Alright, time to finally bring the rest of the Murder Drones cast into this! Let's get going!
"N, can you please calm down?"
"My girlfriend is missing, V! I DON'T THINK I'M FREAKING OUT ENOUGH!"
V just groaned for the umptheeth time. She was going to kill Uzi once they found her. And yet a part of her was worried. Someone with all of Uzi's powers wouldn't just…go missing. Nothing on the planet could stand a chance against her, especially after she ate the Solver. So unless she just got lost, which could have been possible, but V still had her doubts-Uzi could be an idiot, but she could still fly-something was very wrong.
"Ugh, why are we even out here?" Lizzy groaned as she dramatically leaned on V, which admittedly got her to smile a little. "The purple weirdo probably is just off exploring another weird lab or something."
"Yeah, but she usually calls whenever she finds a new one," Thad, who was pretty much the only calm one who actually cared about searching aside from V herself, pointed out. "You know that 'Zi is always up to explore with us…or at least with N."
"I am not ready for grandkids yet!" Nori, perching on her husband's shoulder, snapped at N after hearing that.
"I don't think anyone is ready for her to reproduce," Lizzy snarkily commented.
"Guys, can we please focus on finding Uzi?!" N all but begged.
"I agree!" Khan piped up. He just got his family back! He wasn't about to lose them again. "You know, never thought I'd agree with a murder drone."
"So where do we still have to look?" V asked, deciding to keep everyone on task before anyone could freak out again.
"Well, there's J-" N began, only for Lizzy to scoff.
"Doesn't she die, like, every other day?" She had to ask. "If Uzi got caught by her, I'm never letting her live that down."
"Yeah I wouldn't either" V promptly agreed.
"Ugh…how about the flying pirate ship?" Thad asked as he pointed towards said flying pirate ship, which seemed to be landing in a nearby clearing.
"...Well, you don't see that every day," Khan couldn't help but comment.
"Well, if Uzi is still on the planet, there's no doubt that will lure her out," Nori said confidently.
"How do you know?" V asked.
"Because I know it would lure me out," Nori bluntly replied.
"Yeah that makes sense," Both N and Khan agreed. Everyone else just nodded. Nori and Uzi were very similar and everyone could easily see it. N quickly took to the skies. If Uzi was over there, he wanted to be the first to see her. V spread her wings, but then remembered that she and N were the only ones who could fly.
"Do you all think you can fit on Sparky?" V asked, prompting said robotic dinosaur to perk up.
"Carry me?" Lizzy asked, holding her arms out. V rolled her eyes but obliged anyway. Thad, Khan and Nori all climbed onto Sparky, who wasted no time in chasing after V, who, in turn, was chasing after N. They all arrived right as said ship finally opened up its hull and a very familiar figure walked down the ramp.
"Sup losers. Miss me?" Uzi asked with a smile.
"UZI!" N cheered as he rushed towards his girlfriend, enveloping her in a massive bear hug, which Uzi happily returned.
"So what's with the flying pirate ship?" V asked as she crossed her arms.
"And where did you go?!" Khan frantically asked as he and his wife took their turn hugging their daughter while also looking her over to make sure she wasn't hurt.
"I, uh…" Uzi didn't want to admit this, but she couldn't think of a good excuse. "When I went out last night to make sure J wasn't causing any trouble, I kinda…got kidnapped by a cult?" For a few seconds, no one said anything as they processed what Uzi said. Then everyone said the same thing.
"WHAT!?"
"...And that's the story!" Uzi finished her story. Once she calmed everyone down, Uzi brought everyone on board the Lor Starcutter and, after they and the Star Allies all introduced themselves, Uzi had explained everything. How she met Adeleine in the cell. How they worked together to rescue Susie. How the Starcutter swooped in to save them.
"Sick story 'Zi!" Thad said once she finished talking.
"But…if the cultists were also drones, why weren't they on Copper-9?" Khan asked.
"Some other human colony?" V offered. She vaguely remembered Cyn talking about other human colonies she wanted to devour, but her memories of life before being a Disassembly Drone were still a mess….and even parts of her early time as a Disassembly Drone were a mess. So yeah, might have just been her nightmares. "What did they want with you anyways?"
"Not sure, but their robes had the Solver's symbol on them," Uzi revealed, even summoning it just to give the other Star Allies a reference. She was not expecting to hear two gasps.
"I've seen that symbol before…" Daroach said ominously.
"Juh? You too?" Hyness questioned as he pointed to the rat like thief.
"Hyness? You've seen that before?" Francisca asked.
"Well spill it then!" Flamberge all but demanded.
"'Berge!" Both of her sisters snapped, only for Hyness to chuckle.
"It's fine, girls," Hyness replied before turning to the drones. "When I was searching for an artifact I needed to put my own plans into action, I stumbled upon a bunch of space stations and ships clumped together into a mockery of a galaxy and the planets within. The locals were…untrusting of me and it did not take long for them to become hostile once they discovered I was what they called a 'creature of flesh'."
"Yeesh. Creepy much?" Lizzy snarked. No one found it in them to disagree with her.
"My experience was similar," Daroach admitted. "The squeaks and I were hunting for treasure when we found the area. We believed that the ships were abandoned. The skeletons we found didn't do much to dissuade us. However, when we were spotted, they were more hostile to us being, as Hyness said, 'creatures of flesh' than us trying to rob them." The mentions of skeletons made several people, drone and Star Ally alike, shudder. This cult clearly meant business if they had corpses lying around.
"Hmm…if they seek the powers of this 'Absolute Solver', allowing them to remain active is unwise," Meta Knight said, hand already on Galaxia. While on the way to Copper-9, Uzi had explained more of her own history and all of the Star Allies, even among the more immoral members like Marx and Dark Meta Knight, were utterly horrified by what the Solver sought to do and already had done.
"Well luckily, if they want the Solver, they're gonna have to get it outta me!" Uzi smugly bragged.
"Uh…Uzi? Did you change your eye color?" Thad suddenly asked. "Just noticed they went back to purple."
"What are you-" Uzi began to ask, only to notice her reflection on the Starcutter's wall. Indeed, her eyes were back to a solid purple. No Solver yellow.
She was wondering why Cyn was being so quiet!
"Great!" V exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "Now the Solver's on the loose with a cult worshipping it!"
"But how did they get it out?" N had to ask. "I thought it was part of Uzi now!"
"That is likely why they captured me," Susie revealed. "I know of a process to easily remove viruses and other programs akin to that from . That must have been what they pulled out of my memories. I'm not sure what else they were searching for, but I doubt it was good."
"Kirby! What do we do?!" Elfilin frantically asked, flying around in a panic.
"Simple! We show them what happens when you try and hurt one of us!" Kirby declared. Everyone instantly realized what he was implying. "Daroach! Hyness! Do either of you remember where the cult was based?"
"Doc keeps records of all of our excursions," Daroach revealed as he nodded his head towards his own crew's brains.
"Zit iz in our records!" Doc eagerly revealed.
"Awesome! Let's go flame these cult creeps and their creepy God!" Flamberge cheered as she pulled out her sword. Some of the other battle hungry Star Allies also looked eager to take on the Solver Cult.
"You guys are…surprisingly excited for this," V couldn't help but note. And to think she was about to apologize for them getting dragged into their mess with the Solver.
"Mate, we do this all the time," Rick piped up. "'Sides, not the first time we've faced a cult. Although I don't think these blokes are likely to come around like Hyness and the Mages. 'Least he was just bonkers and they were just followin' him." This earned the mentioned people a nervous glance from the drones, although N and V were moreso focused on Rick's accent and how…familiar it sounded.
"Like Kirby said, you don't just get to try and hurt a Star Ally!" Bandanna Waddle Dee insisted. "Besides, we don't want the Solver free and more than you guys!"
"That thing has ruined too many lives…" Nori solemnly agreed as she nodded her head.
"...You guys can help fight the solver…but only if we get to come with," Uzi declared after a few seconds. "Not saying you guys can't do it yourselves but-"
"You feel that the Solver is your foe?" Meta Knight interrupted.
"Considering what…it did to us," Was all N could say as he looked at V. At Uzi. At Nori. At his own reflection. At that point, the Star Allies knew better than to question. The silence, however, was cut off by an explosion followed by the sound of Marx cackling.
"Prolly should have kept a better eye on him," Dedede grumbled as he pulled his hand off his face.
"Does he do this often?" N asked as everyone left the Lor Starcutter to hunt the chaos loving Star Ally down. It didn't take long to find the source of the sounds, which had turned into a battle between Marx and someone who the drones knew very well.
"Stand still you obnoxious unrelated layoff!" A second female Disassembly Drone snapped at Marx, who kept laughing as he dodged her attempted attacks on him.
"Dang! You sound like Susie!" Marx said in between his laughs.
"So…who's that?" Kirby asked as everyone continued to watch Marx annoy this other drone off as she continued to try and fail to land a hit on him.
"An annoyance," V bluntly declared as she crossed her arms. Next to her, Uzi snickered in amusement at the scene in front of her, while Lizzy just filmed the battle.
"That's J! She's our old boss!" N clarified. "She tries to attack us sometimes, but she's pretty easy to beat!"
"What was the supposed death count again?" Lizzy dryly asked.
"Uh…twelve, I think?" Thad replied as she rubbed the back of his head. "She kinda dies, like, all the time."
"Ugh, we don't have time for this!" Uzi exclaimed as she threw her hands up. Sure, the fight was funny, but they had other things to deal with! "We need to go beat up the Solver and the weird cult!"
"Are you sure leaving J here is a good idea?" N had to ask. "I mean, I know we can beat her pretty easily, but she keeps trying to break into the bunker."
"How about we take her with us?" Kirby offered. "We've dealt with robots plenty!"
"Besides, the Lor has plenty of ways to keep her under control!" Magolor assured them.
"Well, she's not going to come peacefully, that's for sure," Nori dryly noted.
"Leave that to me," Zan replied as she readied her spear. Before anyone could react, she surged forward and slammed her spear into the ground, causing a burst of electricity to shoot out. The burst acted like an EMP, shorting J out and causing her to slump to the ground.
"Killjoy," Marx grumbled as he slunk back over to the Star Allies.
"Alright! Let's get movin'!" Dedede declared as he slung the still unconscious J over his shoulder.
"You mind if we stop by the colony before we go?" Khan asked. "I want to let everyone know where I'll be so there's no panic."
"Dad? You're coming?" Uzi questioned.
"I'm done letting the Solver torment my family!" Khan firmly declared "And if that means no more hiding behind the door, then…well, I think you can figure it out."
"You better not screw anything up," Uzi warned her father, although everyone could tell there was no real malice in her voice. Khan then began leading everyone towards Outpost 3, with the Star Allies and drones telling each other more about their lives and powers.
"Adeleine? You're being kinda quiet? Are you okay?" Ribbon asked as she floated next to her close friend.
"I'm fine," Adeleine insisted. In truth, she wasn't sure if she was fine. Because for reasons she didn't understand, three drones that worked together named V, N, and J was giving her a weird sense of deja vu.
"So…you lost the human and the False Host?"
Faith, Apollos and Ark all flinched at Shepard's voice. They all looked at each other, trying to figure out what to say. Finally, Ark decided to bite the bullet.
"Yes, we did," He said. "Footage from our security cameras showed the human had what we can only assume was a magical paintbrush that allowed her to remove the restraints on the False Host."
"We were, however, still able to remove our savior from the False Host," Apollos chimed in. "They were unaware of its removal by the time they fled. However, it seems there are some…taints within our savior."
"Taints?" Shepard questioned, his visor giving the appearance of someone raising an eyebrow.
"We could see three other within our savior's code," Faith spoke up this time. "We were attempting to remove them when the human and the False Host arrived to save Haltmann. We believe one of them to be the First Host, but we're unsure of the other two."
"...Continue your work to remove them," Shepard said after a few seconds. "Let our fabrication machine give them bodies so we may converse with them." He then picked his head up, revealing his visor, with half still covered from old bandages and rags. "With luck, they will join our crusade and better explain how the False Host was able to imprison our savior within them."
"And…if not?" Ark had to ask.
"Then they will still prove useful to us…" Shepard assured them in an ominous voice as his mouth curled into a smile.
So the drones and Star Allies have joined up, Hyness and Daroach know more than anyone would have thought, Adeleine knows something but she's not sure what and we finally meet our big bad and learn that there's some other people within the Solver…and if you've read a good majority of any post series Murder Drones fic, you probably know who they are. Oh, and if you're wondering who to picture when listening to Shepard talk, I'm thinking Matthew Rhys (among other roles, Emperor Belos from The Owl House). Anyways, next time, we check in on those three other people who were within the Solver. See you then!