Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Uzi was in her room, looking in the mirror, fixing her hair to see if there was any frizzy strand. She even tried to make a new hairstyle with her bangs if she wanted to look good for a date today.

Suddenly, Nori popped out from behind her daughter as she crawled on her shoulder, “Are you sure you’re my daughter? Or you’re just another Cyn or something?”

“It’s me, Mom,” Uzi chuckled as she gently scooped her mother’s heart from her shoulder and placed her to a nearby table before opening her dresser to get a comb.

“Because I don’t do hair checks like that, except when I have my brain scrambled and like your father,” Nori pointed out.

Uzi gagged loudly, “Eww, don’t tell me about that stuff, Mom! It’s gross!”

“Uh, wasn’t dating one of those murder drones gross enough?”

“N is different. He’s nice. Stupid, but nice.”

“I don’t know how you put up with him,” Nori said before thinking about N, “Though I can’t help that he looks so familiar to me.”

“Uh, Mom, N is the only N out of the three,” the teen drone chuckled.

“Yes, but I think I saw him before.”

“Maybe because you saw him in your scrambled-mind vision or when he, V, and J arrived, but I’m pretty sure it was either V or J that killed you, right?” Uzi explained. Nori held up a claw to answer, but she barely remembered the face of the disassembly drone that stung her with their acid tails, as she couldn’t tell which of the three did it. Uzi then continued as she put the comb down, “I know it’s not N. He’s an idiot enough to follow orders.”

As she watched her daughter, whom she knew only for months, fix herself for a date, Nori couldn’t help but feel concern for Uzi. She didn’t mind at all that she’s dating N. Nori didn’t have any grudge against N. They worked together to try to save Uzi from the Solver and showed that they both care for her. But she didn’t want Uzi to get hurt by him because N is a Disassembly Drone that killed many Worker Drones, like the other two. She hoped she could trust N if he cared for Uzi very much.

Ever since N and V decided to join the Worker Drones colony because there was nowhere else for them to call home now that Earth was destroyed, and J betrayed them, they had their own living headquarters in Outpost 3. They took whatever they needed in their new home, though they didn’t have anything much when they were sent to Copper 9.

Like Uzi, N was standing in front of the mirror, and tidying up his coat, wanting to look good for his date with Uzi tonight.

While he was trying to look good, V had been watching him, and she got annoyed looking at him trying to look good when he looked the same as usual. “Ugh, stop making yourself look good, you look fine.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet of you, V,” N cooed as he appreciated V’s compliment, “Thank you.”

“I’m saying it because it’s annoying to watch you staring in the mirror for half an hour. Uzi is not into cute robots, you know. You’re cute enough,” The last part surprised V by her own words as she blushed.

N was flabbergasted by that last part when he looked at V. The female drone admitted that what she said was true, but she wasn’t so serious about that since she still thought of N as a lovable idiot for Uzi. V just turned her head, and crossed her arms stubbornly, “Sorry.”

But N laughed when he realized that he was right about V’s feelings for him since in the past, and she hated to admit it, “Haha, I knew you liked me!”

V still didn’t like admitting it, but with her arms still crossed, she let out a slight chuckle, smiling proudly,” Well, maybe.”

Even though N really liked V before, he admitted he still had, but he liked Uzi more now, and everything they had been through, they got through them together. But it didn’t mean he didn’t need V in his life anymore. She’s always a big part of his life, and that would never change, “Hey, V, I know things got so different between us back then, but you know that I always need you.”

“Well, you can always count on me for killing your troubles,” V smirked before unleashing her arm blade, “But if Uzi tries to hurt, I will kill her!”

“Hey, she won’t! I guarantee you; I’ll be fine. You don’t need to worry about me or Uzi. We’ll always look out for each other,” N turned back to face the mirror to fix any frizzy strand of his hair.

While V let N make himself look good, which she was still annoyed by, V couldn’t help but think about how Cyn/Solver tricked them and controlled them to destroy humanity and got sent to Earth to wipe out other worker Drones here in Copper 9. She also thought of the memories they had in store and wondered if some of them were the real memories, or some were fabricated.

“Hey, N,” V interrupted him for a second as she approached behind him, “Do you remember… everything when Cyn turned us or before that?”

This made N’s eyes widened and seemed to shake when V mentioned about Cyn and how she tricked him, V and J said, “I kinda remember some things… terrible things," He could remember a few memories of how Cyn/Solver destroyed humanity using himself and the other Worker Drones on Earth, and how humans struggled to survive from them. N shook his head, trying not to trigger another dark memory again, “I just don’t want to remember much of it.”

“I just thought of it because Uzi helped us unlock our real memories when we thought humans sent us here to wipe out those drones,” V said sadly, and there was some slight guilt from the tone of her voice, “But turns out, it’s not true.”

Seeing that V was still afraid about how Cyn turned her into a Disassembly Drone for the first time and how the Solver manipulated her since that apocalypse on Earth, N placed a hand on V’s shoulder, reassuring her, “We’ll be alright, V. Cyn is gone, and we can spend the rest of our lives here with our new friends!”

V scoffed while rolling her eyes as she gently shoved N’s hand from her shoulder, and waved her hands with a sarcastic cheering response, “Woopee.”

Chapter Text

Meanwhile, in Nori’s closet, all of her stuff was scattered all over the place. They were taken off from the walls, and some were dropped to the floor from their boxes. They were messed up and scattered all over the floor when the Absolute Solver almost devoured the whole planet and weakened the gravitational force. Once the Solver was defeated, the gravity went back to normal, thus crashing everything back on the ground and causing things to scatter around.

Khan was in Nori’s closet, picking up all of the stuff Nori made years ago. Khan spent his time cleaning up the closet while looking through all of Nori’s drawings. He put some of them in the boxes, and he stopped to stare at some of them. The drawings he mostly stared at were drawings of the Disassembly Drones. Nori really did draw them scarier and more monstrous than the real things. Though, they were as scary as Nori’s drawings years ago. They were so violent, murderous, and merciless. They killed countless of Worker Drones, and made other drones lose their families. They poisoned Nori, made him put her down, and had Uzi grow up without her when she looked and acted a lot like her mother.

But Khan was relieved and surprised that Nori finally returned and was alive, but not what he had expected. As he remembered, he disposed of Nori’s body, after euthanizing her, so she couldn’t have her body back, and stuck being her core.

Going back to Khan’s thoughts, he kept staring at Nori’s drawings of the Disassembly Drones. He couldn’t help but think about the remaining two who decided to live and stay with the Worker Drone colony, especially the one Uzi befriended. He was even more worried when he found out that Uzi and N were dating. He was worried that N might either accidentally or intentionally kill Uzi, and Khan won’t let that happen. He left his own daughter to die and get eaten by a Disassembly Drone once, and he won’t let that happen again this time. He knew he wasn’t the best father, but he wanted to make it up to her. Now that Nori was back, he tried to be better.

At least his first act of being a good father was to be supportive of his daughter, especially dating one of those murder drones, but he had doubts if this was a good idea or something good for his daughter. Looking back at the drawings, he feared that those drones might attack again, and might kill Uzi this time without him being there with her.

“Looking through my old stuff again?”

Khan’s worries interrupted when he heard Nori’s voice nearby. He turned around and saw Nori’s core standing in front of the closet with her eye showing a deadpan expression.

Khan knew what Nori was thinking about what he was doing… or thinking. It was about their daughter dating a murder drone. He didn’t understand why Nori supported their daughter’s relationship since they killed her years ago.

Khan sighed, and stood up while holding the same drawing, “It’s not like I disagree with our daughter dating one of those murder drones, it’s just that I want to protect her from them when I didn’t protect you either.”

Nori groaned loudly, rolling her eyes, “Ugh! You know that you shut me off, remember?!”

“You were better off dead anyway. Those drones stung you with those poisonous acid!” Khan recalled that day.

“As I remember, it’s not all of them! I could’ve survived too!” Nori stomped her claw on the floor, “If I still had my body, I could’ve strangled you!”

Khan closed the closet door, but he brought the drawing with him as Nori crawled on top of a nearby desk, “Look, if you remember that one of them stung you, why don’t you point them out?!”

“Why don’t you?! You were there when it happened!” Nori scolded, recalling that Khan was there when Nori got stung years ago. But she observed that Khan didn’t say a word. He only looked down and remained silent. It must be a sign that Nori didn’t expect from him. “You don’t remember, are you?”

“Look, it’s been years, and everything was a blur…!” Khan confessed before sighing sadly and facing away from his wife, “And I don’t want to remember the day I lost you… when our daughter is still a baby… She hardly recognized you.”

“At least she still had my signature looks,” Nori chuckled proudly, knowing her daughter was the spitting image of herself, “I wasn’t so sure, but I remember one of them stung me,” Being the heart of a Worker Drone, Nori couldn’t remember some fragments of memories before she got poisoned. She tried to think hard and recall the murder drone who killed her, but she realized that Uzi dated one of them, and, as a mother, Nori couldn’t take her daughter’s happiness away because one of them killed her. She shook herself, and told her husband, “But I don’t want to ruin my daughter’s life again. I want her to be happy, and if it’s with that N guy, then we’ll respect that.”

Khan groaned in defeat before throwing the drawing on the desk, and felt tired of arguing with his stubborn wife again about their daughter’s new relationship, “Fine! I guess she could take care of herself, right?”

“You raised her well,” Nori complimented as if it were a “thank you for-raising-our-daughter” gesture. When Khan made a blush on his screen, and leaning in towards Nori while puckering up, the heart roughly slapped across his face with her claw, “Eww, don’t do that!” she jumped off the desk to get away from her husband.

Khan chuckled, “Just wanting to see if I still got it!”

Back with N and V’s hideout, N was making finishing touches with his looks by wiping the “dust” off his clothes while V forcibly watched him making a fool out of himself as she rolled her eyes.

The silence interrupted when V spoke up, “I can’t help but think about that little thing that keeps crawling on Uzi.”

“Uzi’s mom? Yeah, that’s her,” N explained.

“I kinda thought she was dead,” V mentioned before having her pupils widened, “Wait, isn’t that the purple lady we killed years ago?”

“Well, we didn’t kill her, we stung her with our acid,” N corrected, “As I know you, you could’ve finished her off when you can.”

“It’s true! I’m not doing okay that time,” V chuckled proudly to herself while eating a nearby robotic cockroach, “Wait, if Uzi’s mom got stung, which one of us did it again?”

“Umm, wouldn't it be you?” N guessed

“Nah. Like you said, I could’ve finished her off.”

“Yeah. J?”

“Maybe, but you know how busy she is tormenting you.”

“Does that mean…?”

N suddenly started to worry. Numbers had already fallen to him. Only three of them got sent to Copper 9 by Cyn, and killed every Worker Drone in sight. But not all at the same time. Every Disassembly Drone targeted one Worker Drone at a time, and fed on their oil. So, it could’ve been only one of them who killed Uzi’s mother that time. V and J were already out of probability, which leads to N now.

V saw that worry expression on N’s screen, which made her worry for him as well, but she doubted if it was N who did it, “Could’ve been you?”

“I… I don’t remember,” N said, clenching his hand against his face, “I mean, I thought I remembered some things, but…”

All of a sudden, his screen glitched, and his yellow eyes were replaced with a giant “X”.

Fragrance of memories glitched into view as N could see the past of how he, V, and J were manipulated and controlled by the Absolute Solver. It sent them to Copper 9 via spaceship, and rose into the air before beginning their attack on the roam-free Worker Drones.

There was a glimpse of memory where the Disassembly drones tried to get into Outpost 3 when the giant door was closing. When the three tried to reach for the inhabited Worker Drones inside while keeping the door from completely closing, two of the Worker Drones who witnessed the terror were Khan and Nori, while the latter was holding a pill-shaped baby robot who happened to be Uzi.

When the Worker Drones tried to close the door by hand, they avoided being touched or sliced by the Disassembly Drones’ weapons. But one of them had their syringe tail go through the narrowed opening, and swooped further in, hitting Nori’s right chest, injecting the nitrate acid from the syringe. Khan gasped when he saw his wife was stung by a syringe tail. He left his post, and rushed forward to aid Nori, as she felt weak, and her legs collapsed while holding Baby Uzi. Nori’s screen suddenly glitched with a glimpse of “Fatal Error” code flashing.

The empty syringe tail was withdrawn from Nori’s side and retreated out of the door. The tail was shown to be connected with one of the Disassembly Drones, and turned out to be N, who showed his “X” eyes and hungry, sharpened teeth, before the giant door was completely closed.

As the flash of memories was finished showing, N returned to reality with Uzi’s purple Absolute Solver symbol and her admin shown on screen. He gasped in terror for what he’d seen while trying to catch his breath.

V noticed N’s brief pause as she placed her hand on his shoulder, “N? Are you okay?”

N wasn’t sure himself that he’s okay or not. After seeing that memory, it all came together now… He wasn’t sure if that was the right memory or a false memory, but it seemed like a real memory to him. His yellow eyes were shaken and even glowing out of anxiety. He breathed rapidly and couldn’t speak.

V felt more worried for N now. It wasn’t like him anymore to be worried and afraid. Cy was gone, and they lived peacefully in Copper 9, but seeing N like this was like Cyn was still there, but worse.

“V,” N finally spoke from his panic attack with digital sweat appearing on his screen, and faced V with a guilty look, “I… I remember now…”

“What?”

“I remember who did it. I remember who killed Uzi’s mom.”

“Who? Me?” V wanted to guess it was her, but N shook his head no, “J?” V guessed again, but N shook his head again. V didn’t want to guess who was next because she never thought of N would do such a thing… But then, there were only three of them Disassembly Drones here in Copper 9, and since N already convinced herself and J that neither of them had killed Nori… which could only mean one thing… leading to the last Disassembly Drone in the culprit list.

“Me,” N replied sadly and silently. V’s mouth gaped in shock with her pupils widened. It was a horrible thing in N’s case. All three of them killed Worker Drones before, but N killing Uzi’s mother was a big deal. N’s panic attack happened again, and he rambled, “I-I wasn’t in control. I was following orders, I needed oil, and…!”

But there was no excuse for what happened. It happened anyway. It was N who killed Uzi’s mother. He and the other two were converted by Cyn, and they were obeying direct orders to kill all free Worker Drones in Copper 9, but they never knew the Absolute Solver wanted them to be sent to Copper 9 to kill Nori and Yeva so no one would stop it from finishing its job.

And yet, N never knew he would befriend and date a Worker Drone who happened to be the daughter of the Worker Drone he killed those years.

N was worried… scared… guilty. His screen rapidly glitched when he felt a heavy guilt inside of him, especially when the words “Mode: Guilty” appeared in his screen.

He did it.

He killed his girlfriend’s mother.

He made Uzi’s father put her mother down.

He made Uzi grow up without a mother.

He made Nori suffer until her body was shut down and lived the rest of her life as her own core, looking for a way to defeat the Absolute Solver.

What would he tell Uzi now?

What would she think of him if he told her the truth?

“It was me.”

Chapter Text

“What do you mean you killed Uzi’s mom?” V asked when N snapped out from his rapid breathing.

“Remember those years ago we were sent here on this planet to terminate runaway Worker Drones?” N recalled the false memories the Solver reprogrammed for them.

“Uh, yeah, we thought the humans programmed us to do our jobs, but it turns out it was Cyn.” V answered.

“Exactly! And we attacked them through those doors. We couldn’t get through, so I shot Uzi’s mom with my tail!”

“Look, N, it wasn’t your fault. It was the Solver. It made us do these things. It made you kill Uzi’s mom. Besides, she was technically alive now. It wasn’t your fault!”

“But still. It was me, V. It was from me. It was my acid, my poison, so it was my fault.” N sighed as he realized that now he remembered what happened to Nori; her daughter deserved to know the truth as well, even if it’ll hurt her. “I’m going to tell Uzi.”

N rushed towards the door and was about to tap on the keypad before V swooped in between him and the door.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Where do you think you’re going?” She extended her wings to block the whole door from N.

“To find Uzi and tell her the truth,” N tried to move aside to find a way past V.

“I can’t let you do that, N,” the female Disassembly Drone extended her arms to block more of N’s way.

“Why?!”

“Listen, I don’t trust that purple thing before…” V lowered her arms with a small blush appearing under her eyes in her screen, “But I saw how much she made you happy… She made you feel something that I couldn’t…” N’s eyes widened, making a hollow around the rings as he was surprised that V felt envious about their relationship, but V shook her head, masking her blush, disappearing from her screen. “And I won’t let you give it all up just because you killed your girlfriend’s mother.”

“She deserved the truth, V,” the male Disassembly Drone said before murmuring with a sad tone, “She deserved better than I do.”

“Correction: You both deserve each other!” V yelled, “You both changed because you had each other. A good change. And I won’t let you ruin that.”

“I already ruined Uzi! I ruined her life because she had no mother to be with because of me. She didn’t know much about her mom until we encountered Cyn again. What am I supposed to do? Don’t tell Uzi just because I’m happy to be with her?”

V rolled her eyes as N’s suggestion was an obvious reason, “Yeah. That’s the whole point.”

“I don’t keep secrets from Uzi anymore, V. So, get out of my way.”

“You’re not leaving this room or going out this door!”

“Watch me!”

“You’re going to get through me first!”

As Thad and Lizzy were walking down the hall, they were startled when V was shoved out of the room as the door broke down with her. N flew out with his wings extended before landing back on his feet, closing his wings, and running down the hallway in the other direction.

“Sorry, V, but I have to do this! For Uzi!”

V groaned in pain as she tried to get up and yelled frustratingly, “Urgh! N! Get back here!” She extended her wings and flew off to go after N, and hopefully couldn’t reach Uzi.

Thad and Lizzy were frozen when they watched this scene. But, excitingly, Lizzy took out her phone and hoped to get a better shot to take a video.

Meanwhile, Uzi quickly opened the door as he tried to get away from her parents while Khan tried to reach for her while Nori was trying to catch up, as it wasn’t easy for her to run that fast as a Heart with little legs.

“Dad, could you please leave me alone?! I have to get to N. It’s our second date night!” Uzi demanded while leaving a digital blush on her screen under her eyes. She felt embarrassed that her dad controlled her dating life.

“I just want to make sure your hat is okay, buddy.”

“My hat is okay, Dad! You just don’t want me to leave to get to my date.”

“What if he’ll have you for dinner?”

“N is not like that, Dad. You already know him!”

As she was about to head down the hall and got distracted by her father, Uzi didn’t notice N was flying towards her as they crashed into each other, feeling a little bumpy on their heads.

Uzi groaned in pain as she placed her hand on his head before opening her eyes to see her boyfriend in front of her, “N?!”

N also rubbed his head and surprised his girlfriend, “Uzi?!”

When Uzi stood up from the floor, she offered her hand to N to help him stand up. When N accepted the help, he stood up but felt his legs wobble with nervousness and guilt.

“I was about to get you, but I’m glad you’re here. Ready to go?” Uzi asked excitedly.

“Um, Uzi,” But N couldn’t keep the smile on his face. He wasn’t even smiling at all. All he could feel for Uzi is guilt and regret, but he kept hold her hand, gesturing how sorry he was for her, “Um, there’s… something that… I wanted to tell you…”  While looking at Uzi, she only smiled at him, waiting for him to say something. Then, N shifted his gaze from Uzi to Khan and Nori, who was standing beside Khan’s foot. Both of them were listening and waiting. N was too embarrassed and guilt-ridden when Nori was also there to listen when she was the subject of this incoming conversation, but he has no choice but to tell Uzi the truth, “I..”

“N!” V shouted as she finally caught up with him, but she stopped flying forward when she saw Uzi in front of N, meaning he was ready to confess. V landed on her feet gently and hid her wing before pleading, “Please, don’t do this.”

Uzi tilted her head and arched a digital eyebrow as it was unexpected that V had to be here when N was going to fetch Uzi up for a date. “N? What is going on?”

“Uzi, it’s…” Before he could speak, N turned around at V, who shook her head “No,” begging him not to tell Uzi the truth while Thad and Lizzy arrived as Lizzy still held her phone up to catch this moment on video or livestream. N then turned to Uzi’s parents, who were still waiting. Then, he looked back at Uzi with that cute, curious face. The face that N couldn’t resist lying to, “I… I did it.”

“Did what?” She asked.

“You remember that you don’t know your mom until now?”

“Well, yeah, I mean, she was just right here,” Uzi just pointed to her mother as the Heart on the ground.

“Yes, but the reason you haven’t met her before… is me.”

“What are you saying?”

“I killed your mom, Uzi,” N confessed as Uzi’s smile dropped, “Years ago, when J, V, and I arrived. I remembered now. I poisoned her, and you grew up without her. I’m sorry, Uzi.”

There was only silence in the room. V was disheartened as she placed her pitied face on her hand. She told N not to tell Uzi, or it’ll break both of them, but N was as stubborn as he was stupid. With Thad just being silent with his eyes widened, he turned to Izzy, who was calm and shocked at the same time while holding her phone. She was determined she got a good shot at this dramatic scene. Khan was beat but not so surprised since he already believed it was the Disassembly Drones who killed Nori, but he couldn’t imagine it would be the one who his daughter dated. He then looked down at Nori if she couldn’t believe in that. Nori couldn’t even look at anyone’s eyes as she looked down. She couldn’t remember, but it was hard to believe that it was N who did it.

Uzi remained silent and frozen as she was trying to process this confession. She felt like her brain was buffering. Why would N say something like this? All of a sudden? Out of the blue? It has to be some kind of trick to make her laugh. She didn’t believe N would kill her mother. He was too clumsy to do such a thing.

Instead of a slap or a shout from Uzi, N realized she let out a hard laugh as if he was kidding, “Oh, N! That is a good one! Good joke!”

“It’s not a joke, Uzi. It’s true. I did it. N’s voice was stern and serious. He wasn’t joking at all. He was still holding Uzi's hand and tightened his grip a little to let Uzi know he was serious. “I killed your mom.”

“Come on, N! I know you won’t do such a thing,” Uzi chuckled before shifting her gaze at V, “V, come on, tell him. You were there! Tell him it wasn’t him.”

But V didn’t answer. She was silent. She didn’t know what to say. She might remember a little, but despite being under Cyn’s control before, she could still recall their first attack on the Worker Drones, including when she, J, and N tried to get through the doors years ago.

Seeing V refuse to say something, Uzi began to hesitate to believe this was all true as she chuckled hysterically, “V, you were there, right? Tell me he didn’t do it.”

But the female drone didn’t answer. She still had her mouth shut.

If V won’t answer, Uzi turned to her parents. They were the real witnesses when it happened.

“You were there too, Dad. He’s not the reason he made you shut off Mom, right?” She was hoping to get real answers from her father.

Khan couldn’t answer that either. His memory was a bit blurry when Nori was stung by the Disassembly Drone’s syringe tail, but when he was trying to remember that moment, he couldn’t tell which one did it. But if N confessed his own fault, then it might be him. It must be N.

Since her father couldn’t answer that either, Uzi started from disbelief to worry. She turned her gaze to the one person who was the victim of the past.

“Mom?”

At first, she wasn’t sure. It happened so fast for Nori. But then, it all came back to her.

While the Worker Drones tried to keep the Disassembly Drones from entering, Nori got a chance to take a glimpse at one of them before it slid its syringe tail through the narrow opening and stroked onto her chest. As Nori felt the acid flow into her robotic body, she got a chance to follow the other end of the tail. The trail followed all the way back to its owner, which led to… N.

That was the last time she had seen a Disassembly Drone before she detached herself from her body. She didn’t want to remember the face of the drone that shot her with poison. But when she met N in the underground tunnels, he was so familiar to her. But now she knew why.

She looked back at her daughter, who was waiting for her answer. Without a mouth, she couldn’t express her silence, but just a single light of her eye, it showed her hesitance of answering the truth.

With that, with just silence answering her question, Uzi was still hesitant to believe. er She didn’t want to believe.

She just couldn’t.

N would never…

“Uzi, it’s all true,” N said, interrupting Uzi’s buffering thoughts and making her turn to him, “I shot your mom with my acid when the three of us couldn’t reach the other Worker Drones that time. I poisoned her, and I made your dad do what he did. I’m so sorry, Uzi…”

When N reached for her hand to comfort her, Uzi angrily shoved him away.

“DON’T TOUCH ME!!!”

N didn’t force himself to back away when Uzi told him to. Even V, Thad, and Lizzy were shocked by this scene.

There was nothing Uzi could feel but sadness, anger, and betrayal. “When I first met you, I would never think it was you! All my life, my dad kept telling me he shut off Mom because any of you shot her with your nanite acid, but I could never think it would be you! I rather thought it would be J because she’s the psycho one!” As Cyn was about to cry or show a tear, Uzi slapped herself, showing her screen “Edge Levels: Critically Low” as it charged up to 100%. As her Edge Levels restored, her eyes reappeared, but they were still sad, betrayed eyes. “I can’t believe it was you.”

“It was an accident, Uzi, honest. It wasn’t my intention… Cyn did…”

“But deciding to side with me was your intention?”

She didn’t know anymore. N was converted by Cyn like J and V. He couldn’t have known which side he was on. He sided with Uzi because he realized what was right, and he has full control of himself. Would it have been any different if he had had self-control over himself during his group’s first attack? Would he have had his own intention to stop himself from attacking the Worker Drones before he changed his ways?

That was how N showed his expression of doubt about himself. He couldn’t make his own choice in any way. He was too stupid to try doing the right thing.

“Exactly. And you could’ve fought back!” Uzi pointed out.

“I’m so sorry, Uzi. Please forgive me… I—I can make it up to you,” N pleaded as she reached for her, but Uzi still backed away.

“You killed my mom! You made me grow up without her. You made my dad shut her off with a wrench! You even made me question who I am because my mom couldn’t explain everything because she wasn’t here with me! How could I ever forgive you?!”

There was silence again. N couldn’t answer. He couldn’t go back in time to stop himself from killing Uzi’s mother. He couldn’t fix the mistake that he made in the past. Despite that Nori was still alive, he couldn’t bring Nori back to when Uzi was still a baby to raise her.

He didn’t know what to do to make things right anymore now that everything he did was done and unfixed. Cyn may be gone, but he couldn’t undo the things that made Uzi’s life miserable.

“Uzi…” N tried to take a step closer.

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” Uzi’s shout made not just N, but everyone in the hallway, back away. Her shout also made one of Uzi’s eyes on her screen change into the Absolute Solver scale. She was almost going to use her new powers against him, but she couldn’t. Uzi couldn’t let her emotion to hurt anyone, not even her mother’s murderer… her own boyfriend.

Uzi couldn’t even look at N anymore. She had always seen N as cute, but now that she knew who killed her mother, she couldn’t even describe what she saw in him now. She turned away and marched back to her unit. Her parents moved aside as they couldn’t get in their daughter’s way. They knew her attitude. She got all of her attitude from Nori. So, no one could stop her from her path.

One glance at the guilty N made Khan try to say something, but he noticed Nori trying to follow their daughter, so he’ll do the same before shutting the door close.

He knew he screwed up. N knew he couldn’t take anything back for hurting Uzi by killing her mother. There was no way to bring her back now. But he did the right thing: telling the truth. It felt relieved for letting it out because he won’t lie to Uzi anymore. And that’s all that mattered. With nothing left to do, N decided to return back to his and V’s hideout… just to do nothing but sulk over this first “breakup.

“N…” V wanted to comfort N when he passed by her, but he didn’t let her touch him.

“Not now, V,” N said as he just sadly walked down the hallway.

V knew how sad N was now; she couldn’t help but feel pity for him. But she got a chance to notice Thad and Lizzy, who still stayed to watch until the end. Lizzy noticed through her phone that V saw them watching. V only gave a mad look before silently following N.

As V left, Lizzy finished recording, and she was darn happy that he got everything on record, but Thad crossed his arms, feeling disappointed for Lizzy disrespecting Uzi and N’s private “breakup.”

Chapter Text

In Uzi's room, Uzi was sitting on the floor while her back leaned against the edge of the bed. She hugged his knees and cried. She had been crying for who-knows-how-long, but it felt like hours. Hearing the new truth about her mother being killed by her current boyfriend was a complete shock to Uzi, and she felt in denial of accepting it, but it was the whole truth. She didn't know how he felt about N anymore. She was confused.

Nori crawled inside of her daughter's room and climbed up to her bed, reaching for her daughter's head and wanting to comfort her while caressing her claw on her daughter's hat, "Are you okay, sweetie?"

"That's gross, Mom," Uzi gently swatted her mother's claw away from her hat, "but not really. I just… couldn't believe that N…"

Uzi couldn't finish what she was going to say. She didn't like talking about it, but it was painful for her to know this. She buried her face in her knees again.

"Even if I had a little memory of what happened that day, it's so obvious that those things killed me. There's no denial about it," Nori chuckled a little, but it didn't cheer up her daughter.

"But out of all three of them, why did it have to be N? I know that Cyn was controlling him and V, and even J, but why does it have to be him? The drone that… I…" Uzi didn't want to finish that sentence as she wiped her "tears" and looked away from her mother, curling herself tightly. "Never mind! I don't want to betray you."

Nori's single eye narrowed in pity, and she admitted, "Uzi, you didn't betray me. I mean, yes, I was so pissed when you were dating one of them, but…" She crawled closer towards her daughter and caressed her whimpering face. "It doesn't mean you don't have to."

Uzi opened her eyes to look at her mother while making a sniff, "But, you're my mom, and my cute idiot boyfriend killed you."

"Yes, and it was unbelievable that it was the stupid, gullible one who stung me, but I see the way he sees in you," Nori jumped onto one of his daughter's knees and made her look at her by lifting Uzi's chin with her claw. "And he seemed to care for you, and you care for him too." Uzi sniffed again while making a shy smile, and her visor made a blush under her eyes. Nori continued, "And if N makes you happy, then that's what matters to me. I want you to live the happy teenage life that I used to have when I was your age. Make the most of it, sweetie."

Uzi was surprisingly touched by her mother's advice. And since they were making up their lost time, she had to listen to her mother for this as Uzi held her in her hands and caressed her on her face, "Thanks, Mom."

Uzi put her mother down gently and rushed outside, right when her father opened the door to check on her, but he was too late.

Khan was shocked that he knew Uzi was going after N when she headed outside and closed the door behind her. He looked at Nori and asked in shock, "Are you seriously going to let our daughter get back with that drone who murdered you?"

"Either you or I stop her; she won't listen. I've been there," Nori stated as Khan groaned in defeat and walked away.

Meanwhile, in N and V's hideout, N was sitting on his bed while hugging his knees, silently trying to reflect on the drama happening earlier.

V was sitting by the window and was still groaning in disbelief, for she had witnessed between her teammate and the girl she used to rival, "You really did it, N. Why did you tell her that?"

"Because she deserved to know!" N shouted frustratingly with his fists on his sides before hugging his knees again, "That's her mom, V! She had questions all her life about why she never knew her mother, and I'm the reason why."

"So, that's it? You're gonna let her go?" V asked.

"Of course I do! I love her too much to keep her when I know she hates me forever now."

"But what about you? Do you want that?"

N paused for a moment. There was no denying the thought of what he wanted, "No, but I must respect that. She wants to be alone."

"What about what you wanted?" V pointed it out before putting her feet on the ground and slowly approaching her friend. "N, you spent your entire existence pleasing everyone around you just to win them, but maybe it's time that you should do something that you want to do, even if it's wanting Uzi back."

"But I know she didn't want me around," N sighed hopelessly.

"Hey, if I know Uzi, she'll never stay mad at you for that long. She likes you, and just giving her time and you telling her how you felt, you can have her back. I say you should fight for her…," V stopped herself quickly when she realized she was giving love advice to N… all of a sudden, which was weird for her. "Gosh, why did I become so sappy about your dating life?!" She gagged as she walked back to her spot.

N had time to think about what V had told him. And it was true, V was too tough to give love advice. But she was right. He had always made people happy and comfortable by being nice and giving them what they wanted, but he never considered what he wanted for himself, and that includes being with Uzi. It might sound selfish, but he wanted to fix things, even dealing with the consequences of what Uzi might do to him if he got near her while she was in that state. "You're right, V. I should never give up like that. But I need to talk to Uzi." N hopped off his bed and headed straight to the door. When he opened the door and was about to leave, he was surprised that Uzi, who had just arrived, was standing in front of her, almost ready to crash into her. "Uzi?!"

V tilted his head to see Uzi at the door. "Wow, that was fast."

There was an awkward silence between them. They made a dramatic scene back there a moment ago, and now they were here together again.

"Uzi, listen, I'm so—" N was about to apologize, but he was cut off when Uzi interrupted him.

"Let me talk first." Uzi held her hand up while "tears" formed in her eyes. "I'm still… upset about what you did to my mom… about what you did to me."

"I know, I—"

"But I know you're sorry for what happened, and you didn't mean to," Uzi sniffed for a moment and cleared her throat since her voice cracked when she continued, "You were following orders when Cyn scrambled your brains, and… you didn't know what you had done, and I should've known better. I'm sorry."

"No, Uzi, you have every right to be upset with me! I'm the one who should be sorry. I killed your mom, and it was unacceptable," N said, wanting Uzi to take back her words about him.

"No, I'm sorry you didn't know better!" Uzi argued, wanting to take the blame.

"No, I'm sorry I hurt you since you were a little droid." N argued back, accepting his blame.

"No, I am!"

"No, I am!"

"I am!"

"I am!"

The two made a cute but unnecessary argument about who's apologizing to whom before hugging each other while "happy" tears formed in their visors, happy that they got back together again.

"Ugh!" V's disgusted groan interrupted the moment as Uzi and N turned to her. "Just sorry, and that's enough? Geez, you two are so cheesy."

"Bite me, and you're ugly!" Uzi shouted, defending themselves from V's criticism.

"Didn't you two have a date together tonight?" V reminded about the date we planned.

Without wasting time, Uzi and N smiled in agreement as they held hands and left the scene.

V came out of the room and watched the two lovebirds going out on their date. Lizzy arrived right beside her while the former was holding her phone.

"Are they… back together?" Lizzy asked in disbelief as V nodded, "It was only an hour!"

"Yeah, well, they're both gross," V commented.

Lizzy nodded in agreement, "Totally."