"Oh, God. How did I get talked into this?"
That was the thought that was going through Wheatley's CPU at the moment. Currently, the Core-turned-Worker was nervously jittering near the front of the bus, occasionally glancing towards the purple eyed drone that dragged them on this trip in the first place. Or, well... It wasn't all Uzi's fault. Somehow, all of Uzi classmates (Bar a select few) simultaneously got a failing grade on the most recent test on... human history or something, not that he would've fared any better to be honest. Ever since that incursion with... Her, Uzi and he had convinced her dad to allow him to bunk in their house for the time being. Unsurprisingly, he actually got along pretty well with Mr. Doorman. He found those doors to be quite a "bloody good idea!" However, Uzi simply used that to bash her father's terrible plans, considering Wheatley was specifically designed to create and like terrible ideas... Of course, she assured him that wasn't all he was after the fact.
He was shaken out of that thought by a metallic finger gingerly poking his shoulder, his faithful companion, his friend, Space Core was trying to get his attention.
"SPACE FRIEND", Space Core bellowed in his usual energetic tone. "CAN YOU BELEIVE IT, THIS PLANET HAS TWO MOONS! TWO! THAT'S TWICE THE AMOUNT EARTH HAS!"
27. He's brought up that fact... 27 times. Wheatley loves the little guy, but the constant mentions of space definitely weren't missed while he was in the bunker... maybe a little.
Wheatley's gaze slowly drifted from the star-speckled sky to the countless trees lining the rest of the forest. His cracked optics hollowed as he gazed into the abyss between each tree. He thought back to how he ended up it this scenario. Anything to get his mind out of... here.
"Ah, yes. Machiavelli", Wheatley said, sitting on the coach in the middle of the Doorman residence. Currently, he was reading "The Prince", By Niccolo Machiavelli. He always wanted to after lying about it all those times. Luckily, he was able to find it in one of the old dusty bookshelves at the colony's library. Too bad he couldn't read it at the library on account of him making comments about every second sentence.
Khan had entrusted him with a very important responsibility while he was out at his job: Make sure Uzi does not hurt, anyone, anything, or herself. Of course, Wheatley protested a tad, believing Uzi to be, while still quite brash, perfectly capable of handling herself. Unfortunately, Wheatley's rambles were cut off prematurely by Uzi yelling at her dad to "BITE ME! I don't need a fricking babysitter!" Which soon devolved into an argument, with Wheatley awkwardly standing to the side. After which Uzi stomped off to her room, and Khan telling Wheatley keep an eye on her. Wheatley gave a small salute and was soon left awkwardly standing alone in the middle of the living room.
Even though he was enthralled in the book, he couldn't help but worry for Uzi. Even if she was old enough to handle herself, she was far, FAR from emotionally stable. She hasn't left her room in four hours, and he swears he's heard maniacal giggles come from her room every few minutes. Each time a chill would dance along his metal spine, his fingers digging into the edges of his book.
Releasing a sigh, he slowly arose from the couch. He placed the book on the small nightstand beside it, when his sky-blue optics gazed at a small, framed picture. Khan, a smaller Uzi, and another woman smiled together. Wheatley frowned as he gingerly picked up the photo, he had heard of Uzi mother's demise a little while ago. Khan was showing Uzi some of her mother's old (frankly horrifying drawings, during which he had to be exposited what happened to her. He never had any parents, merely being manufactured by some of Aperture scientists. He couldn't dream of how Uzi must have felt losing someone she was so close to.
He carefully placed the picture back on the nightstand and walked over to Uzi's door, he reached for the doorknob only for the door to dramatically swing open, nearly taking off Wheatley arm with it. It revealed a scary-looking Uzi, optics glowing a vibrant purple. A large smile threatened to split her features.
"Wheatley!", she exclaimed giddily. "Get in here! I need to talk to you for a second!"
Shaking off the surprise, Wheatley optics remained hollowed as he shuffled inside Uzi's room, "Uh... Okay, Okay sure. I got nothing else to do, I guess."
Wheatley had only seen Uzi's room a couple of times. Occasionally she would need help stringing pieces of paper on the ceiling or would need to relay her maniacal plan to get back at humanity to someone who would actually listen. Nevertheless, it was mostly a jumbled mess full of equations and deranged scribbles covering the ceiling and walls. It mostly reminded him of the Rattman dens that would scatter the walls of Aperture, he could never get a good look at them from his management rail, but he imagines they would look something like this.
"So... Uzi, what, uh, why do ya need me... heh, good ole Wheatley", Wheatley say while awkwardly looking around the room.
Wheatley's mumbling was cut short as a poorly scribbled picture of a cabin was shoved at his visor; a few hastily written coordinates lay in the corner, along with 'CAMP 98.7'.
"Ah well, its". Wheatley stuttered. "Y'know it's... It's not a bad drawing. It could definitely use some fine-tuning but it's... it's good."
"What? No that's not...", Uzi facepalmed as she realized this meant absolutely nothing to Wheatley. "I mean! This could be the only clue we have to find answers."
"...Answers for?", Wheatley asked, Uzi immediately answered by flinging a pen across the room with a flick of her wrist. "Ah... Right... That."
Wheatley doesn't really have any good memories about the Absolute Solver. Although, to be fair, he never he knew it existed until a few days ago. He mostly remembers cowering in fear under a table as Doll was tossing around people like, ironically, ragdolls. Though he does have to admit, he's little bit proud that Uzi managed to figure out how to use it in just a day or two. Sure, she needs to chug a thermos of her own kind's blood to stay alive every few hours, but she is indeed alive. He's even tried digging around his own OS with a few diagnostic checks, but it seems like he's still empty.
"And you're coming with me!", Uzi declared, determination dripping from her voice as she pointed her finger mere millimeters from Wheatley's visor.
"Wot!? Why me?", Wheatley exclaimed.
"Well, duh! Not just you", Uzi said as she began to wander around her room. "I was gonna ask N to come along too."
"What about Space Core and the... other... the scary one?"
"I'm sure Space Core would be fine staying behind", Uzi dismissed. "And we are NOT bringing V along!"
"Erm... Yes, o- of course, that makes sense." Wheatley stuttered. "So uh, where are we... Where are we going?"
"Oh, yea, right", Uzi remembered. "We just need to venture into the dark, creepy, totally not haunted, forest of Camp 98.7. Nothing big or anything."
"On the planet populated by murderous robots?", Wheatley asked.
Uzi glared at Wheatley, growing tired of his boundless cowardice. "Bite me! It'll be fine, Wheatley!"
Uzi then turns around to search around for more papers to pack for the trip, leaving Wheatley standing in the middle of the room. "Yea... Fine..."
"Hah, Yea! I'm sure you're right! Everything will be just dandy!"
Welp, one thing led to another, now here he was. Sitting in a bus filled with six or so unruly kids, wearing a camp counselors' uniform, and gallivanting off into the abyssal forest of Camp 98.7.
If there was any reprieve from the mounting terror building inside Wheatley's CPU, it was that he wasn't alone. Despite Uzi's many protests, N couldn't help but blab about it to V and Space Core, something about an 'inclusive reflex'... whatever that was. Of course, Space Core seemed ecstatic as always, wanting to see Space from a different angle, but V response was... Worrying. Wheatley never really liked standing around her too much, for fear of losing his new Worker body, but ever since the incident at Prom, he couldn't help but see her glare at Uzi from afar... Well, more than normal of course. Oh, and don't even ask him how he got into this camp counselor gig, He has absolutely no idea how Uzi's teacher caught wind of the plan, with Uzi being so reclusi-
Wheatley was abruptly interrupted by his train of thoughts by his face being smashed into the seat in front of him, eliciting a small chuckle from the student behind him. He peeled his visor from the seat, luckily, nothing was broken. With an annoyed grimace on his face, Wheatley trudged off the bus, followed by Uzi and Space Core.
The three drones stepped out of the bus, with Uzi somehow slipping out of Wheatley's periphery while he blinked. Slowly, the students trickled out of the bus, trampling and talking amongst themselves like personified teenage tropes. Wheatley never really liked any of Uzi's classmates, they all seemed so... Flat, apart from people like Thad or Lizzy (Wheatley easily enjoyed the presence of one over the other, however). Of course, it was quite easy to dodge having to converse with them. It was always a tad odd for a grown drone hanging out with teenagers, after all, but I digress.
Wheatley watched all of them exit the bus as digital sweat drops appeared on the side of his visor. He had absolutely no idea what to do. He glanced at his partner in crime, Spacey, as he stood there, occasionally shooting a peek at the sky. Spacey seemed completely chipper and carefree, which wasn't out of character for him. He gazed down at the clipboard in his hands, staring at the one tip Uzi wrote down on the paper.
STALL THEM UNTIL N ARRIVES!11!1
Wheatley smirked to himself. 'Perfect', Wheatley loved to talk, everyone who had the pleasure of meeting him could advocate for that. He could hardly go a few minutes without breaking into a rant about something nobody cared about. At least Uzi sometimes pretended to care, that or she actually DID care, Wheatley also like to think positive. Anyway, Wheatley could easily stall them, he had plenty of stories to tell and tons of ways to stall for time.
Luckily, none of the campers took notice of Wheatley's inner monologue as they were all peeved about having to come here in the first place, the monotone teacher said something Wheatley didn't register as a concerned shriek brought him back to reality.
Wheatley stepped forward, his confidence bleeding into his stride with every step he took. "Hello campers, welcome to the Wheatley Laboratoriesᵀᴹ tour of... uh... ca-"
Wheatley was unfortunately cut off as a loud crash rung out behind him, getting a loud "GAHH" out of him, he shot a glance to his flank to look at the two menacing murder machines, the snowy clouds dissipated to reveal N and V. N flashed the group a harrowing bloodthirsty smile, the campers froze in fear as death stared them down, but Wheatley and Uzi stared with indifference (and Spacey was excited as always, how cute). Before the campers ran away in sheer fright, N leapt up from his spot and gave his signature friendly smile to the shivering drones.
"Welcome campers!", N shouted with glee, Space Core bounding off to stand next to him. "Let's sound off!"
Wheatley was a bit miffed that he was interrupted from his long-winded ranting but continued to remain professional and walked to Space Core's side, fortunately opposite to V, the one he was actually afraid of.
N squinted as he gazed at the campers, "One, two..." He began to count, before a gun noise filled the air of the forest, eliciting another "GAH" from Wheatley, one of the students, Braiden, dropped to the ground as a fountain of oil flew from the gun wound. This callous murder belonged to V, a large X filling her visor as smoke drifted from her gun-hand.
Wheatley mostly stopped listening to what was going on, it was clear that N and V were going to do most of the taking charge here, and he was grateful for that, while he loved to give the ol' long-winded speeches, he was kind at a loss for what to do after that.
"Y- Yeah, they're like my friends, too, so... It's cool", Wheatley was immediately knocked out of his train of thoughts by the shouting campers as they all ran over to N and V. All of the commotion was able to give him the opportunity to scuttle over to Uzi, in order for them to sneak off to explore the cabin, N was supposed to along to help, but a quick glance showed that he was a bit... preoccupied. Wheatley didn't blame N of course, dealing with all these campers can't be easy, and leaving V in charge of them... well... Y'know.
Uzi looked to Wheatley with determination as he approached. "Are you... perhaps ready to go?" He asked.
"Uh...", Uzi stuttered as she looked back to N, slightly grimacing as she looked at all of her classmates (especially the girls) clamber all over him. "Yeah... Yeah let's go..."
Wheatley took notice of her hesitation; he wouldn't be very good travel partner if he didn't say something to ease her nerves. "Hey, y'know, I know what you're thinkin', mate." Wheatley said as he glanced over to N as well. "N's absolutely fantastic, 10/10 guy, but I know he cares about you. Just 'cause those silly little campers follow 'im like lemmings, wouldn't mean he cares about 'em any more than you. You and him have been through a lot, remember?"
Uzi couldn't help but crack a small at Wheatley's attempt to make her feel better, trying to hide it from him by looking over at the snow. "Th- Thanks, Wheatley", She mumbled.
"Aww, what was that?", Wheatley teased. "I'm afraid my audials didn't pick that up."
"Bite me!", Uzi snapped with no real bite behind it. Wheatley merely chuckled to himself as they got back on their way to the mysterious cabin in the woods.
Not a lot was said whilst the two drones walked through the snow, the vaguely familiar silhouette of a cabin approaching in the distance. Wheatley's hollowed optics met Uzi's as she blasted off the lock with a spurt of Absolute Solver, and they proceeded into the cabin.
The inside of the cabin was fairly unremarkable, at least for Wheatley, it reminded him of Aperture. There were papers strewn across the floor, the wood was rotting from years of neglect, Corkboard clinging to the walls with various calendars and newspaper clippings strung across them.
Wheatley looked back to Uzi for instructions, she longingly looked out the window but was quickly shook back to reality by Wheatley, "Just... Just split up, you can take the back... And I'll look over here."
Wheatley frowned as Uzi walked towards to window, but followed the order, nonetheless. He slowly shuffled to the dimly lit back of the rotted shack. Kicking aside some faded books and broken glass as he activated his night vision. It was a handy tool, Wheatley had always despised using his flashlight, ignoring the fact he was told he would die if he turned it on, it always burned his optic in the small time it was on, his motherboard nearly bursting into flames with how much power it used, a show of his age, I suppose.
The dark, stained planks creaked under Wheatley's boots as he advanced through the cabin. His core twisted in his chassis, he swore he could see... Someone in his peripheral at times, a young girl. They always disappeared when he gazed in their direction, however. Wheatley was always a machine of science, but he was quivering in his boots right now. He half wanted to run straight back to Uzi in her nice, well-lit room, but the other half told him to keep looking, somehow, he knew that what was happening in there, was a whole lot worse than some... hallucination.
Shaking his head, he continued on with his search. Wheatley sculked through the cabin, looking at several demented scrawls of a certain three-pronged symbol. Every once in a while, he could read something legible, not that the words said anything he understood. Apart from the new immortality of those quadruped, furry things... Dogs, Wheatley recalls them being called. Searching for a bit longer, he soon realized that he was completely out of the loop on what he supposed to be looking for. He knew they were looking for answers, but what did the answers look like. Could Uzi somehow understand what these deranged drawings meant, he certainly didn't. Wheatley sighed, now that he was thinking clearly, he relented that he had absolutely no clue what he was doing.
Wheatley turned around, wanting to talk to Uzi once again, but something else caught his optics.
Two other optics, RED optics, gazing directly into his, causing him to elicit a small shriek of terror.
"[Hello Wheatley]", Doll said, Wheatley's new translation module translating her Russian to the Kings English.
Wheatley's own optics instantly hollowed as far as they could go. His hands began to shake as his mouth hung agape slightly. All of the objects he witnessed fly past his head during prom suddenly flooded back into his memory files. That small bout of bravery he felt as he bashed her head in with a dinner platter instantly left his mind as he stared into the optics of death.
"[No need to be so... standoffish, I'm not mad]". Doll said evenly, referring to that whole 'head being bashed in with a dinner platter near the end of prom' thing, as if she could his CPU.
Wheatley's shaking became steadier as he watched intently at the small Russian girl opposing him.
"Then, Wh- What do you want? Listen I don't want any trouble, alright. Just- just-", Wheatley stammered, but was cut off by Doll putting a finger to her silicone lips.
"[Shh, you wouldn't want that purple thing to hear, would you?]", Doll threatened.
"D- Don't you d- dare", Wheatley said protectively, despite the stammering.
Doll sighed and looked to the ground, before staring back to Wheatley. "[Look Wheatley, I'll be as clear as I can possibly be for someone of your... mental... capacity. I'm simply here to ask if you've seen something.]"
"Wh- what is it. S- stop bein' so vague ma- not mate. Just... What do you want", Wheatley said, trying to maintain a whisper.
"[A bug, 'roboroach' as you seem to have affectionately called them. A specifically green one. I believe it should be skulking around this cabin]", Doll explained.
'"Wha- how do you know what I call them?", Wheatley asked.
"[irrelevant, stop stalling Wheatley]", Doll said, growing impatient.
"N- no, I haven't seen a green roboroach just... hanging around this place", Wheatley admitted. "Not like I would admit it if I did, with all those stunts you pulled all that time ago."
"[Are you not friends with a murderer, Wheatley]", Doll asked, tilting her head, a small smile sitting on her face. "[Nonetheless, you have no use to me. I'll be seeing you]"
Her smile grew a bit wider. "[Perhaps sooner than you think]"
Wheatley flinched as Doll was consumed in a red light, a familiar symbol appearing on her hand and eye, he soon wore an unamused expression as he realized Doll had disappeared like the that spooky ghost girl he kept seeing in his peripheral.
Luckily, at that moment, the small, purple hatted Uzi came strolling into the room, apprehension clear on her hollowed optics. Wheatley let out a brief sigh that she didn't see Doll and walked towards her with a small smile.
"Hey... Uh... You alright?", Wheatley asked, leaning down slightly.
Uzi briefly stared at the floor before meeting Wheatley's optics. "Uh... Yea. Yeah, I think so." She muttered.
"Listen, Wheatley, I- we need N. Let's get out of here", Uzi said, already heading towards the door.
"Yeah, yeah... I agree. Honestly, this place gives me the cree-", Wheatley cut himself off as his optics picked up a green glimmer sitting on Uzi's shoulder as it burrowed itself in Uzi's hair, a feeling of dread itching its way into his metal spine, but quickly dashed in Uzi's direction, nonetheless.
He still couldn't help but feel the lingering feeling of optics on the back of his head as he retreated from the cabin.
As instructed, Wheatley kept his optics glued to V's head as they peeked out from behind the tree. Currently, Wheatley and Uzi were spying on the rest of the campers as N and V were vigilantly watching over them fail spectacularly at the sport. Apart from, surprisingly, Space Core, who hit a perfect bullseye while looking at space the whole time, Wheatley couldn't help but feel a spike of pride at the little guy. Wheatley still kept his sights locked onto V, ready to bolt with Uzi at the first sign of aggression.
"Are you sure about this, Uzi?", Wheatley asked, leaning behind Uzi.
"Y- Yes, Wheatley!", Uzi whisper-yelled, feeding text and code into the small green roboroach in her hand. "Just let me focus!"
"A- alright, alright... I trust you...", Wheatley said, slightly leaning more behind the tree.
Suddenly, a large verdant box appears next to Wheatley, causing him to stumble back in surprise while covering his mouth as to not elicit any screams.
"HELLO :) DON'T TELL V I'M HERE", suddenly appeared in a large, green box that stood out like a sore thumb in front of the dark trees.
Out of the corner of his eye, N noticed the box, acting on instinct he called out. "Uzi, get on out here, this troop's a team!"
"HELLO SPACE FRIEND!", Space core called as well.
V head immediately snapped to the two pairs of light blue and purple optics glowing in the trees, mentally cursing herself for being too caught up having fun messing with the campers to notice.
"WAIT, NO, INCLUSIVE REFLEXES!", N yelled as Space core's optics hollowed behind him.
"Uzi, Uzi!", Wheatley whisper-yelled. "I think she sees us!"
"I noticed, Wheatley!", she whisper-yelled back." Just- just follow my lead!"
The green insect however, had different plans, and leapt into the snow, causing Uzi's optics to hollow as she thought of a way to get out of this without being bisected by V.
She awkwardly shuffled out into the open, followed by Wheatley, a strained smile plastered on his face, somehow, nobody noticed her sudden appearance until she spoke up.
"Uh, hehe, hey, everyone", she squeaked out, allowing Wheatley to follow up with an awkward laugh and a small wave. V simply scowled at them; a chill ran down Wheatley's metal spine.
Before anyone could comment on the sheer awkwardness radiating from the situation, Braiden (The Prick™), had shriek like an untrained neural network and fired off the bow he was holding back (like a complete and utter amateur, might I add) directly into Uzi's face.
The whole world slowed down for Wheatley as he saw the arrow fly through the air directly in front of Uzi's visor. He was more terrified right now than he ever was in the presence of V or Doll or... Hell even... Even Her. Uzi was his one chance to turn his life around. He made too many mistakes back in Aperture, lied to too many people, and he was not about to waste this new opportunity, he wanted to feel like he belonged, like he was important to someone again... Looking at Uzi, listening to her ramble on about her plans, giving his own input that she would actually positively comment on. Her endless determination reminded him of the Lady. He wanted to be something that Khan wasn't... He wanted to help... But his leg servos wouldn't listen to him. He was frozen there, watching... Watching the arrow freeze in midair.
Wheatley stared with hollow optics, as the arrow became coated in a mist of purple light. Uzi held out her palm, branded purple with the symbol of the Absolute Solver. Uzi winced as her internal temperature raised to painful level, every circuit in her being screamed at her to get oil as fast as possible. Her knees nearly buckled under her own weight as her telekinetic curse began to undergo a ghastly change on the arrow. Uzi's mind was a haze of steam and high temperature warnings as she watched the arrow freeze in front of her, too focused on the thought of not dying from a shot to the visor to simply drop the arrow. The arrow began to shake violently, blooding pouring from orifices it now had. The wooden stick turned into a glossy tan as it transformed into gory flesh. A spine formed inside the meat as it twisted and squirmed in the Solvers grasp. It pulsed with its newly made heart beating, pushing the blood through its body. The arrowhead morphing into a small mouth as it sucked in the toxic air of Copper-Nine.
Uzi flinched and immediately dropped the writhing mass of steaming flesh, smoke pouring from her vents as she panted heavily. She desperately looked around at her classmates and N's horrified faces. V's piercing yellow eyes hollowed for merely a second before her hands shifted into claws, forcing N to try to get her to not murder Uzi. She then looked to Wheatley, her core beating faster in her chest as she saw just how scared Wheatley was.
Scared of her. Because of her.
Horrified thoughts screamed through Wheatley's head. He had never seen ANYTHING like that before, not with Doll, not at Aperture, not anywhere. He slowly backed away from Uzi, his core shattering as he looked at the betrayed expression on her face. He tried to reach out to her, but as he got closer, she just flinched away. Wheatley watched with fear as Uzi clutched her hand and desperately glanced in every direction.
"Um, Ignore all this! Uh...I was just... Going", Uzi stammered, giving one last glance to Wheatley's worried face. "Yeah, I LIVE IN THE WOODS NOW!"
Uzi immediately turned tail and ran into the forest, taking one last glance at Wheatley's hollowed optics as she sped away. Her black boots leaving a trail of trackable footprints in the snow. Wheatley was speechless, which was uncommon in of itself, but he instantly knew what he had to do. It went against everything Wheatley had ever done before, but he had to follow her. Wheatley wasn't terrified of Uzi anymore; he was terrified for Uzi. Terrified of what would become of her as she overheats in the forest. He couldn't let that happen. As a goodbye, he sent a deathly glare to the campers (apart from N and Space Core, obviously), and dashed off into the forest after Uzi.
Wheatley trudged through the snow with determination, as he scanned the footprints with his visor. The footprints soon turned into steaming patches of grass as Wheatley's became more and more concerned, breaking into a sprint through the burning trail of dead grass as it winded through the trees, which also have scorch marks where Uzi had leaned against trees to not collapse and overheat in the snow. Wheatley stopped in his tracks as the trail ran cold, stopping in front of one of the old camp cabins. Purple lights bled from the door, frantic cries and wheezes emanated from the inside. Wheatley pulled on the doorknob, digital sweat pooling on his visor.
"UZI! UZI!", Wheatley yelled. "Open the door, please! C'mon, I want to help you!"
"Wheatley!?", Uzi's muffled voice shouted from behind the door. "No! Y- you need to leave, now!"
"What? No!", Wheatley said. "No! I'm not leaving this time!"
"Look, I know- I know you made a few mistakes", Wheatley began, not noticing the squelching, wheezing, and crashing coming from the cabin. "Who hasn't made a few mistakes! We all have! Sure that... Thing with the arrow was bloody dreadful, but!... Y'know it's not like you killed anyone or anything.
Uzi tried to listen to Wheatley, she really did, but with the abhorrent ticking of the clock and the tendrils of flesh pouring from the blazing light, she was far too preoccupied.
Wheatley heard glass shatter in the cabin and kept trying to persuade Uzi to let him in.
"Everything gonna fine! It's all- it'll all be completely fine! I can help you; I promise!" Wheatley said. "Please just let me in!"
"Look... I'll- I'll", Wheatley pleaded. "You need oil, right? I can- I can give you some of mine! Yes! Please! We can fix this!"
Uzi was slowly losing consciousness as the banging on the cabin door grew more frantic. "Wh- Wheatley..."
"Uzi?!", Wheatley yelled. "Yes, Uzi, what!?"
"Wh- Wh-... Wheatley..."
"Uzi, please I-!", Wheatley was interrupted by the door suddenly being torn from its hinges, revealing a horrific sight.
Wheatley froze in place as he laid his optics of Uzi, or... What used to be her. Instead of hollowed purple optics, she had a wide purple X splayed across her visor. Her limbs bucked and shuddered under her own weight as they hardly held up her own chassis. Maniacal giggles escaped from her maw as it was unnaturally stretched across her face. Two fleshy purple wings burst from her torso, each ending in small, mostly useless, claws. Wheatley's face contorted in confusion as he saw a purple... fleshy... Thing? Attached to a long wire behind Uzi, the thing speckled with blue beady eyes, even sporting its own set of razor-sharp teeth.
Before Wheatley could attempt an escape, or even feel anything other than worry.
Uzi lunged.
...
Once again, Space Core was alone. Well, not completely alone, but if he had to pick anyone to wander around through the forest with, it wouldn't be the pink one. Lizzy, he remembers. N and V had flown off into the forest to look for Uzi and Wheatley, and he had been left to look after the rambunctious group of campers. He told them various long-winded stories about an underground resistance fighting against their cruel overlords, kings that had fallen for underestimating the persistence of a single peasant, an endless war fought for nothing more than war profiteering, and of course... Space. The campers watched in growing boredom as the yellow eyed worker rambled on about just how lovely space was. He surely could've kept talking for ages until he was rudely interrupted by a camper who had come crawling back with half of their body missing, how rude! Honestly, he had forgotten her name... Rachel, or something like that. Then somebody's head exploded or something, he wasn't really paying attention anymore, his eyes slowly raising up to the empty void of space. Once he had realized everyone had run away, he simply picked himself up, looked in a direction, and begun walking.
Eventually, he had run into Lizzy, a disgusted grimace forming on her face as Space Core bounded after her. Lizzy always found those two new guys just as weird as the purple freak, but figured it would be better to be escorted by an adult... Or at least someone she could leave behind while she ran away.
Neither of them really knew what they were casually walking away from, but every once in a while, they would hear a low cackle or flapping of wings. Space Core had tried in vain to contact Cyn and ask her what to do or even just help comfort him, like she had done before, but each time he would hear her robotic, monotone voice, she always said she had to leave to "solve a problem", apparently something with the Solver. Spacey was disappointed but understood.
They kept going like this for a while, until the low dripping of oil caught their attention.
"Oh, thank Robo-God, Final Girl!" Lizzy said, pushing aside Space Core to see the other camper, her name of course doesn't really matter.
The girl doesn't respond as her corpse in lifted into a tree, revealing a set of glossy black teeth and neon violet X that belongs to the mutated Uzi, playing with the girl's corpse like some kind of sadistic toy. Uzi effortlessly snapped off her head and devoured it, splaying oil all over her face.
"Um... Clashing?" Lizzy said, as Space Core shook the snow off himself behind her.
Suddenly, Lizzy is raised in the air, a rigid purple Solver symbol trusting it's way around her neck. Uzi steadily flew up to her, cackling as she did, until a yellow light caught her attention at the corner of her visor.
"S- Space... Friend?" Space Core muttered, optics hollowing. It was hard to explain, but he felt a strange... Buzzing as he looks into Uzi's gaping, toothy maw. Uzi took advantage of Space Core's catatonic state and leapt over to him. Space Core clawed at Uzi's hand as she lifted him up by the neck, neon yellow digital tears flowed down his visor as Uzi's grip tightened around his steel throat.
"As said in my will", Space Core said in his little neurotic voice as oil started to flow down his neck (He would never tell anyone, but the oil did smell pretty tasty). "My... last word will be... Sp... Space"
A face of hesitancy flashed across Uzi's visor, purple X changing to ERROR: LIKE OBJECT: NOT MAIMABLE, before Uzi flinched and backed away, her optics changing back to the familiar purple X. All while Lizzy is still being choked out by the Absolute Solver.
Uzi grabbed her own head and slowly stepped away from the Space Core as he slowly got up from the snowy ground, coughing up oil. "S- Space", he muttered.
Unfortunately, Uzi's utter confusion stopped her from noticing a silver blur fly straight towards her, Uzi's head flies from her neck as her body was carelessly throttled through the forest into the trees. V stood triumphantly, yellow eyes glaring at the headless, wriggling body in the forest, as well as dropping Lizzy in the process (So... yay... I guess).
She quickly glanced to Lizzy as Space Core awkwardly tried to shuffle away. "Killing her, not saving you", she said, bluntly.
"Okay, mom", Lizzy said mockingly, rolling her eyes.
Uzi's body shifted and squirmed as a shimmering, shapeless mound of colorless goo formed itself into a new head. Her bloodlust temporarily replaced with vulnerability as she fruitlessly attempted to plead with the nonexistent humanity within V.
"V... Please...!", Uzi gasped, pleading, violet eyes appearing on her newly formed visor.
V glared harder. "New body, same horrors. Huh, Cyn", V spat. Space Core briefly turned around at the mention of his friend but decided not to interrupt.
Fortunately, he didn't have to, as a pair of boots grinded into the snow to stop in his tracks. Arms spread wide between the two murder robots, his bright blue eyes glaring at V.
Wheatley was alive, but still wasn't looking too good, instead of being split open and being feasted on by Solver Uzi, he was completely run over, another small crack appearing on his visor, metal torso dented with the pounding boot prints, a small trickle of oil fell from his mouth as he ran his way all the way over to the fight. Seeing Uzi in this state... Utterly... Broken, on the ground, afraid. He felt a surge of emotion he hasn't felt since he was the central core of Aperture. Now wasn't the time for being his natural cowardly self. Now, was the time for action.
He stood, frozen between V and Uzi.
"V... I-... I can't let you go any further."
"I don't care if you stand in my way", V said, still very much really to murder. "I... I need to do this."
"WHY!?", Wheatley yelled at her, causing V to flinch. "Why!? Is it because she killed everyone!?"
V simply glared straight at Wheatley, causing him to strut towards her, glaring just as hard.
"That's bloody ridiculous!", Wheatley yelled. "We've all killed people! You have! She has! N has! Bloody hell... I'VE KILLED PEOPLE! Mutilated those poor turrets without a shred o' mercy!... Lady..." Wheatley shook his head. "I! Will! Not! Let You!"
"No!" V yelled back "D- Don't bring N into this! I'm doing all of this to protect him!"
"From Uzi!?", Wheatley yelled, getting even angrier. "V, killing Uzi will hurt N far more than... That Thing could ever even hope to! How could you not see that!"
V flinched and grimaced, somewhere deep down, she knew he was right. She kept trying to stay distant, knowing that if she got close to someone again... It would just be the manor all over again. She never expected the purple thing to appear, but it was inevitable for N to find someone, anyone who could give him the affection he deserved.
She never wanted to hurt N, but she had too.
"Look at her!", V barked, staring Wheatley down. "Those disgusting fleshy wings, that... That thing attached to her back! That thing... Cyn-... Cyn made her a monster!"
Wheatley momentarily backed down, examining her, before sighing. "Y'know what I think."
"I think... I think she's looking like you..."
"You bloody monster."
V's optics hollow, a small smirk appears on Wheatley's face... Before something bumps into him, he turns around... and sees a sight that turns his optics to rings.
Uzi was up, but wasn't looking any better, she looked confused and conflicted. Her purple X constantly changing between glitching optics and that familiar X. She shuddered and shook with each misplaced step she took. The optics would always stare at Wheatley with admiration at him standing up to V, but the X would always turn to a bloodlust expression and stare at V. The oil in her system from the various murders fueling Uzi as the Absolute Solver hungers for more. Each personality fighting for control.
She suddenly falls to the ground, twitching and convulsing. Wheatley rushes over to hold her. "U- Uzi", He mumbles.
Uzi's twitching grows more frantic as the X lingers on her face longer than her optics. Wheatley held her closer as the X fully took over her visor.
Uzi lunged at V, with Wheatley being thrown to the side.
However, before she can tear multiple holes into V's metallic flesh, a hand grabbed hold of the hood of her jacket in the nick of time. Uzi squirmed in his grip, the X on her visor glowing brighter as she looks to who grabbed her.
N stood there with the same goofy smile people grew acclimated to. "Whoops. Easy there, buddy", He said with a chuckle, before Uzi bites off his hand with her tail thing, tossing it into the snow.
"Haha, ow. Up we go!" N said, twirling around before throwing Uzi into the upper atmosphere of Copper-Nine, he quickly glances to Wheatley as he extends his wings.
"Thank you... For that", They both say to each other, As N blasts off to talk with Uzi.
Wheatley glances around his surroundings, harshly glaring at V. He walks over to the side to stand with Space Core, as Lizzy walked over to talk with V, who sat off to the side, pouting with her arms crossed.
Pines blew from the trees as the drones ascended, air passed by them as they shot into the sky. The pale moon gleamed off their metallic chassis as they met at the peak and began their speedy decent. The air caught in their wings slowed them down, but not by a noticeable amount. With they fell, they spoke to each other. They told of promises, of insecurities, of reassurances. Her fears spilling out like the inky black blood of her victims. His soft voice boldly told her she didn't need to experience it alone. There were people who care about her. Cared for her. The ground came faster. They laughed up there, passed the air cutting through their wings. They enjoyed each other's company. Despite these new, scary problems. They ground became clearer. They would always be there for each other. Some would say, they loved each other.
They've been through a lot, remember?
Then they met the ground.
Wheatley, Space Core, V, and Lizzy watched as the mist parted around the fallen drones, they braced themselves as the wind clashed into them, pushing them back. A small smile appeared on Wheatley's face as N and Uzi embraced each other, saying small reassurances that he was too far away to hear. He could hear Lizzy and V have a little side conversation but was quickly drowned out by the clanking of the large metal horse behind them. All of the drones looked to the bus as it made its final arrival. V and Lizzy immediately made their way over, while Wheatley and Space Core waited for Uzi and N to catch up, they were supposed to be camp counselors, after all.
The hard, frozen leather of the bus felt like heaven after everything Wheatley had been through today. He looked back to Uzi and N, and smiled when he saw them leaning against each other. Finally, he could peacefully lie on the bus seat and head back home. All while his yellow eyed companion babbled on about space beside him his as if nothing had happened at all, and honestly,
He could totally listen to some space facts right about now.