An Escape Through Death

by CoffeeCrashed

Summary:

Copper-9. Two years after what some Outpost-3 residents has lovingly called "Uzi's little adventure". Things are... normal. N and Uzi's relationship still holds as strong as ever (to the mild annoyance of a certain fleshy core) and looks to be holding them together until the end of time. A drone on the sidelines looks on, slowly shrinking into herself, scared of the future she wants slipping away forever right in front of her eyes. Afraid that she can't do anything to stop it.

However, their path towards a (somewhat) bright future with no trouble is suddenly tossed off a boat and into the sea when Uzi wakes up one night with a girl standing over her bed, crying, body glitching and jumping around from a projector that doesn't exist. A girl N can't see or hear.

A human girl. A human girl crying out for a drone Uzi would've happily forgotten about. A human girl the little devil in her tail refuses to look at. A human girl trapped in the head of a god for years.

Chapter 1: Plunge

Summary:

She never thought death would be like this.

She never thought she'd see the end of her days so fast.

 

In one moment, she's backed up in a corner, pleading for her life desperately to the horror she helped create before her. The next, she loses all feeling in her body. But before she can rest, before she even gets a chance to let her consciousness fade away, to rest in an eternal dream, she is violently yanked towards a horrific glow of pure yellow.

 

she never gets to see what the afterlife looked like. She never gets to rest. She never even gets the chance to say goodbye.

 

Attempting to sit up, she find no wall behind her anymore. Her senses scream at hear, demanding she run while she can...

...But she can't. she can't move, she can't even see a metre in front of her. Her chest begins rising rapidly, short breaths coming in and out of lungs that no longer truly exist. She blinks eyes that no longer serve any real purpose. She begins panicking. screaming, begging for help from friends that could not hear her. She begged, bargained, but eventually caved, crying tears that nobody but her could possibly hear.

Tessa James Elliot had died. Yet she had not seen the light at the end of the tunnel.

Her limbs, at last, seemed to free themselves of whatever shackles had held them down. But she did not run. Where could she? She can't see, she can barely hear her own tears as they streamed down her cheeks. She slowly, painfully pulled her own limbs inward. Phantom pain from her chest screaming at her, thoughts racing through her mind a mile a minute.

'Where am i? What happened? Where's N? V? J? What did Cyn do? What did she do to me? Why didn't i die? Am i really alive? I want to go home.'

 

Eventually, her crying slowed so sobs, and then to sniffles. Her thoughts clearing enough for one sentence to repeat over and over in her head.

 

'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'MSORRY I'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRY'

 

Soon, the young girl fell asleep, trembling horribly, having never noticed how her tears never formed a puddle. never noticing the little drone watching from afar, with a much clearer vision than her. She had been here much, much longer than her, after all. The little drone soon joined the girl in sleep, keeping her distance from the new arrival. She put herself in as much of a comfortable position as she could for a drone in her predicament.

 

They would not wake up for a while, after all.

 

---

 

An alarm, ones usual for workers, blares loudly from the bed. the alarm's owner hits her head, all to used to the routine of waking up.

Sitting up, she reaches for her beanie, clambering over a mass beneath the bedsheets. unfortunately for her, said mass begins shifting and just so happens to grab the girl by the waist and pull her back down.

"N.. we have to get up, it's nearly 9pm." She whispers, attempting not to wake their ever aging neighbours with what was happening.

"mmf... Five more minutes Uzi..." N breathed, pulling her closer into a comforting hug. Said little purple done, Uzi, Blushed violently.

 

"F-Fine, but only five!" raising her pitch ever so slightly, to convey her authority.

"Are you suure you just want five?" Oh, he knew exactly what he was doing.

 

"B-Bite me."

---

 

somewhere, within the same labyrinth-like complex that housed the two sleepy lovebirds, a solitary drone clung to a pillow in her bed. Wishing desperately she wasn't.

Notes:

hey, this is my first fanfiction. I'm really sorry if it's bad, or not up to par with other works you see here, but I'm trying.

EDIT: Wow, I didn't think i was good, thank you for the support! small retcon, "her ageing parents" is now "their ageing neighbours" because of the way i'm writing Chapter 2. You'll see very soon :3

Chapter 2: Wake up, sleepy-heads

Summary:

The calm before the storm, Uzi and co. wake up like any other day.

(Approximately five six seven minutes later...)

Uzi unwound herself from N's arms, once again reaching for her beanie hung near the wall. N adjusted himself from underneath her, moving to her side and sitting up.

"Good morning to you too, sleepyhead." Uzi smiled. N being dreary and sluggish every morning never failed to amuse the little gremlin.

"mf... Morning 'Zi." N's voice wavered as he yawned ('Who even programmed yawning, we're robots!' Uzi pondered.) "What time is it?"

"Check your clock, moron." Uzi told him. N gave her a pouting face. She didn't even stand a chance at resistance. "Ugh, kidding, it's 9:12pm" His face brightened, understanding she was just being sarcastic, and began climbing down from her bed. Uzi followed soon after, both drones heading for their day clothes. Uzi putting on her beanie, her signature dead batteries hoodie, and her work boots. N meanwhile put on his shirt, coat, and pilot's cap. Folding their night clothes (which Uzi had only started doing after N came up with this ridiculous idea of 'organisation' or whatever), they headed out of the room and into the main living area of the living space.

 

The Living room wasn't too large, a standard apartment in the depths of Outpost-3 was by no means a mansion. At the far end, a couch that wraps around the wall corner and creates a L shape faces a TV stand with pirated movies and anime seasons stacked between each crevice. A DVD player sits on the top, with the TV itself being mounted on the wall. Separated from that area by a small divider with a window was the kitchen, a smaller space containing a fridge stocked full of oil canisters (which were either from the looted corpses outside or through generous donations by residents of the bunker) and a freezer below that containing 'food' (dead bodies). It also contained most of the standard kitchen equipment like an oven and microwave, but they rarely went used. Cabinets above held some painting tools, spare notes, and cutlery.

 

The hallway Uzi and N emerged from sat neatly in between these two rooms, staring the small divider head-on. To the left, there was the guest room that V sometimes used when staying over, and beyond that lay the bathroom. However, most bathroom features had been ripped out, and replaced with art equipment of all kinds for N to toil with. On the other side of the hallway facing the painting room, was the main bedroom. Looking like it was ripped right out of her old space and thrown in, the bedroom is near identical to her old one. with a dim purple tinted light bar illuminating the space, one could see their double bed, freakishly tall (unlike her, to her annoyance), above which sat clustered and hastily tied-together notes pinned to the ceiling. Unlike her previous room though, these notes were collections upon collections of blueprints, weapon designs and inspirations, and of course many pieces of art from N. To the side sat her desk, piles of tools and half-finished projects scattered about the space. A keyboard and mouse tucked away in the back connected to the computer. The screens above the desk sat on rails and arms, capable of moving down and being positioned comfortably for Uzi to use. Finally, the room opposite the guest room had aptly been named "UZI'S KOOKY INSANE STUFF" by Khan when she had moved in. Within it held old projects she never planned on finishing, rambling notes from her "little adventure" as some would call it, and something under a dusty tarp.

 

Heading to the kitchen, N prepares his and Uzi's breakfast. Usually, she has some batteries and copper wire with a can of oil of the side. N meanwhile has a can of oil... and the remains of some poor fellow from what he's taken to calling 'the Before Days'. Uzi, meanwhile, situates herself comfortably on the couch, throwing the remote in the air and catching it expertly in one hand (you can do that pretty easy after doing it with a railgun...). Flicking through some channels, she finds a new broadcast recently set up within Outpost-3. After everything had died down and disassembly drones were no longer seen as much of a threat, drones had started to reconnect with each other from different outposts. In total, the 5 remaining outposts were 2, 3, 7, 11, and 14. During this time of re-connection, radio and other communication lines were brought back online after being long since severed. This, in turn, kicked off a series of events that eventually lead up to Television programs being broadcast around Copper-9, from Telenovelas (because of course, they never truly died.) to kids' shows. One new broadcast that had quickly become top spot was Outpost News, hosted by a drone called 'Jack Wylder'. It covered all sorts of news, from little happenings within one bunker or another to bigger events, such as the never ending flow of doors Khan Doorman came up with.

 

Uzi landed on the News channel, sticking the remote down on the nearby mini-table and listening in to what Jack had to say. Unfortunately for her, though, the news was not positive.

"This is Jack Wylder with Outpost News. Today, several previously missing students from Outpost-11 were found dead nearby a previous den of the Murder Drones. The attacks appeared to be swift, with the oil drained from one to two points on the victims' bodies. Leaders within Outpost-11 have deemed that a Murder Drone may still be within the area, and may even be living within the den itself. They have advised that all residents avoid going outside unless absolutely necessary."

 

"Oh, is J causing trouble again?" N sighed as he walked in, holding his and Uzi's breakfast on a tray. She took the food from him gently, setting her oil down on the table with the bowl of wires and batteries between her legs.

 

"Ugh, that little Corpo-rat can't just find somewhere else to get oil." Uzi moaned. "Every time i tell her to stop, she just ignores me!"

 

"Well, she never did like you all that much." N chipped in. "You did kinda behead her twice."

 

"Okay, fair, but she's still so annoying to deal with! If she keeps going my dad might kick you guys out!" N pondered on Uzi's words. She had a point, if J kept killing then worker drones within the colonies would start to get weary of him and V, and maybe even Uzi. All that they had worked towards would be thrown out in an instant because of J.

 

"Maybe we go talk to her later? Knock that rat down a peg or two." Uzi smirked. She just loved making J feel inferior, since she clung to her high horse like it was her life support. N, however, became weary.

 

"Are you sure? J can be pretty ruthless when annoyed." She looked at him, his eyes portraying 'I don't want to see you hurt again'.

 

"Hey, I'm her System Admin now, remember? If she tries anything i can just knock her offline easy-peasy." Uzi didn't like using the solver in that way, and N knew that. But she felt it might be the only way to get J to actually listen instead of attempting to kill them on sight. "Plus, if we need backup, I'm sure V would love to knock her more than a few pegs down."

 

N chuckled. "Yea, I guess you're right. But for now, let's just enjoy today, huh?" She smiled at him, leaning her head into his shoulder, careful not to spill her now half-eaten meal on the couch. The news continued in the background, having changed topic to a sports tryout event Thad was hosting.

 

All was peaceful...

 

...Until a certain someone made her presence known.

 

"H-Hello, Sillies." 

 

Uzi and N jumped, Uzi barely catching her bowl mid-air with her Solver. The little tail slithered between them, yellow eyelights prominently different from the body it was attached to. Uzi Glared at Cyn, the little devil in her tail.

 

"CYN! Stop jumping us like that you little freak!" Uzi shouted. Cyn always did this, slithering out of wherever the little tail was kept to start conversations. While she knew Cyn only meant to do it about 30% of the time, Cyn's babbling tended to annoy the new solver host to no end.

 

"W-W-What? I was s-simply saying hello" Cyn spoke, and if a tail could smirk, she'd be smirking hard. N stayed quiet, having to remind himself that this isn't the same Cyn he thought he knew, this Cyn wasn't the one that caused him so much torment.

 

This wasn't the same Cyn who killed Tessa.

 

Once he had calmed down and reminded himself who was who, he addressed Cyn. "Cyn, it isn't nice to jump out at people, okay?" His voice was stern but gentle, he didn't want to be rude after all. A hint of unease remained in his voice, though Cyn never picked it up. Uzi did though, and gave him a look that was meant to convey 'are you okay?'. He smiled at her, letting her know he was fine.

 

"Sorry, Big B-Brother." Cyn pouted. Uzi, ever observant (some would say paranoid, but they were just oblivious to their surroundings!) noticed that somehow that damned tail had managed to actually pull itself into a frown. Quickly reverting back to that ever-present mini-smirk, Cyn continued.

 

"J m-may be hungry, you k-know" She said, "Maybe l-let her into the b-bunker?"

 

Uzi immediately shut her down. "Hell no! That Bootlicker would do nothing but moan all day, and probably still frickin' kill people just because she's bored!"

 

"H-Have you at least tried? F-From what I've s-s-seen she is just, sat there, alone."

 

"...Fine, we'll try, but only if you leave us alone!" Uzi's patience was wearing thin. She never liked dealing with the little planet eater's puppet, but today she really just wanted her gone.

 

Cyn obliged, slithering back towards whence she came. she tucked her head out just a little though, to watch whatever was on the television. Being the tail of a drone can be really boring. Uzi and N once again settle into each other's presence, flipping the channel to a show about antiques found in the wastes.

 

---

 

An alarm blared. Not one of a drone, but one of something else entirely. The alarm did not signal a time, or an event.

 

It signalled danger.

 

J hit the electrical box again, re-routing wires and yanking blown fuses out, replacing them with somewhat new ones scavenged from the hellscape outside. If she didn't act quickly, all her work would be for nothing. All the effort she's putting into getting of the goddamn rock she's stuck on thrown away as easily as she was. In fact, if she didn't hurry the hell up, the resulting fallout would probably cause the little purple freak to flip her lid.

 

The alarm stopped, J finally reconnected every wire needed to stop the ship's fusion core overheating and causing a second planet-wide catastrophe. She slumped, positioning herself to a sitting position against the wall. She was tired. She was hungry, her oil reserves had been running low for a while now. The occasional group of drones would wander out of the nearby bunkers, becoming easy pickings for the lone Disassembly Drone. Lights around the ship began flickering from an emergency red back to their usual monotone white, casting her in an almost medical lighting. The screen, once cracked beyond repair, now began emitting static, shifting to a dark screen presenting the words [CHANNEL AUTO-SEARCH]. Moment later, the sound of soft, gentle music echoed through the ship. J looked up, watching as an image of two drones appeared before her, beginning to move as the connection became more stable. The two drones danced in a way all too similar to J.

 

The music became louder, overbearing her, as the thought of drones dancing in a ballroom flooded her mind. The mental image shifted, two unknown drones becoming two very familiar people. It all became too much. J began to hyperventilate, her cooling fans speeding up and down erratically. She flung herself from the floor, smashing the screen once again in a desperate, irrational attempt to shut it off.

 

But it didn't shut off.

 

J collapsed agaisnt the wall again, crying incoherently into the void of her own hands. The mental image of her and Tessa, dancing together in the halls of the Manor flooded her processors, replaying in her mind as clear as day.

 

But these weren't mental images anymore. She was replaying memories.

 

Eventually, the dance number ended, with the end credits of whatever show the dance had originated from appearing silently on the shattered screen. J calmed down, sniffling in the corner of the ship. Her day, already worsened by her near catastrophic disaster with the ship's core, sunk even deeper into the abyss.

 

She wanted her back. She missed her so bad.

 

---

 

She woke up with a start, barely holding back her own sobs.

 

The nightmares had hit her bad again.

 

Unwrapping herself from the covers, she climbed down from her bed. Her apartment was much, much smaller than N and Uzi's, with only a small living room/kitchen combo, a bedroom, and a bathroom. The apartment was sparsely decorated, V having never bothered to collect anything more than one or two human-age handguns she found interesting. Her bedroom was, like the apartment it resided in, barren. The bed sat in the corner, empty cans of oil surrounding the foot of the ladder. V stepped into the pile, crushing the sole can her peg leg rested on. She made her way to the kitchen, grabbing herself a can of oil and a handful of scraps, she nearly fell backwards getting to the couch.

 

She drank the oil without thinking. She was tired, she hadn't gotten a full sleep cycle in ages. The nightmares had followed her like a stalker ever since their memories were restored. This nightmare though, it was different. It wasn't about Cyn, the Manor, or Tessa.

 

It was about N and Uzi. Of them distancing themselves from her. Of her being left alone, forever.

 

She didn't know why. She used to have feelings for N back at the Manor, but never for Uzi. Right?

Right...?

V didn't know. Whenever she awoke, she found herself gripping a pillow. Who is she to imagine herself with either of them? They're happy, why should she intrude like that? She got up. She headed to the door, disposing of her now empty can into a small bin by the kitchen and exiting her small apartment into the corridor. She had a job now, she should focus on that. Taking a left, V walked past Uzi and N's apartment on her way. She couldn't see inside, Uzi having taped a piece of paper over the thin window strip ("I don't want morons watching my private life!" she once explained). She could hear them though, laughing at Robo-God knows what.

Her chest hurt. She felt the urge to go inside, join whatever activity they were doing. But she didn't. She continued walking with her head down, trying to push her emotional auto-run programs down.

 

Briskly arriving at an industrial door, she knocked. The door opened, revealing a tunnel of pipes, wires and electrical boxes.

 

"Oh, hey V! Good to see you!" Thad stood by the door's control panel, soot and oil splattering his work shirt. Thad, even with his semi-successful sports business, had decided to work in maintenance along with V. He had the second highest engineering grade in school, with Uzi obviously taking top spot. Him and V worked on a near identical schedule, Khan had deemed it well-fitting that they work together since V tolerated Thad more than anyone else on the team.

 

"Hey Thad." V spoke with a near monotone voice, attempting to portray some form of apathy to hide her continuously rising emotions. "What's the job list today?"

"Well, the boiler on level 2 was overfilled by a crew last night, causing a burst pipe. That caused an electrical short bringing everything on the south-east housing block down. We've bypassed the light and door panels for now, but all other electrical systems are offline. I have to go down to level 3 to fix some display connectors, you okay with taking the Level 2 job on your own today?"

"Sure, Seems easy enough." She was lying to herself, of course, the residential housing circuits kept on level 2 were messy and unorganised, none of the very stretched thin maintenance team ever bothering to try and revamp it. Plus, taking down the whole system to do a time-consuming revamp job would drive everyone in every sector crazy. Taking her task sheet and after changing into the usual work vest and shorts, she headed down to level 2.

 

Looking around the dingy mess of corridors and small rooms, the problem at hand became much more visible to V. Sparking panels and severed wires spanned an entire wall by the stairwell entrance, ending around the area the boiler Thad had mentioned sat. Quickly getting to work, V set a toolbox down and began pulling off panels. Fixing wires, replacing fuses, and testing connections flew by. Ten minutes became twenty, then forty, then an hour, then two hours. V had succeeded in getting her mind off of her troubling emotions from this morning. That was, until two drones walked past level 2. Their voices echoing down the stairwell as they travelled.

 

"Did you see that painting that N guy made? My kid loved it!"

"Woah, what d'you mean?"

"Paid him to paint my kids' favourite toy for him, and he did it perfectly! Jim was so happy to have it put on his wall."

"Heh, if you think that's good, you should see this Multi-tool i bought from his girlfriend. Saved my ass last night with that pipe!"

"Damn, i gotta get one of those for myself!"

 

The two continued to walk past the level 2 entrance, never seeing V look up from her work. She stared at the double doors leading to the stairwell, Her mind racing.

'I wish i could see them working, while im stuck in this dingy fucking tunnel they're up there doing what THEY want to do. It's not fair, why do I have to deal with all this bullshit!? Why am I the one who never gets what i want?!? Why can't i wake up with them in bed every morni-'


She stopped her thought, clashing emotions of want and denial spiralling her mind into the abyss. She began to tear up, digital yellow drops creating a fake wetness around her optics. She crouched down, pulling her knees close to her chest. She sobbed silently to herself, any attempt to calm herself down met with thoughts of not being good enough, not being brave enough.

 

She sat there, crying, until her emotions settled down enough for her to continue. She finished up her work and swiftly went home, dropping off her uniform and slipping back into her jacket before leaving. She watched TV, had a meal, even played a video game Uzi had gifted her. 'DOOM Eternal 2' it was called, and Uzi was right when she said V would like it. But nothing could stop the thoughts permeating her processors, assaulting her mind with depressing thoughts. She went to bed after finishing the level she was on, hoping for once that she'd get a peaceful night sleep.

 

She never got that lucky though, she never did.

 

The pillow had found it's way back into her arms, without her even noticing.

Notes:

Holy hell, this took me nearly all day to write. When I said that Chapter 2 would be longer, I meant it.

Don't worry my fellow Tessa fans, The next chapter should hopefully bring our poor gal into the light. It may take longer to write, but I have to balance getting down every character's personality as best as I can. Also, I have much less free time on Thursdays due to college, so possibly Friday or Saturday il start kicking off the plot.

For now, though, I need a rest, G'Bye!

EDIT: chapter may be pushed back by about a week due to complications. Also, for the few people I've been informed are stalking my socials, hi!!

Chapter 3: Yellow Light, Green Light

Summary:

A routine outing for parts leaves Uzi with much more than she bargained for.

Notes:

I am SO SORRY for leaving yall hanging, ive had such a wacky ass few weeks and finally got the alone time to write.

And yes, i'm feeding into the E"hell or high water ill write" trope, but i had an extreme headache from getting into a fight, so if i end up going off track you know why :)

also, sorry to the J & V fans, but this is a mostly Uzi-centric chapter. The traumabots will get their turn tho ;)

EDIT: IM SO SORRY FOR NO UPDATES IVE BEEN TIRED LMFAO

ill try update maybe next week but no promises

A day later :

The dog film, 'Bud', came to an end, With N very pleased at his movie choice. Uzi rolled her eyes. Damn that hot killer. Uzi & N (and Cyn too, albeit silently) came back around to the real world. Unluckily for Uzi, she didn't get the time to come around fully before her alarm went off.

"Oh shi- Shoot, gotta go get my order from Thad today!" Uzi cut herself off just in time. N was never a fan of cursing, and Uzi wasn't about to make him upset.

"Oh, that was today? I thought that was in two days?" N spoke in a questioning tone, he remembered her saying Friday was the pickup date.

"Well, they're still working off the old system that takes you guys into account, so of course it's going to be off."

"Oh! Well, good luck getting it!" He gave her a kiss on the cheek. Uzi, still not used to affection, stuttered. Cyn mocked her silently from the mindscape.

---

Cyn was never going to truly get used to the mindscape.

 

Having been freed from the Solver's feral desire to consume, absorb and assimilate, Cyn found herself with nothing much to do than construct fake rooms within her new prison, or torture Uzi by interrupting her in almost every conversation. But recently she had found herself torturing her new host less, opting to leave Uzi be rather than snicker at her every mistake.

Plus, Cyn would get to snicker at her when she fell asleep. The mindscape was Uzi's after all.

Today, Cyn had decided to try reconstruct some of the halls of the Elliot Manor. Her old home. Her old life. Before the solver's needs tore her own from her.

Putting some thought into the rooms, Cyn constructed a labyrinth of halls, rooms, and storage closets. Of course, some details were a little off. A light a bit to the left here, a tapestry being the wrong shade of red. But her creation wasn't meant to emulate the Manor perfectly, it just had to do well enough. Cyn stumbled her way through the familiar corridors. If she had to give the solver one thing, it was that it gave her near perfect memory of the Manor's layout. That was the one ability she never saw as dangerous.

She continued on, rooms appearing just out of her view as she walked. She reminisced on the events that had swept the corridors many years ago. Workers sweeping, dusting, cleaning imperfections off of the carpets. Tessa used to run through here, dragging a very surprised (or maybe flustered?) J most of the time.

Tessa...

Cyn's artificial casing shuddered. The one thing she truly regretted letting the solver do. By the time Tessa had died, Cyn was no longer in control of herself. It told her its was a 'survival move' for 'luring future prey'.

She knew what it meant now. It sickened her.

She had, albeit terribly, tried to Save the only human to care about drone kind. She had reached out from within the Solver's subconscious, tried so hard to pull her fading mind through biological to artificial. She never knew if she had succeeded. If she had, then Tessa must either have been avoiding her, or the Solver had found the rouge mind within it's eldritch expanse and erased her. The more likely result...

She had died.

Cyn felt, However, that Tessa had lived. She remembered seeing a girl, lying on her back, fall through the endless void of a mindscape. The Solver had told her she was imagining a scenario in her core, that Tessa had died that night, and that 'She's just a human.'

Cyn, realising she was starting to get worked up, calmed herself. Yes, Tessa was dead. She knew that. but some part of her believed that Tessa had made it. The Solver had lied to her on almost everything, she saw that now. Who's to say it was lying about Tessa too?

As if summoned by her thoughts, Tessa's room had appeared in front of her. Cyn was brought out of her pondering, staring the door to the room head on. Should she enter? She decided, with hesitance, to enter the room for the first time in years. When she reached for the doorknob however, something... peculiar, happened.

A shuffling noise came from inside. The doorknob shook, as the lock slid from the open position, to closed.

Cyn's eyes widened. How? According to her own memory, she was the only one with a strong enough desire to enter the mindscape. Her previous companion in Uzi's head, Doll, had hated her very essence so much she had forced her way into the very back of Uzi's mind, where she had not left since she entered. So who, then, was barricading themselves in Tessa's room?

Cyn tried the knob. it shuddered, but the door remained firmly in place. Deciding to face the intruder personally, she called out. "H-Hello? is a-anyone insi-ide?" No response from the other side. She tried again. "Hel-llo? I do not wish to, hur-rt y-you." At last, she heard a noise from the other side of the door. It was not a response however.

 

Whoever was on the other side of the door was sobbing, silently. Cyn felt that pushing whoever was inside was too great a risk. "I-I'm s-sorry, I'll leave y-you alo-one for n-now"

 

But as Cyn stumbled her way to the main hall of the fake Manor, she came to a horrifying realisation.

 

oh.

 

oh no.

 

She shouldn't have tried to talk to the person on the other side.

 

She stopped, whipping her head as best she could to face the door. The lock still held firm, the door would not be moving for the foreseeable future. Cyn was torn. One part of her was ecstatic, elated, that she was not lying to herself. She had done it, all those nights ago, she had actually done it!

The other half, however, has realised that her being the first person the stranger had heard in nearly twenty years, was the worst possible mistake Cyn had made. Did she tell Uzi about this? How would she begin to explain this to the host?

Cyn decided she would not tell Uzi yet. As much as Cyn drove the poor girl insane, Uzi did not deserve to shoulder the weight of this revelation.

Cyn decided to let the manor part ways for now. But, try as she might, the Manor persisted. Something was keeping it here, present in the mindscape. This was bad. Really bad. if Uzi saw this, she'd be suspicious immediately. She knew Cyn was fond of making these structures, but that she always cleaned up after herself before Uzi arrived. So, with no idea how to stop the Manor from being conjured with an outside influence, she pushed it far into the depths of the expanse, Pleading Uzi wouldn't see it.

Now, floating in the endless space of Uzi's mind, she decided to enter the tail once again to occupy her mind. Closing her eyes, she faded from the mindscape.

---

Uzi walked through the familiar grey-blue corridors of Outpost-3.  Her and N's apartment block was a good ways from Thad's, considering he was now in a much more empty block. "It'll help when the team comes together!"  He'd said, and so far his assumption was correct. 6 people had joined the football team, enough for Thad to convince Uzi's dad to ditch the old prom stage for a much bigger football field. The only way he got him to agree was using Khan's love of doors to his advantage. Typical.

She was just passing the new shopping hall when she saw her tail slither out from under her hoodie. Cyn, it appears, had come to visit. What put Uzi off however, was that she didn't hear Cyn speak. Not even when she finally approached block F did Cyn utter a word. Just silence.

Noticing Thad by the apartment community lounge (something the parents had insisted was necessary for 'growing social boundaries' or whatever) holding a small box, she made her way over to the couch.

"Yo, 'Zi!" Thad called out. "Got your package here from those guys over at 0-5, why'd you need me to get it anyways?"

"because some people apparently don't like being saved from an eldritch god or whatever. They won't let me in at all! frickin' losers." She didn't show it, but she was a bit hurt that people still saw her as 'the outcast loser' in some places. What really made Uzi think was that Cyn never made a joke at her expense. 'Odd, she usually latches on to this stuff.' Thad had continued talking though, so she set her suspicions aside for later.

"Well, at least they still let you get parts?" Thad, ever the glass-half-full person he is, attempted to cheer her up.

"Ugh, whatever, as long as i get the stuff. Anyway, you good? Your team usually stick to you."

Thad waved his hand nonchalantly "Eh, off getting jerseys for everyone. they thought it'd be cool to have!" For a bunker full of what Uzi would describe as 'annoying egomaniac idiots' ('little hypocritical there?' Cyn usually spat, sarcasm dripping from the little tail) they did work pretty well as a team.

"Whatever, as long as they aren't destroying the bunker I guess. Thanks for getting the stuff for me Thad."

"No problem 'Zi, tell N&Ms i said hi will'ya?" "She rolled her eyes at his nicknames. He had one for basically anyone who interacted with him positively. Funnily enough, it was the only thing that ever made the uncaring Lizzy seethe in quiet hatred. Uzi smirked every time.

"Sure, Bye Thad." Uzi walked away, giving a small wave to her only childhood friend before turning the corner. Now, walking in a quiet corridor, she felt she could address the tail gremlin.

"Yo, planet eater, you there?" No response. Suspicious. Whenever Uzi addressed her as 'Planet Eater' she'd usually respond 'mm, yummy.' Not today, apparently.

Uzi tried again. "Cyn, I know you're there." Still, no response. What's got the little freak so quiet? Entering a small room off to the right, she locked to door behind her and set the box down on the table. It was a maintenance room, one with two doors on either side. One lead to the corridor Uzi had just come from, with the other leading to the shafts where Thad usually works. He'd taken the day off just for Uzi to help with the package. Uzi, however, had not locked both doors.

Grabbing the tail by force, she looked straight into the yellow eyes. "Hey, god freak, I'm talking to you." This time, Cyn couldn't ignore her. What Uzi did notice is how... scared the tail looked.

"W-What? I'm just obser-erving."

"Don't lie, you've been weirdly quiet today. If something wasn't off I'd be hitting my head against a wall just to stop your insults."

"...I d-don't want to talk abo-out it." Okay, something is very wrong. Cyn never acts like this.

"You're gonna, before i go in there and find whatever's got you spooked myse-"

"D-DON'T. PLEAS-SE." Uzi reared back in shock. What the hell had gotten into her!?

"Whoa, Cyn, what the hell?!" Uzi raised her voice. "What the hell are you hiding in there?!" Cyn's tail face looked to the left. She looked... ashamed. Distraught.

"I don't wan-nt to talk abo-out it right n-now. Go back to bei-ing edgy, purple fre-eak."

"Cyn, you're a really bad liar."

"If you c-can keep sec-crets, so can I-I-I-I-I-I-" Cyn glitched, Uzi's tail vibrating and then shaking. Uzi, still reeling a little after the shock of having Cyn yell at her, begging her not to investigate, had no idea what the hell was going on. But then the stuttering fizzled out.

 

"I-I-I-A-A-A-AAA-AAAAA-AAAAA-"

 

The tail's eyes flashed a vibrant, emerald green, a flash so violent is sent Uzi crashing int the table behind her in shock. The flash was so violent it rivalled the railgun's beam.

Suddenly, the tail fell to the ground. lifeless for a few moments, before flicking back on to that familiar (yet annoying) lemon yellow. Synthetic pants were all the room consisted of for a few moments, Cyn seemingly trying to catch a breath she didn't need.

"I-I'm sorry. I do-on't know what hap-p-pened." Uzi was still in a bit of a shock, slowly recovering from what could only be described in her head as the Solver going haywire.

"...You didn't hear yourself scream in agony while your eyes turned green?!" Uzi panted. She just wanted to get back home to N at this point.

At the mention of green eyes, Cyn went stiff. "I d-didn't see an-nything, my v-vision went dark."

Without warning, the second door creaked open. Uzi and Cyn whipped their heads to the intruder.

"...You two good in here?" It was V. She'd heard Cyn screaming.

"Y-yeah, just fine!" Uzi stuttered. fuck, of all people, V had to notice. Uzi would NEVER admit it to anyone, but she liked V. A bit. Quite a bit.

"...Sure." V turned to leave. "Remember to lock both doors next time, 'kay?"

"yeah, sure, sorry." Uzi stood up. "Cya tomorrow?"

"T-Tomorrow? why?" V whipped her head around. had she missed something?

"Uh, We're having a movie night with N, duh?" Uzi deadpanned. Was V that forgetful?

It clicked in V's head. She'd forgotten to note it down in her calendar. bringing it up, she noted down the date as 'Movie Night w/ Z&N' before closing it and focusing on Uzi again. "Oh, yeah, got it."

She turned to leave, but a hand stopped her. V's breath hitched.

"V, you good? you sound stressed." Uzi usually isn't the one to people's emotions, that's N's job. But V clearly needs some rest.

"I'm fine 'Zi, just tired."

"You sound like you've been dragged through a snow pile full of dead bodies." Uzi really didn't want to let this go, huh?

"I'll go talk to Prim&P if you're that concerned." V just wanted to get back to work. She'd had a better night's sleep last night, to her astonishment. Sure, the nightmares still came around, but they were more... tame. She'd dreamt of Tessa, the good times they'd had before the Gala.

"Ugh, fine, as long as you stop being so grumpy." Uzi sighed. "Dunno why it has to be her, though."

"For a popular girl she's a good therapist." V said, "Not like you'd know much about therapists though." she snickered. Uzi knew she should probably get therapy, but her edgy teen persona gripped her like a vice.

"You little- Ugh, I've seen too much today. Too tired." Uzi hunched her shoulders as she grabbed her somehow still intact package. "Cya later Traumabot."

"Cya, Emo freak."

Both sets of doors closed, leaving the small maintenance room vacant. Uzi continued her walk down the corridor, just wanting to back back to bed and lay there for the rest of the night. Cyn, however, stuck her nose out.

"I'm... s-sorry." Uzi whipped her head towards Cyn. She assumed the little robo-satan didn't have it in her to apologise for anything at all!

"Uh... for what?"

"I d-didn't mean for that to happen. I-I'm sor-rry for keeping secrets, b-but you d-don't deserve to sh-shoulder this."

Uzi blanked. are her audio receptors calibrated? she pings them, and... they are? Cyn actually apologised!?

"...You're not kidding, right?" Cyn took on a look that Uzi swears was 'offended'.

"W-Why would I li-ie?"

Uzi deadpans. "Do you not remember a year and a half ago?"

"..."

"oh."

"Look, if you really aren't lying, then fine. I won't push you on it for now. But I'm getting my answers sooner or later." Cyn looks away. She knows she can't hide it forever.

"F-Fine. Deal. What's in the b-box anywa-ay?"

Uzi perks up. "It's an experimental piece of tech the humans forgot about. Some sort of data transfer device that was scrapped for 'anti-gravity side effects' or whatever. I'm gonna use it to build a sick as hell hoverboard!" She'd had the idea for a while after watching Back To The Future 2 with N & V. She'd figured that the loss of friction with the ground could get it to go ridiculously fast, and it would make navigating the newly shattered landscape of Copper-9 a breeze. The data-transfer nonsense could be stripped out, and whatever made gravity go haywire would be left.

"Could I may-ybe use it too?" Cyn inquired. Uzi gave her a skeptical look.

"And what would you use it for, huh?"

"Getting my arms back of c-cou-"

"Yea, absolutely not. As much as you drive me insane I'd rather keep the planet eating eldritch god tucked away in my head."

Cyn frowned, as much as she could. "I told y-you, I am n-not the solver."

"How can i trust you? this is the only time I've seen you show an emotion that isn't 'fuck you'." Cyn pondered her words. Annoyingly, she had a point.

"F-Fair. Counter-p-point: You would s-still be the Solver Host. Y-You could shut me do-own if i tried a-anything." It was Uzi's turn to ponder. She'd dug into her own code a while back, and found that Cyn's consciousness was less entwined with the solver than she thought, meaning that if she wanted she could just pluck out Cyn and shove her into a new body.

"...Fine. I'll consider it, on one condition." Cyn's tail eyes widened. was Uzi being serious?

"...That b-being?"

"I consult both N and V on it beforehand." Cyn's (figurative) heart dropped. She knew how much V hated her, and despite not showing it often she knew N still finds it hard to differentiate her from the Solver.

"Fine, b-but I want to argue m-my point to them t-too."

"Deal." Uzi kept walking through the corridors, thinking to herself. For once, she'd had a somewhat normal conversation with Cyn. no insults, no fighting, just... talking. She decided she wanted to keep the light talk going, to pass the time.

"So... why don't you voice your actions anymore?" Cyn perked up. Uzi was willingly talking to her? Is she okay?

"That was the s-solver. It was unable t-to speak properly wit-thout voicing it's actions o-out loud." cyn explained. "The stutter w-was always me, m-my speech processing h-has always been b-broken. It is w-why i was. Thrown out."

Uzi felt a pang of sympathy for Cyn. As much as she felt disgust towards that voice, she'd started to realise that this voice belonged to a drone who hadn't been herself in almost twenty years. "That's... depressing."

"Better t-than being a g-god, to be h-honest." Uzi chuckled. Turns out the little devil could be pretty funny if she wanted to.

Uzi turned a corner, nearing her apartment block, when she stopped dead in her tracks. Cyn whipped her head around, confused at the sudden jolt. Her jaw dropped.

A glitching green light emanated from the hallway. a shape, scarily anthropomorphic, flickered in and out of view.

Uzi spoke up. "Uh, Cyn, you see that?" Cyn, however, had turned away. Tail hiding behind Uzi's back.

"I-Is it g-gone?" she muttered. The green hologram flickered again, before vanishing.

"Yeah, it's gone. What the hell was that?"

"I d-don't know" Cyn, in truth, was lying. She knew who it was, but she had no idea the solver could do that. What's worse, a drone down the corridor was seemingly blind to the hologram nearly right in front of them. They waved at Uzi, and she awkwardly waved back.

"Let's just get home, today is just getting worse." Cyn nods, with Uzi continuing down the halls until reaching her apartment door, numbered 'C-032'. It slides open, revealing N had moved to somewhere else. Noises in one of the rooms down the hall made Uzi presume he was painting again. She sets the box down on the coffee table, deciding that now would be the perfect time for a nap. First though, N.

"Hey N," Uzi spoke softly, leaning in the doorway of the former bathroom. "Painting again?"

"Oh, hey Uzi!" N sounded happy, and the wires in Uzi's gut un-knotted. N never failed to calm her down. "I'm painting something for Lizzy, wanna see?"

"Sure, What's it abou-" Uzi froze when she saw the full painting. while a few details were incomplete, the full image was clearly that of Uzi's former classmate.

 

Doll.

 

Something within Uzi shifted. unnoticeable, a single eye on her tail turned a dim red, staring at the portrait.

"Oh, yeah, Lizzy wanted to honour doll a bit more. She really liked her huh?" N spoke, his voice a bit more sombre. The red light on Uzi's tail glowed, before disappearing. It had seen what it had wanted to.

"I think they were dating for a while, before the whole disaster of Prom." N and Uzi's eyes dimmed a little, both remembering that day a little too vividly for their liking. Uzi by no means held respect for Doll. She'd tried to kill her for robo-god's sake! But she felt a pang of sympathy for Lizzy, who had lost someone she clearly cared about.

"Probably. I'm happy to do it for her though!" N whipped right back into his chipper, joyful self. "Did you get your package?"

"Oh, Uh, yeah. Grabbed it from Thad. He says hi, by the way." Uzi rolled her eyes at the mention of Thad. Him and N were always so optimistic, it made her edgy persona cry in mock pain. "Hey, I'm gonna go take a nap. Today's been hectic."

"Alright Uzi! Have a good nap!" N shouted as she shut the door behind her, Uzi waving slightly as she headed to the bedroom. Laying herself down, she plugged herself into the JCJenson branded charger, and fell into sleep mode.

---

Like Cyn, Uzi will never get used to the mindscape.

Floating weightlessly, she made her way over to where she believed that little devil was floating herself. In the mindscape, Uzi and Cyn got to talk face-to-face, Usually ending up in an insult match and the two putting a literal wall between them. This time, however, was different.

"So, gonna tell me what that big thing over there is?" Cyn whipped her head around. Shit. Uzi wasn't supposed to see that!

"W-What do you m-mean?" She stuttered, hoping Uzi wouldn't press too hard.

"Cyn, you can't just pretend not to see the massive manor over there. it's huge!" Uzi threw her arms out in exaggeration. "Is that your little secret? you built a manor in my head?"

"N-Not really." Cyn sighed. "It i-is a recreation of the Elliot Manor. We can ign-nore it for n-now." Uzi however, Knew something was up. Without warning, the two were teleported into the manor's main room.

"W-Wha, Huh?" Cyn stumbled, now affected by the building's virtual gravity.

"If this was what you were hiding, i'm not mad." Uzi spoke, "This is actually pretty sick."

Cyn, being a realist, knew there was no way to get Uzi out now. Deciding instead to try tiptoeing around Tessa's room. "W-Well, i could g-give you a s-mall tou-ur." She began walking, with her ever present stumble-walk (as Uzi had called it) towards a set of doors. "Follow me."

Uzi obliged, following Cyn around the building. She was shown the library, the kitchen, the ballroom too. She made a particular note of this room. "Is this the room where..."

"Y-yes, this is the r-room that housed the Gala." Cyn explained. "I do not enter th-this room much w-when i enter here. I-It disturbs me." Uzi nodded, opting to make her way to a stairway near the corridor outside while Cyn was distracted in thought. Cyn saw her after clearing herself of the more disturbing thoughts, and realised which staircase that Uzi was heading up. Stopping Uzi was too late though, as she had crested the top of the stairs and began making her way down the hall.

Uzi had reached the halfway point in the corridor when she heard it, a faint crying sound from one of the nearby rooms. She looked back to see Cyn, eyelights hollow in fear. Without a word Uzi made her way to the end of the corridor, the sobbing getting louder as she approached the final door on the right. In big, bold letters ingrained on a golden plaque, the word 'TESSA' stood atop the door. Looking back again, Cyn had gotten closer too. Eyelights still hollow, she backed herself behind Uzi.

"I-I can't s-stop you, but p-please be careful." she spoke quietly. Uzi had a feeling whoever was on the other side did not want to hear Cyn's voice.

Steeling herself, she knocked. 

 

The corridor went silent.

 

"Hello? Anyone in there?" Uzi spoke calmly. Silence followed. She was about to knock again, when...

 

"Hello?"

 

Cyn's breath hitched. Uzi's eyes hollowed. She'd only heard that voice once before, in N and V's mind.

 

The door's plaque wasn't lying.

 

"Who's out there?" a sniffle came from the room. Uzi picked her next words very, very carefully.

 

"My name's Uzi, Who are you?" Simple. Short. It told the person on the other side she wasn't dealing with Cyn, who Uzi knew would set off the stranger.

 

A noise. From inside the room. The door's lock moved.

 

Uzi held her synthetic breath.

 

A head, fleshy, biological, appeared from inside the room. Emerald green eyes piercing into Uzi. Uzi stood at full height, but was looking the stranger dead in the eyes. they must've been leaning on the door.

"H-Hey, you okay?" Uzi, for being a complete and utter social newbie, knew that asking any other question would've resulted in the door being slammed back in her face.

 

Then, it happened. The mindscape vanished. Uzi opened her eyes, the room around her dark. It was her room alright. She could feel N beside her, sleeping soundly. It must be the middle of the day.

Uzi saw Cyn, back in the tail, staring head on at something. She turned to look at whatever Cyn was looking at, and froze.

 

The girl was crouched at the foot of her bed. her eyes wide and fearful. She was looking at her hands, watching them glitch ever so slightly with green energy. She looked up. She looked Uzi in the eyes.

 

"Wh-Where am i?"

 

Uzi's CPU kicked into high gear. "H-hey, it's okay, just stay calm alright?" Her voice was low. While he was improving, N was a light sleeper, years of hunting instinct keeping him alert at nearly all times.

The hologram flickered, the girl looking at her partner, fast asleep. "I-Is that-"

"That's N. You knew him, right?" Uzi was trying her best, but her comforting was only doing so much. "Hey, do you remember your name?"

"M-My name?"

"Yea, you're name, do you remember it?"

"My n-name is... Tessa."

The hologram flickered, Tessa panicking before vanishing entirely. Uzi began to panic, looking at Cyn for guidance. "What happened? where'd she go?"

Cyn was clearly still in shock, barely moving from the position Uzi found her in. "I-I think s-she went back into-"

"The mindscape." Uzi finished Cyn's sentence. The little tail nodded. "We gotta go talk to her."

"I do n-not think-"

"Cyn, she's just come back from what, being comatose for twenty years? She's a child, Cyn. I'm going to go find her." Cyn sighed beside her, tail drooping. "This was that secret, wasn't it?"

"I w-will explain later. Let's g-go find T-Tessa." Uzi nodded. Laying back down, She put herself into sleep mode once again, determined go find Tessa.

 

N, who gotten into bed not five minutes ago, had his oil run cold. His girlfriend, his sweet edgy goth GF, had woken up in the middle of the day along with Cyn, stared at the wall in shock, asked it questions about him, and then began taking about Tessa?! What the hell was going on?

 

He decided he would ask Uzi tomorrow. He was tired. But now, he was scared.

 

What was Uzi seeing that he wasn't?

Notes:

wow, that got hectic lol

So, Tessa is back! Albeit not that much there mentally. Poor lass. Also, V made her way in, this is what happens when you don't plan out very much lmao. Speaking of, i now know what's going to happen for chapter 4 to 6! i got carried away thinking about the story and now i know what i'm writing about.

V fans get ready for some vangst because chapter 4 will be her time to shine (and Tessa's too, don't forget her!)

Again, sorry this took so long, been busy with lots of life stuff.

also also, a big reminder: NONE OF THIS IS BETA READ! I'm simply constructing a story in my head and writing as i go. which is the best way i work. if everythin works out (it most likely wont) this Friday i can work in Ch4. NO PROMISES THOUGH NOT MAKING THAT MISTAKE AGAIN HEHE

[Side note: "middle of the day" = middle of the night. the drones are nocturnal.