Chapter Text
They had replaced them.
Why?
A had sucessfully exterminated all other drone life, the abandoned city now a lifeless, barren wasteland of crumbling sky-high buildings, and A was now peacefully waiting for JCJenson to pick them up. It had been a while, sure, but they could survive just fine out here until then.
But one day, a crash hits the ground. Whatever, probably just a downed satellite of some sorts or a building collapsing. It was nuclear winter, who knows about what's happen in this snowy apocalypse of mass bio-death.
Then there was oil spread on the snow. New oil, fresh and hot. And bodies, entrails removed like they had been cannibalized.
And, oh, I don't know just AN ENTIRE FUCKING CORPSE SPIRE.
So, JCJenson sent more Disassembly Drones, whatever, maybe they were even here to pick up A. But nooooo,
Turns out, A missed AN ENTIRE FUCKING COLONY.
Whoohooo! The big doors you saw weren't just some old facility you had failed to notice before, it was a giant, thriving colony that escaped unharmed! The reason you were replaced is because you failed at your job and the company thought you up and died! Whoops, your bad, gotta just clean that up!
Sigh
A actually often read their diagnosis from afar, perched in a nearby hollow building, visor lights off, and soon finding out their serial designation numbers were N, J, and V.
J, she was the leader of sorts, receiving orders from the parent company themselves (which A did not know was possible), but far too gloat-y and was massivley too harsh on her teammates.
V, the main killer of the group. She was violent, ruthless, almost barbaric. But something was off with her systems, the augmented emotions were constantly on the fritz and then dormant for long periods of time. She needed to see a licensed technician for that, maybe her hardware got scrambled upon landing.
And N.
The... uh...
Conversationalist?
Entertainer?
Either way, he didn't kill that much at all, even his emotional processors felt low levels of guilt at a clean, painless snap. He REALLY needed to see a technician for that, he was built to disassemble, not feel bad and sulk around, trying to chat with his teammates more than kill.
Also, apparently these new models couldn't read diagnostics of others, otherwise V would've realized N was receiving romantic feelings around her long ago. Cowards removed that feature in the new model. But, A had to hand it to them, the anti-gravity to steady them while flying and extra nanites stored in headband looking things was pretty smart, even if their regenative capabilities were less, but hey, that file for regeneration had some weird side effects, especially on their visor software.
Either way, seeing some worker drones out, A got a small idea.
The newer models, they looked very different from worker drones.
But A? Sure, they were a bit tall and the tail would be a problem, but aside from that? They has a less sleek model, and their clothes fit in much more, especially for what seemed to be going on around the fashion style of the workers lately.
So, what if A snuck in?
Under a new identity, pretending to be a surviving worker from a far away colony?
Secretly making hundreds... 'dissapear'?
Now that, that would earn them their trip back to Earth.
A gently tucked their silver, feather-like bladed wings into their designated body cavities, nice and snug and hidden by the covering of their clothes. They begrudgingly coiled their tail back in too, curling up like the cord of a vacuum until even the sharp, nanite injecting tip was sheathed, perfectly normal worker drone looking. They gazed at the broken glass propped against a wall they used as a mirror, sighing at their blaring yellow eyes which still felt too ominous.
They looked in at their internal software, any way to change eye color? Eventually they found a string of code after much digging, and they dimmed their visor lights, now a much less threatening, albeit still bright yellow. Good enough, the worker drones weren't known for being smart anyway, just obedient.
A cautiously approached the door, practicing their fake shivering and reciting the story in their head. All they need was to get their attention.
Knock, knock
A gently rasped their knuckles against the vault-like door, letting their breathing slow and faux-shivering animation play, internally grinning.
"Huh- I, hello?"
A looked up sharply, eyeing the man that stood in the tiny crack in the door before them, confused, but not scared or aggressive.
Good.
"Who are you?" He prompted, which made A panic.
They hadn't even thought of a fake name. Idiot
"Im A- Abrea." They quickly shot, not knowing the naming principles of workers. Were they more human like? Was using the sound of a letter at the beginning of their name suspicious? Did they pronounce it weird? Should it have been ah-bree-uh instead of ay-bree-uh?
"What are you doing out there?" He said, concerned, eyeing the panel to open the door.
A- no, Abrea, recited what they came up with. "My colony... I'm the only one and this was the closest other... I-" they said, fake sadness and shock on their face, which couldn't look him in the eye and was taking particular interest in their shoes.
"Oh!" He exclaimed, hitting a button and causing the door to slowly open in front of Abrea. " We always take refugees." He explained, stepping back to let them in.
It was perfect...
Well, here A was.
In the infamous locked colony.
With all of their victims thinking they were just a tall worker drone.
The man who let them in was apparently named Khan, who also apparently built the doors, and was apparently the head of the "WDF", the Worker Defense Force. It was kinda pathetic for a defense force, just a couple of doors and a man sitting behind said doors.
Either way, Abrea said they were school age, and they weren't exactly lying, their model was fairly young-looking. Khan went off about them and his daughter being about the same age and maybe they could be friends and blah blah blah, typical dad stuff.
Just like that, they were admissioned into the school, given their own dorm and key, and as soon as it happened, was left to their own devices. Classes started tomorrow, and they could start scoping out victims.
Abrea locked the door swiftly before twirling around and extending their wings and tail, flopping onto the soft, warm bed, bladed wings splayed around them and sighing a breath of relief. It worked. It really worked. Those idiots. They just let their own demise into their guarded facility. The other Disassembly Drones had nothing on this, hell, if they were here they'd probably kill on sight instead of being careful and coordinated like them. All of this in A's little web of demise, picking off the strong before massacring the weak.
It was too good.
It was after hours, A wondered if anyone else was wandering the school. They deduced not so, and decided to take a walk, maybe get to know the layout and look at where the classes on their schedule were. (And maybe find a good murder spot, where to lure them to.)
A got up, donning the worker drone facade in one smooth movement, checking it in the mirror. Perfect. Even A only saw Abrea, a tall, distant worker drone who was new to the place. They grinned and chuckled quietly before turning to the door, unlocking it and silently wandering out into the locker-lined, cold, empty hallways.
They allowed their footfall to be less cautious, gentle echoey taps on the smooth tile floors, and hand, which they were debating switching to the sharp blades, brushing the wall as they got a feeling for the large corridors they would become familiar with. It was kinda nice, all things considered. Maybe when A was done they would wait in here for JCJenson, probably in the dorm they were assigned.
Abrea turned a corner; and found 'em. The prized doors of the colony, big monitors on the wall displaying statistics, and a small purple drone fiddling with the first ones control panel.
...
Wait...
Shit, how had that man described his daughter? Bit short, dark purple hair and eyes, usually angry but "just challenged". (A knew that last part was bullshit, an angry person was an angry person, and she was no different.) What did he say her name was? A was used to only memorizing one letter, but she remembered her name started with a U.
The small, purple drone fiddling with the keycard before groaning in frustration was a perfect match for Khans daughter.
Shit.
But why did U... just- U want to get outside? Were workers really that stupid?
The door finally snapped open, a surprised U nearly dropping the keycard as Khan stood rigidly on the other side, arms crossed and a defiant look on his face. A heard U say something about a "secret boyfriend", an obvious lie, before a better, more convincing lie about needing to see the outer mechanisms of blah blah blah for some school project, all A knew was that they needed to get out there and make their first kill, even that could be blamed on the other Disassembly Drones, unlike what the rest of their plan featured.
"Oh, hey!" A called, realizing that she unintentionally added some sort of accent to Abreas voice. Khan and his daughter whipped around, Khan confused, and U having the same expression with aggression mixed in. Lovely.
"Oh, Abrea, what are you doing?" Khan said, smiling up at the 'worker' drone. Abrea smiled back, quickly forming a story on the spot. "Well, since I just joined the school, I figured I want to get caught up, learning about the doors." they lied, trying not to grin at the expression on his face.
"Oh, wonderfull!" the WDF leader called, beckoning Abrea closer, to which they obliged. "Abrea, this is my daughter Uzi I was talking about this morning!" Khan explained, earning a glare from said daughter, who eyed Abrea suspiciously.
"It's nice to meet'cha Uzi," Abrea greeted, taking on some of Uzi's demeanors to have her trust them, like the slightly annoyed gaze and more casual talk. It seemed to work.
"Uh-huh," Uzi replied, nodding. "Where did you come from?"
"Oh, it was a far colony, it got ambushed and..." Abrea answered, looking down and letting their arms get more loose.
Uzi immediately looked guilty, stammering an apologize. Khan shook it off, opening the second door with his keycard. The other members of the WDF sat in there around a table, playing some sort of card came with the world's most worn down card set, the numbers nearly faded off; the occasional scuffle broke out about whether it was a 3 or an 8.
A gazed around the room, silently and quickly reading the other drones diagnostics. None had a fragment of strength in them, at least as far as A could see. They all were very under-talented for the supposed defense force. Good. The WDF wouldn't be a problem in their plan.
"So, go out there and study that door!" Khan called, opening the last door and giving Uzi a nudge out.
"Okay, I'll just... go out here 'cuz this worked so weirdly well." Uzi risked commenting before the young drones were fully out, snow shoved in their faces, reminding them of the nuclear winter that freed them.
"Okay..." Uzi said, looking slightly up at Abrea. "you go study the mechanisms, I'll go... whatever, just don't move." She instructed. Abrea nodded, although curious to what U- Uzi was planning. Unfortunately, A could only read the statistics of other drones, she couldn't look at their files or code without the approval of the other drone. Which meant the knowledge of the other drone, and A wasn't risking that; not to just see what Uzi was planning. They could just follow her to find that out.
Abrea shrugged and began 'inspecting' the door, waiting until the other drones snow-coated footsteps were far enough away.
A swiftly unsheathed their wings and tail, which stretched briefly before they took off, silently circling the smaller drone far below. She was... going TOWARDS the corpse spire?
What? was she an idiot?
A gently thudded down on a short-circuited lamppost, flicking their tail back and forth; wings gently spread out and intently gazing at their prey. Uzi delicately picked up some sort of glowing component right in front of the landing pod, grabbing something off her back and putting the green component on said thing... was that a..?
Was that a fucking railgun???
Huh. A thought, visor flicking in surprise at the dangerous weapon in the workers hands. She grinned satisfiedly at her work, before there was a sudden thud from inside, something hitting the landing pod.
Uzi whipped around and saw its long, bladed fingers and wings, latched onto the side of the pod, a decapitated head in its hand. It briefly crushed the head while Uzi carefully ran behind a pile of ruble. A softly leapt off the post and crept closer to Uzi, retracting wings in case she escaped alive and Uzi saw A as A, not Abrea. The Disassembly Drone flicked its gaze to Uzi, who was peeking above the rubble. N. Of course there was another drone to steal their kill; why wouldn't there be?
A grumbled to themself, activating their hunt mode and screwing over any chance of that whole 'Uzi just saw Abrea' thing. N charged first, taking off as Uzi stood up, putting the final adjustments on her railgun before aiming it. Little known to her, N was just above. N slammed down, throwing the gun away from the helpless worker drone and knocking her over. Miraculously, she did some sort of move and landed upright. Now it was A's turn.
A roughly shoved N aside, who was stalking towards Uzi. N looked up, only to not see J or V, but some other Disassembly Drone he had never seen before. A hadn't really thought about how the others had no idea about them. Whatever. A picked up N by his foot and harshly tossed him aside, luckily managing to stick himself with his own tail.
A quickly jumped behind Uzi, swishing around their tail but only catching Uzi's hand, which had reached out to protect herself; yet still, the nanites burned like acid, and the smaller drone suppressed a scream. A smiled.
Uzi jumped out of the way of another attack, A feignting around closer to N, who had neutralized the nanites and was staggering to get up. A saw Uzi readying her railgun out of the corner of her optics, and realized with a sudden jolt what was about to happen.
A, panicking, took off as fast as possible and had managed to get far enough in the air to dodge the blast.
N stood up in time to see the pulsating barrel facing him down.
"Bite me." Uzi declared, only for a searing blast of green light to cut right through N's head, thankfully leaving his core processor undamaged. A swiftly sliced their wings through the air as fast as possible, racing to escape the shockwave; Uzi fucking did it. She made a weapon that, (if carefully placed to damage their core processor,) could permanently shut them down. They could die.
Shit.
A hastily flew away, eyes wide and aiming for the doors to the colony. They didn't want to be outside as a Disassembly Drone when Uzi made those guns readily available, they would hunt them down. A would have to pretend to be a worker for a bit longer if the others get killed; maybe they could pick off the drones more slowly?
Thunk-
...
"Did you just hit me with that arm?"
A whipped around, stunned to hear N's voice, especially so calm and even amused after that. They latched onto the wall of the corpse spire and carefully poked around the corner, using a large gap to peer in. N was standing, head regenerated and TALKING to Uzi; Calmly. One look at him and A could tell he wasn't fully regenerated, one of the lights on his head was red instead of yellow, the second one, indicating a class 2 error; worse than an irritating bug but not a mission-compromising flaw. A scanned him, his visual processors were off. Of course; now N thought Uzi was a Disassembly Drone.
It would probably fix itself on its own, but god, what A wouldn't do to make N get back to normal and kill her instantly; Uzi was getting on their nerves. Why was this stupid drone so lucky?
N and Uzi disappeared into the landing pod, and A dashed away, soaring above the buildings, thinking.
N was now kinda friends with a worker drone. And A WAS a worker drone. Abrea. And now the workers could fight back.
Everything was turned upside down.
...
Shit