Murder Drones: Absolute Tiga Dark

by AlexisBaudens

Summary:

Left on a doorstep as a baby, Dante's life changed when his parents took him to a gala, where he met a young girl who shared his passion for drones. Together, they repaired a drone that sealed the fate of Earth. Years later, when he arrives on Copper-9, his mistakes come back to haunt him.

Chapter 1: Meeting and Repair

It all began on a dark night, when a person wearing a large cape with a hood concealing her silhouette ran down a street until he arrived at a doorstep, where she placed a blanket in which a baby was wrapped.

"I'm sorry..." Said the figure in a sobbing woman's voice. "I wish we could stay together... but I have no choice... You are my light."

After finishing her statement, she resumed her run, leaving the baby behind.

---

13 years later, a teenager was in a limousine driven by a white-eyed worker drone, his parents chatting in front of him.

He had a normal build, blue eyes and dark brown hair. He was dressed in a black suit, a white shirt, black pants and a pair of black leather loafers.

His father was a tall, lean, light-skinned man whose hair and eyes were a similar shade of brown. His hair was slicked back, with a single strand let fall over his face. He wore an elegant suit, a little vintage in the patterns on his jacket.

His mother had long, wavy blond hair, blue eyes, full lips and a mole under the right side of her mouth. Her curvaceous figure, whose most distinctive feature was her very large breasts, which she had to keep under a corset so as not to attract any more attention with anything other than her red dress and black headdress.

The boy was Dante Redgrave, accompanied by his parents Megan and Kyle.

"Don't forget Dante." Said his mother in a gentle voice imbued with maternal authority. "We brought you with us to this Gala so you could bond with the Elliotts' daughter. So don't do anything stupid."

"I know, Mom." Dante sighed. "You've been saying that twenty times since we got on the plane. I hope she's nice to drones."

"If she's anything like her parents, I have my doubts about that." Laughs Kyle, receiving a pat on the shoulder from his wife, making him regain his seriousness. "But she can still be nice, boy. Speaking of drones, I saw them negotiate a call to prepare for our arrival. A team is salvaging drone parts from the landfill near their mansion, so we can get them for your little project without really being bothered by the parts thing."

"Thanks, Dad." Dante smiled, looking out the car window.

"Do you know why he insists on making a drone himself?" Megan asked her husband in a whisper.

"I've no idea. We'll have to ask him before we give him the drone and the oil." Kyle whispered back.

---

After a long drive, they finally arrived at Elliott Manor. It was a rather imposing building, all set in a gloomy atmosphere.

The wind was fresh and the cawing of crows echoed around them. Nature seemed to have taken possession of the mansion's walls, but this could also have been an artistic choice, as the Elliotts could certainly have hired someone to look after them. There were also some old trees around, having lost most of their leaves, and the crows seemed to love them.

"Rather gloomy." Megan remarked.

"Yes, but we can't blame our hosts. If the weather were any better, this place would be more welcoming." Kyle added.

As the drone butler who had led them took out their suitcase, Dante spotted a raven chewing on something.

"Hey, what you got there, buddy?" Dante asked.

The crow hopped toward him and dropped what it was chewing on the ground, tilting its head toward the teenager. Dante looked at what the bird had dropped to see that it was an electric wire.

"Where did you get that?" He asked, finding it strange that a crow still had a drone wire in its beak, assuming the animal had taken it from the scrapyard.

Even if the manor was close to a drone dump, it was still far enough away for the raven to tire of it and drop it before arriving at the manor, given what it had noticed on the way.

The raven cawed and flew off in one direction. Dante followed until he reached the back of the mansion. He was stopped by a fence, but luckily for him, he didn't need to climb it, as he could see what appeared to be the source of the wire.

A totally destroyed worker drone attached to a tree with chains.

For many, this would be a disturbing sight. They'd look away and ignore it, because despite the macabre appearance, it was a drone that was the victim. But for Dante, it was pitiful.

What level of cruelty and negligence does one have to reach to treat one's staff and such a jewel of technology like common disposable waste?

But he could do this drone justice by using what he saw as leverage to force them to treat other drones better.

 All drones had to be properly deactivated, not simply thrown away or left to be attacked by crows. In fact, it was illegal.

He took out his phone and took two photos of the scene, one with flash, one without. Then he put them on his cloud to make sure he had a record of the photo somewhere.

"Dante, are you coming?!" Kyle said in the distance.

"Uh, yes I'm coming!" Said the teenager as he stowed the phone in the inside pocket of his jacket.

He joined his parents and they were quickly ushered inside by a group of drones working at a speed he'd never seen at home. He wondered whether these drones had been well trained and disciplined to operate at such a level, or whether it was due to the stress of ending up like the one tied to the tree. Dante stayed behind his parents as they led the way.

Soon he caught sight of a man and a woman, far more elegant than anyone else. They chatted before a butler drone approached to inform them of the arrival of their guests, or more precisely of Dante's parents. The tall man seemed about to strike the drone for interrupting his conversation with his presence, but quickly withdrew his hand as Kyle and Megan approached.

"Ah! Welcome to our humble abode. How was the trip?" The tall man asked the two adults as they approached.

"It was a pleasant day..." Kyle began before being interrupted by the man who seemed to have asked the question out of simple comodity.

"Glad to hear it. Will you be joining us for dinner in a few hours?"

Kyle clenched his jaw slightly, annoyed by this blatant disrespect from his business partner, but didn't let it show.

"We'd love to. Could we know what we're going to eat?" Megan says, so the man doesn't risk pissing off her husband any further.

"Caprese salad, boeuf bourguignon and for dessert a chocolate mousse." Replied the woman, very well dressed with a fan, before glancing at Dante. She then looked at a drone, which seemed to understand immediately what she was getting at. "Go get Tessa. Quickly!"

The butler drone ran at once.

The next few minutes were filled with corporate-speak, probably forced pleasantries, and Dante's parents strove to imitate the snobbish, excessively decadent people standing before them. Dante had to hold back a laugh as he saw an opportunity to annoy his parents on the return journey.

Fortunately, all this ended with the arrival of the drone butler and a young girl, probably around Dante's age.

She had long, dark-brown hair, tied into two drooping pigtails, held in place by a headband at each end. The hair at the back was also styled in the same way. Another remarkable detail was the large ribbon at the back of her head.

A detail that seemed to amuse Dante was the presence of a small oil stain on his face that could be mistaken for a mole.

The tall man placed his gloved hands on Tessa's shoulders and pulled her in front of him, as if to introduce her.

"This is Tessa. This is our daughter. I'm sure our children will get along just fine."

Kyle beckoned Dante forward, and when he did, he was also holding him by the shoulders.

"This is Dante, our son. Say hello."

He gave Tessa a little wave, uncomfortable in this situation.

He felt like he was the world's first drone, or a product a salesman was presenting to a customer, it was very unsettling.

Tessa waved back, but more slowly. You notice that as she puts her hand down, she squeezes it hard. She squeezes her hands so tightly that they seem to tremble.

"Tessa, the Redgrave family is one of our most important business partners, and he and his family are here today because your father and I arranged for them to come earlier. Their son will be your partner for the gala." Says the woman, pointing her fan at the guests.

"What? My... partner?" Tessa asked, caught off guard by this revelation.

"It's your first gala, and I hope that being surrounded by someone your own age will allow you to... behave well during the gala." Explained the big man. "Today, you'll be freed from your obligations to show her around and... uh, I don't even know, play or something."

The woman turned to the boy.

"Dante, this is Tessa James Elliott. You can stay with her while you're here, and I hope you'll... excuse her manners. She tends to get into trouble, so I hope you can keep her out of the way during the gala?" Said the woman.

"Well, I'll do my best, ma'am." Replied Dante politely, a little uncomfortable at being used by his hosts as a tool to keep Tessa quiet.

"Now that that's settled, the adults should chat a bit more. Go do... whatever it is you kids do." Said the big man to quickly get rid of both children, and Tessa didn't need to be told a second time. Dante saw the man remove his gloves and toss them to the drone butler, who almost failed to catch them. "Bring me a clean pair."

The drone took off even faster than the two children.

As the children walked away, Kyle discreetly gave his son a thumbs-up, signalling that he was perfect.

Tessa and Dante both walked a few corridors before hearing Tessa exhale loudly, as if she were just beginning to relax.

"Are you okay?" Dante asked.

Tessa seemed to flinch at the question as if she'd forgotten she wasn't alone.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just..."

Her sentence falters, and it seems she had no intention of continuing it.

"Well, nice to meet you. I'm Dante, as you've probably heard." He said, extending his hand toward Tessa.

She shook his hand and gave it a surprisingly tight squeeze.

"Tessa. What brings you here?"

He tried to think of a lie to tell, but ended up deciding it was better to tell the truth.

"I'm just here because my parents wanted to take me. I don't know why they did. I usually prefer to be home alone to get organized on a little project."

Tessa laughed at his answer before letting go of his hand.

"Say, do you like drones? I like to fix them when I can. But lately, they've been cutting down on my back-and-forth to the junkyard." She said with a sincere smile, for the first time since they'd met.

This question made Dante smile.

"Yes, I love drones. In fact, my little project is to build one with spare parts. My parents talked to your parents about getting some parts from the scrapyard for me. But in the meantime, I've got a lot of ideas about when I'll actually be able to work on it. he explained.

His answer made Tessa smile, even though she was clearly holding back from squealing with joy like a little girl.

---

After what seemed like an eternity of endless corridors, they arrived at a door with a "Tessa" sign. It didn't take a genius to work out that this was Tessa's room. She turned the elegant handle and opened the door.

"Hey, J! I'm home! And I brought somebody!" She exclaimed happily.

Entering the room, Dante looked around.

The room was adorned with a chandelier in the middle of the ceiling, extinguished by the natural light that entered through the three large side windows. Apart from its size, with the same older style as the rest of the mansion, it was furnished as one would expect of a young girl. The bed was large and luxurious, there was a wooden wardrobe on the side, a half-empty bookcase and a desk with a mirror and a bright inscription "Vivre, Rire, Aimer" (Live, Laugh, Love). There was more to the furniture than that, and there were a few books scattered about. But Dante didn't pay much attention to them.

Instead, he turned his attention to the main events. The first was the drone in the middle of the room, apparently named "J" after Tessa.

She wore a maid's uniform and LED white eyes. But that wasn't all: she had silver hair styled into two high pigtails, tied with black ribbons, a rare, even unheard-of detail. She was sitting right next to the second main event, the one that immediately caught your attention: a disused worker drone, sitting on a chair in the middle of the room. Seeing the drone in this state pained Dante; its metal body was scratched and dented, and a faint yellow glow sprang from its eyes. Its limbs were twisted at odd angles, and a faint hum of energy suggested it was clinging to life.

The color intrigued Dante; he'd never seen or heard of a drone of this color.

"Welcome, boss... Who's this?" J asked, looking at the guest.

"This is Dante! Dante, this is J! I personally fixed it!" Said Tessa proudly, placing a hand on the drone's shoulder. "There's also N and J, but they're busy helping to prepare for the gala, for now."

"Really? That's so cool. Nice to meet you, J!" Dante greeted.

She nodded with a brief, disinterested glance before turning her attention back to Tessa.

"Is he going to help you with your project, boss?" She asked.

Tessa closed the door after Dante had fully entered the room.

"Well... I hope he can. He said he had some notion, so maybe he'll be a big help?" Tessa replied before approaching the carcass of the drone.

"I found it at the dump yesterday. I was glad to find a complete drone, but I'm afraid that despite that its damage is too severe for it to be repaired."

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Dante said as he removed his jacket and laid it on the bed, then rolled up the sleeves of his jacket. "We're going to diagnose what's wrong with this little guy. Hope you've got some spare parts."

"Don't worry about that." Said Tessa, pulling out a small but large crate with wheels hidden under her bed, which she opened to reveal piles of drone parts still in working order. "My parents may have reduced my round-trips, but I never came home empty-handed."

"Banco." Dante smiled.

For the next hour, Dante and Tessa worked meticulously, replacing defective parts, soldering connections and realigning joints, both working like two certified technicians more competent than the average.

While they were working on the drone, Louisa Elliott passed the room and took a quick look through the half-open door before looking away with disdain and resuming her walk.

The process was slow and delicate, but the drone's systems eventually stabilized. The faint yellow light in his eyes gradually intensified, going from dim to bright as he restarted.

With a final click and a hum, the drone connected. He stood up shakily, his nervous gaze scanning his surroundings. As soon as he spotted Tessa and Dante, he looked at them curiously, tilting his head like a child who doesn't understand what's going on... or a dog, if that helps visualize.

"Hi, it's all right. We're not going to hurt you." Says Tessa in a reassuring voice, probably used to reactivated drones having a little moment of fear because of what they went through before being deactivated.

"Yeah, we're friends." Says Dante, gesturing between himself and Tessa. "My name's Dante, and she's Tessa. We're here to help you. What's your name?"

The drone hesitated, posture frozen by what appeared to be anxiety, arms flailing forward. He glanced at Tessa and Dante, hesitating between their trust. When he finally spoke, his voice was weak and unsteady, like a timid whisper seeking to strengthen itself.

"My... My name is Cyn." Said the drone in a feminine voice.

Dante met Tessa's gaze, his expression softening into a reassuring smile. He read a mixture of curiosity and wariness in Cyn's yellow eyes, and slowly stepped back, giving her some space.

"Cyn? That's a pretty name." He said in a soft voice. "You have nothing to fear from either of us. We're here to help you. You're safe now."

Tessa crouched down to be at Cyn's eye level, her movements slow and measured. She gave the drone a warm, encouraging smile.

"We know you've had to go through a lot, but you're not alone anymore." She said in a soft, gentle voice. "We'll take good care of you, okay? Well, me more than Dante, seeing as he doesn't live here and only comes around once in a while, but you get the idea. Hey, hey, hey. But it still counts. You're not trash."

Cyn's eyes flickered. For a moment, she seemed to weigh their words, trying to assess whether these strangers were really trustworthy. Finally, she took a hesitant step forward, her metal feet gently scraping the ground.

"Why... why did you help me?" She asked.

The question floated in the air, charged with a mixture of doubt and fragile hope. Cyn still seemed pained to believe that kindness could extend to someone like her, a worker drone abandoned to rust in a junkyard.

Dante's smile widened and he exchanged a brief glance with Tessa before turning his attention back to Cyn. He held out his hand to her, palm open and inviting.

"Because everyone deserves a second chance, Cyn. Even drones." He said with his eyes. "So, what do you say? Will you let us help you?"

He gently extended a hand to Cyn, who looked at it. Then, with a hesitant gesture, she held out her hand. His cold metal fingers brushed hers, and she nodded sheepishly, taking his hand carefully. She shuffled forward, her movements awkward and hesitant.

"Shuffle... shuffle..." She said in a barely audible voice.

Tessa clasped her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide with delight as she seemed to have stars in her eyes.

"She's telling what she's doing... oh my God, it's so cute!" She whispered excitedly.

Cyn glanced at Tessa, as if suddenly realizing she'd spoken aloud. Her eyes lit up for a moment, almost like a blush. She took another small step toward Dante, tightening her grip on his hand.

"See? You're doing great." He said before looking at Tessa. "You've found a lovely drone, Tessa."

Tessa nodded in agreement, her smile radiating warmth.

"You're going to fit right in, Cyn. I promise." She said to the newly reactivated drone.

For the first time, there was a hint of a smile in Cyn's expression, as if she was happy to be more welcome on her arrival before she ended up in the scrapyard.

"Now I've got to give this adorable drone a makeover." Tessa smiled, cuddling Cyn as she rubbed her cheek against the drone's head.

"Giggle. Giggle." Said Cyn, letting out a robotic chuckle.

"But first..." Said Tessa before starting to push Dante out of his room.

"Wait, what are you doing?!" Dante asked, struggling to stay in the room, but Tessa was stronger than she was before the air... it must help to lift drone carcasses to the scrapyard.

"You don't look at a young girl when she's about to get a makeover." Tessa groans as she finishes pushing him out of the room. "We'll meet you in your room when she's ready! See you then, thanks!"

And with that Tessa closed the door in Dante's face.

---

"Wasn't the drone at the dump?" Kyle asked James as they sat at the same table at the gala.

"Yes, the employees we mobilized didn't find the drone our doorman had damaged as soon as it arrived." James explained. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience. On the other hand, I've instructed them to get the parts they need to build one without getting their hands too dirty, while denying the damage."

"It's a pity your son seems to share Tessa's craze for these... things." Louisa sighed, opening her fan in front of her mouth to conceal part of her disgusted expression as she mentioned her daughter's hobby.

"It's rather fortunate, Louisa." Said Megan with a courteous smile concealing her dislike for the woman and what she was about to say. "This way, our children can more easily bond and forge a more lasting understanding for our families."

She hated having to phrase it like that, but she played along all the same. All she wanted by connecting Dante with Tessa was for her son to make a friend. But to do that, she had to stroke James and Louisa's buttons, and that irritated her.

As for Kyle, all he wanted was to understand his son and make him happy. That's why he'd asked James if they could salvage parts or a whole drone from the scrapyard. So he could make a success of his project without paying too much. So when James mentioned that a drone they'd just received had been scrapped by an employee who was "a bit too hot-tempered", he jumped at the chance.

But with the drone gone, he could only hope that there was another one somewhere in the scrapyard that was not too badly damaged and easy to find. Even so, one question kept repeating itself in his mind: where did that drone go?

---

In Tessa's room, Cyn, now dressed in a maid's outfit and with silver hair styled to resemble Tessa's, sang as Tessa finished putting a ribbon identical to hers in her hair. Then she looked at herself and Cyn in the mirror.

"Did you see that? We've got the same hairdo now." Said Tessa in a cheerful tone.

"Giggle. We are the same." Said Cyn with an innocent little smile.

Chapter 2: Meet other drones

An hour later, Dante heard a knock on his door while he was on his phone waiting for Tessa to return.

"Come in." He said, putting down his phone and rising to his feet.

The door opened, revealing Tessa, J and two other drone workers he didn't know. Both had silver hair, neon white eyes and black worker drone helmets.

The first was a male drone with medium-silky hair, parted on the left, wearing a black construction helmet, black jacket and matching long pants. He wore an armband over his left bicep, a gray shirt with a black tie underneath, and black shoes.

The second was a female drone with bobbed hair, but with a soubrette crown in front of her helmet, a gray soubrette dress with black trim, a bow tie around her neck with two buttons in the middle, and knee-high black socks on both legs. She also wears an armband and round black glasses.

"Hello! We're back!" Tessa sang as she entered the room, causing J to roll her eyes as she smiled, clearly showing that her "boss's" antics amused her.

Dante smiled and was about to mention Cyn when he looked at the two unfamiliar drones.

"So, Tessa, who are these new faces? And where's Cyn?" he asked.

"Before you meet Cyn, I wanted to introduce you to my two other friends." Said Tessa, happily throwing her arms around the shoulders of the two drones, while the butler flashed a small smile and the soubrette had her hands in front of her face, wearing a shy expression. "This is N and V. Two more drones I've repaired."

"Hi!" N said cheerfully.

"Uh... good evening..." Said V shyly, giving him an awkward little wave.

"Hi, my name's Dante." Smiled the teenager.

"Now that the introductions are made." Said Tessa, pushing the drones aside while reaching for the door as if she were introducing someone important. "Here's the wonderful one, Cyn!"

Then Cyn entered the room at a slow pace with an adorable little smile on her face as her gaze wandered around the room and stopped when she was two meters from Dante.

"So Dante, what do you think?" Tessa asked.

In response Dante moved a little closer to Cyn and knelt down to be at her level.

"She's gorgeous." He said, taking Cyn's hands. "You really did a great job Tessa."

"Thank you. Don't you notice anything else?" Tessa asked, puffing her chest out.

"Hmmm, not really." The boy replied after a moment's thought.

This vexed Tessa, who crossed her arms and turned her head, pouting.

"You boys never pay attention to detail!"

Dante laughed at her reaction.

"I'm just kidding. I'd really be blind, if I didn't see that you have the same hairstyle and the same adorable bow in your hair." Dante smiled.

His compliment had the desired effect as Tessa flinched before she and Cyn looked away, each in a different direction, blushing.

"Blushes. Look away, embarrassed." Said Cyn as she looked away.

This provoked a laugh from N.

"Haha, he got you good." Laughed N, mocking without actually being mean, just because Dante's joke was amusing.

Dante could see V smiling at the situation as J clenched his fist at N, obviously holding back from hitting him. This made him smile, as he could see that Tessa was well surrounded by these drones. N was there to bring a little cheerfulness while J seemed to care that Tessa wasn't in trouble.

"So!" Dante said as he stood up. "We've still got a lot of time ahead of us given that the gala is tomorrow night. So what do we do?"

"Oh, I know!" Says N, raising his hand and jumping up and down. "Movie night."

No one had any other ideas, so as it was getting late, they all gathered on a sofa in Dante's guest room, who put his phone on the bedside table they'd moved, and used the overhead projector to watch an old movie called Office Uprising.

They were positioned as follows: J next to Dante, Tessa between Dante and N, V next to N, and Cyn on Dante's lap.

Curiously, Tessa seemed far more frightened than she should be by this film for someone who regularly goes back and forth to what is, basically, a drone graveyard. She hid behind Dante and N every time she saw the film's "zombies" attacking people.

N and V were a little frightened but not too much, J watched the film with little interest, Dante was amused by the film's gags, and Cyn watched the slaughter as if it were a children's cartoon.

---

The next morning, while N and V were teaching Cyn the tasks she had to do around the mansion and how to perform them, Dante and Tessa were talking drone while walking down the hall. Tessa was very enthusiastic about the idea of styling and dressing the drone that Dante would build.

As they chatted, they didn't even notice their parents passing by them at the bend in the corridor.

"They're already inseparable." Tessa's father smiled as his wife opened her fan to hide her own smile.

"They're just friends at this stage, James." Said Kyle, frowning slightly. "We've already talked about it, it'll only happen if they want it to."

"Maybe. But you have to admit that Tessa, despite her... eccentricity, is a good match for your son." James's wife insisted.

"That's for them to decide, not us, Louisa." Said Megan, frowning a little more.

---

The evening of the gala quickly arrived, with James staying with Tessa while the four repaired drones stood back to avoid attracting attention from the pompous guests of the girl's parents.

They greeted the guests politely.

"Ugh, it's exhausting just standing there doing nothing while they talk about grown-up stuff." Tessa moaned as she watched them all talk while being served by drones. "Why don't we just sneak out?"

"Because if we do, there's a good chance our parents will notice us and give us a hard time." Dante remarked, causing Tessa to flinch.

He noticed this, and was eager to have a private conversation with his friend's father.

But a few minutes later, Tessa found a reason to at least slip away temporarily.

"I'll go and see how things are going with Cyn. If anyone asks where I am, tell them I'm in the bathroom." Said Tessa before leaving, without waiting for Dante to protest.

He was frustrated at first, but smiled as he saw her off to spend a little time with the drones.

Then he saw James Elliott approach him.

"How are you finding your first gala?" he asked.

"Tessa and I are having a great time. She's in the bathroom." Dante lied that he and Tessa were bored to death during the gala, then decided to take the opportunity to confront his friend's "father". "Tell me, Mr. Elliott. Why are you and your wife so mean to Tessa?"

James stopped there, not expecting the question.

"What do you mean, boy?"

"You and your wife. You pick on her every chance you get. Your wife's remarks when we met are already a good indicator of that." Dante explained in a calm tone, even if he felt like yelling at the man. But he didn't; he already knew, despite his age, that cold anger was far more terrifying than screaming, especially for adults. "Don't think I didn't notice the chain connecting a handcuff to a blackberry in his room. What are you doing to him?"

"This is a family matter and not your problem. I'd advise you to keep your mouth shut." Said James, trying to assert some form of authority over the teenager.

"Really? Did you know that? The improper disposal of AIs is punishable by fines and prison sentences. I'm sure the government and the tabloids would love to know how you treat your staff." Dante retorted with an almost predatory smirk.

"Wh-when did you find out...?!" James said with difficulty, keeping his voice low so as not to attract the attention of the guests.

"And don't try to throw it all away later." Says Dante in a calm tone." I have photos lying around in my cloud from yesterday. I advise you and your wife to change your habits regarding Tessa. This is child abuse, and you know it. If the way you treat your drones and your daughter gets out, you can be sure that both your lives will be ruined. I'm offering you a chance to be a better person. Seize it, or watch the reputation you've worked so hard to maintain be destroyed in the glare of the tabloid spotlight."

James was stunned. A thirteen-year-old had gotten the better of him. Something he hadn't thought possible.

"Do we have an agreement?" Dante asked, looking at James, while a kind of dark light seemed to be visible in his eyes for a brief moment.

"... I suppose I'll consider reducing the intensity of our punishments. You've won, my boy. Just this once." James admits.

"It's a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Elliott. I hope you continue to have a wonderful evening." Dante smiled before walking away.

The master of the house watched the boy walk away with a mixture of anger and what appeared to be... pride. Yes, he was rather proud of his business partner's son. Few people had the guts to stand up to them and put pressure on them.

But that "glint" in the boy's eye.

When he caught sight of it, his whole body screamed at his brain not to antagonize the kid.

Dante, meanwhile, joined his parents and chatted quietly with them while waiting for Tessa. He'd won this war before it started. He had Tessa's parents by the balls, and he was going to make sure they treated their daughter and her drone friends better in the future.

---

In the guest room where Dante was staying, after doing some chores while being watched by J, Cyn sat on the bed, moving her legs a little while humming and hugging a pillow, as she looked out of the window, waiting for Dante to come back as she wasn't allowed to enter the great hall where the gala was taking place.

When the gala ended, Dante went to bed and was greeted by the sight of the drone he and Tessa had repaired.

"Cyn? Have you been waiting for me?" He asked, surprised.

"Jump." Said Cyn putting down the pillow before making a little jump to get out of bed. "Yes, J and big brother N said they couldn't make me do too much because of the gala. So I waited up to say good night."

Dante smiled at the little drone, finding it rather adorable.

"Thanks, Cyn." He said, taking the drone in his arms to give her a hug.

But this hug was so that she wouldn't see his face. He knew he'd have to leave tomorrow, and he hated having to leave his new friends here alone. Despite his talk with James, he still had a certain fear that they wouldn't keep their word, that they'd continue to mistreat Tessa and... that they'd give J, N, V and Cyn the same treatment as that drone tied to a tree.

"Tell me, Cyn. Do you want to sleep with me tonight? You know, so I'm not all alone." He offered, wanting to spend more time with the drone-child.

"Yippee!" Cyn exclaimed as she hurried up the bed and slipped under the blanket.

This made Dante laugh as he took off his shoes and jacket before slipping back under the blanket without changing, too tired for that, and finally falling asleep before the drone in his arms as if it were a stuffed toy... a big metal stuffed toy in a soubrette outfit.

Cyn spent a little while after he fell asleep looking at him, before switching to standby mode.

---

The next day, Cyn was with V, who explained the tasks she'd have to perform: dusting, cleaning the furniture, washing the sheets, making the beds, all the necessary chores.

While V explained everything and showed her how to do it, Cyn watched with interest as she looked around. She then saw other worker drones moving about normally, just like N, V and J.

She then looked at the way she stood in a reflection of a window. Her arms slightly raised with her hands hanging down, her legs slightly apart with her feet turned slightly inwards, her eyes yellow and not white.

She lowered her head, realizing that she was different from the other drones here. Even from the ones Tessa had repaired at the dump just like her.

Shortly afterwards, as she walked towards the guest room where Dante was staying to clean up, she collided with someone as she entered the room, knocking them both over.

She then looked up to see Dante.

When Dante looked up after someone had bumped into him, he came out of the guest room to see Cyn as she lowered her head, her metal fingers twitching nervously after she saw him.

"Urgh... are you okay, Cyn?" Dante asked as he helped the drone to its feet.

"Sorry." She said in a low voice.

Dante noticed that her attitude had changed: she seemed elsewhere, lost in thought. He crouched down to look her in the eye.

"Hey, is something wrong?" Dante asked gently.

Cyn hesitated for a moment, lowering her eyes to the ground before finally speaking, her voice soft and uncertain.

"Are you going to send me back to the dump?" She asked.

Dante's heart clenched at her words, sad that she could have thought that.

"Of course I'm not. Why would you think that?" He asked in a soft voice, but with a worried tone.

She looked at him with sad eyes.

"Something's wrong with me compared to the other drones here... I'm broken, aren't I?" The child robot asked in a whisper.

Dante's chest tightened at these words. Without hesitation, he knelt down and hugged her. She let herself go in his arms, her metal limbs stiff but grateful.

"You're not broken, Cyn. And we're not going to throw you away like that. You're our friend, mine, Tessa's, J's, N's and V's. As long as we're here, nothing bad will happen to you. I promise." Dante said in a low voice to reassure the drone.

Cyn let out a relieved chuckle, nodding as she relaxed in his arms.

"Okay." she sighed.

Dante stepped back and gently, affectionately ruffled her hair. His spark of mischief had returned, which made him smile.

Tessa and her three drone friends watched, each with their own reaction. Tessa brought her hands to her mouth and looked at them as if she were witnessing a tender moment in a romantic comedy, while N and V smiled. As for J, she smiled as she looked at them tenderly, which drew the attention of her friend, colleague and the one she liked to call the village idiot.

"What? I find them adorable like that too." J commented, looking away.

The group then turned their gaze towards the interior of the guest room, where they could see Dante's suitcase closed.

"Leaving already?" Tessa asked, worried.

"Uh... yeah. My parents and I were only here for the gala." Dante said, scratching his head. "But the plane leaves in a few hours, so we can still spend some time together."

Tessa and Dante took the opportunity to exchange telephone numbers.

Then, finally, Dante had to leave. Cyn watched with sadness and difficulty as the car carrying Dante and his parents drove away from one of the manor's windows, one of his eyes caught for a moment by a strange symbol.

A hollow hexagon, with angles at the top. Arrows sprouted from the top, bottom left and bottom right of the hollow hexagon. A smaller, filled hexagon lies inside the hollow hexagon.

Chapter 3: The Elliott Gala Massacre

Two years passed and Dante's friendship with Tessa and the drones grew. They couldn't stay together very often, as Dante could only come to the gala events organized by James and Louisa. But they could always keep in touch via video calls.

Unfortunately for Megan and Kyle, the drone parts recovered by the Elliotts' employees were in too poor a condition to be used to make a complete drone. But to their astonishment, this didn't seem to bother their son who, despite only being able to make a partial, non-functional drone due to missing an arm, a leg and a cracked visor. But he was happy all the same.

They could tell when they saw him chatting with his new friends on video-conference in a corridor.

They also got feedback from some of the drones guarding the mansion at night about certain nocturnal conversations between him and an apparently malfunctioning drone dictating the actions performed or emotions expressed.

This worried them, but then they made the connection. A drone with malfunctions, the drone in the junkyard they were supposed to retrieve but which had disappeared, young Elliott's habit of going to junkyards to retrieve drones for repair. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the disappeared drone was in fact still with the Elliotts, unbeknownst to them.

They tried to gather information from their son without giving him any clues as to their deception, and not only did this confirm their suspicions. But it also gave them another view of the situation.

He really cared about his friends at Elliott Manor, especially Tessa and Cyn. This reinforced his parents' desire to protect their son from the shenanigans of his friend's parents, while guaranteeing their agreement.

But that's not the sort of thing you want to see, is it, so let's move on to the more interesting stuff: the day it all came to a head.

---

At first it was normal, Dante arriving in a drone-driven car after a plane ride to yet another Eliott gala.

The only reason he went to these gatherings every time he was invited was to be able to see his friends for real and not behind a screen. It was always good to see them.

When the car arrived in front of the mansion, he got out and helped the drone get his suitcase out of the car. He guided the drone into his guest room, then went to the mansion's library, thinking he'd find his friends there; it was a bit of a hideaway from Tessa's room, since nobody really came there.

He didn't find anyone at first, until he found V, completely motionless with a yellow cross on his visor where his eyes should be, with "Error 606" written underneath.

"Oh, V." He said, hugging the drone for a brief moment, sad for her.

Tessa had sent him a message during the plane ride explaining that V seemed to have had a malfunction. But he didn't think it was that serious.

"The day after the gala, I'll see if we can fix you. I promise."

Then he left the library, wandering around the mansion in search of his friends. He eventually found them in the gala room, while worker drones set the tables and two others removed the extinguished body of one of them with a fork stuck in his visor while leaking oil from the same spot.

He arrived just as Tessa noticed N and happily lifted him up to twirl him around as if he weighed nothing.

"Hi Tessa." N mumbled as Tessa held him by the "cheeks".

"Oh, and you came with..." Said Tessa looking behind N to see Cyn and her expression transformed into a strange mixture of disgust and frustration. "...you..."

Cyn simply looked at Tessa with her usual innocent expression.

"Looks like J forgot to let me out of my basement again." She said as if it were normal to be locked up in this kind of place.

J, for her part, simply twirled the basement key on her finger like a basketball.

"And yet, here you are." She said carelessly, placing the key in her hair.

She soon turned her attention to Cyn and N, who realized what they'd done to the robot-child and that Dante had just discovered with a clear confession.

"Annoyed expression." Said Cyn, turning her head despite her little smile still in place.

"Are you going to lock her up?" N asked his two friends.

"Oh, N." Tessa began in an attempt to justify herself.

"Hi, guys." Said Dante as he approached them, making them aware of his presence.

"Hi, Dante!" The four of them said, almost in unison.

"How are you?" He asked.

"Fine." Replied N.

"Smile. Me too, now that you're here." Cyn smiled.

Dante smiled at the two drones before turning his gaze to Tessa and J with a slightly more stern expression.

"Tessa? J ? Can you explain to me why you're locking her up?" He asked, placing a comforting hand on the drone he and Tessa had repaired.

"Sorry Dante, I had to lock her up. She's starting to act weird lately." Tessa replied, looking down at the floor in shame. "And it's better she stays away rather than my parents ‘looking after’ her."

"Look, I know how cruel your parents are, especially with the drones. But you don't need to do that to Cyn." Says Dante. "Besides, she may act weird, but it wouldn't be anything too bad. I mean, look at that cute little face."

He then lifted Cyn, who placed one of her arms around Dante's shoulders while putting on a kind of harmless, cute anime face to the point where you could hear a cute squeaky dog toy.

"Giggle. I'm adorable." Cyn smiled.

This made Tessa sigh.

"Okay, Dante. You win. I'm not going to lock him in the basement anymore." Said Tessa. "But we'll have to find a solution for my parents."

"Don't worry. If they want to hurt Cyn, J, N or V, I'll deal with them personally." Dante promised as the same darkness James had glimpsed shone in his eyes before disappearing unnoticed by the human or the drones.

Then their attention was interrupted as Louisa approached them.

"Tessa James Elliott." She said authoritatively, invoking a law that transcends all boundaries: if a loved one calls you by your full name, you're in trouble.

Tessa, N and J straighten up and stand in front of her, lowering their eyes like military school students caught doing something stupid. Meanwhile, Dante stands in front of Cyn, trying to hide her.

"We won't accept your pets."

"Y-Y-Yes, mother. Sorry, Mother." Tessa stammered, demonstrating something Dante hated about this place: Tessa's parents ruled the permanent inhabitants of this house through fear.

Despite her daughter's apology, Louisa, still angry, looked towards Dante and saw Cyn smiling and looking back at her.

"Oh God!" She said, pointing her fan at Cyn. "I said that I didn't want to see that thing anymore. You still can't follow simple orders."

"Need I remind you of my little arrangement with your husband, Louisa?" Dante menaced, looking at the woman as if she weren't the mistress of the premises.

"No, you don't. No. No. Please. I..." Said Tessa, trying to dissipate the tension while trying to find a way to keep her friends with her."

"Tessa. You'll abandon your broken drone in the swamp tomorrow. You'll also throw away the one cluttering up our library." Louisa ordered.

This drew the attention of N, J and Dante. Louisa had clearly just ordered V to be thrown out. This made the teenager frown even more, while Tessa was too afraid of her mother to resist.

Louisa began to walk away, then Cyn approached and spoke up, drawing everyone's attention.

"They're not broken." She said, causing Louisa to stop. "We can't be thrown out again."

Louisa became angry and looked at Cyn

"Is that little pile of..." Louisa began before being interrupted by N, who tried to defend Cyn by standing in front of her.

"I told her to say that and I brought her here. I hate orders." He said as Louisa looked at him with growing contempt and anger as Dante motioned for her to be quiet. "And your fans are stupid."

N made a peace sign with his fingers and smiled nervously, but J looked at him awkwardly, while Dante rubbed his hand against his face, appreciative of N but forced to admit that he really didn't know when to shut up.

---

Later, Dante was punished by Tessa's parents because of what Cyn had said, and N put a coin in the machine right afterwards.

So he was confined to the guest room during the gala, while Tessa and the drones, with the exception of N, who had been chained to the same tree as Dante's compromising photo, were in Tessa's room, probably in chains.

If he didn't have his phone to pass the time, he'd probably be bored. He took the opportunity to send a message to his parents, asking if he could negotiate with Tessa's parents to take at least Cyn, N and V home to keep them safe.

He could have added J to the list, but he knew that Tessa would be deeply lonely and didn't want to part with her most loyal drone friend. Where N, though a good worker, had angered Louisa a little too much for his presence to be accepted. And J's love of a job well done and respect for hierarchy increased his chances of being accepted without a hitch.

His parents replied that they would do what they could, to which he added that he was ready to empty all his pocket money if it meant he could save his drone friends James and Louisa. Indicating to his parents the urgency of his request.

As he waited for an answer from his parents, even though he suspected it would arrive tomorrow because of the gala that was to receive all the Elliotts' adult attention, the door finally opened.

He stood up quickly, putting his phone down on the bedside table as Cyn entered the room, a glass of water in her hand.

"Cyn!" He said, quickly closing the door behind the drone before taking her by the shoulders. "What are you doing here? You were grounded with Tessa in her room."

"I thought you were thirsty. So I brought you a glass of water." Cyn smiled, handing her the glass.

"But it's dangerous. Imagine if James or Louisa had seen you, they could have hurt you." He said, touched by Cyn's kindness, but also worried that she might be hurt because of Tessa's parents' violent tendencies towards drones. "But thank you, it's true I was thirsty."

He smiled at the drone and gave it a kiss on the forehead as he took the glass.

"Blush. Thanks." Cyn smiled, lowering her head so he wouldn't see the blushing expression on her visor.

Dante then took a sip from his glass and felt a wave of fatigue. He managed to put the glass down on the bedside table before collapsing to the floor.

"I'm sorry." She said. But I don't want to risk you sneaking off to the gala." Said Cyn before raising his thumb, index and middle fingers, making a symbol appear in front of his hand.

This same symbol encircled Dante's sleeping body and lifted him onto the bed. Cyn then approached him and caressed his cheek.

"Tender caress. Sweet dreams."

Then she left the room, an empty pill pack falling from her dress.

---

When he woke up, Dante yawned and stretched, wondering why he was lying in bed before a sore feeling on his cheek. Looking at the time on his phone, he could see it was the next morning. He walked slowly, still tired, out of the room and towards Tessa's, not noticing the traces of blood on the floor and walls and the people in hazmat suits cleaning up and taking samples.

When he reached Tessa's room, shock, fear, worry and panic seized him as he saw the large bedroom window broken and the chain cut with the handcuff open.

He stepped back and left Tessa's room without closing the door, and finally noticed that the corridors of the mansion seemed to have become crime scenes.

"Oh no, no, no!" He said before hurrying through the corridors in search of Tessa, N, V, J and Cyn. He was terrified that something had happened to his friends.

At first he found nothing but people in hazmat suits doing their jobs and no drones around, adding to his anxiety and panic.

When he finally reached the gala hall, he spotted Tessa, obviously slightly injured, but nothing serious. She was sitting with her knees bent towards her, crying as she recounted what had happened to a hazmat-suited man holding a notepad.

"Tessa!" He said, rushing over to her.

"Dante!" Tessa said before standing up and rushing over to him.

Both hugged each other, relieved that the other was alive.

Tessa trembled in Dante's arms, still crying from the atrocity she'd witnessed.

"What happened?" he asked himself.

"It's... It's Cyn." Tessa sobbed. "She... she took control of all the drones in the mansion and killed everyone before leaving with them."

Dante's eyes widened at this revelation.

Cyn, the drone they'd repaired together when they first met... that adorable little drone with a childlike demeanor... she'd really done it all... he didn't want to believe it but... But he was obliged for the moment to believe Tessa because she seemed to have witnessed it, and her safety and well-being had to be her priority right now.

The man in the hazmat suit asked the two teenagers to follow him. They were then taken outside, seated on the bench of an ambulance with the rear door open, so that Tessa's wound could be treated and they could also question Dante at the same time.

"So, if I've understood this drone correctly..." the man asked, before being interrupted by Dante.

"Cyn. Her name is Cyn, sir." He said, not liking the fact that his... best drone friend was reduced to the simple fact of being a drone.

"Okay." Acquiesced the man, not wanting any of the survivors to brace themselves and refuse to give any more details. "So Cyn came to your room shortly after she warned Mrs. Elliot not to leave her room. She gave you a glass of water, which you drank before passing out and waking up in bed in the room you were staying in. Is that it?"

"Yes, that's right. Do you think she..." Asked the teenager, inwardly denying that Cyn had drugged him to make sure he stayed away from the massacre.

"It's a possibility. It would explain why Mrs Elliot found you asleep when she went looking for you to arrest Cyn and you were asleep." Said the man, still taking notes.

"Did you try to wake me up?" Dante asked, looking at Tessa.

"Yes. I even slapped you hoping it would wake you up... it didn't." Tessa replied timidly, making two of her fingertips touch.

"So that's what the pain was when I woke up." Dante realized, rubbing his cheek, which embarrassed Tessa.

"I think we've covered all the questions." Said the man, putting away his notepad.

"So... what's going to happen to us now?" Dante asked, instinctively taking Tessa's hand, which made her blush.

"Well, it's hard to say. The Elliotts were the main shareholders in JCJensen, so I suppose Tessa will inherit their shares when she comes of age, but in the meantime she needs a guardian to manage all this and her education." the man explained.

Dante looked at Tessa, who lowered her gaze. She had no one, and with JCJensen's actions to blame, the vultures were sure to swoop down on her. She needed an alternative, and fast. Then he had an idea.

"Tessa." He said, making her look at him. "Do you... do you want my parents to be your guardians in the meantime."

His proposal surprised her friend.

"At least with them, we're sure you'll be better treated with any vultures who want to exploit your future influence on the company. You've never been to my place, it was always me who came for the boring galas." He smiled. "And... this way we'll always be together."

This last statement made him blush as Tessa's eyes widened and her face was so red she would have camouflaged herself perfectly in a tomato patch.

"Uh... well... I..." she stammered. "That would be nice, yes."

"I think it might be possible, given your parents' relationship and the business connection with the company. I'll see about contacting Mr. and Mrs. Redgrave to determine if it's possible." The man explained before leaving, leaving the two teenagers alone.

---

Then the next day, on a stormy day, Tessa, accompanied by Dante, was welcomed into Kyle and Megan's home. For her first time in an unfamiliar house, everything went smoothly. But she was still worried and didn't want to be left alone with worker drones.

After a detailed tour of the mansion and a pleasant dinner where Dante's parents put Tessa at ease by being compassionate and kind, quite the opposite of her own parents, it was time to go to bed.

As Dante lay in bed, he couldn't get to sleep. He was still thinking about that evening and what Tessa had told him.

He knew he had to believe her, but he couldn't. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't do it. No matter how hard he tried to convince himself, the idea that this child-robot they'd repaired and taken in together could be responsible for something like this was inconceivable to him.

As he brought his hands to his heart, he heard the door open. He looked up and a flash of lightning struck, making him see Cyn for a moment before a second one made him realize it was Tessa.

He must have been hallucinating because of his inner debate and their identical hairstyles, even though Tessa was in pajamas and not wearing her bow.

"Tessa? Is everything all right?" He asked, straightening up.

"C-can I..." She said hesitantly. "Can I sleep with you?"

Dante was surprised by this question, but nodded.

Tessa closed the bedroom door and climbed into Dante's bed, hugging her as soon as the blanket fell over her.

He was surprised by this reaction, but conscious of Tessa's trauma, was content to embrace his best friend and be there for her.

He glanced at the window behind Tessa to see a yellow dot staring back at him, which disappeared as soon as he blinked.

Thinking he was hallucinating again, he closed his eyes and fell asleep with Tessa hugging him, cuddling him as if he were her stuffed toy.

Outside that window, hidden in a bush, stood Cyn with the drone Dante had been trying to build since the first gala. She rubbed the drone's broken visor before... teleporting with it in a small burst of yellow light.

Chapter 4: Ellipse and Exoplanet

The more time passed, the more the danger that Tessa and Dante had unwittingly unleashed on the world became apparent.

First there was a conference explaining why drones from Elliott Manor had massacred almost everyone. Tessa and Dante were present, and they discovered that... Cyn... was like that because she'd been incorrectly disassembled.

Normally this wouldn't be too dangerous, but there was a small percentage chance that a mutation in the program of a badly disassembled drone would occur. This caused infection by a program the company called Absolute Solver. They weren't aware of all the capabilities the Solver could give a drone, but they knew one thing: it wasn't a good sign.

The first time this had happened, a drone had massacred practically the entire search team assigned to it. The last survivor managed to escape and killed the drone, locking it out. This led to the drone overheating, catching fire and being nothing but a pile of ashes by the time help arrived.

This frightened Dante's parents who, wracked with guilt, revealed the failed deception in relation to the drone parts recovered from the dump.

"So... Cyn would have ended up here, if I hadn't found her first?" Tessa asked in a trembling voice.

"Yes... I don't know if it would have led to the same result here. But I'm really sorry, Tessa." Kyle said as he lowered his eyes, feeling guilty about what had happened to the parents of the girl they took in.

"So... it's my fault..." Said Tessa as her body shook more and more as the guilt took hold of her. "If I hadn't gone to the dump that day... if I hadn't brought her home... none of this would have happened... Mum and Dad would still be alive..."

Tessa left, too upset to continue the discussion. Dante took the lead and set off to catch up with his friend.

He found her huddled in the corner of a corridor, crying.

Not knowing how to react, he simply sat down beside her and let her vent her emotions.

"It's my fault..." she murmured between sobs.

"You couldn't have known that Cyn would have been... capable of such a thing." Said Dante, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"But I tried to stop her. I shot at her and threw everything I could... and she ricocheted everything when it got close to her face... and after that, she took control of J, V and all the drones in the mansion." Tessa explained. "She forced J to hold me back while she slaughtered everyone. I finally broke free, but J caught up with me and..."

She then pointed to the bandage on her right arm.

"Yeah..." Says Dante, still feeling a little bad about his feelings on the situation. "You know... despite everything, I still find it hard to really accept that Cyn has gone off on some kind of vendetta. When I'm with her, even on appeal, she seems so innocent, so adorable... so..."

"Childish." Tessa concluded for him, her mood lightening a little as she thought back to the time we spent together before she noticed Cyn's strange behavior. "Remember when she drew a picture even less well done than N's and you taught her how to draw?"

"Oh what a pain that was..." Dante sighed, smiling in amusement. "But in the end it was worth it."

This made Tessa laugh. Even though her best friend still seemed a little in denial and the trauma she'd been through, he recognized the truth. She had to admit that she wished she were too.

She knew there was something strange about Cyn, and instead of talking to her to find out what was wrong, she'd locked her in the cellar to hide her from her parents. Maybe if they'd taught Cyn the difference between right and wrong, things would have been different.

They stood there in silence, before Tessa suddenly embraced Dante. A silent thank-you for having been there for her since they met.

---

Meanwhile, Cyn was wandering around a factory where worker drones were made and which she had taken over with the help of the Elliot Manor drones.

She frolicked and hopped like a little girl as the drones spun the factory around to create drones that looked larger than conventional worker drones.

She kept going until she reached the factory manager's office, where there was... a cupboard. Not a cupboard where documents were stored, but a closet of the same kind as those in bedrooms.

"Curious expression. Why is there a closet in an office?" She thought to herself before opening the closet doors, dropping a bed with a thick hammering. "Oh, a bed."

Without asking herself why there was a bed hidden in the factory boss's office, she then jumped on it and started bouncing as if it were a trampoline. This brought out a golden medallion that was hidden under her dress.

"Boing, boing, boing." She said happily as she bounced on the hammer before coming to a halt.

She then took the medallion in her hands and opened it to reveal a small photo of the group of friends. Cyn was between Dante and Tessa, N and J next to Tessa, and V next to Dante. They were all smiling and happy.

Even though Tessa had begun to distrust her before the gala, she missed those moments when they were all together.

"Sad. If only Tessa and Dante could be here." She said before placing a hand on her belly, as if hungry.

She knew they couldn't be there. For now she had to stay focused on what she had to do.

---

5 years later, Dante and Tessa awoke in a king-size bed in a concrete-walled room.

They weren't particularly happy about waking up; today was a day neither of them really wanted to see arrive.

"Hmm, I don't want to go." Tessa groaned, burying her head in her pillow.

"I know, it pisses me off as much as you do. But we have no choice." Dante groaned in turn, forcing himself up from the bed.

After a brief moment to get ready, they left their room to join a rocket on the launch pad. Tessa was dragging a small suitcase.

When they got there, she hugged Dante and kissed him.

"Will you join me soon?" Tessa asked.

"As soon as I can, I still have to finish a few things." Dante replied, smiling at her.

"Then make it really quick. I don't want you around when she manages to break through the defenses of this place." Tessa said worriedly.

"I promise I'll leave before then."

"And don't forget to take Micky with you." Tessa insisted.

"I won't, I promise." Dante laughed.

Tessa gave him a sheepish smile before giving him one last hug and boarding the space shuttle that took off a few minutes later.

Dante sighed and entered a research center where a black and chrome armor with a circular crystal in the center of the chest was being developed.

It was one of the most important projects of this branch of JCJensen to control the drones designed by what the company soberly called "the Absolute Solver". And it was only a prototype developed by Dante, on which he had been working for 2 years in his spare time. The armor development project was mysteriously named "DT", by Dante. Even he didn't know the reason for this choice of name.

"Sir, the armor is almost finished. We just need to understand and solve the battery problem." Explained one of the engineers he was working with.

"I still don't understand what the problem is." sighed Dante.

"The problem is that if it's not you in the armor its battery drains faster than those old 21st century phones... what's their name again..." Said the scientist, trying to remember the name of the device.

"An Iphone?" Dante asked.

"An Iphone! That's it." Acquiesced the scientist.

"Well, we still have a few days to solve this problem..." Said Dante as he began to work on it.

---

Then finally, two months later...

Dante was in an imposing spaceship, the largest of which was a living space for at least 4 people. He'd been there for 2 days after Tessa's departure, the drones having attacked the place, so he was evacuated with all he had their best hope against the drones: the DT project.

The ship was currently on autopilot, taking him to the colony where Tessa had left.

At the moment, Dante was sitting on his sofa eating noodles in front of a series on one of the many hard drives next to the TV, while next to him a Golden Retriever was eating his kibble.

It was Micky, the dog he and Tessa had adopted. The only one not to have left the earth with the others. Especially since Tessa and Dante had insisted he stay with them.

And nobody wanted to upset the company's most competent technicians and engineers, least of all when they were the company's majority shareholders. He was lucky that the ship was already ready when the attack took place.

Dante stroked Micky and the dog waggled one of his hind legs.

"Don't worry, buddy. We'll see Tessa again soon." Dante said before hearing an alert that he'd received a transmission.

He put down his bowl of noodles on the small table and went into the cockpit to see that he'd received a written transmission from Tessa.

The message read: "I've had a little problem with my shuttle. I'm on an old colony called Copper 9. Can you join me, please? I think I've got a lead on Cyn."

This alerted Dante. Both because his girlfriend had been stranded on an abandoned colony since an incident nearly destroyed the exoplanet's core and decimated its entire population, but also because it meant he'd finally have some real answers about Cyn. Not just how she got that way, but why she decided to do all that.

He then diverted his ship's course in the direction of the colony indicated in the message, which was a few hours away.

---

Upon arriving on the planet, Dante saw the ship land somewhere in a ruined city and after a few minutes' hesitation he saw that the city was... full of mountains of drone corpses, from what he could see on the screens projecting an image from the ship's front cameras.

"What happened..." Dante said, looking at the mountains of destroyed drone. "Even the dump next to Tessa's parents' mansion was less full of drone parts.

Just then, the command console displays a notification: "Movement detected at the rear of the ship. Do you wish to observe? Y/N"

He hadn't expected this. At first he was reluctant, but curiosity overcame all logic and he answered "yes" to the question.

One of the screens projected live images from outside the ship. He could see a worker drone outside, looking rather curious about the ship. Its violet eyes scanned the special means of transport with curiosity and apprehension.

The sight of the worker drone made Dante a little uneasy, given the events of the last 5 years. But he quickly got over this when he remembered that the incident was due to an explosion and not to uncontrollable drones, according to company records. So officially, this exoplanet was more or less safe.

Besides, it had been a long time since he'd seen another drone in person, given that they'd been banned since the Absolute Solver had become openly hostile towards humanity.

He simply watched the video, noting that this drone was behaving normally, not like an animal in search of prey. His eyes wandered from its body language back to its head, and especially its hair. He still remembered N, V, J and Cyn and found it strange to find drones with hair. He was almost tempted to assume that it was Tessa who had given the drone that haircut.

Before doing anything else, he quickly put on his armor and activated it. The helmet's face piece then opened, revealing that in addition to everything else, it also had a kind of energy field in front of the face, protecting this part of the body from the vacuum of space and extreme temperatures, the helmet's face pieces serving only to protect the wearer's face in the event of combat.

Now equipped with protection, he headed for the exit, after ordering Micky to stay in his basket to punish him for eating his bowl of noodles. He decontaminated himself and headed for an intercom at the rear of the ship to speak to that wandering worker drone with the violet eyes. And with the intercom's camera, he noticed that the worker wasn't alone, and the one accompanying him was much taller, with yellow eyes and a cap.

Dante froze as he recognized the tall trench-coated drone standing next to the smaller purple-haired drone. Unlike all those he'd seen on the videos, his eyes were no longer that horrible "X" indicating their hostility. They were... normal drone eyes.

He recognized the haircut perfectly, even under a wide-brimmed hat. Despite the yellow eyes instead of white, and the tail topped with a syringe, he recognized N.