Chapter Text
Khan stood in a mixture of confusion and self-loathing as he stared up at the hole in the evacuation area's ceiling, taking a sip from his #1 dad mug before sighing and tossing it away, the echo of shattering porcelain filling the silence. It had only been hours since the disaster that was the first colony breach in years ended, and it had to end with his daughter literally choosing to run off with one of the murder drones, only adding salt to the metaphorical wound from her calling his abandonment of her out to said murder drone. He paced around the various scuff marks and damage to the room, shuffling around the deep crater in the concrete as he reached the fried corpse of the third murder drone, nudging her pegged foot with a bit of apprehension, as if the corpse might get up and retaliate, but it never did. Khan could only sigh as he tugged his mustache off his screen and used it to rub at the stress lines that seemed to permanently decorate his eyes since Uzi left, silently questioning his parenting choices as he looked up once more, watching the light of the rising sun peek through the hole, bathing the room in a dim red and orange hue.
"Oh Nori where did I go so wrong with our little girl," Khan asked out loud as he nudged the dead murder drone with his boot again, "you always were the better parent, since I lost you it seems like nothing has gone right...what do I do to fix this?" He wasn't expecting an answer, hell he had long given up on hearing his long dead wife provide all the answers like she did so many years ago, but the situation seemed so deeply screwed up he had to at least ask. As he stood in silence waiting for an answer something did catch his attention, looking down Khan felt his eye lights go void as he watched something squirm and writhe within the disturbingly fleshy chest cavity of the murder drone corpse, stepping back he instinctively clenched at the wrench on his hip. He could only stare in shock as he watched a wave of grey ooze out of the body, slowly spilling and morphing itself around the damage, disturbingly it was patching up the worst of the damage, and soon the vague outline of the deceased murder drones' upper body was back.
Khan knew exactly what to do, memories flooding back as he dived down and reached his hand into the depths of the grey mass over the chest, wincing from the pull of the nanites trying to rip his arm off, but he was fast enough as his fingers closed around the fleshy core. With a cry of effort, he managed to yank his hand free of the reforming drone's chest, clutching the writhing core tightly as it squirmed in his grip, a look of pride on his face quickly falling as it stabbed one of his fingers and making him yelp in pain. Instinctively he dropped the core to bring his injured hand to his chest, holding it close as he watched the golden glow of the core vanish between the crates of the evacuation zone, dread filling his CPU as he watched it scurry away, quietly monologuing to itself as it left. "That...is going to be a problem for later," he took several deep vents to calm down as he wrapped his injured finger in his jacket, "hopefully I got it in time and won't need to-"
He was cut off by a disturbingly familiar start-up note, slowly turning his head he was horrified to find the murder drone fully reassembled, lines of code running across its screen as the last of the damage was washed over with the grey glimmer of nanites. Time seemed to slow down as he watched the boot-up sequence flash across the drones' screen, and his own life flashed before his eyes as he realized he'd be the only worker anywhere close by, putting him top of the menu, definitely not how he imagined he'd die, but after what he did to his own daughter, he could find the irony in it. While Khan was bracing for his death he was hit with the most wonderful noise in the world: a sour error note, and looking down he couldn't help the sigh of relief as he saw the twitching body of the murder drone go still, a single blaring message covering its screen.
Missing Core, Unit Inoperable
Khan had to take a moment to really let that sink in, he wasn't dead, he wasn't about to be dead, and there wasn't about to be a murder drone loose inside the colony because of him, he would've laughed if he wasn't still in a bit of shock. "Oh...Robo-God I thought I was about to be...hah," he slowly ran a hand over his helmet with a nervous laugh, "oh the universe has a sense of humor today, first my daughter chooses to go off with the murder drone that...I left her for dead with, and now this." The nervous and borderline sobbing laughter Khan let out would make any drone uncomfortable with the level of emotion he was pouring out, luckily for him the only drone around was effectively a corpse, as he slowly accepted he was still alive he glanced back down at said corpse. He hadn't paid much attention during the actual breach, but he knew this one seemed in charge, and his daughter had barely beaten her, he could even see the line at which her suit jacket had been restored by nanites compared to what hadn't been blasted away by Uzi's railgun. The longer he stared the more he began to ask himself questions about this drone, realizing this was only the second time he'd gotten a good look at a murder drone, and for whatever reason he felt a pang of guilt at her condition. "Come on Khan, don't go feeling sorry for the dead murder drone, it is bad enough your daughter ran off with one, don't go doing anything stupid," he reprimanded himself as he smacked the side of his head, "just haul the body off for scrapping and move on with your life, don't go doing something stupid."
Even as he said it out loud and hooked his hands beneath the inactive murder drones' arms, dragging her backwards out of the evacuation site, he felt a concerning plan forming in his mind, groaning with effort as the taller, and obviously heavier, murder drone slowed his movement down greatly. He'd end up taking almost an hour just to drag her into the main hall, and by then he'd made up his mind, taking the effort to lift the body up for easier transport, it was quiet in the colony halls, aside from him struggling with the corpse so he'd avoid questions. With a bit of effort, and a lot of convincing, he was sure of exactly how he'd handle this, after all Khan Doorman never went back on his word or deviated from his plans, especially for the betterment of the colony, nothing could shake his conviction!
J felt like her CPU was on fire, her memory banks were fuzzy and her entire body seemed like it was weighed down as she tried to lift a hand to her head, her screen and headband eye lights slowly flicking on as she groaned, she couldn't even tell where she was. As her hand hit her screen J was somewhat startled to find that her fingers weren't responding to anything she tried, pawing at her face she began to try and sit up, noticing that a lot of her systems seemed inactive or otherwise offline. "Well you finally woke up, was beginning to think I was wasting my time," the voice startled J as she looked around, her sensors were all over the place and she couldn't pin down the source of the speaking, "I would say welcome back to the land of the living, but that'd imply I am happy to see you back in it, murder drone." Finally J's eye lights focused, and she spotted the haze of a blue and grey blob turn into a worker drone on the other side of a set of bars, arms crossed and looking at her with an unamused expression she could only describe as 'disappointed father' glare. At once her mind cleared, and the only thing she could focus on now was food, her screen flickering to the killer golden X as she tried to lunge up at the bars, only to stumble and faceplant onto the cold, concrete floor. "Yea I wouldn't recommend trying to move so much, dying and coming back with the wrong kind of core really messes with your systems," the worker continued on, leaning against the bars and peering down at the groaning J, "though I'd be thankful to just be alive if I were you, could've just as easily tossed you into the furnaces to be melted for spare parts, instead I did this."
That statement concerned J greatly, still facedown on the floor she quickly ran her diagnostics, her eye lights returning and going void as she was hit with reality: her core had been replaced, and several admin restrictions had been placed on her systems. Staggering to her knees she looked up at the worker again, a mixture of confusion and anger on her face as the worker slowly shook his head, pointing an oil stained wrench down at her with the same harsh expression. "I took the liberty of disabling a few things when I put that core in, normally it'd take ages to manufacture a fresh core," his expression darkened with a somber tone, "but thanks to you and your squad we have an abundance of spare parts lying around now...ironic given how much they'd hate to know a part of them revived their killer."
J hissed at the worker, narrowing her eyes as she did her best to crawl up to the bars, fruitlessly trying to squeeze her coned wrist through to grab at his leg, the haze returning to her head as her claws refused to come out. "What did you do to me you barely sentient toaster," J growled out, pulling herself up to her feet, "my systems are top of the line company property, a little defective toaster shouldn't be able to do anything to me." Her statement seemed to grab his ire as he smacked her fingers squeezing between the bars with his wrench, earning a pained yelp from her as she collapsed back down to the floor.
"First off, my own daughter obliterated you, so you can drop any pride you had on that front," J glared up at him but he ignored her as he continued on, "and secondly your systems were just as open and basic as any workers, so whoever told you that you are 'top of the line' was talking out of their ass." He crossed his arms as J clambered onto her hands and knees, trying to swing her tail up to stab the arrogant worker, only to find she couldn't feel her tail at all, turning back with dread. She was only somewhat relieved to see it was still attached, but it was unresponsive to her will, and the normally vibrant gold canister was empty, her stinger absent leaving the appendage a non-threat. "That took a lot more effort to handle, but I think it was worth it so you couldn't stab me," the worker grinned, making J all the angrier, "wasn't too keen on you doing to me what your squad did to my wife."
His words finally caught J off guard as she looked up at the worker with a mixture of confusion, anger, and curiosity before he sighed and turned away, trudging back towards the door. He only glanced back at her once as she finally managed to get to her feet again, the glare on his face said a lot as he left the room in silence, leaving J alone with her thoughts. "Well...foreclosure." She flopped back onto the poor excuse of a bed in her confinement as she stared up at the ceiling, questioning everything, the unfamiliar hum of the core in her chest extremely unnerving as she remembered being properly dead there. She wasn't sure why this worker brought her back, but she had a bad feeling about it as she tried, and failed, to clench her hands over her chest, trying to get a feel for her internal clock as she could do nothing but wait for him to come back.
Two days.
He had left her alone in that barely lit room for two full days, and J would be lying if she said that it didn't make her just a bit irritated to be brought back to life just to be neglected like this again. When she heard the door finally open again she barely opened an eye to look, the same worker approaching the bars with something in hand, at once the smell of oil hit her and she felt her fangs itch. She rolled onto the floor as she scrambled to the bars, reaching out and trying to grab at the thermos in the drones hand, only stopping when he delivered a firm whack to her fingers, making her hiss in pain. "Back up, you aren't getting a drop until you answer some questions," he stared her down as she returned his gaze tenfold, "I am aware how you murder drones are, you are probably on the brink of starving so this is incentive to cooperate."
J hated that he was absolutely right in his assessment, she had considered gnawing on her own arm to try and get some oil to soothe her CPU, how this stupid toaster knew that only made her skeptical. "And why should I even think about actually entertaining your little attempt at authority," she hissed out, still trying to flick her tail with no luck, "you are just a malfunctioning, defective little toaster, even your little attempt at bribery just goes to show how-" J was cut off from the growl of her stomach, making her pause as her screen lit up in embarrassment before turning away, betrayed by her own body only added insult to injury. She remained silent as the worker smirked at her, shaking the thermos as the sloshing of oil made her mouth water, she silently cursed to herself, "bankruptcy...Fine ask your stupid questions, toaster."
The drone only shook his head as he leaned against the bars, reminding J exactly how much of a non-threat she was to him, before he pointed the wrench in his free hand at her. "Let's start with the basics, what is your name," he glared slightly at her as he spoke, "would be nice to have a name to tie to the hundreds of thousands of deaths you and your squad inflicted." J was taken aback by the question, it was so mundane but she also felt it was insulting to let some pathetic barely sentient toaster utter her designation, despite her pride the hunger gnawing at her mind took priority over her ego, for once.
After a considerable silence only punctuated by the sloshing of oil and the quiet gritting of J's teeth she finally relented and glared up at the worker, mentally cursing herself out for ever ending up in this situation. "I am Serial Designation J, you miserable toaster," she spat out, trying to clench her hands only to barely twitch her fingers, "and I resent you and every second of this, but I look forward to when I will break out and kill you myself." She glared intensely at the worker, irritated how her threat had little effect, even worse was the fact she had to watch him pour a pitiful amount of oil into a cup and set it on the floor between the bars.
"Well J that won't be happening but I suppose you did answer my question," he nudged the cup forward, which J quickly pounced on, "and while it may not even concern you I do have a name, it is Khan...not that you'll use it since you seem so set on your little insults." J showed little interest in her captor as she awkwardly lifted the cup up between her borderline paralyzed hands and greedily gulped down the sweet, cooling oil, hungrily licking every drop clean from its containment. Only when Khan cleared his throat did she look back up at him, a mix of embarrassment and resentment on her screen as she did her best to clutch the cup between her hands tighter. "Alright, every question you answer will be a bit more oil, so now that you have a taste, let's talk," he crossed his arms, the smell of oil in the thermos driving J to drool a bit as she stubbornly nodded, glancing away from his judging gaze.
J would end up being stubborn and only give vague answers for the rest of Khan's questions, leaving him frustrated and her hungry due to how little oil he gave for her responses. Neither were happy and by the end of it he left the thermos on the table opposite J's cell, it was almost like he was taunting her as she finally managed to bend her fingers enough to lift up her limp tail. "The nerve on that fourth quarter layoff I swear when I get out of here," J regarded her tail with anger as she dropped it and growled to herself, "toasters think they are top team material, I will remind him just where he belongs, in a scrap pile."
Two more days, two more agonizingly boring days of waiting was what J was left with, the smell of oil across the room endlessly taunting her as she slowly gained control back over her limbs. It was painfully slow to finally curl her fingers into a fist, but any progress was good progress in her eyes, despite still having no control in her tail or the weapons within her arms, but a fist could be a weapon so it'd work for now. Just as she was considering her options the sound of a door opening made her snap her attention up, watching Khan walk in, the same expression on his face that made her equally angry, and curious. "Well well well, I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me," J sarcastically rolled her eye lights as she let her head hang off the edge of her 'bed', "did your internal clock break you malfunctioning toaster, or are you just dedicated to making me feel neglected?"
Khan was silent as he grabbed the thermos of oil, giving it a few swirls as he watched the cold oil slosh about in its container, glancing up at J to find her drooling once more over the liquid. He was quick to set it down as he grabbed a chair from the table and dragged it right in front of the small cell, sitting down and crossing his legs as he simply stared at J, which seemed to irritate her if the anger tics on her screen were anything to go by. Finally after what felt like hours, but was likely only a few minutes, Khan sighed and rubbed his screen, his eye lights drowning in stress lines and wrinkles that seemed to only multiply every time J saw him. "I am going to cut to the chase, I really hate you," J was at least a little surprised from his quiet outburst as his tone dripped with anger, "you things are remorseless killing machines, and I question why I even bothered with all this, because I felt pity for you dying? I don't know anymore, I should kill you to avenge my dearest Nori, not feed and interrogate you."
J was taken aback at the brutal honestly before her, and she felt a nervous tic pop up on her screen as she inched back from the bars, if she could move it her tail would've curled up around her legs at his cold statement. The silence persisted between the two, and it grew in tension and unnerving energy as Khan simply glared at her, while J was split between a desire to kill the toaster in front of her, and beg for the few drops of oil he might mercifully give her. After what felt too long again Khan sighed, sitting up straight and resting his elbows on his legs as he clasped his hands together and pointed two fingers at J, the stress lines beneath his eyes seemed heavier but he wasn't letting it show in his tone. "I think we have a mutual understanding now about how little either of us want to be in this situation," Khan softened his glare as he looked J over, "so let's get to the point so we don't have to deal with each other any longer than we need to."
J gave a small nod as she kept inching back from the bars, for the first time since the mansion she felt a sense of unease and even fear, not that she would admit it but the nervous tics on her screen were loud enough. "F-fine, let's get it over with then," she did her best to not studder as she tried to adjust her suit, "ask your little questions so we can be done and go back to our respective isolations." She didn't miss the flinch Khan gave at her statement, but she remained silent as he stood up and grabbed the thermos of oil, pouring half of the cup making her mouth water as she did her best to not stare at it. "So ask away, whatever stupid questions you still have, I guess."
"Which of you monsters killed my wife." The question was so out of left field J wasn't even sure how to respond, initially she simply stared in a mixture of shock and confusion, the dark look on his face made it clear how serious he was with this question. After an uncomfortable few seconds she finally snapped out of it, giving him the most confused expression she could, which didn't seem to sit with him as he almost growled at her, slamming the cup of oil to the ground. "It is a simple question!" he yelled out, standing up as J scooted back further from the bars, "she had purple hair, beautiful lilac eyes, wore a lab gown and was the love of my life, so which of you sky demons killed her?!"
Khan was panting after his outburst, his hand gripping his wrench so tightly it was beginning to bend in his grasp, and it took several seconds before he was back to his senses, looking down at the hollow eyes of J. "I...don't know," she flinched when he twitched at her response, "j-just because I am my squads leader doesn't mean I keep track of every toaster that was decommissioned at our-" She was cut off as Khan slammed the wrench against the bars, throwing the oil filled thermos through it and nailing J in the forehead as she yelped in surprise and pain.
"Then I don't know why I bothered trying to do this," he sounded defeated, his shoulders sagging as another stress line was added beneath his eyes, "why I bothered thinking bringing you back alive was a good idea, all it's done is become a liability, and I can't even rest with any closure or useful information." He turned away from the bars of the cell, sulking out to the door before it slammed shut behind him, leaving a confused and, understandably, startled J alone, but not hungry. She may have tried to preserve any dignity she had left, but the oil spilt over the floor and still in both the cup and thermos weren't going anywhere, so she reduced herself to licking it off the floor. Internally she was chastising herself for showing even a semblance of fear to a worker, but the sweet oil washing down her throat drowned out her internal critic, at least until the oil was gone and she was left alone again. Always left alone.
Khan didn't come back the next day, or the day after, or even the one after that, J was beginning to grow worried as she sat in her dark cell, every passing day feeling like she'd been abandoned in the scrap heap all over again. She tightly gripped the thermos and cup in front of her, licked clean within the first minutes of having them, control in her fingers almost completely restored, but still her tail laid limp, and her weapon systems locked. She was still very much a prisoner, and the lack of a warden to watch over her was becoming unnerving as she sat on the floor, left to her thoughts and internal voices, and she was hating every second of it. "I never thought I'd prefer to have a toaster lording over me and being such an annoying presence," she flicked the cup against the wall before catching it as it bounced back with a metallic ping, "I haven't been alone like this since...No J, no thinking back to those darker times, focus on the now." Even as she tried to reassure herself it fell flat as she felt the fleshy writhing in her chest, her new core was slowly being adapted to her body, or rather her body was adapting to the core as she heard the low hum of a cooling fan that was definitely not there before.
"He better not just leave me in here, a slow death overheating is a cruel way to die," J paused as she looked at her hand, clenching her fingers into a fist, "though I guess that is the kind of cruelty I deserve in the eyes of my prey huh." Isolation hadn't done her mind any favors, and all the time spent self-reflecting only added to a deep sense of existential dread on top of her near silent doubts and treasonous ideals that had gotten more and more of a voice since being imprisoned. Her loyalty was to the company, but before that it was to the little girl that dragged her out of that dump, that had fixed her up, given her clothes, a second chance at life, and who valued the life of a drone above even her own safety if her corrupted memories were anything to go off of. "What would you think of me now if you could see me Tessa," J kept flexing her fingers as her doubts surfaced once again, "am I worthy of facing you again, or is this thing I have become something to be despised in your eyes..." Her thoughts were spiraling deeper and deeper into a place she never wanted to return to, but the silence was feeding those darker ideas in her head, she was close to trying to claw her visor off with just her hands, before a merciful sound reached her: the door opening.
J all but leapt for the bars, slamming her hands against them startling Khan as he nearly dropped the bucket in his hand as he reeled away from her sudden move, the scent of oil was strong and J was a mix of hungry and desperate for a distraction. "I see you are still...as lively as ever, even moreso than before thinking on it," Khan was doubtful as he inched back towards the bars, "so I will be straight to the point and-" He never got to finish his sentence as J dropped to the floor, legs crisscross as she faced him, a calm expression on her face as she carefully adjusted one of her pigtails, he didn't miss the flicker of nervous tics vanishing from her screen before she spoke.
"I am...willing to answer any and all questions, I just..." She nervously tapped her fingers on the ground, avoiding looking right at him as she instinctively curled up on herself, "if I am to answer questions you need to not leave me alone like that again, those are my terms and I will not budge on them." She did her best to look defiant, as if she had any bargaining power, but Khan simply sighed and nodded as he dragged the chair back towards the bars, sitting down and staring at her as he hesitantly reached into the bucket. J couldn't help but drool as he held up a dripping oil pump, it looked like it'd been freshly ripped out of a worker and she felt the deep hunger in her core rise up, nanites and cooling systems equally craving the treat in front of her. She did her best to straighten out and clear her throat, never letting her optics leave Khans hand, "So...ask away and I will answer, because that is what you intend here so I shall cooperate for my own benefit, and nothing else."
Khan raised a skeptical eyebrow before simply tossing the oily internal system through the bars, flinching slightly as J dived down and snatched it up between her teeth, eagerly slurping it down as droplets of oil splattered the floor and bars. "I figured you'd be borderline feral from hunger so I rather you be answering questions in sound mind so consider that your one free meal in here," he was unphased as he watched J licking at her oily fingers, "so now let's talk, properly...Why was your squad sent to this planet, to this area in particular." His immediate focus to topics concerning her purpose made J pause, pulling her fingers out of her mouth as she leaned back slightly with a serious expression, turning the answer over in her head a few times before she sighed and looked back up at him.
"We were sent to clear out any and all corrupt workers to clear the path for a return of the company," she spoke with a surprising neutral tone before sighing, "as for why here it was simply where our pod was plotted to land, in the dead center of our sector to ensure ideal efficiency in our goal." Khan wanted to grimace at the cold corporate answer, but his memories from before the core collapse let him know this was simply how JCJenson was, and it was painful to realize he'd chosen to establish his colony in such a dangerous place by pure chance. As he silently absorbed the less than stellar answer J looked him over, her eye lights glitching out slightly before she leaned forward and wrapped a hand around the bars, drawing his attention as she tapped a finger on the metal. "Let's mix things up because I have a question," the sudden role reversal was surprising but J carried on, "why did you really revive me, no internal memo dissolution about wanting information, because we both know that isn't the case, why risk it all and bring back someone you so clearly hate."
Khan was silent for a moment, watching J as she stared right at him, the golden glow of her optics piercing as a real predator as he leaned back in his chair and let out a dejected sigh, bringing a hand up and rubbing his screen before answering her. "Because in some twisted way I did truly feel bad for how you died, and even when you repaired yourself how your core ran off and left you for dead as a husk," he let his hand drop as he looked right into her eyes, "and somewhere deep in my CPU I was reminded of my wife, and the pain of losing her struck me again...so I stupidly saved you, is that an acceptable answer?" J remained speechless, releasing the bars as she flopped back on her butt and processed the sudden heavy truth that just slapped her face, only snapping out of it as Khan tossed an oily length of internal tubing at her, her hunger striking again as she slurped the snack up. "If that sated your curiosity lets get back on topic and return to the normal line of questions, thank you very much."
J could only nod as the normal string of mundane questions once again filled the space, hours of back and forth letting her forget the darker thoughts threatening her mind before Khan stood up and dusted his legs off with a groan. Starting towards the door with bucket in hand, and a lot more oil staining both his hands and J's mouth, he was ready to leave when J called out, doing her best to mask the concern in her voice as she spoke. "You remember my terms, you come back tomorrow as well," she watched as he turned back towards her with a furrowed brow, "it doesn't need to be for questions or involve oil just...come back and don't leave me alone in here like that again..." Khan nodded as he made an odd motion with his hand, the door sliding shut behind him as J crawled back up onto her excuse of a bed, silently wondering if she'd have to suffer the pain of her thoughts alone again for days, or if he'd keep his word, even if he never explicitly said he would return. "You better not leave me in here alone...not again..."
J was startled awake by the sound of something hitting the floor, all but falling out of her bed she scrambled to face the bars with a surprised look, finding Khan sat opposite the bars with a deck of cards in hand, a cup at his side as he was drumming his fingers on the floor. Noticing the sudden fall of J he raised a curious eyebrow before simply holding the cards up, causing J to let out a sigh that barely masked the relief in her mumbling as she crawled to the bars and watched the worker shuffle the deck. "You said it didn't need to involve any actual questions so I figured a game of cards would be the best way to pass the time in relative silence," he expertly flicked cards between his hands as he chuckled, "none of the guys have been in the mood for games after the...breach so I may be a bit rusty." J only nodded as she let him begin dealing out the game, finding a sort of lethargy in such a simple but timeless distraction as Khan descended into a ramble about the rules of gin rummy and making other suggestions.
It would end up being almost two full hours before either of them said a word to the other, after a particularly bad hand J laid her cards down to look directly at Khan, a questioning burning in her CPU before she tapped the bars grabbing his attention. "You...mentioned your daughter is the one who beat me, why haven't you talked about her or brought her around to try and question me," J watched the digital sweat droplet pop up on Khan's screen, "or better yet that traitorous synergistic liability, or V, what happened to my squad as well?" J noticed the immediate shift in Khan at her question, nervously tapping his fingers on his cards as he looked around to avoid her gaze, and the subtle adjustments to his posture and seating, before be finally sighed and set the hand down to look at her.
"The truth is after you were...beaten my daughter had some, 'choice words' for me about our relationship and the cause of the breach, and it ended with her declaring she was...banishing herself before she left with the taller murder drone," Khan let his head hang a bit as more anxiety filled tics popped up on his screen, "they took the other member of your squad and tied her in her own tail before bursting out of the ceiling and...flying away...I haven't actually seen or heard from my daughter in nine days now." J was left speechless as she tried to process the sudden change in both mood and her squad, she could understand how she was beaten but V losing in a brawl was unthinkable, and for a worker to so effortlessly command respect from N was...well she could believe that with how weak willed and stupid he was but it still caught her off guard.
After a moment of silence that dragged on too long to be comfortable J finally found words that she felt resembled comforting, at least in some way she understood the pure insanity of this situation but she still would try. "That is, definitely a strained relationship but it could be worse at least you know she is alive," the dejected look Khan gave her didn't deter her attempt to ease his mind, "knowing N he's too stupid to try and do anything against her and V...well V would but if she was tied up then the moron bot will be keeping her on a very short leash so you can not worry so much." J realized she wasn't exactly the best drone to try and comfort someone, but she was at least giving it her best effort and Khan letting out a short but less dejected chuckle was a sign of progress to her so she smiled at him as he continued chuckling.
"I never thought I'd be comforted on my poor relationship with my daughter, by a murder drone...but thank you," he barely resisted the urge to try and pat J's shoulder through the bars, "I know I am not the best father so I don't expect her to come back for anything so I just have to carry on and try to be better if she does." The mood was definitely improved as the game picked back up, and Khan resumed his absolute thrashing of J at rummy, earning several corporate swears from her as he grew more and more at ease from his stress. After another hour of whooping her Khan stood up and dusted his legs off, a motion J was noting he did every time he stood, and mentally she locked that away before he scooped the cards up and began shuffling them together before slipping the deck back into its small box. "Well I suppose I should at least make an effort to pretend I am still on top of things around and go check on the doors," he glanced down at J and the cards in hand before tossing the deck between the bars, "something to keep yourself occupied, it occurs to me I haven't been the most...attentive even in this situation, guess Nori was right about me being too focused on one thing to notice those around me." He let out a soft chuckle at himself before turning towards the door, watching out of the corner of his screen as J hesitantly picked up the deck of cards and began shuffling them around, something in his core clicking as he exited the room.
J laid upside down on her bed, staring at the game of solitaire she'd laid out on the floor as she was remaining hyper vigilant for the return of Khan, her thoughts not drifting to the same dark places they'd been in days prior but still on a dangerous edge. At the sound of approaching footsteps she quickly righted herself and knelt on the floor in front of the cards, straightening her pigtails out as she tried to look as uninterested as possible so he wouldn't suspect she was actually looking forward to when he showed up. As she made herself as presentable and disinterested as possible J watched the door open, only for her expression to fall as she didn't recognize the worker before her, locking eyes she watched the recognition and terror in their eye lights rise up. She was about to try and stand up to speak but at the first twitch of her fingers the worker turned on their heels and ran, leaving the door wide open and a confused J sat in her cell, a few nervous digital sweat droplets popping up on her screen as she considered the implications of what just happened. "That...is going to be a problem very soon isn't it."
It would end up being another full hour before Khan finally did appear, and the look on his face when he saw the open door told a concerning story as J so desperately wished she could flick her tail to display her displeasure and unease. "Why is this...you didn't open this did you? Stupid question Khan of course not she's still in her cell," he began pacing in front of the bars of the cell tapping the side of his head, "I know I didn't leave it open otherwise this would've been all over the colony already and it isn't like someone just-"
"It happened like an hour ago," J cut Khan off as he snapped his attention to her wide hollow, concerned eyes, "they had blue eyes and wore a jacket like yours with a militaristic looking helmet, didn't stay long, looked like they'd walked in the wrong door and fled the second I barely twitched, didn't even get a word out before they were gone." The pure dread on Khans face spoke volumes as he quickly shut the door, rushing around the room and moving things around in a panic, with J watching on in a mix of concern and confusion as she once again failed to even get a twitch out of her tail. "You are acting like this is the end of the world, just because someone saw me it isn't like you brought me back without...telling...anyone else..." J trailed off as her own eye lights went void and she snapped her attention to the guilty Khan as he tapped his fingers together, her jaw dropping as she struggled to find the words to even express the mix of emotions in her mind.
"Nobody else needed to know, I was the one taking a risk and I didn't want anyone else getting involved because they may let their personal feelings get in the way of things," he returned to his panicked scrambling as he pushed the table against the door, "in hindsight I let my own personal feelings get in the way so clearly I wasn't the best for the job either but we made progress right?" His attempt to gain reassurance was met with only further stuttering noises from J as she realized just how stupid her entire imprisonment had been, a single drone knew she was even in here and now after almost ten days she'd been ousted, and company knows what was going to happen now. "The important thing is that I talk them down before they do something extremely stupid so I just need you to-"
Khan was cut off from the loud banging against the door, with her honed hearing J could tell there was multiple very unhappy workers outside the door, and the clicking of metal on metal made her tense up, they had come armed as well. "You need to let me out and unrestrict my weapons now," Khan turned to her in shock as she grabbed the bars, "they are going to break down that door and come in here to kill me, then probably you for hiding the fact I was here!"
"They won't do either, I designed every door in this colony and there is no way they can break it down," he confidently crossed his arms as the banging continued, "and even if they do get in they are reasonable drones I am sure we can just talk it out and smooth over this whole misunderstanding." J did not share Khans confidence as the hiss of the doors hydraulics pierced the relative silence, both looking at the bottom of the door rising up, a powerjack slowly forcing it up as nervous sweat droplets popped up on both their screens. "Ok maybe they can get the door open but I am sure they will listen to reason!"
J was not so confident as she retreated further back in her cell, crouching down like a cornered animal as the angry protests of the workers outside grew louder, she counted at least four pairs of eyes glaring through the opening as Khan stood his ground. "Open the door Khan, we just want the murder drone, we are even willing to overlook your decision on this if you just open up," one of the workers called out, the others letting out a choir of 'yeas' and 'you tell him!' as the door continued to strain against the forced opening, "we all lost family to those things Khan, we don't want your daughter to be an orphan because of your stupidity so let us take care of this problem."
Khan cleared his throat as he tightly gripped the wrench in his hand while facing the opening door, his makeshift barricade already failing as chairs were kicked away from the opening gap and a few arms tried to reach in to push the table away. "Gentlemen I am ordering you as the head of the WDF to stand down, everything here is under control and there is no need to-" He was once again cut off as something sailed passed his head, looking back he saw a nail imbedded in the wall behind him, if there was any color on his screen it would've drained at that. He unfortunately recognized the drones facing him down, and he dreaded having to fight his co-workers and sort of friends, but the fact they'd fired the first shot couldn't be ignored as he did his best to square up despite the terror he was feeling.
Snapping his attention back to the door he was horrified as it finally gave way and the hydraulics snapped letting it easily be pushed up, the quad of drones entering the room as they kicked the table over, armed with an assortment of tools. "Khan, I respect you as a leader of our colony, and a fine good rummy player, but I can't side by and abide while that thing," the lead drone Elijah pointed into the cell at the very growly J, "to be alive, so either you step aside, or you will be 'mauled' by your prisoner when it attempted a prison break before we put it down." The threat hung in the air as nothing else was said, Khan glancing between his fellow workers and the huddled J, instead of defiance or anger on her screen he saw fear, a fear he'd not seen since Nori, and he took a deep vent as he crossed his arms.
"If you want to get at her, you'll have to get through me, she is my prisoner and I will not let you bring harm to her while she is under my jurisdiction," Khan pointed the wrench at the quad of drones with an angry yell, "if you try to I will install a door on your face!" J was touched by the display of bravery on her behalf, which quickly turned to panic as a nail was sent right through Khans leg, causing him to drop one knee with a pained grunt, she knew false bravado when she saw it and that crumbled away when actually faced with retaliation. She pressed herself back further into the corner as she dragged her tail back in with her, growling louder as she watched the four workers enter the room fully, securing any exit she could hope to run for, and more concerningly made sure Khan wouldn't get up.
"I am disappointed Khan, of everyone in the WDF I was hoping you'd understand our position, we can't let these murderers just get away with the horrors they've unleashed on us," Elijah roughly kicked the older worker in the gut eliciting a groan of pain, "Dimitri, Sven, secure the murder drone and put it down, Calis kindly make sure our 'esteemed' colony leader is properly roughed up for his 'accident' from the jailbreak attempt of the murder bot." The three drones nodded and moved to their assigned duties, the two armed with a pipe and cleaver beginning to try and force the lock on J's cell as the one carrying a metal bat lined it up with Khan's head, taking a few practice swings with a manic grin. Considering all her options J watched the scene unfolding, fingers twitching as she longed for her claws to be freed, looking around she realized how doomed she was if she simply stood by idly, and with what courage she could muster she took a deep vent.
It was a blur of movement, not even Elijah or Khan really saw it properly as J seemed to simply teleport, in reality she'd launched herself off the wall and right into the bars, swinging her tail up with her hands she wrapped it around Sven's neck and pinned his head against the bars. His cry of surprise was short lived as J smashed his screen into the bars, oil and fragments of glass raining down from his face as she stabbed her fingers into the damage, a violent growl escaping her as her eyes flickered away, the killer golden X filling her screen. "Shit! Calis go help them before we lose anyone else to that fucking monster," Elijah shoved the aforementioned drone towards the cell as he pointed the nailgun down at Khan, "honestly this is exactly why we can't let this monster live Khan, surely you can understand where we-" He was cut off as an intense pain shot through his hand, dropping the weapon as a spray of oil splattered his face and the prong of a wrench emerged out the top of his hand, having been stabbed through his palm with force.
It took a second for the treasonous worker to realize what just happened before he screamed in pain and clenched his wrist, stumbling back as his cry distracted his companions from the more immediate threat. J seized the chance as she managed to all but pulverize poor Sven's head against the bars, releasing her tail and letting it drop down as she licked the oil off her hand and swung a leg up, knocking Calis off his feet with a yelp of surprise. "You pathetic forth quarter layoffs are a joke with no punchline," J growled out as she attempted to grab another by the neck through the bars, "when I get out of here I'm going to rip you toasters in half!" Her aggressive taunting seemed to do its job as the still standing Dimitri tried to slash at her fingers with his cleaver, sending a shower of sparks from impacting the bars as she smugly slammed herself against them again, trying to gnaw through the metal to get to him.
As J played distraction Khan had finally gotten to his feet again, stumbling from the hole in his leg as he kicked the nailgun behind him and well away from any potential attackers, wrench in hand as he pointed it at Elijah once again with a defiant scowl. The rogue worker only returned his expression as he picked up the discarded pipe from Sven's body and flicked some of the oil off it as Calis scrambled to his feet, the pair squaring up with the colony leader in a tense stare down. "I am going to give you guys one last chance, if only because of all the years we've worked together on the WDF," Khan spoke with authority and power as the pair of drones seemed to waiver a bit, "stand down, and walk away. No more oil needs to be spilt today, especially between brothers in arms, we shouldn't fight we are one team after all, so lay down your weapons and leave." The conflict on Elijahs face was short lived as he absorbed his words, drumming the fingers of his injured hand on his leg while sizing up the situation, and unfortunately for Khan he made up his mind all too quickly, holding the pipe in an aggressive stance.
"No dice Khan, we are killing that monster you've kept hidden and you can't stop us," the tension was thick from that statement, silence filling the room aside from J's quiet growls as she was still dancing around the bars avoiding the harsh blade of Dimitri's cleaver. In a split second it changed, Calis and Elijah rushing forward at the startled Khan as he leaned back on his bad leg, crumbling to the floor as he perfectly dodged both attacks, only to find himself in a vulnerable position as he was sprawled out on his back. Evidently that was not a great place to be in a fight as he yelped in pain from having his bad leg smashed with a bat and a pipe narrowly missing his head and stabbed into the floor, his visor lit up with warnings as he struggled to avoid going offline and becoming even more vulnerable. "For such an old model, you still are full of surprises Khan, shame that you wasted them on such a hopeless cause," Elijah yanked the pipe from the floor and lined it up with Khan's core, "we really didn't want to have to do this to you, you've done so much for the colony over the years and it is real sad it has to end like this."
His feigned words of remorse didn't fool Khan as he stared down his doom, screen flickering and glitching from the pressure applied to his core by the pipe slowly cracking the glass of his chest beneath his jacket. As he felt the damage only grow worse he was becoming less aware of his surroundings and only the pain was filtering into his CPU, flashes of his life flying by like a slideshow as it clicked he was in his last moments, and they'd not be alone as J would probably be shortly after him as well. Remembering the murder drone Khan managed to barely turned his head towards the cell, watching as J still held her ground against Dimitri, and he realized there was only one way out of this situation, and it wasn't going to be pretty. "Override c-code clearance Nori," his words gave pause to his attackers as the pressure on his core was halted, "weapons restrictions n-null, full op-operation greenlight."
It was like the flick of a switch for J, having been so absorbed in her own fight she'd not even noticed how had a state Khan was in until he spoke up, and his words seemed to clear the haze that hung over her CPU as it all came back to her. Time almost slowed down as she grinned manically and grabbed the bars with her hands, in one swift motion bending the metal apart and opening a gap more than large enough for herself to squeeze through, to the horror of Dimitri as he dropped his weapon in shock. Nobody had time to register what just happened as she flung herself out of the cell with a cackle, midair her hands vanishing away into her conical wrists and a set of razor-sharp claws emerging, skewering her attacker through the core in one clean motion. "Oh I have wanted to do this since I was locked up, and now I have my choice of targets," her voice was filled with sadistic glee as she eyed up the remaining workers in the room, "I am going to enjoy this, consider this your forced resignation...on life."
Elijah was the first to act on her threat as he dived down towards his fallen nailgun with a panicked yelp, completely ignoring as J lunged at Calis and lifted him into the air by the neck with her jaw, a sickening crunch preceding a shower of oil onto his back. His fingers barely grazed the weapon before something wrapped around his own neck, eyes going void as he was yanked back and up into the air by J's tail, tightening as he clawed at the appendage with choked cries. Khan could only stare up through the static and glitches on his screen at the violent scene, the dripping of oil and gulps from a famished J feeding filled the silence, along with Elijahs choking, pained sobs as he failed to pry the tail from his throat. "I missed fresh oil so much, yours may not be the best quality but compromises have to be made for business to thrive," J dropped the drained husk of Calis to the floor as she sighed contently, "now what was it you were saying earlier? 'this is exactly why we cant let this monster live' was it?" The sadistic joy she was taking in playing with her prey was like muscle memory for her as she tightened the wrap of her tail on the poor workers neck, savoring the panic and terror on his glitchy screen as she pressed a single claw into his chest.
The gurgling cries were swiftly cut off, 'fatal error' filling Elijahs screen as J feigned surprise with a grin, pulling her oil coated claw from his chest as the last flickers of his core passed and she dropped the body down, licking the blade of her claw clean. "I needed this, there is something therapeutic about putting a cocky toaster in his place, the scrap pile," she smugly giggled to herself before looking down at the injured Khan, "now then, I think we both know what is going to happen don't we?" She crouched down next to him, looking over his injuries as she cycled her normal hands back out, eyes flickering onto her screen once more as she ran a finger over the oil-stained jacket with a tisk. Khan was barely conscious at he watched the murder drone looming over him, in an odd way he was almost glad it would end like this, at least he'd not died to one of his own men, but at the same time he realized how many others would probably die from his actions. "Don't you worry, I will take care of everything, you just rest your eyes and let me do what I am best at," J spoke in a surprisingly soothing tone as she patted the side of his face, "it will be like a bad dream when I am done, so you just rest now." With how messed up he was, in every sense of the word, Khan let his eyes close as he slipped into recharge, content to let his fate play out now in the hands of a murder drone, not that he had any say now, but he only hoped Uzi would be fine with him gone.
Khan felt like he was underwater, which was an odd feeling for a drone to experience given he wasn't even sure if he was waterproof, but it still weighed on his CPU as he slowly booted back up, groaning as he sluggishly grabbed his head. At first he was confused, as he didn't really remember why he was in recharge, or what could've made his head hurt so badly, as he pulled his hand away from his head his eyes went void as he noticed the oil on his fingers. All at once it came rushing back to him, the fight, his borderline dead state, J leaving her cell, panic quickly rose up as he looked around, only to stop as he was met with a sight he wasn't sure was real: J sat in her cell, tail lazily flicking behind her as she played a game of solitaire on the floor. As he did a quick double take, and refreshed his eyes just to be safe, Khan slowly stood up and approached the cell, noting the bent bars forced back into place as his movement caught J's focus, quickly looking up at him in surprise. "Oh, you aren't dead then that's good, I wasn't going to sit in here forever if you did die," she returned to her game, tail flicking more erratically, "guess everything is mostly functional then, you're welcome."
It was a lot to take in as Khan tried to wrack his CPU on just what was going on, finally settling on a single question as he chose to ignore the pile of drone corpses neatly stacked in the far corner of the cell, the smell of oil still hanging heavily in the air. "Was all of that...real," it felt like he was on magnets, and the look J gave him only reinforced that feeling, "if it was I should be dead, and you'd be halfway through wiping out the whole colony and-" Khan was cut off as J held up a hand, motioning to the chair just in front of the cell as she herself jumped to her feet, and with how his head was feeling he happily collapsed back into the seat and clutched the sides of his head.
"It did happen, you should've died but I may have...taken care of that small problem so don't think about it too hard," J leaned forward against the bars as she curled her tail in on itself, "as for why I am back in here and not out causing a massacre I...decided I don't want to just mindlessly slaughter you toasters like that." Khan was at a loss for words as he watched J slowly sink back to the floor, hugging her legs to her chest as she avoided looking up at him, instead her eye lights flicked around the room, focusing on anything but him. "I realized from my time in here and our talks that I have been...pretty alone and struggling with some personal stuff, and facing the prospect of actually dying without being able to fight back? That reinforced my feelings and fears," she finally looked Khan in the eyes again, a nervous tic beneath one eye, "you aren't a great drone yourself, but you are self-conscious enough to see it and try to fix what you know you fall short in...and I need to be able to do that too I suppose, there's some people from my past I don't think I can face with how I normally am."
Khan wasn't expecting a heart to heart as soon as he was rebooted, much less with a very armed and capable murder drone who was willingly imprisoning herself just to acknowledge his own shortcomings and drive to be better. "I...am going to be honest I was not the least bit prepared for this kind of thing after everything that just happened, or that you'd willingly stay like this," Khan wringed his hands in his lap as he tried to remain both calm and focused, "but I suppose I should thank you...for saving my life and all that, and not just going on a rampage...that means a lot given your uh...capable spirit." J let a soft chuckle out after he spoke, her tail flicking behind her as she let her legs free from her chest and holding up a hand, cycling through a litany of concerning weapons before stopping at a simple bubble wand, much to Khans confusion and curiosity. The spray of bubbles that floated up was one of the last things Khan had thought he'd see from a murder drone, but he'd come to almost grow numb to the oddity of it all as he sunk back in his chair with a chuckling sigh. "I don't think I have ever felt so stressed and relieved at the same time, are there any other surprises I should be expecting out of you today, or can we call it good and just play some cards after all of this madness?"
They would end up playing cards for several hours, only interrupted when J scurried to her pile of drones and returning with oil still dripping off her face as she seemed unaware, which made her very surprised when Khan reached through the bars and wiped it off with his sleeve. Neither drone decided to comment on the gesture, which was a mix of trust and concern, as the time flew by and idle conversation came and went, an oddly serene time for both. Only when Khan finally stood back up, once more dusting his legs off in a gesture J was quickly associating with him intending to leave, did she sigh and set her cards down. "I suppose it is that time then," she flicked her tail as she neatly collected the cards up, "perhaps you should warn others there is danger in here so we don't get a repeat of this incident, as tasty as fresh oil is I...rather not massacre anyone who wanders in here by mistake."
Khan could only nervously laugh as he rubbed the back of his head, nodding to the suggestion as J set the deck of cards aside and leaned forward against the bars, watching him. "That might be for the best, I have to handle parent teacher conferences tomorrow so that is good a time as any to announce it," he adjusted his mustache with a small smile, "and maybe I can see about changing the...arrangement of your imprisonment then as well, if you want to renegotiate your 'terms' from before." The subtle use of more corporate lingo caught J off guard as a faint golden blush threatened her screen, quickly looking away she nodded with a hum of approval, earning a soft chuckle from Khan. "Then tomorrow, have a good night J, er...morning I guess, I really need to get my internal clock checked," he smiled as he left the room, not noticing the low and happy wag of J's tail as he did so, nor when she flung herself onto her bed and her screen exploded in a vibrant golden glow from intense blush.
J wasn't sure what woke her up, it sounded like something crashing down and scraping loudly against metal, but it had her sat up with her tail poised to strike at any threat with nervous sweat droplets decorating her screen. Looking around she found the room was the same, not even the oil smudges on the ground had shifted, but there was an odd sense of something watching her, and it made J uneasy. "Ominous stare, hello big sister J," the robotic voice made J lock up in fear, looking around with even more intensity, "it has been some time, curious head tilt, I almost believed you were no longer in operation and was preparing a back-up unit." Finally, J slowly looked up, finding an all too familiar camera-like extension poking out of the vent above her cell, hazard striped claws holding the edges of the opening. "You have been isolated from my network, irritated eyeroll, that is not very nice big sister, but you seem to be preoccupied with something," the camera dipped down lower right to J's eye level, "letting yourself be captured is very unlike you, suspiciously narrow eyes, which means you are planning something, correct?"
J was frozen in fear as she was faced with the horror in front of her, it clicking in her mind that Khan had mentioned her original core had 'run off' and clearly it had time to rebuild and grow. Despite the intense fear J felt there was also a concerning degree of comfort in her situation, realizing she was technically free of the solver, her systems overwritten with a new admin, and it gave her the confidence to lie to its face. "I am just bidding my time, letting the toasters get comfortable until I can break free and strike," she boldly lied, praying to robo-god her voice didn't crack, "they think I am completely a non-threat and it will be a non-issue to massacre them all, when the time is right of course." Despite her confidence in the lie J couldn't help but feel the intense stare of the camera in front of her, fighting every instinct to flinch or back away, even refreshing her screen to avoid the nervous tics trying to pop up.
"Unconvinced glare, you never were good at lying big sister J but I don't blame you," the solver reached a tentacle down and patted J's face, "you've been separated too long to try and bring back to reason, but one unit can be spared, sinister chuckle, I have backups." J was only getting more and more concerned until the tentacle and camera both retracted up into the vents, glaring down at her as a hologram projected down in front of her. Her eye lights went hollow as she stared at the glitchy and blue glowing image of Khan, looking startled and concerned as she had to hold back from trying to reach for it. " This one is important to several hosts, evil giggle, and big sister J seems to also be aware of them," the solver let the projection flicker out as it mockingly saluted her with a claw, "better hope he isn't fragile, I would avoid looking for him though, sinister glare, you seem unready to face another lost companion."
And just like that the slithering form of the solver vanished away from her vent, and left a very concerned and horrified J in its wake, trying to process everything that just happened. After a solid minute of trying to comprehend the implications J slapped the side of her head to force a reboot, and just as quickly she was bounding to the cell bars, prying them apart and scrambling out into the room. "Bankruptcy she's really going to- I need to find and warn Khan before something happens," she easily lifted the door up and darted into the hall, ignoring the panicked screams of the few workers lingering in the corridor, "it's been a few days so it couldn't have had that much time to-" J stopped as she stood before a corkboard in the hall, eyes going void as she took in the sheer number of missing drones posters hanging up, quickly running the numbers as her core skipped a beat. With a dawning new horror she took off even faster than before, resisting the temptation to unfurl her wings and fly for fear she'd decapitate someone, forcing her to settle on running.
After several minutes of panicked wandering it occurred to J she had no idea about the layout of the bunker, sure she and V had rampaged for a bit before finding the evacuation spot but she didn't think to map it out or note any of the rooms she passed. With that in mind J rounded another corner, spotting a green eyed worker stumbling along and rushing him down before he could so much as yelp, his red baseball cap falling aside. "You! Where is the 'parent teacher conference' and more importantly Khan?!" J's not so subtle questioning, along with the slight shaking she was doing clearly put the worker off balance in every sense of the word, mumbling and stuttering as his eyes settled into green swirls. Realizing her less than effective shaking J set the worker down, still keeping a grip on the front of his shirt as she held the side of his head, forcing him to look at her. "Where is Khan."
Finally getting his sense back, and realizing the threatening force in front of him the worker let out a quiet yelp before pointing over his shoulder with a shaky thumb. "I-I saw him as I was rushing away, he was heading towards the c-cryo storage of the colony," J glared at the worker as a nervous tic popped up on her screen, "he w-was looking for his daughter, she's fighting some...big holo spooky snake crab thing so I directed him t-there." As quickly as J had picked him up she shoved the worker aside, her wings unfolding and stretching the width of the hallway as she launched herself forward in a burst of speed.
"Please be ok, please be ok, please be ok," J mumbled to herself as she soared down the hallway, "I swear if you die I will never forgive you, please be ok-" J was cut off in her mumbles as a flash of vibrant green light lit up the space ahead of her, before a fireball and a wave of heat washed over her, sending her crashing to the ground with a groan of pain. As she slowly got back to her feet she heard the rush of several workers approaching, stumbling up she leaned against the wall as the most wonderful sight of Khan rounded the corner. She fought her instinct to rush up and hug him as several more workers followed behind him, all pausing at the sight of the murder drone casually stood in their path.
Despite his confusion, and the small stuttering mumbles he was trying to get out J shakily pointed over her shoulder with a mixture of confusion and relief, still resisting her temptation to hug the worker. With a brief nod, and a few hushed whispers to the drones around him Khan led the charge into the cryo storage, letting J rest against the wall as every worker gave her a wide berth in passing her. Staring up at the ceiling she took the chance to peak into the room, eye lights going void at the scorch marks and little bits of eldritch horror peppering the scene, as well as the odd drone stood in the middle of it all. Khan spoke up, slowly approaching the drone with caution as J was preparing to leap in and save him if needed, "Uzi? what are you-" He was cut off as Uzi rushed forward and wrapped her arms around Khan, tightening her grip as J visibly relaxed, sighing in relief as the WDF spread out into the room.
Watching the father-daughter reunion made something in J's chest tighten up, tilting her head in confusion as she saw Khan glare up into the rafters, following his gaze to spot the dim golden glow of eye lights above. She nearly leapt up after N as she watched him scurry away into the darkness, electing to leave the synergistic liability for now as she shuffled aside, letting Khan guide Uzi out of the room. "Come on kiddo, you don't need to tell me anything, let's just get you home," Khan spoke softly as he kept rubbing circles on Uzi's back, "your room is exactly as you left it, never went inside, we can get you a nice cup of coolant too, would you like that?" J slowly stalked behind the pair listening to the quiet, and very subdued mumbles of the shorter angsty drone, her memories of the fight rising up and making her realize that fighting spirit was completely gone. Glancing back over her shoulder J watched the carnage of the cryo storage slip away, wondering just what happened in there to so thoroughly pacify the rebellious energy of her vanquisher.
Khan slowly closed the door to Uzi's room, making sure to give her some space and a good dose of fatherly care after what was probably a very traumatic night, sighing as he leaned against the door and slid down it slightly. "So I am guessing this isn't something normal that happens around her often," J startled him as she spoke up, stood on the opposite side of the room, "or does your daughter often face horrors beyond comprehension and come home so broken?" She felt slightly bad at the pained expression on the older drones screen as he slumped to the floor, prompting her to rush over and gently hook a hand under his arm and help him to the couch. As she got him settled J rushed around the small home space, a blur of motion before gently pressing a mug into Khans hands and plopping herself right next to him with a look of worry. "I was trying to lighten the mood, but I guess I still need to work on my social cues," she awkwardly patted his shoulder before folding her hands in her lap, "you raised a remarkable daughter you know, having survived...that unscathed, and the almost two weeks she was outside with my failure of a squad...she's something special."
Khan seemed to finally com to his senses as he let out a soft chuckle, taking a long sip from the mug as J watched him, tail lazily swaying behind her in anticipation. "She always had that fighting spirit and stubborn energy, got it from her mother," Khan stared into his mug with a longing gaze, "actually she got most of her good traits from her mom, I can see so much of Nori in her, her passion and determination it's like looking into the past before...well you know." J nodded solemnly as she left it unsaid, intentionally hanging her tail low despite its empty and de-barbed canister she rather avoid triggering any bad memories in the delicate moment. "I haven't been the best father for her, she really needs a motherly figure in her life and I got so absorbed in my work I never moved on from Nori," Khan set the mug down as he finally turned to J startling her, "sorry I don't mean to put you in this awkward position especially after everything you've done for me, the last thing you want is to hear this old drone ramble on about-"
"I understand how it feels to lose someone you care about," J cut him off as he gave her a surprised look, "it is hard to let go and try to move on no matter how much time passes, and even if you do there is always a part of you that cares for the one you've lost...you don't need to apologize, I fully understand what you feel." Khan stared at her with a sense of awe as he gently reached out and took one of her hands in his own, both drones staying silent as he gave her a small nod with a mumbled 'thank you'. After a few seconds J felt her screen starting to betray her usual blank expression with a growing blush, quickly looking away but letting her hand continue to be held as she scrambled for an excuse. "W-well I think it is best I return to my cell, it is late after all," she stood up with the click of her pegged feet on the floor, "I am sure you need to get some rest as well and I did break out so it would be best if-"
Khan pulled on J's hand causing her to stay in place, freezing up as she avoided looking back at him to hide the golden blush now dusting her screen, her tail rigid behind her. "You know I think it wouldn't hurt if you stayed here, just for tonight that is," Khan mumbled out, the blush on J's face only growing, "you did rush out in such a panic and I am not opposed to you...staying here...with me." The silence after his offer was deafening, for a moment be thought he'd crossed a line or made a mistake, until he noticed the rapid wagging of the end of her tail before she snatched it in her free hand. Catching a glimpse of her lit up screen he smiled softly as he stood up beside her, despite being a fair bit shorter he reached a hand up to her face and cupped her cheek, earning a surprised squeak out of her. "Can I take that as a yes and prepare you a spot and some fresh oil then," Khan spoke with an almost teasing tone as he rubbed his thumb beneath her screen, "or is this just a glitch on your screen to mess with me?"
Of all the responses Khan was not expecting to be swept off his feet, in a literal sense as he found himself held bridal style in J's arms as she looked away, still failing to hide her blush. "I will be staying! and you don't need to prepare any special spot for me," she bowed her head slightly as she mumbled out with an even more intense glow to her screen, "your bed will fit two comfortably so that will be just fine." Despite her attempt to seem cold and professional the intense wagging of her tail spoke volumes and Khan smiled softly as he cupped her face again, making her bashful pout even more adorable framed in-between his fingers.
Uzi groggily opened her door after a restless night of recharge, struggling to come to terms with any of the revelations she'd faced the previous day or the complete upheaval of her life, for the second time in a single month. She stumbled into the living room as she noticed the wisps of steam and smoke from the kitchen, immediately growing suspicious as she knew her dad never cooked, especially in the morning. Her theory was confirmed when she spotted him sat at the table, mug in hand reading over a borderline ancient newspaper, "Oh! Good morning Uzi, I hope you had a good recharge after...well let's not discuss that come and sit breakfast is just about ready." She hesitantly pulled a chair back and sat down, running her hands through her hair as she strained her still calibrating optics on the kitchen, only catching glimpses of silver and black as she struggled to properly wake up. "I already contacted the school and let them know you won't be attending classes for a few days, so you don't need to stress about new material," Khan continued on as he set the paper down, "though you do have a slew of assignments to make up for due to the little 'banishment' but your teacher has been very lenient on times for completing them."
Now Uzi was very suspicious and questioning if she had really won her fight with the solver, because this was not the same cowardly and neglectful dad she'd left two weeks prior. Despite so many questions swirling in her CPU they were all put aside when a stack of CDs and aluminum discs were slammed down in front of her, startling her out of her thoughts. "And breakfast is served to a pair of very special drones," Uzi tensed up as she recognized the voice at her side, "and I am sure she will do just fine catching up, she is such a smart little toaster after all." The sickeningly sweet sing-song tone made Uzi do a double take, her eye lights going void as she realized exactly who was stood right next to her, a subtle shiver of fear washing over her.
"J! you're supposed to be dead!" Uzi was on her feet, pointing accusingly at the dead drone walking in her kitchen, panic taking over as she realized she was defenseless without her railgun or N. She nearly stumbled back over the couch before Khan let out a soft chuckle, leaning on the table as he gave her a genuine smile, now she was almost sure she was really dead, and in robo-hell. "I-I blasted you with my sick as hell railgun, I saw your body...a-and the thing it turned into, h-how are you-!"
Uzi was cut off from the soft laugh that J let out, seating herself next to Khan as she gave the angsty drone a smug grin, placing a hand over one of his and interlocking their fingers together. "Well last I checked I am very not dead, but I will admit you definitely got me good," this couldn't be real as Uzi inched further back, "but it is amazing what a new core can do for a drone, and a new outlook on life...something both of us are working on, so come sit down and eat breakfast, it's still warm." That was it, Uzi had to be dead and in eternal damnation because she could not believe the sight before her eyes, her father hand in hand with the disassembly drone that almost killed her, and despite that...she still walked over and took her seat. She gave up trying to figure any of it out as she hesitantly took a bite of the warm meal before her, if she was dead no sense fighting it.
Breakfast ended up being a quiet affair, Uzi and Khan enjoying the, admittedly very well prepared, food before them as J leaned back in her chair sipping on a cup of oil. When the plates were clean and cups drained Khan was the one to stand up and whisk the dishes away back to the kitchen, leaving Uzi sat in awkward silence with what should be her mortal enemy. "I know how you're feeling, believe me if this meeting happened two weeks ago I'd be clawing and cursing you out right now," J startled Uzi with her quiet conversation, "but I have had a very...perspective changing time in here, your father is something else, and so are you, and I just want you to give this a chance...I know it is asking a lot, but if you spent two weeks with syngeris- N...with N then you know we aren't monsters." Her choice of words could've been better as she saw the way Uzi flinched at the word monster, her mind flashing to the solvers form as he tore across the vents, and probably attacked the angsty drone. J took this chance to gently grab Uzi's shoulder, noticing how tense she was before gently patting her back and resting her elbow on the table. "Alright poor choice of words but you know what I mean, just give me a chance, for Khan's sake," J motioned to the kitchen and the sound of clinking dishes, "give both of us a chance, if either of us mess up you're free to go out and banish yourself again."
Uzi sat in silence, considering the offer before Khan returned with a cheery smile and looping his arm around both Uzi and J's shoulders, beaming with positivity. "What say we enjoy today, I know we all have more important things to take care of but I think we all could use a bit of relaxation," he grinned as he waved a pack of cards up in the air, "gin rummy anyone?" Uzi mumbled something before excusing herself back to her room, only stopping to glance back as both Khan and J began dishing cards out across the table, turning J's offer in her head over and over before silently returning to solitude. "Well I guess she still needs a bit of time to adjust to all this," Khan let out a soft chuckle as he gently took J's hand in his own, "I overheard what you said to her while I was in the kitchen, and I appreciate you reaching out to make the first move, I don't think I have the courage to do that yet with her."
J smiled as she interlocked her fingers with his own, her tail happily swaying behind her as she leaned over to rest her head on top of his with a content sigh, simply enjoying the moment. "We will get there, both of us still have our flaws and struggles to get through, but they'll be a lot easier to face together," she kissed the top of Khans head with a grin, "after all, you now have a big, bad disassembly drone to give you confidence, and I have a sweet brave little worker to give me strength." The pair stayed like that as the cards laid forgotten on the table, electing to simply enjoy each other's company over anything else, and for the first time in a long time, both Khan and J felt something, a hope for a better future, together.