Chapter Text
Warning:// Tampering Detected
ERR:// [ai.Core.failsafe:invocation.(NULL)]
ERR:// [absoluteSolver.string=T̸R̴U̶E̴]
Uzi startles awake with a gasp, tearing out the cable connecting her to V as it begins to spark, the connector turning a bright orange as it overheats and melts. She scrambles away from the still prone form of V, eye lights hollowed as her hands tremble.
For a moment Uzi merely stares at V, mouth opening and closing like a fish as she tries to process the new information she had gained. “This.. this doesn't make any sense….” she mutters to herself hoarsely. “How- how could she have been there...” Uzi starts to chuckle mirthlessly to herself, pulling herself up off the floor as she shakes, the laughter growing more intense, before suddenly it transitions into a frustrated yell as she turns around and kicks the V, her body snapping to the ground with a loud clang that echoes like a bullet in the drop pod.
“Bite Me! You're just messing with me, I know you are!” Uzi stomps up to V, grabbing the disassembly drone’s shoulders as she glares down into V’s dead visor. “Your tricks.. won’t…” Uzi trails off as she sees her reflection V’s visor, expression hollowing as she lets go of V and backs away slightly. “W-what….” Uzis voice trembles as she looks hesitantly over towards the mirror taped to one of the walls in the pod.
Her own haunted expression stares back at her, reflecting perfectly the sickly yellow color of her right eye. Uzi stares, motionless for a moment until her right eye flashes to a strange three-pronged symbol, the mirror suddenly shattering under some unseen force. She wrenches her gaze away from the shattered mirror, bringing a hand to her chest to try and calm the frantic beats of her core, only to feel even more uncomfortable as her chest feels much warmer than it should be.
Uzi starts to hyperventilate, the pod suddenly feeling oppressive and stuffy, like the air around her was boiling. She scrambles for the ladder, climbing up and out of the pod and into the frigid cold of Copper-9. In her panic, she slips off the side of the pod and falls face-first into the snow.
As she pushes herself onto her knees, Uzi notices that strangely the snow she had fallen into was rapidly melting, some of it even steaming due to the sheer temperature difference between her body and the snow. Frantically, she checks her body’s internal temperature sensor, only to get a slew of errors and warnings.
WARN:// CPU Temperature Exceeding Optimal Level
ERR:// Fault Detected in [Venting Apparatus]
WARN:// Reserve Coolant at [20%] Capacity, Refill Advised
ER-
Uzi silences the barrage of warnings and errors, throwing her overheating body into more fresh snow, shoving as much into her mouth as she can. Although the snow was a relatively ineffective coolant, the sheer amount of it worked in Uzi’s favor, helping cool down her rapidly overheating body. Any snow she swallowed would quickly re-emerge from her mouth as steam, preventing any water-logging of her systems.
It takes what feels like an eternity for Uzi to finally cool down her body to semi-optimal levels, coughing up some water as her body finally cools enough to no longer boil the snow. She scoots herself into more fresh snow, which no longer melts on contact with her body.
Uzi stares up at the moonlight peeking in through the cracks in the spire, feeling more empty and exhausted than she ever has in her entire life. She lays there, her expression slowly growing annoyed as she groans. She pulls herself up despite her systems protesting, her body still running uncomfortably hot. She looks back towards the pod for a moment, before shifting her gaze to the exit of the spire. Uzi hardens her gaze, clenching her hands into fists as she starts walking towards the exit. “I’m just going in circles… No more hiding…”
Uzi checks her internal clock, noting that she’d been offline for a day. She estimated that N wouldn’t come back from his hunting trip for another day, meaning she had enough time to at least attempt to get into her bunker again, to confront her mother on all of the craziness that had been happening.
She feels slightly better when she’s out in the open, the cold, howling wind helping to keep her body more cool. Uzi starts to mutter to herself as she walks deeper and deeper into the concrete wasteland surrounding her, trying to reassure herself. “It's not real, it can't be, mom will clear all of this confusion up…” Uzi trails off, reaching her right hand up to cover her yellow eye. Her voice drops to a whisper as she feels unsure of her own statements “It’s just a coincidence.”
Lost in her own thoughts, Uzi doesn’t even notice that she’s approaching the bunker doors until her boots clack against the metal walkway. She stops for a moment, gaze moving up to the floodlights above the door. Steeling her nerves, Uzi makes her way up to the door. She reaches a hand out, only to startle as the door suddenly opens before she even has a chance to knock. She stumbles forward a bit as the pressure difference causes a wave of snow to be pushed into the bunker, obscuring her view.
She’s left speechless however when the dust settles, seeing the last thing she had ever expected.
“Oh, Hey Uzi!”
Sitting at a table between doors one and two was a group of drones, all playing cards. This wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for the WDF, but that wasn’t what stunned her. What had Uzi immediately on edge was the fact that all of these drones were ones she saw die by N’s hand the night she met him.
Uzi backs up a bit as she stares dumbfounded at the group of worker drones “W-what? How are you here?!” She felt unsettled looking at the group of drones she had watched die, noting with apprehension that their eye colors were different, all of them now yellow.
One of the drones, who Uzi vaguely remembers is named Makarov, tilts his head slightly. “Whatever do you mean, Uzi?” His voice sounds almost dead, with very little emotional undertone, further adding onto the uncanny feeling Uzi was getting the longer she stared at the group of drones.
Uzi grows frustrated, burying her discomfort under an edgy facade as she groans “Ugh, Bite Me! You know what I mean, I watched all of you die!” She gestures both her arms towards them for emphasis, her yellow and purple eyes narrowed in disbelief.
She turns as one of the other drones cleared his throat, the one Uzi didn’t know the name of. “Oh, you mean that, don’t worry about it Uzi, we got better.” he says with faux cheeriness, giving Uzi an empty smile. In fact, all of the drones smile at Uzi in the exact same way at the same time, making Uzi feel even further off put.
Looking down at the table, she notices the cards didn’t even seem to be ruffled from the pressure burst from her entrance, almost as if they weren’t even real. Uzi looks back up at the unsettling group of drones and gives them a thumbs up and a nervous smile as she slowly walks past them, never taking her eyes off them as she walks cautiously away.
Once Uzi gets past the third door, she feels as if she's put enough distance between her and them to feel safe enough to walk with her eyes forward, slowly turning away as she starts walking down the hall. She pauses when she hears them call out to her.
“Oh, and Uzi?”
Uzi turns back towards them, now very apprehensive as they all speak in unison. She takes a nervous step back as she notices all of their heads facing her, some of their heads turned at unnatural angles as they practically looked directly behind themselves to stare at Uzi.
“Your mother has been wanting to see you.”
Before Uzi can even get a chance to respond, door three slams shut in front of her, leaving her alone in the entrance hall, nothing but her own growing unease accompanying her. She takes a deep breath to try and cool her nerves, only to be reminded of the uncomfortable heat that now purveyed throughout her body when she exhales and steam comes out, the lingering water inside of her having evaporated. Thankfully the bunker had proper ventilation and wasn’t nearly as cramped as the drop pod, so she should have some more time before the heat becomes a problem again, but she didn’t want to test her luck.
Uzi tuned speed-walked down the hall, taking a sharp right at the end of the entrance hall to make her way towards the habitation wing of the bunker. It was only now that Uzi noticed how unusually clean everything was. First generation worker drones were primarily made to operate in cluttered, messy environments; they never bothered to clean up the snow and various maintenance equipment lying around because the familiar environment brought them comfort. But now, the halls seemed spotless. No equipment, no oil stains, no snow, nothing.
Uzi didn’t have an urge to be in such an environment since she was a second generation worker drone, but it was still off putting nonetheless. On top of that, if she gazed too hard at certain areas, she would feel like she was having a bad headache. Some of the spots even make her feel nauseous, despite nothing being there.
Uzi from then on out kept her gaze locked forwards, her own footsteps echoing loudly. The bunker was deathly silent, only contributing to heighten her unease even more. A part of Uzi wrote it off as the day shift workers being asleep, but that didn’t account for the sheer lack of night shift workers. The bunker was often active around the clock, constant maintenance needed to keep the dilapidated bunker functioning, but there was nothing.
Her uneasiness only growing, Uzi decides to cut through the school zone, which should save her some time. The less time she had to be here the better. She sighs in relief when she enters the school zone and is greeted by the familiar messy interior, thankful that something was still as she remembered it.
Although, this feeling of relief is quickly replaced with dread as she notices how much of a wreck the place looked, even more than usual. Various lockers had fallen over, a multitude of school supplies strewn about, as if there was a panic. Not to mention the increased amount of oil stains, the black liquid splattered all over the halls, puddles of it pooling on the floor.
Uzi can’t help but stare at the closest puddle to her, feeling a mixture of fear and disgust, as well as a strange feeling that she couldn’t name. It was this strange feeling that brought her towards the puddle. She feels a sort of morbid curiosity, getting down on her knees, tracing a finger through the puddle. She rubs the oil between her fingers, feeling what was certainly the viscous blood of her fellow worker drones. She can’t help but stare at the oil on her hand, mouth salivating as her focus drifts. She felt so
warm
, so
thirsty…
Uzi snaps back into focus when a pleasant, sweet taste hits her taste sensors. For a moment, she is both confused and pleased, whatever was in her mouth tasted like heaven. It tasted more pleasant than any other food she had ever consumed in her entire life. But then, like clockwork, realization kicks in. Uzi notices that she had placed her own hand in her mouth, her hand which she had just rubbed into an oil puddle, her hand that she did not clean, the one that was almost certainly still covered in oil-
Uzi rips her hand out of her mouth, suddenly retching. She dry heaves for a moment, coughing, trying to get the oil out of her body, but it wouldn’t come out. She only faintly notices that her body temperature is slightly cooler now, far too horrified by the fact that she just drank oil and enjoyed it -
She wretches again, virtual tears appearing on her visor as she lets out a choked sob. She quickly scrambles into a standing position, throwing any sort of caution to the wind as she runs down the halls, trying desperately to focus on anything but the warm, sweet oil on the walls or pooling on the floor.
She bursts out of the school back into the uncannily clean corridors, yet Uzi still runs, she runs as if a horde disassembly drones were chasing her. Her surroundings are nothing but a blur to her as she lets her fear control her. She’s only knocked out of her frantic running when she crashes into a door, bouncing back off of it onto the ground.
Uzi lays on the floor, staring at the fluorescent lights on the ceiling, trying to calm herself down. She quickly runs her trauma suppression program, deciding that she couldn’t afford to think about what she had just done. She could unpack all of that later, when she's not in any potential danger.
She looks up at the door she had collided with, and notices that she had arrived home, now just outside her family’s quarters. She rises from the floor and slowly approaches the door, apprehensive. She tentatively reaches for the door, only to flinch back as the door slides open before she even knocks, revealing Nori standing behind the door, an unnerving, wide smile on her face.
“Conveniently timed door opening. Hello daughter Uzi, I missed you very much.” Uzi feels slightly uncomfortable as her mother quickly closes in and hugs Uzi. Uzi squirms, lightly pushing her way out of her mothers grip, trying to play up her angsty persona.
“B-bite me! You know I don’t like hugs.” While that was partially true, she wanted to get out of her mothers grip because something was screaming in the back of her processor that her mother was a predator and that she was going to die-
Uzi shakes her head, trying to maintain her annoyed look as she stares at Nori. “Listen, mom, some strange things have been happening-” Uzi is silenced when her mom puts a finger to her mouth.
“Shushing motion. Daughter Uzi, I have prepared dinner for us, follow me.”
Uzi’s fake annoyance starts to become a bit more real as her mom just brushes her off. Nori promptly turns and walks back into their home, and Uzi follows despite her lingering apprehension. She is greeted by her home looking cleaner than it usually does. Her mother leads her to the kitchen, where two bowls sit at opposite ends of the dining table, the contents emitting a pleasant aroma. Nori sits down at one end, gesturing for Uzi to come sit. “Come now Uzi, you look rather famished.” Uzi was starkly reminded of the oppressive heat coursing through her as she sat down at the table, fiddling with her hoodie to try and alleviate some of the heat.
Uzi grabs a spoon and eyes her mother, who was still watching her, taking sips from her own bowl. Uzi looks down to get a spoon full of whatever Nori had cooked, only for her heart to drop when she sees that the bowl is filled to the brim with oil. Her mind is torn, the logical side of her processors wanting to push the oil away, wanting to throw up. The emotional side however, much to Uzi’s loathing, was feeling something more instinctual, primal, it wanted the oil. The urge to consume the oil was only growing by the second. Uzi gripped the spoon tightly, bending it as she strained against the urge to consume the oil.
Nori merely smiles, her far too sharp teeth stained with oil as she gazes lovingly at her daughter. “Giggle. Go on, drink it.” Uzi’s head snaps up to meet her mother’s gaze, her body trembling slightly.
“M-mom, this is oil- I-I can’t drink this-” Uzi stumbles over her words, struggling to vocalize with the effort needed to maintain control over herself. Her eyelights hollow as she stares pleadingly at Nori, who merely tilts her head, as if trying to understand a difficult question. After a moment she makes her way over to Uzi, putting a comforting hand on Uzi’s shoulder, leaning down to whisper into her audio receptors.
“No need to be so afraid, you’ve already had a taste, haven’t you?”
Uzi tries for a moment to vocalize for a moment, but the stress on her body caused by both the heat and her resistance to the urges only allows a strained whine to emit from her.
Nori removes Uzi’s beanie, moving her hand through Uzi's hair lovingly as she continues to whisper. “I know, I know it hurts, but trust me, you will feel much better afterwards, I promise.” A high temp warning appears on Uzi’s visor as she gasps in pain, the heat inside her body ramping up. Her gaze is torn back to the bowl filled with oil, mouth salivating as her eyes start to glitch, turning into the familiar symbol that covers the visors of all of the disassembly drones as they hunt. A manic, strained giggle bubbles out from Uzi’s mouth as she tenses up, unable to resist the urges consuming her. She rips herself out of her mother’s grip and practically dives at the bowl. Her mind clouds over as she ravenously consumes the oil, feeling oddly euphoric.
Nori watches this occur with a smile, her sickly yellow eyes growing brightly as she watches Uzi give into her urges. She coos at her daughter's frenzy, her smile growing impossibly wide.
“There we go, that wasn't so hard was it? I’m so proud of you, I always will be.”