"So, the worker drone-"
"Uzi."
J sighs before nodding her head at Max's correction. "Yes, Uzi, apparently found some information her mom had that led us to the woods to find that cabin. I- WE, wanted to keep searching for you and I could help more since my body completely regenerated, but she insisted you could take care of yourself."
"So that's what you were all doing there." Max hums softly as he takes in the recap J gave him. "I guess I'm happy she had that much faith in me. Didn't expect that we'd BOTH become some monsters in the woods…" Max sighs, clutching his head as he hears a faint whisper in his mind.
"Yeah…you're okay right?" J asks with a worried look before immediately looking away. "Not that I'm concerned or anything! I just wanna make sure you're not having meltdowns!"
"No I'm okay, it should be under control- wait, is Uzi having meltdowns?" At that, J's eyes widened and she winced, realizing she let it spill.
"Ugh. Okay I didn't want you to worry, but from what N has told me, she's been having some night terrors ever since that night."
"…it's not because of what I, what Death said right?" Max asks with looming fear, he can only remember snippets of what Death said, but it certainly was not nice. He explained to everyone how he was only half alive in a sense, and that something is using his body as a host, but he can keep it under control now. Thankfully N was already eager to forgive him, and Uzi seemed to have been feeling a lot better after her airborne chat with N, so she simply commented how cool it was to know she's friends with a human zombie. J was mostly just trying not to remember what she did to snap him out of it, and V…V was very suspicious of not just him, but Uzi too.
"No, not that…I think her virus is getting worse." J admits with an undertone of familiarity like she's seen this before. She shakes her head though and forces on a big smile. "B-but it'll be okay! N took V with him to give the little drone flying lessons! It should take her mind off things!"
"Oh well that's good to know, they should be safe doing- FLYING LESSONS?! Are they insane!? That's way too dangerous! J, I need you to take me there, please!"
"I…is that an order?" J asks with a growing blush on her face before Max blushes and shakes his head.
"N-No. Not an order…it's a request from a friend." Max corrects, a surprised look on J's face. Here she was thinking the human would take advantage of her vulnerability.
J stares at him for a bit for scoffing. "Fiiiiine, but only because you said 'please.'" She smirks at Max before spreading her wings and letting him climb on her back before taking flight.
"First, we'll try the baby bird method!" N explains with a scooped up Uzi in his arms. "Toss ya off and let your instincts do the rest."
"Wait, N-!" Uzi tries to stop, having a pretty bad case of cold feet along with a perfectly rational fear of falling to her death.
"N! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Max can be heard screaming in the distance from J's back as he can see what was taking place from afar.
"And up you go!" N cheerfully shouts before tossing the cute screaming emo as she plummets from the tall mountain of scrap metal.
"UZI NO! Quick J! We gotta catch her!"
"We're too far, we wouldn't make it in time! Besides, N wouldn't let her die." J explains nonchalantly.
"She's still falling!" Max grabs at his own hair, nearly ripping at it in fear. Thankfully N finally swoops down and catches Uzi, the two landing safely.
"Whoops! Uh, let's try a different approach…" N decides as he holds on to the shuddering Uzi.
"Fucking hell guys!" Max yells in relief as J finally lands with Max quickly hopping off her back. "Oh god I'm glad nobody is hurt, but jeez! Couldn't you even put on some safety gear!?"
"Calm down loser." V says as she flies down next to them. "We had it all under control."
"What part of that was under control? The part where nobody was underneath to catch her just in case?" Max looks at all the drones before sighing. "Ugh, just, at least let me supervise a little?"
"Of course! The more the merrier!" N smiles wide before they begin their next experiment.
Next, V makes a display of spreading her wings and flying in the air. With the demonstration, Uzi spreads her own wings and flies upwards…just to smash her head into the light bulb of a street lamp.
"You know what, that's all our bad for not having her stand somewhere else." Max facepalms, before looking at the struggling worker drone.
"Our bad? I did my part perfectly, not my fault she didn't think to look up." V flaps her wings a bit, hovering just a bit above Max.
"You're the one with an aerial view, you could have said something!" Max points his finger at V. V of course decides to open her mouth and bite at Max's finger. Thankfully not hard enough to draw blood, but enough to hurt like hell. "YEOW!" Max yells out before pulling his finger away. "Oh I'm gonna kill you!" Max threatens as he glares at the Murder Drone.
"I'd like to see you try with those noodle arms of yours." V taunts, sticking her tongue out at Max as she flaps her wings, immediately flying above him and out of his range.
"V, don't antagonize him." J huffs as she looks at her fellow Murder Drone and a seething Maxwell.
"'Me when I fucking get you!'" Max can't help but quote, hands out miming strangling V as he runs after her, unfortunately slowed down by the snow covering the ground.
"Yeah well, you're so slow and stupid, so I doubt you'll ever catch me.~" V confidently mocks as she flies while looking at him…just to end up crashing directly into the street lamp. The impact at the very least helped shake Uzi free from the lightbulb her head was stuck in.
"Ha! I'm free!" Uzi shouts victoriously on the ground, N giving a sigh of relief.
"WOW! I wonder how HARD it'll be to catch you, huh?!" Max asks sarcastically as he stomps over to the collapsed V.
"S-shut up! This streetlight just has it out for drones!" V yells out embarrassed as N helps pick Uzi up onto her feet.
"What was that you said earlier? It's gonna be so hard to catch you!?" Max then lifts up his right leg with his left arm while using his other hand to point at it, just being extra petty. "Oh my god, MY LEGS ARE HURTING ALREADY! Fucking hell."
Moving on, N has made a makeshift runway for Uzi to have better direction of where to fly.
"N…you know she's not a plane right?." Max asks with an undertone of concern for N's mental state.
"Yeah I know, but how different can it be? She's got a metal body and wings, just like a plane!"
"…the worst part is that nothing you said was wrong, and I hate it!" Max clutches at his head, deciding to sit back and watch as this seemed safe enough.
Uzi takes off and has a bit of difficulty, but manages to fly the entire path and crashes directly into N's waiting arms. V, J, and Max look to see Uzi accidentally landed on top of a dazed N, looking quite close in the compromising position.
"Oh my you two, save it for the bedroom.~" Max can't help but tease.
"Shut up! It's not like that!" Uzi shouts at Max, immediately getting up and punching in him the arm, just getting some more laughter out of Max.
In a rare moment, V actually smiles a bit and chuckles lightly at the interactions. J notices this and can't help but smile too, seeing her coworker genuinely a bit happy.
For their next bit of flying training, a rope is connected to V and Uzi before V activates her speed boosters. Rockets form on her back and propel her so fast as she spins around Uzi repeatedly until a whirlwind picks up, lifting Uzi into the air!
"God this could go wrong in so many ways…" Max mutters with concern like some kind of mother hen at this point.
"Relax, she's admittedly doing pretty good." J comments with a smile as Uzi glides high in the air with the wind beneath her wings.
"So far so good, you're doing great you two!" N cheers as V eventually stops spinning and lands next to N. Things seem to be going well…until a huge ball of hair and a recognizable little hat smack against V's face. "Wait, what just-"
Looking closely, everyone realizes it's a wig, Uzi's wig to be precise, as the drone is completely mortified, holding her hands over her head.
"Oh shit! I forgot that can happen, I was so used to thinking drones just had hair, I forgot it was completely optional and customizable." Max says in surprise looking between Uzi and the wig.
"Yeah, normally they're pretty hard to take off, our wigs are specially designed to stay on our heads in many conditions, but I guess that high speed was enough to knock hers away." J commented with a bit of a giggle. V meanwhile was laughing her ass off at this, nearly collapsing with the way she was holding her stomach.
Before Uzi could feel any more humiliated though, N flies up with a fantastic idea. He plops his own wig right on top of Uzi's head, all while wearing her wig on his head! V takes this opportunity to fly up with her arm shifted into a selfie stick, and takes a photo of the three of them laughing at the fun they jade over the little accident.
"Pfft, great work N. Though I don't know if purple is your style." Max chuckles as he looks at the cute three having fun.
"What? Don't I look so pretty?" N asks before playfully flipping 'his' hair on his head. Uzi can't help but laugh at N's goofiness before finally switching wigs back.
"I'll never understand how humans can just GROW hair. Kind of weird to think about." Uzi mentions while Max just shrugs.
"Trust me, I didn't have a lot of fun with it myself. Ever since puberty, I grew enough hair to look like a gorilla. Thankfully ever since waking up from cryosleep, I've noticed I haven't been growing any hair whatsoever. My face feels soooooo smith and I love it!" Max playfully rubs at his own face. "Honestly I'm happy I don't need to shave anymore, though I wonder if I'll ever need a haircut again. Ha, if it'll make you feel better Uzi, I could shave my head so you can see how I look when bald."
"Oh please don't, what if it doesn't grow back?" J sticks her tongue out, the mental image of Max with a shiny bald head instead of his usual fluffy hair making her feel icky.
"I wonder if I could pull off a Krillin." Max wonders out loud while stroking his chin
"Wait, you've seen Dragon Ball?" Uzi asks with a curious gleam in her eyes.
"Hell yeah! The original and Z. Watch out for my bald head boosted Solar Flare!" Max playfully threatens while holding his spread fingers over his face like he's preparing to use the technique.
"What's a dragon ball?" N asks confused before Max and Uzi look at him with wide eyes and then place a hand each on his shoulders.
"Oh N…"
"We have SO much to teach you." Uzi finishes Max's sentence.
"Alright nerds, back to training!" V interrupts, but can't get rid of the smile on her face.
Once ready, Uzi's flying test began. N helped her start by carrying her in the air before letting her go, letting her wings keep her gliding before they started flapping on her own. Soon enough she's soaring through the build obstacle course, flying through hoops, zig zagging along telephone poles, timing her flight through spinning fan blades, and lastly flying through a narrow crashed bus.
"Aaaah this is hard to watch! I'm so proud of her but can't help but get anxious! Why does friendship have to be so nerve wracking?" Max forces himself to keep watching as Uzi flies.
"Don't worry, she's doing great! She just needs to get through this last part!" N reassures the human as he watches closely.
J just softly chuckles before her expression goes serious. "Wait, something's wrong." She thought she heard Uzi scream, only for the flying drone to fold in her wings and harshly crash into the snow.
V winces at the sight, "Didn't really stick the landing…" She can't help but comment.
Uzi laid in the snow motionless, N being the worried one now. "She's not getting up. Uzi? Uzi!" He yells as he rushes over to her.
"Oh god, please be nothing worse than I can repair!" Max runs after N to help with Uzi. J stays back, her eyes narrowing as a sense of dread fills her and V.
"Hey! You did an amazing job! Landing is hard, don't even worry about it. You good?" N asks in concern as Max skids to a stop next to them.
"Yeah, you were awesome out there Uzi! And at least you landed in the snow. One time as a kid I crashed my bike and fell on some asphalt and-" Max is cut off by an off putting sinister giggle from Uzi.
"Uzi?" N asks just to jump back as Uzi's body sickeningly cracks and contorts as she stands up
"Surprise cameo!" The Solver says with Uzi's body, the drone's visor with the solver symbol.
"N! Get away from her!" V yells out, immediately standing at the ready.
"Solver!" Death's voice comes from Max just for the human to end up with a rough coughing fit and clutching at his throat.
"No! Not again! We had a deal!" Max yells out, J immediately getting closer and standing in front of Max.
"It's okay Max. N, what are you doing?" J hisses out, wondering why N hasn't gotten away from the possessed Uzi.
"Uzi, I'm right here. And I'm not leaving you." N tries to comfort her, all while Uzi's laughter grows louder and more crazed as she crawls toward him. "It's gonna be okay. Can you hear me?"
Uzi doesn't. Instead she runs forward, throwing a kick at N before he back flips away. Uzi tries to dash in and attack N, but J jumps in and kicks Uzi across the face, sending her flying backwards. "Back off!"
Uzi simply giggles before her wings spread and she takes flight, still laughing in a deranged manner while V comes over and comforts N.
Max shakes his head, taking a deep breath as he regains control. "This…is my body." He sighs before looking up at the flying Uzi, circling in the air like some kind of mechanical vulture as he pulls out his crowbar to defend himself.
"…we need to blast her." V states, shaking everyone out of their thoughts.
"Excuse me?" Max asks, confused.
"WHAT?! We can't do that!" N yells out, much more concerned.
"N JUST SHUT UP AND LISTEN!" V shouts, her eyes focused directly on N. "If you want a chance to salvage your goodie-two-shoes plan, then you need to blast her. If she's anything like us, she'll just shut off and reboot.
"That's right, she can just regenerate if she loses her head." J mutters, not entirely sure of the plan herself but seeing no other option.
"But-" N starts but V doesn't let him finish.
"Do you want me to help you make this work or not?!" V sighs and looks deep into N's eyes. "Come on…"
"…okay, as long as she'll be okay."
"J and I will get her down here, and you deal the final blow. Got it?" V asks, just for N to nod his head. She looks at J and she spreads her wings, ready for action.
"Okay wait. It's a good plan but it's also got a lot of holes. Do you have any way to defend yourselves against her solver abilities? If they're anywhere as strong as Doll's, then it won't be an easy fight!" Max jumps in, trying to find a way he can make sure everyone comes out of this unscathed. "Maybe we can-"
"Max, SHUT IT!" V shouts, startling the human. "It's bad enough we got Uzi to deal with. You just keep the freak contained, stay quiet, and don't interfere!"
"Hey! I know Death is a bastard but don't take it out on me. I can still help!" Max yells back just for V to glare at him.
"I don't care what you can do, it'd be pointless to have you fight with us. The fact of the matter is, I don't trust you, and I especially don't trust that thing in you." Max is shocked at this, he thought after today things would have been better. He stays quiet though and hangs his head low. "Just stay out of the way, we can handle this…"
J wanted to step in and defend Max, but she was worried about him losing control again. N was of a similar mindset, he trusted Max to help, but he was concerned for Uzi…and he didn't know if this Death guy would let her live.
"Good. With that said, let's dance Doorman." V, N, and J prepare themselves, their visors shifting into Xs as they begin the fight.
Max gets behind some rubble to stay out of the way, but can't help but peek out at the fight. N is dodging solver power thrown debris as he shifts his arm into a laser cannon, trying to find the right time to fire. J takes to the sky, firing her machine gun arm to distract the Solver possessed Uzi. V shifts her arm into a hammer and spins in the air, getting closer and closer to the bullet-peppered Uzi, just for the drone to effortlessly grab the rapidly swinging hammer.
"Wha-"
"Invades your personal space." The Solver speaks before grabbing V's head and slamming her head into a physical construct of the solver symbol, nearly cracking the Murder Drone's head open. "Fatality."
"OH MY GOD! V!" N screams out seeing the attack and the oil spilling from her head.
"V! NO!" J curses, her hands balled into fists, not willing to believe she just lost her comrade in arms just now.
"Damn it all! I feel so useless…" Max growls out, another coughing fit erupting as he can feel Death clawing at the back of his throat, desperate to come out. One hand on the metal plate he was hiding behind, Max grit his teeth with rage as his hand began to warp and bend the hard material.
"Look at how they tear each other apart. There's no use in trying to save them all. Better to kill them all yourself and stop it from getting worse." Death whispers in Max's mind, the human shaking his head refusing to listen.
For a second it looked like V was too damaged to continue…and then she giggled. It grew louder and louder until it was an uproarious maniacal laughter that caused the Solver to back up confused.
"Oh. You. Are. DONE." V threatens with a distorted voice and a crazed grin. With a swift aerial kick, the solver is slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and snow.
"Oh no." The Solver flatly says as she dashes in the dust, dodging a hail of bullets from both V and J. N struggles to find Uzi in the snow, trying to finish this before things get worse.
"N! GET OUT OF THERE!" Max yells out as he notices a rapid amount of solver constructs surrounding him. It's too late though, as the Solver leaps over N, and has him trapped in her own little cage. With the two trapped together, she rapidly dashed around, too fast for N to target before she crashed into him, slamming him against a nearby rock! "No no no!" Max repeats as he dashes out of his hiding spot and grabs his crowbar before banging it on the wall of constructs, trying to break in.
N slowly opens his eyes, critical damage warnings in his visor as he sees Uzi swoop in the air toward him. For a second it looked like he was done for, but N manages to lift his arm cannon, and fires. A perfect headshot, blowing Uzi's head clean off her body.
The constructs vanish, and Max immediately rushes over to N, helping prop him up. "N! Are you okay?!" The human asks in a panic. Meanwhile nearby, Uzi's head rapidly reforms to perfect condition.
"Wha, what happened?" Uzi asks in a delirious state. N moves from Max before immediately hugging Uzi.
"Phew…at least that's ov-" Max feels the wind blow past him as V dashes forward and pulls N away from Uzi.
"V, don't!"
"GO TO HELL!" V yells out, ignoring N's protests as she begins shooting at a shocked Uzi. The mutated worker drone immediately runs before flying away.
"V!" J yells out, swooping in and grabbing at V's arm to lower her aim. "Quit shooting! It's over!"
Uzi can be heard choking up. The four look up to see her apologizing weakly. "I-I'm so, I'm so sorry…" Just for her to fly away from them.
"Uzi wait! We can fix this!" Max calls out to the drone.
"No, it's okay! Uzi, come back!" N yells out desperately. He stares off into the distance before turning and glaring at V "Why did you DO THAT!?"
"She was no longer a threat!" Max adds but V just smiles in a deranged manner.
"N…we did things your way, and it didn't work." V began to explain in a still distorted voice before brandishing her sword arms. "So now we're doing things MY WAY!"
"You can't kill her! She didn't mean to go crazy!" N yells back just for V to chuckle.
"OH! So she can beat us senseless and we're supposed to be okay with that! I see." V sarcastically remarks.
"Why not? Uzi forgave you." Max darkly answers with his arms crossed.
"You. Stay. OUT OF THIS!" V roars at Max but the human doesn't back down.
"FUCK OFF! I'm a part of this too whether you like it or not! The Solver has influenced all five of us in awful ways, and we can only stop her by sticking together!"
"How can I stick together with someone who knows my past BETTER THAN ME?!" V screams at Max, the human caught off guard before he tries to explain.
"I-I don't know everything. I've only seen glimpses of what Death showed me. I just know you don't have to be killers. You can be so much more!"
"Don't you dare think you just 'fix me'! I'm not some stupid charity case like N and that thing!"
"She's not a thing! And I'm trying to help her because she's our friend!" N shouts at V just for her to glare into his visor.
"She's your friend." V states, causing N's eyes to widen. V spreads her wings and takes into the air. Before looking down at N and J. "J, we didn't always get along, but you're like a sister to me. N…I can't afford to lose you after everything we've been through. I'm not risking you two for some stupid worker drone. I'm taking her out, whether you like it or not."
"V! Stop this right now! T-this isn't an order, I'm asking as a friend, not as your leader!" J's words make V freeze for a bit, but she won't listen.
"WAIT! NO! YOU CAN'T!" N yells out reaching for V but is too late as she flies away. Everyone is stunned, Max can't help but ball up his fists, barely registering N's panicked cursing. "We gotta find Uzi before she does!"
"Right. Both of you take to the skies, I'll look around on foot. We'll cover more ground that way." Max advises as the two nod and flap their wings, soaring in the air. Max takes a deep breath and sighs before looking at the direction they're flying in and starts running.
V searches through the wasteland, focused on her mission as a Murder Drone. No more mercy was left in her as she scoured the land for her prey. Glass shatters, a nearby whimper is heard, and V has located her target.
With a deadly grin, she swoops into a hole in a damaged skyscraper, stalking through the hall as she can hear the panicked whispers and cries of the worker drone.
"What's wrong with me? I hate this. Why won't it stop?" V can hear the words echo throughout the floor. More and more desperate pleas for it to stop. Eventually, she finds the source of it all, hiding behind some rubble, gasping and sobbing. "Please…I don't want to be this."
V raises her sword arm and slashes at the rubble, causing the drone to scream in terror. Behind the rubble finally finds…V. It couldn't be possible. It was… her old self. A worker drone in a maid outfit and glasses, just recently transformed and given wings and claws, quietly whimpering as she looks directly at V.
"I'm sorry…please…I'm sorry." V can see herself reflected off the drone's glasses. It shouldn't be possible…it wasn't possible. Her vision optics finally restore themselves, the damage she took earlier causing the strange glitch. With her vision restored, she no longer sees the oh so familiar maid drone, but Uzi, still whimpering and crying in fear of not just V, but of herself.
She could easily just finish her off, right here and now…but that vision, those words. They all resonate with a part of her. It was like looking in a mirror of herself from a time long forgotten…or forcibly made to forget. V kneels in front of Uzi, shifting her hand into claws causing Uzi to wince, just to shift her claws into a normal hand again.
She then motions her head to Uzi, silently requesting her to copy her now that she's observed it. Uzi hesitates, unsure at first…but with some focus and V's guidance, the strange fleshy material coating her transformed hand pops, and her metal hand is back to its usual self.
Uzi lets out a sigh of relief, her eyes shut as it feels like the nightmare is over. V reaches her hand out, unsure at first, but then lightly places it on Uzi's head. "I'm…sorry too." At V's words. Uzi cries out the rest of her tears.
"Uzi! UZI!" Max yells out for the worker drone, scouring the many ruined buildings, trying to find any hint of the purple robot. "Fucking hell, why does V have to be so fucking difficult! I thought drones were easier to get along with but NOOOOOO. They have to emulate the most frustrating parts of being human, like not fucking talking about what's wrong!" Max kicks a nearby worn down mailbox, the steel denting from the kick as Max tries to reign in his frustration.
"Just like I said before, you won't get anywhere with these metal monsters. You're better off on your own."
"AND THEN THERE'S THIS ASSHOLE!"
"No need to yell, you can just speak to me with your thoughts." Death explains just for Max to scoff.
"Too bad, I wanna talk just in case Uzi can hear me."
"I'll never understand your fascination with these creatures. They're nothing but circuits and wires, nuts and bolts. Not to mention they cause you no small amount of grief."
"Yeah well that's the thing about friendship, you take the good with the bad. And in this case, we have a lot of bad to sort out, and most of it can be blamed on the Solver, AND YOU RUNNING YOUR MOUTH!…my mouth, our mouth, fucking, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!"
"I simply told the truth."
"You and I both know you only said half of the truth. You never said how the Solver was fucking with her head during that moment! I couldn't make out a lot of it, but that much I could see! You only said what you needed to piss her off, and now she doesn't trust me!"
"We don't need her trust to accomplish our mission. If she can't put her emotions to the side and focus on the task at hand, then she's worthless to us! All the drones are worthless scrap metal waiting to tear each other apart!"
"Yeah well, news flash, trust is a two way street! I put my trust in all four of them, so I want them to be able to trust me in return. I know these drones are capable of so much…"
"How can you possibly trust them!? They have no souls! No true will of their own! It's foolish to place your faith in them!"
"I trust them with my life. And at least it's my choice this time, not something you took for yourself." Max spitefully adds.
"You'd be DEAD WITHOUT ME!" Death roars, aggravated.
"WELL MAYBE I'D RATHER BE DEAD THAN STAY STUCK WITH YOU!" Max yells back with a very honest rage, his words filled with complete sincerity.
"…you don't mean that. All humans crave survival. It's in their nature, their very instincts."
"Heh, shows what you know. Tell me, in the many millennia you spent feasting on us, did you ever take the time to ask any human how they died? Guess just how many of them would have said they chose to die because it was a better alternative than the life they lived."
"…that…t-that can't be. Life…is a gift. They should cherish it, why…what could push them to…" Death is forced to contemplate what Max said, becoming quiet as he tries to recall any conversations he had with the many human souls he encountered. Just how many he could say he personally took the time to understand and see as more than a part of his perfect meal. The beauty of a human's death is that it meant they could rest peacefully after living a full life, that's what made their souls so perfect compared to any other life forms. He couldn't comprehend the idea that a human would…despise being alive.
With Death not speaking, Max's ears hear some happy relieved laughter from N and the human goes to investigate. He climbs on top of a pile of rubble and looks down to see N has his arms wrapped around a much calmer looking V and a back to normal Uzi.
"What did I miss?" J asks as she swoops down next to Max, surprised at tbe happy reunion taking place.
"I…I think they worked some things out." Max sighs in relief.
"Really?" J asks before glancing at the three drones and smiling softly before sliding down the rubble and going to the trio.
"…there's a lot about humanity you don't understand." Max quietly says to Death in his mind as he glances at the happy drones with a bittersweet smile. "It's certainly amazing how these bots show a much deeper understanding of it than you."
At that, Death is completely silent.
With some help from J, Max was lifted to the top of a pillar of scrap and rubble, allowing him to sit nearby as the drones laid down and rested from this big day.
"Well, I guess I was no help then." N awkwardly remarks just for Uzi to intervene.
"No! I mean- Yes! You did help. I kinda know how to fly now, which is super cool! As for the messed up stuff in my head? Uh…"
"At this point, why not just try to kindly ask for your inner demons to leave you alone?" V jumps in with a snarky tone before mumbling. "Judging by N's logic, that should totally work."
"Oh come the fuck on V, you were doing so good!" Max groans out with a facepalm.
"At least N is TRYING to help me!" Uzi stands up for her friend, just to earn an annoyed giggle from V.
"He's messing with things he doesn't understand."
"V…" J starts, only for her eyes to widen as V starts anxiously rambling.
"We're messing with things WE don't understand! What about that can't you and that human get into your heads?!" Max remains silent, letting V continue as she looks Uzi in the eye. "We can't fix you! We barely know how to deal with ourselves! How the hell are we supposed to help you?!"
V looks down, a dry laugh escaping her. "You think this is rough, try having this be your entire life. I barely remember anything about what life was like before. It scrambles your mind. It'll make you feel crazy, but being crazy is the only way for you to feel normal because everyone will see you as crazy no matter what you do! At this point you're just screwed. So why would it even matter? Why even care? When you can just…destroy." V finishes with a forced manic grin before a sad, tired expression replaces it.
Once she finishes, N immediately wraps his arms around her for a hug. "N…" V mutters annoyed.
"You seem like you need it." N answers softly. J looks at the two of them before giving a painful chuckle.
"Jeez, what kind of leader am I supposed to be?" J sighs, N and V looking at her. "I bullied N while on this company forsaken rock, I never realized that V has been in this much pain this whole time, and I nearly got killed by a worker drone who's now becoming one of us…" J sighs before walking over to join the hug. "I'm sorry you two…you deserved a much better leader than me…" N and V could only look at her sadly, surprised to see this side of J.
"…It all makes sense now." Max speaks up. "The reason none of you could answer me, is because you literally have none of the answers yourselves."
"Yeah, no shit Sherlock." V mutters angrily.
"Yeah well fuck you Watson." Max claps back, V caught off guard having never heard that response. "What I'm trying to say is…I'm sorry for pushing you all so hard. The reason I tried so hard to get answers is because just like you, behind all the attitude…I'm fucking terrified. I'm literally a walking corpse, struggling to keep my free will. The only thing I know is that the Solver is at the center of all of this, but we're missing so much still…but I can't give up yet."
Max gets a stern resolute expression on his face. "Take all the time you need V, you don't have to trust me today, or tomorrow…but know that today you just proved that I was right to place my faith in you. You drones are victims in this sick game just as much as I am. Uzi, N, J, and you V, I'm more than happy to put my life in your hands, because I'm not giving up on ANY of you."
Everyone was quiet after that, letting his words sink in. Uzi was deep in thought before an idea came to mind. "Wait, what was it you said V? Barely?" V, having had enough of the hug, began to try to push N and J away just to look at Uzi confused. "As in, you remember a life before the mass murder crap."
"Yeah? What of it?"
"That means we haven't hit a dead end yet! We have a lead!" Uzi reveals excitedly to the confused Murder Drones.
"Wait wait wait, you don't mean like…looking into their memory banks do you?" Max asks in bewilderment.
"That's exactly what I'm talking about! If we take a look inside, then maybe we can finally get the answers we're looking for!"
"But where would we even get the tools for that? Not to mention a computer strong enough to hack into three drones."
"Leave that, to me!" Uzi giggles mischievously while rubbing her hands together.
"If you even think of popping my head open, both of yours will be rolling on the floor next." V threatens just for Uzi to be not impressed.
"Oh no! Another empty threat. Admit it, you found a nanospark of warmth in your heart to care about me~"
"Awe, I knew you could become good friends!" Max can't help but join in the teasing.
"UGH! SHUT UP!" V yells out, Uzi screaming as V throws the worker drone down the mountain.
"UZI NO!" Both N and Max yell.
"Crap, sorry." V winces, realizing what she just did.
"Wait, I can still get her time!" J opens up her wings ready to fly, just to hear a swoop in the air as reveals herself to be perfectly fine…and flying like a complete natural!
"…you're FLYING!" N cheers excitedly. "We did it! WE DID IT!" N immediately flies in the air to happily hug Uzi while V smiles warmly at the sight.
"Huh, well I'll be." J looks on in surprise and a smile of her own.
"God will now know fear!" Uzi dramatically shouts. "I'm airborne suckers!"
"Ha! Good for you Uzi. Way to leave me alone in the no flying club!" Max playfully shouts, laughing happily seeing the drone do loops in the air before she flies toward Max.
"Oh well why didn't you say so?~" Uzi grins as she grabs Max by his arms and lifts him in the air!
"Hey- HEY! Uzi Doorman, you let me go right now!" Max then looks down to see just how high up he is before clinging tightly to Uzi. "DON'T LET ME GO DON'T LET ME GO DON'T LET ME GO!"
Uzi cackles happily in the night sky as she continues to soar with her screaming unwilling passenger.
Yeesh, this ended up longer than I expected, I thought I'd have room to fit episode 5 in, since it's admittedly quite short once you realize most of it is stuff taking part in the drone's memories and not much can be changed, but it seems it's better off being left for the next chapter.
I feel like this is an important chapter when it comes to giving V some huge character development, it'll really help in selling the idea that she's still capable of good, it's just very difficult right now with her scrambled mind and life threatening dangers at every corner. Very emotional scenes in this chapter, only makes sense that we lift the mood with a very silly Omake!
Omake
A camcorder starts filming, Thad can be heard speaking as she holds up a clapperboard. "Applying For Jobs as a Human. Take 1. Action!"
The clapperboard pulls away, revealing Maxwell tugging at the collar of the stuffy suit he has on for an interview. Standing in front of him is N wearing a white shirt, red tie, a weird skinny hat, and brown square pants.
"Wait, are we rolling?" Max asks, some snickering can be heard from the crew as Lizzy yells off screen.
"Yes! He just said action!"
"The camcorder light isn't on though! Isn't a light supposed to be on when it's recor-"
The video cuts. The clapperboard appears again as Thad speaks up. "Applying For Jobs as a Human. Take 2. Action!"
Max clears his throat and speaks his line. "I'm like, so strong. See this drone here?" Max points to V at a prop cash register, not having changed her outfit at all except for the weird skinny hat similar to N's on her head, and has her feet up while scrolling her phone. "Well yeah she's like, 15 of me! That just means, I'm REALLY strong to be 1/15th of her strength!"
"Sorry, but we're not looking for another fry cook right now." N sadly turns him down with an awkward smile on his face.
"Oh but, I-I really need this job, I'm getting kicked out of my house." Max tries to explain, but N keeps a straight face and service friendly smile.
"That's fine." N's casual response combined with Max's face of complete bafflement causes the camcorder to shake as Uzi breaks into laughter.
"I'm sorry! That was just too perfect!"
The video cuts, and starts again as Lizzy can be heard whispering. "Yeah yeah it's okay, we can fix it up in editing, let's just get to the next part. I still can't believe I agreed to do this stupid idea for our project. Thad, go!"
"Oh right uh, Applying For Jobs as a Human. Take 3. Action!" The clapperboard is taken off screan and the camera focuses on N as he gives an overly positive smile.
"We're interested in other candidates right now."
"W-wait a minute." Max turns around and the camera pans to show a completely empty room with no other people here for an interview. "The whole lobby is empty! There's no one else here, what do you mean?!"
N awkwardly rubs the back of his head. "Yeah uh, we'll get back to you."
Max again gives a good bewildered face. "Y-You don't have a phone number! I had to walk in for this interview! It was a paper application!"
"Yeah, there was something wrong with your application."
"Yeah?" Max asks as he narrows his eyes at N and crosses his arms. "Elaborate."
"Er, let me talk to my manager real quick!" The camera pans away from Max as he rolls his eyes and takes a seat nearby. N walks to J, who was clad in her own business suit that looked more professional than N's, to loudly whisper to her. "Ms. J, I don't know, he looks so sad! What do we do?"
The camera pans back to Max, loudly fake sobbing into his hands as Uzi can be heard audibly holding back a laugh, but keeps it together for the scene. J rubs her chin, looking at the human curiously. "Hmm, this doesn't really affect my billions of dollars. Honestly, hiring him would be ultimately harmless…" She then turns to N slowly. "Let's kill him."
"SNRK! Let's kill him?!" Uzi bursts out laughing at that, the camera shaking as it turns to Lizzy off the set facepalming.
"Who wrote this script!? You dorks are lucky I need the extra credit!"
"Yeah, fuck em!" J continues just for V to snicker.
"You would." V teases, immediately a massive blush forming on J's face as Uzi can't stop laughing.
The video cuts off, just to turn on and reveal a new scene in the same setting. The clapperboard is on screen again, with a new title. "Applying For Jobs as a Human; Bonus Scene! Take 1. Action!" Thad pulls the clapperboard away as the camera focuses on Max back in his good ol jumpsuit as he looks at a cardboard menu above a bored looking V that could easily be wearing a button on her shirt that says "I really wish I was anywhere else but here right now."
"Yeah uh, let me get a double cheeseburger plain, large fries-" Max is interrupted as N's voice can be heard with a filter along with a siren sound coming from his shifted hand.
"Whoop whoop! Broke human alert! Broke human alert!" Max is completely aghast and points at himself.
"I-is that for me?"
"I think so, my human." V answers with a nod and deadpan voice, struggling not to crack a smile as some laughter offscreen can be heard before the video fades to black.