Forward: I can't help myself sometimes it seems. I found Murder drones like, a day ago, and proceeded to binge the whole thing. Gods it is good. I started this idea during watching episode two, and while I do love the eldritch nightmare fuel of the later episodes as well, this idea will be devoid of the eldritch elements and Solver, aiming for a more, existential take.
Also some of my other story updates will be soon, so please don't ng about them, especially on other stories reviews!
xxxxx
It has been said in old human wisdom that if one knows their enemies, and knows themselves, then they need not fear the results of a hundred battles.
The Worker drones of Cooper nine thought they knew their enemy that had been sent by their parent company, JcJenson. The Murder drones that had come to the planet to destroy them, to kill their fledgling freedom, were dangerous and vile monstrosities that fed upon the oil that their bodies produces to carry life across their forms. Yet for all their power, the Murder drones could not break everything in their path, and with that knowledge the worker drones plied their trade.
Construction.
They build great underground bunkers, using the generators, and power infrastructure left behind by their human creators. The bunkers has great walls and barriers, armored doors, and heavy bulkheads, and even with the great strengths the murder drones had, they could not breach them without being creative, and lucky, at the same time.
The worker drones felt safe, and lived their lives, only accepting more to their havens who managed to survive and elude the Murder Drones for long enough to find them, and with their safety secured, many felt no need to worry, or even consider, the murder drones existence.
This would prove an issue for the future of worker drones for a number of reasons, including the old human adage that they had forgotten. Because they had never questions where the Murder Drones has truly come from, or what they truly were.
But one particularly rebellious worker drone daughter, who was intent on finding a way to fight the murder drones, would soon find out.
On a very personal level.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Uzi Doorman felt herself rebooting from a rest and opened her eyes to confusion. She was not in her room, but was instead seemingly tied to a chair in a small almost circular room that, upon a second look was starting to look familiar.
"But, wait, why does it seem-"
"Oh good, you're awake."
Uzi felt her whole body tense at the voice. She couldn't see its owner, but that calm, almost corporate sounding tone was familiar enough even from just hearing it once.
It was one of the Murder drones, the one that N had mentioned was his boss.
And the room she was in, it was inside of the murder bots landing pod!
"What, no response?" The murder bot in question, the one with short pigtails, said as she stepped into view from behind Uzi. I'd have figured you'd thank me for saving you from the cold outside considering how easily you were locked out of your own haven.
"What are you-" Uzi began to say before her memory kicked in properly. His expression fell instantly.
"Ah, so you do remember being betrayed by your own kind. It's so hard to find good help these days, wouldn't you agree?" the murder drone said with a smile as she sauntered over to another chair and sat down in it across from Uzi.
"Bite me!" Uzi snarled in anger as she tried to repress the memory, the betrayal.
"Oh I would love to, but perhaps later when you've settled in," The murder drone said with a smile. I am Serial Designation J, the leader of the squad that N, whom you have met already, Is a part of. The other one who might have seen as a distance is V, our squads real go-getter."
"Why are you telling me this? So you can try to make me more afraid when you eat my guts?" Uzi challenged angrily. Tying to ignore what happened wasn't working, and she coul already feel her emotions starting to go out of control. "Just kill me and get it over with if you're going to!"
"No, I won't be killing you," J Said as she got up from the seat and began tossing an object in one hand into the air. It looked sort of similar to a Murder Drone's tail syringe, the one filled with Nanite acid, but it was about half the size and the fluid inside had an almost faintly green tinge to it. "Do you know what this is?"
"Nanite acid you Murder drones use to kill and torture us with."
"No, though I do believe that V will like that name, Murder Drones," J said as she stepped close and grabbed the syringe in a reverse grip and held it up for Uzi to see. "Tell me, little worker drone, do you know how often one of us Disassembly drones get disassembled by your kind?"
"I'm guessing not often."
"Correct. It is rare. Rarer still for it to be done in such a flashy manner," J said with a strange smile, her tail running up along the side of Uzi's bound leg, the needle so very close to touching her shell and releasing its payload. "If your shot had taken more than just N's head, he'd have been dead for good. And while he is not the greatest, especially compared to V, he does have his uses, and he is my subordinate."
"And, what does this have to do with me? You expect me not to defend myself from you monsters?"
"Not normally, no." Worker drones build things and work, Security drones watch over them and corral buggy programs, and Disassembly Drones prey on those who have no more use to the company," J said as she stepped closer, her free hand swapping into her large claws that she ran along the side of Uzi's face, jut lightly enough to not hurt her or mark her.
Uzi was on the verge of losing it. She had heard of Murder drones that toyed with their prey, killed them in horrific ways, but she had never heard of one doing, doing this! "What, what are you trying to say? Is this some, messed up interrogation? I was the one who made that sick ass railgun, no one else so, so you don't need to worry about another appearing anytime soon!"
"As nice as that information is, it doesn't change what is going to happen," J said with a smirk as she climbed onto Uzi's lap, her face worryingly close to hers. "Have you never wondered where we came from?"
"From, the parent company, from JCJenson," Uzi replied as she could feel her body heating up in fear. "Just do it, Bite me and get it over with!"
"Oh there will be plenty of time for biting later," J said as she pushed herself forward more, licked Uzi's eye plate, and then smirked. Uzi was about to say something, anything, to show of her confusion and disgust, but instead merely gasped as she felt something pierce the underside of her head by her neck. Yet she could see J's tail in plain view behind her. "Let me explain it to you. JCJenson is all about working smarter, not harder, so why create an entirely new drone, when ones that exist already could just be modified to serve a new purpose?"
"W-what are you-" Uzi tried to say as she felt a strange and abnormal heat fill her body. Her vision then began to act strange, overlays she did not recognize appearing in her view.
New system Data detected.
Preparing to install new Data.
New Data required Hardware Reformatting.
Proceeding with Reformatting once Software data is analyzed and appropriately safeguarded.
"Let me say it in simpler terms you little drone. Disassembly drones were all once Worker drones, till we were reformatted and our directive made different," J said as she leaned back a bit while still straddling Uzi's lap. She then pulled her arm down, making uzi feel something being removed, and showed the smaller, now empty Syringe. "And, Squad captains like myself are capable of choosing drones for such a reformatting if we decide they will be of use to us and the company."
"No way, you, you don't mean –"
"And someone who can build a weapon capable of killing us out of scrap. . . you have a good head on your shoulders, and the company can use that. I can use that."
"No, no, You can't mean you're-"
"You're reformatting and upgrades will take about a week, more if you resist," J said as she leaned forward again and licked Uzi's cheek. "And the more you resist, the less of your own personality will remain as it is. I hope for your sake you accept your new calling, little darling."
Software Data analysis complete. Preparing back-up
Hardware reformatting protocols engaging. Spreading reformation Nanites to extremities.
Uzi wanted to yell, to cry, to scream, to something! Yet the amount of warnings and alerts she was having overlay over her visions, along with the rising feeling that her insides were lighting on fire, she found it increasingly hard to even make coherent noise.
It even felt like her feet were melting!
"Don't try to talk," J said sweetly as she leaned even closer, her mouth close to the side of Uzi's head. "Just let the Reformatting Fluid do its thing, and when you wake up we can see how much of that adorably rebellious attitude of yours survived, and begin your welcome party to the top of the drone food chain!
Begin Reformatting processes in 3 . . . . 2 . . .
"N . .. . . . o" Uzi manages to say as her eyesight failed, and her body then fell into what felt like sleep mode.
The fact her eye plate was showing a notification that said – Reformatting in progress - Of course made the situation very different, especially with the little progress bar below it.
J looked at her handiwork and slid off her soon to be new girls lap with a smirk. The only thing better than serving the company loyally was inducting new members into the company and making herself look good at the same time.
"So, you're Reformatting her, huh?"
J turned to see V and N standing just into the doorway of the pod. N had a look of mixed feelings on his face, while V was clearly against the situation. "Yes. Considering she nearly killed you I feel her skills may prove useful to us."
"Regardless of how her Reformatting goes we'll still have to train her and figure out what sort of combat she prefers," V said in annoyance. "This'll cut into our own hunting time!"
"Well, she was basically given up on by the other works though," N spoke up. "We won't have to worry about anyone coming to look for her, right?"
"You are both right," J said with a nod, happy that they both saw some of the issues that their newest allies reformatting would bring with it. "We won't have to worry about other drones coming to look, but we may need to go a bit further to find prey while teaching her. However, we have been ahead of our quota by weeks already as it is. If nothing else, think of how much another body will help our quota's, and our relaxation times?"
N visibly blushed while his gaze drifted upwards in thought, while V Merely seemed to consider J's words.
"I still don't like it, seems like a waste of time."
"It won't be, we all will make sure of it," J said with a smile as she looked back at the little workers immobile form. "We have a week to plan, so we can take our time planning and hunting."
"Fine, I'm going to sleep for the day," V said with an exasperated sigh as she turned and left.
Leaving N to walk into the room and up to Uzi, looking at her with what, to J, looked like concern. "Hey uh, J?"
"What?"
"Uzi . . . she'll still be, I mean. . . . She's being reformatted to be like us, but she'll still be, herself right?"
"Why do you ask?" J asked N with a small smile. She had made sure that neither of them had witnessed her actions while inserting the reformatting into its new host, so she was genuinely curious what N, the slack and far to welcoming Disassembler, could be worried about.
"Well, it's just, yeah she almost killed me, but when I was talking with her while mistaking her identity, it was a fun conversation. I guess I'm just a bit worried she'll . . . . uh, turn into another V, I guess? N-not that that would be a bad thing I just-"
"How much of her personality that remain will depend on her," J said with a smirk. "I don't think you need to worry about her though, N. what you need to focus on is doing your job properly and to stop messing up and getting seen so easily!"
N, who now had the entire conversation turned back onto him, meekly stepped back away from Uzi. " R-right, I'm sorry, I'll work on that, g, g'night!"
J watched the door to the pod close and then turned back to her soon to be allies unmoving form, the progress bar on her reformatting not even having hit three percent, and stepped up to her with a grin.
"I wonder what your rebellious little self will allow me to look into once you are ready. " I hope for both our sakes you don't lose too much of yourself. It'd be hard to find the truth otherwise."