Chapter Text
"UZI!", Uzi heard N yell. How did she get here? Why was it so dark and cold? This place looks like one of the various winding hallways of the Bunker that Uzi called home, but this was somehow..... different. She knew almost every inch of the Bunker, but this didn't look like any part of the Bunker that she was familiar with. To complicate matters further, something was off about this place, there was tension in the air, every little noise, a creak here or a metallic groan there, set Uzi on edge. "UZI"! She heard N's voice again, eyes hollowing. "N?" Uzi said, "N where are you?". Uzi's core was growing heavier as both dread and fear took hold. She started frantically looking around for the source of N's voice. It didn't help that the hallway that she found herself in was completely shrouded in darkness. " H Eͧ͒ L̨̜̹̔̽̂ P̶̤̗̋̂ M̮ͪ E̶͚͒ͩ͡͡_̠̃̀̚͟ Ư͕͕̯̻̟͕͇̮̄̔̎͢͠ Z͘ I̷̫͂́͞ !̍̾ͤ͟" She heard N's again only somehow distorted and distant. "N........What?.....where is everyone? Where are-" Uzi started before she heard N's agonized screams.
The dream was shattered by the ever-annoying beeping of her alarm clock. Uzi groggily moved to shut off the alarm before realizing that the source of the beeping was coming from her own visor that was reading 8:00 p.m. "Oh. Right. Fuck." Uzi said before lightly tapping her visor, replacing the display with Uzi's rather tired blended purple and yellow digital eyes. Uzi looked around to see that N had already left both her room and his pilot's cap on the table next to Uzi's bed. Uzi groaned as she slowly tore herself from the warm embrace of her bed. Quickly getting dressed and doing her nightly routine of trying to figure out where she put those damned boots of hers. Once they turned up after a good ransacking, Uzi went to the kitchen to find where N usually went whenever he got up before Uzi did.
Right on schedule, N was in the kitchen preparing an oil/worker drone soup for him, Uzi and her mother. Uzi never really got used to the gut-wrenching sight of her kind being butchered and prepared as food, but even she couldn't resist the delicious taste and intoxicating smell of the oil. She was almost salivating at the thought of the warm, sweet oil flowing through her, cooling her systems. "Oh, hey Uzi. Didn't see you there." N said, his voice shaking Uzi out of her predatory trance. Uzi then noticed how she was leaning around the corner and peering from the shadows like a serial killer. The Solver that she was cursed with was always making her do things like this, it made her feel like a freak and she hated it. Despite this, she tried to act natural, "So, who'd ya kill this time?" Uzi asked as she made her way to the fridge. "Oh no one that you are going to miss. I went and yanked this one from the Corpse Spire the other night" N answered. Uzi spat out the worker drone arm that she had in her teeth, "You what?!" She almost fell off the stack of books that served as a stool to help her reach the higher shelves of the fridge. "N, I know that you still care about J despite the whole betrayal thing, but I need you to stop going out there by yourself. She clearly doesn't want any company." Uzi said. N sighed, "I know, I know, but what am I supposed to do? Let her sit there and rot? She may have been mean to me-", "Abusive" Uzi interjected. "Even so, we have all been through a lot and J must have had her reasons for doing what she did. She's all alone out there and she might know more about me and V's past. It would be a tragedy to not at least talk to her." N said whilst scratching the back of his head. "Ugh, fiiiiiinnnnnneeeee. You can talk to J, but not alone. Me. V and Nori will go with you. We'll all make the trip together." Uzi said before adding, "J may be alone, but she's still dangerous."
Those words made and entirely different concern pop up in N's processor, "That reminds me, what do you have in mind for our date tonight? When I asked you about it last night, you just sort of said 'something dangerous' before maniacally laughing." Well shit, Uzi had completely forgotten about their date. "Uhhh....." come on Uzi think, think. "Anime movie night....." Uzi said at last. Great Uzi, real smooth. "Hmmmmm...." N stood for a moment, contemplating what exactly that meant before returning his signature salute and a slightly uncomfortably wide grin. "Sure, I love doing anything.. But I do have to ask, what's an 'anime?" N asked, curious as ever about things that Uzi enjoys. Uzi started laughing like a complete gremlin, slightly unnerving N, "Oh you have no idea about the awesomeness that I am about to introduce you to." Uzi said, her mind whirling with ideas about what series they should watch first. There were countless possibilities, Uzi would have a hell of a time choosing one for them to watch later that night. Unfortunately this train of thought was interrupted by the stench of something burning drew Uzi's attention to the soup that N had neglected for just a little too long. "N.". "Yeah Uzi.". "Why is the soup on fire?". "What do you mean the soup is- AHHHHHHH! HOW DID THAT EVEN HAPPEN!" N said, panicking as he quickly switched one of his hands to a fire extinguisher and began dousing the flames. Uzi couldn't help but crack a smile at the lovable idiot as he desperately tried to salvage what he could of their meal. He was always doing what he could to help or make things just that little bit better. It's one of the things that Uzi liked most about him. He was someone who cared and that was something that she always wanted but never had as a child, just someone who truly cared about her.
As the fires died down and N started to check the charred remains of the worker he couldn't help but pout like a dog that just lost their bone. "Sorry Uzi, I don't think that much oil survived and the drone might be a little... Well-done." N said. Uzi went and gave N a big ol' hug. "Don't worry about that, we've got plenty of oil stashed at Doll's house. Besides, all I really need is you anyway. Thanks.". N smiled softly as he returned the hug.
"What are you two still doing here?" Came a voice from behind them. "School starts in 10 minutes. You're going to be late if you don't get going." Nori said. Uzi and N released each other and turned to see an annoyed Nori tapping one of her crab claws against the floor. "MOM! Can't you see that we're having a moment!" Uzi complained. " That's no excuse for being late to school Uzi, and N, you should know better than to let this happen. You may not care about being late but that's no reason to make my daughter late as well. I expect better." Nori chastised. "Sorry Mrs. Uzi's mom, I swear it won't happen again." N said as he tapped the tips of his index fingers together. "It's Nori. Now get going, before I get a call from the school about tardiness or something lame like that." Nori replied. "But-" Uzi began before being interrupted by her mother. "NO BUTS!" Nori said as she summoned her Solver to yank Uzi's backpack off a nearby hanger before using it to usher Uzi and N out the door.
Elsewhere in the Bunker, V was lying motionless on the couch in Lizzy and Thad's living room. She had been staring at the ceiling fan for what must have been hours, doing absolutely nothing but waiting for something, anything to happen. She had been sleeping like shit ever since Cyn died. It bothered her, not the lack of sleep, but everything. Adjusting to life in the Bunker was a radical shift away from her previous life of constant war. She felt like she was slowly losing her mind. She had already killed herself multiple times just for the fun of it. She always killed herself in ways that she would always regenerate from, can't leave N like that, that would be selfish even for V. Making everything worse was the fact that she couldn't really talk to anyone about it, about her experience. The only person who she could really talk to about it was N and even then, he didn't remember the vast majority of it, as such, conversations on the topic always left V unsatisfied. Everyone else simply just wouldn't understand, how could they? Would they even care to hear what drove a murder drone to butcher and eat their families, friends and co-workers, sometimes right before their eyes. No.....of course not. Not even a heel-face turn and saving their miserable little planet would ever wash the oil from her hands. The time for redemption had long since past in the digital eyes of the Bunkers inhabitants. V heard footsteps steadily approaching the front door, it sounded like two drones. V's hunting instincts took over and she quickly moved from the couch to the darkest corner of the room where she might ambush the unsuspecting prey. V hadn't had any oil in a while due to her depressive state. As such she was already salivating at the thought of her dinner just walking up to her like it was room service, unaware of the glorious carnage that was about to ensue. V waited patiently and sure enough the door opened and in walked two worker drones who were chatting away about weed strains and how hard it was to find any plants on a frozen death world. V was disappointed to say the least, she had been hoping that these were just random workers that she could quietly kill for their oil. That wouldn't work given that she actually liked one of these drones, so V might as well announce her presence in her own V sort of way. Which is to say that she quickly swooped down between the two, placing a clawed hand on Lizzy's shoulder and lifting Thad by his shirt scruff. "How are my favorite walking food sources doing this lovely night?" V said with her typical diva flair. Lizzy simply rolled her eyes before pulling out her phone and texting away, "V, like, you have so got to work on your greetings girl. Anyways, could you put my dork brother down?". "Um...yeah. What she said.... please." Thad said, surprisingly less terrified than he really had any right to be. "Oh fine, he probably wouldn't even taste that good anyway." V said, somewhat disappointed as she released her grip, allowing Thad to fall to the floor. "So, whatcha doin?" V inquired. "Oh, we were talking about what kind of stuff we should bring when we go hang-out with Zi and N&Ms later tonight." Thad replied, "We ran into them near school and asked them if they might want to hang later.". "There's like, totally no way that they were serious about that, bozo. I heard that the purple freak and the hot murder guy are supposed to go on a date tonight." Those words stung V a little, she might have had something with him once and, honestly, a part of V still wanted to have something between them, but it's better for him to be with someone that can actually make him happy. V knew she was only ever good at destroying things, anyway. "Oh, come on Lizz, after everything that happened recently with the planet almost killing us all, I think it would be a good Idea for everyone to have a little R&R and enjoy themselves." Thad said as he got to his feet and dusted himself off, "besides, you've never turned down a good weed sesh with friends before, Uzi even said that they would skip school for it.". V mentally pictured what this little shindig would look like in her possessor. Smoke choking the air, spliffs in hand, surrounded by friends, good vibes and being zonked out of her fuckin mind sounded exactly like what she needed to take the edge off as well as lift her spirits, but where would they go? Where could they enjoy the positive waves without being disturbed? Goddamn it! V hated thinking. Thinking is what got her in this depressive mood in the first place. Then it popped in to her mind. "You know.... I might know a place that might be perfect for the occasion." V sort of blurted out. Lizzy and Thad looked at her, V usually never had any part in planning group activities. V continued "So there is this rooftop out in the city that me and N used to go to whenever we felt like we needed a change of scenery from staring at corpses all day." V said. " Isn't that out in the city where, ya know, J might try to, like, kill us or something?" Lizzy asked. "I doubt that fuckin narc would show her face around us after the bullshit she pulled." V hissed. That wasn't just V bluffing, J had fucked up and committed the cardinal sin in V's book: J had hurt N. For this crime there could be no forgiveness, no redemption or reconciliation, J was now an enemy and as such, was considered as kill on sight as far as V was concerned. "Alright, its a plan then. I've got to rummage through Sam's old stockpile for some of the good stuff. I'll see you two there." Thad said, pulling V from her thoughts. "See you there dweeb. Come on V, we got to go make sure that we look fabulous for tonight." Lizzy said.
As Thad turned to leave, Lizzy started to make her way toward her room, she soon stopped when she noticed that V wasn't following. " Yo! Are you good killer queen or what?" Lizzy asked. The subject of J got V thinking, this was a mistake. V figured that talking to Lizzy about her experience would be a waste of time, but fuck it, we might as well let it all out and suffer the inevitable judgement. " What's going on, V?" Lizzy said with more concern this time. "I don't know Lizzy, it's just that.... " V placed her hands on her hips and began pacing around, deep in depressive thoughts, " it's just that I'm not sure that I'm cut out for this whole peaceful life thing. I thought I wanted to be free from the constant death and suffering but this somehow feels worse. It's stressful as hell, I barely sleep. I'm bored out of my mind. I sometimes kill myself just to feel something and I don't know what to do about it." V lamented, visibly slumping and resigning herself to the inevitable judgement that was coming. Lizzy was surprised by the sudden confession. How could someone who was so collected, so badass and stylish to boot, be so............. lost. Lizzy put her phone away, turning her full attention to V. " Listen girl, you've been through some rough times, and I won't pretend to know what it was like. But you know that you don't have to go through this alone. You've got friends and I'm not talking about bullshit social manipulation; I'm talking about real genuine friends. You've got N, Uzi, Thad, hell, you've even got that sentinel that you picked back at the labs." Lizzy went and put a hand on V's shoulder, "You've got me.". The words were shocking considering who they were coming from. V had expected her to be disinterested like the phone addicted valley girl that she was. Did she.... care.... about her? "Lizzy.... " V said as she looked Lizzy straight in the digital eyes. "Yeah, V?" Lizzy said. "You're a damn good friend, you know that?" V said as she wrapped Lizzy up in a big ol' hug. "Anytime queen." Lizzy giggled, "Now let's go get ready for a good night with friends and weed." V did not release her grip. It was a strange sensation that V was feeling, it was almost as if she could feel the oil that was pumping throughout Lizzy's chassis. The slow rhythmic beating of Lizzy's core drew in V, she could almost smell it. She was so close now, V's mind was whirling with how good that oil would look, free of its metal cage, free for V to take. Wait! No, this is wrong! Stop! Lizzy is your friend! But she would let us have a taste, right? Friends help each other. That's what friends are for, isn't it. I'm sure that Lizzy wouldn't mind, plus I bet that her oil taste FUCKING AMAZING! V couldn't stop herself from salivating and licking her teeth at the idea of ripping Lizzy in half and drenching herself in all that warm, sweet oil. *THUNK* *THUNK* *THUNK*
The infamous yellow X that adorned V's visor glitched a little before being replaced by V's normal eye LEDs, "Umm, not that I totally don't enjoy the affection or anything, but could you like, put me down already?" Lizzy asked. A monument passed before V realized the awkward situation and quickly released her grip and hiding her still clawed hands behind her back. V was embarrassed, it wasn't like her to lose herself like that, sure she was the most psychotic killer on Copper-9, but she didn't mindlessly attack whatever was put in front of her. No, that was the old her. She had to be better. "Low on oil again, eh" Lizzy surmised, "when was the last time?". V hated admitting her vulnerabilities but even she knew that nothing stays secret when Lizzy has an interest in it. V sighed, "I haven't fed on any oil since me and the two love birds kicked the shit out robo-satan about a week ago." V said. "You really need to take care of yourself better V. Anyways, doll's murder house should still have plenty of unsightly corpses and gallons of oil for you to chow down on." Lizzy said. " Oh goddamn it. That stuff is older than dirt and tastes like shit." V bemoaned. "What were you expecting girl, a gourmet meal? Besides, the kills there are far fresher than whatever is in that grimy old Corpse Spire of yours." Lizzy said. Back in the old days V would have made her death especially gruesome for such a comment, "Damn V, you really have changed." V thought. As the two ran off to go get their smoke on after grabbing a snack at Doll's former residence, V couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, transitioning to a peaceful existence wouldn't be so bad if she had friends like these.
"Are you sure that you're alright to teach class tonight sir?" The Teacher was stirred from his drunken stupor. One of the students had mustered the courage to ask. The Teacher looked up from his bottle, "That depends, have either Uzi or one of her delinquent friends arrived to actually attend class tonight?" The attendance records of Uzi or any of her friends had been getting spottier by the day. N of course was always here, at least when Uzi wasn't running off with him to do whatever. Honestly the Teacher just wanted to go home and enjoy some peace and quiet, he was already disinterested in teaching during the day. Now they wanted him to teach a class at night, just because the purple idiot got superpowers. All of a sudden, they needed a 'special class session' because becoming a eldritch entity with cannibalistic tendencies fucks up your sleep schedule. "umn.... nooooo......" the timed worker drone said, sounding as if they were unsure about what response their answer would elicit. "Alrighty then." the Teacher said as he drunkenly stumbled to his feet, "I..... *hic*..... can't be bothered to teach a class that was specifically......*hic*... made for students who don't show up.". The Teacher then pointed to the worker drone who had just made the mistake of talking to him. "So if you want to learn anything, see him about it. Or don't, not that I care anymore. I'm going to go drink myself to sleep.". With that, the Teacher left the class hanging, took his whiskey in hand and drunkenly stumbled out of the classroom and headed home. If Uzi and her murderous band of ruffians couldn't be fucked to show up, then he didn't see any reason why he couldn't enjoy his night. They didn't pay him enough for this shit anyway.
The night was just as cold and bitter as it usually was on Copper-9. Fortunately, despite the strange storms, the night was clear and the sunlight reflected off of the Saturn-like planet that occupied a space in the star system along with Copper-9. The star light bathed the old penthouse rooftop in a beautiful twilight. Lizzy, Thad and V didn't have to add too much to make this space the perfect handout spot for any band of murderers and thieves. They simply just brightened up the place with some extra lights that they scavenged from a nearby run-down hardware store. By the time that Uzi and N showed up, Thad was just setting up some of the best cannabis products from Sam's old stash. "What's up fellow killers, class is in session and tonight's lesson: the art of fuckin blazing." V greeted, lit spliff already in hand. "Oh hell yeah. Where did you guys manage to find this stuff anyway?" Uzi asked as she began to browse through the assorted offerings. "This was all of Sam's old stash. Damn shame that he won't be around to supply us with more." Lizzy commented, silently accusing his killer. "Oh Sam, right. Where is that guy? I haven’t seen him around recently. Did he finally drop out or something?" Uzi pondered aloud. "Damn girl, that's cold. Anyway, he's the doormat who was always high that you murdered back at the Camp when you lost your mind and got all kill crazy." Lizzy explained. "Let's not worry about the details of who killed who. The important thing is that we are here. Now. Alive and in good company." Thad interrupted, calming the situation before it even had the chance to get out of hand. Before Lizzy could come up with any snarky comment, the red sentinel appeared and snatched Lizzy's phone and began the great game of keep-away. Uzi couldn't help but laugh at seeing one of her old bullies getting some rather funny karma. Thad took this as the perfect opportunity to make his request to Uzi, " Hey Uzi, since those two over there are pre-occupied...." Thad said while gesturing towards Lizzy and V where one was attempting to wrestle her phone out of the red sentinel's mouth and the other already completely baked and laughing at the futile struggle respectively. Thad continued, "...... could you help me roll these joints? Does N know how to roll?". " I can always teach him. Could we get your help over here N?" Uzi began only to notice that N was sitting on the ledge of the building and slowly kicking his feet back and forth. N turned his attention to Uzi, "Oh, hey Uzi. You should come over here, it's almost time and I don't want us to miss it." N gestured for Uzi to come join him. Uzi couldn't help but let curiosity take the rains, "I'll be right back Thad. N clearly found something cool." Uzi said as she walked over to where N was sitting. "Oh, man! Don't tell me I have to roll all of this stuff by myself." Thad complained. "Don't worry, I'll be back." Uzi replied.
Uzi sat down next to N, "Alright you cute lovable dork, what is it that you want me to see?" Uzi asked. 'Do you know what makes this place special, Uzi?" N asked. Uzi shook her head in response. N went on to explain, "Back when me and V were still hunting workers, we really didn't have much to do outside of our...... uh.... 'work'. The only other thing that we could do was to explore. V found this place and we used to come here whenever we had free time.". N's tale gave insight into V's past, she had always cared about N, even if she had to feign disdain in order to protect him from It's machinations, Uzi thought. N continued, "Turns out that staring at a corpse wall all the time gets boring after a while. Anyway, I don't know what it is, but we are just in time to see the debris shower. I think it's a side effect of the whole planet partially exploding thing, but it has got to be the 3rd most beautiful thing I have ever seen.". " Oh really? What is your number one spot for the most beautiful thing you have seen?" Uzi teased. N grabbed his chin as he thought for a moment. Uzi felt a tinge of jealousy that N had to think about the answer to what should be a simple question. "Well that position used to be occupied by V..." N started before he was interrupted by Uzi's tail growling at him from his left, his right occupied by an annoyed Uzi with the Solver symbol replacing her right eye. "Careful." Uzi warned. "Used to! Things have changed since then-" "YO! Drop your linen and quit your grinnin’. A shower is starting." V announced, directing everyone's attention to the night sky. Just as N had predicted, the night sky was lit up by an impressive cascade of flaming streaks from various debris that had been ejected out into space. What made the spectacle even more eye-catching was the strange purple and blue lightning that seemed to arc across the sky as the debris burned up in the atmosphere. "Woah. This is amazing." Uzi stated, enraptured by the chaotic, yet majestic interstellar display before her. "Holy fuuuuuuukkk, I'm trippin. You got some good shit here Thad." V said all the while keeping her eyes firmly locked on the flaming streaks as lightning danced around them. "As I was saying......." N said as he reacquired Uzi's attention while getting to his feet. N looked at Uzi, "Everything changed when I met you. Before we met, life kind of sucked. J was always mean, and V wasn't really there but that all changed when you came to the Corpse Spire. You treated me like I wasn't useless and terrible, you treated me like I mattered. I suppose what I am trying to say is that I've seen a lot of things in my life. I have seen all sorts of beautiful things, but none compared to you, Uzi.". There he was. That was Uzi's murder boy right there. "I know that Thad needed your help, but these showers are quite sporadic and I'm only going to get this one chance..... " N deployed his wings and extended his hand toward Uzi, " Would you join me for a dance?". Uzi took N's hand and pulled him close to her, " I thought that you would never ask. I love you." Uzi said as they both shared a long kiss with each other which had the added benefit of them not being on fire like last time. When they broke the kiss N gave his reply, "I love you too.". Soon after, Uzi and N both took off from the building and shot into the night sky, engaging in an almost angelic flying dance with one another as they gracefully soared through the air.
Meanwhile, V was experiencing the best high that she has ever had. This really was a good idea, Thad had long since given up on rolling for everyone since Uzi and N were having the night of their lives, as such, it was Lizzy, Thad, V and of course the red sentinel who kept the festivities going. V looked at Uzi and N, seeing them have fun together, laughing and giggling and just enjoying their time together. Good. N deserved happiness, of that there was no doubt in V's mind. But V? Did she really deserve a happy ending after all the barbarism that she willingly engaged in? Cyn had hurt her, it had hurt and dammed most of them. Except for V, the others had thought that the change in V's personality was part of what It did to her when it remade her. That was, of course, bullshit. V knew who she was, and she knew that deep down she had loved every single bloody drop of the merciless slaughter and savage butchery. She knew that she felt most 'alive' when she was covered in someone else's blood and that there was nothing that was going to make that go away. " Hey V, I've got some of the spicy shit here that says you can't beat the red dino-bot in a game of fuckin chess." Thad declared his challenge to V, pulling her from her spiraling thoughts. "Da fuck did you just say to me you little green shit?" V slurred through her weed induced haze. " The red sentinel is being annoying, so if you play chess against damn thing and win I'll give you some strong stuff that you can take with you, sound good? Or are you too chicken shit to take the offer?" Thad teased. Oh, it's on now. "Fine, I'll beat the raptor at chess you little bish. Your gonna eat those words fucker." V said, ever so sure of her victory. "Kick it's ass queen, this raptor ain't shit and my bozo brother should know better than to take bets with bad odds." Lizzy encouraged, taking a long drag on her joint before blowing an impressive cloud. A table was set, the pieces were put in play and the game began.
Eventually the night wound down, Uzi and N had been so pre-occupied with each other that neither were paying attention to the time. They had flown high into the sky, above the supposedly toxic clouds of Copper-9 where they pulled their wings in at the crescendo of their flight and held one another as they fell. "This was really nice, Uzi. We should do this again sometime." N said after a bout of joyous laughter as he skydived through the air. "Defiantly, I wouldn't trade this for the world, especially when I'm doing it with you." Uzi replied, smiling as she did. The ground was coming up fast, they both knew they only had a minute at most before they would have to react to save themselves from imbedding themselves into the concreate. Uzi looked at N, "What ya think murder boy? Do we have time for one more kiss?" Uzi teased. "After everything we've been through, we have all the time in the universe." N replied. "I guess you'd better kiss me then." Uzi said before N did just that.
V and Thad, apart from Lizzy who was on her phone as usual, were engrossed in the chess game that V was currently losing even though the red sentinel's A.I was far more basic and primitive when compared to the worker A.I that V possessed. "You definitely got this V. You clearly have the raptor on the ropes" Thad chuckled. "Would you shud da fuck up already? I've got this red-eyed fuck dead to fuckin rights man. It's all a part of the plan. Just you wait." V said. V was no strategist; she had no plan let alone any idea of how she was losing this badly against something as brain dead as the sentinel. The sentinel was only one move away taking V's king and wining, fully aware of this situation, the sentinel wagged its tail and panted like an excited dog while eagerly awaiting V's next move. V needed a way out of this situation, she needed to save her reputation or else she would never hear the end of it. Thad suspected that V was on her last legs, "Not giving it up, huh? There ain't no shame in admitting defeat V." he teased while trying his hardest to not laugh. "In your fuckin dreams, you barely sentient toaster. Now shud da fuck up and let me think so I can blow your mind with this next move." V leaned back in her chair and gazed into the night sky in silent despair, she was going to lose to a fucking dinosaur and there wasn't a goddamn thing that she could do about it. As it happened, the perfect opportunity to escape this predicament was rapidly plummeting out of the sky straight on top of the penthouse where they were throwing this little gathering. V focused her digital eyes to see Uzi and N falling towards them, fast, too fast. At the rate they were falling V knew that the impact and resulting shockwave would kickup a metric fuck-ton of dust, who's to say it wouldn't also knock over the the chess board? We might never know who would have won? V decided a distraction was in order, "Oh holy fuckin shit! N and the purple fuck are going to hit us!" V yelled while directing everyone's attention to the incoming ballistic lovers. Excellently done V.
N had landed on the penthouse much the same way he had landed back at Camp 98.7, cradling Uzi in his arms to protect her from harm and using a powerful flap of his bladed wings to ensure that they made an actual landing as opposed to testing if their faces were tougher than several feet of concreate. When the dust had finally settled N spoke first, "Just like old times, right Uzi?". Uzi playfully nudged N with her elbow, "Old times? That was only a couple of months ago. Now quit saving me, you lovable dork." Uzi giggled. "Oh, right, force of habit. Sorry." N said as he set Uzi down. "Gross, like, they should just get a room already." Lizzy quipped, still perfectly well-lit spliff in hand. "Why do you always gotta bitch about everything and ruin the vibes? Obviously, they need to get a room but they’re having a beautiful moment together. Wait, how the fuck do you still have your joint lit after all that dust and shit?" V said, noticing the far more important issue. "When you smoke the herb for as long as I have, you learn a few tricks that I can totally teach you if you’re down to hang later." Lizzy replied. "Yeah, hi, I'm Uzi Doorman. I saved the world and we've been standing here the whole time, idiots." Uzi interrupted. "Hey, where you've been killer? Me and the other bad bitch here have been smoking some real good stuff while you and murder boy were having the time of your lives." V said. "N, you should have seen it, V was kicking the sentinel’s ass at chess. It was awesome." Lizzy said, completely lying through her mechanical teeth as she had been too stoned to pay attention to their little game. "That sounds great V. Glad to see that you’re doing well after everything that happened." N congratulated. Thankfully V was too stoned to be able to think about recent events. "Anyways, we should probably head back now. The sun will be up soon and that's kinda a death sentence for most of us, not to mention we have to make up some bullshit excuse for why we didn't go to school tonight, so I've got to head out. You coming N?" Uzi asked. "Of course Uzi, I'm getting pretty tired myself. We'll see you fellas tomorrow night." N replied. "Hey, do you think that you could give me a lift back to the Bunker N&M's? It'll take forever if I have to lug all of this stuff back." Thad asked. "Of course, no problem. Just hold tight and we'll be off." N accepted.
Moments after the gang departed, V and Lizzy were left to their own devices. "So, how did you like this little Shindig thing that Thad arranged for us?" Lizzy questioned. "You know, I actually enjoyed this little outing. It was just what I needed to take the edge off and unwind for once." V replied with a certainty that had evaded her life for so long. "BTW, here the bundle of weed that Thad promised you for winning against the Sentinel in the chess game." Lizzy announced, giving a bag of ganja to V. "But I didn't actually win...." V started before Lizzy interrupted, "The Sentinel was eating chess pieces when you weren't looking, babe. Since that's, ya know, cheating. You win by default." Lizzy explained. V knew it, there was no way in a billion fucking years that the prehistoric fucker was even remotely intelligent enough to comprehend what chess was, let alone play it. V liked having Lizzy around, her presence somehow made V feel like she could be herself without feeling like one of Cyn's crazy fucked up murder freaks. V wanted to ask Lizzy something, which was ever so awkward for V given that she had never "asked" a worker drone for anything before. "Uh, hey Lizzy." V started unsure of how exactly to go about it, "Do you think that, maybe....... umn....... we...... could...... say throw another one of these Shindigs again by any chance? With you, there? With me, as friends?". "Well, that sounded like shit. Great job V. You fucked up asking a simple question about doing this again." V thought, hating how the words came out. "Sure thing, V. All we got to do is make sure that we got enough cush to go around." Lizzy said. "Sweet, I can't wait to get sincerely fucked up with you again, Lizz." V Declared. "Too getting wasted with friends." Lizzy said as she used her still burning spliff to relight V's joint. "Likewise." V said as she took a long puff, blowing an impressive smoke cloud.
Unbeknownst to them, as V and Lizzy packed up the rest of their belongings and departed from the scene, they were watched from afar by two distinctive round yellow eyes of a disassembly drone that were barely peeking out from atop a chest-high wall at the top of a nearby skyscraper. J had been watching from the shadows the entire time, never daring to move from her position lest she be detected by her enemies. Instead, she had remained silent, deadly, like a predator watching and waiting for her prey to make the wrong move.