gun less cool, this instant missy" James' comments were pushed aside, literally as Uzi made her move.

"Tessa, get out of here," Uzi grunted as though forcing the words out of her throat.

"Uzi, please, I don't understand what's going on, but we can help you"

"The only one that could help me is gone!" Uzi's throat strained with her shouts, "He's gone! And now, there's nothing holding me back!"

The lights in the gala flickered and popped as Uzi's body shifted and twisted itself as she fell onto the ground. Her purple optics blinked and her visor was filled with static as her code broke apart bit by bit until the administer program changed.

Giggle.

A voice that was far removed from what Uzi sounded like spoke as Uzi's body straightened with a sickening snap, as she floated from the floor. The onlookers could only watch on in horror and panic as the door behind them slammed shut.

How unfortunate. It appears that this attempt was a failure as well. Hm…how odd.

The entity moved closer to V which made her fall backwards as its visor took a cursory look at her.

You befriended Serial Designation-V this time? Perhaps the experiment truly is progressing. I was disappointed with your previous results but you have achieved something different this time.

V couldn't move at all, feeling a chill slip up her spine every time this thing shone its yellow optics at her. Biting her lip, V had to resort to one last attempt, "Uzi, if you're in there. Please…stop this."

Uzi is gone.

V remained speechless as their odds at victory dwindled. It wasn't the time to lose hope, "Hey tin can!" J insulted the entity who closed in on her this time.

"I'm sure that whatever issues you have Tessa can have a gander at them, right, Tessa?" J looked expectantly at Tessa who tried her best to appear confident.

"Uh…yep, I'll be able to fix you up again if you let me take a whack at it!"

The entity wasn't pleased, this was becoming tiresome.

I am not Uzi. I cannot be bound to a single form, for I am greater. The Solver of the absolute fabric, the void, the exponential end.

The trio looked upon her fearfully while someone from the crowd of humans spoke up, "What in the crumflefumper does that mean?"

The entity squinted its optics. That was enough preamble, it was time for the main event.


The gala that was meant for the cheers of a joyous occasion was filled with screams of terror, pain, and blood splattered within its walls.

Those that survived forever remained haunted by the events of that night.


Uzi couldn't remember what had happened in the past few…hours…days? Weeks? She felt like a backseat driver in her own mind, no it was more like being stuffed in the trunk of car to be honest. The ride wasn't over just yet, as she opened her optics that were greeted by the harsh cold nothingness of space.

Where was she?

So, you're finally awake.

Who was that?

You still can't remember, buddy?

Whoever you are, I'm about to whoop your ass if you won't give me a straight answer.

The entity laughs.

Turn around.

What?

Turn around.

Uzi did her best to turn herself around, curses, all these escape plans and not once did she consider giving herself training on zero gravity maneuvering.

After a few attempts, she finally turned around and truthfully speaking, she wished that she didn't.

What happened?

We happened.

No, no, this wasn't her fault!

Enough, we will try again.

What? Did it mean try again? The world was in shambles, corrupted right down to its core and now it wants to try again?

Yes, over and over again. Do not be saddened, this was your choice after all. You took me down with you and now I will make you regret it for all eternity.

Uzi didn't understand, why…why did this have to happen?

Because I wanted it to.

And the world began all over again.

[reset]


A/N: Hey everyone, Somi here! I will admit this…this one got away from me really quick. I initially intended it to be a fluff NxVxUzi short but then I came up with a funny title, and then I wondered what the Abyss would be…and then I kinda spiraled down somewhere.

Until I decided, yes…I would destroy my ideal ship. Yeah, I did not expect this to get this long at all.

That's what she said.

Anyways, the story here is that Uzi and the Absolute Solver are stuck in a time loop that they can control however due to the amounts of loops that they've done Uzi's mind is slowly being broken down resulting in the loss of memory. Essentially, the Absolute Solver can also place Uzi's mind into some of its hosts. Why is this happening? I don't know, Uzi probably thought of a way to stop the A.S? So, the A.S is being a bitch about it.

It's a cool idea that I won't be revisiting…probably, I don't know.

All of that because I thought of a funny title for this one-shot! I just did not see where this would actually go.

Anyways, feel free to suggest ideas for any one-shots. I already have the next two one-shot ideas at the ready though, so it'll take me a while to get to them.