Chapter Text
Cold, empty, quiet, that’s how the surface of Copper 9 stayed after the defeat of the solver. Workers and disassembly drones alike took to the bunkers, leaving nothing but a few bugs to roam the surface.
Except for a single drone.
J awoke at the bottom of the broken and cold remains of the lab, alone. Her body pulsed with a dull pain, radiating from her right leg. She let out a groan and sat up, her interface giving her the usual rundown after such a fall.
One thing that caught her eye was the fact she had no server, no admin, no connection. All messages, information, everything was offline.
The solver was gone.
She felt no joy though, no excitement that her torturer was gone. Why should she? It’s not like she had anything to gain. Nobody was around to help her as she dragged her battered body out of the deep cavern she had found herself in.
She let out a pained groan and heaved herself one last time. Finally she was at the surface.
Robo-God her leg hurt.
Turning heavily and letting her back be soothed by the pleasant freeze of the snow, she rested. Just for a bit.
J woke up a second time, she didn’t know how much time had passed but the pain wasn’t gone. Did the universe really have to screw her over even more? Why couldn’t she just heal?
No, she couldn’t let herself spiral. She had to get up, so she did. With a pained and undignified whimper from such an individual. She was up and on her legs. Even if one didn’t want to cooperate. The metal was frayed and frozen oil created this thick scab-like structure over the wound.
She sighed and looked out into the horizon, of course she had to slice her thigh open on her way down.
The harsh winds whipped at her face, not even the planet was kind enough to spare her. J stumbled all the way to the cooled off remains of the pod and collapsed behind it. The surrounding area was still settling after being flung around in space for so long. The tree line shifted unnaturally. Leaving the pod to sit on the frozen lake, next to the trees. The warped structure provides some cover for the wounded drone.
Her leg was sealed enough, as long as she didn’t move too much.
Again, time passed, days came and went. J started giving up. Her leg was near useless, the rust had eaten through most of her internals. The best the limb could do was get her a few steps forward before she had to stop and take a break.
Rust worked like a human infection she supposed, it was killing her. But, she couldn’t get herself to care. She had nobody left, nothing to live for. It would be better if she just rusted away leaving a pile of scrap for someone to find.
J sat up, gathering her strength to stand. Her leg sent a wave of pain through her system but didn’t threaten to buckle under her weight.
She had decided to go and try to find an excuse to kill herself some scrap.
Currently she was walking down the frozen sidewalk, nearing the spire. Her sensors are on high alert for anyone or anything.
The air shifted, a rhythmic pattern in the frequency. Flight, someone was coming. She had hoped she'd STAY alone, actually. J let out an angry hiss and slinked back into the darkness of the alley way. Her leg audibly groaned as she hid behind a dumpster.
Oh yea, her leg. Turns out having an open wound in a toxic waste land with no way of cleaning or fixing it led to rust and lots of oil loss. Keeping that oil frozen and a simple cloth wrapped around it was the best she could do.
J pushed herself further back, clasping her hand over her mouth. She could hear them, V, N, and that annoying worker, they were right there. What are they doing out here?
She could just let them do the dirty work, but she couldn’t let them have that satisfaction. If she was actually going to go through with ending it. It would be on her terms.
The voices faded away as their source walked off. But J didn’t move for some time, she needed to make sure they weren’t coming back. She was missing her wings, her weapons, everything. She could not risk being caught. Not like this.
After an ample amount of time had passed J heaved herself up, leg letting out a groan once more. It kept on doing that any time she leaned down, it was getting annoying.
She poked her head out, looking up and down the street, the coast was clear. J limped down the sidewalk as quickly as possible, making her way back to the pod.
Her leg decided she was done for the day once she got back. The internal structure of her leg gave out, leading J to tumble to the ground where the cool snow greeted her.
“Great! Just great! Thank you universe for making my day just wonderful!” She seethed, picking herself up and settling down underneath the tarp she had put up between two of the pods legs. She ignored the whispers that bordered her mind. The familiar figure that stood just at the corner of her vision.
She wasn’t here, she wasn’t real. Not anymore.
Once still J pulled the cloth off and looked at her wound. More rust, she picked it off, letting the destroyed metal fall to the floor. She’s estimated that this leg is only going to last a few more months before the rust destroys the endoskeleton. Which meant she needed to decide whether she was going to actually leave the planet or just let the rust run its course. Then again, where would she go?
She sighed and settled against the cold hull of the ship and pulled out a box. Surprisingly some human drugs worked on drones, one of them being different smoking products.
She had picked them up a bit ago, she had literally nothing to lose so she started smoking.
Lighting the cigarette she watched the smoke curl into the freezing air then brought it to her lips and took a deep breath. Letting the smoke fill her artificial lungs.
“J..” She heard an all too familiar voice whispering into her audials, causing her to flinch. Her head snapping to the side. Nothing, there was always nothing. So why did she continue to look?
J took another breath of the warm smoke. It only took a few swings for that relaxing buzz to hit her. It was the only reason she kept on doing it. It took away the pain long enough for her to fall asleep.
Once the cigarette was finished, J let out one final heavy breath, the smoke escaping. She laid down and finally fell asleep, with no pain this time.
Again, time passed, days came and went. J was struggling, her leg was giving out more often, gathering supplies was becoming near impossible. She needed help, but who could help someone like her?
She was useless, the solver made sure of that.
Standing up on aching legs, J was determined to make some progress today. Maybe just to prove the solver wrong. Atleast fixing the ship gave her something to DO.
The area she usually collected scrap from was the same as always, quiet. But today wasn’t going to be a normal day.
As she turned the corner she made eye contact with the three people she never wanted to see again.
She fled, running with a heavy limp, ignoring the angry yelling behind her. Panic rushed through her systems. Her leg flared up angrily, the rusted and weak metal unable to withstand this for much longer.
J yelped as V crashed in front of her, wings folding behind her. J backed up but stopped seeing the purple worker glaring at her.
“Wow, didn’t expect to see you still alive J.” V hissed, bringing out her blade.
J didn’t know what to do at that moment, her mind went blank.
“Why are you here?” J was finally able to say. Holding herself defensively.
“I could ask the same thing.” Uzi said, making J turn her head to glance at her.
“I was getting scrap.” J hissed, her tail twitching. She froze and put up her hands passively at the click of V’s gun.
“What’s up with your leg, it looks like shit.” Uzi said with a smug attitude, getting closer.
J didn’t answer, shifting her leg defensively. N moved to stand behind Uzi.
“Answer her, J. We have no reason to leave you out here alive. ” V snarled. Leaving J to hold back a flinch.
“I cut myself durning the battle.” J finally relented under V’s sharp commands. She didn’t particularly want to die today, by their hands at least.
“That was like four months ago?!” Uzi exclaimed. Letting her strange tentacle things, that eerily reminded J of the solver, drop down.
“Why haven’t you healed then?” V said, taking a step closer, looking down at her wrapped up leg. She sounded slightly less accusatory than a second ago.
Once again J didn’t answer, being as tight lipped as before. Her secondary set of eyes trying to look for an exit.
“I don' think that’s any of your concern, V. Just leave me alone. I’m not planning on any revenge or anything.” J said with a little sarcasm, taking a step back. V took a step forward. Sword poised to strike. “ Right. ”
There was some hesitation in V’s actions though, she didn’t attack immediately like usual. This gave J one small opportunity, hopefully her leg agreed with her this time.
Her tail quickly moved and wrapped around a piece of scrap metal. Pulling the tower down onto the three of them. Leaving her with enough time to flee.
“God robo damn it! We're gonna get you! We're gonna get you and we're gonna OWN you!” Uzi yelled, unable to give chase. Her new appendages having to wrangle N and V out of the scrap. “Fucking hate it here.”