Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

She’d never realized how high the spectator stands really were, but now that Uzi was down in the ring for the first time she really felt their looming-ness. From above, the few times she’d actually gotten to sneak a peek, the area was big but contained. Here from below, it was massive and exposing.

“- and the sand has to be raked every Thursday after set-up so there aren’t any shallow spots. Gives ‘em a bit of a better chance, ya know?”

“Uh-hu yeah,” Uzi replied on reflex. She wasn’t trying to ignore him, but actually being inside the arena itself was a lot to take in.

Worker drones filled the space, adjusting set pieces that rose and sank from the floor. It was hard to believe that the entire floor was a grid that could rise up to four stories. The up-close view let her see that the moving columns were only four thin metal dowel rods at the corners, but that allowed the workers to insert walls, tunnels, platforms, or whatever else was required for the upcoming matches.

And entire section of the floor was currently sunken out of sight, presumably being worked on from below.

“You won’t have to think about most of that with the job you’re doing, but it’s good for you to know how the usual day routine operates, ‘case we need to pull you for help elsewhere,” Charles, the bot showing her around, said. “Never know when someone’s gonna get tossed to the frenzy.”

“He-he, good one,” Uzi said, then realized that he was dead serious. “How often does that happen?”

The missing chunk of floor began to rise up, bringing with a cave large enough to hide a handful of drones.

“Anytime the servants screw up enough. Or try to rebel. But don’t worry, you’re an actual employee getting paid, not to mention your dad. You’d have to seriously break some rules before the hire-ups toss you in. Not that your job’s much safer. Still can’t believe we had someone apply.”

The job that nobody wanted. That’s what set Uzi apart from most of the wimpy workers of this place. The catacomb society that had formed after the core collapsed seventy years ago was immense, but of all the easy jobs she could get with her dad’s reputation Uzi chose this one. She chose the one that would start her real journey.

Uzi looked to the far side of the arena. Three grey doors were the only visible feature on it. They were her dad’s design, silver and sturdy. And above each door was a marking. A skull, wings, and a barbed tail.

Charles followed her gaze. “You ready to meet them kid?”

Uzi’s motor skipped a cycle. “Uh, yeah, of course.” Yes. This is what she was here for. This is why she applied.

But as she was led towards the hidden maintenance hatch, her circuits started to buzz in a really annoying way. She was fine. She’d been dreaming of facing down one of these things since she was a little kid. No way she was getting nerves now.

They stopped at a part of wall that had the thin black outline of a door, but there were no handles, keyholes, anything. Charles pulled out a keycard and held it to the right of the door. The wall under in glowed green, and the door swung inward.

“This is the right access door, stage left to the arena. There’s another one on the left, but the both lead to the  same hall.” It curved slowly to the right as they walked. Charles named off several of the doors as they went further in, but the buzzing in her circuits made it hard for Uzi to focus on what he was saying.

“Ah, here’s one you’ll need to be familiar with.” Charles tapped at the plate on a door, drawing Uzi’s eyes to the unassuming etching of a jelly jar. “The oil room.”

“Oil room?” Uzi said.

He waved his key at the sensor, and the door clicked. He opened it and waved Uzi inside.

When she stepped in, her oil tank lurched. Those weren’t jars of jelly lining the shelves.

Charles gave her a sidewise grin, and Uzi quickly rearranged her features into a nonchalant expression. So what if she was standing in a room where the leftover oil of dead drones was packaged up? Didn’t bother her. She’s seen worse.

He plucked one of the jars off the shelf. “These are rationed by the corpse cleansing crew, and unless the trainers say otherwise you just need one of each.” Sure enough, the jars were organized by the amount of oil in each. Though the difference was small enough that she would’ve grabbed them at random had he not pointed it out.

“Go on,” he said, and Uzi realized that he wanted her to grab the other jars. She had to tiptoe to reach.

“Hm. I’ll talk to Marge about getting a stepstool in here.”

“Bite me! I can get them down fine!” Uzi glowered. She tucked the jars under her arms.

“Sure kid. Now these here,” he patted a large metal tank that protruded from the wall, “are the oil reserves. Lets just say they hold a lot. Sometimes the trainers are going to have you add oil to the jars, and all you have to do is turn the valve here. Other times they’ll have you reduce the amount. You can’t fill the tanks from this side, so instead you can just poor it into this canister.” He showed her to a workbench. “Makes it easier to measure it out.”

Uzi gave him a thumbs up, and in doing so almost dropped one of her jars. Her reflex was fast enough to catch it, but it got her motor running. That’d be a bad screw up for her first day of work.

“Oh, right.” Charles reached under the workbench and grabbed a large metal pail. “That’s what these are for.” He placed his jar in it then held it to Uzi. She did the same before taking it from him.

“Those there have what we like to call the murder mulch.” He pointed to the large chest boxes at the other side of the room. “When the corpses are harvested, all the usable pieces are drained and recycled for new drones. But there’s always chunks that are too mauled to be useful, so they get turned into the murder mulch. I’ll show you how that works tomorrow. For now,” he pulled an absurdly large pair of tongs off the wall next to the door and tossed them to Uzi, “we’ll keep it simple.”

It was a bit awkward walking down the hall with a weighted bucket and unbalanced tongs, but she managed. It was only a sort ways before they stopped again. It was another door with the death marking on it. Here we are, the most secure room in the entire Catacomb. Nothing less for his lordship’s most valuable treasures.”

He wave his keycard and with hiss the door retreated into the ceiling. It was another door.

Of course, Dad. Can’t just stick with one. Uzi rolled her eyes, and Charles opened the second door as the first closed behind them. This one led to a hallway that had two much more normal doors, one at the end and one on the left.

Charles reached for the one on the left, then paused. “Remember not to get too close.”

The door opened, and for the first time Uzi could see one. Not stolen glances, not crude sketches, the real one. In full view. She was seeing the killer robots known as the Disassembly drones.

Chapter Text

After the core collapsed seventy years ago, humans sent the Murder Drones to wipe out all remaining AI. For twenty years, Workers lived in small, scattered colonies struggling to survive. Venturing out at night guaranteed death. Well, it still does to a degree, but things changed when a Worker Drone led his colony into fighting back. That’s a messy and complicated story, one of the only history lesson’s Uzi actually enjoyed suffering through, but the end result is that it was discovered the Disassembly Drones malfunction under sunlight, and exploiting this has allowed Workers to subdue many of the Disassemblers.

That was all ancient history now, long before Uzi was ever made. Murder Drones still prowl the surface of the planet, but they’re more cautious now, picking off stray drones and never attacking colonies anymore.

It’s nearly impossible to actually kill a Disassembly Drone, though. But there are legends of it happening. And ever since Uzi lost her mom to a wild one, she knew it was her destiny to find out how.

And it starts with this.

Just ten feet in front of her was the first of three massive cages. And the Disassembly drone inside it was staring strait at her. It’s wings were out, making the cage look small for it, and it’s tail waved slowly behind it. It tilted it’s head at her.

But what really caught Uzi’s attention was that its eyes looked, well, normal. The X that they always had in her mom’s illustrations and the limited informational books on them was gone, and in it’s place were two normal, curious eyes.

“That one there is Serial Designation N,” Charles said. “He’s our biggest, but also our most cooperative drone. We’ll start you on feeding him tomorrow, and work you up to till you fully take over the feeding routine.”

Uzi nodded, but her focus was still on the Drone. It was weird, a lot like a normal worker drone, but at the same time not. The glowing bulbs on its head, it’s bulky limbs, and not to mention it’s size.

“Over here kid,” Charles called, and Uzi realized that he’d moved on. “You’ll get used to them,” he said with a wink. “As long as you stay four feet from the cages, they can’t do anything.”

“I’m not scared,” Uzi said in defense. Now that she wasn’t so focused on the Disassembler, she started to really take in her surroundings.

The room was big, but it felt crowded with the size of the cages and a dozen Workers milling about. Most of the room was plain grey steel, only broken up by black and yellow hazard bands. LED bands wrapped around the edges of wall, but most of the light came from the massive windows that faced the arena.

“How…” Uzi said half to herself, she put a hand on the window.

“Neat, right? They’re one-sided and thicker than a shark tank. Not the most premier viewpoint, but’s it’s definitely the most up-close and personal.” He pointed upwards at a loft platform that sat above the cages. The window up there is a bit better to watch from. It’s for the trainers to assess to their performance and make notes.”

“Notes on what? How to murder better?” This was sounding a bit more complicated than she realized.

“Yes and no. Its more to determine if they get rewarded or punished not for doing a good job. They’re the big money-makers, so if a battle is boring it’s not good. It’s hard to explain, but you’ll see the longer you stick around. The notes the trainers make will be important to you’re job though. Over here.”

He took her to a bulletin board not far from the door. It had all sorts of things on it, but Uzi’s eyes were drawn to the chart on the far left. Both because it was the cleanest part of the board and because of what it read.

Friday

Four Round Tournament

Frenzy

Duel

Champion Dual

Saturday

Games

• Archery
• Obstacle course

Maze Hunt –  Note: Clearout

Uzi didn’t get a chance to pick the chart apart, so she made a note in her store files to come back to this.

“This is were you’ll find what you need.” He pointed to a spot within the mess of papers and notes labeled Feeding. Under it was a small slip that said normal. “You’ll come in here first, see if there are any special notes then get what you need. There’s a few other things on here you’ll want to check once you start your night shift, busywork. We’ll get you started on those chores next week. Right now, it’s feeding time.”

Charles took the bucket and tongs from Uzi. “Usually feeding is at eight when no one else is here, you’ll be doing it alone. So no one’s going to rescue you if you get too close.” He tapped at a red and yellow band that marked off N’s cage. “Step past this, and it’s your own funeral.”

Uzi couldn’t help but notice one of the Workers, preoccupied with a clipboard, cut right across the corner.

This escaped the Disassembly Drone’s notice however, as he was watching her and Charles rather intently. His tail started to swish behind him, and when Charles pulled out the jar of oil his eyes began to flicker into an X. He opened his mouth with a grin that showed several fangs.

This was the monster Uzi was expecting. She put her right hand into the pocket of her hoodie, grabbing the knife hidden there.

“Hungry, N?” Charles said nonchalantly.

N responded with a low hurrring sound, not quite a growl. It wasn’t a sound Uzi was familiar with.

Charles placed the jar on the ground and clamped it firmly with the tongs. N reached a hand out for it as it was brought close, but Charles held it away.

“Back, N,” he said.

N obeyed, pulling his arm back into the cage and sitting down patiently as the jar was placed in it. As soon as the tongs released it, N scooped it up and began twisting the lid off.

“See? Nothing to it. They might be vicious murder machines, but they’ll cooperate when there’s mutual benefit.”

As the Disassembler finished drinking the oil, his eyes blinked back into ovals. He neatly replaced the lid and set it down for Charles to collect.

“Now this over here,” he led her around N’s cage to the center one, “is Serial Designation V.”

This time Uzi was greeted by the savage grin. The Drone was hanging from the wall of her cage like an oversized lizard, long silver claws gripping the bars instead of hands.

“She’s our smallest drone, but feisty.”

V let out a high pitched giggle that made Uzi’s oil run cold. That’s a sound she’s heard before, always accompanied by screams.

“Down, V, “Charles told her.

V did not get down.

“Down.”

V took interest in one of her clawed hands.

Charles looked over to one of the other Workers. The other just shrugged and went back to what they were doing. Charles sighed, then proceeded to pull out the jar of oil.

Unlike N, V did not react to this. Apparently she was far more interested in the scraping sound her claws made against the metal bars.

But when the tongs crossed the threshold of her cage, she flipped around and dove so fast that is made Uzi jump backwards. Glass shattered, and Charles’ eyes were wide as he yanked the tongs away.

He took a couple deep breaths, then groaned. “Dang it V, another one?”

The jar was completely smashed, the oil pooling in the cage. V lifted her dripping claws and began licking the oil off them.

“Well, there you go. Never feel safe around these things, and you might just survive.”

The final cage was a lot darker than the others. The LED was broken in this corner, letting the shadows land heavily. The drone was sitting cross-legged in her cage with her head in her hand, looking altogether bored.

“This is Serial Designation J. She… just don’t mess with her. She’s got a kill count outside the arena.”

Uzi half expected her to strike the way V had, but J didn’t. Her eyes never even went to an X. She watched as the jar was placed, then took it on her own time.

“Doesn’t seem as bad as V,” Uzi remarked.

“That’s a thought that’ll get you killed. Now, it’s important you remember that these creatures and everything else here belongs Lord Louis, and-“

“Ugg, not the dumb speech about how my dad’s the boss or whatever.”

Uzi blinked. Then she blinked again. “Lizzy?”

“Sup nerd. And no, they do not all belong to my dad, he gave me V for my birthday, so her winnings are mine.” Lizzy, one of Uzi’s classmates, or former classmates now that they were graduated, was leaning up against V’s cage totally disregarding any hazard line.

Uzi knew that she was Lord Louis’s  daughter, practically making her the princess of the catacombs, but Uzi did not expect to find her here in the arena’s backrooms.

Charles raised his hand in apology.

“You’re useless shoo go away.”

Without a word, Charles left, and before she knew it Uzi was left with Lizzy.

“Err-“

“Can’t believe it, it’s really true huh? You took the job?”

“Um, yeah?” What was it to her.

“You’re crazy then. But it’s nice, I guess, dad’s running out of slaves to make do it. Oh, sorry ‘servants.” She rolled her eyes. “As much as I don’t care if you live or not, try to survive at least a few weeks, okay?”

“Um, sure?” Uzi and Lizzy had never really talked outside of absolute necessity in school. She wasn’t any more comfortable with it now. “Why are you here? I’d have thought this place would be too gory for you or something, might get oil on your skirt.”

“Oh I’ve been coming down here since I was little,” Lizzy waved her off. “Dad says he wants me ready to take over in case he short-circuits in the next two hundred years or whatever. It’s lame, like I’d want to run a place like this. But,” she sighed, “this is how he makes the money to run the colony. Crazy how much gambling revenue there is, and it’s ten times more when we have guest colonies come.”

She leaned up against a window. “You ever seen one of their battles… uh…”

“Uzi.”

“Right.”

“No, my dad’s too much of a wimp to let me.” Uzi had tried many times, many ways to get him to let her throughout her childhood. Never worked.

“Lucky you then.” Lizzy tapped the window. “You’re going to get a front seat tomorrow.”

Chapter Text

Uzi stood there, staring at the flimsy piece of plastic in her hands. She was just outside the closed door of the arena’s backrooms labeled ‘Workers  Authorized Staff Only.’

Her face and name were neatly printed on it, along with the label of ‘Nighttime Overseer Person.’

A giddy feeling bubbled up inside her. “Hehe, heheha ha,” she began to cackle as she held up her badge. She was in! No one was going to stop her now! “Suck on that da-“

“Uzi?”

Uzi jumped and tucked her card close, eyes wide and face hot. “Oh, it’s just you Thad.” Uzi relaxed when she saw who it was, though her visor still felt rather hot.

“That good of a first day then, huh?” Thad, another drone that attended Uzi’s school, was perhaps the closest person she had to a friend. He’d been working at the arena for a while now, having graduated a year before Uzi. And it was tanks to him she even learned about this job in the first place.

“You could say that. I mean, it was mostly just lame introductory stuff, I didn’t really even do anything today.” Uzi crossed her arms as the began walking down the corridor.

“But still,” Thad said, “the arena just has that feel to it, you know. And,” he lowered his voice, “did you get to see them.”

Uzi’s smile was ill repressed. “Yes!” She kept her voice down as well. “They just have them back there in these big ‘ol cages like it’s nothing.”

“Sweet,” Thad grinned. “I haven’t been back there before, their picky about that. But I’ve seen my master fight one of them before.” That was an apprentice gladiator, training under one of the dozen champions along with several other squires. For the most part his job was doing chores below the arena, setting up and working the platforms, but he was also a rising star among the young fighters. “It was pretty gruesome, I didn’t see him for a full week after that.”

“I still don’t get how anyone survives a fight with one of those things,” Uzi said. “I mean, if he had a railgun or something, sure, but they only allow melee weapons.”

Thad shrugged. “There’s a reason so few drones make it to the top. So, uh, have you figured out what you’re going to tell your dad?”

“Heh, I’ve already got that worked out,” Uzi said smugly. “I told him I’m working at the arena, but he thinks it’s the door maintenance department.”

“Oh, nice! Wait, doesn’t your dad run that?”

“No, he’s too busy designing doors elsewhere in the colony for this and that. He builds them, and he’ll check out any reported problems in his high-end doors, but most of them are left to general maintenance. Oh, shoot,” Uzi realized.

“What?”

“I totally forgot to go study all the dumb doors after work.” She looked back the way they came, but she knew it was already too late. No way she’d risk getting in trouble for snooping at the wrong time.

“You have to study doors?”

“If I want to convince my dad, then yeah. It’s fine, I’ll get a better look tomorrow. See you later, Thad.”

“Oh, uh, okay then.” He waved at her as she hurried toward off toward home.

~*~

As Uzi reached the front of her house, she really hoped that her Dad was already asleep. She opened the door, then immediately jumped back.”

“Robo Jesus, Dad!” He was standing so close that he might’ve been hugging the door when she opened it. A delighted grin was plastered on his face.

“There’s my girl! Soooo, how was the first day of door duty.”

“Ugh, Dad, let me at least get inside first.” Uzi pushed him out of the way. She put her hand in her pocket, feeling that her new badge was safe inside. She made sure to have it out of sight before she was even close to home.

“Okay, okay.” He waited all of about one minute before asking, “So which door is your favorite so far.”

“The, uh-“ no, don’t say those ones, Uzi thought in response to the fortified release hatches of the Murder Drones cages, “-the ones that are hidden in the wall’s of the arena. Yeah, I like how disguised they are.”

“Oh.”

Shoot, wrong answer. “But that’s only because today was more of a general tour of the place. I’ll get to see more doors later.”

“Oh, of course! There’s so many you’ll get to meet.” Uzi was relieved to hear his voice brighten.

“I’m so proud of you,” he said, and Uzi felt dread overtake the relief. “You know, for a long time I was worried you were going down a dysfunctional path, but you’ve sure straightened out and become a true Doorman.”

“Thanks, Dad. I’m going to go to bed, I’ve got an early day tomorrow. It’s a battle day, so they want me on hand. In case any doors malfunction during showtime.” Her back was already toward him, so she rolled her eyes freely.

“Right, wouldn’t want their new handywoman to tired to tighten bolts.”

“Uh-hu, yeah. Goodnight Dad.” Uzi slid her bedroom door shut, then locked it for good measure. Not that her dad couldn’t bypass it, but it made her feel a little more secure.

There was a mess of metal pieces and parts on her desk, prototypes of the weapons Uzi liked to build. But today she was too tired to fiddle with them, so she brushed away the clutter to reach a couple of books underneath.

One of these books was a textbook she was indefinitely barrowing from her former school. The other was a purple and red journal, her own masterpiece in the making.

The cover of her journal made a cracking sound as she opened it, betraying how new it was. The front page was labeled in the neatest handwriting Uzi could manage: All About Murder Drones and How To Kill Them. Uzi whipped out her pen and added a subtitle: A guide to Disassembly Drones.

There was shockingly little information available on them despite how big of a deal they were. It’s like all the drones in the catacombs are content to forget they are even a problem. It’s like they’re content to live hidden away from the surface forever.

But Uzi wasn’t and she was sure there were other drones out there who felt the same.

She flicked through the thee pages of messy scribbles in her journal (she gave up on neat handwriting after, like, the second paragraph) to a fresh blank page. She held it open with her left hand so she could open the text with her right. By comparison, it was almost liquid with the way it flipped right to were she wanted. The lone chapter in the entire tome about the age of the Murder Drones.

Uzi had already recorded the gist of their arrival and general terror on Copper Nine, so now she could get to the fun part. She titled the section in her journal: Ways to Catch Wild Disassembly Drones.

The gist of how workers discovered how to catch Disassemblers goes like this: There was this one colony who decided the best way to hold off a Murder Drone raid was by sacrificing a Worker Drone every few days. (Messed up, right? Like, how was that supposed to last. Whatever.) Well this one guy who was kinda messed up but also kinda genius decided to fill one of the sacrifices with flint and gasoline. When the Murder drone attacked him, he exploded. (For reference, there are way better ways to blow up a robot. Just saying.) This didn’t kill the Murder Drone, they have this weird ability to regenerate, but it did knock it on conscious for a while.

So there’s the first step, knock it unconscious with a living bomb. The next step took a lot longer for people to figure out, so I’ll just cut to the chase.

The Sun Star trap. It’s been the only reliable way to capture Murder Drones. After a Disassembler is disoriented with a bomb, a hoard of Workers rush it, tackling it long enough to tie five chains to it and secure the chains to five sturdy structures. This should lock them in place long enough for the sun to come up and overheat them. Once they’ve overheated, they’re pretty much helpless.

Issues with this trap:

1. There are always worker casualties. The lowest record is four dead.
2. If the trap is set in the wrong place (shaded area, insufficient structures, ect.) then it wont work and everyone is dead.
3. If the trap is set too early in the night, the Murder Drone will have time to break free and everyone is dead.
4. If the Murder drone decided to decapitate itself to get the chains off, then everyone is dead.
5. Murder Drones usually band in groups, so you have to be ready to catch more than one at once.

Uzi set her pen down and glanced back through her notes. She liked the Sun Star trap, it was brutal and it did something. But no one has made any attempt to find a better method in the fifty years since it was developed.

She sighed, shut the textbook, and skiped through a few of her blank pages. She’d save room for any other methods she might learn about or come up with, but for now that’s all there really was. So she labeled the next part: Murder Drone Anatomy.

There was nothing on that, just some vague, shadow sketches and warnings about how deadly they were. Once her night shift officially started, Uzi would figure them out herself.

But not now. Uzi put the books back on her desk and recovered them with junk, just in case her dad wandered in her room for whatever reason. Then she hopped on her bed and powered off. She wasn’t lying when she said she had an early day tomorrow.

Chapter Text

If Uzi thought the work crew was busy before, it was nothing compared to today. She had to struggle her way through the arched hall in order to reach the Outlook, the official name of the room where the Murder drones were kept. Once she was inside, it wasn’t much better.

Uzi found herself migrating over to a corner as she bumped between people who were all taller than her. She hadn’t actually been told what she was doing today, just to be there. As other workers continued to bustle around, Uzi felt a tingle down her anterior-supporting-wire-conducting-core-stabilizer.

She turned around to see yellow eyes staring right at her.

“Wha-? What are you looking at.” Uzi balled her fist and glared at the Disassembly Drone. Was this one sizing her up already?

The drone, upon being addressed, padded across his cage to get closer to her.

That wasn’t good.

“Go, shoo.” Uzi tried to motion for him to leave with her hands. “I’m not your dinner.”

He sat down and tilted his head.

“Seriously?” Uzi looked around, but none of the workers seemed privy to the interaction. “What do you want?”

His tail swished a bit, and he edged closer to the bars. He wrapped one of his hands around a bar as he leaned toward her.

Uzi had no idea what it was thinking. It wasn’t acting aggressive the way it did when Charles fed it. She glanced around again to be sure no one was paying attention, then took a few steps closer. Just to get a better look.

He perked up as she approached, and his tail started to swish again. Uzi froze, not sure how to interpret his body language. Then she glanced down.

Her foot was right on the yellow warning strip. “Ha, you’re just trying to trick me aren’t you! Well bite me cause-“

“Careful, or he might.” Charles emerged from the crowed to greet her.

“Oh, hey, I’m here for work but I wasn’t really sure where to go,” Uzi said.

“That’s my fault, I got here a bit late. But I see you’ve made a new frenemy.”

What is it with this one?” Uzi asked. “He keeps staring at me. It’s weird.”

“N? Oh he’s just a curious type. I’ve been working as one of his sub-trainers for a year, and they key is to just ignore him. If you don’t give him any attention, than he won’t bother you.”

Charles put a hand on her shoulder to guide Uzi away. “You’ll be on the deck today. You’re only task is to observe as much as you can. What goes on inside the arena and in here.”

Uzi glanced back for one more look at Disassembler. He looked… sad? No, that can’t be right, she was just seeing him at an odd angle.

The stairs started on the other end of the room, closest to J’s cage. The Deck was made of a mesh metal grate, sturdy while still giving a clear view of below. The feel of Uzi’s motor became very apparent as she realized that she was standing directly above the Murder Drones’ cages.

While the windows below were broken up to fit between the exit hatches, up here there was one, long window across the wall. They must be about three stories up with how clearly she could see the whole arena. There was a low table front and center with various equipment lined up on it that two drones were fiddling with. Others were standing along the window or pulling out chairs. Many of them held walkie talkies.

Uzi could see somewhat of a pattern in the way the drones were arranging themselves. They all wore the similar uniforms, but with different colored trimming, red, violet, and green. One drone of each group had a bit more impressive-ish uniform. The two drones at the table wore silver, and one lone drone sitting beside them wore gold, her uniform fancy in a way that Uzi wasn’t sure in could be an actual ‘uniform.’

That was the drone that Charles was directing her towards. “Amanda?”

The gold drone turned, and Charles gave a slight bow. Her screen was marked with more age lines than Uzi’s dad, accentuated with a frown. She raised an eyebrow at them.

“This here is our new nighttime overseer, Uzi Doorman. Uzi, this is Amanda, the head overseer of the entire department and veteran Disassembly Trainer.”

Oh. Oh. “Nice to meet you,” Uzi offered her hand respectfully.

“Bit, shrimpy isn’t she?” Amanda remarked. “But she’s not cowering. Very well, she’ll do.” That was all Amanda said before returning to the window.

Uzi slowly retracted her hand. Charles offered no indication on weather this bode good or bad, he simply moved on to introducing her to the two drones at the booth.

“This is James and Jones,” he said. Both drones offered a brief but friendly wave. “They don’t work with the Disassemblers directly, but they do take orders from Amanda. So if they tell you something, follow it. Then we have the three lead trainers for each respective Drone,” he pointed out the drones Uzi had noticed earlier. “They’re the ones calling the shots, and they know their drones better than anyone. Then there are the sub-trainers, that’s me.” Charles indicated his green marked uniform. “We help make sure that everything the leads say goes off smoothly. And that’s really all there is to it.”

“Sure, simple enough.” Actually, it was more complicated than Uzi would have guessed. She always assumed that ‘let them out’ and ‘get them back in’ was all that needed to be done with the Disassemblers. “How do you become a trainer?”

“By serving your time on the work crew until someone decides they like you or hate you enough to be hired.” Charles shrugged. “Here’s your seat, I’ve got to go do my job. The gladiators should start up in an hour.”

“Wait, is Thad fighting today?” Uzi only now registered what the ‘Four Round Tournament’ she’d red on the schedule must mean.

“Who? Oh, you must be talking about one of the squires. Nah, they aren’t actually Gladiators yet, but I’m sure you’ll get to see the squire scrimmages too. No, this is the Champion Tournament, only drones who have the official Gladiator title can compete.” With that, he headed off before Uzi could question him further.

Not that she needed to the Champion Tournaments were a big deal that the whole colony knew about, she just didn’t realize that that’s what this was. Thanks for the isolation, Dad.

The Champion Gladiators where like allstars to the drones of the catacombs, the most famous fighters. There were only twelve who held the title among hundreds of Gladiators. And the reason for that was really rather simple: To earn the title of Champion Gladiator you had to defeat a Murder Drone in a one-on-one battle.

The Champion tournament was held four times a year as an opportunity for the best Gladiators to have a chance to earn that title. And that’s what was going to happen. Today. Now.

Uzi edged forward on her seat with a grin she couldn’t care to hide. She’d been wanting to see one of these tournaments ever since she was old enough to want something. Sure, Gladiators were only allowed to use melee weapons, but it was still sick as hell.

Time inched by as she had to wait, but eventually Jones called to the trainers, “Show’s starting in fifteen, call them forward.”

A sub-trainer raised his talkie and echoed the order. This was followed by orders below. Workers cleared out of the room, leaving only a half dozen from what Uzi could see, most with trainer uniforms. There was a drone by the front of each cage manning a lever. Another drone was ordering the Disassemblers, directing each up to the platform that led to the arena. They didn’t seem to need much convincing, V was on her platform before the trainer even got to her.

The drones manning the levers lifted an internal set of bars, cutting them away from the main portion of the cage. It looked rather cramped in the small space between the bars, but they didn’t appear too bothered by it.

Uzi looked over towards N. He wasn’t as easy for her to see from her spot, but it looked like he was leaning to get a view from one of the windows beside him. His claws were out.

Suddenly, a voice loud enough to cut in from outside quieted all the drones in the outlook.

“Welcome one and all to the Fall Quarter Champion Tournament!”

There was a sea of cheering voices following the proclamation. Uzi looked up to see a galaxy of glowing eyes beyond the domed cage.

“We have fifty Gladiators all competing for the title of Champion, will one of them make it? There hasn’t been a new champion in over two years!”

Again, intelligible voices shouted their obstinate opinions.

“Let’s find out, starting with the one-on-one duels!”

The first pair of Gladiators entered the ring, each raising a sword and shield to the crowed. 

For as many of these as she’d missed, Uzi wasn’t complaining that her first show had a view this good.

Chapter Text

The two Gladiators took to opposite ends of the arena. They had numbered bands around the pipes of their arms, 1 and 2. A horn sounded, and they rushed toward each other with shields forward. The two rammed into each other, the shields smacking loudly against the other.

They held like that for a minute each drone trying to overpower his opponent. 1 took a chance and jabbed his sword toward 2, causing them to break the locked position. The jabbed and feinted with each other for a bit, and Uzi couldn’t help but grow a little frustrated with them.

Come on, a quick duck and roll would’ve been smarter there. No, don’t swing right, he just left his other side open! She kept seeing all the little ways that she would get the one up if she were down there.

They separated, then charged with their shields again. This time, 1 stumbled a bit from the recoil, and 2 didn’t waste the opportunity. He shoved his weight forward, knocking 1 off balance as he swung low.

The sword lodged into 1’s leg, almost severing it. He screamed a guttural sound of pain, dropping his weapon to clutch the wound. Black oil sprayed across the sand.

The wires in Uzi’s stomach twisted. Gah, stop it! You’re fine! I’ve seen way worse in Anime… Her mental reprimand didn’t do much against the sick feeling crawling inside her.

2 yanked his sword out, prompting a fresh cry of pain. He raised the sword, and for a moment Uzi thought he might kill the guy. But rather than strike him, 2 used the sword to cut the armband off of 1.

He turned and held the fabric up for the crowd to see, delighted cheers raining down.

And with that, the first match was over. A stretcher was brought out for the fallen drone, and a new pair of Gladiators entered the ring.

These fights went on for most of the day, and while they held Uzi’s attention at first they started to get a little repetitive by the end of it. And if the chart she saw before was accurate, than this only the first round of four.

“Hey,” Uzi got the attention of a nearby worker, “how much longer is this going to go before they let the Murder Drones out?”

“The long part’s over,” she said. “The next few rounds go a lot faster. There’ll be an intermission after that to let drones who have weak tanks to get home, plenty of parents bring their kids to the tournament but don’t want them to see the monsters.” The drone shrugged. “Not to mention the bidding.”

“The bidding?”

“Well, duh. That’s how we make half our money. Here look.” The drone held up a tablet. On it were all the Gladiator competitors with their names, numbers, and the amount of bidding on each. And under that, there was the bidding numbers.

“That doesn’t look like that much,” Uzi remarked. Several of them didn’t have any bids at all.

The worker rolled her eyes. “No one with a circuit bids this early. There’s a bidding window before each round. But even late in the game, the Gladiator tournaments are light money. The real biding money comes from them.” She tapped her foot on the grate.

The noise caught N’s attention, and he peered up at them curiously.

“Here, look.” The drone made a few swipes on her tablet. The pictures now on display showed much scruffier drones, several of them wide eyed and fearful. They had numbers under them as well but no names. And the bidding on them was three times higher than the Gladiators.

“Who these people?” Uzi asked, though she already had an idea.

“Eh, lawbreakers, failed servants, the like. Drones that are just wasting space, so they’ll make use as frenzy fodder.”

The announcer began to call for the next round, so Uzi returned her attention to the window.

 It was then that she realized the arena had changed while she was distracted. The stained sand had been raked away, and the ring was now populated with boulders and other items to make the terrain more interesting.

A white, circular platform nested in the center of the arena, and weapons were hung on racks around the circumference of the outer wall. The twenty five Gladiators that had won their matches where stepping up the platform, and it really put how massive the stadium was into perspective. They could easily fit and extra five drones on the platform, it wasn’t small. But it was like a bottlecap on a dinnerplate compared to the full arena.

“The rules are simple,” the announcer said, and Uzi swore she heard an undertone of glee in his voice, “brawl till there are only four drones standing.”

The horn blew, and twenty five drones raced across the arena, creating a starburst in the stand. The wait as they ran was like a drawn out breath, and then the exhale as the first drone grabbed a mace and threw it across at his closes neighbor. It struck, stopping the drone short of ever reaching a weapon.

And just like that, the arena was a rioting mess.

It started at the outskirts, but as opponents fell they began to migrate back in, seeking new competition. Every drone that fell had his band collected by it’s victor, and Uzi came to understand that a drone was only officially out once someone did so.

This was much more appealing to her, not the repetitive dance that the first twenty five matches had been. And the weapon variety! There were no projectile weapons, Uzi’s favorite kind, but there were a handful of ninja stars and even a boomerang in use. Lots of spears and swords littered the ground.

All too soon, the horn blew to end the fight. Four drones were left to step up on the platform, much to the crowd’s delight.

Other drones across the field started to pick themselves out of the sand. Several got up just fine to limp their way out, but nearly a dozen stretchers were rushed in. The drones and weaponry were cleared of bit by bit, but Uzi noticed something different with one drone.

He had a red error mark across his visor, and it didn’t go away as the staff drones inspected his hardware.

The stretcher was folded up and carried off without him.

“Only one casualty today, nice,” Uzi heard someone say.

A different pair of drones came onto the field. They had long poles with hooked ends that they used to drag the body off with. Not in the direction of the wounded drones, but to a hatch that opened on the side of the arena. They tossed the corpse inside, and it slid away down a chute.

“What’s gonna happen to him?”

“Drained and recycled,” someone said.

“He doesn’t have family who’d want to see him first?”

“Anything that dies in the arena is property of Lord Luis.” The Drone didn’t even bother looking at her.

That felt… cold. Even by Uzi’s standards. To fight for a chance to be recognized for most of your life only to die and be tossed away unceremoniously to become…

Uzi looked down through the floor.

… To become food for them.

The next round was a team up duel, two against two. The teams were made at random, but the drones were given their choice of weapons. Three of the four wen for broad swords, but one, 27, selected a javelin.

Despite having been enemies less than twenty minutes ago, the drone pairs were able to cooperate rather well. Uzi didn’t like the idea of having to team up unwillingly like that, she’d rather just take on two opponents herself.

27 and 41 never spoke to each other, but they clearly had a flow the other team did not. 41 charged at one opponent, 33, while 27 preoccupied the other. But as 33 braced to meet the charge, 41 feigned to the side. 33 turned to follow the movement, and 27 kicked his opponent away and threw the javelin.

It pierced straight through 33’s shoulder.

27 had to fend off 16 barehanded for a few moments while 41 collected the armband. 41 tossed 33’s fallen sword and 27 caught it. It didn’t take them long to end 16.

Within a minute, the round was over. But there was hardly a transition as the two drones who had just worked so well together began to square up against each other. Staff carried off the fallen pair, but that was the only thing they did before the final round began.

“This is it, the fight that will determine who wins the championship,” the announcer proclaimed. “Every Gladiator dreams of winning the chance to fight for the Champion title, so who will live their dream, and who will go home in pieces?”

The horn sounded, and the Drones attacked. It wasn’t the formal fighting of the first round, despite being the same one-on-one format. The Drones were being a lot more aggressive, slashing and swiping with their weapons to get any opening.

Uzi started to see why 27 had chosen the spear over the sword. It didn’t have the strength 41’s sword had, but it had reach that allowed him to keep a safe distance while making parries of his own. 41 almost broke through 27’s defense with a callous charge, but 27 ducked and kicked while keeping his shield high. 41 staggered and the spear plunged.

Just like that, the tournament was won.

27 lifted the band, and the copper drops began to rain down from the crowd above.

A rattling from below brought Uzi’s attention back to what was happening inside the outlook. Things had been mostly sedentary with the workers in here during the gladiator fights, but now some of the trainers were doing things.

The rattling came again, almost directly below her, followed by a rolling growl.

“Someone’s excited,” a worker commented.

“She knows what’s coming next,” another replied.

V was twisting around in the small space she was confined to. The tip of her tail clicked against each bar as it swished back and forth.

The arena had gone dark as the house lights above the stadiums allowed for the audience to enter and exit. But in the darkness, Uzi could see the arena going through a drastic change.

The real show was about to begin.

Chapter Text

It was like a ripple. Sections of the arena fell inward while others rose, all flowing into a new landscape. When it settles, Uzi recognized the cave she saw yesterday accompanied by many other hideaways. Short tunnels, wooden towers, and lots of clutter to scurry around.

The tech guys tuned on a large monitor. Uzi peeked her head around to see that it was displaying several camera angles, though they all looked rather blank. Uzi used her superb deduction skills and guessed that they were showing the blind spots of the structures.

Overhead, the colosseum’s jumbotron was lowering into view, hanging jus a few feet above the dome. It’s screen was black while the mass of drones in the stands filtered out.

Minutes passed, and the stand had emptied to about a third of the original audience. But that was a turning point, as others began to come in. A different audience. Uzi couldn’t make out any of their details from this far away, but she did see that most held phones and pads.

More rattling came from below her.

“Geeze impatient much?” Uzi muttered.

She looked down, not expecting for V to be looking straight up at her.

She was hanging from the top of her cage, tail coiled around a bar and claws out. The X was wide across her screen, but not as wide as her gaping smile. It’s look was hungry, a predator with prey just out of reach.

“Bite me!” Uzi said it quietly, but she still got a few weird looks from the drones around her.

The window got even darker as the lights over the onlookers was dimmed to near darkness. There was an electric buzz, and cold lights flickered to life around the upper rim of arena. It made the landscape below visible, but the shadows were long as though it were night.

With the illumination, Uzi saw that there were small swords scattered about. They were dull and grey, and some were edged in rust.

The door directly across from this side of the arena was opened, and group of drones was shoved out into the light. They were accompanied by guards who lined them up for all to see.

“Welcome to tonight’s Frenzy! We have twenty-two contestants today, all fresh to the arena experience.”

Someone near Uzi chuckled at that.

“First on the docket we have Don, an average, low-life, gasoline addict who a few too many drones have tripped over,” the announcer openly mocked.

A guard pushed the hollow eyed drone forward. His profile flashed onto the jumbotron.

“Not one I’d waste any bets on. Next up is Amy, a servant who dropped a stack of her master’s ornamental plates. Now that’s what I call a tough break.”

The drone shoved forward was shaking.

Down the line, very drone was named and their crime proclaimed. When it was done, there was a five minute time slot given for drones to place the final bet. The guards took this opportunity to dash back to the safety of the wall, leaving the captive drones confused where they stood.

The final minute started ticking down, and someone gave a signal. Downstairs, a drone pulled a lever, and the front door of V’s cage slowly withdrew into the ceiling.

The drones below turned to the sound, and Uzi could see the dread in their eyes. Only seconds left, the monster held at bay by a small set of bars.

“The rules of the frenzy are simple. Survive for twenty minutes, and you walk free. All crimes forgiven. I recommend you all hide while you can.”

The drones scattered, most of them scrambling for the nearest hiding places. Many of them fell in the rush, and Uzi only saw a couple of them actually scoop up the weapons they were tripping over.

A somber gong rang out, and the bars dropped.

V was out of her cage in a flash, diving straight for the drones still running for cover. She swooped down and grabbed the nearest drone, moving through the air with horrible grace.

The drone screamed as he was lifted into the air, pawing for the ground that he was leaving. V brought him up high, right were the spectators could see, and bit through his neck.

Oil spurted as his scream drowned into a gurgle, black bubbling at of his mouth. V dropped his corpse, letting if fall and crack.

The jumbotron flashed to the drone’s profile, now with an X over his face.

Two drones were still in the open searching for any unclaimed hideaway. V tipped backwards into a plummet, flipping herself over into a long swoop. The first drone she raked her claws through as she passed, letting it collapse into a shuddering heap while she continued her ark.

The second drone saw her coming at him, front claws stretched out like the talons of an owl. He didn’t even have time to turn away before she slammed into him. His entire chest cavity caved in with a crunch.

Three drones dead, and the timer displayed said that there were still nineteen minutes, fourteen seconds to go.

V spent a little more time feeding off of this corpse, until Uzi heard someone to her side speak.

“That’s enough, move on.”

Uzi turned her head to see the lead drone in Violet lowering a small mic.

V obeyed and abandoned the carcass. She flew up to circle once around the arena, then landed on the top of the cave.

The screen switched to the camera footage, showing that half a dozen drones had taken refuge in there, all clutching each other as V’s claws clicked above.

The cave had several holes pocketing it’s face, some low across the ground and others just under where V was perched. Most were barely big enough for a Worker to get inside, let alone a Murder Drone.

She took her time as she crawled down the front, letting her claws curl inside the holes as the blades of her wings cast shadows over the drones’ faces.

Softly, she started to giggle. She peered in at them as the crescendo of her laugh became gleeful. In a sudden move she dashed to a hole and swept her arm in, hooking the sweatshirt of a drone with her claws and yanking him out. He has dragged through the hole at his torso, his body ripping in the process and head popping off in the cave.

V tossed him in favor of dashing to another hole. This time the drones reacted in time, shuffling in the opposite direction.

But V was fast. Too fast. In a matter of moments she successfully fished out two more of the drones. After that, she made a few more attempts, but with only three drones inside she couldn’t snag them so easily.

Uzi was just starting to think they might be safe when V’s tail extended through the opening and impaled the shoulder of a drone with no problem. The Drone cried out as yellow acid burned them. V pulled her tail back, it’s barb dragging the drone right to her claws.

The last two pressed up against the back of the cave in a last attempt to be out of reach. And then something unexpected happened. One drone grabbed the other and shoved her to the front of the cage.

V’s X blinked in surprise as the prey was tossed directly to her. She reactively caught the drone and quickly sliced of her head. Then her grin twisted into a snarl.

V’s wing’s folded into her back in an instant and, with all the fluidity of a snake, she slipped into the cave and attacked the last drone. She ripped his arm off by throwing him into the wall, then dragged him back with her tail. His cries ended with a rake through the torso.

His X-ed out profile joined eight others. Fourteen minutes, thirty-three seconds to go.

V slipped back out of the cave to reclaim her peach on top. With a couple of flaps, she jumped to one of the wooden towers and latched onto it’s side. This one only had one entrance at the very bottom, but the cameras showed that there were three floors to it.

Laughing, she dug her claws into the wood and ripped half the wall away. Two drones were exposed. They both tried to escape down the ladder, and in doing so they blocked off any chance of either of them escaping.

The fist one was tossed over the edge, falling and cracking his screen. He was dazed, but not dead. The other was killed on the spot, the oil spreading across the plywood in a black stain. But it didn’t end there. V dove headfirst down the ladder only to barrel straight through the second story with a third drone and most of the wall. They landed on top of the first drone, flattening him into a massive oil splatter.

Three more Xs were added to the roster.

“Are- are there going to be any survivors?” Uzi asked.

A sub-trainer in purple answered. “We have her trained to always leave a few.”

Trained. They had this thing trained for this.

“Kid brings up a good point though,” the sub said. She looked to the lead.

The lead nodded and raised his mic, “Slow it down, V.”

By this time V was already circling the arena in the air, assessing each hiding spot from above. She locked onto something and spiraled into a kill dive. A drone was dragged into the open by his foot. His hands clawed for something to hold onto, but the sand didn’t leave him anything to grip.

That is, until he managed to grab a stone. He twisted and through it at the Disassembly drone.

There was a crack, and fractures appeared across V’s screen. She let him go with a short cry of pain, which quickly turned to a growl.

The drone scrambled away from her as fast as he could, grabbing more stones to toss as he ran. He didn’t make it very far.

With a pounce V pinned him down with the blade of her wing. He futilely began throwing sand at her. As he raised a fistful V grabbed his arm and crushed it. The sand fell back onto the drone as he shrieked. V let him scream.

She then grabbed the other arm and began to pull. And pull. And pull. Wires popped in his shoulder joint one by one until finally the whole thing finally tore away. His screams were then silenced, but not from death. V had her hand shoved in his mouth and ripped his tongue out. Strangled gurgling was all he could do after that, tears streaking down his visor. She let him suffer like that a few moments longer, then slipped a single claw through his core. He spasmed.

Once he was dead, V blinked a bit and rubbed at her visor. The cracks were healing, slowly, but present. She shook her head and flew up again.

Uzi swallowed down a sick feeling in her stomach. Had to be those nine-volt batteries she had for breakfast.

“Are they all like that?” She asked. “When they hunt?”

“You mean the Disassemblers? No, we don’t usually let them into the frenzy. N’s okay, but he’s too slow and not as entertaining. We only use him if V’s recovering from a duel, and we don’t have her duel much. J is… a bit too efficient.”

Several more droned were dragged out of their hiding places in this way, though their deaths weren’t quite as drawn out. V was cutting into a corpse when a sound drew her attention to a flicker of movement.

A drone had made the fatal mistake of peeking out of her hiding spot.

The screen showed the drone hyperventilating as V slowly prowled closer, laughter confirming that death was near.

All the sudden, a different drone rushed around the corner and charged at the Murder Drone with a sword. She yelled and swiped wildly.

V withdrew with a laugh, looking almost delighted by the confrontation. She flapped backwards out of reach, then backflipped onto the cave.

The drone held her ground with the sword still pointed up at V. She looked back and mothed the word ‘run’ to the hiding drone. When she turned back, V was right in her face.

The drone yelped and fumbled the sword. Before she could swing V snapped her wrist off. The sword fell and the drone tried to break free, but V cut through her core. The body slumped to the ground.

She climbed up the nearest structure and locked onto the fleeing drone. Rather than fly and dive, V jumped from structure to structure, letting the drone stay just ahead. That is, until the drone tripped.

V leaped in a final pounce and the drone curled to hide her face. Before V reached her, a gong rung out. The Disassembly Drone flared her wings, breaking her momentum just before she reached her prey.

“Return,” the lead spoke into her mike.

Without another glance at the drone, V flew back to her cage.

Chapter Text

“Atta girl, good show,” a drone said as the cage closed.

V hissed at the sub-trainer.

Geeze, she’s all kinds of unpleasant. Uzi frowned down at the Murderer, content to decide she strongly disliked the drone. V was every bit the Monster she’d expected.

The arena flooded with light, and the remaining drones began to emerge. One of them came from the lowest level of the collapsing tower, eyes wide and joints clattering.

The announcer returned. “Congratulations on surviving the frenzy. As per law, you will never have to do it again and your crimes have been forgiven. Be sure to retrieve your free mug on the way out.”

A door opened, and a drone with a tray of mugs that said “I Survived” waved them over.

Four drones hurried for the offered exit. One drone shuddered from the sand as they tried to crawl that way despite missing their lower half. They collapsed after a few feet, and no medics rushed in to help.

The field was cleared away, corpses removed, oil stains shoveled, and the set sank back underground. It took all of ten minutes for the arena to return to its pristine look.

“It is almost time, folks, to find out if we will be crowning a brand new Champion tonight!”

Cheers echoed down.

“But first we must determine which murder drone our new victor will be facing! And that can only be settled with a battles between Murder-Bots!”

“Here we,” someone groaned. “It always ends the same.”

Another drone showed the betting statistics. “These are even worse than last time. No one’s betting on him anymore.”

“We’re working on it, but this’ll have to do for tonight. He’ll at lest give us a show.”

“Get them ready!” Someone called down to the trainers below.

The front covers to J and N’s cages were already lifting. Uzi recognized Charles at the side of N’s cage.

“Come on big guy, do a good job today. Show them you’re a scary monster.”

N was shaking himself out, grim and determined.

J was still looking rather bored. But she was crouching in preparation. He trainers didn’t even acknowledge her.

A signal sounded in the arena, and the bars of the cages dropped. Both drones launched out of the cages and flew up. They circled the top pf the dome in a synchronized pattern before dropping to the ground on opposite sides.

They circled around the arena slowly like a pair of wolves, closing the distance bit by bit. Uzi couldn’t read what either of them might be thinking, the X-es across their screens hid any sign of humanity in them.

N was the first to attack. He jumped with his claws out, and J twisted and kicked him away. N rolled with the kick and dove low, prompting J to backflip out of the way. She retracted her hand and threw a shuriken at him.

N managed to deflect it, but it left a scratch down the left side of his face.

They circled again. When N tried to attack for a second time, J met it with an attack of her own. She jumped high, grabbed the edge of his wing, and twisted mid-air. N slammed into the ground hard, causing his screen to flicker momentarily. Black slits her left on the palms of J’s hands.

He shook his head and flew to meet J in the air, only to be met with a kick to the face. J showed him back to the ground and tore her claws through his shoulder.

N rolled, throwing J off momentarily. He lashed his tail at her, but the move was clumsy and he was still vulnerable on the ground. It barely grazed her arm before she had N slammed down by the neck.

He choked, and his screen flickered some more as J held him there.

“Come on you idiot you have weapons. Use them.” The lead trainer’s frustration was apparent as he spoke to N through the mike.

N retracted his hand and a long, black sword appeared. That’s as far as he got before J had the arm pinned down with her stilt, cracking the casing. She lifted her barbed tail in warning.

“Do not submit, do not submit, do not submit-“

N remained still, and the buzzer went off.

“Damn it!” The lead trainer fell back into his seat. He snatched a clipboard from a sub and began scribbling across it.

J got off of N so that her could flitter back to his cage. A trail of drops scattered the sand as he left.

None of the trainers said a word to him as he clumped into his cage. The bars were raised and they left him to sit with his tail curled around his feet.

 “There we have it, everyone, Designation J is still top dog in the colosseum. But will the beast be finally brought down by a true warrior? Only the absolute best of Drones can defeat a Murder Drone, and only the best of Drones can join the champion ranks. Ladies and Gentlebots, it’s the event you’ve all been waiting for, the Champion’s Duel.”

There was a roar from the crowd, the stands thick with thousands of workers. Each there so see the success, or death, of the best drone worrier.

Uzi was eager to see this too. Murder Drones nearly whipped out Worker Drones once, and they still oppressed the surface. No lone worker has ever survived a confrontation with a Murder Drone in the wild, so what was the trick here? Could it really be that no one happens to be armed when they’re happen across one? Or maybe the Murder Drones know to stay clear of armed workers.

Whatever the case, Uzi wanted- no, she needed to know how workers defeat Murder Drones in a duel.
That was information vital to her mission.

The victor of the gladiatorial match entered the ring, clad in regalia and shiny farmer. His javelin was held up toward the crowd.

Copper Drops rained down on him and littered the edge of the sand. That was one thing Uzi couldn’t wrap her head around, spending money on something just to toss it away.

J flew up and hovered across from the challenger… the spot that happened to be directly in front of the window.

Uzi could see her massive wings up close, every gleaming feather blade. Those alone could slice a worker in half. And they were long. Like, seriously, a gun was the only practical option around those.

Some fancy worker drones came out, their heads low, and removed the excess wear from 27.

The crowd hushed, and the rain of copper stopped. J’s wings flapped slow and silent, and the challenger braced his spear.

Then there was a voice over the speaker, a voice different from the announcer. Uzi couldn’t see who it was, only that drone eyes directed to something above the outlook.

“Four times a year, we challenge the young and the strong to see who is the best among us. To find those who lead our colony to a greater future. But it is not enough to be the best our own, for monsters lurk at our doorstep every night. Tonight, we seek those with the courage to face the monsters and come out victorious. We do this for safety, for growth, and for honor.

“Young worrier, you have proven yourself to be a skilled fighter and thus have earned the right to challenge one of my Disassembly Drones. If you do not wish to uphold the challenge, you may lay down your weapon now and leave an accomplished Gladiator.”

A few moments passed where nothing happened.

“Very well, you have chosen to accept the challenged with all its risks and rewards. Good luck to you.”

The lights changed so that the arena was perfectly highlighted and everything else was dark.

“Let the duel Begin!”

J tipped her wings in an elegant dive. 27 waited for the last moment before rolling to the side, coming up with a thrust that got J to land.

“Okay, who is this guy?”

It was the first time Uzi heard anyone from the red group speak. The lead held her glasses in place as she looked over a tablet a sub was holding up.

Uzi glanced back at the fight, not wanting to miss it, but at the same time…

Gah! If only they were a little closer, but their muttering was to quite for her to listen to passively.

Uzi watched a few more seconds of the fight, enough to see 27 keeping J at bay with the spear, before making up her mind to listen in. She had to lean back in her chair and really tune in her temporal sensors to catch what was being said.

“-for six years, one parent lost to the outside, the other working as a household attended, from back zone, yadda-yadda…” the lead was reading off.

The back zone was what the colony called the space where the catacombs were continually expanded. It was a moving zone as more formal structures eat into it and the catacombs grow. It’s were a lot of… less fortunate drones live.

“Could make a good underdog story,” a sub suggested.

The lead snorted. “Him and every other one of those ruffians. Who are his patrons?” The drone flicked around on the screen before showing it to her.”

“Mmm, no one important.” The lead rose her mic. “He’s all yours J.”

Uzi’s eyes went wide. That… that can’t be…

Outside, the battle began to change.

27 was struggling to hold J off now, and any advance he made was deflected. He was being smart, aiming for the small yellow wound on J’s arm that N’s tail had left. After a few swipes and dodges, he actually managed to strike it.

J didn’t react. She bowled him over with her wing like she couldn’t feel anything. 27 landed on his back. He lifted the spear so that J couldn’t pounce on him, only to widen his eyes as he saw the tip being eaten away.

His distraction lasted a split second, and that was all J needed to snatch the spear and break it over her knee. 27 wasn’t giving up though. He dodged J a couple of times, her claws scraping his casing and leaving lacerations, until he managed to snatch the broken tip of the spear. It was eaten down by the acid and to blunt to stab a paper with. None the less, 27 used it to bat J’s claws away.

But then J grew bored of it. Her tail staked under her while 27 focused on her claws and impaled his leg. One moment her was standing, bleeding but surviving, and the next he was being dragged straight to her by the foot.

He cried out, but only briefly before J sliced his head off with her sword.

Chapter Text

Charles handed Uzi the bucket, and she had to resist grimacing. Inside were two clumps of oozing robo-guts. Wires and metal strips that stuck out every which way soaked in oil.

“So yeah, that’s the metal mulch.” Charles said. “They’re put together by the corpse crew and organized into different sizes.” He lifted the chest so she could see the dividers. “The trainers will tell you which size to use on what day.” He took her back to the outlook and all the way to J’s cage.

“Any drone who’s been in a duel gets some mulch automatically, the trainers can’t say they get nothing.” Charles took the bucket and set it near J. “They burn a lot of energy in a fight, for one thing, and even J gets a few scratches.”

J rolled her eyes.

“Every kid knows that these things can heal themselves, but we can change how fast that happens based on how much they eat. They can’t regenerate without material.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Uzi said. All workers had a small amount of nanites in their body to repair minor things such as dens and cuts. She’d cut her hand really bad with knife once (no she was not playing with it, she was practicing) and it took a full two weeks for the casing to close. Anything worse and a Worker would have to see a doctor for repairs or even a replacement.

But yeah, the Murder Drones were know for regrowing entire limbs.

Charles grabbed one clump of mulch with the tongs, and it made a scraping squelching sound. When he held it out to J, she backed away from it with a mildly miffed look, so he just set it down for her.

“Her scrapes’ll be gone by tomorrow,” Charles told Uzi, “but other wounds take longer.” He grabbed the bucket and started walking towards N.

J stared at the mulch a moment longer, then began to pick out bits and strands one at a time.

 “We try not to let them get damaged enough that it put’s them out of commission for the next show. Which is why we never let J and V fight.” He tapped at V’s cage with the tongs, earning a hiss. “J’s too dominant and V never submits in a fight. It’s great for duels against other colonies and their Disassemblers, but if we pitch them against each other both are going to get badly hurt and one will probably be scrap. Not worth loosing weeks of battles for just one event.”

“You think they’d go that far?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve seen it happen. N and J’s fight is a really bad example of a Duel between Disassembly Drones. Once you see some cross-colony event’s you’ll see what a real one is like. Let me tell you, it gets gnarly.”

“If N and J always turns out the same, and you can’t have J and V fight, why not have N and V fight?”

“Yeah… we’re working on that.”

Uzi raised an eyebrow, but Charles didn’t seem compelled to explain. Instead, he handed Uzi the tongs.

“Oh,” Uzi realized. She glanced between N and the bucket.

“Gotta start at some point kid. N here is easy.”

N was currently flopped on the floor of his cage, nose in his arms.

“He seems a little… depressed?”

Charles shrugged. “He’s in trouble and he knows it, that’s all. Boss is mad. He’ll get over it in a day or so, but food will help. They get a bit lethargic when they’re hurt and hungry.”

He stepped across the hazard line and tapped on the cage. “Show us,” he said.

N unfolded himself and moved close to the bars. He lowered his shoulder so that the claw wound was easy to see.

“Eh, it’s not too bad,” Charles said. “He probably should have a bit more than this, but tomorrow is an easy day so it’ll be fine. You can go ahead and feed him.”

The tongs were awkward to hold being taller than her, but she managed to fish the clump of metal out of the bucket. She kept her eyes on the Disassembly Drone as she approached the cage, watching for an sign of an attack. N watched with patient interest, letting her set the clump in his cage before getting up and digging into it.

“Good job,” Charles nodded. “You only made one mistake.”

“Huh?” Uzi wasn’t aware there was anything to make a mistake over, she’d gotten N his food just fine.

“You were watching his face. What you should be watching, is the tail. The Drones can’t get you with their claws or their swords if you’re outside the hazard line, but the tails are an ongoing problem. N, tail.” Charles held out his hand.

N was already finished with his scrap metal meal. When he heard his name he looked up, then saw Charles’s hand. He placed the glass barb of his tail in Charles’ hand.

“Whoa, hold on, is that safe?” Uzi took a step back.

“No but yes. N won’t do anything. Makes him both our best and our worst Drone,” he added with a mutter. Charles started to walk backwards with the tail, extending it well past the hazard line. “See? Almost every drone that dies in the outlook dies from a tail attack. Come here.”

Uzi stepped up to him. If Charles said it was safe then no way she was going to act like a scared kid. But then he handed the tail to her.

“Uh…” It was against ever wire in her programming to have something so lethal pointed right at her core, but is was also so sick! The acid almost looked like glowing honey.

“Hold it firmly,” Charles instructed.”

“Okay,” Uzi confirmed, making sure the barb was tight in her hands.”

“Great. N, pull.”

“Wh-aaa!” Uzi stubbed forward, the tail yanking her all the way back to the cage. She let go to stop from colliding with the bars.

Charles laughed, and N made his own soft laugh.

Uzi scowled. “Not cool. And is he laughing at me?”

N immediately stopped, and looked stupidly guilty. Seriously, that face did not belong on a Murder Done.

“Yeah, they’ll laugh, but haven’t heard N laugh in a hot minute. Sorry for my little prank there, but now you have an idea. The tails may look thin but they’re strong. If you do get stabbed, plant your feet, lean back, and pray. It’ll hurt like crazy, but If you hold back long enough the acid will melt enough of your casing away that the barb will slip out. Then just run and hit the alarm.” Charles pointed to the big red button at the end of the room.

One of the cages rattled, alerting them. V was climbing the bars of her cage again. She gave them an intent look.

“You don’t get anything, you’ve eaten,” Charles told her.

She huffed and lashed her tail. Then she  locked onto Uzi. The slow growing grin and hollow eyes were unsettling, but Uzi refused to look. No way she was giving this thing the satisfaction of intimidating her.

“If a Disassembler gets to eat on the field, we don’t feed them at night. She’s not hungry.”

“They can’t get out, can they?” Uzi asked. “Of the cages?”

“They could if they had time to bend or break the bars, but no they can’t just break out. These guys are crazy strong, but it would take them a while to get out of these cages. There’s a history of upgrades on them specifically tailored to keeping these guys contained. And, if they do decide to try getting out you…” he left the sentence hanging.

“Press the red button?” Uzi pointed to the wall behind her with her thumb.

“Exactly, you got it. Just remember that when you do, it’s a whole ordeal. Security doors will come down all over the place, people have to come in, trainers have to get up, it’s a mess. Just make sure they’re actually doing damage to the cages or have otherwise misbehaved. Got it?”

“Yeah, seems pretty simple.”

“Good. You’re going to get one hour to just hang around and get familiar with the place. You’ll have some chores to do when you start the real thing, but you’ll be spending most of your night in here. There’ll be another trainer with your replacement before too long.” Charles picked up the bucket and tongs. “I’ll put these back on my way out. Have fun, don’t get killed, and I’ll see you tomorrow.” He gave her a final nod, then left.

For the first time, Uzi was alone in the Outlook. Well, alone with three Murder Drones.

Chapter Text

For the first ten-ish minutes of being alone in the Outlook, Uzi leaned up against the back wall and just watched them, channeling all the anime cool-kid energy she could muster.

J ignored Uzi’s presence, picking the last scraps of metal for her meal. She didn’t touch the puddle of oil, and when she was done eating she went to the opposite end of the cage.

N, on the other hand, licked the oil off of the floor. Which was gross.

And V was clinging to bars of her cage like an deranged bat, smiling at Uzi hungrily. Occasionally she’d crawl around as if looking for a hole to slip out of.

When N was out of oil, he laid back down and watched Uzi as well. Though he wasn’t all creepy about it the way V was being.

That’s about when Uzi grew bored of her stoicism.

She thought about how easily the trainers, and even Lizzy, crossed the hazard lines marking off the cages. She’s always thought of herself as a daring drone far braver than any of her classmates or even the lame guards that patrolled the catacombs. So it felt weird to be the one who was being cautious.

Making up her mind, Uzi approached N’s cage. He picked his head up in interest.

Uzi stepped right up to the line, then stopped to stare at him. Her motor was blitzing out as she took some deep breaths, willfully psyching herself up. It was different without anyone else here. She felt free to try thing out herself, but she also felt the potential to freefall without anyone to spot her.

N tilted his head, and she imagined she must seem a little strange to him by just standing like this.

“What?” Uzi said to it, mostly to break through her own nerves. “I’m not scared of you, you know.” She took a step over the line to prove her point.

N sat up a little, and his tail began to swish across the floor.

Uzi frowned at him, but took a step forward.

N decided to match her, taking his own step to meet her.

Uzi was close to the cage. If she wanted to, she could reach out and touch the bars. But the glow of N’s tail moving behind him made her hesitate. He wasn’t acting aggressive, not in the way V was with her current scowl. He was smiling.

But that could be because she was a meal walking straight to him.

N’s smile faded a little as he studied her, then he looked behind him.

V took this opportunity to growl and huff at him, making some gestures with her claws that Uzi didn’t have to work hard to interpret. But N paid her no mind, or didn’t even notice her, as he seemed more interested in his own tail. It was being held still now, a lantern in the air.

He looked to Uzi, then at his tail again.

“If you think you’re going to get me with that-“

N wrapped his tail around himself and trapped the barb under his hands. He then beamed at her, a goofy look as though he’d solved everything.

“Heh,” Uzi found herself smiling a little. Not because he was acting like some cute puppy, but because of how stupid this was. “You know that doesn’t change anything right?” Uzi crossed her arms. “You’re a weird Murder Drone.”

His tail tried to move again, but with it’s tip trapped it just thumped against the ground. Then Uzi’s eyes were drawn to his shoulder and the black mess of a wound.

“That’s gotta hurt. Do you just not fee-“

“Jeeze, second day in and you’re already breaking the rules?”

Uzi and N both jumped.

“What the- Lizzy?”

“Sup nerd.” Lizzy stood with a hand on her hip.

“What the heck are you doing here? I mean, like how did you get in? No one else is around.”

“Pft,” Lizzy rolled her eyes. “I’ve got my own mastercard, lame-o. And I’m here to give my drone a treat.” She held up her hand to show a wiggling red keybug.

Keybugs were another form of sentient life created by humans, little roaches that skitter around to deliver messages, carry hard drives, and occasionally unlock certain things. But mostly they act as a sort of clean up crew, licking up leftover oil wherever it might be left about so that it might be re-harvested. They have the ability to construct new key bugs, so there were thousands of them across the planet. Usually they’re good at staying out of sight, but occasionally entire nests will get uncovered in the catacombs.

Most drones considered the keybugs a nuisance, but others had taken a liking to them and began cultivating them as pets. There were now several places where a drone could buy their own keybug, and there were facilities where rouge bugs could be brought in.

This got V’s attention. She made a hurring sound and fluttered her wings against her cage. And her tail, it was doing what N’s had done, swishing back and forth in long arks.

“You’re allowed to do that?” Uzi asked while Lizzy crossed the band around V’s cage.

She shrugged. “I’ve never been told no.” She reached inside the cage (miraculously her hand did not get bitten off immediately) and let go of the bug. It unwittingly scurried away from Lizzy and deeper into the cell.

It was moments away from the edge when V dropped down from the bars and blocked it off. It squeaked and startled, scampering away only to get blocked off again.

“It gets pretty boring in here with only J and that looser,” she thumbed at N, who was still holding onto his tail, “for company. So I try to bring her a toy every so often.”

V was now completely enraptured by the keybug, staying low to the ground while her tail twitched. Every time it got close to escaping, V pounced and blocked it off. She even started hooking it with her claws to toss it up and away before catching it, only to let it go again.

Uzi felt bad for it, being tortured like that. It’s not like she ever wanted one as a pet, but she wasn’t a fan of drones treating them cruelly.

“So what did you think, looser?”

“Huh?”

“The show, moron. What did you think of the show. You said it was your first time.”

 “It was sick.” Uzi left it at that.

She actually really wanted to talk about all the events she’d seen… but not to Lizzy. Maybe she could chat with Thad tonight, but no way she was going to speak her mind to Lizzy. She was one of Uzi’s least favorite people throughout high school, and that opinion wasn’t changing anytime soon.

“Figures. You always liked gore and gross stuff. Didn’t you, like, bring a severed arm to class?”

“It was legitimate research!” Her defensiveness rose like a honed reflex. “You’re the one with a Murder Drone as a pet.”

“Um, yeah? It’s kind of my families business.” She crossed her arms as she watched V, and a span of silence stretched between them.

“They aren’t dumb, you know.” Lizzy said after a time. “Sometimes they even act like… I dunno, people? J especially. I’m not going to tell on you, I don’t really care if you get killed, but if you want to get close then try to get to know them. You suck at be social.”

“Okay, I guess?” Uzi wasn’t sure if Lizzy was trying to be helpful or not. She was probably just looking for more ways to throw jabs at her.

Once Lizzy left, Uzi kept her distance from the drones. It was just getting boring enough that Uzi started to wish for her journal when her replacement arrived. When she was finally home, she immediately grabbed it and flipped to a new page. She held the pen ready, but it never met the paper. She just sat there, thinking.

~*~

N rubbed his thumb over the glass of his tail. It felt nice to hold onto something, distracted from the pain in his shoulder. It wasn’t a new feeling, but it wasn’t fun either. Every so often, his systems would try to jumpstart his hunt mode and an X would glitch across his screen.

But there was nothing to hunt, and N didn’t have the energy to get off the floor of his cage. It was his fault he felt like this, anyway, he hadn’t really tried that hard to fight J. He wanted to try, but…

N tapped the glass to get a bubble to float around.

He moved his head to look at the new drone stationed by the button. It looked like a lot of the drones that came in at night, and they all looked like the arena prey. Shaking, scared, unwilling to come over and play. This one was pressed up against the wall, eyes hollow and hand touching the edge of the button.

He missed the other new Worker. She looked at him, was curious about him. Maybe shed be his friend? He hoped so. He really likes having friends. But.. he’s never had…

N put a hand over his head as a dull ache rose up, making it hard to think. His shoulder and hunger were making it hard to think.

Smlick!

N jolted a little as something smacked his face. He blinked through fuzzy eyesight, then realized that there was oil on his visor. He wiped it off and licked his hand, then looked down at what’d hit him.

A mangled but mostly whole keybug, one of it’s legs weakly pawing at the air.

N snapped it up immediately, crunching the metal down between his fangs. It was so small, but he could feel the difference. It eased the stressed tension of having his nanites stretched so thin, pulling materials from were they could within him to heal his shoulder.

Then his circuits put things through the slush, and his motor jumpstart to three times the speed. N looked across to V. She was flopped over in her own cage, back turned away from him. Probably waiting to jump scare the drone outside, she had lots of fun with the skittish ones.

N smiled. Now he had to happy things to go to sleep with tonight.

Chapter Text

The events slated for Saturday were mostly sporting events, competitions that ordinary Worker Drones were able to enter for the chance at prize money. Which meant a lot of the drones competing dedicated a large chunk of their time training for, so while anyone who could pay the entrance fee could enter it’s only the skilled ones who get anything from it. Those were scheduled to go from morning till evening with a two hour gap before the night event began: The Maze Hunt.

And today, Uzi did not get the luxury of sitting and watching.

Uzi picked up the fourth sword and set it against the grinding stone, watching the yellow sparks flash as steel met with iron.

This was cool.

Uzi had been promised a variety of chores, and the first one they were teaching her was weapon maintenance. Heck yeah.

The armory was located in a large basement cavity. Walls lined with the gleaming swords and shields of the champions, closets full of too many sharp things at once, pallets adorned with exotic weaponry, and barrels of junk swords slapped with label ‘Do Not Sharpen.’

This was Uzi’s new favorite place. The forge next door was her new second favorite place. She wasn’t allowed to run around and check everything out yet, but that would be one of the first things she’d do once her night shifts started.

Uzi inspected the edge of the blade, the put it back on the wheel. The keeper of the armory was ecstatic when Uzi sharpened her first sword almost perfectly, and she felt proud to show of a skill she’d worked in secret for so long.

Uzi had never actually owned a sword or a grinding stone, (she’d tried, but it was too hard to sneak past her dad) but he had a collection of smaller blades she’d learned to sharpen using whetstones. It was a hobby she’d had for years, and over time she learned the right things to look for along with the techniques to get them there.

The change to a grinding stone was a learning curve, but she was figuring it out quick.

When Uzi was satisfied with her work she handed the sword to the keeper, who’d been watching her process silently. His screen was marked with lines to indicate his age, and there was a chip out of his visor over his left eye.

The keeper inspected the blade closely, taking his time to seek out any flaws.

“You wouldn’t be interested in transferring to the armory, would you?” His voice was serious.

Uzi felt a swell of pride, but kept her cool. “No, I-uh, I want to stay with the night shift for now.” Being in the armory would be fun, her Dad wouldn’t be that horrified if he found out, and she’d get to play with way more weapons, but Uzi had signed up for the night watch for a reason.

“Hmf. It’s hard to get decent help in here. They’ll send it plenty of service drones, but they take weeks to learn what you’ve done in a day. And by the time they’re actually useful they end up in the frenzy. The young fighters are worse. I only let them practice on their own swords.” The Keeper deposited the sword he had on a rack and plucked of a different one. He gave it to Uzi.

“You are bonus help, so I’ve been told. Required to sharpen ten blades a night.” He swept his hand to show the clutter that filled the room. “I need more than that. So here’s my offer. Ten blades every night, and every one after that I’ll tip you. Lecha play with some to. I see how you’ve been looking at them.”

He offered his hand to Uzi.

“… Yes- Yes Sir.” Uzi took it and shook.

“Good. Do that one there, then I think you’re manager is waitn’.”

Indeed, when Uzi finished sharpening her fifth sword Charels had appeared to take her to her next task.

Filing documents was not as fun as grinding metal.

~*~

Uzi was relived of her chores when the Maze Hunt was ready to begin and restationed up on the balcony.

The Maze Hunt was an event that Uzi often heard talk of, Dronelings liked to brag about being brave enough to enter. She’d heard many discussions on weather it’d be worth it or not.

The principle was simple: The entire ring gets fitted with a massive maze, and participating drones have to make it to the end without getting caught by a Murder Drone.

Why would anyone voluntarily do that? Because at the end of the maze is a pile of gold big enough to set a drone for life. Or freedom, if you were a servant drone or a criminal. The Maze Hunt was an event that anyone could enter, anyone could win.

Today, the Maze Hunt was a big one called a Clearout. Twice as many drones had been admitted… and so there were going to be twice as many Murder Drones hunting them.

The setup process for the Maze took a lot longer than the setup for yesterday’s events, a lot of drones were on the field locking panels together, setting up platforms, and placing rusted swords in hiding spots. The Maze was very three-dimensional, tunnels stacking on top of each other and exposed ladders leading from one section to the next.

“We call this one the Play Fort,” one of the Trainers said to Uzi. He had purple markings, indicating he was one of V’s. “It’s an old one, but it never disappoints. There are three other mazes we cycle through, and if you’re lucky you’ll live to see them all.”

“You reuse the mazes?” She kind of expected them to be different every time. “Aren’t you afraid someone might memorize them.”

“It’s a lot of work to engineer these things, so yeah we reuse them. But there are small changes to keep that from happening, we can close off and reopen different routes. This one has seven different paths we can set it to, more than the others. But there’s a new maze in development, and that one, well, it’s going to best all of them. Now go run this downstairs for me.” He handed her a sheet of paper.

That was another thing that Uzi got to do now, she got to act as a goffer for the three trainer teams. It wasn’t the worst, they didn’t have much they needed here to do, but Uzi wasn’t a fan of being told to do this and that all the time.

While she was down there, she saw N’s lead trainer by his cage. She couldn’t here what he was saying from this side of the room, but she could see that N’s wings were hunched and his head was low.

She dropped her paper off in the file slots on the wall, then began to walk to the window to look at the maze from even closer. Not because she was curious about what a trainer might tell a Disassembler.

Unfortunately, whatever the trainer was saying had already been said by the time Uzi was in earshot, leaving N with a bummed out look.

Wait, that’s stupid, Murder Drones don’t get ‘bummed out.’

Uzi put her hands against the windowsill. It was dark in the arena where the crew was working, keeping the audience above in the dark till it was ready. She wondered if any of them would try the maze someday. It would be quite the advantage.

There wasn’t anything interesting to see or overhear, so Uzi turned to leave. And discovered that N was staring at her again. His tail was wagging.

“What is it with you? It’s like you think I’m your friend or something.” Uzi shook her head, at the absurdity of the idea as she walked past.

Everyone was settling into their positions with the show just fifteen minutes from beginning.

Chapter Text

“Welcome all to the monthly Maze Hunt! Today we have an extra special Dual Run! Yes, you heard that right, we have sixty contestants running the maze today. That is double the chance to reach the end and secure the biggest prize of your lifetime!”

The crowd rumbled it’s response, and Uzi honestly couldn’t tell if it was in support or disapproval.

On the far end of the maze, the doors opened to let the contestants in. The start of the maze was a clearly defined dome around the door with five paths to choose from. Currently, those paths were blocked off. 

“But hold on, there’s a catch! With twice as many participants, we need to raise the stakes. You heard that right, we are doubling everything. The contestants, the prize… and the monsters.”

The steel covers rose up on both N and V’s cages, letting the contestants get a glimpse of their hunters through the shadows. N was calmly watching with his claws wrapped around the bars while V was being sporadic, her wings and tail occasionally flicking through the gate as she moved.

Uzi frowned as she realized that V was succeeding with her scare tactic, a lot of the contestants’ eyes were being drawn to her. She enjoys this way too much.

“The rules of the hunt are as follows: All players will be given a fifteen second head start into the maze. At the end of those seconds, the Murder Drones will be released. From there, all you have to do is make it to the end without dying. The hunt only ends when all drones have either made it out or been eliminated. The reward at the end of the maze, whatever it might be that’s waiting for you, will not diminish based on the number of survivors.”

Incentive to work together, Uzi noted. She was intrigued. Whereas the Frenzy was a luck based massacre, this Maze might actually have some strategy to it. A viable way to win.

“Once the maze opens, there will be no option back. No one will go in to rescue you. So if you’re having second thoughts, you may exit the way you came now.”

A thirty second countdown flashed onto the jumbotron. A few of the contestants, after a moment of glancing between the other contestants, the timer, and the rabid monster, stepped back behind the safety of the doors. But only three of them, fifty seven chose to stay in.

When the timer was up, the doors were sealed.

“Contestants, at the ready.”

The crowed counted down with the red numbers that counted down to go. The Drones all began to divide and elbow each other so that they could be the first ones in the maze.

That’s stupid, Uzi thought. The Murder Drones are coming from the opposite direction, so whoever is first is the most likely to get caught.

The buzzer went off, and the maze was opened. The jumbotron switched to the fifteen second countdown.

At first, the entrances were so congested with Worker Drones that they were too clogged to go anywhere. But after moments of pushing and struggling, the first few broke free and disappeared into the tangle of paths. They all managed to disperse with seconds to spare, finding the blind spots to hide in.

The maze looked like what its name suggested, an old play fort made from wood and nails, the walls were tall, but in places there were faux rocks that could allow a drone to climb over, as risky as that would be. Ropes and nets were all over the place, draped overhead on some paths and linking some upper tunnels together. At a glance, the netted areas looked like the most dangerous areas to be. The drones all avoided them as much as the completely exposed sections, even with the Disassemblers not in yet.

Uzi’s first thought was an agreement, those nets weren’t much protection. Wait, no, Uzi realized. She looked down at N and V, with their large, bladed wings and flicking tails. If they go for someone under a net, they risk getting stuck in it. That might actually be the safest place to be.

But she had no way to communicate that the players below.

The final buzzer went off, and the two Disassembly Drones shot into the arena. N chose to go high and circle from above while V went low. She glided just two feet above the walls, looking between each path for any movement. She grabbed one of the walls to throw her momentum, entering the hidden areas of the maze.

That led to a chain effect. With the inability to stay sedentary for too long, drones began to move again. The screens showed that V found her first victim within the tunnels, pealing off his shell and ripping out wires with her teeth. She let the others run away while she ate.

And with drones moving, N began to dive. He was almost elegant with it, folding his wings so that he’d fall right onto whoever was unlucky with their run.

V stayed in the maze, though the tight spaces seemed to slow her down somewhat. She ran down several groups, catching one and forcing the others to move into open spaces. When she came out, she’d crawl along the wall, hoping across the tops of them.

N stayed out of the tunnels, only occasionally entering if he was chasing someone who almost got away. Then he was back in the air.

They’re coordinating. The book said that outside drones often formed small groups of two or three. Uzi hadn’t thought much of it beyond the warning to watch out for more if you see one.

She was watching practiced hunters in action. Uzi saw now that N was keeping track of the direction to V went, that’s what let him get so many drones who crossed open areas. And she kept them closed into similar regions, switching lanes to block off branches that would let them spread out. If drones were running around at random, then N would have a much harder time getting to them before they were back in a safe zone.

It was smart, and the Worker Drones were suffering because of it. Uzi wondered if they even realized that they were being herded. If they could  break out of the bubble that V was creating, then they’d have a much better chance of making it out of the maze.

But the drones didn’t, and slowly they were whittled down by over half. About forty drones dead, and no one had found a way out.

With the number of drones this low, V started to struggle to control them. Before if someone saw someone running, they’d run as well in the same direction and others would accidentally block each other off. But now they were spreading out.

N’s nosedives became more spread out, and he even lost a few some targets in the tunnels. After the third drone managed to avoid his dive attack, N did not return to the air. Instead, he started to prowl over the walls with like V. He still didn’t try crawling into the tunnels.

V was starting to spend more time on top of the maze instead of inside it. Without multiple drones to block each other they started to slip away.

And then, all of a sudden, the sound of synthetic fireworks went off. A drone had found the exit.

This acted as encouragement for the remaining Worker Drones, and they became very active. N and V moved fast, but their kill rate slowed way down.

At one point, someone did cross a netted tunnel. N went for them when he saw movement, acting without thinking. And the result was an escaped worker and tangled claw. N wasn’t stuck long, it only took a few seconds for him to cut away the rope, but he ducked his head when he saw V watching him.

Is he embarrassed? Uzi found it a little funny. The guy kills a dozen people without a thought, then gets embarrassed over getting stuck for a moment. He is a weird murder-bot.

After that, N began to pressure the tunnels more. He was much bigger than V, so he struggled to actually catch anyone unless they got cornered by a dead end. But at one point he got lucky, the drone he was running down ran into another poor, unaware worker who’d been crossing at the wrong time. N got a double kill.

He looked rather happy about it, and that’s when he did something weird. Instead of leaving them and moving on or earing them, N grabbed one in his mouth and one in his claws and carried them out of the tunnel. He was hilariously clumsy with them, almost tripping as walked. But then he got them to the outside, and hopped up onto the wall with them. He looked around until he found V, then made a vocal call to her.

V was busy looking down a lane, but she looked up at his sound. N puffed his chest. She studied him and the double drones he had. Then she rolled her eyes and went down a tunnel.

N let go of his catch and carried on with his hunt.

“What was that about?” Uzi asked.

Some of the workers near her shrugged, one said, “Dunno. The do strange things occasionally.”

A second drone found their way out not long after that. Ten minutes later, a third one made it. But he would be the last. N and V chased down the remaining workers until the last one died to V’s claws.

Uzi found that she wasn’t as bothered by the gore during this event as she’d been with the Frenzy yesterday. Maybe it had something to do with it being voluntary, or maybe she was already used to it. It was actually a fun show to watch, and her circuits were routing out ways she could’ve made it out if she competed.

She watched N and V fly back to their cages at the call of the trainers. They were a mess, oil spattered across their white casings. V looked like she was wearing elbow length gloves.

Guess I won’t be feeding them today.

Chapter Text

Charles left Uzi with the Murder Drones again, saying that there’d be someone there in a couple hours. He fed J before leaving, but promised that Uzi was going to be doing it next week. By Friday she’d be left on her own entirely.

This time Uzi came prepared for boredom. She had her notebook with her.

Uzi sat against the wall near the alarm button with her backpack at her feet and her book propped against her knees. She filled a page with her observations over the past couple of days, noting the ways that they hunt, things they can break through, and how quickly Workers die. Her attempted organization was already falling away to sprawled thoughts.

The Disassembly Drones looked about as bored as she felt. J had her back against the bars of her cage, turned away from the others. V was idly tapping her claws against the and ground glaring at Uzi regularly. Uzi imagined that the drone thought of her as a toy being kept out of reach. N sat at the end of his cage closest to Uzi, making her uncomfortable with how  steadily he watched her.

V had preened herself very thoroughly, all traces of her hunting were gone. N had cleaned up as well, but splotches of oil were missed and still marked his casing. The were hard not to stair at when she looked at him. Especially the one near the corner of his mouth.

Uzi kept up with her writing until her train ran dry. Three pages written was pretty good, right? And with that done, she wanted to try something else. Uzi found a fresh page.

At first she decided to go simple and roughly draw the drones as they were now. N was easy since he was front and center in his cage, so started with him. The rise of the cages meant Uzi would have to stand to see V, and J wasn’t being very photogenic right now.

Starting was simple, most of N’s anatomy was like a worker drone’s. It was the down in the details that Uzi started erasing and re-drawing. She knew their arms were different, but she was staring to see all the details she overlooked before, like the black and yellow band.

Where she really ran into trouble was the wings. N had them folded back right now, and that made all the blades crisscross in a confusing mess. Come to think of it, she’s never really tried to draw their wings correctly before, she’d always go for the general look and call it good.

This time Uzi tried to get it right. She sat and sketched, but quickly erased. She started again, but barely marked the overall shape before scratching it again. The graphite didn’t fully clear away, and the paper stared to dent under Uzi’s pressure. It was wrong again.

“Ugg.” Uzi erased the paper roughly, accidently taking out some of the better parts in the process.

This drawing was stupid.

Whining made Uzi look to N. He looked between her and the journal.

“Bite me,” Uzi grouched.

N raised his hand a little, then changed his mind.

“Maybe it’d help to look at you closer,” Uzi said. She heaved herself off the floor.

N reacted immediately, his wings splaying out in a flutter as her stood up a little.

“No, no, stay,” Uzi put her hand out, still with a pen, “just stay.”

N stopped his movement and tilted his head at her.

“You understand that?” Uzi asked. “Stay? Just stay there.”

He looked right into her eyes for a moment longer, then he sat back down into the position he was in before.

“Whoa, I guess you do.”

She crept toward him slowly at first in case he decided to move again, but he didn’t. N stayed perfectly still for her, except for his head.

V growled at her from afar, but Uzi wasn’t intimidated by her. Not when she couldn’t do anything from her cage.

Uzi found an angle she liked and started to sketch. It was trickier doing standing, but in a way that made Uzi care less about being exact. Right now, she had a Disassembly drone posing by her command, and she was marking the moment.

 For the whole time that Uzi drew, N was still her. She found herself sifting closer and closer, stopping once she noticed the line under her foot. She wasn’t willing to go that far.

When Uzi made the final mark, she examined her work with a satisfied smirk.

N broke his position to gab the bars near her, making her look up. She hadn’t said anything to indicate she was done…

He reached a hand partway through the bars, dipping his head in an odd motion.

“Do... you… want to see?” Uzi tried.

His whole body wiggled with excited energy, not just his tail. His eyes dashed between her and her book as he smiled. Not the creepy killer smile she’d come to expect, it was just a normal happy smile. Well, maybe a weirdly happy smile.

“Whatever, I guess it cant hurt.” Uzi flipped her book around so that N could see.

N settled down enough to study the drawing.

“It’s nothing special,” Uzi said. She tucked her journal under her arm.

N tilted his head at her. Then he fluttered his wings to back up to the center of his cage. He smiled down at her, then retracted his right hand.

Uzi flinched and put a hand up, ready for whatever weapon he was about to bring out. But it wasn’t a weapon that replaced his hand, it was a stick of chalk.

“What the-“

N began drawing on the floor of his cage, backing around to make the marks. He kept his tail lifted off the ground so it wouldn’t drag, and he used his wings to keep balance throughout his shuffling.

“You can draw?”

Uzi risked peering a bit closer, but the raised platform made the angle she was seeing at N’s work ill-suited for viewing it.

Eventually N sat back on his rump with a pleased expression. He then gave Uzi an expectant look. He wanted her to see it.

“Hold on,” she told him, “I need to find something to stand on.”

Uzi glanced around for an easy solution, but the chairs that were in the outlook before had all been taken away. If she remembered correctly, the door right around the corner of the hall was some sort of closet. Maybe she could grab something from there.

Uzi opened the door that led out of the outlook and looked to her left. Sure enough, a plain wooden door was stationed just two feet away. She hesitated, wondering if she was supposed to leave the outlook at all yet. N was tilting his head at her again. And from the far corner, she thought she caught a glimpse of J’s glaring eyes.

It couldn’t hurt, she was supposed to leave and come back eventually. And this truly wouldn’t take more than a minute. She let the door swing shut and reached for the closet. Uzi had to push a bit to get it open.

Inside was a mess. The room was a lot bigger than Uzi expected, and filled with all sorts of junk. Some of it looked like broken janitorial equipment. In the far right corner were two filing cabinets, their paint chipped and metal rusted around the corners. On the right was a built in counter that ran the length of the room. So many thinks were stacked on top of it that Uzi would have a heard time fitting her journal. Underneath the counter among other things were boxes labeled ‘lost in found.’ They seem somewhat organized, holding jewelry, ties, mustaches, glasses, and even a couple wigs. There was basic cleaning equipment like brooms that didn’t look like they’d been touched in years.

But all that was meaningless compared to the wall length window above the counter. A window straight into the outlook. Despite it being half covered in junk, Uzi could see straight into the adjacent room. N was back to his bars, frowning in the direction she’d left, his wings drooping.

“Huh.” That was all she could really say. It made sense to have a room like this, she supposed. A way to keep an eye on the Disassemblers without being in the room with them. Though clearly it’d been out of commission for a long time.

Uzi found a folded stepladder tucked behind the door. The middle step was broken, but it should work well enough.

N gave a happy chirp when she came back into the outlook.

“Stop it, that’s weird,” she told him and she pried the stepstool open. Seriously, he was doing a terrible job at being a scary death monster.

With the new vantage point, Uzi could now see N’s handy work.

She stood corrected: N can’t draw. She’d seen two-year-olds draw better than that.

“Is that supposed to be me?”

His tail wagged. Uzi wasn’t sure if she should be flattered or very, very offended.

Chapter Text

Uzi was wiped.

A lot had happened in the short amount of time that she’d been employed, and her circuits needed time to process it all.

Uzi hesitated outside the door to her home. Would he be home this early? She glanced at her internal clock. It wasn’t one in the morning, which gave here a fifty-fifty chance.

Uzi sighed and decided to get it over with. Hopefully his card games were running long, she wasn’t in the mood for him right now.

Uzi did not get the lucky draw today.

“There’s the Doorman of the hour!” Khan proclaimed.

“Hey.” Uzi didn’t even look at him as she made a beeline for her room, but her dad missed the hint.

“Come on over, I’ve got dinner all set for once!” She heard the sound of a chair being pulled up for her.

She paused. Don’t be stupid, Uzi. You Know what he wants to talk about.

“Fine, whatever.” Uzi tossed her backpack onto the couch.

‘Dinner’ was an unimpressive two bowls of CR batteries in oil, the same thing she had for breakfast most mornings. He could at least have microwaved some nine-volts.

Regardless, Uzi sat down and picked up her spoon.

The oil in her bowl didn’t look quite as appetizing today. She knew it was different, this was clean oil mined from the ground. It still looked the same though.

“Not hungry?”

“Hm?” She realized she’d been staring at it a bit too long. “No, sorry, I’m just tired.” Uzi quickly scooped up a spoonful and shoved it in her mouth.

“Oh, well, I imagine so with how hard you’ve been working.” Kahn did have enough tact to let her swallow a few more bites before asking, “Which doors did you get to meet today.”

Crap crap crap crap crap “There was the hidden doors in the arena.” no stupid you mentioned those last time!

“Didn’t you tell me about those last time?”

“What, I really like those ones.” Come on, come on. “There’s been a lot of standard doors for the most part. Oh, but I did see a classic.”

“A classic?” Kahn perked up.

“Yeah, an old-fashioned wooden door. No locks or tech or anything.”

His brows furrowed a little bit. “Where would you have seen a door like that? I now the facility’s doors by name, and I don’t remember any of them being made of wood.” He always called the ring the ‘facility.’

“It was just some closet,” Uzi said around a mouthful of food.

Her dad excepted her answer with a nod, though he still looked contemplative. “I suppose there are a few areas I haven’t been too. And they do sometimes add storage units without proper doorman professionals, but it can’t be helped. I am partial to the classics.”

Uzi scraped out the last of her cereal. “Alright, well I’m gong to bed.” She pushed her self up using the table.

“Already?” Khan gave her a disappointed look.

“I’ve got to be back tomorrow. Weekends are busy.”

“But I thought Sundays were off days?”

“Not for me,” Uzi said. “That’s the best time to inspect all the doors, right after they get a bunch of use.”

Her dad was right about Sundays being very quiet at the ring, and it was something Charles warned her about. It was the one day off for most of the staff, including trainers, before training commenced on Monday. Which meant that the was going to get to spend the whole day with the Disassemblers tomorrow.

The Sunday shift wasn’t as hard to find drones for as the night shift for while Sunday left the ring mostly empty, there were still plenty of capable drones around. The weapons master would be one of them.

“Well alight then,” Kahn said. He looked down to his own half eaten food.

“Cool, see ya.”

Uzi retrieved her bag and quickly locked herself in her room. Safety.

She flopped onto her bed with her phone and her book. In her head she was going to do more sketches, but she ended up just scrolling. She wasn’t in the best of moods after that dinner, and it made her motivation minimal.

She used to dream about having nightly dinners with her dad. But in those dreams they’d talk about things she liked. So that’s all they’d ever be.

Eventually a text came through from Thad, about the only person who knew her number besides the doctor.

Thad: wanna chat?

Uzi: sur

A moment later her phone started to hum, and Uzi accepted the face call.

“Hey, Z, I haven’t heard from you since Thursday. Was wondering if the Murder Drones ate you or something.” He laughed at his own jest.

Uzi rolled her eyes, then snuck a glance toward her wall. One of the perks of having the colony’s number one door master for a dad was that her room was conveniently soundproof. The downside was that the lock was easy for him to bypass. But she should be fine tonight.

“Yeah, sorry,” Uzi leaned back into her pillow. “This weekend has been a lot.”

“You get to see all the shows? They were really big this time.”

“I did, it was sick. Is it weird that I already feel kinda used to watching drones die?”

“Nah, that’s normal. It’s just a part of the ring. I was bummed Maveric didn’t make it though, I really though he had a chance at becoming the next champion.”

“Was that the guy who fought J?”

“J?”

“Yeah, the Disassemblers have names. Well, kind of. The one who fought the gladiator was J, and the others are N and V.”

“Huh, I guess that makes sense. And yeah, that was him. I’m gonna miss him, he used to show me some great moves with that spear. He said to always have skills with a second weapon, not just the sword.”

Uzi thought back to the array of weaponry in the armory. Most of it showed little to no wear, especially compared to the abondance of swords.

“Oh well,” Thad continued, “Guess I’ll have to be the next grand Champion then.”

That statement sent an ice cube down Uzi’s core. “Aren’t you still a rookie?”

“I am, but I’m advancing really fast. I think I’m going to move up to the next level really soon. My master is even talking with one of the Champions he’s friends with, says that I might be worth private tutoring!”

She needed to tell him. That moment where the Trainers just let J kill the drone played in the back of her circuits. A drone all the skill of a Champion wouldn’t matter.

“So what’s it like with the monster?”

“Hm? Sorry, spaced out for a minute.” She could find a way to tell him another time. It doesn’t matter right now.

“I was asking what it’s like with the Murder Drones. I only ever see them when they’re killing people.”

“It’s…” she had to think on how to describe it, “…weird. Like, it’s exactly what I expected, but also not? You know?”

“Nope, that’s why I’m asking.” He gave her a smirk like he though he was being clever.

“I guess they just act different than I expected. They’re still dangerous and evil, but they also act I dunno, human?” That’s what Lizzy had said.

“Human? That seems a bit of a stretch.”

“No, you’re right, human isn’t the right word. More like, they have personalities. Yeah that’s it. They’re all different, and I think kinda smart.”

“Personalities like what?” He seemed genuinely interested in this bit.

“Bitch, bitch, and…” she had to think on how to describe N, “depressed puppy dog?”

 Thad snorted into laughter.

“No I’m serios,” but Uzi was laughing a little herself. It did sound really stupid. “One of them is different. Or maybe it’s just because he’s a boy, I don’t know. But he’s almost friendly when he’s in the cage.”

“Oh, that one. Yeah I know which one you’re talking about. He does seem a little softer that the females, though I always just thought that one was extra mean. You know, the one that killed Maverik.”

“J,” Uzi clarified.

“So, what, are you going to adopt him as your pet now?”

“That would be awesome. I could tell him to go kill whoever I want.” Uzi cackled. “Oh, by the way, guess who I say hanging out in there?”

“Well if it’s someone you recognize, then it’s someone from our class. Who was it?”

“Lizzy.”

“No kidding?”

“Yeah, apparently her dad gave her one of the drones. The crazy on, V. She was just chilling there like it was nothing.”

“I mean, her dad dose own the place so I guess it makes sense.”

“Yeah but I never thought she’d want to risk getting her skirt dirty or something.”

“You’d be surprised, Lizzy’s kinda though. You’d see that if you bothered to get to know her.”

“Not happening.” Thad used to try to hook Uzi up with some friends, but there was no way she could ever be friends with someone like Lizzy.

“I’m serious, I think you two could-“

“Nope.” Uzi ended the call before he could even try persuading her otherwise. He sent her a sad face emoji.

Chapter Text

Sunday morning in the outlook was rather peaceful. So long as Uzi ignored the hissing Disassembly Drone.

Seriously, whenever Uzi got even remotely close to her cage, V would start making a show of how much she wanted to kill her. Uzi got a kick out of sticking her tongue at her, provoking low growls. But there was nothing V could do.

Charles had told her not to take it personally, that V was always like this to new faces. And most of the old ones too.

J remained the opposite, completely ignoring Uzi’s existence from the shadows of her cage. It was almost a cave, really, being built into the wall like that. The one time Uzi decided to step up for a closer look, she got a glare and a growl.

But why bother with either of them when N was happy to let her come over? He didn’t growl or hiss or swipe at the air. Sure, he wasn’t quite the model of ferocity, but he let Uzi get close enough to sketch out the details. So that’s what she did for the first hour of her shift.

At one point she tried drawing V from a distance, but the minute V saw what she was doing she refused to stay still. Uzi Ended up just ripping that page out of the book. She’d have to wait till V wasn’t paying attention to try and draw a female disassembler. Or settle for drawing J’s back.

Through the window, Uzi could see workers dismantling the set pieces from the frenzy. Powerful lights on the ceiling imitated the light of the sun, casting a cheerful glow over everything. The lights in the outlook on as well, though they didn’t have to be. She was the only one there.

Even with N being cooperative, Uzi eventually grew bored of drawing.

“I’m going to go check in with the armory,” she told him. Not that she needed to explain, but it kinda felt wrong to leave without saying anything. “I’ll be back in a while.”

N wined as she walked away, and Uzi paused.

“What was that for?”

He staired at her with big eyes.

“It’s not like I’m leaving, leaving. You can handle being alone for a few minutes.” Can Murder Drones get lonely? Whatever. Uzi closed the door before she wasted any more electrodes pondering it.

She passed only three other workers on her decent to the armory. Most of the floor the outlook was on at this crescent of the arena for the trainers, consisting of meeting areas, equipment compartments, and a lot of other stuff that Uzi wasn’t allowed to see. There was even an entire medical station with their own private technurse. The crescent below hosted the gladiatorial maintenance stuff.

That’s how sections of the arena were organized, buy the halves of the arena they were on and the level they were on. She was on the left crescent, the side reserved as the ‘home base. The right crescent on the same level was the caged crescent, so named because it’s the entry point for anyone who wasn’t one of the home disassemblers. There were compartments for a wide variety of drones, from luxury waiting areas for sporting drones to holding cells for less wiling contestants. Uzi hasn’t seen them herself, but apparently there are two rooms that can hold Disassembly Drones from guest colonies.

The second floor crescent above the outlook was for the bigger game planners, such as the Fields Master and even the Lord Luis. It was probably the most restricted area of the entire backstage. It’s adjacent crescent was reserved for the guests that host.

Above that were three levels before reaching the stands, referred to the three rings as they are not divided like rest. They are for the higher class drones, providing opportunities for gambling, gasoline, and whatever else drones with too much money like. There were inner rings to these that left just enough room for workers to tend to the lighting system of the arena.

That was up. Down were the sublevels, and each of those were twice as big as the above levels due to being underground. Well, more underground. Sublevel one was entirely for the gladiators, technical things on the left and training facilities on the right. Sublevel right is where Thad was most of the time, sparring in gyms and stuff. Maybe she’d get lucky and see him in the armory occasionally.

Sublevel two was the maintenance section, containing massive amounts of technical equipment, janitorial equipment, and whatever other kind of equipment the bosses might say they need. It was also where the aftermath of the arena was delt with.

It was sublevel three and four that finally had a full oval shape rather than having to skirt around the center. Uzi had overheard some of the trainers refer to it as the moon floor. This is where the set design happened, and it’s why the level was double in depth. She wanted to check it out at some point, but not until she was sure she knew the higher levels well enough not to get lost.

Then there was the pit, a level that acted as the living quarters to all the servants of the ring. And below that, the subpit, better known as the Colony’s prison.

The arena as a whole was the single largest structure of the entire planet, negating the ruins of human civilization. It was a massive feat considering the dangerous environment of the surface. Other colonies had rings of their own, but they were shadows to the original. After all, the second largest colony only had about four hundred thousand citizens. The Catacombs was well past a million.

Uzi found the armory to be full of Worker Drones clad in the simple black clothing of long-term servants. They worked at sharpening blades, polishing armor, rusting bad swords, and all the other things that needed to be done after a big weekend of fights.

None of them paid her any mind as she wandered through the cacophony. It was at this point that Uzi realized she wasn’t entirely sure on where to begin. She’d been asked to sharpen swords every day, but she didn’t know which swords were hers to attend to, nor which grinding stone she was expected to sit at.

She ended up just standing there as she processed all that was happening, and a few of the workers began to give her odd looks. Maybe she should just go back upstairs and come down when it is quitter.

“Doorman kid, good to see you again.” The keeper weaved his way toward her. “Come, come, we could use all the help we can get. There’s more blades to be polished than these buffoons can handle.”

The workers who’d looked up were quick to duck back down into their tasks.

Uzi followed the keeper deeper in until they found a free grinding stone.

“This is one of our last good ‘uns, I won’t let any armature waste blade on it. You’re still learnin’ a but better for you to learn with this so it won’t muddle your work.”

“You get some of the higher swords,” he patted the rack he referred to. “These blades have owners unlike the ones that lot is tending to, most of ‘em belong to young gladiators. We don’t want them miked up, so be sure to put them back. You’ll use tabbing to mark what’s done.” He opened up two drawers in a tool chest, one with markers and the other with white strips of paper. He took a paper and pulled off the tab, then stuck the ends together. “Write your initials on one of these then wrap it round the hilt. Easy. Got all that, kid?”

“Yes sir.”

“Alvin is fine. No need to be formal in here.”

It was kind of wired, as Uzi usually wasn’t this formal to any drone. Not her dad, definitely not her teachers, and not really to other parents. But for whatever reason it just felt right to say sir to this guy.

Alvin waved a drone over. This drone was in black to indicate that he was a servant drone, but he had an armband with the insignia of an anvil, hammer, and blade .

“Any questions and I’m not around, just ask one of these fellas. Their my best drones. Geoff here can even handle the champions’ blades.”

Geoff inclined his head.

“Alright, no off to work both of you.”

Geoff left, not having said a single word, so Uzi picked out a blade from the rack.

Despite the din of other drones working, she soon relaxed into the chore. It no longer felt so crowded.

She managed to sharpen four blades to satisfaction, but now her internal timer was warning her that it’d almost been an hour. She needed to go check on the Disassemblers.

“Leaving so soon?” Alvin spoke out when he noticed her aiming for the exit.

“Sorry, Sir- Alvin. I can’t leave them for more than an hour at a time.” She’d also promised N she’d be back. Not that that should matter, he’s just a Disassembler.

“Very well, I suppose it can’t be helped. I’ll se you later today then, and don’t forget my offer.”

Uzi gave him a short bow, and then hurried for the stairs. She wasn’t sure if there was a penalty for being gone longer than an hour, but she’d rather not risk finding out.

Chapter Text

When Uzi got back to the outlook, nothing much had changed in her absence. The only real difference was that N was pouting in the corner of his cage. He sat hunched over with his wings hiding his face and his tail wrapped around his legs.

“Come on, I’m back aren’t I?” Uzi threw her arms up in exasperation. She’d been trying to get him to look at her for the last five minutes. “It’s not like I said I’d be fast. And I don’t have to be, it’s not like I owe you anything.” She crossed her arms.

He closed his wings tighter, and Uzi sighed. She let her eyes wander over to where here backpack was laying on the floor. And next to it, a gap in the pages where she’d left the pen wedged in, was her journal.

Okay so maybe she owed him a little.

“Look, I’m back now alright? I don’t know why this is such a big deal to you. I’m pretty sure the other two could care less.”

She glanced around his cage. J had maybe moved to a different spot, and V was glaring at her while her tail lashed back and forth. It was a very different motion from N’s tail wags, all angry and pent up.

Uzi stuck her tongue out at her.

V hissed.

She caught the glow of N’s eyes peeking out of the corner of her eye, but he ducked back under his wing when she looked at him.

“Okay now you’re being petty.”

N gave a soft wine.

“No, I’m not sorry, if that’s what you want. If you’re going to pout the entire time I am here, go ahead. Doesn’t matter to me.”

Uzi left him to his self-imposed time out and grabbed her bag. She fished out the pack of triple As she’d stuffed in there before leaving and fussed with the hard plastic shell to get them open. She should’ve brought scissors.

She pried one out of the casing and bit it and half. It gave a satisfying jolt through her mouth before mellowing to its usual lithium flavor. It was cleaner to eat them whole, black dust started to coat her fingers, but Uzi liked the satisfaction of biting through them. She popped the second half in her mouth.

The sound of her chewing drew N’s eyes to her again, peeking through the gaps in his wings.

“Do you want one?” Uzi pulled out a second battery and held it up for him. Only then did she consider whether they were allowed to eat batteries.

Too late now, N dropped his wings so that he could investigate what Uzi was offering.

“Wow, was food all it took?” She smiled a bit at his hopeful look.

Uzi waved the battery to see his eyes follow it. His tail gave a slow swish across the floor.

“Alright, but only because you’ve been a good model.” Uzi tossed the battery into his cage.

N’s reflex was fast, catching it before it hit the ground and crunching down on it. He made a low ruble from his chest as he ate, not like a growl.

Uzi munched on some more herself. “You like that?” She asked when he finished.

He made a short, happy call in response, his tail fully wagging now.

She tossed a second one, this one much higher, and N jumped to catch it. She threw a third toward the opposite end of the cage to see how fast he could move. It never made a sound.

Uzi was getting ready to throw a fourth when a small call came from V’s cage. She was down on the floor for once, glancing at N then Uzi, and the pack of batteries she had. She made another low call.

“Um, no, you don’t get any,” Uzi said. “You’ve been a pain this whole time.” She tossed the battery into N’s cage. This time it clattered against the floor.

V gave a soft huff and went back to glaring. She climbed back onto the bars, but not in her usual sporadic show.

N made a soft sound that almost sounded… sad? He gave Uzi a look that was akin to begging.

“What?”

He stared at her a moment longer. Then he scooped up the battery and tossed it.

“Hey wait-!”

It landed in V’s cage. V looked surprised for a moment, but she was quick to pounce on the treat before it rolled off.  She gave Uzi an irritatingly smug look as she bit down on it.

“N, what was that for?”

He tilted his head, clearly not seeing the problem.

“Ugg. Whatever, that’s all you’re getting though.”

She glanced down to the end of the room. J was watching with a look of mild interest. She raised an eyebrow at Uzi then turned away.

With a sigh, Uzi walked down her way, making the decision that she should at least be fair. She tossed a battery in J’s cage.

J watched it roll across the floor until it tapped against her. She picked it between two claws and held it up to her eyes. Then she tossed it over her shoulder back at Uzi.

“Wha- Do you not like them or something.”

J did not respond, not that Uzi expected her to.

“Okay then.” Uzi picked the battery back up. Not really wanting to eat something that had been on the floor, she tossed it into V’s cage.

V fumbled to grab hold of it, then looked at Uzi what a tilted head.

“Bite me.”

~*~

Some time after Uzi had a second round in the armory, Charles joined her in the outlook. There was one more task she was supposed to learn how to do.

“Okay, so this can be pretty dangerous, but you should be alright. N hasn’t attempted killing anyone while doing this. Yet. So it’s been approved for you to be in charge of this.” Charles handed Uzi a vial with a white plastic cap.

“This is acid extraction. The nanite acid these guys secrete is extremely valuable, especially for precision medical work. Tail, N.”

N obediently let his tail hang out of his cage for Charles to grab.

“The nanites in these guys is something else, they can generate the acid endlessly. It takes time to refill, though, so we can’t harvest too much at once.” He wave Uzi over for a closer look.

“See this little hole and the groove that follows?” Charles pointed at a tiny hole in the metal spike on N’s tail. A small divot ran down to the very tip. “That’s where the acid runs down. Pressure on the tip causes the barb here to be pushed back against the bulb, and that opens the flow for the acid. Hand me the vile.”

Uzi gave it to him, watching quietly.

Without hesitation, Charles stabbed the tip of N’s tail into the plastic cap. Bright yellow acid spurted and began running down into the vile.

“The trick is to not press to hard at first, or the acid will come out too fast and burn your hands. You’ll also get the barb hooked into the cap, and that’s a mess. After you get it going, just keep up a consistent pressure until it reaches the line.”

“It’s not very fast,” Uzi remarked. The acid dripped from the tail bit by bit. For as much as there was in the glass bulb of N’s tail, she expected more.

“That’s because it’s not really meant to flow out like this. When hunting they stab and trigger a quick burst, but that’s all. A little bit of this stuff goes a long way.”

Once he was satisfied, Charles pulled N’s tail out of the cap. “There we go, hard part done. Well, the hard part for you anyway. He pulled out a fresh cap from his pocket, this one black and made from something else. “Be sure to dispose of these safely,” he said as he tossed the white cap into a trash compartment built into the wall.

The finished vial only had about a centimeter’s worth of acid in it.

“When done just deliver this to the Joann at the medical room, and she’ll take care of it from there. She can also help if you get some acid on you.”

“There’s a way to stop the acid?” Uzi asked in surprise. Nobody… No one’s ever told her that…

“Yeah, but it’s a bit harder to get.” Charles sighed as he looked at N. “Not something we can authorize you to do, so I get the joy of doing it. You want to watch?”

“Yes! I mean, yeah it’d be cool.” She wasn’t sure what exactly he planned on, but if there was a cure for the acid then she needed to know how to get it.

“Okay, but you can’t be in the room. There’s this old storage closet right around the corner and it’s got a window into the outlook. You can watch from there.”

Uzi decided to withhold the fact that she already knew about the hidden window. She went to the storage closet and grabbed the stool she’d used yesterday to better see around the clutter.

Charles was saying something to N, but Uzi couldn’t hear any sounds from her side. He had a different, larger vial set on the floor with a wide funnel sticking out of it.

She watched as N sat down, and Charles knelt down at the end of the cage. He lifted up a panel that Uzi hadn’t seen. With it open, Charles stood up and grabbed the corner bar with both hands. He reached a foot into the hidden space under the cage and pressed down while lifting up on the bars. And the back of the cage swung open, allowing N to crawl out into the outlook.

Chapter Text

N slipped out of his cage slowly and while staying low to the ground. He kept direct eye contact with Charles.

Uzi’s motor was tripping. He was loose. The Disassembly Drone was loose in the outlook, with nothing stopping it from deciding to attack.

She flicked up her memories of the door to the outlook assessing if it was actually a stable enough barrier if things took a turn. The schematics were, admittedly, very solid. Definitely her Dad’s design. But it was still just one stupid door.

N started to wander around Charles glancing around the doorway. But Charles snapped his fingers and said something that got his attention. He gestured to the vial set on the floor.

Uzi was starting to wonder if this drone was crazier than she was. She’d been told her whole life by just about everyone that she was a little psycho, but Charles ordering a Murder Drone around with no defense. N was staying on all fours, but Uzi knew if he stood up he would tower over the Worker Drone.
Yet he almost seemed relaxed about it, his left hand was balled in the pocket of his jacket.

If N wanted to, he could kill and try to escape. Uzi would, if she were him.

But N, after giving the door one glance, did as Charles asked. He sat down in front of the vial, opened his mouth so that all his sharp teeth showed, and let his saliva drip down into the funnel.

“Eww,” Uzi said out loud.

He sat hunched over the vial for maybe five minutes before Charles was satisfied. The liquid in the vial was basically clear, if a little cloudier than water. N’s tail wagged as he looked to Charles.

Charles said something and pointed to the cage, causing N’s wings to droop. He repeated the command, and this time N climbed back inside. Charles pushed the gate back into place, and it automatically locked. He gave it a tug for good measure, then looked towards Uzi and waved her in.

“How the hell did you do that?” Uzi asked as soon as the door was open. “Didn’t you say they’d kill anyone if they got a chance?”

“I did, and they will,” Charles said.

“Then, how?” She looked over to N. He was doing that cu-stupid tail wag again.

“Same as all the trainers, with this.” Charles pulled his left hand out of his pocket, showing the small controller inside. It had two buttons, one red and one white. The top of it had a green band.

N reacted to seeing this, flattening himself to the ground with a small whimper. V hissed from her side of the room.

“Did you think I was letting him out without any protection?” Charles laughed.

“Well, kinda I guess.”

“I suppose that’s fair, no one’s shown you these yet, right? This is our number one most important tool as trainers. See that collar on N?”

With the way his shoulders and wings were hunched, the ruff of N’s jacket completely obscured his neck. He glanced nervously between Charles and Uzi.

“Uh, no, not really.”

“N, chill out,” Charles said. “You’re not in trouble. Show us your neck.”

N perked at this, and stood back up. He shook himself out, then pulled back the ruff of his jacket with a hand. A small black, high-tech collar was fastened around his neck. A tiny, pinprick light glowed green.

“Each of them has one of these self-charging collars to keep them in line, and they’ve saved the lives of a lot of drones.”

“It’s a shock collar,” Uzi said. Logically, it made sense to her. Heck, she should be glad about this, there was a clear way to control these monsters. But the image of N switching from cheerful to nervous at the sight of it gave her a weird, twisty feeling in her stomach. But that was stupid.

Charles nodded. “These ones are specially designed. The red button up top is the escalation button, the only one we really use. Press it once, and it’ll give a very small shock, really just a warning. But if it’s pressed again within three minutes, it’ll increase to the next notch. Press it again, and it goes up again. But let it rest for three minutes, and it’ll drop down a notch. That way if a drone is acting dangerous, the collar will be primed for a more serious shock again, but if it’s just training mishaps then it won’t bother them too much.”

“N seems to think it’s bad,” Uzi pointed out. His head was still dipped.

“Yeah, that’s because he got in trouble with the boss this weekend. The leads will sometimes use it as a punishment, but it’s mostly for training and safety. And it can’t do any permanent damage.”

“How high does it go?” Uzi asked.

“Eleven notches, though we almost never go that high. Usually notch four or five is enough to stop them. If they push things to ten and eleven, then the voltage will be enough to stun them for a moment.”

“That’s enough to hold them off?” Uzi asked. She’d been shocked herself an embarrassing number of times, usually while working on one of her projects. It hurt and sucked, but the effects never lasted long.

“Ha. No.” Charles confirmed what she was thinking. “The white button is for that. It’ll release the all the collar’s charge at once and knock them out for a few minutes. If it were on a Worker Drone, the voltage would cause permanent circuitry damage. It’s powerful. Problem is, use this and the collar is out of charge for a while after they wake up, so this button is only used in life-and-death emergencies. Like if a drone is charging straight at you or something.” He tapped at the white button. “It’s a tough sucker to press so no one triggers it accidently. Once it is triggered, the whole team has to move fast and get the drone sedated.”

“Geeze,” Uzi said. “That serious, huh?”

“M-hm. You can see why we can’t authorize anybody to have these. One idiot can put the whole colony in danger. Thankfully, most of the idiots we higher get killed off by J,” he joked.

“Have you seen it used before?”

“Oh yeah, four times actually, though the first time was before I was a trainer. Three of those were on J, and twice it was too late to save the drone she attacked. The other was on V. I’ve heard stories too, and as far as anyone knows no one’s ever actually had to use it on N.” He looked at the drone in question. “You’re a good boy.”

N’s tail went into overdrive at this, and he gave a happy yip.

“He really is different,” Uzi remarked.

“Yeah, he makes up for poor arena performances by being so cooperative. Far as we know, other colonies have to completely sedate their drones to collect their acid and the nanite cure.”

“You mean the Murder Drone drool?”

“Ha-ha, yeah that. It’s a little gross, but the healing nanites these guys pack in their mouths is crazy. It’s why they lick their injuries. Let’s look at your shoulder, N.”

N dipped down to expose the scratch on his shoulder.

“Yeah, see? He’s already got the flex sheath covered.”

Sure enough, the black rubber membrane that ran under the casings of drones had closed the gap.

“Before long, they’ll even fix his cloths.”

“What poor sucker had to poke around a murder-bot’s mouth to learn that?” Uzi asked.

Charles paused in thought. “I don’t know, most of the original research articles are above my restriction level. I’m not sure how the first trainers figured it out, but it’s been known about for a long time. Just difficult to collect.”

So. All this time, there was a cure. Right here, not an hours walk away from her house. Did he know?

“Wait, research articles?” Uzi lit up when she realized what Charles had said. “There’s research on these things?”

“Sorry kiddo, but I wouldn’t get too excited. That stuff is confidential, and unless you’re planning being the next field master or something.” He laughed and shook his head. “Or hey, maybe if you find a way to collect acid and drool from one of these other two, they’d let you in on it.” He laughed more at this comment. “Good luck with that.”

“Well, what if I do?” Uzi crossed her arms.

Charles raised his eyebrow at her. “I can tell you’re a gutsy kid. But I don’t think you’re stupid. You think you can get that to willingly let you collect her acid?” He jabbed his thumb toward V.

Uzi received a hiss as soon as their eyes met. She sighed.

“Didn’t think so. Take it in stride kid, you’ve got a lot of learning to do.”

~*~

Uzi sat down on the living room couch instead of going straight to her room. Thoughts that she preferred to keep repressed were circling in her head. It was making her kind of wish her dad was home. She should go to her room before he got back. Before he would pretend to care. But she wanted to know.

Uzi sat staring off into space for a long time before the front door finally opened on silent hinges.

“Uzi, you’re awake.” Kahn frowned. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, fine. It’s just… they had some training today, about safety.” The wait gave her plenty of time to come up with this cover. “They talked about the Drone’s nanite acid, and it just made me think about mom.”

“Oh.” Kahn’s shoulders slumped. “Well, eh-hem, that’s good that they want you to be safe.” I silent pause passed. “Your mother was a courageous drone, much braver than me.”

Uzi nodded. “They also told me there was a cure. Did you know that?”

Kahn visibly stiffened. When he spoke, his vocal synthesis was tight. “Not then, no. I didn’t.”

That’s what she thought. She didn’t blame her dad for what happened, it wasn’t his fault. It just kinda sucked all around. She was really little when her mom died.

“Okay, I was just curious.” She got off the couch.

“Wait, Uzi, if you want to talk-“

“Night Dad.”

Chapter Text

Scrubbing up someone else’s dried oil was the grossest thing Uzi had ever done. She was kneeling in J’s cage and working at the first of several of them with a bristled scrub brush. A spray bottle with dissolved detergent and a roll of paper towels sat beside her.

As Uzi worked, she got to watch the trainers working with J. They were doing something called targeting, an event that would happen on Friday. The empty husks of Worker Drones were laid out across the field, and J was circling near the top of the dome.

“Seventeen.”

Uzi looked up. It was hard to see through the underside of the platform, but she could see the silhouette of J’s lead trainer.

Outside, J dove for one of the corpses. She didn’t do anything more than land on it. According to Charles, these training husks were striped clean of all internal workings. The Disassemblers didn’t have anything to eat from them.

“Good,” the lead said.

There were trainers on the field around J, occasionally rearranging the targets. The other two training teams were in the backrooms briefing their own training plans for the day, so the outlook itself was mostly empty.

Uzi whipped up the black foam and dropped the paper towel into a plastic bag. One stain down. She needed to have all of it cleaned before they were done.

“Nine.”

J’s cage was the worst of the three as far as Uzi could tell, at least with how bad the stains were. Big black splotches marked where the mulch had been placed. When she was the one feeding the drones, she’d make sure to put it in the same spot every time. It’d make a mess, but then at least it’d all be in the same spot.

“Good, lets move onto the stretch targets.”

The front doors of all the cages were open, so N was sitting up on his platform to watch the training outside. V was curled up in the back corner of hers. If her optics didn’t indicate that they were active, Uzi might’ve thought she was asleep.

“Twenty-two.”

Uzi let her eyes wander back to the field as she worked one of the stains. J gave an extra pass around the field before diving. A drone outside spoke into their com.

“Good, that’s good,” the lead replied. “We’re retaining that much. Go ahead and reward her.”

The drone with the com outside singled one of the trainers, and they tossed a battery to J.

“So she eats it when they give her one,” Uzi grumbled under her breath.

“Send her back up.”

Uzi moved on to the next stain, getting closer to the window.

“Twenty-six.”

J circled twice around the arena, Uzi could barely see her eyes flicking between the targets.

“Twenty-six,” the lead repeated.

She made one more pass, then dove. As she landed on the husk, the nearest trainer motioned his hand across his throat. It was the wrong target.

J flinched, then glared around at her trainers. She slapped her tail against the ground.

“Dang it,” the lead said. “Okay, lets fall back to the easy ones and bleed off the charge.”

Uzi’s curiosity got the better of her. “What are you trying to get her to do?”

“Hm? Oh, Night Girl, I forgot you were in here.” She clicked her com on, “Thirteen.” It clicked off. “We’re trying to increase the number of targets J can hit without mistakes. If she gets one wrong during the show, we’ll get some serious fines.” Click. “Good, send her up.” Click. “The Half-Life event is a pay to vote game. It’s very popular, a lot of drones dump money into it. Five. That means bigger consequences if J off’s the wrong target, but it also means that they want us to increase the number of targets. Twenty One.”

“How many can she do?”

“J can target one through twenty without fail. She does alright up to twenty three, but then things are dicey. She has to be flawless through thirty for us to bump up the contestants. At the rate things are going, it’s going to be a long time before we can do that. Eighteen.”

“What about the others? Can they do it?”

The trainer snorted. “N can keep track of the numbers up through eleven, and we count it as luck if V even gets one right. Don’t be mistaken, Night Girl, J is leagues ahead of any other drone in captivity. Other colonies wish they could do this. That’s enough questions, I have to work. And you have a job to do.”

Right. Uzi had stopped her scrubbing without meaning to, so now she had to work double-time to make up for it.

Uzi was just wiping away the last of the suds from J’s cage when the other trainers showed up.

“Time’s up, Lexie,” the lead trainer in green called up.

J’s trainer muttered some choice worders under her breath. “Do not call me that, Melvin.” She clicked on the com. “Clear the field and secure the cage. We’re over time.” Uzi winced at the screech the chair made as it was pushed back.

Uzi took that as her signal to clear out of the cage. The outlook was full of workers now, and filling further as the trainers in yellow trickled in.

“Come on, up you get.” A trainer in purple prodded V with a long pole making her whirl around with a hiss and swiped. When she missed the pole she clawed at the drones on the other side of the cage, even though they were far from reach.

Another trainer laughed. “She is not a morning drone.”

“N’s ready to go,” someone said. “I don’t think he realizes what we’re doing today.”

The purple trainer groaned. “Just don’t be blaming our drone for it.”

“Uzi!” Charles waved to her. “Looks like you got J’s cage done, nice. Just hang back till we get N and V out, then you can start on theirs. They should be calling J in any moment.”

A yellow trainer was tugging at the gate Uzi crawled out of. He threw another a thumbs up, and they pulled the lever to let J fly in.

Uzi stepped back out of the way of the chaos, letting the trainers do their thing without intrusion. Even when they sent N and V out into the field she hung back and waited for the other Workers to finish their tasks inside the outlook.

The leads were out with the drones this time, and even with the two teems the arena still licked rather empty. An illusion made by how big the space was.

She got started with V’s cage. The stains were present, but a lot less prominent than J’s. It shouldn’t be as hard to get them up.

Uzi could hear the trainers outside directing the Murder Drones to the center of the field. Their words were too muffled for her to make out exactly, but she saw N’s tail and wings droop. He didn’t look to thrilled about what they wanted him to do.

The trainers created a ring around the drones, alternating green and purple. Uzi managed to spot Charles among them.

N sat himself in the center of the field with an expression much like the one he’d given Uzi when she left him alone for too long. V was fliting around the ring of trainers low enough for her tail to skim the ground.

The two leads were also within the ring. V’s trainer was tall and slim, and he stood with confident elegance. N’s lead, Melvin, paced around the circumference. He had a displeased look on his face.

He spoke into his com, causing N to wine as he lowered his head. The trainers voice rose.

V’s trainer rolled his eyes, then spoke into his own com.

In response V dropped out of the air and began to circle around N. Her wings were flared, fangs bared, and the X filled her screen.

They want them to fight, Uzi realized. She finished with her current stain so that she could edge closer to the window.

V looked ready to fight, but N stayed where he was in the sand. She glanced back to her trainer, who waved her to go on.

N’s trainer simply crossed his arms.

V hesitated a moment longer, then dashed at N. He didn’t even dodge as she slashed at him, leaving light scratch marks on his arm. She backed back out of the way, but there was no retaliation.

V dove in, then back out, then again, trying to goad N into fighting back.

He sat there and took it. None of V’s attacks drew oil, but they left noticeable marks on his body and cloths.

Eventually she began to faulter, the X flickering out as she looked to the leads.

“Get up, N.” Melvin wasn’t bothering with the com, just shouting. “Up. Get up.” When N stayed sitting, he pressed down on the controller. Twice.

N yelped, but only ducked down further with a pleading look.

Melven pressed down again, and this time N got onto his feet.

V’s trainer sent her back in for another barrage, but N refused to meet her attacks.

“What is wrong with him,” Uzi muttered to herself. When he fought J he’d lost pretty badly, but he at least tried to fight.

V full on body slammed into him, nocking them both over. With how much smaller she was than N, it left him the perfect opportunity to attack, or at least pin her down so that she’d stop attacking him. But he just laid there and let her recover her balance.

Melven pressed on the controller for a fifth time, making N cry out.

Uzi winced.

Melven waved at the trainers behind him, giving some sort of signal. They pulled out long poles and started prodding N with them, forcing him to get up and move toward V.

“Get her to go rougher, Adrian, he has to fight back eventually,” Melven said to his fellow lead.

Adrien sighed, then rose his com. “Make it hurt.”

V hissed at the air, then charged. This time there was a noticeable difference in her gait, and N saw it to. His eyes hollowed, then he ducked and shielded himself with his wings just in time to block her pounce.

She grappled onto his back, clawing at the joints of his wings and biting down on his shoulder. This time there was oil.

“Come, on, roll her off or something,” Uzi said. The trainers were all shouting at him, giving him a mix of commands that all surmised to say ‘fight back.’

He didn’t. N stayed in his defensive curl with V latched to his back.

And so Melven pressed on to the sock control, making both of the disassembly drones cry out. V fell of N’s back, then flew up and out of the ring.

Uzi’s eye’s widened when she realized that V was flying for her cage. The cage that Uzi was supposed to be cleaning.

Thankfully the bars were up, and those are what V latched onto. But it was enough of a startle to jumpstart Uzi’s core. She made hast to finish the last of the scrubbing.

V wasn’t paying her much mind, instead looking back at her trainers. Uzi heard a very soft wine from her, so quite she doubted anyone else noticed.

“Idiot,” Adrian said. “Don’t buzz your drone while mine’s still on him. That was a heavy shock.”

Melvin glowered. “Don’t pretend like yours wasn’t holding back. I’ve seen that one in action, she’s savage. We need her to be the little monster she is to force N to face off.”

“Do not blame us for your issues. V did her part, it’s not her fault yours is defective.”

That had Melvin fuming. “Defective? He fights just fine against other drones! It’s only that one that he’s weird about.” He pointed to V. “If there’s something wrong with one of the drones, it’s her. The maniac.”

“We’re done here,” Adrian said. “I cooperated with the session because I want V to partake in in-house fights as much as you want N to win one, but this isn’t going anywhere. Unless you think shocking our drones senseless and blaming V for N’s issues will fix the problem?”

Melvin huffed and clencked his fist, but didn’t offer a comeback.

“Didn’t think so.” Adrian gestured to his subordinates, and the headed for inside.

N was sitting up in the sand, avoiding eye contact with all his trainers.

Uzi finished with V’s cage and got out before the trainers made it to the outlook. She still had to do N’s, but with the session ending short she doubted she’d have time to finish. His biggest mess was the chalk smeared everywhere.

Uzi set about cleaning as much and as fast as she could.

She got about halfway through it when Melvin and the rest of N’s trainers came in. The others were just closing V in hers, so the room was full of voices.

“Why isn’t this done yet?”

It took Uzi a moment to realize she was the one being addressed. “S’cuse me?”

“Yes, you servant girl.” Melvin was standing right up against the bars. He pointed to the floor of the cage. “Why isn’t this done? You want me to lock you in here with a Murder Drone? Get it done.”

Uzi frowned. Did he really just threaten her because of a dirty floor? “Hey, not my fault you guys finished early,” she retorted. “I’ll be done in a minute.”

Angry marks appeared at the temple of his visor, and Uzi knew she’d said the wrong thing. It kinda gave her a sense of satisfaction.

“Don’t you talk back to me, servant girl, I can have you thrown to the frenzy in a heartbeat.”

“Uh, sir? Sir!” Charles was making his way over to them, dodging around other trainers. “Sir, this is our night watcher, Uzi Doorman.” He emphasized her last name.

Melvin gave him a mildly confused and still very irritated look.

“You know, Doorman, Doorman.”

It took a moment before the name clicked for Melvin. He looked back at Uzi. “You’re Kahn’s kid? That Doorman?”

“That’s him.” Uzi wasn’t big on using her dad’s fame, but she was kinda glad it offered her some protection.

Melven scowled. “Just- Get it done.” He stalked of to go fuss at some other trainers.

“Sorry about that, Uzi,” Charles said, “this isn’t your fault.”

“Well I know that,” she crossed her arms. “What’s with him?”

“Boss has had a rough week is all. It’ll pass. Go ahead and finish here, then you can head home for the day. Don’t worry about any this.”

“How’s N?” Uzi asked. She spayed at the next section of chalk. “Why wouldn’t he fight out there.”

“That’s… complicated.” Charles glanced to see if Melvin was looking there way. “We honestly have no idea,” he admitted. “N’s a good fighter when were pitch him against drones from other arenas, and I know he could beat V if he wanted to. But for whatever reason, he just doesn’t.

“But that doesn’t concern you. What you should focus on is that you start your first night shift tomorrow. We have a repair man coming in tonight to fix the light next to J’s cage, so you are off until eight p.m. Tomorrow, not tonight.”

“Am I allowed to come sooner?” Uzi asked.

He shrugged. “No one would mind if you do, but you might get put to work.”

“Cool,” Uzi said. She didn’t fancy staying home all day with nothing to do. “I’ll probably come in the morning.”

Charles gave her a thumbs up before leaving to go help his team. Uzi grit her teeth and scrubbed.

Chapter Text

A part of Uzi wished she could stick around to see how N was doing after getting roughed up, but the Outlook was crowded and tense and she really couldn’t stand staying.

So instead she went downstairs, aiming for the armory. Technically she was only supposed to sharpen swords when she was on duty, but it wasn’t like she had plans today. She dodged around a drone walking by with a stack of boxes he could barely see over.

Uzi was about to open the door of the armory when a thought crossed her mind, making her pause. She had the rest of today free. She didn’t have to check in on the drones by the hour. And she was here.

Uzi glanced down the hallway that wrapped around out of sight. It was lit with an orangish glow thanks to the led torches embedded along the wall.

She sighed as curiosity won over comfort and started walking.

The passage was annoyingly narrow, and more than once Uzi had to flatten herself against the wall as drones in armor walked past in groups of two and three.

She passed by one open door that revealed a collection of simple tin and wood armor pieces and some drones fitting them on. They all looked to be younger, around her own age. She kept moving before they noticed her peaking in.

Nearby it was a large poster slapped to the wall labeled ‘So You Want To Be A Gladiator?” On it was the ranking system that Thad had tried to explain to her too many times.

Starting at the top was Squire, then Knight, Gladiator, Gladiator Elite, Gladiator Master, Gladiator Champion. It was way more straight forward looking at it here on a chart than having to listen to Thad skewer the explanation.

He should’ve just taken a picture of this. Uzi rolled her eyes and moved on. She did know enough from Thad that you had to have one of the gladiator ranks to participate in the regular competitions and tournaments and whatnot. Uzi wasn’t really into sports, so she didn’t know how all those were supposed to work other than guys charging at each other with swords.

There was also recruiting options during high school that let young drones get some early training. Uzi remembered the armored drone calling them all ‘pages’ and being very confused about it till Thad explained that’s what the term for a kid learning to be a gladiator was called. It was a stupid name, who calls someone learning to swordfight paper?

A little part of Uzi was still bitter that her dad didn’t let her go to those camps. But they were probably lame anyway. She preferred swords like katanas.

The hallway opened into a larger space lit to look like there was sunlight rather than rock. A lot of drones were walking between doors marked with crests, and Uzi realized that she had no idea where to go. She tried to run back the memories of Thad telling her what club thing he was in, but most of that had been auto-deleted.

Curse this stupid limited memory space.

She moved out of the entryway so that some others could get through and started walking along the back wall. She didn’t recognize anyone she was walking past, and without knowing where she was going there would be much point in asking for directions.

The sound of shouting voices reached her temporal sensors, getting louder as she followed the bend. It took only another minute of walking for Uzi to find the massive doors of the main sparring gym. It was flanked on either side by smaller dojo’s, but those were quiet and closed. The doors of the gym were wide open for everyone walking by to see the drones clashing blades.

Uzi paused to look in. Everyone inside was wearing the wood and tin armor she saw earlier and they were following a set of exercises lead by a drone at the front of the room. His armor was polished silver and black, trimmed in white. The whole seen looked crazy similar to a classroom, except without any desks and a whole lot more yelling.

“Uzi?” That was a familiar voice.

 “Hey Thad.” She turned to greet his green gaze. He was wearing is own set of the wood plate armor, his helmet tucked under his arm. Uzi realized that this was the first time she’d seen him without his cap on, and his messy blond hair was on full display.

“What are you doing down here? Don’t you have murder watch or something?” He shifted the weight of the sword at his hip.

She shrugged. “I have the rest of today off, so figured I’d come poke around here for a while.”

“Oh, sweet! Want me to show you around?” He offered her his hand.

“Yeah, sure, that’d be cool I guess.” She folded her arms rather than taking his hand though. It’d be really embarrassing if drones assumed they were together.

Thankfully Thad didn’t bat an eye and instead pointed to the gym Uzi had been looking at.

“That’s the indoor gym. We prefer to practice out on the field, but we’re limited by how often we can be out there. This is always open, same with the specialty gyms.” He motioned to the dojos. “Anyone is allowed to use them, you don’t even have to be registered. Then there are the guild houses.”

“Are those the doors with the weird crest thingies?” Uzi asked.

“You mean the cool crest thingies.” Thad shot his finger guns and Uzi rolled er eyes. “That’s them. You have to be in a guild to go in one of those.” They started walking.

“Do you have a guild?”

“No, not yet. You can’t just join up, you have to be invited. See, everyone starting out as a squire trains under the guildless masters. You probably saw Master Morgan there in the white, it means they gave up their guilds to teach and run the field. It’s supposed the be so that they’re unbiased, you know?”

“Okay, then how do you get invited into the guild? You just wait till someone decides to ask you to join.”

“Kind of, kind of not? There’s these events where we get to show off to the big names in the guilds, and then you see if they decide to invite you in. It’s up to the guildless masters when a drone gets to perform, and they usually wait till around two years of training.”

Thad paused to rub at the back of his head, and he gave a nervous laugh. “Yah, uh, mine’s next week.”

“Oh.” Uzi blinked. “Oh wow, Thad. You’ve only been training for, what, a year right?” She gave him a light punch on the shoulder. “That’s awesome.”

“Heh-heh, thanks.” He rubbed the arm Uzi punched. “Is it kinda weird that I thought this might happen? I don’t want to sound full of myself, but I kind of had a hunch.”

“Nah, if you’re awesome at something, show it off. If someone feels bad then they can just get better.”

“That… sounds like dubious advice, not gonna lie.”

Uzi shrugged. “It works for me. You know what guild you want? Or do you even get a choice?”

“If I get more than one invitation I can choose. But it’s possible I won’t get any, a lot of drones don’t get invited till around the third showing.”

“Probably cause they suck.”

“Uzi!” Thad gave her a scowl. “You don’t even know them.”

“Don’t have to. Now tell me your answer, which guild? Actually what even are all the guilds?”

Thad stopped walking and gave her a surprised look.

“What? My dad never let me come see any of the shows, not my fault I don’t know this stuff.”

“Uzi, you can hack into literally anything. You could look it up if you wanted to.”

“That- I just-“ He had here there. “Fine, whatever. Just tell me.”

“Okay, okay,” he put his hands up, smiling from his little victory. “There are six guilds in our colosseum, all under the Catacomb banner. I can join one of four of them. There’s the Fire Guild, the one with the lion with it’s mane on fire, the Water Guild, that’s the eagle, the Wind Guild is the one with the snake-“

“Wait a minute, hold on,” Uzi said, “I feel like that’s backwards. Shouldn’t the bird be for air and the snake be for water? They live in water right?”

Thad shrugged. “Beats me, these crests are as old as the arena.”

“Huh.”

“Then there’s the Rock Guild. They’re… they’re a special guild.”

“And what’s their mascot? A badger or something?”

“No is worse. A mole.”

Uzi winced. “That is worse. Don’t join the mole guild.”

Thad laughed. “Don’t worry, their my last resort. The other two guilds are the woman’s teams, the Sun Guild and the Moon Guild. Butterfly and Moth mascots.”

“Geeze, that isn’t confusing at all. So what day is your big showcase thing?”

“Tuesday. Do you want to come? We’re allowed to invite family and friends to watch.” He played it off cool, but Uzi knew Thad well enough to catch his fingers fidgeting.

“During the day right?”

He nodded.

“Yeah, I can be there.”

“Sweet!” He gave her a big grin. “Now how about I introduce you to some of my friends.”

“Ugg, you’re still trying to socialize me? Fiiiine.”

Thad gave her a light shove.

~*~

Uzi was still rubbing at her eyes as she walked into the outlook. She stayed with Thad and the other Squires way later than she’d meant to. Then her dad kept her up with door questions, and since Uzi actually had some answers thanks to the artful designs of all the guild and gym doors, she went along with it. Better to suffer now than have him find out the truth.

“Hey N,” Uzi greeted and walked up to his cage. “You look rough.”

The scratches from yesterday were all still very noticeable, not to mention the black bite on his shoulder. But N greeted her with happy energy, bounding over to the end of his cage and giving her a wave.

A half asleep hiss came from V’s cage.

“Good morning to you… too…” Uzi’s sarcastic reply died away as she saw what was passed V.

There was a corpse dragged hallway through the bars of J’s cage.

Chapter Text

The carcass was gouged open, black cords and wires bulging out as oil still dripped onto the floor in a puddle so large it almost reached V’s cage. What really made Uzi’s gut wrench was how it was skewered through the bars, the poles cleaving the upper half of his torso so it barely looked like a drone anymore.

There were a host of trainers handling things now that Uzi had raised the alarm, she was just watching.

J’s trainers had shooed her onto the small platform and locked her in it so that they could access the body risk. Two of them stayed close to J with long electric rods, but J wasn’t giving them any reason to use them. She lounged in her corner with a smugly satisfied smirk.

The trainers used long metal hooks to skewer and drag out the pieces of the body, making it squelch and crack. Other workers assisted by bringing buckets for the chunks of body to be dropped into, then carrying them away.

“Unfortunate…” J’s lead trainer, Lexia, was writing something down on a clipboard. “Bad timing, this one.”

“Bad timing?” Uzi asked. “Is there a good timing?”

“No I suppose not,” Lexia said. “But we’ve got show coming up and I’d rather not deal with J when she’s hungry. But the three day starvation after an unauthorized kill isn’t something I can override. Nothing for it now.” She adjusted her spectacles and looked at Uzi. “Do me a favor and die on a Sunday when J gets you.”

Uzi really didn’t know if she should laugh or say ‘yes ma’am,’ so she opted to say nothing.

“Guess you get an easy start to your night shift, huh?” One of the other trainers said.

“I guess. How did J even get this guy though? The light is outside her perimeter.

“We’ve got a guy getting the footage that’ll answer that. You should definitely watch with your job and all.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Uzi nodded. “I’d like to try living for a longer time than this guy.” Just some guy. No need to look at the nametag sitting in the oil. It didn’t matter anymore.

 “What, you want some?”

Uzi turned to see a trainer teasing V with a hunk of guts. He’d plucked it out of the bucket he had with a pair of tongs and waving it around so that V would try to grab it, keeping it just out of reach.

That’s kinda funny but kinda mean, Uzi thought as V tried and failed to snatch the treat. Then she noticed that V’s tail was slowly sneaking out of the bars. The trainer was still focused on her claws.

“Look out!” Uzi warned, but too late. V’s tail stabbed down into the bucket and pulled out a chunk faster than the trainer could react.

“Hey!” The trainer stepped back hastily, eyes wide with how close her tail had been to him.

 V retreated with her prize so that no one would try to take it from her. It wasn’t a very big piece, but she happily pulled it off her tail and started gnawing on the metal.

Several of the other trainers burst out laughing, causing the one to scowl in embarrassment. “Aren’t you gonna buzz her?” he asked one of the purple ones.

“Nah, that’s your fault. I think she earned it fair.”

“Fool,” Lexia said. Her stern voice silenced the other trainers. She addressed the one that teased V. “Do not let the little power you have go to your head. You’re lucky she didn’t kill you. One body is enough to deal with. Now back to work.”

“Ma’am.” The trainer bowed his head, then hurried to the exit with his bucket.

N watched him as he walked past his caged, making a hopeful sound. The trainer didn’t notice. N looked at V with her morsel, then around at the other trainers working on the mess. He whined.

“Should we give some to N?” Uzi asked.

“Why would we do that?” Lexia was busy with her clipboard again.

“I don’t know, to be fair I guess? The other two got some.”

Lexia paused to look at N, then she addressed Uzi. “I am not otherized to influence Designation N’s feeding schedule. I know for a fact that it’ll tick Melvin off if someone feeds his drone when he’s mad with it. So by all means, do what you like. It isn’t my business.”

I… think that’s a yes? Maybe? Lexia’s stone face offered no hints to what she meant. She wasn’t even paying attention to Uzi anymore. None of the trainers were. Only one of which was in green.

Keeping an eye on them in case someone rose a fuss, Uzi went over to one of the unattended pails. Most of the big parts were gone, so she grabbed two small pieces. The oil was gloopy on her fingers.

There was no way no one saw what she was doing, but they kept to their own business as Uzi walked the oozing metal to N’s cage.

N threw any notion of discretion out the window. He beat his wings excitedly in a rapid flutter, knocking them against the bars of his cage.

“Shush,” Uzi told him. “You’re being almost as crazy as V. Here.” She tossed the clumps into his cage where the splattered on the concrete.

“Lexia.” A drone that Uzi recognized as one of the second in command trainers for the yellow team walked in. “We’ve got the footage ready.”

“Good, let’s have a look it. Come, Night Girl.”

Uzi wiped the oil off on her jacket and followed them to a room that she hadn’t been in before. It was full of breaker panels, coded operation boards, and a lot of other technical things led Uzi to believe this was one of the four control centers of the arena. Lexia and her trainer led the way to a small computer the with fuzzy gray image of the Outlook.

The trainer pressed play and the reel began.

The camera was angled from the left corner of the room, at about the same height as the landing. It gave clear view of the three cages. Both N and J were hanging upside down from the top bars of their cages. Asleep. V was curled at the bottom of her cage, the twitch of her tail showing that she was still awake.

Then from the corner of the screen a Worker Drone carrying a step ladder walked in. He placed it under the broken light, then adjusted it. He set a few tools on the top step and left the way he came.

A few moments after the Drone was gone, J pulled back her wings and dropped down. She studied the ladder for a few moments, then sat against the cage so her tail could extend out. The ladder was beyond the marked line by just an inch, but with the full length of her tail J could reach it easily. She stabbed down at the foot of the ladder, and acid began to eat away at it.

The TV didn’t play any audio, but J’s head snapped to the door as though she’d heard something. She flipped herself up to the ceiling and dropped back into the wing wrapped sleep state N was in. In a second, she was as still as she was before. But her position was different, she was hanging near the end of the cage.

The light man didn’t notice J’s change as he walked in with the new light. He didn’t notice the faint glow of acid at the corner of his ladder.

He climbed up to the very top and began to unscrew to the old light. Moments passed, then the foot of the ladder snapped. The Worker flailed out at the sudden imbalance, then he and his ladder fell towards J’s cage.

J launched out of her cocoon and grabbed him as he fell, her eyes an X and teeth bared in a grin. The Drone was screaming, rousing N and V, but the footage was silent. J dug her claws into his shoulders and forced his body through the bars of the cage. He struggled and kicked as the bars cleaved into him, tearing away an arm and gouging into his core. J bit down onto his neck. The frantic struggle became uncontrolled spasming, then twitching, then stillness. J broke his head off, then drank the oil from it like it was a bowl of soup.

The trainer stopped the video.

“That’s a good one,” Lexia said. “Make a backup save file for it and we’ll add it to the training tapes.” She pressed a button, and the screen went black.

“Welcome to you job, Night Girl.” Lexia’s grim smile was the first expression Uzi had seen from her.

Chapter Text

Blue light filtered in through the windows, making the Outlook glow enough to see comfortably.

This was it. Uzi had officially begun the job she’d signed up for. She took a breath.

“Time to feed you guys.” Also the first time she’d be feeding them without supervision.

N made a happy call.

“Yeah, are you hungry?” Uzi said in response. “Let me see what you get today.”

She found her corner of the notice board, but the only note there was that J didn’t get anything today, which Uzi already knew.

“Okay, I’ll be back in just a minute.”

N wined.

“I have to go get your food, idiot.” Despite herself, she smiled.

When Uzi opened the door of the oil room, she saw something skitter away form the light of the hallway, disappearing behind the mulch box.

“Dang it,” Uzi cursed. She’d been warned that keybugs tended to find their way to the oil room, and it was her job to get them out before a few strays turn into an infestation. Thankfully, she’d been given the equipment to deal with it.

Uzi opened a small cabinet bolted to the wall and pulled two small traps from it. They were live traps specially designed for keybugs, all she had to do was set them.

She filled the oil canister with a little oil from the tank, then used that to fill the bait hatches on the traps. She placed one at the end of the box the keybug disappeared under, then put the other trap at the opposite end. Uzi then had to log that she’d spotted one and that the traps had been set. Hopefully it was just the one, and not any more.

With that done, Uzi grabbed her pail and walked up to the shelves. A stepstool had, in fact, been added to the tools in the oil room despite Uzi’s insistence that she wouldn’t need it. She glanced up at the shelves. She definitely could reach the jars, the ones up front at least, but it would be easy to knock one off.

“Fine whatever, not like anyone’s here.” She snapped the stool open and got the oil jars she needed.

When Uzi left the oil room she took a moment to observe the base of the door. It sealed itself with a rubber foot, perfectly fitted so there weren’t any gaps. Uzi prodded it with her finger to see that it was a firm barrier.

“Well, it’s not your fault they get in, Dad,” Uzi said. She wasn’t surprised that the door was made to keep the keybugs out, but in a way she was a little disappointed. If the bugs were getting in through the door, then it’d be something she could fix herself and be done with the issue entirely. But they were finding their way in somewhere else.

Deciding she was giving the situation more effort than she wanted to give, Uzi returned to the outlook.

N did his wing beating thing again when he saw her as he clung to the bars.

“Chill out, dude, it’s like you’ve never had dinner before.” Uzi clamped the tongs around the jar. “This what you want?”

N’s expression changed. His happy smile widened to the point that his fangs showed, and his eyes flashed into an x. His wings froze at his sides, and his tail hovered out behind him.

The ease Uzi felt disappeared, and her programing sent off primal warning signals.

“Easy, buddy,” Uzi said as she inched forward. “Just, just stay right there.”

N was perfectly still while Uzi reached the tongs into his cage, but that only made her tense up more. The jar passed through the bars. Then it set down on the ground. Then the tongs were back out. And then N snatched it up.

Uzi let out her breath. “There, easy,” she muttered.

N looked up and tilted his head at her, his eyes oval again. There was a black line of oil on his upper lip, giving him a mustache.

The sound of screeching metal on metal made Uzi look at V. She gave her an impatient huff.

“No,” Uzi told her. “I’m not giving you your oil until you’re sitting like a good drone. It took me ages to get rid of the stain you left last time.”

V’s growl rolled into a hiss.

Uzi crossed her arms. She could wait.

They held each other in a glare-off for a solid minute before V started pacing around. He tail and wings flicked, occasionally hitting the bars. But she wasn’t getting down.

“Fine then.” N was done with his oil, so Uzi reached the tongs back in to take the jar.

V’s demeanor once Uzi started ignoring her. She stopped her pacing.

Uzi pulled out N’s jar and placed it back in the pail.

V wined. That got N’s attention. He’d been relaxed and happy with his meal, but now he was tall and alert, looking between V and Uzi.

Uzi acted as though she was ignoring both of them and picked up the bucket to leave. As soon as she took a step toward the door she heard a final bar rattle, then quite. Uzi turned around.

V was on the floor of her cage. Her shoulders were hunched and she was scowling off to the side, yet she was sitting on the floor.

“Oh so you can understand.” Uzi smirked at her little victory.

V gave her a very unhappy look and a growl, but she stayed where she was.

Uzi changed her course and went to the end of V’s cage. Unlike N, V didn’t go into predator mode at the sight of oil.

Too busy sulking, Uzi laughed internally.

She placed the jar down at the foot of the cage. And then V launched herself at it, smashing the jar with a cruel grin.

“Ugg, seriously?” Uzi dropped the tongs and wiped away the flecks of oil on her visor. V’s grin only widened.

“Yeah, we aren’t doing this every day,” Uzi said. She was going to find a way to make V listen. Or at least make her not break every jar.

She left the Murder Drone alone for now so that she could return the rest of the tools to the oil room. She gave the traps a brief check, but they were still empty. She could check again when she walked by to the weaponry.

Back in the Outlook, Uzi took a peak at J’s cage to see that she was already hanging upside down. She wasn’t fooled into thinking she was asleep, not after seeing that security footage. Still though, Uzi had been looking forward to seeing this weird bat behavior up close.

J had the wrists of her winds layered over her face, and the feathers wrapped around the front of her body like a spiky blanket. The tips of her legs were the only part of her body that was visible, and her tail was wound several times on a bar.

Uzi grabbed her book and began to sketch her from a distance.

Seeing this, N pulled out his calk hand and also started sketching.

For a while things were peaceful. Uzi worked on drawing J, N was content with his scribbles, and V was busy sucking the glass pieces clean of oil.

Uzi was starting to shade in the details when something clinked next to her. She looked around in confusion, then spotted a shard of glass on the floor. Something hit her on the side of the head.

“Hey!”

V threw a third glass piece at her, to which Uzi blocked. She groaned. “Do you really have to do this?”

Another shard whizzed by her.

“Whatever.” Uzi sat down against the wall. She’d learned through her years of high school that ignoring people was the fastest way to get them to leave her alone.

The rain of glass continued for some time, but Uzi grit her teeth and kept drawing. Only after there was a period of reprieve did she glance up. The floor around her was glittering with glass.

V’s was frowning and her tail was twitching in the way Uzi recognized as irritated or frustrated. She should dedicate a page to Disassembly Drone body language.

“You done yet?” It mas a mute question, the only glass left in V’s cage was the sparkly dust.

V growled.

“Yeah, I don’t like you much either, but we’re stuck with each other.” Uzi put her book away so that she could find a broom.

After the glass was cleaned up Uzi decided she’d had enough of the Disassemblers and went down to the armory. It was very different coming down at night as to apposed to the day. It was quite, serene solitude.

Uzi felt her tension flow away as she worked the blade. It mas almost meditative.

When Uzi got back to the outlook, she was in a pretty good mood. In her absence N had decided to hang himself to go to sleep. But he wasn’t asleep, because he dropped down to greet her.

“Hey, you don’t have to stay up,” Uzi said. She peered at the chalk marks, but she couldn’t decipher them very well. “I need to get you some crayons,” she said. “Less mess for me.”

Another round of hanging out then going back to the armory passed, and this time N was fast asleep. He had his wings wrapped around much the way J did. V wasn’t hanging yet, she was sitting and glaring at Uzi. Still.

The third time Uzi came back from the Armory, she couldn’t help but frown. V was still up, pacing slowly around her cage with her tail dragging on the ground. She growled when she saw Uzi was back.

“Are you seriously staying awake just to spite me?”

V hissed and wrapped her claws around the bars. She didn’t take her eyes off Uzi.

The rest of the night was a drag. Uzi went down to the armory two more times, but then resorted to pulling out her tablet and watching some anime. She kept an eye on V to see if she’d go to sleep finally, but she never did.

Chapter Text

Tonight, Uzi had a plan.

She’d stopped by the store on her way to work (making it only fifteen minutes before it closed) and now she had everything she needed tucked away in her backpack.

Everyone was already gone when she got to the outlook, something Uzi knew she could count on being the norm. Trainers worked in the morning, the gladiators had it during the day, and the crew had it in the evening.

“Hi, N,” Uzi greeted what was decidedly her favorite of the three drones. She was given a cheerful call in response. Uzi glanced at the notice board, but nothing had changed. “Alright, I’m going to go get your dinner.”

Uzi kept her backpack on instead of depositing it on the floor.

When she opened the oil room door, she heard a skittering rattle. “Oh, cool.” Uzi flicked on the light and picked up the noisy trap. “Guess that worked pretty well, huh little guy?”

The keybug stared blankly back at her. Then it ran a claw over its antenna.

Uzi’s instructions on what to do with the keybug once caught were pretty vague, simply ‘get rid of it.’ She could reach in and squash it pretty easy, but it’s not like it was its fault that there was a buffet of oil in here. And there was no way she was giving it to V.

“I guess you can just wait here for now.” Uzi put the cage on top of the mulch box. “I’ll drop you off at a pet store in the morning.” Maybe he’d get to become a Droneling’s new birthday pet.

Uzi jotted down that she’d caught the keybug spotted yesterday, but she left the second cage out incase there were any more.

With that chore done, Uzi pulled the to jars she needed from the shelf. She placed one in the pail and the other on the workbench. She slid her backpack off. This shouldn’t take too long.

When Uzi was content with her work, she packed up and went back to the Disassembly Drones.

N’s eyes flashed into an X as she walked to his cage. It still made her nervous, but after yesterday she wasn’t scared he’d do somethin unexpected. “That hungry, huh?” She pushed his jar into his cage. He gave her a happy chuff as he pried the lid off.

V made an impatient call. She was sitting in her cage with her wings draped against her back.

So she does learn, Uzi thought. She was glad she didn’t need to fight V to get her down.

“Please don’t break this one,” Uzi asked her, but it halfhearted.

She barely released the clamps before V was on it, smashing the jar and making black squirt everywhere. V licked a dripping finger, then wretched. Her screen contorted into a grimace as she spat out the black substance.

Uzi laughed openly, earning a very hostile glare. “I told you not to break it.” She crossed her arms.

V tried to flick the glop off of her hands and arms, sparing it further. It didn’t do very much to clean her casing.

N laughed softly, but stopped immediately when V snarled at him.

“Relax, it’s just paint,” Uzi said. She unzipped her backpack and pulled out the actual jar of oil. “Is this what you were hoping for?”

V didn’t need the X over her eyes for Uzi to know that she was looking at her with murderous intent.

She took her time placing the oil jar in the middle of the broken mess. “So unless you want to eat paint with your oil, don’t break it.”

It wouldn’t hurt a drone to eat this paint, Uzi had carefully picked out a Droneling safe paint. Part of the reason was to avoid getting into trouble if V ended up with digestion, and the other part was that it was easy to wash.

To Uzi’s relief, V did not pounced on the jar. She didn’t retrieve it either though. She just sat and glared at it.

“Or stave yourself, that’s fine too. Like I care.” Uzi dipped back into her back. “I got something for you too, N.”

At her words N bounded over as close as he could, knocking into his own jar and sending it rolling. It passed through the bars and smashed onto the ground.

“Great.”

N ducked his head shamefully.

“It’s fine,” Uzi sighed. “Whatever. At least yours was an accident.” She glared at V.

Uzi pulled out the small box of crayons she was looking for and rattled them. “Check this out.”

His eyes went wide at the sight of the colorful box, enraptured.

The paper Uzi had also stuffed in her bag was a bit wrinkled. She pulled out the whole stack. “Watch this.” Uzi opened the crayon box and pulled out the best color available, purpled, and doodled a little skull onto the paper. “See?”

N’s hands twitched as he watched.

“Wanna try?”

N yipped and fluttered his wings excitedly, going as far as to spin around in a circle.

“That’s a yes then.”

It took some finagling, but Uzi got the crayons and paper pinched between the tongs and passed them to N. He plucked out a crayon, the same purple one Uzi used, and flopped onto his belly to draw.

V was still sulking, staring at the jar of oil. The paint was starting to dry on her casing.

“Look, I promise it’s not rigged,” Uzi said. “I only bought enough for one anyway.”

V hissed at her, long and drawn out.

Uzi put her hands up to show that she wasn’t going to care enough to argue. “You two have fun, I’m going to go play with some swords.”

N gave her a soft call of affirmation without looking up.

Uzi spared a glance in J’s direction, but she was maintaining her state of disinterest. Uzi shrugged and left.

An hour later, N was still happily scribbling away. There was a collage of papers spread around his cage and all of the crayons were out of the box. Three of them were snapped in half.

When she came over to check it out, he eagerly held up one of the papers for her to see.

“Oh, wow, that’s uh, lovely?”

He hurred and put it back only to pick up another one.

“Cool, cool -no you don’t need to show me all of them.” Uzi stopped him just as he was about to pick up a third. He gave her a disappointed look. “I’ll look at them all later,” she said. “For now I need to clean up.”

Looking over to V, the female Disassembly Drone was curled up on the far side of her cage, her wings obscuring her head. The oil jar sat empty and unbroken.

Uzi fetched her tongs and pulled it out to take to the oil room. On her way back she grabbed the broom and dustpan so she could clean up N’s jar.

She realized once she got back to N’s cage that the glass was right on the edge of his enclosure. Uzi was going to have to step into his parameter to clean it.

She took a moment to observe N as he colored, then decided it was fine. He seems to like her, for whatever reason. And he was so engrossed in his coloring that he barely glanced at her as she walked passed the line.

As Uzi swept she heard a snap, so she looked up to see that N’s green crayon was also broken.

He let out sad whine at the crayon, it’s broken end dangling by the paper sheath. That was four broken out of twelve in the pack. N looked at Uzi, then ducked his head with a shameful expression.

“It’s fine, I can buy more,” Uzi said. “Just use the broken pieces, that’s what I used to do.”

N held the crayon a contemplative look, then his eyes widened a little as though he’d realized something. N swapped out his left hand for a lit lighter.

“Whoa, you guys can use fire?” Uzi stepped close to get a good look at the little orange flame.

He held the end of the crayon to the end of the flame until it started to swirl into a liquid, the swapped his had back and pressed the other piece back on. A moment of holding it together, then he let go to reveal his crookedly repaired crayon.

“Sweet,” Uzi said.

N gave her a very proud look. He picked up the others to fit back together.

While he worked on that Uzi got her own art project out. She was going to try drawing V again. Her curled position wasn’t something she’d drawn yet, and with any luck it also meant V wouldn’t notice what she was doing.

To further hide her intentions, Uzi stayed by N’s cage as if she were drawing him.

The outlook fell into a quite rhythm of scratching sounds, a backdrop of white noise for a chill night. V wasn’t a perfectly still model, but she wasn’t deliberately making things hard for Uzi.

When it was done, Uzi was happy with what she had. It was a solid first drawing of her.

She waved to grab N’s attention and held a finger to her lips when he looked at her. She turned the book for him to see.

He lit up at the sight of her drawing and wagged his tail. He looked over at V. N then pushed a few of his papers aside to pull out a drawing for Uzi to see.

It was still the same messy work as the rest of his illustrations, but this time Uzi could make out what he was trying to draw. There was a figure in the air, a line across center of the page, then another figure with wings below the line. Several smaller configurations had Xs on them.

“This is you during the maze hunt,” Uzi said.

His wings gave a happy shuffle, and he smiled back towards V.

Uzi gave a half laugh. “Drawing your murder exploits. Who knew.”

Before long Uzi needed to go back to the armory. She’d gotten good enough that she could do the ten blades that were required within two trips, so she was going to start stacking the bonus bounty pretty quick.

She expected N to be asleep when she got back this time, it was two hours later than he had last night, but nope. He was still at it with the coloring.

“Dude, you gotta go to sleep,” Uzi said. “It’s like, one a.m.”

“Hmpher.” N protested.

“Come on, put the crayons back and stack the paper. I’ll bring them back tomorrow.”

With a sagging tail he did as she told him. It would make her feel sorry if not for the tired lines under his eyes.

Drones didn’t need sleep in the strict sense that humans needed it, but it was hard on their hardware to let it go without rest. Sleep gave their nanites a chance to repair the minute damage of regular use and it let their circuits have a break to recharge. Old drone models didn’t have sleep functions, and those drones usually started malfunctioning after about five years in their adult body. Drones with a proper sleep cycle (and modern nanites) could make it passed two hundred hears before suffering hardware problems.

Uzi wondered how long these guys could live with their super nanite healing.

With his artwork put away, N climbed up to the ceiling and slowly lowered himself into his sleep wrap. He yawned, then tucked his head under his wings.

“Night, buddy" Uzi said.

She considered grabbing the tongs to get the crayons and paper out, but they were right there at the edge. She huffed softly and grabbed them with her hands. She’d been in N’s parameter for over an hour while drawing, she wasn’t scared he’d suddenly decide to eat her now.

“You going to go to sleep tonight?” Uzi asked V.

She hissed.

“Didn’t think so.”

Chapter Text

Ironically, Uzi’s night shift made it more likely that she’d see her dad every morning. On her regular schedule she’d stay in her room so late that he’d be gone for work before she came out, and then he’d stay out late into the night playing cards with his pals. It was the perfect balance of never having to see each other.

But now that Uzi was on the night shift, she was coming home before he left for work. Which meant she was not only forced to deal with him, but she was forced to deal with him when he was on full recharge.

“So how about those doors on the upper east quadrant, hm? Flash and functional. I remember when Louie asked me to make them-“

Uzi stuffed another mouthful of lithium batteries in her mouth. Her neck joints popped as she gave her dad the courtesy of staring in his general direction.

He always referred to Lord Louis as ‘Louie,’ like he was just an old friend. He always bought this cheap cereal like he was saving money. Like he wasn’t one of the wealthiest drones around with ties to the most powerful drone in the colony.

“Uzi? You all good?”

“Hm? Yeah, yeah, I’m just tired. Night shift. Still getting used to it.”

“Oh, of course. Well, I probably should be heading out now. See you at dinner?”

Doubtful.

“Sure, see you then.

~*~

Tonight was a pretty chill one with the Disassembly Drones. V refrained from destroying her oil jar, N colored till his eyes wouldn’t stay open, and Uzi got to work on her research in peace, filling out some notes she had on them. The biggest difference tonight was J’s pacing, and X flicking across her screen regularly. But she fell asleep like N, same as the nights before.

It was around three a.m., and Uzi was staring blanky at her book. She should go down to the armory. She should make her legs push her up and go do some bonus swords. Get some extra cash.

Uzi’s joints didn’t move.

Something in her field of view prompted Uzi to look up. She caught a glimpse of a round and shiny bubble drifting toward the ceiling just before it disappeared. Moments later, a new stream of bubbles drifted up to pop against the bars of the center cage.

Quietly, Uzi placed her book down beside her and stood up.

V was curled away from Uzi. Another stream of bubbles rose.

She creeped around N’s cage, deciding to get a look through the bars of his cage so that V wouldn’t be disrupted. She moved as slowly as she could, no sudden movements.

What she saw was V’s claws replaced with neon pink bubble wands, and a distant eyed Disassembly Drone blowing into them. She reached up to pop a few, then watch the rest dance into the air. When they were gone, she blew some more to life.

Uzi leaned up against N’s cage to watch the little show. She rubbed at her screen.

After some time her eyes wandered to the scattering of papers in N’s cage. He failed to clean up before going to sleep tonight. Most of it was hard to make out, but after realizing he could draw the things he remembered some of them made a bit more sense. She could recognize a few messy arena depictions, though the specific events weren’t distinguishable. She saw a couple pictures of trainers, one of herself, and one of a sleeping drone. Then a picture caught her eye, one of gray, lavender and pink. It was close enough to reach, so Uzi turned it around to face her.

A vague figure in gay and purple low to the ground. Angular pink objects surrounding it in the air. The space around was scribbled in black, making the page dark.

Uzi looked between V and the paper, the image’s odd nature now making sense. Except for one thing.

N drew this one yesterday.

~*~

The announcement calling drones to their seats had already started, so Uzi picked up her pace, passing the oil room.

Uzi felt a lot better than she had yesterday and this morning. Once she got home she was out like a rock, only waking up an our before the event.

She was not required to attend the weekend events, but Uzi didn’t want to miss out on the free show.

Uzi used her badge and pushed open the door to the outlook.

Most of the Workers had settled into their positions for the show. With only J having an event today it wasn’t too full of trainers, only a few striped in green and violet hung out at the lower windows and the balcony, leaving the body of the room empty except for two drones hanging out by V’s cage.

Lizzy, and her life-long bestie Doll. The were both watching V as she corralled two keybugs set loose in her cage.

“Sup looser,” Lizzy greeted.

“Hello, Uzi.” Doll spoke with a heavy Russian accent.

Uzi had known both of these drones throughout her entire school life, from kindergarten through graduation, and they always seemed attached at the hip. At least when Doll was around.

Doll was the heiress to their neighboring colony, the Cabin Fever Colony, the same way Lizzy was the heiress Ice Bunker Colony. (No one ever called the Catacombs by its official name.) Cabin Fever colony was the second largest of all the colonies on record, and the partnership between their two colonies was already strong.

From what Uzi understood from her reserved corner of the class, Doll and Lizzy exchanged schools between the two colonies to foster relationships between the noble families of McClaine and Morozov. So she only ever saw Doll around about half the year, then occasionally Lizzy would also disappear.

“Hey, didn’t realize you were around,” Uzi greeted. She’d had her qualms about having to put up with the popular group of girls throughout her life, but of all of them Doll was the most chill.

Uzi had been stuck in a school full of the kids of nobility, and it had made a large part of her childhood hell. At time Lizzy and her group were the bane of her existence. But then in junior year the group had a falling out with their most overtly mean member, Rabecca. A week later, both Rebecca and her boyfriend Darren disappeared.

After that, Uzi found the group to be at least a bit more tolerable. Or maybe that was just because it was around the time Thad started hanging out with her.

“She got in yesterday,” Lizzy filled her in. “Her family is over for the execution on Sunday.”

“Execution?”

“Yeah this idiot stole a bunch of money and stuff then tried to hide away in Cabin Fever. He literally tried to bribe Doll’s dad with classified information, like that was gonna work.” Lizzy rolled her eyes. “No, V not that one, go for the other one.”

V had a keybug pinned under her claws, but paused to look up and tilt her head at Lizzy. The bug in question had a pink sticker stuck to its carapace.

“Don’t cheat,” Doll told her. “Not that it’ll help you win.”

V let the keybug slip out of her grip so that she could stop the second one from climbing up the bars.

“What’s the bet?” Uzi asked. She stepped onto the parameter line to watch as well.

“That my bug will outlive hers, duh,” Lizy said.

“We don’t have money on the line.” Doll gave the answer Uzi was looking for. “Just bragging rights.”

Bug fights were a popular activity in high school, Drones would by the best looking keybugs only to put them in a box together to fight for territory. It was a cruel game, but at least one of them had a chance to walk out alive.

While V batted around the red marked bug, Lizzy’s made a mad dash for freedom. It almost got away, it’s little legs propelling it fast enough to out speed the average Worker. But it wasn’t enough to out speed a Disassembly Drone’s reflex.

V’s tail came down and stopped the bug centimeters away from the cliff of her cage. The barb pierced strait through it, melting a yellow hole through the sticker.

Lizzy groaned and Doll laughed.

“Like I said, your cheating doesn’t help.”

V pounced on her own tail, playing with the keybug even though it was dead.

“I thought N was a weird Murder Drone,” Uzi said, “but I think there might be something wrong with yours, Lizzy.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Won’t sleep?”

“I- yeah actually. How did you…?”

“Pft, she’s my drone.” Lizzy patted the floor of the cage distracting V from the keybug. She popped it into her mouth and came over. “We’ve had a lot of time to get to know eachother.” Lizzy reached her hand out into the cage.

“Whoa, Lizzy, don’t-“

V brushed up against her hand, letting it run down her side and then her tail. Catching sight of Uzi, V hissed. Then she left them to chase the second keybug.

Lizzy pulled her hand back with a smirk, leaving Doll to roll her eyes.

Uzi was frozen on the spot, not sure what to say.

“Ladies, your seat is ready.” A drone in a butlers uniform gave the girls a half bow. “The show will be starting in just five minute.”

“Sweet,” Lizzy said, “Go find us some popcorn.” Turing back to Doll and Uzi, she said, “Let’s go. You too nerd.”

“Wha- wait me?” Uzi realized her mouth had been hanging open, and she felt her visor flush.

“Who else? You are here for the show right?”

“I mean yeah but-“

“So come on.”

Uzi worked her jaw.

“I advise going with it,” Doll said.

Relenting, Uzi followed the two heiresses up the platform.

Chapter Text

Uzi knew Lizzy was privileged, but the setup laid out on balcony was totally ridiculous. The entire section above N’s cage had been cleared away for a small sofa flanked by end tables. The trainer modules were squished next to each other on the other side, and Melvin had a sour look on his face.

Never mind, this setup was great.

“You gonna sit or what?” Lizzy looked over her shoulder at Uzi. She and Doll were already comfortably situated on the cushions. Lizzy had a large tablet in hand.

Uzi held out for just a moment longer before sitting on the edge of the couch. She had to lean away to avoid the large gestures Lizzy made, pinning her knees next to the armrest.

This is so weird…

“You think Old Man Crowley’s gonna make it again this year? It’s, like, the seventh time he’s done it. He’s gotta die eventually.”

“No,” Doll said, “to many people invested. More buy him protection than any other drone. But it will probably be close.”

“It would be kind of a shame for him to just die and break the streak. I wonder if there’d be anyone crazy enough to challenge his record.” Lizzy scrolled up on her tablet, a list of faces paired with descriptions whisking by.

“Uh, who…?” The way they talked this should be someone she knows about, but Uzi never seemed to be in the loop when it came to popular points of conversation.

“Oh yeah, you’ve never been to vote-off have you?” Lizzy leaned over to Doll, “Turns out her dad is, like, super lame and never let her come to the arena.”

“Hm. I would have taken you for a regular, Uzi. Or at least a rebel.”

“I am rebelling,” Uzi crossed her arms. “My dad has no idea what my job actually is, I just tell him I’m in the door maintenance department.”

“And you can keep up with the lie?” Doll raised an eyebrow. “Secrets become more slippery the longer you hold onto them.”

“I mean, it’s only been a week, but he doesn’t suspect anything.”

Doll’s eyes looked right into Uzi’s, their red glow going deep as though they could uncover everything inside her. Uzi looked away.

“So how does this vote-off thing work?”

“Pretty much like it sounds,” Lizzy said. “Anyone who wants to can enter, then the audience votes on who live and who dies. You can buy as many votes as you want, or you can buy a protection, which cancels out one vote. Drone with the most votes wins gets killed, then it starts over again.”

“Down to the last five,” Doll said. “It is a game for fools. The prize is big, but the cost is permanent. You need to have a lot of friends to survive. And no enemies.”

“So like a morbid prom court,” Uzi said. She’d seen classmates in tears over the results, and it always boggled her mind how anyone could care so much about being more popular than the most popular drone. “Weren’t you prom queen, what, three times, Lizzy?”

“Two,” She help up the number on her fingers. “After that I didn’t bother running. But if I ever entered this I would totally die. The same people who vote for you to win will vote for you to die. Plenty of drones hate me. Mostly for stupid stuff, but still. High school doesn’t have a ‘vote against’ option the way this does.”

“Isn’t that Garret?” Doll asked.

Twenty drones had entered the arena. The ring was filled with comfortable chairs, tables with gourmet snacks, and even a pool table. They were dispersing to their desired locations. Uzi didn’t recognize any of them, but one incredibly old drone stood out. He shuffled to the nearest rocking chair.

“Yeah, he entered on a dare. Lora owes him her second penthouse if he lives.”

“He won’t,” Doll said. “A lot of Drones are tired of him.”

“Yeah, but he’s got a massive network of friends too.”

“Idiots like him. Watch, they’ll blow their money early, but won’t have enough to save him in the end.”

Lizzy clicked on one of the profiles, then held the tablet for Uzi to see. “This is Garret. He’s this rich prick in our aristocratic circles who likes to blow all his money on parties and stupid publicity stuff. He could totally afford a penthouse just as good as Lora’s, but he want’s to get hers just to trash the place and rub it in her face.”

The picture showed a sure-grinned handsome drone with light blond hair and teal eyes. He looked a bit like Thad, but sharply dressed and carefully combed locks. The goatee almost ruined the look, he seemed to young to be wearing it yet.

“He thinks he is invincible. He is going to get a very harsh reality check.” Doll crossed her arms and leaned back. “One less idiot in the world is fine by me.”

“You sound like, I dunno,” Uzi second guessed what she was about to say, but now that Doll was looking at her she had to finish, “you’ve got history with them or something. With the Murder Drones, I mean. You just talk like you know.”

Doll looked away. “I do. My grandparents were killed by a wild Murder Drone. Broke into the colony. Now that drone lives in chains.”

“You’ve lost family too, no?” She was looking at Uzi again.

“Yeah, my mom. Happened when I was really little, I barely remember. It was outside. She actually survived and made it back to the bunker, but there wasn’t anything anyone could do.”

Doll nodded.

“Ugg, enough of the downer stuff,” Lizzy said. “Oh, finally.”

The butler bot had returned with a red-striped box of double-A batteries. Lizzy took it and immediately started stuffing them in her mouth in twos and threes.

A drone in a dress suit was walking around the arena, announcing the event with a microphone.

“… We’ll go around and introduce the contestants in just a moment, but first!” He held his hand dramatically in the direction of the Outlook.

Uzi heard the sound of metal licking metal, then J was on the field. She went strait up to circle under the dome.

“There she is, the star of the show! I have word that she’s extra hungry today, so lets not waste any time! Here is your first contestant, Larry! Care to share why you entered such a daring competition?” He held the mic out the drone in question.

“Isn’t he scared?” Uzi asked the contestants were all giving the air nervous looks, some of them with sweat beads on their screens. The coziness of the ring’s setup had flown away the moment the Murder Drone flew in, and yet, the host Drone acted perfectly relaxed.

“Javier’s been doing this for years,” Lizzy said. “He’s used to it.”

“It is part of the draw to the event,” Doll said. “Drones able to walk about like it’s a party, even though our greatest predator is just above. It makes those who vote feel empowered, because have control over the beast. They never realize that they are the ones being controlled by this game.”

“Doll, seriously, lets just enjoy the show,” Lizzy said. “If people want to waste their money then that’s their problem.” She threw another battery in her mouth. “Oh, oh, he’s going to Old Man Crowley!”

Javier had reached the elderly drone in the rocking chair.

“How old is he?” Uzi asked. Half his hardware seem outdated, the other half newly patched up.

“Two-hundred-thirty-something, Lizzy said. He actually lived on Earth years before coming to Copper Nine. He’s the oldest known drone on the planet, and could totally drop dead any day.”

Whoa. Uzi didn’t think it was possible for there to be drones from outside Copper Nine. The planet was inhabited by humans for over two hundred years, so most Worker Drones were built on the planet.

“Sir Crowley, pleasure seeing you here once again. Seventh year in a row! I’ve hardly heard of any drone doing this twice, let alone annually. What’s inspired you to enter yet again?”

Much like Javier, the elderly drone seemed unperturbed by the Disassembly Drone nearby. “Oh, same as always, young sir.” There was a warble to his voice synthesis. “Better to die fast or to live well than to just wither away. There’s not much left to get excited about at my age, so grant me the thrill of facing death. And if I live, well, that’s my medical bill covered, hehehe.”

The audience joined in on his laughter.

Uzi smiled. “I think I like him.”

“Yeah, Crowley’s a fun geezer to listen to,” Lizzy said. “He used to be really poor, so he entered this thing and got lucky. Then he did it again, and that got him publicity. The third time made him famous. He’s been excepted into all the high circles as kind of this novelty, so old he can barely hold his parts together but he’s still got his wit. Tells the best stories.”

If Uzi wasn’t mistaken, there was a trace of sadness in Lizzy’s eyes as she looked on.

“Garret’s turn,” Doll said.

“…I’m not worried. I have way to many parties left to host to die today. Every drone you give me a protection vote gets a free invite to my biggest bash yet! An entire penthouse with not one but two pools and no rules”

A massive roar of support came from the crowed.

“I don’t know, Doll,” Lizzy threw her hands behind her head and reclined against the couch, “a lot of commoners would give anything to go to one of Garrets parties. I know at least a dozen girls who think he’s the best bachelor available.” 

“He will lose. Just not until the end.”

“Oh yeah? Want to put anything behind it?”

“What is it you want?”

“Trip to the spa. Full day, no whining or complaining.” Lizzy wagged her finger at Doll for emphasis.

“Then if I win, we go to the range. No ‘wining or complaining.”

“Ugg, fine. But we’re dragging her along.”

Uzi blinked. “Wait, what?”

Chapter Text

“First round of voting begins now!”

A ten minute timer filled the blue faces of the jumbotron.

Lizzy and Doll had fallen into a conversation about some drones that Uzi didn’t know. She didn’t care enough to ask, nor was she interested in any conversation, so instead she observed the drones on the field.

They all had numbered armbands, much like the gladiators wore for their event. But they also had their numbers marked on their back, big and obvious to see.

“I saw then training for this,” Uzi said. The other girls didn’t respond. Typical.

Tables on the field had been lightly picked over early on, but the food that was piled onto plates had been left to grow cold. They eyes of most of the drones down on the field traced the circling flight of J, pausing to occasionally see how many seconds had passed on the clock. A few of then tried to distract themselves from it by fiddling with the games, but their eyes never stayed away from J for long.

The only drone who was able to relax into the comforts provided was Old Man Crowley. He rocked with a pleasant smile on his face, looking around at the others. Occasionally he would look up at J, but it wasn’t in fear. He would watch her for a few seconds as though she were an interesting bird, then go back to observing the different contestants.

A slight clattering drew Uzi’s attention down to the cage she was positioned over. N was leaning up against the bars of his cage to get a view from the side windows.

“Hold, J,” Lexia said.

Uzi glanced back outside to see that J’s had started to circle pretty low. Her mouth was slightly agape in a half snarl.

“We’re going to have to let her eat this first round.” Lexia said to the Fieldmaster, Amanda. “We could get her to hold out, but then we’re risking an unauthorized kill.”

“I don’t think she’ll risk losing a week’s worth of food,” Amanda said, “but I think we can allow a minute over the usual. Just be sure to call her back before people get agitated.”

“Copy.”

“Oh, yeah, didn’t she eat a guy this week or something?” Lizzy asked.

It took Uzi a moment to realize that the question was directed at her. “Uh, yeah, it was some maintenance guy. Night before I started. It was gruesome.”

“I don’t think of heard of a Disassembly kill that wasn’t gruesome,” Doll said.

Lizzy shrugged. “His fault for getting to close.”

Thinking back to the footage, Uzi had a hard time agreeing with that statement. But she didn’t feel like explaining that to Lizzy so instead she said, “Aren’t you the one who just pet a Murder Drone?”

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t do that with J. I’d lose my arm.”

“You might be able to get K trained enough, but it’s unlikely,” Doll said. “D will kill anyone who crosses his parameter.”

Uzi perked up. “Are those your drones?”

Doll nodded. “K has been in captivity almost as long as these ones here, and she’s trained just as well. But D was only caught twelve years ago when he broke into out colony. He’s a massive brute and mostly wild. We don’t ever risk drones on the field with him, not even K. The one time we let them out together he tore off one of her wings.”

“Geeze, aren’t they supposed to only attack workers? I mean, besides to duels and stuff.”

Doll raised her eyebrow at her. “Wild Disassemblers fight all the time. They fight off opposing packs, and even within a pack they’ll fight for dominance. I forget how naive this colony likes to be.”

“Well it’s not my fault the teachers never tell us anything.” Uzi crossed her arms. “I’ve been trying to learn about these things for ages, but it’s like there isn’t anything more that ‘Murder Drones bad, they kill you if you go outside.” She let out a huff of frustration. “It’s kinda why I started this job.”

“Mm. I noticed that about your colony years ago. I asked my Pa about it once. He said it’s because they can afford the luxury to forget, all thanks to the doors your Dad makes, Uzi.”

A chill fell across Uzi’s shoulders at the slight bitterness to Dolls words.

“Well, that’s stupid,” Uzi said. “We should still get to know what goes on outside.”

“Hey, look, we’re down to the last minute,” Lizzy cut in. “Who you think’s going to be the first one to die?” There was a deliberate to her interruption.

Uzi was kind of annoyed that the subject was being changed, especially when she was finally getting some snippets of information. It must have shown on her face, because Doll said, “Perhaps I can share some stories of D and the pack he came from at the range tomorrow.”

“You mean at the spa,” Lizzy said.

Doll rolled her eyes, but with a smile.

Dang it, now I really am going to go. Uzi didn’t have any desire to spend time with these girls any more than she had to, but if Doll was offering to tell her about the wild drones then she wasn’t going to pass the opportunity up. Unless it was at the spa. No way she was going to let some stranger buff her.

The timer reached its last thirty seconds.

Drones on the field began to clutch their armrests or else pace around with feverish erraticy. Even the old man’s rocking had ceased.

There was an impending silence for those last seconds, framed by the glowing lights of a thousand drones sending in their final votes.

Then the white numbers lapsed to a zero.

“That’s it for round one voting! Lets see the results!” Javier’s announcement was cheerfully dissonant.

The screens switched to a graph with twenty blue bars, the tallest at the top and the shortest and the bottom, though they all sowed considerable length. But some of them, especially the top half, had large chunks of their bar muted with a lighter blue, indicating protections.

The screen zoomed in on the nineth bar on the graph, adding in the name, profile, and his number while flashing red to indicate the ‘winner.’ While most of the drones were left to heave a laugh or clutch their core in relief, one began to shake.

“No… no, no, I didn’t have that many votes, I didn’t! I wasn’t first!”

“Sixteen,” Lexia said flatly into her com.

The drone was already running to plead with the others, calling out that it shouldn’t be him, the numbers were wrong, the protection was unfair. They stepped away to keep their distance from the marked drone, a few even dashing to the far walls.  

The moment the signal was given, J flipped around in a sharp turn targeting onto the frantic drone within a nanosecond.

The realization that no one was going to save him hit the drone moments before J did, giving him enough time to turn and whimper before his chest cavity was completely caved in.

J tore into him with ravenous desperation, tossing the casing off with a messy trail of oil so that she could get to the oil and inner wires.

“He’s honestly kind of lucky,” Lizzy said. “That was a fast death, I doubt he even felt it.”

“It’s always one of the nobodies who goes first,” Doll said.

The sight of J eating a drone like that was too much for one of the contestants to handle, and he rushed to one of the disposal bins to throw up. Others were transfixed in horror, while a few had to turn away.

“That’s enough, J, back to the air.”

J kept pulling at the carcass.

“Now, J.”

She pulled out the chunk, then flew to the air with it. She sent a scowl in the direction of the Outlook.

“Now while the voting for round two begins,” the screens had all turned back to blue with the ten minute countdown, “let me go ahead and answer before anyone asks: Yes, it is too late to back down now. Fourteen more of you will be voted off before this is over, so I advise taking the opportunity to enjoy our generously provided commodities while you’re still able. Good luck!”

Some of the drones had looks of despair at that, but the majority of them were actually shrugging off the whole incident now that the first results had been shown.

“Ugg, Garret looks way too smug,” Lizzy said. “But he did have a lot of protection.”

He was, indeed, smiling as he laid back into his loveseat. He even offered a wave up at the crowd.

“His enemies will get him before the end. Lora isn’t a genius, but she is smart at gambling,” Doll said.

“Only if she has enough support,” Lizzy said.

Workers in black came out of the shadows of the ring to clean up the mess J left behind. With hooks and poles they pushed the carcass around the furniture to the disposal hatch. Two others followed behind to shovel the oil out of the sand.

Rather than continuing her circling, J flew all the way up to the center of the dome. She looped her tail around the mesh just under the jumbotron then dropped upside down. She began to rub the oil off her face and lick it off her hands, preening away any mess on her.  

When the timer has down to under six minutes, some drones had begun to take Javiers advice and pick through the food. A couple of drones who seemed familiar with each other went to a gameboard with chips and dice.

Uzi stared to recognize that it was the wealthier looking drones who were easing into the provisions. They all had finer cloths compared to the drones who still sat with nervously clutched hands.

“Can we see the graph?” Uzi asked Lizzy.

“Yeah, here,” she handed the tablet over. The bar table was open, with the dead drone’s marked red.

Uzi spent some time clicking around on it, checking out the names and stats of the remaining contestants.

The eight drones listed above him, all with more votes but considerable protection were high class drones. The Garret guy was second, beat out by Old Man Crowley. He had the most protection by far though.

The drone that died only had a sliver of protection, and that’s what ultimately killed him. Those immediately below him had similar numbers, then it tapered to the last of the drones. Clicking on the final drone, it was someone with four hundred votes and two protections.

“It’ll be these guys who go next,” Lizzy leaned over and highlighted the midsection of drones. “Everyone who is here just to protect someone is going to toss their votes to whoever they think they can get to outvote their person, and with the first round in it’s gonna be these guys. This whole event is super predictable.”

“Well then who’s going to win?” Uzi gave the tablet back to her.

“Probably Old man Crowley and a couple of these little guys down here, then some of these losers.” She pointed to the highly protected group. “But it’s hard to know exactly.”

 For the next several rounds, Lizzy’s prediction rang true. At an hour into the event, six drones with mid votes and poor protection were dead. J’s kills were a lot cleaner compared to her first, and after the third one she didn’t even stay to eat.

The voting rank remained largely the same, with a few swaps here and there. The length of the bars all shrank a little each round, but the length of the protection bars shrank faster.

The seventh round was where the first drone in the top eight range met his end.

From that point the numbers began to shake up to a more drastic degree, some lower drones suddenly spiking while higher drones swapped around more.

The participants did their best to stay distracted with the games and the food, and by the tenth round they kept their eyes on what they were doing while J made her kill.

“Final, three,” Lizzy said. “I think I might just win this.”

“It isn’t over,” Doll said. “Garret will run out of his protection.”

Garret had ranked first the last few rounds, but with a comfortable buffer. In contrast, with the deaths of several of the higher drones Old Man Crowly’s buffer had only grown, as if all the voters who had lost their initial bets had decided to pile it onto him. With so few drones left, the length of the bars had grown back and past what they were at the start of the event.

Two more rounds went by, ending two more lives.

“Alright, at this point I’ve practically won,” Lizzy said.

“To be seen,” was all Doll responded with.

Garret was looking wholly unconcerned from his place down below, chatting loudly to those remaining while sipping at champagne glass filled with gasoline.

The final round of votes came in with him once again at the top. The number of votes were stretched to nearly doble the length of the drone below him. And the protection only covered about a third of that.

Garret stood smiling at the screen, the reality of the numbers taking a while to sink in. Slowly realization began to reach him. The glass of golden-brown fuel shattered in the sand.

“That’s game,” Doll said as Lizzy groaned.

“What? No, ha, no that can’t be right.” Garret’s smile was still holding on at a waver as he tried to deny what he was seeing. “There was way more protection before, someone must have tampered with the results?”

His smile dropped away completely when the screens went red, displaying him as the final victim of the game.

Just like every drone before, he panicked. The sure-faced, smooth-tongued noble was gone, leaving the same fearful robot as everyone else.

J took her time with this last kill, letting him run away for a while before landing in the sand in front of him. Before Garret could redirect his momentum, she lunged forward and swiped his head off. It flew several feet before landing and rolling, getting caked in sand and oil. His body staggered, then fell.

The game was over.

~*~

It was one of the rare moments of solitude she had in this place. As solitary as it ever got. The new drone that watched them had left as she often does. N was asleep. V was distant.

J etched markings into the wall of her cage. Across, down. Loop then Straight. Cross, loop, up, no…

She growled softly, recognizing that this one was wrong. But others were right. They meant something. They meant something to her. Something beyond the games that the trainers put her through. They shapes they had her identify where so familiar, so important… so out of reach.

J hated them. She missed them. She knew their names. She knew they should mean something to her. But that meaning was long lost. The harder she focused on them, the more they eluded her. The more they became useless scratches on the wall.

J raked her claws across them all, growling.

Chapter Text

Uzi was regretting her decisions. Where they went wrong, she wasn’t entirely sure. All she knew was that she should be sleeping, and yet she was tailing the two drones who’d been the bane of her high school existence. She didn’t bother to keep the slump out of her shoulders.

“Ugg, this place is as lame as ever,” Lizzy said as they entered the public range. “Did you at least reserve us a field?”

“Yes,” Doll said. She handed a card to the attendee. He didn’t even look at it before showing the girls to one of the closed off sections.

Uzi used to sneak out here as much as she could after school. It lasted until she had the misfortune of coming on the same day as one of the WDF. Less than forty-eight hours later, and her dad banned her from ever going again. She still did, of course, but only on occasion.

When she did come, Uzi always went to the free to use field with it’s wilting targets and bullet-peppered floor. It cost enough to rent a gun, so she wasn’t willing to pay for the nicer fields.

She wasn’t renting today.

The room they were taken to was far back in the range. The attendee opened the door and gave them a slight bow. “Field is yours s’long as you need it.”

Inside was small, but not cramped. Targets lined the field at various depths. Unlike the public field, these targets looked as though they’d never seen a bullet.

“You bring your own gun?” Doll asked Uzi. She’d texted her last night that she should bring her own weapon. Someone apparently gave her number out to anyone who asked. She’d have to talk to him about that.

Uzi slung her bag off her shoulder. “Yeah, I brought something. Bit of a project I’ve been working on.” She pulled out a sixteen inch black gun with a pronged barrel. She grinned, proud of this little creation. It wasn’t anything compared the railgun she had hidden in the mattress of her bed, but for it’s size it could pack a punch.

Lizzy squinted at it. “Is that even a gun?”

“Um, yeah! This is my Scorpion 4.0. It’s a submachine, but like, way more powerful than anything the scouts carry.”

Uzi aimed it at one of the targets, then slowly walked to the side till her aim was juuuust..

Bang!

Uzi’s scorpion pierced through one target at an angle, then pierced straight through a second before embedding in the third.

“Heck yeah!” She was really glad that worked like she planned. She’d spent hundreds of hours doing the math on it, but this was her first time actually test shooting it.

“Impressive,” Doll said. She turned to Lizzy. “You have yours?”

“Do I have to?” Lizzy practically wined.

“Don’t be like that, you need to do your defensive practice anyway. It’s either now with us or later.”

“Fine, fine.” Lizzey reached down to her boot and pulled out the smallest revolver Uzi had ever seen. It was shiny silver with an ivory handle and pink tinting for flare.

“That’s your gun?”

Lizzy glared at Uzi. “Don’t get all judgy, it’s for practical self-defense. No way I’m carrying something like that around.” She gave Uzi’s gun a sour glare.

“This is awesome and totally worth carrying around,” she argued. “But I get it’s not subtle. Do you always have that one on you?” Uzi asked. In all the years she’d known Lizzy, never once had she seen her with a gun. She hadn’t even imagined Lizzy would touch a gun until now.

“Well yeah, it’s not very useful if I don’t have it. My dad made me learn to use it after I got abducted and held for ransom at the age of six.”

Uzi vaguely recalled Lizzy disappearing from her first-grade class for several weeks without explanation, then returning like nothing had happened. Huh.

“How did that turn out?” Uzi aimed her Scorpion at a target near the back of the wall, gauging it to be about one hundred meters. That was solidly in her range of damage.

“I mean it kinda sucked, but my dad caught those guys before they could do anything. They got one of the worst punishments ever, then he let V execute them cause she’s my fav. They so deserved it.” Lizzy aimed her pistol at a target in the front row and fired, landing a perfect shot in the center.

“Hey, where’s your gun Doll?” Uzi asked. “You’re the one who initiated this whole thing.”

“I don’t use guns.” Doll flicked her wrist, and suddenly she was holding a knife. He held it to let Uzi get a brief look at it’s curved blade and red-veined hilt, then she spun and threw it. The knife flew into a target, the blade cutting through until it was stopped by the hilt. Of a target four rows back.

“Woah. Since when can you do that?”

“Many years,” Doll said. She spun a second knife in her hand. “But you never cared to show interest.”

“Well, I mean, I though all you guys do is girl stuff like makeup and cloths and crap.”

“And you call us judgmental?” Lizzy said. “I mean, we do all of that, yeah, but it’s not all we do.” She shot at three more targets, hitting each in the bullseye. “Sounds like you’re the one who’s making assumptions.”

Uzi frowned at that. “Well how would I know? At school all you did was giggle in your little and try to make everyone like you to feed your superiority complex!”

“I do not have a-!”

“Enough.” One of Doll’s knives flew between their faces, making Uzi realize just how close they had gotten. “There are better things to argue about.”

Lizzy crossed her arms. “She started it. Whatever, I’m going to get my shots in.” She went to the far side of the room and began firing off at the targets.

“What is it with her?”

Doll raised an eyebrow at Uzi.

“What?”

“Nothing. Want to see if my knife match the targets you pick?”

Uzi got a slightly off feeling, like Doll was judging her but not in the ‘haha she’s weird’ kind of way. But she wasn’t acting judgmental. It made Uzi’s oil well bubble uncomfortably.

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Uzi pointed her gun at a mid-range target and shot straight through it. Barely a second later, Doll’s knife embedded in exact spot.

“Dang, you’re fast.”

“I am. Can you keep up?” She held up a knife, then tossed it to a target two rows back.

Uzi hardly had time to grasp what the game was before she was looking through sights and shooting the same target. A ring sounded as the bullet hit the knife.

“Oops, sorry.” Uzi cringed at her lack of foresight.

“Don’t be.” Doll had her next knife ready. “I have plenty. Your shot.”

They played their game of target tag for a while. Doll’s knives always landed within a second to Uzi’s bullet piercing the target. Despite using a gun, Uzi’s optics calibrated that her shots that followed were several seconds behind what Doll’s reaction time was. It shouldn’t be possible.

At one point Uzi decided to play a tick and aimed for the top of the target. The knife cleaved her bullet hole out of existence.

Uzi loved shooting. She loved playing with knives. But for she was struggling to enjoy this. The off feeling clung to her like aged label residue. She could kind of ignore it, but it was staying in her peripheral.

“Okay, I’ve got my practice in,” Lizzy announced. She was already tucking her little pistol back in her boot. “You guys done?”

“Yeah, I’m good for today,” Uzi said. Despite several attempts, she’d failed to throw off Doll. And when Doll also offset her aim, Uzi’s bullets started to miss the knives by a few inches. Against any other opponent, Uzi would be really proud of how close she could follow. But this was Doll. And she’d bested her. With knives.

Uzi was ready to go home and crawl in bed till her night shift started.

Doll just nodded.

“Great!” Lizzy said. “By debt is paid, my dumb shooting practice is done, now we can go shopping in the new store I told you about! Passion Rose has some shawls that are so you.”

The old sense of alienation made Uzi step back from the two.

“We’ll see,” Doll said. “It’s been a while since I found anything new I like.”

“I know, you’re so hard to shop for. I’ll go call ahead and let them know we’re coming.” She glanced at Uzi and stated flatly, “Probably not your thing.” She then dipped out of the room as she opened her phone.

“Yeah, that I can agree with. Passion Rose?” Uzi mimed gaging. “Why do you let her drag you into things like that?”

Doll’s red eyes were cold when she met Uzi’s gaze, making the residue of discomfort even thicker. “A word of advice. If you want to tighten your shots, look at where my eyes are leading. And if you want to make friends, be careful where you shoot.”

Ice chips had fallen into Uzi’s casing, and her joints failed to turn as Doll left the field. She’s mad at me. Uzi had gotten a lot of weird vibes from Doll over the years. Never once was it anger.

“And who said I wanted to make friends.” No one was there to hear it.

With a sigh, Uzi shoved her Scorpion back in her bag. She’d make tweaks to it to fix the problem.

She gave the room another glance to see if anything was left out. Every target had at least one bullet whole, and the distinct marks of Doll’s knives marred half of them. Come to think of it, Uzi had never seen Doll retrieve any of her knives. The targets were all empty now, though.

“Whatever.” She hefted her bag and left.

Chapter Text

Uzi wasn’t in the mood for people, so she ended up camping in the outlook for the morning. Sundays are quiet, so she got a semblance of piece until drones started getting things ready for the trial.

A stake was erected at the center of the arena, chains trailing down into the sand. To far left was a stage and podium. The sand was raked till it was smooth and flat, all oil spots shoveled away.

So this is what they call a formal event. Uzi leaned against the window. The drones filing onto the stage all wore black suites.

“Look out,” a trainer told Uzi as he joined her by the window. “I need room to work these.” He grabbed hold of the levers that controlled N’s cage and puled the far right one to the side then up until in made a latch sound, then he lifted left one up. As he did, the outer door of N’s cage slid into the ceiling.

“Throw it in,” he called out. “Spotters are ready.”

A trainer on the field tossed a chain through the bars, and another caught the tail end of it from this side. Uzi noticed how three more trainers in here all at their collar controllers out at the ready, though none of them seemed particularly tense.

“N,” he called over. He clipped the chain onto N’s collar, then used a small key to lock it. He threw a signal outside and to the drone manning the levers. The bars were lowered, and N was led out onto the field by his silver leash.

“That’s secure?” Uzi questioned.

“It will be once the other end of the chain is attached,” the leaver drone said. These guys are strong, but only really with stuff they can grapple with. I’ve never heard of one breaking a chain, not even when they’re raging.  

N was guided to the post on the field where he perched at the very top. It was a tall post, three drones would have to stand on each other’s shoulders to touch the top. The excess of his chain pooled on the ground, the links much heavier that the other chains on the post.

Drones began filling the stands, but the crowed was far more hushed than it usually was. Many were dressed finely for the event. The jumbotron showed the royal podium where Lord Luis and Doll’s family were taking their places.

N was completely still, his tail stayed neatly curled around the post and his wings didn’t rustle. If not for the occasional flicker of the X on his visor, he could pass for a statue.

Formal looking drones settled into their seats on the field.

The house lights dimmed, but then nothing seemed to happen for a while. Finally, a drone with a trumpet announced, “The Judge!”

And thus the most stuck-up looking drone Uzi had ever seen strode onto the field. He had long robes and one of those stupid white wigs, and his screen displayed a handful of wrinkles.

Once he took his place at the desk, the trumpet drone announced: “The Prosecutor!” Similarly, a drone strode to his place for all to see.

And finally, “The Defendant!”

A procession of four guards in ceremonial armor guided the prisoner onto the field. They marched in unison, taking him to the post.

The drone was clearly shaking, and when he saw that there was a murder drone in the direction he was headed, he froze completely.

Uzi could see his mouth and hands moving frantically as though he were pleading with his guards. They blocked off the way back with their spears, then ended up grabbing him by the shoulders and dragging him the rest of the way.  His arms were shackled to the post, then the guards left.

With them out of the way, Uzi could get a proper look at him. She was surprised and a little confused by what he was wearing. It was a suit, like what one would wear to a fancy dinner, complete with a bowtie. Clean pressed and nice, with a small mic clipped to his collar. His hair was combed neatly. All things considered, he looked like an ordinary drone, not someone who’d spent a month in prison.

“The court is now in session.”

The prosecutor stepped up to the podium to speak. “The droneman known as Alfred D. Mason has been accused of theft and treason on the highest order, attempting to disperse strictly confidential information about Ice Bunker Colony to other colonies for his own personal gain. I stand before you as a representative of Lord Luis before the judge to lay out all the evidence. May I call forth the first witness?”

The judge spoke, “You may.”

“I call forth Amy File, Safekeeper of the McClain house and, by proxy, Ice Bunker as a whole.” The Prosecutor stepped back, allowing a new drone to take his place.

She was an older drone with narrow spectacles and hair done up in a bun. She definitely looked like someone who’d worked for the wealth their whole life. While she glanced uncertainly toward N every so often, her voice was confided as she spoke.

“I can attest that Alfred was in relation to the McClain estate. He is of a noble and trusted family, so he was given access to low-level deeds to carry out business to the benefit of the colony. Prior to his… unexpected departure, there was evidence of someone tapping into files who did not belong. Things were not put back correctly, and none of the drone who should have access would have left it such a mess.”

“Would Mr. Mason know where to look for these confidential items, and is it plausible for him to have breached access?” The judge asked.

“Yes, your honor. Alfred Mason was expected to be a long term employee, someone we’d hoped would move up the ranks until he was able to access many of those files legally. He had the knowledge and the means to breach access.”

“Does the defendant have anything he’d like to say on this evidence?”

That’s not much evidence, Uzi thought to herself. Just because he knew some stuff and the files happened to be disorganized just before he left didn’t prove anything. Anyone could be guilty of that. Heck, even if he did do it that’s easy to argue against.

But rather than try to make excuses the way Uzi would have done, the dressed up drone hung his head. “No, your honor.”

“Thank you, Mrs. File. You may take a seat.

The prosecutor and judge ran through the formalities and a second witness came to the stand. His accent was so heavy it was hard to understand.

“My name is Orshcur of Melovan Clan, I serve under the high Morozov family.” The words were slow and practiced, as if he’d rehearsed what to say. But despite the drone’s subpar English and grizzled look, there was a sharpness to his eyes that told Uzi he was a very intelligent drone. “I am witness to foreign drone offering what is not his to the Morozov Family. He came to seek profit for secrets. Morozov family apprehended him and returned him to Ice Bunker. No secrets were revealed. Money was also returned.” He returned to his seat without waiting to be dismissed.

Well that’s hard to deny. Gotta suck to have the party you tried to sell too rat you out. Uzi was sorry for him in a way, but also rather satisfied that his underhandedness wasn’t tolerated.

A third drone spoke to back up the money being stolen and most of it being returned. He’d tried to take four million.

At last the judge stood himself. “The evidence has been laid out before you, witnessed by The Morozov family and Ice Bunker Colony itself. Alfred D. Mason stole money meant to benefit the colony and threatened to release secrets that would impact the lives of every drone here. His crimes were not only against the McClain house, but against the entire Ice Bunker Colony. How do you plead?”

Alfred’s screen was dotted with tears and he breathed heavily. She kinda felt bad for him. Like, he was a criminal and all that, but dang. Talk about being backed into a corner.

“G-guilty,” he admitted. “I plea-plead guilty your honor. I ask for a just ruling of life in prison, no parole. Please, you can even wipe my memory bank, just prison. Please.” The were more cracks in his composer than a punched mirror.

“We shall break for a discussion of judgement.”

There was a long stretch of time were the mics were cut off and the drones on stage talked to each other. There was a hush over the entire stadium.

At long last, the judge reclaimed his position. “The court rules Alfred D. Mason guilty on all accounts. His sentence is execution by Murder drone.” The declaration was punctuation with a slam from the gavel.

Chapter Text

The gavel was a trigger that sent N into motion. He began to crawl down the post head first, claws digging deep into the wood and tail looping around it for balance.

Alfred shrieked, “No! No please!” He threw himself forward as if to reach out toward the judge. His chains stopped him, causing hip to trip into the dirt. “I’ll do anything! Please don’t let me die!” He clawed at the sand, but the stands only watched in silence as he cried out excuses and pleas. He didn’t notice N descending the pole.

It wasn’t until the chingling of N’s chain dragging across Alfred's that the drone stopped writhing in the sand. He slowly rolled over to see N at his feet. A final, desperate, “Please,” escaped him, audible only because of the mic still clipped to his suit.

N seemed to be in no hurry as he creped toward Alfred, who began to kick up dirt and pull against his chains as hard as he could. N studied him for a moment, then caught one of his legs as it kicked up.

Alfred's eyes went wide and he whimpered. If he tried to pull away, he’d cut his shin against the Murder Drone’s claws. In a fast motion that barely registered as metal flashing in the light, N hooked his free claws into the drone’s foot, and suddenly the black loafer he’d been wearing was rolling in the sand.

The young drone yelped and froze, but when he blinked his eyes open his foot was still intact. There wasn’t even an ooze of oil. But N was still holding his leg firmly. He placed the tip of his claw against the seam were Alfred's plastic shell foot joined his pipe leg.

A thin stream of oil trickled down the claw and dripped into the sand, growing wider as N traced the seam.

Alfred cried out with pain and began to struggle again, kicking his free leg against N to make him let go.

N did not let go. He was steady as he cut, snapping unseen wires as he dug the single claw deeper. And then Alfred's foot was on the ground.

Shaking hands went up to his mouth as Alfred sobbed, starring at his detached foot. Oil ran freely from his stump.

Letting go of the current leg, N grabbed the other and began to repeat the process by removing the shoe.

“What the hell is this?” Uzi glared at the leaver drone. “I thought you said this was an execution?”

“It is. N’s doing it perfectly.”

She waited a moment for him to continue, but that seemed to be as far as he was going to explain. Looking back out to the field, N had his claw dug deep into Alfred’s ankle.

Wailing mixed with microphone static and the occasional snap and scrape filled the stadium. She’d heard lots of drones scream and plead in this place by now. But this was different, and it put the bitter taste of regurgitated oil on her tongue.

When the second foot came off, Alfred tried a new tactic. He curled into a ball. It did little to stop N from peeling an arm away.

To keep it from moving, N put his foot on Alfred's wrist, pinning him down. With one hand he flattened the fist Alfred was making and with the other he began to dig into the rubber tendon of the top index finger.

Piece by piece, N severed every segment of Alfred's hand. The drone couldn’t do anything but wail and sob as his hand was pulled apart.

Uzi found herself rubbing the scuffed casings of her own hands under her hoody pocket.

When the wrist was removed, the shackled slid off as well. N let Alfred pull his arm into his chest, but only so that he could grab the other hand. Alfred’s resistance wasn’t near as vigorous as it had been before.

This shouldn’t unsettle her. Uzi had seen N kill in this arena plenty, but this was the first time that her mind drifted to the word cruel. This was not hunting, this was not a kill driven by hunger. It was slow. It was surgical. It was pain etched in oil ink.

It made Uzi wish she’d stayed at home.

When his second hand was fully removed and he was no longer tethered, Alfred tried to run. He went from crumpled heap to frantic spider as soon as he had the opportunity.

N didn’t try to stop him. He watched with placid curiosity as Alfred tried to arrange his limbs in a way that would let him move. But with no hands to push himself up and no feet to balance his weight, he did little more than mat sand into the oily stumps.

Lines of horror ringed Alfred’s eyes as he realized that, despite being unchained, he was not free. He wailed, a sharp sound of despair.

In a soft leap, N pinned him by the back and began to slit the tuxedo and expose his arms. He began to cut them away.

Uzi looked away form the tortured drone and into N’s eyes. His cold, yellow, ex-ed out eyes.

“You really are a monster.”

The legs followed the arms, and even with all his limbs removed Alfred was still very much alive. Alive to continue crying and pleading as N rolled him over and began to dissect his chest cavity. Alive all the way until N cut away the screen of his face.

Only then did the body go still. Only then was the stadium quiet.

N dug out all the inner workings of Alfred’s mind and ate them, sitting on his husk like this was the treat he’d been after all along. The severed body parts lay scattered the sand around him.

~*~

Uzi stayed in the background throughout the cleanup of the trial. Unlike other carcasses, Alfred’s was collected into a trolley marked with the logo of the Drone Growth Center. She tried not to think to hard about what that meant.

Looking down at her own hands, she wondered, Did these belong to someone else? Is my body recycled from someone killed like that?

“No!” She scolded herself out loud. “Don’t think about it, don’t think about it. It doesn’t matter. Besides, it’d be kinda metal anyway.”

One of the lingering trainers gave her a weird look.

“Bite me!”

They decided to move on with their chores.

Her night shift eventually rolled around. By then, Uzi was ready with her pail in the oil room. She’d stayed away from the cages during cleanup, and now she just wanted to get the door over with quick.

N didn’t need to be fed after the event, so she went strait to V’s cage. She saw him move up against the bars in her peripheral, but she didn’t have any food to offer him.

V eyed Uzi strangely, then glanced over at N. Not wanting to deal with any of her weirdness, Uzi put the jar in and went to J’s cage. If V broke the jar, then whatever.

Per usual, J didn’t so much as spare her a glance. That was fine.

“Alright, I’m going down to the armory,” Uzi announced. She gave a glance over her shoulder as she left, out of habit more than anything, and she thought she saw a distinct expression on N’s visor before the door closed. But it was an emotion that didn’t line up with what he was, with what he’d been out there today.

A Murder Drone doesn’t feel sympathy, clearly. So they can’t feel hurt either.

Chapter Text

It was the day of Thad’s gladiator test. The gym had mats laid out in the center to create a fighting space that looked absolutely tiny after witnessing so many fights in the arena. At the front of the gym, there was a long table for the White Master and the Guild Representatives. About two dozen foldable chairs were set out for visitors, only ten of which were occupied.

Uzi got comfortable in the back row. There was no one in front of her, which was nice. She could have used more nice things yesterday.

She couldn’t pinpoint anything that went wrong, per say, but Monday had been all-around sucky. She wasn’t feeling it with the Murder Drones, so she’d spent nearly her entire shift last night down in the armory sharpening swords. Thirty seven of them, to be exact.

It gave her a speck of satisfaction to recognize some of the sword’s she’d sharpened hanging on the rack in the room.

A servant drone struck the gong, silencing the few whispers between the onlookers.

The White Master Held up the scroll and called forth two squires They entered from a locker room where the rest were waiting.

What ensued was a rather lackluster fight. The two drones were clearly giving it their all, but after watching all the professional matches their mistakes stood out. A clumsy step backwards, a swing with too much momentum, and a faceplant to cap it off.

“Go Georgie!” A lady near the front called out.

The gong marked the end of the match, and the two were replaced by a new pair. It wasn’t until the fourth match that Thad was called to fight.

He and his partner chose swords from the rack and squared up. As he did, Thad glanced over at Uzi and winked.

She rolled her eyes, though it did make her feel a little less frowny.

When the gong was struck Thad’s opponent rushed forward, the reverberations still humming as Thad rolled away. No waiting or pacing, they were jumping right into it.

Thad and his partner were faster than the others, more sure in their strikes. It wasn’t flawless fighting, but it was a lot more interesting than the clumsy tango before. The opponent was aggressive, pushing Thad back toward the edge of the mat with consecutive attacks.

One more step back and Thad would be eliminated for stepping off, but then his opponent made the mistake. His grin told that he thought her was winning, and his strike swiped with too much force.

Thad dodged and kicked him aside before the drone knew what was happening. He stumbled but didn’t go down. Thad didn’t give him the time to recover and retaliate. With short, strong jabs Thad kept his opponent of kilter, making any counterattack clumsy and easy to deflect.

Eventually the other drone managed to roll away and they properly squared off, clashing blades and trading swipes. Thad seemed at ease and exhilarated at the same time. His opponent looked frustrated.

The gong was struck before a winner could be determined. No match was allowed to last longer than three minutes.

Uzi watched Thad disappear back into the locker room. Despite the stalemate, he was smiling.

She could’ve left then, but she waited out the last of the matches. Buy the end, the room was sour with the smell of sweat.

The guild representatives and most of the audience took their leave. The White Master called the Squires back in. He gave them a the maditortyyoudidagoodjob.mp3 speech then dismissed them.

“Hey, Uzi. How do you think I did?” Thad sat down backwards on the chair in front of Uzi.

“Well, I mean, you didn’t suck. Any idea what they think?” She waved a hand at the empty table.

“Guess I’ll find out in a few weeks.” His knee bounced beside the chair.

“You aren’t nervous, are you?” Uzi gave him a sly grin.

“Who, me? No way! Not like the outcome is going to determine my future or anything.”

…

“Okay, fine, so I’m a little nervous. But who cares? I feel good about it, they’ll think I did good, I mean I didn’t lose, and even if I don’t get in this round it’s not like I can’t”

“Thad,” Uzi put a hand on his arm to get him to shut up, “chill. You did great or whatever. I mean, It’s not like anyone did better than you.”

She stood up and stretched. “Come on, you promised we could hit the game store after this.”

“Yeah. Yeah just let me go put my gear away, then we can go. And Uzi?”

“Hm?”

“Thanks.”

“Uh, for what?”

“You know, being here. That was cool of you.” He glanced at the empty seats. “Wish my parents could’ve come.

Guess we have that in common.

~*~

Mid-day Tuesday was a good day to rummage around the local Game Stock. Most of the regulars were either at work or at school. There was only one other drone picking through the shelf of salvaged disks.

This was one of Uzi’s happy places, from the smell of aged plastic to the dim lighting and the dubious workers. It was a place of cool junk and other weirdos she could blend in with.

But honestly, she wasn’t really feeling it tonight. She picked through the VRICs, (Virtual Reality Implant Chips: Game wherever you go! Plug it in your head and download now! Warning: Actendo is not liable for any viruses, malware, or glitches that might result from use of VRIC chips.) but nothing interesting stood out to her. At least, nothing she hadn’t already played front to back.

Thad was testing out the new motion controllers. He sung his arms in a dramatic imitation of his sword, and the screen in front of him lagged through it’s imitation of the movement.

Uzi moved onto the headphones, most of which were the scrappiest of the salvages. But sometimes there was a set that, with a bit of an overhaul, could turn out to be a gem. Today it was just junk.

“Wow, who poured acid into your oil?”

“Huh?” Uzi looked up to see unidentified customer looking at her as though he expected conversation.

“You’re lookin at those ‘sets like they put acid in your breakfast.”

“What’s it to you? I’m not pointing out how greasy your shirt is, so leave my face alone. And for the record, I’d know what nanite acid looks like in a bowl of oil. I’ve seen it.”

“Um, yeah? Like, everyone’s seen what acid does to oil. You think you’re the only one who goes to the Arena?”

“No, but I’m the only one who-“

“Hey, dude, ever hear the saying ‘don’t poke an angry Murder Drone?” Thad put a hand on the stranger’s shoulder wile wearing his easy smile.

“Uh-“

“It has something to do with not getting into other people’s business or you might loose some fingers.”

“Um-“

“Let me demonstrate with the broadside of my sword,” Thad made a fast grab for his hip, and the other drone stumbled back with a yelp.

“S-sorry!” He stuttered out, then ran out.

“Pft, idiot didn’t even realize you don’t have your sword.” Uzi aimlessly picked past another headphone.

“Hey, Uzi, you okay?”

“What kind of question was that? I’m not going to be rattled by some random jerk.” She tossed an offensively yellow headset over her shoulder.

“No, not that, I mean-“ Thad paused, taking enough time to search for the word that Uzi looked up at him. “You almost told him what your job is. Like, the job you want to keep secret.”

“Oh.” … Oh.

“And you’ve been, I don’t know, out of it lately? Have you been getting enough sleep since you started?”

“You are Thad right?” Uzi tried to joke. “Mr. ‘I’m going to train till my joint’s creak?’ You’ve always been train-first-sleep-second.”

“So I’m speaking from experience.” Thad had a soft frown as he studied her, a frown that Uzi didn’t feel like facing right now.

“It’s fine, Thad. I’ve been sleeping and stuff. Not like I need to though, what’s even the point?”

“Heh, used to ask that all the time. Then Ma’ said to me ‘Sleeps not needed, but it’s good. Helps slough off all the baggage we can’t put down while we’re awake.’ You look like you’re carrying a lot of baggage, Uzi.”

She sighed and dropped the last headphone into the basket. “I guess you could say something like that. I think. I don’t know. I don’t really have the energy to figure it out.” She paused as her own words processed. “Huh, guess that does mean I need sleep.”

Thad smirked, “Yeah, you should go home while you still have time to do that.”

“Alright, whatever. Care to walk me?”

“My pleasure.” Thad held out his arm like a gallant knight. Uzi rolled her eyes, but played along by putting hers over his.

“You got it wrong, by the way,” Thad said. “It’s eat first, train second, and then sleep.”

Uzi jabbed him in the side.

Chapter Text

Sleep didn’t do anything except make Uzi have to get out of bed. She didn’t bother with any food and hurried to make it to the arena before her shift started.

When she opened the door to the oil room, pinpricks of color dashed in different directions.

“Great,” she muttered. Uzi pulled down the trap and set it up. There were definitely more than one this time, and she didn’t know how many.

Crouching down till her hat brushed the floor, Uzi tried to see if she could spot anything. No orange flickers, no obvious hiding spots. Keybugs were good at their job of staying out of sight and out of mind.

Giving up, Uzi snapped open the stool to get the oil she needed.

“Hey!”

Right there was a keybug chewing through the lid of a jar. It was a large one with green LEDs. Uzi tried to grab it, but her surprised yell was too much of a warning. The keybug dashed up the wall and onto the ceiling. But rather than scurry out of sight like the other ones, it stopped to stare at her from above.

Uzi stared back, but there wasn’t any way she could get it. Not unless she started throwing stuff at it.

Instead she collected the jars she needed to feed the death bots. She started to reach for the one the keybug had chewed into, then had an idea. If she left it, and the keybug kept working on the same jar, she might be able to trap it in the jar itself. She’d have to be fast and sneaky. And lucky with her timing.

The green keybug watched her all the way until she left. She thought she saw it start to edge back toward the shelves as she closed the door.

 The moment Uzi pushed her way into the Outlook, she was bombarded with high-pitched calls from N.

“Yeah, yeah, I haven’t forgotten you, jeeze.”

He was practically hugging the bars of the cage, nose stuck between them with a look that was anything but ferocious.

“Seriously dude, are you a Murder Drone or a puppy? Make up your mind.” Uzi made a shooing motion with her hands. “Get back, I can’t feed you like that.”

With a wine, N let go of the bars. He sat down a safe distance away until Uzi had the jar placed. But Rather than take the food, he went back to the bars and wined.

“What?”

He put his hands on the bars with an intent look.

Is he a hunter scoping out prey? Or is he really just that attention hungry?

“I don’t have your crayons, if that’s what you want. Forgot my backpack.” This was true, she’d been in too much of a hurry to bother grabbing anything before she left. When N gave her no response she said, “Just stop being weird and eat your food, I’ve gotta feed the others.”

V growled the entire time Uzi was in her vicinity, peering out at her from where she was curled up. Uzi still couldn’t believe that Lizzy of all drones had pet this feral thing. V gave Uzi a drawn out his as she place the jar of oil.

“Why are you so mad? Not like I put acid in your oil.”

Uzi saw V tense up merely a moment before she jumped forward with a spitting his. It wasn’t a true attack, but it definitely made Uzi’s motor run at double speed. V’s wing’s bristled into a crown of points as her hiss turned into another growl.

It was the growl behind her that made Uzi’s oil turn to ice.

For a flash of a second, Uzi was sure she must have stepped backwards across the line. The gap between the cages wasn’t very large. She stepped into range, and any moment she’d feel the strike.

But when her eyes flicked down, she saw that the only line in front of her toes was V’s, not N’s. She wasn’t in range. But N’s deeper growling was unmistakable.

Looking back at him, she realized that the growl wasn’t directed at her at all, he was staring past her. She looked between the two Murder drones as they glared at each other, then decided to take the opportunity to get out from between them. She might not be in the marked danger zone, but their tails could still strike her if one of them decided to lash out.

Uzi’s movement caused V to refocus on her, but N got her attention back with a sharp cry. She looked between him and Uzi with a sour expression.

“You two work out whatever this is own your own,” she told them. “You guy’s are being extra weird.”

J was normal at least. Complete and utter indifference. Yep.

With the last Drone fed, Uzi retreated down to the armory. She barely had to put any thought into the work, the rhythm was easy to fall into. Pull a sword, grind, flip, grind, angle grind, flip, angle, grind, test, repeat.

She followed the pattern until something broke her from it. As she reached to grab another sword from the rack, she came up with nothing. She blinked, then looked at the rack properly.

It was empty. Empty of the high quality swords she was tasked with, anyway. She’d sharpened them all.

Uzi tried to piece together how many blades she’d gone through since the weekend, but realized that short of rewatching all her memories she hadn’t done anything to keep track. A lot. Too much? Too much to bother rewinding, at least.

She considered the rows of beater swords still out, waiting for the dayshift grunts to deal with. Dents and chips stood out to her as Uzi picked one of them up. Couldn’t hurt to clean it up.

This isn’t your job.

The blade was heavy and clunky in her hand.

One more hunk of forgettable metal.

Rust was gathered at the joint of the hilt, where it’d take a lot of effort to get into the groove and chip it out.

 It’ll probably break if someone doesn’t clean it. It’ll break and get thrown away. A meaningless tool.

And there’s a hundred more.

Making her decision, Uzi dropped the weapon back onto the rack. She just didn’t feel like it.

When she got to the door to the Outlook, Uzi knew that she also didn’t feel like sitting and doing nothing in a room with sentient murder weapons. Then she remembered she had an alternate option.

It took effort to push the storage room door open, something must have fallen against the door since the last time Uzi was in here. She managed to squeeze through.

Picking her way through the clutter and almost tripping over a sack of fake grapes (why?), Uzi found a spot where she could see through the window.

N and V were still having their ‘conversation.’ Uzi couldn’t hear anything from in here, but they were making motions and she could see V’s mouth move. It didn’t look as aggressive as before, V’s wings were loose at her side and N had his tail up.

It was kind of interesting. N was moving his head up and down, but not like he was nodding. She flicked through her memory files until she found a likeness to the motion. It was an Earthen nature documentary of birds she saw when she was little. And a bunch of NewTube videos on peoples pet birds she’d scrolled past. Maybe the humans had programed that into them on purpose? Murder Drones were big metal birds. Sort of.

V leaned away from her bars, which must not have been the response N was hoping for because his tail drooped a little. He sat up with his hands on the bars and fluttered his wings a little, but V was ignoring him entirely now. She walked over to her jar of oil and began to unscrew the lid.

Uzi could see N make a call because his whole head moved to it. Then he rolled over onto his back so that he was looking at her upside down while his paws were in the air.

V stopped her fiddling to tilt her head at him, as though she were considering something. Then she went back to food.

“You guys are weird.” Uzi reached for her pack to write down the bird connection she’d made, then realized she’d left it at home. She hasn’t updated it for a week, and now that she needed it she didn’t have it.

Guess I’ll just watch now and record later.

She needed a place to sit if she was doing to watch the Drones from in here, so Uzi started to sift piles of stuff around in search of a stool. She found one. There was no way she was moving it to the window without knocking over four mountains along the way.

Looking around at the mess more critically, Uzi began to piece together ways she could condense the mess. Her family may specialize in doors, but she was still a worker drone. This was a task as easy as they come. The only issue would be if she got in trouble for messing with things she shouldn’t.

The clinking of glass drew her attention to a box of glasses that she’d nudged with er foot. Most of witch were broken.

Yeah, no was going to even notice if she cleaned up in here.

~*~

Uzi was feeling rather good about herself by the time she was walking home from her shift. The mess in the closet was still palpable, but now she had a stool to sit on, a slightly bigger view through the window, and a path to it from the door.

She pushed the door open, ready to find her note book, write down “Murder Drones are big weird birds,” then go to sleep.

What she wasn’t ready for was her Dad to be home, sitting across from her at the table. His hands were folded, and his eyes were hollow as he studied them. He didn’t look up at her as she came in.

Something was off.

Uzi paused in confusion. His mustache was crooked, as though he’d been rubbing at his face.

“Dad.”

Slowly, he looked up to meet her eyes. “You’ve been feeding the Murder Drones.”

Chapter Text

His voice was quiet as he said it. Her dad was never, never quiet. That’s how Uzi knew she was in serious trouble.

“There is only one classic door in the Ice Bunker Entertainment and Recreation Facility. It’s there because I don’t go there. No doorman should go there. But- But you…”

She expected him to say more, give her time to think of something other than the How does he know? that was cycling through her head.

Instead he stared at her, hollow and waiting. Waiting, and perhaps hoping. Hoping to believe the lies that Uzi had at the tip of her tongue.

“Yeah, so what?” So maybe she could have put it more eloquently. But the truth wasn’t pretty. And if he knew, she wasn’t going to get away with the lies long enough for them to be worth it. She was tired of hiding behind them.

The horrified look Kahn gave her made Uzi wish for the cover of lies again.

“Uzi… how could you?”

She didn’t meet his eyes.

“There is only one classic door in the Ice Bunker Entertainment and Recreation Facility. It’s there because I don’t go there. No Doorman should go there. But- But you…

“They killed your mother, Uzi Doorman. They shouldn’t be in the colony at all. Now you’re feeding them?”

“It’s just a job, Dad,” Uzi said. I know what they did.

“Nothing is just a job, Uzi! This is were you start your career! This decides who you are for the rest of your life! We are doorman, that’s what defines us. We make the Ice Bunker safer for every drone to live in. Safe from the monsters Luis insists on keeping like pets!

“Uzi, when you start a new job it may feel like it’s just a way to earn money, but they move you up. They give you more tasks, dangerous tasks. They’ll promote you, and before you know it you will be in the arena! There won’t be a barrier between you and it, and all it takes is a moment before… before...”

Kahn’s hands were shaking where he stood at the end of the table, and for once Uzi felt guilty about it. Guilty that she’d kept it from him, but not guilty that she did it.

“They’ll make you a trainer eventually Uzi. You don’t want that.”

“But what if I do?” Uzi looked up at him to say it. “What if I want them to promote me? What if I want to become a trainer? Dad, there are more ways to protect the colony than just building doors. I’ve learned more about the Murder Drones in the two weeks I’ve been there than my entire life of searching our databases! I could find a way to end them, for good! Make it safe for us to travel the surface again.”

“Uzi, you foolish girl, you are not the first drone who’s tried that.” He waved his hand in a wide ark. “Hundreds of workers have researched the Murder Drones, and most of them died doing it. The answer is that nothing can kill them. Nothing except perhaps another murder drone.”

“And how would you know?” Uzi couldn’t keep the edge of bitterness from her voice.

“I didn’t. Your mother did.”

Words failed her at that.

“Uzi, I know why you are doing it. You’re brave like your mother. But you need to stop before it kills you the way it kills her.” He got up to walk to her, reaching a hand out. “I know the guys at the arena’s repair department, they’ll set you up with-“

“Dad I don’t want to fix doors for the rest of my life.”

“I- O-okay. You don’t have to do doors. You could do faucets! Or home design!” He placed his hand on her shoulder. “Or- I’ll even let you work at the gun range if that’s what you really want but-“

“Let me?” Uzi stepped back and pushed his hand away. “Dad, it’s my choice. You don’t get to ‘let me’ decide what I do for the rest of my life. I’m an adult.”

Kahn’s digital brows furrowed. “You’re my daughter no matter how old you are, Uzi, and you’re under my house.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that if you want to live here you’ll follow my rules.” He blinked, like his processor only just caught up with what he was saying. Then his firmness returned. “If you want to live in this house, Uzi Doorman, you will quit your job with the Murder drones. I won’t permit you to work in the same room as them.”

“You can’t per serious?” Uzi said.

Kahn folded his arms.

“Seriously? You’re going to make me choose between my job and my home?” This is stupid. He’s stupid. No way he actually means it. He doesn’t have enough backbone to kick her out. He’s just trying to scare her into quitting.

“I’m making you choose between the monsters that killed your mother and a home where you’ll be safe until your gears give out,” Kahn said with more confidence than anything else in their conversation. “There’s nothing for you in future with the Murder Drones, Uzi, no secrets left to discover. All there is, is death.”

“You can’t make me quit.” Uzi’s shoulder joint cricked from tension.

Kahn took a long breath. “No. I can’t.”

“I’m not quitting.” Uzi crossed her arms. He didn’t get to dictate her life anymore. She wasn’t going to deny what she wanted anymore. She won’t give up what she’s worked towards.

“Then you should start packing your things.”

It took a several moments for Uzi to recognize the resignation in her dads voice. He’s serious. He’s serious. He’s actually @#$%& serious.

~*~

He was serious.

Uzi stood in a moderate apartment, barren besides the basic furnishings. Her stuff sat in salvaged boxes, totes with their lids popping off, and bags that wouldn’t stay upright. Her gun was set out on the table. She had no reason to hide it anymore.

Kahn’s front of being cold and serious was rather fickle from how much he helped her, securing a well-reviewed place in a safe area not too far away and helping her move everything here. But he’d kept his word. He wasn’t going to let her step a foot back home- back at his place unless she quit her job with the Murder Drones.

He was gone now. She was alone.

She was on her own.

In the quite and stark emptiness of this place, reality began to settle onto Uzi. She was on her own.

Uzi never saw eye to eye with her father, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t love him. It didn’t change that he was her family, that he was a constant-if-really-annoyingly-frustrating fact of her life.

But now he was gone. Sort of. Not gone, gone, but severed from her life. Uzi couldn’t imagine trying to talk to him at all after this. Would they ever talk again? Was he really even her father anymore.

Uzi placed a hand on the wall as her core temperature rose. Her breathing increased to dispel the heat.

I’m not ready for this.

In the moment, Uzi had been sure of her choice not to quit her job. She was mad at him. She is mad at him. This is stupid.

She rolled back so she was leaning against the wall, then slid down to sit.

He was wrong. There was a reason she was doing this, a good reason.

Her mind flashed to the memory of the gladiator tournament. Of Lexia discussing with her trainers a weather or not to let a gladiator win. Let him win.

‘The answer is that nothing can kill them. Nothing except another murder drone.’

No. Her dad was wrong. There had to be something else, something left to figure out. They had Murder Drones in cages. Workers weren’t powerless against them.

She’d find a way to kill the monsters for good.

Her internal screen flickered, loading a saved image of N’s large eyes. Curious. Feeling. A piece from a different puzzle, it didn’t match the picture she’d known all her life.

Maybe those pieces are part of the puzzle. The puzzle she wanted to solve. Maybe they weren’t-

Those things had cost her. They’d cost her her mom before she could remember her. Now they’d cost her her home and her father.

“I don’t have anything left…” Uzi realized. Or rather, the Murder Drones were all she had left. The job she’d chosen. The mysteries she needed to solve.

Uzi looked at the clock. One hour till her shift started. Perfect.

Time to figure out what sort of monsters the Murder Drones really are.

Chapter Text

There were still drones lingering around when Uzi got to the outlook. She was forty-seven minutes early, and each one dragged out. Her fan was on constant overdrive. Uzi had to keep monitoring her screen to make sure her expression was neutral. Her core felt like it had a loose plug that was sparking and making everything else jitter.

But she was determined to follow through.

Her shift started. There wasn’t another drone in sight. But Uzi waited. It was too early to do it safely.

She instead checked for the keybugs in the oil room. The trap had successfully caught one, it’s orange antennae wave wildly at her handling it. She’d drop it off at the pet store. At least she would if…

Ten minutes into her shift. She needed longer.

Uzi dropped into the armory. Only three swords were on her rack. As soon as she picked one up, she knew she couldn’t sharpen it. Not today. She’d loose her right to do them.

So she went back up and to the last place she could think of for biding her time. The closet. She didn’t clean, she sat. She tapped her fingers. She canceled any thought diodes that tried to pop up. Her motor stayed at triple speed, even with her deliberately not thinking. Not about what happened. Not about what will happen.

Eight minutes till ten. Close enough.

Uzi shoved her way past the junk in the storage room. At the door, she hesitated for a moment.

Yeah, she was going to do it. She needed to know. No matter how it ended.

She pulled up the memory file she needed and watched it on 2x speed. Then she went into the outlook.

She went straight to N’s cage. He yipped and bounded over, but his energy dissipated as she glared at him.

“What are you.” Uzi demanded. “Show me. Are you a monster that killed her or not? ”

He took a step back away from her.

Uzi kicked open the panel at the base of the cage. She grabbed the bars and pulled up.

“Show me what you are. Kill me.”

Uzi swung the cage open.

Nothing. There was nothing between her and the Murder Drone. There was nothing to be heard but the rush of electricity snaring her mind. There was nothing else.

A momentary eternity passed as Uzi looked into N’s eyes. Then he was rushing toward her.

She heard the tip of his wing clip a bar as they splayed for balance, saw is claws reach the edge of the platform to push off, felt the shifting air as he leaped.

Then he veered, tilted his wings so that his propulsion took him just past her. She felt his tail wrap around her as he spun around her. He was chittering excitedly, looking at her and touching her… but he wasn’t hurting her.

“Ha. Haha…” Uzi gasped to relieve the heat in her chest. She was alive. N wasn’t attacking her. He wasn’t… being a monster.

N tilted his head at her, then poked her arm.

“Hey, stop that, I’m not your toy. And get your tail off me.” Uzi shoved him away to reinstate her personal space.

He didn’t seem to mind, instead getting distracted by V calling out. Her eyes were wide with interest. When she noticed Uzi looking, she went to the end of her cage and pawed at the bars.

“Um, yeah I’m not letting you out,” Uzi said. “You will kill me.”

She looked rather miffed when Uzi didn’t come and release her. Thankfully N distracted her jumping onto her cage, ‘talking’ to her wish a mix of excited sounds.

A snarl, cold and vicious. Silenced them both.

J was glaring out at Uzi, rigid. She turned to N and made a harsh bark.

N wilted under J’s gaze, sinking onto the bars of the cage like he wanted them to hide him. Even V backed away so that she wasn’t in her direct line of sight.

When she growled, it was so deep that Uzi could feel it in the metal of her arms. More than that, she could feel the menace behind it, the danger. She could sense the primal nature of predator and prey.

J jerked her head from N to Uzi while holding his gaze. A command. Uzi didn’t need a Murder Drone translator to know what J was telling him.

N looked at Uzi, and though his eyes were soft and sad Uzi felt a spike of panic for a motorbeat. Was he… going to do it?

Looking back to J, N whined. He was met with a snarl.

N hunched his shoulders and looked down from J, whimpering.

She bristled and rose to her feet, spreading her wings out to their full length in a display of authoritative power.

She’s the alpha, Uzi realized. The leader.

It was common knowledge that Murder Drones always hunted in small groups called squads. The textbooks even mentioned how they’d coordinated to slaughter large groups of workers. Here Uzi was witnessing a power dynamic. It made sense that there’d be leaders and followers, and it also made it clear how a drone like N could be part of something so brutal.

N was still shrinking away from J, but also refusing to turn on Uzi.

“Hey, quit that,” Uzi shouted. She felt her anger rise up at the Murder drone. “Don’t be bullying N around just because he’s more chill than you.”

Uzi reached into her pocket to see if she had anything on hand and came up with a pen. She threw it at J, smacking her strait in the visor.

There’s no way it could’ve actually hurt her, but the action was enough to startle J out of her threat display.

“You’re not in charge here,” Uzi said, “so back off.” Half to herself, she added, “No way I’m ever letting you out.”

J gave Uzi a contemptuous look. She glanced back at N with a growl then retreated to the dark end of her cage.

The spell over N was broken. He watched J for a few more seconds as though worried she might sudden lash back out at him, then when she didn’t he made a happy call to Uzi.

“You’re a really are a pathetic Murder Drone, aren’t you?”

“Prrah, rah.”

V gave a huff and started to dig at the bars of her cage again.

“Not happening, V,” Uzi said.

N began to climb up the bars of his cage until he was situated on the top. V watched him intently as he did. N let his drop into V’s space, swishing it lightly. It was hardly there ten seconds before V was flipping around and leaping toward it. N reacted quickly, racing to the wall end of the cage wile letting his tail click against the top bars. V latched onto the ceiling, racing upside down almost as fast as N did right-side up. He veered to the side of the cage, and V leaped to close the distance where he couldn’t take a shortcut. Her claws reached through the bars to grab his tail, and he barely lifted it out of the way in time.

Feeling rather drained form the… everything, Uzi flopped down against the wall to watch them play. Their game of chase and keep away went on for two hours before Uzi realized, “Wait, I still have to feed you guys.”

Chapter Text

The next morning saw Uzi tearing cardboard boxes as she tried to move her stuff to the correct rooms. Her apartment consisted of a conjoined dinging room and living room, a pantry, two bedrooms, and a closet. Because she didn’t have a roommate, Uzi shoved the bed in the second room to the side so she could make it her work room.

Guess that’s a perk. She’d have the room and freedom to make weapons. No dad to hide it from.

Uzi left her tools in a pile on the floor.

She was busy getting whacked by the mattress as she tried to stretch her bedspread onto it when her phone started to ring.

“Yeah?” she greeted.

“Uzi, I got great news!”

“Oh, hey Thad. I actually have news too, but I’m not sure if it’s great or not. Kida depends. You go ahead.”

“They’ve responded!” He said, nearly cutting off the last of Uzi’s sentence. “The Guilds, I got the invites!”

“Invites plural,” Uzi said, “that’s a good sign. How many?”

“All of them. Uzi, they all invited me into their guilds!”

The pipes in her throat twisted. “That’s, that’s good right?”

“It’s the best! It’s not like it never happens, but very few squires get all four invites. I’m going to be a knight, and they all want me to be a knight.”

“That, yeah that’s great Thad.” Uzi rubbed the cuff of her jacket. “That’s really great for you. Know which one you’re going to choose?”

“I haven’t gotten that far, these things just came in. They’re all fancy too, think I should frame them?”

She could tell it was a joke, but Uzi couldn’t get herself to laugh. “Yeah, that’d be cool I guess. Well, it’s pretty late for me Thad. Good job and stuff. Fill me in when you choose your guild.”

“Didn’t you say you had some news too, Uzi.”

“Eh, it can wait. Talk later, Thad.” She shut off her phone and let it drop to the floor.

This was bad. Why was she feeling like this. She shouldn’t be feeling like this, she should be happy for Thad. This was huge for him, he was her best friend, why did she feel so sick and angry and upset.

She collapsed on to the half naked bed and used the ruffled sheet to cover her optics. She didn’t want to look at her empty room right now. She didn’t want the tears on her visor to be visible. There was no one here to see them.

~*~

“Hey buddy.” Uzi yawned as she leaned against the bars of N’s cage.

He churred a greeting back at her.

Looking into his happy eyes, Uzi wasn’t scared. Since letting him out, she just wasn’t afraid of what he might do. Sure, she knew he still could kill her at any given moment. But she also knew he wouldn’t. She trusted him.

N walked over to his cage door, placed a hand on it, and tilted his head at Uzi.

“Not yet, N, I need to feed you guys first. And make sure no one else is around. Be right back.”

Skittering alerted Uzi to a trapped Keybug as soon as she walked into the oil room. Two traps had orange keybugs frantically truing to escape.

“Sorry guys,” Uzi told them, “but this oil’s not for you. I’m sure you’ll find a kid who’ll give you plenty.” She set them aside to drop off at the pet center later.

Yesterday, she spent a lot of time trying to catch the green keybug in the act of raiding the oil jars. She came so, so close, but he managed to scurry out of the jar and onto the ceiling just in time, every time.

Today, the jar was completely empty.

“So much for that idea.” She tossed the eroded lid of the jar in the garbage. Thanks to V, she had plenty of spare lids for it.

As she was collecting full jars to feed the Murder Drones, Uzi spotted the offending keybug. It was gnawing on a new jar close to the back, the acid in it’s bite slowly eroding the metal.

“Hey, stop that!” Uzi grabbed at it, but she wasn’t able to reach that far without knocking all the other jars out of the way.

The keybug spared a moment to look at her with a twitch of its antennae.

“Shoo, go away!” Uzi have her hand at it to get it to leave the oil jar a lone, but the keybug was unfased.

“That oil isn’t for you.”

The green proceeded with its blatant thievery.

“Ugg!” Uzi clenched her fist in frustration, and the oil jar exploded.

Startled, Uzi stumbled back and tripped off her stool. Three other jars fell down with her, shattering on the floor and covering her in oil.

“What the-?” She whipped oil off of her screen, cringing when she saw the gory black liquid on fingers. Quickly, she pulled her stool back into place and looked at the shelf. She had to have seen that wrong, right?

But no. When she peered over the shelf, there was a splattering of oil on all the surrounding jars and a pile of crumbled glass. The keybug was gone.

Did I…  kill it? The strike of guilt hit her before her rationality put it away. She couldn’t have killed it. She didn’t touch it, she couldn’t even reach it.

“What the heck happened?”

She rewound the memory, and ran through calculations that could fit what she’d seen. There was some sort of contortion of light, like the keybugs green glow had warped around the jar. It shattered, and then there was oil in her optics.

“Must’ve had pressure in it or something.” It was the best explanation Uzi could come up with. If the jar was high pressure and the keybug breached it, that could strain the glass enough to break. Maybe. How the jar became pressurized? Who knows, maybe the oil was fermented or something.

Whatever the case, she now had four jars worth of oil to clean up.

~*~

By the time Uzi got the oil room and herself cleaned up, or at least cleaned well enough that no one would notice the mishap, Uzi was two hours late on her drone-dash delivery. V was not happy.

“Yeah, yeah, I see you,” Uzi told her.

V was clawing at the edge her platform, occasionally giving off growls.

N was overexcited as she passed him his jar.

“Come on, I wasn’t that late.” But she couldn’t help but smile as she watched him. “Guess I was held up longer than I meant to be.”

J glowered as Uzi approached her cage. After yesterday, she didn’t want to risk getting any closer than she had to. So she stayed back as far as the tongs would reach and placed the jar at the edge of J’s cage.

N was already done with his oil by the time she walked back to his side of the outlook. Hopefully, he pawed at the corner of his cage that opened.

Uzi crossed her arms. “I don’t know, N. Are you going to go back in the first time I ask? Or am I going to be stuck trying to shove your rear through the door for an hour again?” They’d cut it pretty close yesterday.

N’s tail drooped apologetically and he gave her a pleading look.

She rolled her eyes. “Put the puppy eyes away.” She shooed him away from the door so she could let him out. She barely had the door cracked before he shoved his way through and on top of her.

“Ow! N! Get off!” She tried to push him away, but wasn’t successful. He actually wasn’t as heavy as she expected, so it didn’t hurt. It was still annoying tough. “Dude, not cool.” She tried so roll out from under him, but that didn’t work either.

That’s when Uzi noticed his eyes had gone into the death X.

Her joints locked up. “N?”

He sniffed at her wrist, drips of saliva falling from his fangs.

The oil… her jacket… While Uzi cleaned her casing of all the oil, she didn’t have a change of cloths with her. The cuff of her jacket still had oil soaked into it.

Realization came too late. N bit down onto her sleeve and began to pull.

“Stop it! N! N, no!” The forcefulness of her shout got him to pause just shy of tearing her sleeve away. He blinked, and his eyes came into focus.

“Let go N,” Uzi commanded.

With a whimper, N let go of her sleeve. His tail curled around his leg and he drew his hands to his chest. He ducked his head under the hunch of his wing shoulders.

“It’s… It’s okay buddy.” Uzi patted his arm to show that she wasn’t mad. “I guess you’re still hungry, huh? Well you can’t eat my clothes, but..”

Uzi unslung her backpack. Curious, N dropped the shameful stance to peer at what she was doing.

“How about this?” Uzi held up a twelve pack of double A batteries.

N sat back on his haunches and his tail swished across the floor.

“Yeah, you recognize these, don’t you?” Uzi pealed the backing off the pack and held one up. “If you want it, catch it.”

She tossed it high, and right as it peaked N launched himself upward. He snatched the snack out of the air with his mouth. He landed, shifting his weight back and forth in anticipation of the next throw.

Chapter Text

When Uzi threw a fourth battery for N he let it hit the ground before pouncing on it. Before he could eat it, Uzi called out, “No N!”

He paused to give her a confused look.

“Don’t eat it N, you didn’t catch it.” Uzi held out her hand.

He looked between her and the battery, then picked it up and handed it back to her.

Uzi threw it again, and again N waited until it hit the ground before racing after it. She told him to stop before he even reached it.

N tilted his head at Uzi in puzzlement.

“You gotta catch it dude.”

He looked to V as though she could lend clarity to the situation.

“Hrrumuph.” Was all V had to say. She gave Uzi and N an equal glare, then turned her back to them.

“Bring it here N,” Uzi gestured for him to drop it in her hand.

With a drooping tail he did.

“Now back up. Back.” Uzi shooed him to create some distance.

He gave her a sad look, then started to crawl back into his cage.

“What? No, N, you’re not in trouble. Just stay, stay there.” She held up the battery and emphasized “Catch,” then tossed the battery directly at him.

N’s killer reflexes snapped him into motion and he caught it. Then he started to bring back to her.

“No you can eat that one.” Uzi pulled out a new battery and popped it in her own mouth.

He was hesitant at first, lifting the battery to his mouth and taking a small bight while watching Uzi like she might suddenly tell him he was doing wrong. When she gave no indication that she was going to stop him, he stuffed the rest of it in his mouth.

Uzi held up a new one. “Catch.”

He did, and Uzi congratulated him with a, “Good job N.”

As soon as she said it, his tail began to wag and he happily devoured the battery.

“You know what that word means, don’t you?” Uzi smiled. She tossed him a new one. When he caught it, she reinforced, “Good, N!”

He gave her a happy yip. Then he crawled on top of V’s cage and dropped the battery directly on his fellow Murder Drone’s head.

V gave a start (she’d been making a point of ‘ignoring’ them), but as soon as she saw the food her eyes flashed to the death X and she pounced.

N wagged his tail, Uzi rolled her eyes.

“Whatever dude, if you want to waste it on her I won’t stop you.” Uzi threw a fresh one, leaving her pack under half full.

N sprung off V’s cage and intercepted the battery midair.

“Sweet moves.”

This time V met N at the side of her cage to take the battery he offered. She flicked her tail at his face as she retreated with the treat. Didn’t seem like much of a thanks to Uzi, but N’s tail was wagging.

The next battery he caught, N glided around V’s cage to J’s. He fluttered to a stop so he could offer it to her, but as soon as he touched the bars J erupted.

All within a single second, J went from her sleep hang to launching at him with an ugly snarl, fangs bared and wings flared. She slashed at N through the bars, and Uzi saw a micro tussle before N was fleeing from J.

He went strait to his own cage, all the way in to the back where her sat curled in on himself. There were three open slashes on his arm where J clawed him.

Oil trailed from her cage to his, and the battery sat forgotten just inside the hazard line of J’s cage.

“Crap,” Uzi said. This was bad. She got up and hurred to N. “Hey, buddy, you okay?”

N whined.

She glanced at his wound. It wasn’t any worse from what she’d seen before, he’d heal just fine. The issue was if he’d heal fast enough that no one would notice. Would the trainers believe her if she told them N somehow managed to hurt himself?

Yeah, probably no. N wasn’t the sharpest of the Disassemblers, but he wasn’t that dumb.  

“Here,” Uzi dumped the remaining batteries onto the floor of the cage. “That should help you fix yourself. Maybe leave J alone from now on?”

He didn’t give her a response beyond his dejected look.

“Guess that’s all the out of cage time we’re getting today,” Uzi said. She closed N’s cage door, then left for some cleaning supplies.

When she got back with her rag and jar tongs, N was busy licking his wound. The flow of oil had stopped. A good sign.

She cleaned the floor thoroughly. Occasional oil splatters weren’t an uncommon sight (thanks V) but the trail N had left was pretty telling.

Uzi glared at J when she got close to her. “That was pretty low.”

J returned the glare with menace.

Uzi understood.

V was annoying. She didn’t like Uzi, Uzi didn’t like her, so V made an effort to be as inconvenient as possible.

But looking into J’s cold yellow eyes, Uzi knew that this drone wanted nothing more than to see Uzi dead.

~*~

Uzi rubbed her optics as she pushed into the oil room. Her shift was ending, and her eyes were feeling the lack of sleep she’d been getting. But before she went home, she had one last thing to do.

The captured keybugs weren’t as frantic this time around. They skittered around their traps when they saw Uzi, but they were no longer clawing for escape.

“Lets see if I can get you guys in the same trap.” Less for her to carry, and one more trap to leave set up over the day.

She cracked the trap just enough to squeeze her hand through. It was risky, if the keybug got brave it could race around her wrist and make it out the gap no problem. For now, it was pressed against the opposite end of the trap.

“It’s alright, I’m not trying to hurt you.” She kept her movement slow, and the keybug was graciously still as she wrapped her had around it. Or maybe it was having a mini motor attack, hard to tell with robots so small.

“Not so bad,” she told it. Then she let it into the cage with it’s buddy. The raced around each other (and on top of each other) before settling comfortably in the corner together.

“There, now you guys can stay together. Act cute enough and I bet someone will take you home as a pair.”

She left them on the Mulch Box so she could re-bait the other trap. As she got on her knees to set it, a green glow caught her eye. Under the oil filling table.

She finished setting the trap while keeping the glow in her peripheral, seeing what it would do.

Nothing. The glow didn’t change. Maybe it didn’t know she had noticed it.

Unfortunately, Uzi couldn’t think of a stealthy way to approach the keybug. She’d have to get on her stomach to even reach her arm under the wood shelf. She probably wasn’t going to catch it, but she might as well look.

She peeked under the table, and there was the green keybug. It was lying against the wall with a shard of glass jutting from it’s abdomen.

“Shit.” Uzi reached under and scooped it up as carefully as she could singlehandedly. Is it dead? Did I kill it? No, it was s=the stupid jar. I didn’t want to hurt it.

“Dang, that looks bad.” Intentional or not, Uzi felt guilty about the keybug’s predicament. It wasn’t dead, it was looking at her with quivering antennae. But it was probably dying.

“Let’s get you to the vet.” She slid the keybug gently into her pocket, grabbed the other two, and hurried to the pet store.

Chapter Text

“What do you mean you can’t do anything for him? Isn’t, like, your whole job about fixing these things?!”

The drone in a white lab coat flinched when Uzi struck the counter.

“Please, ma’am, not so loud. You’ll disturb the others.”

Uzi was in the back area of the largest pet facility in the Ice Bunker. Cages stacked on cages displayed hundreds of keybugs. Clipped to each cage was a brief personality description, all to match the right bug to the right owner. Or something like that.

There was an entire row of shelves dedicated to feed and treats, although last Uzi checked they all basically ate the same thing. There were a lot of cage options, from simple wire boxes to elaborate terrariums. Tons of toys too, tunnels, hides, wheels, and sunken ships a-plenty. Most of which were salvaged from human general stores. (Keybugs aren’t picky about if their toy was originally made for a parrot or a fish.)

The more exotic keybugs were stationed near the front of the store, displayed in much more luxurious enclosures than the common ones, who were frankly overstuffed. There was a separate cage here in the back specifically dedicated to the “inhabitable” keybugs; bugs deemed too aggressive to be used as pets. Their low pricing made Uzi cringe, because she knew the kind of things those bugs were purchased for.

Even now, there were a couple middle school boys poking through them with a rod, seeking out the meanest ones they could find.

Keybugs were the primary feature of the store, but they weren’t the only pet option available to drone kind. It was rare to find them, but the humans did leave behind an array of robotic pets. Cats mostly, invented for the dual purpose of companionship and to keep the keybug population down once humans realized their insect invention was a bit too effective. The cats are popular family pets, but because they were designed to bond with humans their loyalty to drones is rather fickle. Only in the past decade have vets been successful in reprograming them to favor drone kind.

There were also a handful of dogs, but because most of the humans preferred to have actual organic dogs when they occupied Copper Nine, the robot canines were a rare find. There is a massive waiting list of rich families ready to adopt a robot pup as soon as it is found, so the two currently here aren’t actually available for purchase. They’re getting maintenance to rival the local spa.

Other animals didn’t quite meet the same high-quality standard of the cats and dogs. There were a handful of parrots (flight capabilities not included) that mostly sat around playing whatever songs they had downloaded onto them.

There was a pair of glowing, color-changing chameleons originally intended to be nightlights. Those were limited by never being ably to stray far from their charging pad. Uzi recalled a girl in kindergarten sobbing when her show-and-tell resulted in an impromptu lesson on power conservation.

And there was the goat. It doubled as a trash compactor.

The reception counter where Uzi stood with the wounded keybug was the entryway to the “Vet care and Maintenance” portion of the store. They kept the actual mechanical/medical rooms out of sight to avoid traumatizing any Dronelings, so Uzi was limited to talking to the vet across the counter.

The vet spread his hands in a hapless manor. “I can remove the shard and patch the wound, but it’s a verry deep one. There’s a slim chance it will survive. It would take twenty-four-seven care, with regular check-ins throughout the night. We just don’t have the staff to do that. We don’t even have enough staff to take care of the ones we have now.” He gave the shelf of robot cat food a sad look.

“So you  won’t even try.”

The vet sighed, “If it was just your keybug that needed help, I’d take it, but we have too many others to pull staff for a wild keybug. Unless… you wouldn’t happen to be looking for a job, would you?”

“Ug, no. I have a job. Look, can you at least take out the glass and fix him the best you can? I’ll pay for it.”

The vet’s brow furrowed. “You’d only be drawing out his death. We could euthanize him.”

“What if I took him? You said he needed twenty-four seven care, right? Can you give me the stuff?”

He brought his knuckles to his lip. “Yes I suppose that could work. It’s not guaranteed he’ll make it, mind you, still unlikely in fact. But if you are determined, who am I to stop you. You’ll need to register him in your name, of course, if you’re going to take him home.” He bent over to dig through some papers under his counter.

“Register? What you mean, like, adopt him?”

The vet nodded, and handed her a pile of paperwork. “All pets should be registered under their owners name. Keybugs each have of a unique code in their software connected to a larger network of code, it allows us to return lost pets and it stops cats from hunting them. Though that’s probably not a problem for this one, he’s a rarer specimen the humans wouldn’t want eaten. And, believe it or not, keybugs like this do get stolen every so often. This will prove your right of ownership.”

Uzi took the forms from him and rifled through to see where the highlighted areas were.

“If your keybug manages to recover and you no longer wish to care for him, then you’d be welcome to surrender him. You go ahead and fill these out while I take your keybug to the back.”

~*~

Uzi only had to wait twenty minutes for the vet to return. In that time, she’d started to mill around for supplies. She’d settled on a copper wire cage and a mouse igloo. It was pretty plain, but if she was supposed to keep an eye on him then she didn’t want him to be able to hide from her.

“Very good,” the vet nodded in approval when he saw her choices. That should work well for your purposes. “Set it here on the counter for me.”

The vet gently placed the keybug inside. Miniature white bandages were wrapped around it’s abdomen. It laid limply on the floor of the cage.

“We will reimburse you if you need to return these within two weeks. Ah, and here.” He gave Uzi a jar and a dropper. “It’s a nanite infused feed that will give him the best you can hope for. The feeding instructions are all written down here.” He added a stapled document to the pile of things Uzi had to stuff in her backpack. “My number is also written down, so any questions or concerns and you can just call. Bring him back in three days for a checkup.”

“Cool, is that all?”

“I believe it is. I do hope the next time we meet it’s with a more hopeful outcome.”  He extended a hand.

“Yeah, thanks I guess. Dr. ?” She was pretty sure he said it when he first greeted her, but she wasn’t really paying attention then and he didn’t have a nametag.

“Dr. Yung. Best of luck to you, Ms. Doorman.”

Chapter Text

There was a problem. Uzi had to go to work, and she had an injured Keybug that she had to feed every two hours. Keybugs burn through their energy fast, a design that keeps them constantly on the hunt for carrion.

Uzi’s keybug couldn’t go seek out his own carrion. He couldn’t do anything beyond look at her judgmentally.

Unfortunately, his cage wouldn’t fit in her backpack. That would be the easiest solution, so of course the cage she grabbed was too big. And she couldn’t just walk in to work carrying the cage at her side; it was her job to get rid of keybugs, not bring them in.

So she was stuck to bringing him in the same way she brought him out: in her hoody pocket.

As she walked to the Arena, Uzi kept one hand in the pocket to make sure the keybug was secure. And to remind herself he was there so she didn’t accidently squish him. She could feel his antenna occasionally tickle her thumb.

When Uzi reached the outlook, there were several trainers still milling around.

“Uhh…” That wasn’t supposed to happen. Sure, there was usually a late goer or two, but this looked like half the teams.

Then a thought crossed her mind. Did they find out?

“Hey, Uzi!” Charles called out with a wave.

“Wasn’t me!” She blurted out. Her hand wrapped around the bug as though that’d obscure him any better than her hoody.

“Huh?” Charles's smile drifted into confusion.

Okay, so maybe this doesn’t have anything to do with me.

“Uh, I mean, what’s up?” Uzi said.

“Great news, the Sunscrapper clan has accepted our invitation. Everyone’s working late tonight because events are getting rescheduled.”

“Invitation? Rescheduled? I think I’m missing something here,” Uzi said.

“Right, I forget how out of the loop you are when you’re on the night shift.” Charles patted her shoulder. “This weekend the Sunscrapers are going to come for a round of events. They’ll bring their own gladiators, fodder, and Murder Drones.”

Uzi’s caught her breath. “Their bringing their Murder Drones? Here? Like, in three days?”

“Well, not here, here. They’ll be across the arena in the Beta Outlook.” Charles pointed toward the concealed chamber.

“How many are they bringing?” She couldn’t help but feel excitement.

This was what she needed. If she could see other Disassembly Drones-

“Two. That’s all they have at Sunscraper, though the couldn’t bring any more if they wanted to. Only two guest cages.”

“Right, dumb question. Will I need to feed them too while they’re here?” Stop smiling, stop smiling, he’ll think you’re a sadistic weirdo or something.

“Oh, no. No one’s allowed in the Beta Outlook while there are guest drones in there.”

…

“So by ‘no one one’s aloud in the Beta Outlook,’ you mean-“

“It’d be a pretty serious violation of arena policy, punishable by being thrown into the ring. The betting on these events is very serious. To most folk it’s just a more exciting version of our usual events, but the real kicker comes from the top guys. They bet colony resources on these events, things that make a serious difference to the livelihood of thousands of drones. I don’t know exactly what they bet, it usually confidential. But it’s serious business, and it keeps the colonies from going to war.”

“Okay. I’m still not getting why going to the Beta Outlook jeopardizes all… that.”

“Tampering of the participants. The Disassemblers are the big event, they make or break the big bets. If either side were to claim that the opponent tampered with their drones in some way, then things get real messy. As in, a few hundred drones need to get blamed and die, or the colonies go to war.”

“Ah, got it. Not good then.” Uzi looked out the window in the direction of the Beta Outlook. Not that she could see anything beyond the outline of doors, but hopefully it hid her disappointment.

“Yeah, not good. Some of the other colonies aren’t that strict about it, like the Cabin Fever bunker. We’ve got a tight alliance with them, so permitted individuals can visit the opposing outlooks. I mean, I know you’ve seen Doll in here.”

“Yeah. She’s cool I guess.”

He nodded. “Her family is pretty chill. But the Sunscrapers have had some tension with us in the past. We weren’t sure if they’d even respond to the invite, let alone accept.”

A trickle of information gathered from Uzi’s memory banks. The Sunscraper Colony was built in the biggest human city, south to them and up against a mountain. Unlike the Ice Bunker and Cabin Fever, they built up instead of down. At a high enough altitude, Disassemblers struggle to fly. And they use a network of mirrors to magnify the sunlight during the day, getting rid of any hidey holes a Murder Drone might use.

The pictures they were provided with depicted a web of structures linking the tops of human skyscrapers. It looked pretty cool.

But it was a loosing battle for the Sunscraper colony. The mountain gives them an altitude that the city by the Ice Bunker doesn’t have, but they are still a clear and poorly fortified target. The city below is a nest of murder drones, and they climb up every night to pick off stray workers. Their hunting window is short, but still detrimental to the colony.

In other words, the lesson is to remember how great we have it in the Ice Bunker, were no unintentional Disassembler-based fatalities occur. Unless you deliberately go outside. Thanks mom.

“Didn’t they, like, challenge us for resources once?” Uzi didn’t remember the history of their relationship with Sunscraper as well. She might have entered sleep mode for that part.

“Basically. They were in a tough spot and got desperate. But not desperate enough to agree to our terms. From what I can gather, there’s a lot riding on this weekend. We loose, and we’re going to have to send drones to save them from their own problems. We win, and we’re still going to help them with their problems, but they’ll be under a binding alliance with us and will start funneling resources that are out of our reach.”

“They must be pretty desperate, that’s one step away from letting us take over completely.”

Charles shrugged. “This is a world of monsters and survival. Not our fault they couldn’t make it. Now we’re going to save their butts, and weather or not we get anything in return all comes down to this guy.” He patted the bars of N’s cage.

N, who was previously engaging with another training, looked around at them and tilted his head.

A moment later, the information sank in.

“Wait, N has to win the big fight? The one you said is really important to win?”

“Oh, you’ve never seen N go against another Disassembler, have you?”

“Yeah I did, I saw him get his tail handed to him by J.”

“J does have a reputation for doing that. Which is why she can’t be our champion Murder Bot. Sunscraper isn’t going to agree to anything if they don’t think they’ve got a chance. But don’t underestimate N here, he’s an impressive drone on the battlefield.”

“Except when he’s up against V or J.” Uzi gave Charles a flat look.

“Exactly, you’re getting it. And I’m sure he could take V on just fine. We just need to get him to, you know, take her on.”

“I think he’d rather flirt with her.”

“Higf-“ Charles snorted, then laughed. A few other drones looked at him curiously. “That’s a good one Uzi.” He looked at N in consideration. “Before working with him I’d say that Murder Drones can’t develop feelings for each other outside of pack loyalty. But I wouldn’t put it passed N to develop a crush. You really think that’s what it is?”

Uzi shrugged. “Not like I’m and expert. Relationships are gross.”

“Sure kid.” Charles patted her head. “Speaking of the deva, you’ll get to see V fight this weekend too. She is vicious, it’s fun to watch.

“Fun, right.” Not the word that comes in mind for V. “So are you guys here all night then, or should I just come back in an hour?”

She’d be needing to rethink her keybug feeding plan real quick if she was going to have company all night.

Chapter Text

Eventually the night did become quiet, and Uzi was able to sit down and pull out the keybug. No one noticed or cared that she’d been weirdly attached to her hoody pocket for the last hour, so that was good.

Sitting with crossed legs, Uzi placed the bug on her knee. His tiny white bandage had a dot of darkness, but no oil leaked through. His green glow still pulsed with life, but he was dangerously still.

She unslung her backpack to get his formula. She sucked some into the dropper she’d been given, then held it to the keybug’s mouth.

His antennae twitched at the presence of food, and he started chewing at the dropper’s tip.

The screeching scrape of metal rang through the outlook, making Uzi cringe as she looked for the source.

V was drawing her claws against the bars of her cage, X-ed out eyes fixed on Uzi’s lap.

“No, this is my keybug.” She shielded it from view with her hand.

“Hrrrrrrr…” a soft, predatory growl rolled from her throat, causing the keybug to go still again.

“V, stop it. I’ll feed you in a minute.”  

Her growl only amplified in response.

“Knock it off, V!” Uzi gestured at her to stop.

V startled back as something smacked her in the screen with a flash of purple light, then dropped into her cage.

She gave Uzi a snarling hiss, smashed the item under her claws, then whipped around to sulk at the other end of her cage.

Uzi blinked. She hadn’t meant to throw the dropper at… V…

She was still holding the dropper. The keybug was waving his front leg as though he could will it to come closer.

Uzi glanced between the dropper and the unidentified smear in V’s cage, not sure what it could have been. She hadn’t been holding anything. Maybe something dropped from the landing?

Except the overhang doesn’t reach the end of her cage. And it hit her face, not her head.

Uzi shook the uncertainty from her head. This is stupid. Not important. She returned to feeding the keybug.

By the time Uzi got around to bringing the oil jars out, V was giving her a sour look. When she was close enough to give her the oil, V hissed at her.

Well fine. Uzi hissed back at her.

The second she did so, V shot forward in a bristle of claws and metal feathers and slammed into the bars of the cage.

With a shock of fear, Uzi stumbled back and tripped over herself, falling back and banging her head against N’s cage.  

Those claws reached every inch inside the hazard line.

Uzi tasted oil and her mouth, and she realized she must have bitten her tongue.

V gave a huff as she wrapped her claws around the bars she’d slammed into to sit up. There was a trickle of oil running from a small crack over her left eye.

The look in her eyes was one of hatred.

“The feelings mutual.” Uzi spat the oil out of her mouth.

She felt a tug on her shoulder, and glanced to see N’s arm attempting to pull her up. Letting him help, Uzi braced her arm against his to stand up.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said at his look of concern. “She just startled me.”

Glancing back, V was already wrapping herself into a ball facing away from them.

“You’ve got terrible taste, N.”

~*~

Despite the Vet’s foreboding predictions, the keybug pulled through the next couple of days. There was a weird satisfaction in seeing it regain it’s energy bit by bit. It was a ways away from walking around, but it was beginning to respond to her by pushing itself up and waving it’s antennae around.

It only cost her eighty percent of her sleep.

And that’s probably why she kept seeing weird things. Her optics must be uncalibrated from the screwy sleep schedule.

It was just little things. A pen flying across the room when she got frustrated with one of her sketches. Thinking shed set out two triple A batteries only to look back and see four.

And the purple. She kept seeing the flashes of purple, and she couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

And she didn’t want to acknowledge where it kept originating from.

Uzi rubbed at her screen as she laid in bed. Friday. The Sunscrapers were arriving today.

There would be no games tonight. Instead the arena would be filled with a massive welcoming feast.

All of last night was filled with preparation. The outlook was quiet, so Uzi just got to watch from the window as the largest tables on Copper Nine were set with fancy cloth and decorations.

This wasn’t some holiday gathering though, it was the opening to duel between two colonies. It was a symbolic signature of the agreements made, an acknowledgement of what was on the line. It was to show that there was no backing out.

Part of the grand showing the presentation of champions. A chance for each side to flex what they had before events began.

So Uzi got to watch as five grate posts were erected, solid iron platforms with spokes to attach chains.

The Murder Drones were to be present for the feast.

How the heck anybody thought that was a good idea, Uzi didn’t know. And frankly, she didn’t care, because it meant that she was going to get to see the Sunscraper Murder drones.

Uzi rolled out of bed and onto the floor. It helped jolt the sleep from her system.

If she wanted to attend the feast with the rest of the outlook staff, something she was lucky to be invited to, she needed to be there midday to help prepare.

A squeak and whirr sounded from the cage on her desk.

“Morning, Green.” She yawned. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to take you with me today. You’ll be fine if I leave you here with a dish of oil, right?”

…

“I mean, you are able to sorta stand now.”

…

“Right. So I’ll be back in the morning-“

The keybug let out a series of blips and beeps as she reached for her door. It began to drag itself to the front of its cage.

“Uuuuuuuug. I will get in trouble if they see you.”

It let out a pitiful bleep.

“Okay, but I’m not taking you out of my pocket, Green. And be quiet, or they will end up tossing you to the Murder Drones. And probably me as well.”

Uzi reached her hand into the cage, and Green wrapped his legs around her fingers as she lifted him up. He’d taken well to using her pocket as his nest.

Uzi grabbed her backpack and headed for the door.

Time to see what happens when two colonies stuff themselves into one arena filled with royalty, gladiators, and criminals.

And five Disassembly Drones.

Chapter Text

It occurred to Uzi that she might want to look a little nicer for today. She threw on her mother’s necklace before she left the apartment.

On the walk to work, Green poked his head out of her pocket. None of the pedestrians gave him a glance, as keybug companions were common in public settings. They even passed a woman with a purple lit keybug on her shoulder and a Droneling walking his common orange on a leash.

With a bit of research, Uzi learned that hers was an emerald entry keybug. Apparently, he could grant access to some secret place somewhere on the planet. The chances of that being inside the colony was extremely low.

Once at the entrance of the arena, she stuffed him back into her pocket and made sure no antennae were sticking out.

The crowds were thick outside, clumps of drones dressed in their finest gushing at the billboards and ordering from stalls. Guests wouldn’t be allowed in until six p.m., and by the look of things there wouldn’t be a seat left available by seven.

Vendors were already selling streaming codes to folks who knew they didn’t stand a chance of getting in. Many drones made a living filming arena events, so long as they had a permit that gave the ring a large cut of the profit.

The richest crowds were in the bidding tent to compete for the premium seats, something staged by the Crowd Coordinates of the Arena.

Others were throwing money into lottery tickets. Uzi wondered how many would go home dry, and how many would attend without a penny to throw in the ring.

It was a relief to let the door muffle the crowed on the outside. She much preferred the internal hum of drones getting ready to put on a show.

And there were a lot of drones getting ready for the show. Just because there weren’t any battles tonight didn’t mean they’d held back on the expenses.

Keeping her head low, Uzi beelined for the outlook.

She stepped in to find N out of his cage.

A large space on the floor was cleared out for the trainers to surround him. Drones were at every limb, but they weren’t restraining him. They were painting him.

N let out a drowsy craw. His hat was gone, and pressed into his hair were magnets. Heavy magnets, the kind that required a switch because once they were on they weren’t coming off. They would permanently scramble the head of a worker drone.

For his part, N didn’t look particularly distressed. The magnets were doing their job, leaving him completely out of it as cobalt and ice-blue stripes were painted on the white casing of his arms and legs. It was the Colony’s colors.

One of the trainers standing to the side held a glittering faux fur coat with the same colors.

“Didn’t realize we’d be dressing them all fancy too,” Uzi said when she stepped up to Charles. He was flipping some papers by N’s cage.

“Pretty cool, right?” He grinned. “Been too long since we’ve gotten to do this.”

“They tolerate it okay? Like, they don’t get rid of it the minute you take the magnets off?”

“Nah, we use some high-grade stuff. It comes off, but only after a couple weeks of them working at it. Hard part is just putting it on them.”

N dipped a finger in the pot of paint near his head, only to have his hand swatted away.

Looking further into the room, Uzi saw that J was already painted up. There were bold blue steaks in each of her pigtails, and the icy coat made her look larger than she normally did.

She was acting a bit strange. Rather than glowering at everybody or ignoring them in her corner, she was blinking and shaking her head while listing to the side a little.

Uzi has only had to be magnetized once, and she’d been left with the worst headache for the entire day afterword. She almost felt sorry for J. Almost.

“Alright, Uzi, run these to the staff room and tell Lexia that J’s sitting up now.” Charles handed Uzi a stack of papers. “You’ll be our gopher while you’re here.”

When Uzi got back N was fully outfitted in his fancy coat and being lead to his cage. Several of the trainers were helping to support him as he struggled to move forward. When he got to the base of the cage, he lifted his arm up only to miss the ledge completely.

“Little higher, N,” a trainer encountered with a snicker. He help hoist N up on his next attempt.

Several minutes of shoving N’s rear in later, the trainers used crooks and a slip lead to hold him still against the bars as they removed the large magnets. Before they let him go, Melvin placed three small black magnets in place of the larger ones. Uzi recognized them as a pretty common pain sedative for workers, though the recommended dosage was one. Melvin placed them so that would stay hidden in N’s hair, making it look like he wasn’t magnetized at all.

“Alright, release him,” Melvin commanded his trainers. He then said across the room, “You’re up, Adrian.” He gave a mock salute, “Good luck,” then left the outlook.

Adrian responded with a displeased, “Hm.”

Uzi saw the problem. V was clinging to the top of her cage, hissing and spitting at the purple-marked trainers below. Her eyes were wide and her tail was flicking around at a lethal rate.

The trainers, at least ten of them with steal hooks and four with cable slip leads were trying to get ahold of her. But any tool that got within a foot of V was addressed with a spiteful outburst of claws and feathers.

“Yeah, V really hates being magnetized,” Charles commented helpfully. “Normally we try to catch her off guard, but because of all the last minute arrangements she’s been on the alert.” He waved to his fellow green trainers. “Lets give ‘em a hand guys.”

Adrian gave a nod to approve them joining the effort, then grabbed a slip lead for themself. They loosened the loop to go as wide as it would allow. “When I catch her tail, long-poles pull her down at once. Others, be ready to grab her as soon as she’s in range, or she will break free. Be ready with the first magnet, Ralph, you won’t have more that three seconds. Stunners, be at standby in case she grabs someone. Are we all clear?”

The drones gave their affirmation. “Good. Ariel and Marcus, keep her busy at the front.”

Two drones lifted their poles to get V’s attention. It worked, she immediately started to swat the poles away, leaving sparks where her claws struck.

Adrien kept their lead low, eyes fixed on the yellow bulb of V’s tail. When they acted, it was with the fastest reflexes Uzi had ever seen. They went from resting the pole of their lead on the edge of the cage to snaring V’s tail and pulling it taught in a microsecond.

V’s own reflex was lighting fast, twisting around to attack.

“Catch!” Adrian commanded, though the drones were already in motion.

Ariel’s long hook grabbed V by the neck before she could snap the lead on her tail, and then Markus jabbed his into her shoulder. A second later and two more long hooks grabbed V by the wing and waist, and with V off balance from her twist they had her off the roof.

V screeched and beat her wings, but eight more crooks were forcing her down. They didn’t take much care as to where they grabbed her.

“Leads!” Adrian commanded. They handed the lead that was pinning her tail to a different drone and grabbed a fresh one.

She fought was all ferocity, but soon there was a lead looped around her left arm and another around her wrist.

With a surge, V managed to unbalance a handful of drones. She then dove toward them and lashed out.

There was a spurt of oil, then a crack of electricity.

V cried out and went stiff for a moment. That moment was all Adrien needed to slip their lead over her head and synch it around her throat. They yanked her down into the corner of the bars, and the team secured her limbs as best they could.

“Now!”

Ralph slipped between the drones, placed a magnet on the back of her head, and twisted it on.

V thrashed, and Adrien let her pull away by a foot. The others did the same, giving V room to struggle until she struggled to keep it up.

“Good,” Adrian said, and the trainers collectively eased their tension. “Bring her in to finish this. And someone get Samuel to the infirmary.

Samuel, the one V caught, was on the floor with a gaping slash across his chest. Two drones from across the room hurried to him with a gurney.

Even with the magnet, V resisted being reeled back in. With the second one on, she couldn’t gain any ground. With the third, she could only make weak tugs at her restrains.

With V fully sedated, the green trainers left the purple team to take care of the rest.

Charles whipped sweat beads from his visor. “Always an exciting experience with that one. She’ll be good and mad for her fight tomorrow, that’s for sure. What’s that sticking out of your pocket?”

She glanced down to see that Green’s antennae were poking out. “Nothing!” She shoved her hand in the pocket to keep him from coming out any further. “Must’ve forgotten to empty my pocket this morning.”

He shrugged. “Alright, just thought I saw something move. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve put on pants only to find a keybug in ‘em, haha.”

“Ha ha ha, yeah. So, uh, did you need me to do something?”

“Yeah, go run to the staff room and ask for a pass to the cosmetics department. Some idiot managed to knock over one of our paint cans. Go ahead and grab one of each, it’ll save us the trip when V inevitably knocks one herself.”

Uzi gave him a salute, the hurried off.

The cosmetics department was a ways down since it wasn’t used as frequently as the things in the gladiator ring, but it wasn’t as deep as the set stuff. Often on the weekdays there were performers, so having easy access to costuming and stuff was preferred. There were a couple of times Uzi got to watch concerts from her place in the Outlook, though the sound was muffled.

Uzi was passing by the dressing rooms with her paint buckets when-

“Um, is that what you’re wearing to the feast, Loser?”

Lizzy.

“What’s it matter to you?” Uzi rolled her head to see that she and Doll were already in dresses. Lizzy went all out with the pink, only accenting it with some blue ribbons to represent her colony. Doll stayed true to her usual red and black.

“Oh my gosh, Uzi! Has no one ever shown how to dress for a party? Come on, we need to fix this.” She grabbed Uzi by the wrist.

“Wha- Hold on! I need to take these back to-“

“Daniel, take these paints to the Trainer’s staffroom.” With a snap of Lizzy’s fingers, a drone was taking the paint from Uzi while she got dragged to the dress racks.

Chapter Text

From the Keybug Research and Distribution Institute
The Ten Keybug Species: Which one is right for you?

Introduction

Keybugs are fascinating robots, designed by humans to act as an independent cleaning crew then later used for the dual functions of data drives and keys. Hence the name Keybug. Despite the differences, all Keybugs share certain commonalities. They all must have a source of oil and metal, even if their primary objective is not cleaning oil spills. They burn a lot of energy, and must have a way to restore that energy. When resources are abundant, Keybugs will reproduce by laying eggs and raising their young. (Extraordinarily advanced technology that, had the humans not died, could have changed Worker Drone lives forever) These new keybugs are clones of their parent, set with the baseline program for their species.

In this age Keybugs are a popular pet among Drone kind, so this article is to help you find the right bug for you. Although you are probably most familiar with the Common Oranges who infest your pantry, there are several keybugs  to choose from.

Research is still ongoing and currently limited to the Ice Bunker and surrounding area, other colonies, and leftover human data.

Common Orange

Rarity: Overpopulated

Favorite Food: Metal and Oil

Function: Cleanup damaged machinery

Temperament: Varies depending on its experience, leaning on skittish

Details: The common orange keybug is the baseline model for all keybugs, and it is the most adaptive. These high energy robots are driven to constantly seek out oil spills and scrap metal. They prefer dark places because their programing encourages them to stay out of sight.  They often collect in basements or abandoned buildings near a food source. These collections of keybugs are referred to “colonies” and their dwellings a “nest;” pulled from the human terminology for groups of ants.

Common orange keybugs can make great pets if they are raised correctly. If an orange has mostly positive experiences with Worker Drones, it will develop a friendly and affectionate temperament. If an orange has negative experiences, it can become hostile toward Drones. Most wild common oranges are skittish when meeting a Worker Drone for the first time and will avoid contact.

Price Range: 20-60 credit

Dusty

Rarity: Rare

Favorite Food: Debris and Dust

Function: Keep the inner workings of machines clean and running

Temperament: Docile

Details: Dusties are the machine maintenance workers of the keybug types. They clean out dust and debris from gears, pistons, and other moving parts. They are the smallest of the keybugs, able to move into tight places. The fringes lining their belly and tail lets them collect grit as they move, which they’ll clean off of themselves regularly. The dusty keybug has a unique gland that lets it produce grease, or “white oil,” which it applies to moving machinery to limit friction.

Dusty keybugs used to by categorized as “Uncommon” keybugs to find, but their population has decreased significantly due to being considered a delicacy in Drone cuisine. The white oil inside them is rich and savory, and so they are the only keybug raised and harvested for Worker Drone consumption. But they are also a popular choice for pets. Their docile nature makes them easy to handle and care for, and they tend to develop close relationships with their owners.

Price Range: 400-800 credit

Emerald Entry

Rarity: Very Rare

Favorite Food: Metal and Oil

Function: Limit/allow access to certain places

Temperament: Bold and intelligent

Details: The emerald entry is the most intelligent of the keybug species, a necessary programing to let it decipher who it should and should not grant access to its designated entryway. These keybugs are the boldest as well, showing little fear toward Worker Drones and other threats. Their intelligence makes them very difficult to catch, even if you’re luck enough to spot one. They almost never clone themselves because an emerald needs to be attached to an access code to function properly. Emerald entry eggs will remain dormant until the code is uploaded. Occasionally, a parent will give an egg their code, meaning a single entryway can have multiple keybugs.

Emerald entries are a challenge to domesticate as they like to roam across large territories and grow bored when confined to small areas. They often escape cages and abandon owners that they don’t form a connection with. It’s recommended to only adopt an emerald if you intend to spend a lot of time with is. Once a bond is formed, it remains for a lifetime. It may still wander away for extended periods of time, but will always return to a bonded Worker Drone.

Price Range: 800-1,200 credit

Locket

Rarity: Vey Uncommon

Favorite Food: Metal and Oil

Function: Limit/allow access to safes, chests, or small boxes

Temperament: Friendly

Details: Lockets are considered the easiest keybug type to build a bond with. They act as keys to personal safes and were often used by humans for things like jewelry boxes. They are intelligent and very loyal to their owners. Unlike the emerald entry, a locket does not need to have a code before it hatches. Attaching a locket to a safe code is a rather straightforward process if it doesn’t have one already, but it’s recommended to see a vet to help with this process. Lockets do not like to stray too far from their designated safe, and so are good choices for a free roaming pet. Very good choice for young drones.

Price Range: 500-1,000 credit

Royal

Rarity: Very Rare

Favorite Food: Alge and Distilled Oil

Function: Clean hydraulic systems

Temperament: Shy and reclusive

Details: Royal keybugs are considered a high-status keybug pet. Although they are not as rare as neons, they are very hard to find due to their aquatic nature. They spend most of their time in water pipes, only coming on dry land to feed on oil sources they can’t get otherwise. It is suspected that there are many more royals frozen on Copper Nine. Most are found when scavenger parties dismantle human plumbing systems. They are the longest bodied keybug, but they are also slender. Fringes on their legs and tail help them move through water and clean pipes. They can collapse their plating to squeeze through pipes as small as half an inch. Babies will stunt their growth if they have a stable source of food in smaller pipes.

Royal keybugs are very shy and avoid robot contact, even with their own species. They stake out large networks of hydraulic pipes to feed in and come out as little as possible. They are obedient and easy to care for, but not very affectionate toward most owners. Many are content to be in in-home aquariums.

Price Range: 2,000-3,000 credit

True Blue

Rarity: Very Uncommon

Favorite Food: Plastic

Function: Clean up waste plastic

Temperament: Relaxed and uninterested

Details: These are the largest of the keybug types. While shorter than a royal, true blues have the most mass. Their thick girth is do to a large cavity in their chest that allows them to heat, melt, and store plastics for later use. Only a small portion of the plastic a blue keybug eats is used for energy and cloning, so they need a large source of scrap metal and oil to compensate. Most of the plastic these keybugs collect is regurgitated to build plastic structures. In the wild, these are usually nests, but in captivity they can make just about anything given the right schematics. They are usually found in old human dwellings, but competition for food with common orange keybugs makes them harder to find. Blues are bigger and can defend their territory, but do not reproduce as fast. They do not integrate well into outside colonies, but will group with other blues and collaborate when building a nest. While eating keybugs is never recommended unless prepared by a professional, eating a true blue keybug can be actively hazardous do to their molten plastic pockets.

True blues bond best with drones who constantly have projects to work on. They like to be involved, and will grow bored without something to make. They are popular in work settings and as school pets.

Price Range: 200-600 credit

Blue Glass

Rarity: Rare

Favorite Food: Glass

Function: Clean up broken glass

Temperament: Friendly and skittish

Details: These keybugs bond well with Drones, but are skittish in nature. Their diet of broken glass often leaves them exposed. They used to be much more common, but because they are drawn to skyscrapers they get picked off by wild Disassembly Drones. Like the true blue, they have the ability to heat and shape the glass they consume, though they do not build with it. Instead, they form the glass into bead drops that they collect in containers, a design function made to let humans melt down the drops themselves.

Although they are high in demand for jewelers and glass workers, blue glass keybugs also make excellent household pets. They attach to larger beings and see them as their protectors. Glass keybugs will also bond with other keybugs for protection, and are the one other keybug true blues will integrate into their colonies.

Price Range: 400-800 credit

Confidential

Rarity: Uncommon

Favorite Food: Metal and Oil

Function: Safeguard sensitive information

Temperament: Extremely aggressive

Details: Confidential keybugs are the hardest of all the keybugs to tame. Similar to lockets, they don’t have to have preset data, but they are just as aggressive even with nothing to protect. The are the fastest keybug, and the serrations on their legs allow them to deliver cuts. They are the only keybugs known to attack non-keybug robots.

The hostile nature of these keybugs makes them very popular in bug fighting rings. However, something that is often overlooked is that once a bond is formed with a confidential keybug, they are extremely loyal. Drones who successfully tame them claim that it is a very rewarding bond.

Price Range: 100-400 credit

Electrite

Rarity: Uncommon

Favorite Food: Light Bulbs

Function: Clean up broken light fixtures

Temperament: Friendly and social

Details: These keybugs were made to bring light, so they are very outgoing and friendly toward Worker Drones. This, unfortunately, also makes them easy snacks for Disassembly Drones. The lights they consume let them glow brighter than any other keybug, and they have the ability to control the level of their light output. They are not recommended as a lamp substitute, however, as their high energy keeps them constantly on the move.

These keybugs are among the most popular for a simple house pet. They are loyal to their families and are easy to handle for young drones. It’s not recommended to have one housed near a territorial species, as they do not like conflict and will quickly yield their territory.

Price Range: 100-400 credit

Neon

Rarity: Extremely Rare

Favorite Food: Hazardous/Radioactive Chemicals

Function: Clean up hazardous chemicals

Temperament: Docile and Social

Details: Neon keybugs are the rarest keybug on Copper Nine as the largest colonies were collected in the human facilities that got destroyed when the core exploded. They are also the hardest keybugs to keep fed, and so don’t repopulate much. A neon’s color (or colors) changes depending on what they eat, making them incredibly eye-catching.

Neons are easygoing pets and enjoy being around people. They especially like being with each other, though, so it’s never recommended to buy a single Neon. Vets recommend keeping them in trios to prevent distressed behaviors.

Price Range: 4,000-6,000 credit

Conclusion

Keybugs make fantastic pets, but you always want to know what you’re getting into. Building a bond takes some work, even with the friendly species, but all can give a rewarding experience.

Breeding efforts are in place to help restore the population of the rare keybugs, and we are constantly making new discoveries about them.

Want to help? Here are some ways you can contribute to the effort!

• If you have a keybug classified as rare, very rare, or extremely rare, submit its information to the form below and we can incorporate it into our breeding efforts. Don’t worry, your pet will remain your pet and you’ll be involved in every step of the process.
• Use these recommended cleaning practices to reduce food access to wild common orange keybugs. The biggest factor stopping other species from proliferating is the overconsumption by common orange keybugs. If you discover a colony, remember to repot it.
• Adopt a keybug! Shelters are full of keybugs in need of homes, so if you have the room in your home and your heart consider taking one home!
• Volunteer at your local keybug recue by applying here! No matter I you can only give an hour a week, every bit of effort helps us give these keybugs a future.

Chapter Text

This was the most horrific part of the arena Uzi had seen yet.

Dresses hung from twenty foot metal beams attached to a pully system three stories high. Row after row. About ten were low enough to pull outfits from, and another too many hung over their heads like a cloud of impending glitter. There were at least five poor souls ready to assist in lowering and lifting the beams.

Lizzy was truly evil to bring her here. Doll was evil for not stopping her.

“We’ll find something for you in here,” Lizzy said. “This place can salvage any looser.”

“Except Rebecca,” Doll commented.

“Except Rebecca,” Lizzy agreed.

“And what if the looser doesn’t want to be salvaged?” She edged away from the nearest rack.

“Uzi. You cannot sit next to us with that on at the dinner.” Lizzy’s voice was surprisingly stern. “Not in front of Sidney.”

“Sidney? Who’s – Wait, since when am I sitting next to you?! I’m sitting with the Outlook staff.”

“Since I invited you, duh,” Lizzy rolled her eyes. “And no turning it down, you owe me.”

“For what?” There was no way this was fair.

“For being a jerk,” Doll said.

“Ugg, I never asked to be-“ … friends. She never asked to be friends. And she’s never had any. “-pulled into this,” Uzi’s doubted they missed her stuttered redirection.

“Okay, look, just give me a moment to process. You kind of yanked me in here out of nowhere.” Uzi rubbed a hand over her knuckles. She wasn’t doing this. Was she doing this?

“Alright, moment’s up, we’ve only got four hours to get you ready.” Lizzy pushed Uzi toward the rack she’d worked so hard to stay away from. “Lucky for you, I’m a pro at outfitting people.”

“Mm. Saves me the trouble,” Doll said.

Lizzy started flicking through the outfits faster than her dad could flick through a door catalogue.

“No, no, no, cute but not for you, no, gross, no, no, someone needs to burn it, no…” It wasn’t until she was two thirds of the way through the rack that Lizzy pulled something off. But she handed to Doll instead of Uzi, then went right back to the rack.

Doll must have noticed Uzi’s confusion, because she said, “It’s a process of elimination. Let Lizzy find the ones she likes for you, then you can decide which you hate. Its faster this way, trust me. I give her a limit of twenty. If you’re lucky, she’ll go easy on you with fifteen.”

“Ugg, you’re making it sound like I’m some dress drill sergeant, Doll.” Lizzy handed her two more dresses.

“Is that not your profession?”

“Funny. Next rack ladies.”

“What’s funny is that she thinks I’m joking,” Doll said to Uzi, a twinkle of amusement in her eye.

“Heh, hey, yeah uh…” She didn’t know what she was saying. She didn’t know what she was supposed to say.

Is this friending?

“Hey, need a hand here! Also someone go put this in the forbidden rack!”

Fifteen minutes later Doll had fourteen dresses hooked on her fingers and arms.

“Okay, that’s good enough for a first pass,” Lizzy declared.

Uzi’s core went cold. “First pass?”

“Lets get you to the changing room.”

Somehow, by some inconceivable miracle, the dresses Lizzy picked out for her weren’t actually all that horrible. She took out three of them right away, but was willing to give the others a second look.

It’s not that she’s never wanted to wear a dress before…

None of them were obvious winners, so she picked one out that she was okay with. It was only when she went to take off her hoody that she realized she had a problem.

She examined each of the dresses. “Hey, uh, Lizzy?” Uzi called out from her stall. “Do any of these dresses have pockets?”

“Some of them. You’ll want to check the skirt, they’re usually hidden. Need a place for your phone?”

“Yeah, uh, that.”

She succeeded in finding some pockets. The problem was that they were only big enough for a phone. Green could fit, but it’d be uncomfortable. And noticeable.

The others were the same.

Let’s give this a try…

Uzi lifted Green out of her pocket so she could take off her hoody. He immediately started tickling her fingers.

Dang it, I need to feed him too. This isn’t good.

“You almost done in there? Just pick one and show us. You don’t have to find your favorite right away.”

“Right.”

She could feel her core pulse through the pipes in her neck, and saw a bead of sweat displayed on her brow in the mirror.

When the dress was on, Uzi tried to get Green into the pocket. He surprised her when he actively resisted.

“Come on buddy, I know it’s not ideal but it’s what we got.”

“You say something?”

“Nothing!”

A few more seconds and Green proved that he was not going to be coaxed into the dress pocket.

“Uh, do you know if there are any dresses with bigger pockets?”

“Why do you need big pockets, Uzi?” It was Doll who asked.

“I-“ What do I tell them?

She could be honest, it’s not like they were in the outlook.

“I- uh-“

But Lizzy and Doll actively fed V keybugs for fun.

“I have to-“

Having pets at work wasn’t strictly against the rules, but if word got out that she was carrying a keybug into the arena where infestations are such a serious issue that drones are hired specifically to stop them-

Crack!

Uzi jumped as the mirror in front of her shattered.

It was sudden. Her eye glitched out, the just… crack.

“What was that?” Lizzy entered the changing stall before Uzi could think to stop her. She looked at the broken mirror then at Uzi with concern.

“It’s not what it looks like!” Uzi put up her hands before she could get accused of breaking the mirror because she didn’t want to put on a dress. “It was an accident!”

“Uh…” For once Lizzy didn’t seem to know what to say.

“What is that.” Doll. Her eyes were not on the mirror. They were on the green keybug.

“It’s, uh, not what it looks like?”

“Oh, you’re one of those weirdos who carries your pet around everywhere,” Lizzy concluded.

“What? No!” She picked Green up. Now that it was out of the bag, no point in hiding it. “He’s just hurt and I offered to look after him. He’s not even my pet.”

“Why the secret?” Doll asked.

“Cause I got him from the Outlook. I’m supposed to get rid of keybugs, not bring them back.” She sighed, “I don’t want to get in trouble over it.”

“What hurt him?” Lizzy asked.

“A jar broke or something and stabbed him.”

“Or something?” Doll gave Uzi an intent look.

“It kind of exploded? Look, I don’t know how it happened, but I was trying to catch him and now I feel bad.” Uzi sat down, feeling exasperated.

“Yeah, whatever Weirdo. I can find you a purse to put it in, happy? Now get a dress on!”

Doll lingered longer than Lizzy did, to the point that Uzi started to feel a little uncomfortable.

“Mirrors are cheap,” she nodded to the broken one. “But I don’t recommend punching them.”

“I didn’t punch it!”

Doll smiled. And then she left.

Great. Good job friending, Uzi.

~*~

Loath as she was to admit it, the purple dress she settled on was actually nice. Green was comfortably nestled into a black side-saddle purse, recently fed and happy.

It was confirmed that Uzi was dismissed from her afternoon duties. Lizzy had a scary amount of authority in her work life, and Uzi wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

Also, it wasn’t until the hour before the feast that Uzi fully comprehended what “sitting next to Lizzy” meant. This wasn’t an invitation to sit at the popular kids table in the cafeteria.

She sank deeper into the velvet lined chair.

Uzi was going to be sitting with the royal families.

Chapter Text

The waiting room they were in was luxurious, designed to host royalty, champions, performers, and brides before they stepped out into the arena. It was a level up, but attached to a staircase that took it right the honored arena entryway.

Kahn had designed a total of twenty seven different doors along the perimeter of the ring, and this was one of the more regularly used ones.

Inside the room were several high-class Drones Uzi didn’t recognize, but also a few she did. Most of them had the blues of the Ice Bunker represented somewhere in their apparel. Those who did not sport any blue instead had the green and gold of the Sunscraper Colony. Doll was the only exception, wearing instead the red and black of her colony.

The men and ladies milled about and chatted with each other with excessively formal mannerisms. They were mostly older drones with worn edges to their joints and faint wrinkles displayed on their visors.

Lizzy was on her phone while Doll sat with her head on a fist. Only once did an aged drone address the girls, or rather Lizzy. She was waved off with a disinterested, “Yeah, yeah, Grandma, I know.”

Uzi wasn’t sure if she was literally Lizzy’s grandma or just some old lady Lizzy was insulting. She was too scared to open her mouth and ask, because it felt like the moment she said something out loud everyone would notice her and realize that she did not belong here.

She fidgeted with the blue sash around her waist, wishing they could get this feast over with already.

That’s when the air in the room took a shift. Lizzy had put down her phone.

“Sidney,” she said with a hiss.

Across the room at the left entrance were two young adult drones like them. One was tall, braided blond hair falling across her shoulder. She wore a simple, long green dress. The other was short, as in half a head shorter than Uzi herself. Her light brown hair flared around her neck. Her dress was a bright showcase of pink, green, and gold, all studded with rhinestones. It made Uzi’s eyes hurt.

The shorter drone spotted them and strutted forward with a confidence that belied her height. The taller girl stayed one step behind her.

Lizzy and Doll were standing up now, and Uzi got the distinct impression that she was supposed to be as well. She’d seen enough of Lizzy’s face offs in school to know what this was.

She used to get a kick out of them and how stupid the popular girl drama was. But that’s when she was able to watch from the back of the room where no one cared that she existed. She wasn’t supposed to be a part of it.

Lizzy what are you dragging me into?!?!

“Wow, if it isn’t little Lizzy all grown up?” The short drone placed a finger to her cheek to accentuate her mocking tone. “Still carrying around the Russian sorceress, I see. But this one’s new. Finally replaced Rebecca? You must be scrapping the bottom of the oil vat if this is the best company you can find in your own colony.”

It threw Uzi off to be addressed so quickly. On instinct, she was about to throw a retort, yet a glance at Doll and Lizzy told her that’d be the wrong move to make. They were both calm, completely unruffled.

Time to do what she always did in these situations: sit back and watch. It can’t be that different to watch up close, right?

“Still throwing that sorceress rumor around, Sidney?” Lizzy said in a tone that reminded Uzi why she used to hate her. “I forgot how outdated you are up in the clouds. No one’s used that one in ages.”

Uzi did remember that now that Lizzy brought it up. There was some popular kid drama, again, and for about a year after people were calling Doll “The Russian Sorceress” due to some weird coincidence that happened to follow her around.

“And this is Uzi Doorman, daughter of Kahn doorman.”

The smug twitch in Lizzy’s smile and the slight dilation of Sidney’s optics made Uzi want to die of humiliation. Her dad. Of course no one question why she was here. Her dad was famous, borderline nobility.

That… wasn’t why Lizzy decided to bring her to her side of the feast… was it?

“Still looks like a looser,” Sidney said. “You collect the weirdest friends.”

“And Suzan is still the only drone not too scared to stand next to you,” Lizzy replied.

Suzan grunted with a shrug.

“Oh, I’ve got friends,” Sidney placed a hand to her heart, “they just didn’t want to take the risk of traveling here.”

Lizzy rolled her eyes. “That’s right, you and you’re poor colony, such victims in this cruel world. Still playing the pity card.”

Sidney scowled and Suzan tensed.

“But hey, that’s why you’re here, right? To have us solve your pitiful problems?”  

“Watch it, princess,” Suzan warned. “You do not get to joke about our situation. Unlike you, we have to learn how to survive the real world.”

“Enough of this,” Doll said. “We are not the freshmen highschoolers we were three years ago. Or has it been four? I forget.”

“Give or take,” Lizzy said. “But Doll is right. We’re adults now, so lets settle this the way adults do. With a bet.”

“Quite an assumption to think you’ve got something I want,” Sidney said. “But fine, whatever. If our drone’s are going to battle we might as well put something on it. Just don’t risk too much, Lizzy, you know that B outclasses V.”

“Only in weight,” Lizzy said. “Seriously, you need to put your drone on a diet.”

“Oh I think you’ll find that B knows how to throw that wait around,” Suzan said. “The don’t call her the Crushing Queen for nothing.”

“V is used to taking on bigger opponents,” Lizzy shrugged.

“Fair, but only because you have the smallest drone in captivity?”

“Really?” Uzi asked. Then mentally slapped herself for breaking the ‘no speaking’ rule she’d given herself.

“No, idiot,” Lizzy said. “The Greenhill Colony has a way smaller Disassembler, and the Subdwellers have on about the same.”

“But it’s true that V is on the small side,” Doll confirmed. “And B is the largest known female Disassembly drone.”

Lizzy shot Doll a glare while Sidney looked pleased with herself. “Don’t worry, Lizzy. You can rest knowing that there are, in fact, drones half V’s size in the wild.”

Really? That would mean there are Disassemblers smaller than Workers out there…

“Size doesn’t matter when it comes to V,” Lizzy said. “She’ll shred B before she can even land a hit.”

“Doubt it. But I know I won’t convince you, so let’s just move on to the betting part.”

The next twenty minutes of Uzi’s life was listening to two privileged girls argue over ridiculously expensive things to be on. At first it started simple, but as they each sought better prizes they were forced to put more on the line. None of it was the kind of stuff Uzi cared about. Designer dresses, expensive jewelry, tickets to an exclusive virtual concert, a few hundred thousand credit.

Okay, so maybe she cared about the credit, that was a lot of money to be throwing around.

The girls where finally setting the deal with a formal contract when the room became quiet.

At this time, the room was so pact with dignitaries that it was stuffy in more ways than one. But everyone managed to make room for the final arrivals.

Lord Luis with Lady Dahlia in hand, and beside them a woman clad in gold that Uzi had never seen. The crown in her hair marked her as Queen Heather of the Sunscraper Colony.

“Where’s your dad?” Lizzy asked Sidney.

There was a long pause before Sidney answered. “Dead. He got caught in an attack eight months ago.”

For once, Lizzy looked genuinely shocked. She didn’t get the chance to ask any questions.

“This your other guest, Lizzy?” Lord Lewis asked. There was skepticism in his voice.

“It’s Doorman’s daughter.” Lizzy was already pulling her phone out.

“Ah, I see! Very well then, lets get this feast underway.” He made a grand gesture, and all the nobles arranged themselves in a line for the door.

Uzi stood next to Doll right behind Lizzy. They were the first ones on the arena after the royal families.

Chapter Text

Forgetting how exposed the arena makes you feel is easy when you’re always watching from behind a window. Uzi felt oil rise in her throat as she looked up at the millions of eyes watching from the stands.

So she stopped looking up at the millions of eyes.

Uzi knew how the tables were being laid out based on the blueprint that had been floating around the past few days, but this was the first time she was seeing the complete artistry.

At the center of the arena was a low, oval stage with a band already stationed on it. They played an epic fanfare for the entrance of the royals.

On either side of the stage were the long tables, two on each side and already seated with the crew of the respective colonies along with other invited guests. They were long enough to sit three hundred drones each. These tables were laid out like a five star restaurant had set them, rather modest compared to the head table Uzi was approaching.

The head table had a ridiculous amount of junk piled on top of it’s gold-trimmed tablecloth. Artificial flowers were seated in pots of rubies and emeralds. Hand carved statues stationed every three seats, depicting anything mythical creatures to legendary battles of the arena. The centerpiece was an ice sculpture of a Disassembly drone perched on a mound of corpses. Fairy lights and wreaths wound around all the decorations, leaving no room between the plates and the stands waiting to receive food.

Across the arched head table, all the way across the stage, where to smaller tables. These were adorned with ribbons and insignias: the Gladiator’s tables. More formally known as the table of heroes, one for each of the colony’s champions. At this time, those tables were empty.

Beyond those, away from the perimeter of the stage, were two more tables the size of the staff and guest tables. They were plainly set compared to the rest, but still lined neatly with table cloths and a few flower vases. Empty, for now.

Past the crew and staff long tables hung massive black curtains. The Murder Drones would already be on their podiums now, waiting for their reveal.

The royals, nobles, ambassadors, and all other important such drones fanned out along the head table, but none of them sat.

When all were at their places, Lord Luis raised his hands to address the audience. “Great people of the Ice Bunker Colony, today we welcome our honored guests from far across the Barren City, please welcome the Sunscraper Colony!”

When his voice could be heard over the thunder, Luis continued, “Queen Heather and I have settled our negotiations, but per arena tradition we shall not seal the agreement until after the Welcoming Feast. It is customary for Colonies who seek a dual to showcase their forces for the other to see, so that either may choose to back down.” No one cheered at that. “Then we feast together in a sign of good will, to understand that no matter the outcome, we shall honor each other and our bargain. And so!”

The music swelled again, managing to be invigorating without overshadowing the Ice Bunker Lord’s voice.

“Let the Show of Might Commence!”

The music then boomed, and voice of the crowed nearly made Uzi’s audio receptors malfunction. They were tamed down when Javier took control of the mike.

“Alright, everybody! It’s been too long since we’ve had a proper dual! And boy do we have a lineup of Champions tonight! Let’s welcome our heroes!”

He took his time introducing every gladiator one by one, drawing out the celebration. Each got a moment with the stage to themselves before finding their place at the table of heroes. Uzi knew that Thad was in the stands right now dreaming of the day his name would be announced like this. Because the meeting of two colonies was such a major event, only the top Gladiators would be participating in this weekend’s events.

An hour later, the last Champion was seated. Both sides had some impressive looking gladiators, but Uzi wasn’t knowledgeable enough to guess which side would come out on top.

“And now let us bring forth the sacrificial souls for tomorrow’s games. Each colony has brought their own tribute to the arena, and we are to see them to a proper meal before most of them, you know, die a wonderfully gruesome death.”

The crowed laughed, but only for a moment as the musicians began to play a sorrowful song. Guards and prisoners began to march from either side of the head table, then met in pairs at the stage. They were outfitted in bold colors to represent their colonies, with numbers printed on their front and backs. It almost looked like they were wearing jerseys for a high school basketball game.

Ice Bunker drones came from the right, Sunscrapers from the left. Matching numbers were paired up, led down the stage for everyone to see, then seated at the far tables. Chains on the table were attached to the prisoners’ wrists before their guards circled back to pick up another pair.

It was a faster procession than the gladiators, but took just as long for the sheer number of drones marked to die. Three hundred from each colony. Many shook as they stepped across the stage, a few tried to break free, but most marched with empty eyes.

With the last drones of the feast seated, the music hushed.

“And now, folks, for the true reveal. The Champions that will decided, the fate of our Colonies, the contestants of the Grand Duals, the Disassembly Drones!”

The great black curtains rippled, wavered, then fell.

N, V, and J were all perched on their pillars, drowsy from the magnets but alert enough to still be intimidating. A heavy-set collar around their necks sprouted five chains to lock them to their platforms. It resembles the Sunstar trap, Uzi realized.  

She had to admit, they looked very impressive on those podiums, marked with the Ice Bunker colors and coats glittering under the spotlights. But her eyes were drawn to the drones across the arena.

B and S, the two Disassembly drones of the Sunscraper Colony. Both marked in green and gold paint, and just as unhappy to be here.

As promised, B was an immense female Disassembly drone, probably an inch taller than N if she were to stand upright. He chest and limbs were thickly set, implying that there was a lot of power in her forelegs. Her wingspan didn’t match her burly size, but she still flared them in an angry display.

Uzi now saw why Sidney was so confident in her drone. She looked like she could pry open the front door of the Ice Bunker should she get a hold of it. She had to outweigh V by at least one hundred pounds.

V, for her part, was doing a good job of showing of her spiky personality. That fight would be a boar verses a wolf.

Uzi didn’t dwell on that drone and the fact that it didn’t make her worry that things could take a nasty turn for V. No, her concern was with the drone N was set to fight against.

If there was one way to describe S, it was long. He looked skinny, but only because his arms and legs were built for reach. His tail wound around his podium’s full diameter. He sat in a hunched sulk, like a teen forced to pause his game for a family dinner.

He really didn’t look as much of a threat as B did, at least from the outset. But there was something in his eyes, something like J’s. Something that spoke killer.

N was missing his opportunity to size up the competition. His openly curious eyes were watching the drones below, taking in the feast and all its grandeur.

A puppy about to face off against a coyote.

Yeah, Uzi was a little worried.

Chapter Text

With the Show of Might complete, the mood of the arena began to shift. Conversations started, the band was replaced by stage performers, and uniform drones filed in with silver trays.

In other words, it was the worst part of any gathering. Socializing.

To her left sat Doll, absently twirling her dinner knife around as Lizzy scrolled through her phone. On her right was a complete stranger with an over-styled hairdo and aloof expression. Fortunately, she was more interested in gossiping with her neighbor than Uzi.

“You look nervous.”

It took Uzi a moment to register that Doll had spoken to her. “Bit me. I’ve never been to one of these things before, and I don’t belong at this table.” She kept her voice low so it wouldn’t carry past Doll.

“You are the heir to the Doorman name. No here will question your placement.”

Uzi glared at the gold tinsel next to her plate. The Doorman name. The only reason people care about me is because of him.

She wasn’t going to start badmouthing her father in front of a bunch of drones who saw him as a savior.

The truth was, her dad had earned his title among the elite. While the catacombs of the Ice Bunker have always been one of the safest places for Worker Drones to escape the surface, it wasn’t always as secure as it was now. Just fifty years ago, breaches were a regular occurrence in the upper levels. Fortified defenses fell through, and groups of Workers were dragged away. It was the same predicament as the Sunscrapers had now, though they did have security the further down they went.

That changed when Kahn stepped forth. He introduced revolutionary designs that made the Ice Bunker impossible to breach. He made interior security secure, so crime was forced to take a step back. And the Arena was better fortified, making the presence of captive Murder Drones only a liability to those who handled them.

The Ice Bunker survived well for a hundred years, but it truly began to thrive after Kahn Doorman sealed the way.

As Uzi glared down at her plate, the refection of her left eye glitched. One moment it was a furrowed oval, the next it was a three pronged star. She barely registered the shape when the face of her plate cracked.

She gasped, then glanced around for anyone who might have seen.

“Did you say something, dear?”

Oh. Oh, no no no no no…

“Me? I, uh, I was just talking to myself.”

The lady raised her eyebrow.

Quick Uzi, think of something quick!

“Just, you know, thinking to myself about how great our doors are and how we’re so lucky to have my dad around to build them, heh heh.” She felt utterly disgusted with herself for falling back on her fathers name so quickly. It’s what was no the forefront of her mind, but it was definitely not what she wanted to be known for.

The confusion cleared from the woman’s face, and a numbness crept into Uzi’s core. “Oooh, you’re Kahn’s little drone then! Well that explains why I haven’t seen you around before he hardly attends any of our social gatherings, right Fredrick?”

The drone beside her grunted an affirmation.

“Always so busy, that drone, he needs to take a break every once in a while. I always extend an invite to my house parties, you know, but I never seem to get a reply.”

Ah, that would explain the large stacks of junk mail she’d find in the disposal.

“You should absolutely encourage him to come over, get out a little bit and establish good company.”

Uzi tensed when the lady placed a hand on her shoulder.

What was she supposed to say? That her dad most definitely was not interested in attending elite parties? That she wouldn’t be suggesting anything to him because they were not speaking at all right now? This drone was clearly expecting an answer, and it was making Uzi feel hot. She fiddled with the edge of the tablecloth.

“Well, uh, you see-“

“Pardon the wait, my ladies.”

Thank the robo-gods, they were interrupted by the arrival of dinner. The waiter stepped between them to place hot plates covered by silver tops on top of their original plates. He frowned when he noticed the cracks in Uzi’s current plate, but didn’t say anything about it.

A different drone filled the stemmed glass she had with an amber liquid. The smell that wafted from it was pungent, and something she usually caught a whiff of off the breath of other drones.

“They serve gasoline?” Uzi asked Doll.

“Mh. It is common at dinners and feasts, though not usually very strong. They have weak stomachs here in the Ice Bunker.

“You drink the stuff?”

“There are drones who can drink gasoline without getting drunk. It only requires moderation. That said, I have indeed… explored what it is like to drink past my limit.”

“What was it like?” Uzi was intrigued. She’d always wondered what it was like to operate on gasoline.

“Felt powerful for a night. Then I felt sick for three days.” Doll swirled her drink around. “Not something I can afford to do again, I’ve too many responsibilities.”

Curiosity winning out, Uzi reached for her goblet.

“Not yet,” Doll warned. She set hers down without having taken a sip and angled her head toward Lord Luise. He had not touched his feast yet, and neither had any other drone in the Arena. Even the crowd above lacked the telling clink of silverware on plates.

When the last plates were laid out and the waiters stood in ready positions, Lord Luis stood to address the Arena. He raised his goblet high. “Let us join in comradery and feast!”

The waiters removed the silver coverings on the royal and hero tables in a synchronized gesture. Permission granted, drones began to feast.

Worker Drone’s did their best to imitate the grand feasts depicted in human literature, which resulted in creative meals. There were platers of triple A batteries set on top of circuit plates using spray foam. Bowls held button batteries mixed into a gooey sauce of antifreeze. Foot-long twelve-volt batteries were sliced and drizzled with motor oil.

All of that looked really good, but being at the royal table meant that Uzi was already provided with a special entre. It gave her mixed feelings.

On her plate were three grey keybugs, their fringed carapaces pulled back to reveal the fatty insides. They were small, barely half the length of her thumb.

Uzi had heard of this dish before, but never had the desire to try it. For one, it was extremely expensive, and for another, they were keybugs. Dusty Keybugs, the little mites that cleaned large machinery so that it kept a smooth operation. They were built with a large gland that produced grease intended for gears and pistons. That grease made them something of a delicacy to drone kind.

She glanced toward her purse where Green was hiding. It felt kind of wrong to be served keybugs after all that. It made her feel even worse that they were being eaten right in front of him.

Deciding to avoid the dilemma for now, Uzi stared to eat the mixed batteries also pre-provided on her plate. They’d been sautéed, on of her favorite ways to eat them.

Conversation had picked back up around the table, and no one seemed inclined to involve Uzi in it. That was fine by her.

Getting an idea, Uzi glanced around to see if anyone was paying attention. She discretely grabbed a napkin and wrapped the dusty keybugs in it. She acted as though she were wiping her mouth, just in case, then slipped the napkin with the bugs under the table, then into her skirt pocket.

Uzi didn’t want to try them, especially if they were as good as drones say they are. But she had another use for them.

With her plate cleared, Uzi helped herself to the other dishes provided.

So being invited to a fancy feast had its perks.

She was well into the pile of food when the Arena was interrupted by Javier. There’d been a variety of performances going on, on the stage, but she’d only been half paying attention to them. Something about Javiers voice made it hard to ignore him. Conversation didn’t stop, but it definitely quieted down.

“My lords and ladies,” he said in an exaggerated act of surprise. “It has been brought to our attention that the feast is not complete!” The other drone’s on the stage gasped and leaned back. This was very clearly a staged performance.

“Pray tell,” Lord Luis said, “what have we missed? Our families and guests are fed, our heroes are studded, are audience is catered to, and the tributes are provided for. What could we possibly be missing.”

“The champions of your grand dual my lord, the beasts on which you bet, the Murder Drones! They have yet to eat!” Javier gestured to the looming perches.

Noticing the attention, N wagged his tail. V was busy picking her teeth with a claw.

Rather embarrassing next to the sulking S and brooding B. At least J looked somewhat like the ferocious predator she was.

“Why, you are right!” Lord Luis acted his part well. “We cannot send our beasts into battle if they are not at their best. What might you suggest we do to remedy this situation?”

“Seeing as this is a feast most finest, old oil and mulch simply won’t do. What do you all think?” Javier turned the question to the crowed and was met with the appropriate booing.

“No, I think not,” Luis agreed.

“I think there is only one thing that can meet the standards for serving a Murder Drone at a Grand Feast: Live prey.”

To this, the crowed cheered.

“Lord, I know you have set aside three hundred tributes, and Lady Queen, I know you have brought three hundred of your own to match. Might I propose you each offer two in a trade to feed you beasts? A sign of goodwill and the desire to witness the best of battles.”

Lord Luis turned to Queen Heather and offered a hand. “I offer two of my tributes to feed your Murder Drones.”

“And I offer two of mine in return.” They shook.

“Oo, looks like we’ll be getting some real entertainment tonight!” The lady drone next to Uzi clapped her fingers together in delight.

A serving trolly was wheeled to the front of the royal table, holding a glass bowl filed with white slips. It was placed between the Lord and Queen.

“Shall we each select a number?” He asked?

“Let’s,” the queen agreed.

The two leaders of the colonies reached into the bowl and drew out a slip of paper.

“Two hundred thirty six!” Lord Luis announced.

“One hundred ten,” Queen Heather followed up.

All turned to the tribute tables. The silence held for a long moment before the knights began marching.

A drone began to panic, his number companion had eyes hollow in disbelief. Another began pleading, begging someone else to take his place. The knights were impassive as they detached their chains.

Four of the sacrificial drones wouldn’t get the chance to earn their freedom. Fates sealed by a number drawing.

The green marked drones were dragged toward the blue side, the blue to the green.

Only now did Uzi realize that long chains were hanging from the podiums unattached to the Disassembly Drones. Six knights managed each  sacrifice, shackling their wrists at the base of the podiums.

All the Disassemblers were on high alert now, drawn to the frantic behavior of the condemned.

With the tributes secured, the knights got into position. The chains that trapped the Worker Drones went up to a loop near the top of the platform then drooped back down. A simple pully system of death.

The knights let the tributes struggle, plea, and sob for a full minute before they began to pull. And when they did, they pulled slowly. This was s a show, after all.

Unsurprisingly, S was the first to get ahold of his drone. He hooked his claws into the pipe arm of his new toy and dragged him up. He ripped him off the chains, causing his hands to fall back to the sand. S pinned the drone with one foot as he cried in agony, then began to gnaw on the arm.

B was straining against her chains in anticipation of the food delivery, but it was V who got hers next. V waited crouched on her platform until her drone was in reach, then pounced. All six of her claws pierced his chest. The chains didn’t lend the Murder Drones much mobility, but V was able to propel herself back up with her wings to drop her catch at the center of her platform. She than tore his chest plate off and began digging around his insides. The drone screamed for a while, but didn’t suffer too long before his screen turned read with a Fatal Error. V pulled out a bright green diode from him and popped in her mouth, then continued to pick out her favorite entrails, letting her arms get covered in oil.

B finally got ahold of her drone. She dragged him strait to her mouth, biting down on his neck with an audible crunch. He wailed as she shook him, then began to tear off chunks. Uzi considered him fortunate that his head fell off a few seconds in.

N waited patiently until his drone was well within reach. She was the luckiest of the sacrifices, because all she got was a tail stab to pull her up and then her head was off in a clean cut. N licked the oil from his blade before swapping it back into a hand. He drank the oil from the head, then began to open the body to access the rich insides. He did not get himself covered in oil.

Despite being the first one grabbed, S’s drone was the last to go silent. He stayed aware for a full five minutes as S ate him alive, not caring to grant a killing blow.

The rest of Uzi’s feast didn’t look as good anymore.

That’s when Uzi noticed that Green was not in her purse anymore.

Chapter Text

Green had managed to crawl out of the purse and was now lapping up the residual oil on Uzi’s plate. In plain view.

Her hand only just started to move when a scream split her right receptor.

“AAAAAA! Vermin! Vermin on the table!” The lady drone next to Uzi fell backwards out of her chair.

Uzi scooped up green and hid him back in her purse. Her motor was pulverizing her chest.

They saw him. They saw him. They saw that I brought a f@%!*# keybug to the most important table at the most important feast!

Drones were looking at her, leaning over to see the commotion.

“Where? Where did you see it?” Fredrick helped his lady stand up, then looked around for the offending creature.

“It- it was- oh,” She seemed to catch her breath now that the bug was out of sight. “It was right there, on the Doorman girl's plate.”

Now all eyes were definitely on her. Too many eyes.

Stop. Stop it. I don’t want to be here, I don’t want to be a partofthisIdon’t-

“Did you happen to see it, my dear?” Fredrick asked her.

“I-I-I uh-“ On a reflex, Uzi put her hand up. A flash of purple. Then a goblet shattered and a fork flew forward, smacking the gentledrone square in the face.

There was a loud gasp as the entire arena watched.

Uzi was frozen. Her processors went numb, and she couldn’t think. Couldn’t understand what happened. Didn’t know what to do. All she could feel was the panic burning through her core.

“My bad, I thought I saw the bug. Bad throw.”

Doll. Doll was talking.

“Does anyone else see it?” Lizzy asked.

“I think I mistook a reflection in Uzi’s glass,” Doll said.

“I-“ The lady drone looked truly perplexed. “I suppose it might have been a trick of my imagination…”

Drones around the table started to groan. Then they were looking away, chatting with neighbors about the pointless disruption.

“Agatha, really, you just about gave half the table a motor attack,” Fredrick scolded. “Just look at this poor girl, she looks like you triggered a deep-seeded phobia.”

It took a very long moment for Uzi to realize that she was the ‘poor girl.’

She couldn’t form words to respond. Even with attention diverted, the heat wasn’t going away.

“Lizzy, let’s go get Uzi cleaned up. Now.” Doll got up and grabbed Uzi by the arm, pulling her from her seat.

There was gasoline soaked into her dress. The broken goblet.

“Ugg, fine. Leaving, Dad. Probably won’t be back.” Lizzy gave a backwards wave as she flicked though her phone one last time before tucking it into her pocket.

Doll’s grip on Uzi was tight, and her walk was brisk.

One moment they were in the brightly lit arena. Then they were in the cool depths of the catacombs. Now they were entering a house Uzi’s never seen before. She didn’t register anything in between. Lizzy broke off to go to the kitchen while Doll brought Uzi into a bedroom.

Once they were inside, the glitching in Uzi’s brain finally started to smooth out enough to form coherent sentences.

“I – uh, thanks for –“

Thramp!

Uzi was slammed against the wall by the wrist, making her vision blank out for a second.

It cleared to red.

Doll was glaring at her, hand outstretched with a blazing red symbol at her fingertips, a hexagon splitting into three barbed prongs.

Uzi gaped as she recognized the shape.

It wasn’t tangible, it was light. Light without a screen or source. Or was Doll the source.

“You recognize this then?”

Doll was aggressive with her speech, cold and direct. Nothing like the high school prep Uzi always viewed her as.

“I- I don’t know-“

“Have you seen this,” Doll demanded.

“I- yes! Kind of? Look, I don’t know what it is, I just-“

“Clearly.”

The hold on Uzi’s wrist let go as Doll turned away to curse under her breath. A prong dropped to the floor next to Uzi, and she realized that that’s what was pinning her. She realized what was obvious to her visual receptors.

Doll wasn’t toughing me.

“What- what’s going on? What is this?”

Doll whipped around. A blur came straight for Uzi’s eyes, and with panicked instinct she threw her hands up to block it.

A flash of purple.

A knife was held suspended in the air, trapped by a miniature purple replica of Doll’s symbol.

Uzi gasped, and the purple dissipated. The knife dropped harmlessly to the carpet.

“Dude. Doll. What did we say about throwing knives at people?” Lizzy was back, holding a thick mug.

Doll shrugged. “It’s how my mother taught me.”

“Ugg” Lizzy rolled her eyes. She then went to Uzi and handed her the mug. “Here, drink this. I’ve dealt with this mage friend long enough to know it helps.”

The mug was filled with chilled oil.

“Uhh…” Her processors were back to buffering.

Doll attacked her. With a knife. That she stopped. With magic? Was that what this was? The breaking glass? The flying objects? What the heck is Doll? Did Lizzy say mage? What did that make her?!!

“Did you break her?” Lizzy asked.

“Not on purpose.”

“You threw a knife at me!” If there was one truth Uzi could latch onto, it was that.

“I did,” Doll agreed.

“Are you going to explain that?! This?! All of this?!” Some of the oil sloshed onto Uzi’s fingers.

“Probably. But not until you cool off.”

“Cool off?! You just showed me magic! I just did… something! How am I supposed to cool off after that?”

“No, Uzi, you literally need to cool off,” Lizzy said. “Like, your screen keeps giving us an ‘overheating’ warning.”

“Huh?”

Oh, she was right. The heat Uzi felt at the feast was still very present, and there were alerts going off inside her head.

“Dink the oil, dummy.”

Uzi did. The cold oil was an instant relief to her system. It pulled the heat away from her head, and suddenly she could think again. Actually think.

Once she started, Uzi didn’t stop until the mug was empty. Then she just sat on the floor with her eyes closed for a moment.

“What the Hell.”

Even with her head cleared, this wasn’t making sense.

“You want short or long version?” Doll asked.

“All of it.”

“Fair enough. You are a Witch Drone Uzi. As am I.” She lowered her hand, and the red symbol danced between her fingers. “We have abilities that do not follow the rules of robotics, physics, or reality.”

“So, like, legit magic. It’s real. How has know one else heard of this before. How have I never heard of this before. If I’m magic too then…”

“No one knows because the drones in charge of our world do not want anyone to know. This power is great, and it can do a lot of harm. Especially when wielded by the untrained.” There was a hint of accusation in Doll’s voice. “This power is as dangerous to the wielder as it is to those it’s wielded against. It can destroy a colony.”

“Yeah, you really don’t want it getting out that you have Solver powers,” Lizzy said. She stretched out on the bed. “My dad is terrified of drones like you. Doesn’t matter who your daddy is, you’re dead if he finds out.”

“Dead as in…?”

Sigh, “You’ll be thrown into the Arena in a locked-down private event for only drones that know your kind exist. It won’t be fore show, just to prove to everyone that you’re dead. I… I saw it once. When I was six. First time I learned about magic. Last time I met someone with powers from our colony. Until you.”

Uzi gulped. “Soooo, what if I don’t want these powers? Is there, like, a way to get rid of them? How do I even have them?”

“You were born with them,” Doll said. “You may not have known, but it’s always been in you. Strong emotions trigger it. Have you gone through something recently?”

Yes. “Sort of. Not a big deal.”

Lizzy rolled her eyes.

“Look, it doesn’t matter! Just, how do I get rid of it?”

Doll raised an eyebrow. “You don’t. Instead, you are going to have to train to control it, and you’re going to have to work to hide it.”

She took a moment to let that all sink in. And once it sank in, she realize, I’ve got powers. Legit, magical witch girl powers. That I get to keep secret.

Hell yeah!

“Okay, fine, so I have to deal with this now. Are you going to teach me or something?”

“You should’ve already been taught by the parent who gave it to you.” Doll’s expression softened. “What was your mother’s name, Uzi?”

“Her name was Nori. Is that were I’m this from? My mom?”

Dolls expression was her answer.

“Did you know my mom, Doll?”

“No. But I know of her. My mother often speaks of her. She calls her Sister.”

Chapter Text

Uzi twirled the purple triad in her fingers.

Doll told her not to do anything with it yet, to wait till her own mother, Yeva, could give her proper training on how to use is. She promised Uzi that her mother would come to the Ice Bunker quickly with this news. It’s fortunate that the Cabin Fever colony is their strongest ally.

For now, all Uzi could do was keep it under control. Doll explained that the raw magic can get out of control the more her emotions get out of control. Which is stupid, she’s fine. At least now she knows what’s been going on.

Uzi shifted Green off her lap and into her pocket. Because the feast ran so late, she wasn’t expected back at work till one in the morning. That gave her time enough to get home and change out of her dress, then chill for a while.

Tonight was awful. But it was also kind of awesome? Her initial reaction to get rid the purple flashes was only because she didn’t understand what was going on. But now…

Uzi twisted her fingers, and the triad latched onto her blanket. A small gesture, and they were pulled neatly into place.

Oh yeah, she was down with this.

The last thing Doll had warned her about was not overusing her powers. Apparently magic to a toll on robot hardware, and it would leave her prone to overheating. Strong emotions make robots heat up as well, so emotionally charged magic was very dangerous for the user.

Sure, Uzi felt a little warm from the magic, but not much. She could get away with trying things out here and there. Though she did agree that she’d only play around with it in the privacy of her home. She wouldn’t be stupid enough to risk getting caught at the Arena.

She stretched her joints out. Time to go let N out of his cage for a while.

~*~

The eerie of the Arena during witching hour was one of Uzi’s favorite things about this job. Sometimes there were nightlong events going on, but most of the time it was like this. Dark. Empty. Quiet. Peaceful.

Tomorrow’s events weren’t as big as the Disassembly fights, but they were still a big deal. Drones were in the bowl of the Arena to dismantle the remainder of the feast. But the pathways on this side were still, gladiators and knights alike resting before the show.

Uzi looked at the list when she got to the Outlook. N chatted at her cheerfully, in a good mood after his own feast.

The morning would be a variety of minor gladiator events. Gladiators from the different colonies trying to get some victories under their belts. Then was a concert break, a chance for spectators to relax before the exciting stuff. And time for families to get their young ones home.  

Then would be the Tribute Trials, which would carry to the end of the day. First, the Halving. All the tributes would crowd into the ring, then face their numerical partner to the death. The same drone they shared their final meal with. This would set an early precedent for which colony might win, depending on the ratio remaining of each colony at the end.

That was an illusion of probability. A way to get drones betting on the bigger number. Something that would favor both of the colonies, no matter which had the lead. In actuality, most of the events listed only depend on the individual.

The second was a Mass Maze. Unlike most maze events, a large portion of the participants were expected to make it out alive. J would slaughter a good number though. Especially after being denied a meal tonight.

From there it was a list of games to whittle them down to a final survivor. Only one of six hundred, no, five-hundred-ninety-six, would see the next sunset.

With a little deliberation, Uzi decided she would skip attending the events tomorrow. Sure, it’d be cool to watch, but it wasn’t all that different from what she’d seen before. The number of Tributes was massive, but it looked like they planned on changing that in the first two events.

Uzi then checked tonight’s feeding plans, ang got confirmation that she wasn’t to feed any of them tonight. N and V got an entire drone already, and they wanted J extra hungry for tomorrow.

Speaking of which, V was allowed to bring an arm back to her cage to gnaw on, and N was waiting eagerly at his door for Uzi to let him out.

“Got an extra special treat for you tonight,” Uzi told him. She set her bag down then let N out. He circled around her one time, then got into ready position. It only took a few sessions for him to understand their game.

Uzi pulled out the dusty keybugs she’d saved from the feast. “But you’ve never had one of these before.” She threw one up, aiming for the balcony.

N shot up and caught it in his mouth. Then he blinked and took it out of his mouth to see what it was.

“Come on, N,” Uzi called him back down. “I’ve still got two more.”

Uzi tossed the second, and N caught it with a neat glide. Then he took it right to V.

“Ugg, come on, N. You don’t have to give her your treats, she’s evil!”

N ignored her and dropped it into V’s cage. She investigated it for a few moments before eating it. Then she looked at Uzi with new interest.

“Yeah, no. This is not going to be a regular snack.” She threw the last one for N to chase. Thankfully, he did not try to take it to J. After the first incident, he knew to stay clear. Instead he bit off half for himself, the dropped the rest for V.

Guess he is able to understand fair quantity. Huh.

With V distracted by the rich morsel, N reached his tail through the bars and snagged V’s leftover arm. It was just a husk at this point, no oil left to drip out.

V caught on, but didn’t snag it back before N got it to his mouth. He ran up the bars, letting the wrist of the arm dip just within V’s reach. They went in circles for a while before V got a grip on it. Clamping down, she and N began tug-a-war through the bars.

Content that they’d be entertained for a while, Uzi pulled out her pad and headphones to turn on her latest anime fixation.

~*~

Her Dad was late getting in. Figures. Honestly, he should just get a room at the Grand House.

Lizzy rolled onto he stomach, kicking her feet in the air and using a pillow to prop her chest up. Optimal texting speed that way. The entry room couch was one of the most comfortable in the mansion.

“Get the contract signed?” She asked.

He hung his cloak on the coat tree. “I did. Regardless of how the games turn out, we’ve got what we want.”

She nodded. That was the real art of placing bets on duals, making sure you won even if you lose. The Sunscrapers would forever be dependent on the Ice Bunker. Winning meant they would benefit immediately. Losing meant they would benefit within the next two years. The ties were permanent.

“Got some stuff riding on V,” Lizzy stated.

“Good,” her dad said. “Interested in that new friend of yours, by the way.”

“Mm.” Lizzy switched over to the next app.

“Doesn’t seem like your type, very different from other girls you bring around. Good choice though. Khan’s daughter might be a bit damaged in the cerebral network, but the Doorman name is powerful. As I always say, keep the well known close and no one will ever argue.”

“Mhm. Going to bed, Dad.” Lizzy left. He was home, her part was done.

Flopping onto the bed, Lizzy went to a part of her account she only looked at in the privacy of her room.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven… Six-hundred-forty-nine blocked accounts. Four-hundred-thirty-two she knew by name and face. One-hundred-seventy-three she knew well enough to recall good memories. Fifty-eight she used to call her friends.

Chapter Text

The Outlook was filled with pre-show buzz when Uzi got there. The lights were already dimmed so that the windows would be bright and clear.

Uzi was only a little early for the show. And this time she was not surprised to find Lizzy and Doll at V’s cage.  

“Hey.” Uzi greeted.

“Sup, Loser. Ready to watch V hand Sidney’s smug smile back to her?” She rolled a battery treat across the floor of the cage for V to pounce on.

“You’re pretty confident that V will win,” Uzi said.

“Course I am.” Lizzy frowned, and for a moment Uzi saw the hint of worry. “B is a brute, but V isn’t a loser.”

“Trying to give your drone a leg up?” A high voice heralded Sidney’s arrival at the outlook. “Honestly. Lizzy, you’re just making yourself look desperate.”

Lizzy tensed, but turned around to show a lofty smile. “So glad you could make it, Sidney. Suzan.”

V hissed at the newcomers.

“Why’s she here?” Uzi asked Doll in a whisper. “Thought opposing teams weren’t allowed in here?”

“Lizzy invited them,” Doll said. “To see them lose. And they will.” There was no waiver of confidence from Doll.

“So this is the little thing that’s supposed to take down B.” Suzan stepped close to V’s cage. “Wonder how long she will make it. The last one didn’t survive more than a minute.”

V gave a feint attack at Suzan, but she was unfased. “Looks like all bluster and bluff.”

“Trust me, it’s not,” Lizzy said. “Shall we?” She gestured to the stairs.

“Sure,” Sidney agreed. “Hope you have some tissues ready, you’re about to loose your pet.”

Like before, there was a setup already waiting for them on the landing. But this time it was twice as big, a second couch for the extra guests and proper folding tables for refreshments. Rather than crowed all three lead trainers together, Melvin was stationed at Lexia’s stand. Most of the yellow-banded trainers were watching from downstairs, their drone not involved in todays events. Lexia was up here sitting at the coordinator’s booth.

The girls had a third of the Outlook’s loft to themselves.

“I see what you mean,” Sidney said as she got comfortable, “this is a good view.”

“Get V ready,” Adrian called to their team. The trainers stationed below began to direct her to the release chamber.

“Goooood Afternoon Everybody!” Javier called out across his mic. “Tonight, we have the biggest events of the season! The clash of the Champions, the fight between rival Disassembly Drones, and of course, the Grand Dual of the Colonies!” He was quick to get the crowed hyped up.

“We are less than thirty minutes from the opening act, so be quick or miss out!”

There wasn’t room in the stands to spare. Uzi thought she’d seen a full stadium, but now the difference was clear. No longer was there a cluster of eyes watching, it was just a singular mass. Millions of eyes from drones so close together it all blurred together.

“How are the subscriptions?” Amanda asked her cohorts. The Master of the Ring was impassive as ever.

“Looking good so far,” James said. “We’ll probably double on the dot, then get a good stream in during the opening ceremony. Should be a profitable night for such a small opponent.”

“Excuse me?” Sidney caught on to that last bit.

“Don’t sweat it,” Lizzy said, “We go against all the colonies. You know you’re one of the smaller colonies, just own it.”

“Doesn’t have to be rude about it,” Sidney crossed her arms. A butler was quick to bring her some candied batteries.

The show finally began with a presentation of the Colonies. Flag bearers brought forth massive tapestries with their Colonies’ insignia. The competing Champions all Filed out. Because Sunscraper only had three Champion Gladiators, there would only be three duals between the Murder Drone fights. It was no less a big deal. Thad had blown up her phone yesterday with predictions and concerns.

Uzi wished she wanted him to have his chance in their place. She had a hard time looking at the Champions with respect after witnessing the Champion tournament. They were supposed to be the heroes that guarded the scavenger parties and travelers on the surface. Did they ever actually risk their live out there?

With the two colonies given their dues, Javier opened the first round of betting, the Murder Drone duel between B and V.

“Here we go,” Jones celebrated as the numbers came in. “Been too long since we’ve had a proper verses.”

“Where’s it at?” Sidney demanded.

“It’s changin’ fast, deary. Close though, considering this is a house tournament. You’ll rarely see a house drone betted out by a guest, but that’s just because o’ biases. You’re has a good showing, I’ll say that. Musta made an impression at the feat.”

Her smile was very smug as Sidney relaxed back into her couch.

To give betters ample time to bid, there was a silent performance going on in the field. A life sized puppet of a Murder Drone was controlled by five Workers in black. A lead drone in costume faced off against her wile background performers danced to a live orchestra.

“Is that supposed to be J?” Uzi asked.

“Hm?” Lizzy looked up from her phone. “Oh yeah, it’s the Dance of Death. The show’s outdated.”

“Ooooh, isn’t that the one about how your grandfather died, Lizzy?” Sidney exaggerated her sympathy.

“Yep.”

Uzi’s never seen the famed performance of The Dance of Death, but she know how the story went. It was a big part of the Ice Bunker’s history.

Lord Lycan was nicknamed Lord of the Murder Drones, for her was the first to capture and use them in the arena. Or what predated the arena, at least. At the height of his power, he became so confident of his control over the Disassemblers that he proclaimed that he would ride one, and no drone would ever challenge him again.

The extras below played the parts of wranglers and gladiators, holding J down so that Lord Lycan could get purchase on her back. They let go, and for a grand moment the Lord of the Ice Bunker was triumphant. The Puppeteers flew him around in a large lap. And then things took a turn.

Dancing slowly, the puppeteers molded J into a barrel roll, throwing Lord Lycan off balance. She twisted around and grabbed him with foam claws. The supporting actors helped him fall as though her were plummeting from a great height, his favorite Disassembler falling with him. And then they pulled him apart in a scattering of props.

Uzi wondered how accurate the depiction was.

“Alright everybody, get your final votes in! Because it. Is. Showtime!!!” The crowed cheered and bombastic music played while the performers cleared out.

“Time to loose, Lizzy.”

“You wish, pipsqueak.”

The arena went silent, the stands went black.

Ladies and Gentledrones, we bring to you the battle of feral beasts, the match of monsters, the dual of Disassembly Drones B and V!”

The covers to the opposing drones’ cages lifted up to a delighted crowed.

“Coming from across the surface city is B! A mega female Disassembler known to make opponents cower. But our home girl V has a legacy of savaging those who face her. Who will come out on top today? There is only one way to find out.”

“Timer go,” James stated as he pressed a control.

The Jumbotron entered a ten second countdown.

“At the ready,” Adrian called out.

“You’ve got this V.” Lizzy said to herself, lowering her phone for good. Uzi only heard because of their proximity.

Three. Two. One.

Both cages opened simultaneously, and two Murder Drones shot out into the Arena.

B was quick to take center stage, roaring loud to announce her presence. V flicked to the side, opting to circle rather than confront.

It caught B’s attention. She hovered in place as she watched V’s movements. She growled low and glared at V.

“B’s not a fan of drones who don’t submit right away,” Susan said helpfully.

V called out to B in a taunt and began to fly closer, just enough to rile her up.

B roared and pumped her wings to gain height on V. Then she lunged.

V dodged, using the opening of B’s lunge to swipe at her with a tail strike. It only landed a hairline scratch on B’s side, but it was enough to make the other drone angry.

After making one more swipe at V, B dove. She landed on the sand, choosing to take her stand on the ground. She stood up on her hind legs, daring V to get close.

V accepted the dare. Though she could no longer get under B, she kept her air advantage and made a swooping attack. B deflected, but didn’t have time to counterstrike before V was in the air again.

For a while, that’s how the game played out. B held her ground and waited for V to come to her, while V tried to find openings in her defense. V got a few nicks in, but the oil she drew wasn’t enough to do anything but annoy B. She was playing cautious.

Finally, V made a direct attack. She landed on B’s shoulders and dug her claws into her chassis. B grabbed V and pulled her over her head to slam her to the ground, but V used the awkward hold to twist and strike B in the gut, then fly out from under her.

That caused B to stumble, though she looked more surprised than hurt. With a snarl she swiped at V, but the smaller drone was already out of reach.

V knows she can’t afford a hit, Uzi put together. But she can’t draw this out forever.

V dove in for another strike, but she had to pull away without making a hit when B struck out with her black blades. She managed to get a scratch this time.

Emboldened, or tired of waiting around, B began to give chase. With a hiss V evaded her. Her large wings gave her an advantage over B, letting her turn at sharp angles and shift her momentum. B didn’t bother with fancy maneuvers, focusing on getting a hold on V.

With B in the air again, V tried to strike at her soft spots. But every hit was a risk. When she tried to claw B’s side, B made the sudden move of diving into V’s attack and throwing them both off balance. Grabbing onto V before she could slip away, B used her weight to drop them to the ground.

Before V could writhe away again, B bit down on the left joint where her wing met her shoulder, the splitting crack informing all that the wound was deep. V screeched, then twisted to deliver a flurry of strikes directly in B’s face. Her kicking and scratching got B to let go, and she darted forward.

A growl from inside the outlook made Uzi look down. N was trained on the fight with a stiff stance.

“Don’t worry, buddy,” One of his trainers said. “You’ll get your turn out there.”

While V was successful in throwing B off and leaving a sizable gouge across her eyes, she was not clear of her. B slammed her full weight down on V’s right wing before she could fly out of reach, letting her left flap disproportionately.

While pinned, V had her arms and tail free to strike  back. She landed a deep strike on B’s arm with her tail, and used her swords to stop her from attacking her core.

With a roar, B wrapped her hands around the feather blades of V’s wing, then stood onto her hind legs and swung. She flung V up and back down into the dirt easily. V scrambled to pull away, but B repeated the movement in reverse. On the third throw, B tore two feathers from V’s wing and sent her flying across the arena. Long trails of oil streaked from the feathers.

V tumbled into a heap, leaving a long skid mark in the sand. B didn’t give her any time to get her bearings before charging at her. V was fast even after that beating and rolled out of the way. She took to the air to put some distance between them, but with her right feathers messed up and her left wing bleeding from the bite, she didn’t have the same advantage as before. She had to work to stay ahead, and just barely.

The acid in B’s left arm left a sizable hole, forcing her to favor it as she tried to claw at V.

V managed to flip above B and land on her to rake her claws down her back. B roared and rolled. V tried to get away, but her damaged wings didn’t let her. B threw her to the ground. Hard.

Landing next to one of her own feather blades, V staggered and curled into herself.

B dove to for a finishing strike, claws outstretched.

At the last second, V flashed forward and flattened herself to the ground, right under B’s claws.

A long, curved, silver blade protruded through B’s chest. She looked down and the flow of oil falling onto her opponent. V had grabbed her lost feather, planted one end in the sand, and let B impale herself on it. She was nearly buried in the sand to stop from being crushed herself.

With B momentarily stunned, V slipped out from under her. B half tried to swipe, but staggered over the blade in her chest. Moving quickly, V flapped over B and grabbed the protruding blade. She planted her legs on B’s back and pulled, screeching a triumphant call.

B’s roar of pain came out in a gurgle of oil as V ripped the feather through. She tried to grab V, but the damage was done.

V was able to avoid the clumsy swipes and strike herself, no longer too scared to get close. She slashed at B with her swords with a snarl, and B responded by shielding herself with her wings. V did not let up. She fluttered over B again, swapping out her swords for her claws to further the damage on her face.

B batted at her, but only got one hit that pushed V away. And it was only enough to make V come at her side again, attempting to stick her with claws and tail. All B could do was stagger out of the way. She held her wounded arm to the hole in her chest, and gave a whine.

That was a signal to V, she flared her roughed up wings and rushed B. B retreated. At first it was a few staggered steps backwards, but then she turned and flew for the safety of her cage. The bars slammed down, stopping V’s pursuit.

The match was over.

Chapter Text

“What?!” Sidney was out of her seat, glaring through the window. “How the hell- B was winning!”

“But she didn’t.” The smugness in Lizzy’s voice touched memories of why Uzi used to hate her.

“You’re drone plays dirty,” Suzan said. “B had her until she pulled that feather trick.”

“Being smart isn’t playing dirty,” Doll said. “She used her resources.”

Adrian spoke into his command mike, “Back V. You did good today.”

Copper drops were raining into the arena as V made her return. She flew low to the ground, then landed near the center. She took a moment, then jumped back in the air, but staggered midflight. Uzi heard the scrape of her claws as she clutched the entry to her cage to drag herself in.

“Come on,” Lizzy pulled Uzi and Doll off the couch, “let’s go check on her.”

“B better have done some permanent damage,” Sidney said as she followed them down. “Why is that one so loud?”

N was making a ruckus. He stood up in his cage to see over the trainers and made two ahrc calls. He dropped down, moved along the side then stood to repeat the sound. Green stiped trainers were attempting to deter him, but he didn’t pay them any attention.

Now that V was back in her cage, it was clear that she was a mess. The glittering fur of the ice coat was clamped together with oil, making it look like a nest of black thorns. Her right wing was dripping oil, rivulets running down feathers that were twisted and bent out of place. The left had a crack that ran up the arm of it from where the bite on the shoulder crushed her plating. There were chunks of white casing missing between the teeth marks.

Though the fur of the coat obscured most of it, there was a long cut that ran down her left side. And several smaller ones across her arms and legs, a mix of claw marks from getting grappled and cracks from being thrown around. There was a split under her left eye, making it look as though she were shedding black tears.

V sat hunched in her cage, breath heavy as her inner repertory system tried to dispel the heat. While drones don’t need oxygen, they do have to thermoregulate. The exhales V let out distorted the air.

“Hey, V!” Lizzy called out to her. “You did such a good job. Good girl!” Trainers parted to let Lizzy coo at her oversized pet.

“Hrrah?” V actually perked up at Lizzy.

“Can someone get her some oil already?” Lizzy demanded. “Honestly, she’s going to overheat.”

“Uhh, that would be my job,” Uzi admitted.

“Oh.” Lizzy blinked. “Well hurry up then, we aren’t going anywhere.”

Uzi rolled her eyes, but did as she was asked. V was a recurring nightmare for her, though that didn’t mean Uzi wanted to see her malfunctioning.

“- wish that B had taken off the wing,” Sidney was saying when Uzi got back. “You’re drone got off light.”

“Here,” Uzi said. She set the oil in V’s cage with her tongs.

Unlike normal, it took V a moment to approach it. And she didn’t pounce, she just scooped it toward her with her tail and bit the lid off. She used her long tongue to slurp it out.

“No, don’t eat the glass!” A trainer grabbed a crook and tried to pull the jar from V as she started to bite down on it. V growled and held the jar down.

“Here V look at this,” another trainer tried to distract her by waving the dismembered arm from the feast around. She glared at him.

“Come on, V, let go,” Lizzy said. “You know it doesn’t feel good when you eat it.”

V let go of the jar, sulking as she sank to the floor.

“Ahrc, ahrc, ahrc!”  N called out. He sounded agitated, at least to Uzi.

“She’s is going to be fed as much as she wants tonight, right?” Lizzy tapped her foot.

“Of course.” Adrian bowed a little as they stepped up to the cage. “She performed splendidly. Earned you quite a hefty sum tonight, highness. We’ll be sure she gets her reward.”

Lizzy nodded. “Good.”

“You’re drone have a weak stomach or something?” Sidney asked.

“You really don’t know anything about them, do you?” Lizzy shot back. “If a disassembler eats a bunch of glass they’ll puke it back up. That’s pretty basic info. No wonder you lost the bet.”

“Ugh!”

Suzan took an aggressive step toward Lizzy.  

“Pardon us, your majesties,” some drones holding a long hose waved for their attention. “You should stand back. We need to clean V off before the oil dries. Vet gets mad if they’re too much of a mess when she comes ‘round.”

They all stepped away from V’s cage to let them through.

“Wait. There’s a Vet for these things?”

Sidney snorted. “Now who doesn’t no basic things?”

Uzi felt her face grow hot.

“Duh, there’s a Vet for these monsters,” Sidney said. “At least when a colony can afford one.” She gave Lizzy a dirty look.

“It’s a specialized field,” a trainer said helpfully. “Not many drones qualify. Ours is off checking on out guests’ Disassembler now. She’ll be by tonight to give ours a proper assessment.

They turned on the hose and started to power wash V. She looked mildly disgruntled by the blast of water.

 “Check it out! These are in pretty good condition!” A high ranked trainer entered the Outlook, followed by a newbie. Both carried one of V’s feather blades. The one the lead trainer was almost entirely black with oil, marking it as the one B was impaled with.

“Nice!” Another drone came to examine it. “That’s going to go really high, ‘specially cause it made the win.”

“Let me see.” Adrien held out their hand. Standing from the ground, the feather was almost as tally as they were, and Adrien was a tall Worker Drone. “Indeed, go make the listings quickly. We’ll have the best bids while the show is fresh in their minds. But let it run for a week.” They handed the blade back.

With a salute, the trainer and his lackey left for the Trainers Workroom.

“You’re selling them? But can’t V reattach them? I thought Disassembly Drones could heal severed limbs.”

“She can,” Adrian agreed. “But she can also grow new ones. “We don’t have V slated for any major events in the next three weeks, so we can afford to let her grow them back.

“Yeah but…” Uzi looked to Lizzy.

Lizzy examined the edge of V’s cage. “Lost claws and feathers go for a lot. They give the arena a big monetary boost.”

“Indeed. You girls should go back upstairs, I’ll make sure your drone is treated well. You don’t want to miss the Champion Duals.” Adrian snapped their fingers, and the drones hosing V down stopped.

With few parting words, the girls went back to the loft. At the base of the stairs, Uzi snuck a look back at N.

He was still calling to V.

“At least he’s getting good and riled up,” a trainer commented. “Take it easy buddy, your big fight’s a-comin.”

You better not get yourself killed out there. Uzi shook her head clear, and went to watch the Champions. Thad would definitely be quizzing her on it tonight.

Chapter Text

… should’ve 1. But it cool. Streaks break.

Uzi: U finlly decide which guild 2 join?

Thad: Yea, think so. Going green X)

Uzi: Nice

Uzi: Tho thought u said red was most popular? Has most champions

Thad: Exactly

Thad: Red reputation makes it hard 2 get noticed :(

Thad: Green my color anyway

Uzi: Yea, ur right

Thad: Ur drone coming up now Z?

Uzi: Hes not my drone

Thad: He’s ur favorite

Uzi: Hes just not a pain

Uzi: but yea

Uzi: I hope he does ok

Uzi turned her phone off. The champion duals were pretty cool, they were on another level compared to the usual gladiators. But she hardly even saw what happened in the last few. She definitely watched them. She couldn’t remember a singly thing that happened though.

Looking down through the grate, Uzi could see that N was in his release chamber, positioned right under her feet.

“Hrrac, harrc.”

He’d settled down. Somewhat. His focus was still on V.

She’s fine, dude. Please don’t be distracted going into this.

“The time has come, everyone! You have one minute left to cast your votes, your bets, and your prayers! The final showdown is about to begin!”

The jumbotron turned red, casing a cruel glow over the sand as the countdown began.

“Ready for release,” Melvin ordered his team.

57

The monitors at the coordination table blazed with activity, bets raining in faster than hailstorm.

48

Trainers below muttered to each other, too low for Uzi to make out.

32

The silence took hold of the Outlook, the hum of voices outside was white noise.

24

N sensed the changes, and turned his focus to the bars that kept him from the ring.

17

The clamor outside petered out though the storm of bets on screen did not.

14

There was silence, and there was red.

11

S’s yellow eyes were visible within the shadows of his own cage.

9

8

7

6, 5, 4, 3, 2… 1

“Release!”

The ring turned golden as two Disassembly Drones dove into it.

S dove for the sand and flared his wings, letting out a snarl. He clawed the sand the stood up in a threat display. He tall standing upright, yet his claws could still dip past his knees.

N’s entry was a fluid dive into a glide that let him skim the sand with his tail. He flew directly at S, even as the other drone braced for his incoming.

In a moment, S lunged and N veered. N’s wing’s angled sharply, taking him around S so that he could stab him in the side with his sword hand. His momentum took him in a tight circle, but S deterred a second stab by flailing his wings to obscure his weak spots.

N landed his circuit in the sand, sending a wave of it in the air as he faced S from the front.

S didn’t hesitate to attack, swiping at N without fully committing to another lunge. His tail lashed out for balance.

N retracted his wings and rolled under the swiped to kick S in the abdomen. The x on S’s visor flicked to a surprised look as he stumbled away from N.

Getting back on all fours, N shook the sand from his coat and growled. A few drops of oil flicked out as he returned his wings, showing that S did land a mark.

The two male Disassemblers began to circle each other, not so quick to risk another assault now that the first blows have been dealt.

N gave a test lunge, prompting S to strike out. S’s claws reached just two inches from N’s face. If that were a committed attack, N wouldn’t have gotten close to S’s core. They repeated this a few times, N pressing S and S retaliating defensively, making it clear that his claws were not to be trifled with.

Then N did commit to an attack, but he did not rush at S head on. He ran forward and grabbed the cord of S’s tail in his mouth, then launched himself in the air. This effectively threw S off balance, and N let go to grapple him on the back. But S twisted around and slashed N across the chest rather than try to regain his balance.

N let out a cry and backed off while S fell to the sand on his back. S recovered quickly and launched to meet N in the air, switching his claws for swords.

A clang rang out as N blocked S’s swords with his own. They exchanged strikes and parries until S caught N on the leg with his tail, making N cry out and leave himself open just long enough for S to land a slash across his collar bone joint.

N dived into S the moment the cut was made, and S couldn’t stop him in time because he was sill in the momentum of the strike.

Their wings beat against each other furiously as the two became locked in a mid-air wrestle. N bit down as close to S’s neck as he could get without biting his control collar, and S raked his claws against N’s underside.

Without either ably to fully fly, they tumbled back to the sand but did not break away from each other. N let go of his bite hold to try and get a better grip on S, slashing with his own claws as soon as he had the room to do so. But S took that as an opportunity to kick N away, using his long legs to push N out of striking range.

S’s success at breaking the grapple only lasted a moment, for as he rolled off his back N pounced again, slamming S into the dirt. He bit down again, making S cry out. This time, because, N was on his back, S could not return the attack. S tried to shake N off at first, striking over his shoulders with his claws.

N winced as a set of three cuts landed above his eye, but he held on.

This struggled went on for an elongated minute. S tried to use his wings, his claws, and his tail to get N off, but N refused to let go of him. Even with three successful acid strikes.

Eventually, S staggered to the ground. His breathing was labored from the futile energy spent.

That sent N into motion. He let go of his bite hold, but still gripped S with his claws and flew up.

S still tried to break out, but his effort wasn’t as vigorous as before.

N began to spin. He spun them into a free fall, then threw S to the ground.

A plume of sand flew up from the impact.

N landed carefully into the cloud, observing but not attacking.

When the dust settled enough to see, S was hunched over himself, head low.

N snarled and threw his wings out in his own threat display. Then he waited.

When S did not meet N’s challenge, Uzi felt relief. That’s it. N won. He-

“Dammit N, do not let up, put him down,” Melvin said angerly. Having a training mike during a dual was against the rules, but that didn’t stop N’s lead trainer from barking unheard orders. “Finish him, don’t let him have the chance to submit.”

But it’s over… right?

N did not attack the downed drone. He stood back and gave him the room to shake the disorientation away. When S looked back to N, N made a snarl so savage that Uzi wouldn’t have believed N made it if she didn’t see it.

S hissed, then bowed his head. Seeing this, N let his wings dip and his stance relax.

“Dammit!”

S struck at lightning speed, clawing N across the cheek then jumping back.

The fight was not over.

N reeled, but his retaliatory strike was too slow to catch S on his retreat. When S move to strike again, N tried to swipe, but again S pulled away, then danced to the side. The third strike hit N on the back of the shoulder, and all N could do was nick S’s wrist as he jumped back.

S was relying entirely on his long reach now. When N dived for him, he retreated. When S  attacked, he only went in far enough to cause surface scratches. N tried to catch him every time, even attempted to bite his claws, but S always pulled away with little more than a cat scratch.

After a minute of this, N decided to return to the air so that he could dive at S from above. S did not parry the attacks, instead he played the evasion game. He didn’t let N get closer than a foot.

The sand was a mess of oily mud, both drones bleeding heavily. S had the deeper wounds. But now, N had more.

The areal assault was not working, S refused to meet it. So N dropped back to the ground, standing up on his legs to attempt facing off on level ground. He did not strike, he waited for S.

S circled N, but didn’t strike yet. He made a few bluffs, but N did not fall for them. S hissed in agitation.

The evasive strikes began again, but N did not try to counterstrike. He braced himself so that the blows mostly fell on his arms or were blocked by his wings.

Not getting the openings that he had before, S’s attacks went further in attempt to inflict deeper cuts.

N waited it out, arms a patchwork mess.

Then S got too bold, and N struck back. He kicked S over the head in a twisting leap, sending him off to the side. S caught himself and dove for N’s exposed side, but this time N caught his arm and bit onto it, cracking the casing.

S screeched. He pulled his arm back, and in doing so pulled N closer. N had his swords ready, and S had to quickly kick to stop from getting disemboweled. That still left deep wounds on S’s legs.

That strike cost N as much as it cost S. S managed to kick at one of N’s acid wounds, making N yelp without letting go of S’s arm. S pulled his arm again, and this time he had his own sword ready.

N threw his body weight to the side, and that saved him from having his core pierced. But it did not save him from the blow. S’s sword sliced through N’s ribs.

N cried out in pain, letting go of S’s arm in the process. Switching back to claws as he pulled the sword out, S slashed N from the throat to the chin.

Both drones scrambled to get away from each other. Half the casing on S’s left arm was completely ripped free. N clutched his side, doing little to stop the flow of oil.

They faced one another, each breathing heavily. Then S truck with his good arm.

N tried to dodge, but it still landed behind his ear.

S struck again, and N stumbled back to get out of the way.

“Shit.” Melvin fell back into his seat and palmed his visor.

N made a half attempt to block S’s onslaught, but with the amount of oil gushing out his movements were to sluggish to be anything but pitiful. He had to rely on his wings to stop S from adding any more cuts to the collection.

S grew bold with N on the retreat. And this time, N could not take advantage of it. He kept backing up, then finally.

N flew back to his cage.

Chapter Text

“Dammit N!” Melvin grabbed the controller from his jacket and pressed the button three times.

N yelped loudly as his shock collar let out an audible crack. Uzi winced for him.

Melvin stormed down the steps to address N where he was hunkering in the corner of his cage. “You idiot Disassembler! You know better than to let your opponent have a chance to get back up.”

Uzi hurried around the couch to get downstairs, ignoring Sidney’s comment of, “What’s with her?”

N gave another yelp as Uzi came around the bend of the steps.

“They’re going to drop us in the rankings if you keep making dumb screw-ups! You should be in the top three!”

Trainers were giving Melvin a wide range of room, so Uzi could see the way N was curled over himself looking more scared and ashamed than she’d ever seen him.

V hissed at trainers getting too close to her cage.

“This- uh- this battle doesn’t actually count toward the rankings….” The foolish trainer that approached Melvin was shoved to the ground without being looked at. Then Melvin whipped around, searching the groups of drones until his yes landed on… her.

Melvin glared Uzi down from across the room, and her mind raced to what he could possibly-

“He gets nothing. Not a drop of oil tonight. Do you got it, night girl?”

It that moment, what Uzi should have done, what she’d imagine herself do, was argue back. Stand up and tell the head trainer that she wasn’t allowed to give N nothing after a dual. She should be able to shake off the venomous glare and not care what he and the others thought.

She didn’t. Uzi stood frozen. All the drones in the outlook were watching her, and she couldn’t find the words to speak.

A hand fell on her shoulder. Charles must’ve come to her aid.

“Thank you, Melvin, we’ll take it from here. Go turn your reports in, then go ahead and turn in for the night.”

That was not Charles.

Uzi looked up to see Amanda, the Head Coordinator, the Game Master, at her side. Her uniform boasted all three trainer colors, yellow, purple, and green. Amanda addressed the trainers in a calm and collected manner.

“Lets wrap up quickly tonight, shall we? I’ll oversee Diana’s visit. Charles, Ariel, you two stay behind to take notes for your leads. I’d like you to stay as well, Uzi, even though your shift has not started. Every one else can clear out.”

With that, drones were in motion. Melvin stocked over to the noticed bored, scribbled something barely legible, then stuck it to the feeding schedule before stocking out of the outlook.

Charles trotted over, V’s trainer Ariel following at her own pace. She tipped her ballcap at Uzi.

“He-uh, he can’t actually do that, right?” Uzi asked Charles.

“Well technically, yes, but there are two people who can override Melvin’s feeding schedule. Our Disassembly Drone vet Diana, and of course,” Charles gestured to Amanda with a slight bow.

“Melvin is angry now, but he will not complain tomorrow. No dual is a small dual, but the Sunscrapers are a small colony and this was a last minute arrangement.” Amanda picked a piece of lint off her collar. “Our scheduled duals with the Frozen Paradise colony carry far more weight than this scuffle, and we’ll need N in top form for that. So I don’t think you’ll have to worry about Melvin, Mrs. Doorman.” She gave Uzi’s shoulder a light pat, then stepped away from the stairs.

A snarl came from right next to them, startling everyone except Amanda.

“Why yes, it’s terrible to see you too, J,” Amanda said as if it were an old joke.

J huffed, then went back to her shadows so she could properly ignore everyone.

“Amanda used to be J’s lead trainer,” Charles informed Uzi. “Not many get to claim that, most retire in a coffin. They say her time was the Arena’s golden days.”

“Are you saying that the Arena hasn’t been as good since I became Head Coordinator?”

“Uh-! No ma’am! I didn’t mean-!”

“Heh, heh, heh. I gest, Charles. It’s true they say those were ‘the golden days,’ just as they called the time before that ‘the era of glory.’ You’ll find that the past is always seen with a golden glow. But that shouldn’t stop us from addressing the future.” Amanda looked directly at Uzi when she said that.

Few drones lingered in the Outlook at this point. Lizzy and her frenemies were among the last to descend the loft.

“We’ll catch up later, Uzi,” Lizzy said on her way past. “Plans for Tuesday, right.”

“Yeah, right,” Uzi agreed. She glanced at Doll. Tuesday. Kind of a big deal. Doll’s mom would be visiting the Ice Bunker… specifically to meet Uzi. No pressure.

“Right, later loser. Night, V!”

“Wait, so she like, works there? As in she has a job? I would’ve thought-“ The door cut off whatever else Sidney though of Uzi. Thank dad for installing a soundproof one. Begrudgingly.

“I see Adrian’s opted to auction off V’s feathers?” Amanda asked as she paused next to V’s cage.

“Yes ma’am,” Ariel confirmed. “We’ve already got bids it the hundred thousand.”

“Good, that should appease our loss.” Amanda moved on to N’s cage. “I suppose you’re in trouble again, aren’t you?”

N whimpered and lowered his head till it almost scraped the ground.

“I thought he did alright,” Uzi said. Then she immediately put a hand to her mouth.

Charles's wide-eyed look made it even worse.

“That may be so, but ‘alright’ doesn’t go far in this arena. Here, you have to be at the very top. Both the drones, and their trainers. Melvin has done a lot to boost N in the three years since he has become N’s trainer, but I fear he’s hit a wall.”

Getting a little confident, Uzi said, “He seems angry all the time.”

“It’s understandable,” Amanda said, “Melvin has a difficult drone to work with, and he’s standing next to Lexia and Adrian, who’ve got nearly spotless records.”

Of all the drones, Uzi wouldn’t have pinned N as the difficult one to work with.

“We’ve just hit a rough patch,” Charles interjected an attempt at positivity. “I’m sure everything will go great with the Frozen Paradise colony, and we’ll get out of this funk.”

“Perhaps,” was all Amanda said. “Ah, I believe that would be Diana.”

As the last trainers left the outlook, a drone Uzi had never met before entered. Her hair was done up in buns, and a black bag hung from her shoulder.

“Hm. Well you are a mess,” She commented at N.

N’s eyes were wide, and he scooted away from the drone until his back was against the bars of his cage.

“Haaahhhhr!”

Uzi looked to see that V was arching her back and flaring her wings while glaring down this drone, hissing and spitting. Her tail lashed.

She saw Uzi’s look and said, “Yeah, I’m not too popular with these guys.”

“Good to see you, Diana.” Amanda said. “I’m here in the stead of the leads today. Charles and Ariel will take down the reports.”

“Fine with me, I prefer a bit of room to work. Who’s the kid?”

“This is Uzi, out night shift drone,” Charles introduced her. “She’ll be the one mixing any food supplements you prescribe. Uzi, this is Diana, our resident Disassembler Vet.”

“Dangerous line of work to be in, kid,” Diana said. “You sure you know what you’re getting into?”

“Bite me! I can handle myself fine. And I’m not scared of them.”

Diana shrugged. “Alright, your life. Now lets start with the easy one.” She approached N’s cage, ignoring the hazard line.

N backed away again.

“Oh, quit being a baby and get over here. You’re going to make me want to stick you with something.” She grabbed a crook and guided him over, then used it to move his arms to inspect him. She pulled his hand away from his chest to see where S stabbed him.

“Hmm, that’s a deep one. Most of this he can heal himself, but you need him back in fighting shape in two weeks, right?”

“That’s correct,” Charles said. “We’ll be taking him to Frozen Paradise.”

“I’m going to have to wrap it then. Feeding won’t do much good if he just leaks it right back out. Where is his feeding note, by the way?” She looked to Uzi.

Uzi grabbed the note Melvin had stuck to the feeding schedule. “Uh, it may need some adjustment,” she said as she handed it to the vet. The word NOTHING was all that was scribbled on it.

Diana snorted. “I’ll say, can’t have a working Disassembler if you don’t feed ‘em.” She squinted at N again. “Lot of surface damage, four acid wounds, some deeper cuts… I’d say five pounds of mulch is the minimum for tonight. Tomorrow up it to ten, and mix in a full dose of nanite supplement. Keep him on seven for another three, then down to two until his wounds are gone. I’ll check in next weekend to see if he needs a boost before you send him off.” She wrote it all down on a clipboard, then handed the form to Charles.

Charles in turn made a note to be posted on the notice board.

“Now let’s get him wrapped up.” Without waiting or asking, Diana opened the door to N’s cage.

“Uh, maybe I should-“ Charles tried to intervene.

“Shush and be on standby. I might need an extra hand.”

“We have magnets…” Charles glanced at Amanda, but she gave no sign of concern over what Diana was doing.

“Not worth the hassle,” Diana said. “Come on, N, the sooner you come out the sooner it will be over.”

N did not come out.

“For the love…” Diana hooked her crook into N’s collar and dragged him out. Uzi winced at the long scraping sound of N’s feet dragging across the floor as he resisted. Once he was out, he sat at the end of his cage with his tail wrapped around his leg.

“Come on you big wimp, arms up.” She tapped his arms to get him to move them away from his wound. Diana pulled a massive roll of gauze from her bag and began to wind it around him.

N let out a slow wine. In response, V snarled and vaulted to the top of her cage.”

In no more than two minutes, Diana was done. N’s midsection was firmly encased in white wrappings.

“Alright, back to you cage.” She gave him a light thwack with the crook, and N all but dove to the far end of his cage.

“Now for the fun one,” Diana muttered. She walked to V’s cage, then sighed as she looked up at the aggravated drone.

“That’s some heavy damage to the wings. Her casing doesn’t look too bad, but I’d guess she’s got some internal damage after getting thrown around. Let me know if she start’s acting off, and we can do a deeper look,” Diana told Ariel. “You have the missing feathers?”

“They’re in a safe in the Trainers Room,” Ariel said. “Boss had us put them up for auction.”

“Well that save me the nightmare of having to clip them back on her. But that mean’s you guys are in for a wait before she can fly properly. When’s the next time you need her?”

“V doesn’t have anything scheduled for three weeks. She’s staying behind this trip. The weekend after is when she’ll be running the new maze. That one is a big deal.”

“We’ll need her on supplements then,” Diana jotted some things onto her clipboard. “She’d probably benefit form a direct booster shot, but if she’s got three weeks then I’m not going to bother. We’ll just keep up the supplements until the wounds are closed. Feeding schedule?”

This time, Uzi had it ready to go. Adrien’s note said Free Feeding.

“Good,” Diana said. “You’ll mix her nanite supplement into a jar of oil first, then you can start feeding her mulch. Half supplements for the rest of the week should be good enough if she’s on a reward feeding.” She finished writing her notes, and handed it off to Ariel.

“Right, that’s all you should need from me. I’ll leave the supplements in the oil room. You all can show the kid how to mix them.” She looked at Uzi. “Good luck, don’t let them bite.” And with that, Diana left.

With the vet gone, N relaxed and V stopped hissing. N even wandered forward a bit, but he kept an eye on the door like he was worried Diana would reappear.

“So how am I supposed to mix these supplements?” Uzi asked.

“It’s pretty easy,” Charles said. You just dump the vials into their regular oil and shake it. There’ll be a notes on each one telling you which drone its for and what day to give it.”

“And now we should be done for tonight,” Ariel said. She dipped her hat toward the others. “See you all later, I’m headed home.”

Amanda nodded. “Indeed, it’s time I be off to file my own paperwork. Busy weekend, this one. Have fun feeding the drones tonight, Ms. Doorman.” Amanda tossed something, and Uzi caught it in surprise.

It was a pink crayon.

Diana 

Chapter Text

Uzi sat drumming her fingers on the oil vat counter for several minutes, staring out at nothing.

There were possibilities. Maybe she’d dropped it on her way out one day. Maybe N decided to hide one from her. Maybe it just rolled under the release stand.

Maybe she knows.

Uzi shoved the thought to the back of her mind. If Amanda knew she was letting N out of his cage, she would already be fire, or banished, or imprisoned, or in the arena waiting to become a Disassembler’s toy.

Sure, the Outlook had a camera. But, like, nobody watched it unless someone shows up dead. The footage auto-uploads to a drive, then deletes itself after seventy two hours. To play it, someone would have to go into cramped control room, and hook up the TV. No one does that. She checked.

Okay, so maybe she didn’t think to check the first time, but she definitely asked Charles about the camera after she realized her liability, and he confirmed that most of the trainers forget it’s even there.

Amanda isn’t a trainer.

Regardless, Uzi made a point of checking in on the breakroom every few days. Things get piled up on the TV as maintenance drones work on stuff, and it hasn’t been cleared away for some time. Probably not since J killed that Frank guy.

Uzi took a deep breath. She needed to be calm. Panicking was a risk in and of itself with this whole witch awakening thing going on. As far as she knew, nothing bad was happening. And whatever Amanda knew, she was clearly keeping to herself for now.

Pushing away from the creaky table, Uzi took her freshly filled jars to where Diana had laid out the nanite supplements and instructions.

Both of them got a full jar instead of the measured ones, and they needed to be fresh oil so that the nanites would mix evenly. She also provided packets of titanium supplement to be added.

Uzi grabbed the first jar and dumped one of the titanium supplements into it. The silver nanite vials were labeled for each drone and what day to dive it to them.

The instructions said to add the titanium first and to mix it well, so Uzi closed the lid and shook the jar. When she opened it pack up, she could see the oil had  glittery flecks. Next she was supposed to pour the nanites in, and shake it really well, then feed N the oil within five minutes. Follow up feeding should happen as soon as possible.

Uzi twisted the cap on the vial, which proved to take quite a bit of effort before it released. She almost sloshed a drop over the edge. So when she got to that point with V’s vial, Uzi got an idea.

One quick scan confirmed that the room didn’t have any cameras, so Uzi did the finger motion to summon her power. She used it to grab the cap of the vial and twisted it with a turn of her fingers.

The top of the vial snapped off.

“Crap, crap, crap-“

Uzi dumped the nanites into the oil before they could spill all over her hand. Then she buried the broken vial in the bottom of the trashcan. Hopefully nobody would ask about it.

The hall back to the Outlook wasn’t as deserted as it was last night. Workers hurried from place to place despite the late hour, getting ready for tomorrow’s farewell. The Sunscrapers were leaving early to make the most of the daylight.

Uzi kept her head low to attract as little attention as she could for the short walk.

Dim light filtered through the windows of the Outlook, illuminating the drones cleaning oil from the sand outside. N was flopped over in his cage, head resting on his arm. The holes where he’d been stung with nanite acid no longer glowed, but most of his cuts still oozed oil.

“Hey, buddy,” Uzi greeted gently.

N whined low and slow as he turned his head to her. He didn’t get up to greet her.

“I guess you aren’t feeling to good, are you?” She put a hand on his cage. “Here, this should help.” Uzi slid his oil jar to his nose. This close, she could feel the heat wafting from his breath.

N’s eyes switched to an X and his mouth gaped. He bit off the lid and drank. When it was finished, his eyes didn’t revert the way they usually do. Instead, he sat up panting and swiveled his head in search of more.

Uzi stepped back over the hazard line, just in case. His X did lock on her, but the corresponding whine let her know she wasn’t identified as a target.

“Yeah, I’ve got some more for you.” She’d weighed out the ten pounds of mulch already. It amounted to a pile about the size of a basketball. As she scooched the bucket closer to his cage, N laid down and started to reach for it.

“Hey! Stop that, moron, your going to make a mess. Let me just give it to you.

“Hrrrah, hrrrah,” he got up and chuffed, giving her only a few inches of space.

Oil dripped from the mess of metal as Uzi picked it up with the tongs. N had enough restraint to let her get it through the bars before grabbing it. He pinned it to the ground and started tearing out strips, chewing some pieces while swallowing others whole.

Uzi fished out the pieces that were still on the bucket, then poured the residual oil into his jar. Still, when N was finished, he began to whine again. At least his eyes were back to normal.

“Sorry, buddy,” Uzi reached in to rub his back. “That’s all they want you to have for now.” N leaned into her touch and his whining stopped.

This close to him, she could see how deep the wounds were. Just one of these ‘minor’ cuts would have a Worker Drone rushed to a medical center. She ran her fingers over the bandage, feeling how light the wrap was.

Maybe I could sneak him another pound when I bring V’s in…

Uzi gave N one last pat on the back, then left to give J her jar of oil. Unlike her usual pretend sleep, J was watching them. But still hanging upside down.

Must be hoping for some extra food.

Uzi deposited her oil and left, not caring to entertain J’s aloofness.

While collecting the bucket, Uzi checked on N again. He was slouched, but sitting upright and licking a cut on his arm. When he moved to a higher cut, the one he cleaned did not drip anymore.

“Be right back,” Uzi said.

V’s bucket was a lot more cumbersome to lug to the Outlook. Her instructions were to feed her until V lost interest in eating altogether, so it was full to an inch of the brim.

N was still cleaning his wounds, but he paused to make a happy sound at Uzi’s return. She paused to give him another back scratch before resigning herself to her next task. He let out a low rumble of a purr, then turned to call out to V.

She was fussing with her feathers, biting at the crooked ones. But she was clearly as out of energy as N was, laying on her back while tugging the underside of her wing. The floor of her cage was a mat of oil.

N’s call got her attention. Seeing Uzi, she rolled over onto her feet, then immediately collapsed onto her left side with a yelp. She breathed heavily as she watched Uzi with an X, struggling to get upright.

“Take it easy, you’re just going to hurt yourself,” Uzi said. She didn’t have to like V to not want her to exacerbate her wounds. She gave V her oil before she could attempt any lunges.

The aggressiveness with which V attacked the jar was different from her usual. Desperate instead of antagonistic. When she turned her X toward Uzi, Uzi had no doubt that she was a target. She fished out to hunk of mulch to draw V’s attention.

“Yeah, look at this, this is what you want, right? Be a good girl and-“

V lunged for it through the bars, causing Uzi to fumble and loos her grip on the tongs. The mulch splattered down the side of the cage.

“Well that sucks.” Uzi glared at V, thinking of some choice words to describe her.

V fished the scraps into her enclosure with her tail and claws, entirely focused on the food.

Uzi sighed, then got a fresh chunk. “Come on, just take this one instead.” She held the tongs up to her claws. V took the mulch and began tearing into it. Uzi didn’t wait for her to finish before piling in the rest of it.

Gradually, the speed with which V wolfed down her food slowed, and she started to actually chew as she ate. Once her X was gone and she was gnawing on a hunk of metal without actually tearing chunks to swallow, Uzi figured she’d had enough.

Using her internal weight calibration, there were only three pounds left of the twenty Uzi had brought. She was supposed to record that in the oil room. However…

Uzi walked back to N’s cage and pulled out an extra piece of mulch. “Here buddy.”

N tilted his head curiously, then accepted the extra food. It probably wasn’t even a full pound, but it was a little more for his nanites to work with. He gave a happy chuff as he licked the oil from his fingers.

Then N went to paw at the door of his cage.

“No, not tonight buddy,” Uzi said. “Things are a little… uncertain right now. Your trainer is really mad, so I don’t want to risk him checking in on us tonight. Plus, you shouldn’t be running around right now. Here, how ‘bout this?” Uzi pulled the crayon out of her pocket to show him, getting tickled by Green in the process.

“Hrrah?” N’s eyes fixated on the crayon.

“Yeah, lets just do some coloring tonight.” She slid her backpack around to get N his paper. He gave a long look towards V, than accepted the art supplies.

Once N was settled with his coloring, Uzi cleaned up the feeding supplies. She was only gone for ten minutes after washing the buckets out and writing down the amount of mulch used, but when she returned N was weirdly still.

Going over to his cage, Uzi found him asleep. Curled up with his face resting on sheets of paper and a crayon still in his hand.

“Heh,” Uzi laughed. He looked peaceful.

V was content with her new chew toy, and J had her head covered with her wings.

Satisfied, Uzi went to sit against the wall and pulled out her tablet to watch some anime. She had plenty of swords to go sharpen, but she wanted to chill for an hour before that.

Just as Uzi was plugging in her headset, her phone began to ring.

… What? No one calls these days, it’s way better to just text.

She pulled her phone out to see who it was.

Her motor stopped.

The word Dad accompanied by a picture of Khan Doorman was on her screen.

“What the Hell?”

He wanted to call her? Now? After everything? At two in the morning?

Uzi’s hand hovered over the screen. She hasn’t spoken to him since she settled into the apartment.

When she saw her own hand shaking, Uzi furrowed her brows.

No. He didn’t get to do this. After everything, Uzi wasn’t going to let this hang over her shoulder. She made her choice. He made his. Now he has to deal with it.

Uzi swiped to silence the phone.

Chapter Text

Metal scraped against her tongue as she licked her treat. The oil was long gone, sucked dry, leaving silver strips of metal and frayed cords. She nibbled at the rubber of one of the cords.

N and J were asleep. Asleep asleep, no pretending. The purple-eyed one was gone from the Outlook.

V turned her toy so she could chew on a jagged metal edge.

Something hummed in the walls. Something ticked. Faintly, she could hear the skittering of bugs below, weaving through spaces too small for other robot.

…

Light from the widows was dim, but not dark. It was never truly dark here. As though the moon was always full, yet never in sight. It’s been a long time since she’s seen the moon.

…

…

…

V snapped her head up, her core seizing. It hadn’t been long, the purple-eyed one has not returned. It hadn’t felt like more than a heavy blink, but many minutes were gone from her awareness.

She tried to shift onto her other side, but her arms shook. Systems were in recovery mode, and her body was resisting movement. Things were broken. Things hurt.

Regardless, V tried again and got herself to sit up long enough to curl on her other side. Buring flared up under her chassis. It didn’t irritate her as much as her wings. Moving them now sent very sharp pain warnings.

Fights always hurt more afterword.

V dragged her ball of scraps back in range of her teeth.

The ticking has stopped. The humming was ever going. From her new position, V could her the hushed rustle of paper from N’s breathing.

His breathing was deep and steady. He was fine. No whistle or whine meant that he had enough to heal with tonight.

She turned her head to see the blue light from the windows. It was soft, but it was cold. She felt cold, even with the burning.

…

But there was warm light once, right? She had a notion that she once knew a light, soft and safe and warm. A golden light.

…

…

V bit down on the mulch so that the shrapnel cut into the roof of her mouth. The fresh pain sharpened her senses as hot oil drizzled onto the metal.

~*~

Thankfully, her dad had the sense not to try calling her again.

Uzi had no desire to hang around for the sendoff ceremonies, so she left the Arena the minute her shift ended.

The city was sleepy as she made her way home, making the journey a relaxing one. She was on the last stretch when she got a text from Thad inviting her over.

“Yeah, alright,” she said and texted him back.

They’d been spending less and less time hanging out lately with her night schedule and other… stuff. And now that Thad has officially joined a guild, he’s going to be way busier.

Uzi changed course and made for Thad’s place.

She was greeted by Mrs. Piper at the door. “Oh, hello. Thad! That emo girl is here for you!” she shouted. She gave Uzi a tired smile. “What’s your name again, dear?”

“Uzi.” She’s told Mrs. Piper her name many times, but at this point she’s used to it. Thad does have a lot of friends, and they don’t usually meet up at his place.

“Come on in, Uzi. Don’t mind Dexter’s mess, you know how boys can be.”

The living room of the Piper house has been taken over by empty battery packs, oil cans, and chip bags. The sofa was pulled close to the TV, barely separated by a cluttered coffee table. Dexter, Thad’s younger brother, was furiously mashing buttons.

The recliner was occupied by Thad’s dad, fast asleep with his leg propped up on a footrest. Three gasoline bottles lay empty by the base.

There was a reason Thad didn’t host parties at his house anymore. Two years ago, his dad got permanently disable from a workplace injury, leaving his mother to scramble for a job in order to keep the family supported. And although Thad never talked about it directly, Uzi knew there were other side effects.

Something new was a large frame displaying Thad’s four invitation letters set above where the couch was supposed to be. Mrs. Piper has never been shy about her pride in her son.

“Hey, Uzi,” Thad stepped out into the hall and waved her over too his room.

Unlike the living room, Thad’s room was a very clean space. The walls were decorated with sports banners from high school, posters, and countless metals. A bookshelf held one row of books that looked like they’ve never been opened, two rows of trophies, and another row of memorabilia. This room hasn’t changed since Uzi’s first visit.

Except for one thing. Laying on Thad’s night stand was a copper badge with a swirling snake crest. Uzi picked it up.

“So this is the real deal, huh?” The badge was shiny with newness.

These bronze badges were a common sight throughout the Ice Bunker. They marked a drone as a knight, and knights were often stationed as security guards. They aren’t police, but they are the first line of security.

“Sweet, right?” Thad threw an arm over the back of his swivel chair. I’ve already got my first gig Thursday night.”

“Oh yeah?” Uzi tossed the badge to him.

“It’s a security guard job at some club. I just have to hand around and drag out anyone who gets too drunk.”

“Sounds more exciting than guarding a gateway. There were, like, a dozen knights hanging around the front of Lizzy’s mansion.” Uzi got comfortable on Thad’s bed.

He cringed. “Yeah, I hope I don’t get saddled with too many of those jobs. Looks boring as heck and they pay is pretty mid.”

“How much you making with this job?”

“More than I was making before.” Thad shot his finger guns and Uzi rolled her eyes.

There were three ways to make money in the guild system. Winnings from matches were massive and drew a lot of drones to the arena. But the big money waws all in the higher ranked matches, and it wasn’t dependable. You have to make it into the fights and win. For as many drones there were in the guilds, few could afford to live off of winnings alone.

Sponsorships were a common way to make up the difference. But again, you only get sponsored once you are noticeable.

The real way most of them afforded to live was through odd jobs. Each pays differently, and your rank within the system determines what kind of work you get. They were technically optional. A well off drone could go through their entire career without doing one. But most of them needed the work.

Squires were given minimum rate jobs that mostly involved mundane labor. Knights were the most popular form of security guard and escort. Once ranked as a gladiator, the need to work these odd jobs significantly decreased, so the pay for a hired gladiator significantly increased. They get called on to hunt down criminals, guard high-class events, and show up to birthday parties.

The champions alone escort drones to the surface. Plus anything else a drone was willing to pay a fortune for.

“At least it’s a start,” Uzi said.

“Yeah, I’ll be making enough to start saving for my own place. I like my family, but I’m ready to move out, you know?”

“You could always split my apartment with me,” Uzi said.

“I wish. No way my mom would let me room with a girl, even if we have separate rooms.”

My dad probably wouldn’t like that either. “She doesn’t have to like it,” Uzi said. “But I get it, it would be a little awkward now that I’m thinking about it.”

She did not want to be tangled in Thad’s social life.

“So how are the Murder Drones after those fights last night? Those were some brutal battles.”

“Yeah, they’re pretty beat up. N slept through my entire shift, I had to-“ Uzi stopped herself before she said use the tongs to get the crayons out of his cage.

Thad didn’t know about her games with N. He didn’t know about her giving him craft toys or letting him out. He didn’t know about Green, either. And he didn’t know about her new found powers.

There was a lot that Uzi hasn’t told Thad about.

“Uzi? You good?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah, sorry. I had to shoo a bug out of N’s cage before it woke him up. Speaking of which, I don’t think I’ve told you about Green yet.”

At least there was one thing she could tell him about. And maybe, at some point, she’d tell him about her powers. But not until she had a better hold of them.

“I accidentally hurt him and kind of maybe adopted him?”

Uzi pulled her keybug from her pocket. He rubbed his face awake, then looked at Thad.

With a blip, a blue hologram appeared from Green’s head with the word Hello!

Uzi blinked. “Well that’s new.”

Chapter Text

“It means he’s forming a bond with you.” Dr. Yung rubbed Green’s chin with a finger. “I’m glad to see he’s doing so well, quite the fighter to have made it through an injury like that. And now that he’s blipping, I’d say he’s a pretty content keybug.”

“Is he going to blip often?” Uzi asked. Since showing Green to Thad, he’d blipped messages three times. First was the Hello, then at home she asked “are you hungry” and he responded with Hungry, then this afternoon when she had to get up early for this vet appointment before work he said Ugg too early :(.

“Oh yeah. The more he synergizes with you, the more he’ll start blipping. It’s a feature in all encoded keybugs. Their AI is pretty strong. He’ll pick up key words for things he want’s, he’ll start mimicking phrases, and he’ll echo your own thoughts like your little shadow. But don’t expect to start having a conversation with him, they aren’t that advanced.” Dr. Yung handed Green back to Uzi. “The stronger the bond, they more they have to say. That’s the rule of thumb. You’re very lucky to have bonded with a wild emerald entry like that, most drones pay a hand and a foot to get one.”

“Eh, it just kind of happened.” Green crawled onto her wrist. “I was just doing my job end ended up with him.”

“Some might call it destiny,” Dr. Yung suggested.

That’s lame

Uzi looked at Green in surprise, and Dr. Yung laughed. She might’ve been thinking something similar, but she wasn’t going to say it.

“Ha ha ha, oh he’s picking up on your personality quick.” He stifled the rest of his laugh. “Well, I’m going to have you finish off the loaded oil I gave you before and bring him in one more time next week. His thorax is no longer in critical condition, but’s not perfect yet. I think he’ll be fine after that. Best of luck to you both.”

Uzi held her hand to her pocket so that Green could crawl in, but instead he chose to crawl up her arm and on top of her head.

“I don’t care if you’re up there for the walk, but you have to go back in the pocket once we get there. Otherwise I’m leaving you home from now on.”

Green chirped, which Uzi took to mean he understood.

It turns out that having a keybug on you head caused people to actually notice her as she walked to work. Uzi did her best to avoid eye contact, but she still felt the itch of strangers watching her. She hated this kind of attention, if people were going to notice her it should be because of something awesome she did. Not because of a bug.

“Okay, Green, time to go under.” Uzi held up her hand, but he bypassed it in favor of crawling down her chest and into her pocket himself.

In a way, the Arena felt even more quite tonight after all the energy of the past week. That was a relief.

Uzi swung into the oil room to get things ready ahead of going into the Outlook. Only one of the two traps was sprung, a common orange keybug protesting loudly from within.

The sound drew Green’s attention, and he poked out of Uzi’s pocket to see what was happening. When Uzi picked up the cage to set it aside, he crawled to the end of her arm and looked down into the cage.

“Do you recognize-“

Loser

The orange keybug scratched at the edge of the trap, looking up at Green like it expected him to help.

Inoperable receptor

“Okay, that’s enough taunting the hostage.” Uzi picked Green up and moved him to her shoulder. “Besides, I don’t think you have much room to talk.

Not trapped :p

Uzi rolled her eyes. On a technicality, no, she never did trap him.

Running through the list of instructions, Uzi prepared the oil jars for N and V, marking them with a sharpie so they wouldn’t get mixed up. Last thing she wanted was to give J an unnecessary boost.

When Uzi exited the oil room, movement down the hallway caught Uzi’s eye. It was in the opposite direction of the Outlook, and when Uzi stepped around the door for a look it was out of sight. The bend of the arched hallway didn’t allow for much view.

Most likely it was a worker headed toward the Utility room, that was pretty common. Still, Uzi did an extra check to make sure Green was all the way in her pocket.

“Hey, Uzi, good to see you!” Uzi was greeted by Ariel when she got to the Outlook. “I told Charles I’d stick around to update you on the N situation, and I need to fill you in on next week anyway.” Ariel was the only trainer still in the outlook. The place looked tidier than it did yesterday, only a couple crooks and slip leads set against the right wall rather than a dozen strewn about.

N wobbled to his feet with a happy call in greeting. His wings were slumped to the ground and his tail was drooped, but his eyes were bright when they met hers.

“He doesn’t look as down as yesterday,” Uzi said. “Did Melvin chill out.”

“Eh, not really. He knows that he needs him to get better fast though, so N’s lucked out on this one. He won’t press Diana’s feeding schedule. And I think we convinced him to leave N alone a few days.” Ariel shrugged. “Doesn’t do much to try training ‘em wounded. Right V?”

At her name, V made a disgruntled call. Normally she’d be crawling the walls of her cage this time of day, but tonight V was in a curled up heap much the same way Uzi left her this morning.

“Best to let ‘em rest a while. But I’m curious, night girl. They say V never sleeps. That true? I’ve been in her training crew for three years, but never on night watch. You ever catch her sleeping?”

Uzi shook her head. “Nope. Not even last night. N was out faster that I’ve ever seen him, but V never did. Somethings gotta be damaged with her. She’s crazy.”

“Probably true.” Ariel grinned. “But that makes working with her fun.”

“You didn’t choose to work with her, did you?”

Ariel shrugged. “We’re all some type of crazy for working in this place, might as well go all the way. I like living life on the edge, makes things interesting.” She patted the two purple stipes on her trainer’s jacket. “And you’re about to get to spend a whole week with her. Next Tuesday J and N will be packed up to travel to the Frozen Paradise Colony. It’s a long trip, so we’ll be gone nine days. Even though V’s not going, they still expect us trainers to attend. The higher trainers, anyway, first stripes will stay behind.”

Among the Disassembly trainers, there were four ranks distinguished by the stripes on their jackets. First, second, third, and then the leads. Only one lead, and only two third stripes, which everyone called the cos for ‘co-leads.’ Second stripes were nicknamed secondaries, though they have some of the most active roles on the training teams. First stripes were called a lot of things.

“You can expect a first stripe to be here to take over at the end of your shift,” Ariel explained. “We’ve got it all worked out. Should be a real relaxed period for you with only one of these guys to feed.”

“Right, just one drone…”

Ariel tipped her hat. “That’s it from me then. See you around, night girl, I’ve got a date to meet up with.”

Uzi sighed when she was gone. She’d heard about the upcoming games with Frozen Shores, of course. A wishful part of her hoped that she’d get to go. The logical part of her knew that it wasn’t happening, and so she’d avoided thinking about it altogether. Now she knew her fate.

She was going to be stuck with just V for over a week.

Chapter Text

Thad dripped amber oil into his joints, his breathing still heavy as his systems sought cooler air. Unfortunately, the air going into his respirator wasn’t much cooler than the air going out. The locker room was full of heated drones fresh out of training.

This locker room was a total upgrade from what he’d had before. Still crowded with barely enough room in his locker to fit his under armor, but it had the exclusiveness of being for Wind Knights only. There were significantly less broken benches and dented lockers than the squires’ locker rooms.

For this round of knight selection, there were only three new Wind Knights. Himself, a training buddy named Hank, and another squire he’d only met in passing named Alex.

Today all three of them got acquainted real quick as the older knights put them through the ringer.

Hank fell onto the bench beside that. “That was miserable. I swear they did that just to laugh at us.” He rolled his shoulder, frowning when it creaked.

“Not so different to what we’d do to the new squires,” Thad said. “They wanted to see what we’re made of.”

‘Yeah but it’s not like we’ll be fighting that long in the ring. They kept us two hours past when the training was supposed to end. My girlfriend if furious at me for missing our date.”

That would feel sorry for him if he didn’t know that Hank would have a new girl by the end of the month anyway. There was a reason they didn’t hang out outside of the Arena. As for the extended training, it didn’t really bother Thad. It felt like the first real challenge he’d had in months. He wanted life as a knight to be exciting, not familiar.

Alex was quietly off to the side, whipping steam off his steel. He stood angled in a way that said he was listening in.

 “You rookies did alright,” one of the older nights said. “You might not be ready for a real dual, but at least we know you won’t break as soon as you’re spanked by the broadside of a sword.”

Several of the knights laughed heartily at that.

“Kids we get are comin’ in softer and softer,” one commented. “Guild don’t need no more perma-knights.”

“Aye, fewer knights become gladiators every year. Ever since the Grand Doors were built, Dronelings are taught that fighting’s a sport, not lifestyle.”

The Grand Doors, the thing that made Uzi’s dad famous around the colony. Doors so strong that there hasn’t been a Murder Drone breach since.

“But who cares if we’ve got new gladiators or not, any of you think one of these three has a shot at champion?”

That got the attention of every knight in the room. It was expected that four out of every five knights would eventually become a gladiator. But a champion was one in a hundred thousand. Every squire dreamed of it, but only thirteen Ice Bunker drones have lived it.

About a dozen of the knights here were still young, and they only spared curious looks between their elders and the fresh metal. It was the seasoned knights who began to scrutinize them, as though trying to determine the quality of a new sword.

“Well, not that one,” a knight flippantly gestured at Alex. How many cycles did it take for you to get an invite lad? Ten?”

Alex opened the door of his locker, refusing to look at the knights. “Twelve.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s a perma-knight there. Welcome to the club.”

The gladiator cycles were dived into four times a year, so twelve cycles meant that Alex has been trying to get accepted into a guild for three years. It was common for nearly every squire to have to wait a few cycles, but twelve… Sad as it was, Thad knew the Knight was right. Alex would probably remain a knight the rest of his life.

“I got in on my third,” Hank said. “Got two invites in fact.” His shoulders squared up confidently. Then he looked to Thad, encouraging him and challenging him to reveal his own.

Here it goes. This was coming one way or another. He’d lived the life as the chosen star in high school already, with all the glory and all that sucked. Time to thread the line of being loved and hated once again.

“First cycle. Four invites.”

And there it was. The surprise to disbelief that bled into resentment. Not just on Hank’s expression, but among the other young knights as well. Only the older knights who’d accepted their roles were delighted at this news.

“Well now, we ain’t had one of them in, why I can’t even recall.”

“Is this legit?” One of the younger knights asked. “You aren’t just trying to look cool are you?”

“No, I’ve got the proof.” Thad pulled up a picture of the framed invitations on his visor, each addressed to him by name.

“Ha! You do indeed! We might actually have a shot at getting a new champion! ”

“High time we get a third! Time to knock Flame down a peg!”

As it stood, the Flame guild had the most Champions with four, Wind and Rain each had three, and Bolder only had one. Sun and Moon each had a Champions as well, making thirteen in total.

“Well, don’t get your hopes up too high lads. Many fine gladiators make it to the Champion Dual, but they still have to survive the monsters.”

Drones fell silent at that.

“Many of the Wind guild’s best fighters have died to claws and tails, not by sword or age. If you are wise, you’ll make it to the Champion Dual, then throw your final match. That’s the best you can realistically hope for in this place.”

A few muttered agreements.

Thad frowned. “I’m not hoping for anything. I’m going to see how far I can go on my own merit. And if that means I have to face down a monster, at least I’ll know what my limits are before I die.”

“Bold words, lad. You’re in this game to go forward, that’s good. I hope your years here are good ones, because you’ll only get a handful.”

“But hey, if you lads really want to know if you could make it, there is a way to know…” a knight said with a sly grin.

“Oh, not that old superstition again. You going to loose us our best bet it years before he even makes it the sand, Victor.”

“What? It only hurts if they get caught.” Victor gestured for them to come closer. “There’s an old rumor across the guilds. If a drone can look a Murder Drone dead in the eye on their first night of Knighthood, then they have a real chance of surviving it when the time comes.”

“All hobbldy-gook, it won’t get you any closer to championship.”

“But you did it when you were new, didn’t you Carle?”

“Load of good it did me,” Carle grumbled. “Don’t do it, kids. The most that’ll do is get you is kicked out for violating one of the oldest rules of the Arena.”

“Last I checked, the Area’s doctrines specifies ‘No Gladiator shall enter the Outlook, disturb the Trainers, of tamper with the Murder Drones at any time. Gladiators and beasts are to remain entirely separate outside of the Arena sands.” Victor gave a little bow at the end of his recitation.

Carle smacked his lowered head. “They’ll be expelled just the same. Quit putting ideas in the young ones’ heads.”

“What? Half the knight here have done it, and none of us have been caught. Last time someone got caught was nearly seven years ago, and that was a rockhead from Bolder.”

“We’ve been lucky on the night watcher’s incompetence. They put drones in there as punishment most of the time, but they also have trainers carry the night shift. Cross one of them, and you’re done.” He gave Thad and Hank a stern glare. “Don’t do it.”

“But if you do, do it,” Victor stepped in front of Carle, “Make sure you choose the drone you think you’ll fight. You have to look it dead in the eyes for it to count.”

“Get out of here, Victor!” Carle shoved him out of the locker room.

The knights began to disperse after that. Thad didn’t want to get stuck in the thick of the crowd, so he took the time to catch up on his phone notifications. He was just starting to put it away when Hank announced, “I’m doing it.”

“Huh?”

“I’m sneaking into the Outlook and facing a Murder Drone. You heard them, if we want a chance at becoming Champion we gotta prove ourselves. Tonight.”

Thad raised his eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure Victor was just messing with us.”

Hank shook his head. “No, he wasn’t. I asked a few of the others before they left. Everybody doesn’t. Look, it might not matter in technical sense, but we’d be cowards not to do it. This is a test. So I’m doing it. And I’m becoming the next Wind Champion.” He glared at Thad.

“I’m in to,” Alex slammed his locker closed. There was a bitterness in his eyes. “I- I know I won’t be champion. But I sure as hell am not going to be a perma-knight. I’ll show them.”

“It’s really not a good idea,” Thad said. “They have an actual night watcher now, you know.”

Hank’s expression lightened. “So not a trainer? That’s perfect.”

“Eh, I’m not so sure-“

“We’ll just threaten him if he tries to squeal.”

Yeah, that won’t work. “And if they tell anyway?”

“Then whatever, it’s not like he’ll know our names.”

Well-

“We don’t have a glamourous acceptance score like you, Thad,” Alex said. “We need to do this. You in or not?”

By all means, he should say no. He wasn’t scared of doing it, but it seemed like a dumb way to get expelled if things went wrong. Then again, he did know Uzi. She wouldn’t get him expelled if she caught him, but if Hank and Alex went alone… They were going to get caught. Uzi isn’t stupid, and she’s not a coward. And this could be a way to prove to them that he was more than just a favored athlete. He was one of them, same as any Wind Knight.

“Alright, I’m in. But only if you follow my lead.”

Thad had to admit, this was the kind of challenge he’s been itching for. And after hearing so much from Uzi and Lizzy, he did want to see the Murder Drones up close for himself.

Chapter Text

The easiest way to wait out the afternoon was to linger around the armory. Few superior guild members tended to their own equipment, and the conscripted workers weren’t about to question someone wearing a knight’s badge.

Thad told the others that they needed to wait around until eight, and they accepted without questioning how he knew that. The last thing he wanted was to get Uzi in trouble for telling him more than she was supposed to.

Alex walked between the suits of armor, taking his time to examine the polished pieces of gladiator plates. Hank had a bit more trouble waiting around, rotating between flipping through his phone, getting up to aimlessly walk around, and plopping back down to bounce his foot.

Thanks to their extended training session, they didn’t have to whittle away more than an hour.

“Okay, so there’s a path up to the Trainers Crescent from just outside the forge,” Thad told Hank and Alex. “The trainers should be gone by now, so we just have to watch out for the night watcher and maintenance drones.”

“Cool, lets go.” Thad stopped Hank as he tried to walk out of the armory.

“Not yet. If we go too soon, we might run into the night watcher on his way to the Outlook.”

Hank pushed Thad’s arm away. “We’ve been waiting here forever, lets just go. The trainers are gone, right?”

“Give it just ten more minutes,” Thad said, “Then we should be good to get to the maintenance closet.”

Thad had explained his plan to them in simple fashion. They wait until the night shift officially starts then sneak into the maintenance closet on the Trainers Crescent. Then they wait for the night watcher to leave for the armory and sneak into the Outlook. The do the ‘look into the eyes of a Murder Drone’ thing then sneak back to the maintenance room. They wait for the night watcher to return to the Outlook, then they escape back down to the Gladiators Ring. Clean and simple.

Alex did have enough smart to question why the night watcher of killer robots would go to the armory, to which Thad lied about overhearing that they’d snagged him for extra help. Neither of them thought to bring up the more relevant issue of how they were going to know when the night watcher would exit and enter the Outlook. He definitely did not have a believable lie ready for how he knows that the Outlook’s security feed was stored there.

“I’ll do five,” Hank said. He did not sit back down.

Alex nodded. “Can’t take that long for someone to walk down a hallway.”

Except she’s going to have to stop to get them food. “Yeah, alright. Let’s be quiet on the stairs just in case.” He set his mental timer.

When it went off, he made sure he was the one in the lead. None of the enslaved workers spared them a glance as they walked through the weaponry stations. The hall outside was empty, and the stairway waited at the edge of the arch.

Thad moved with swift silence. Many hours were poured into training his systems how to be light on his feet while maintaining power in his movement. Agile movement is valued in the Wind Guild, but not by many gladiators. This was pronounced by Hank’s heavy footfalls and Alex’s heels dragging.

“You guys wait here at the bottom, and I’ll signal you when to come up with this,” Thad place a palm face up and mimed walking up the stairs with two fingers, then chopped down on his pal to indicate that they needed to turn left.

Hank and Alex gave him blank looks. Right, that doesn’t make sense to anyone but Uzi.

“Never mind, just come when I wave you over. Be careful to stay behind me.”

Hank nodded and Alex gave him a thumbs up.

Things were quiet at the stop of the stairs, no drones of any kind. The curve of the crescent hall was slightly tighter than the ring below, so he couldn’t see more than one door to the right and two to the left.

That’s when Thad realized he didn’t actually know where the maintenance room was. The only reason he knew about it at all was because of when Uzi told him about some guy getting killed by a Murder Drone. She said she got to see the footage of it in the maintenance room, and that was all.

Thad took a step back, then turned to try to re calibrate only to find Hank and Alex a few steps below him.

U didn’t wait?!

Hank shrugged.

Then there were voices. Not from the Trainers Crescent, but from the stairs below. Without time to think, Thad turned left into the hallway, Hank and Alex following. The sound of voices must have triggered their sense of stealth, because they managed to be much quitter this time.

Thad glanced over his shoulder to see the worst thing he could see. The door at the edge of the hall’s sightline was opening. Thad sprinted down the hall and opened the second door, then shoved Hank and Alex inside as stealthily as one can shove. He closed the door, then held it firm and listened.

There were steps. Light, only a few, but his audial nodes picked up that they were coming this way. Thad squeezed the handle of the door. If someone tried to open it, he’d make it seem like it was locked.

It wasn’t necessary. Whoever it was lost interest and went down the hall. Even so, Thad did not restart his respiratory functions until the heat buildup in his chest demanded it. The adrenaline release from that miss made him grin.

“Is this the maintenance room?” Alex asked.

Thad turned around and saw where the were for the first time. His grin fell away quickly.

This was not a maintenance room. There were neat lockers along the wall, but it wasn’t like any locker room he’d ever seen. The floor was covered in carpet squares, two tables filled the center of the room, and the bowed wall had tools that Thad didn’t recognize. Long poles with hooks, others with grapples, crimps of some sort, and other things he couldn’t name. There were also chains, long chains with links thicker than any Worker Drone needed.

Thad noticed one of the lockers wasn’t closed all the way, stopped by the sleeve of a jacket. Looking inside, he noticed a lanyard with a keycard and grabbed it. He should have realized it sooner, of course the Outlook would be locked. With luck, this should let them in.

Hank was gravitating toward the wall of weaponlike tools. Thad grabbed his wrist before he could touch anything.

“We need to get out of here, this isn’t the maintenance room.”

“This is cooler,” Hank said. “Think they use these on the Murder Drones?”

“Maybe we should grab one,” Alex said. “Just in case.”

“What we’re doing is already risky, do you really want to mess around with the trainer’s equipment?”

Hank didn’t spare Thad a glance as he reached for a pole that ended in a serrated loop.

“You guys agreed to follow my lead,” Thad reminded them. “This doesn’t work if we get caught.”

Alex picked a simpler tool from the wall, a long pole that ended in a hook. “We can put them back after,” he said.

Thad would punch some sense into them if it wouldn’t make noise. “Just the hook then. Put that one back, Hank, you don’t know what it does.”

Hank glared at him.

“Not like you need it, right? I’m not going to face my Murder Drone hiding behind a sharp stick.”

“Pft, I wasn’t going to hide behind it.” Hank replaced his tool. Thad looked to Alex, hoping he’d do the same, but Alex made no move to put his back.

He didn’t have time to argue with it. Thad opened the door enough to see that the coast was clear, then darted to the next closest one. A quick look inside, and Thad was relieved to see the cluttered boxes and boilers of a maintenance closet.

“We just wait in here then?” Hank asked.

Thad nodded. “We should be good in here.” He walked deeper in until he spotted the old TV. “Check this out.” Thad switched it on.

The TV blazed with white, grey, and black shapes. The lighting in the Outlook must be dim if the feed had this much fuzz, but Thad was able to piece together what he was seeing.

“Whoa, this is lucky,” Alex said. “This is a security camera right? We’re like actual spies now, aren’t we?”

Hank squinted at the screen. “What am I looking at?”

Thad pointed to the words in the corner. “Outlook Security Feed: Live,” he read off. “We’re looking at the Outlook. Those must be the cages with the Murder drones in them, so that means this here is the night watcher.”

“Oh. Oh.” The shape of the murder drones was unmistakable as they moved around their enclosures. They all seemed so small on the screen, but their wings and tails were unmistakable.

The hard part of this endeavor was done. Now all they had to do was wait for Uzi to go to the armory.

And she made them wait. Thankfully, Hank and Alex were a lot more patient with the footage to keep them entertained. They watched Uzi retrieve jars from the cages using a tool of her own. Then she started feeding them dripping food from a bucket. The image may have been fuzzy, but they all knew what the Murder Drones were eating. It was sick.

Things got a bit more boring when Uzi sat down with her tablet, but finally she got up and left the Outlook.

Thad put up a hand. “Give it five minutes in case she comes back.” The five minutes passed. Thad unplugged the cord to the TV. Evidence would not haunt them.

“Alright, lets go.” Now or never.

The Outlook itself was easy to identify. Waving the keycard at the scanner of the first door made it beep green. They were in. There was a short hallway and two more doors. One a aged wooden door and the other a massive, reinforced titanium beast.

Seeing that door gave Thad pause. He looked to the others, and saw that their eyes were wide rings. “This is it guys. Ready?”

Hank took a step back. For the first time since Victor suggested this, second thought seemed to cross his servers.

Thad felt it to. These doors were like this for a reason. There were monster on the other side. Beasts that were built for one thing, killing Worker Drones. Amazing gladiators died to them every year, hundreds of others were slaughtered by them. Knights might act as enforcers, but it was the fear of these things that truly stopped crime in the Ice Bunker.

By going in here, they were risking more than their badges.

“I- I’ll keep watch. Warn you if someone comes by,” Hank said.

Thad didn’t point out that there was no point in keeping watch in an enclosed hallway. He didn’t offer to back out either. He lifted the card to the sensor, and the door opened.

He and Alex stepped past the threshold. Into the den of monsters.

There they were. Right here in this room. Three of the deadliest creatures on copper nine, contained by cages that looked all too flimsy.

Luck must be on their side, because two of the monsters were asleep. The one in the middle noticed them.

It shot up from where it lay in its cage and let out a piercing shriek. Its wings flared, and the bright yellow bulb of its tail slithered into the air.

Thad froze, instinctual fear locking his limbs. Its yellow eyes were on him, and he glanced away before it made eye contact.

The Murder Drone continued to make calls. It jumped onto the bars of its cage, wing blades sticking though the bars a considerable amount. Claws scraped against metal.

The noise stirred the drone closest to them. It caught sight of them. This drone was slower in its movement, but no less threatening. It stood on its hind legs and flared its wings, making Thad realize just how much bigger it was to him. This time, his eyes locked with the beast as it growled. He could see the strength in it, and the anger at his presence.

Thad recognized this one from Uzi’s drawings. But it was also different. He drawings made him look almost peaceful, but this monster was anything but. His claws were out as if ready to grab him. His shoulders were hackled. He took precise steps forward, eyes shifting to the death X.

By some instinct, Thad slowly raised his hands. Not here for a fight. Not here for a fight. We’re going to go.

N tilted his head, just slightly.

Thad began to walk backwards, giving the Murder Drone a respectful distance.

N lowered back down, but his stance was still tense. Thad knew the body language of a fighter, and this one was waiting for him to make a wrong move.

“Okay Alex, we did it. Let’s get out of here.”

No reply.

“Alex?”

Thad broke his gaze from N to look for his comrade in crime. Alex was at the other end of the room, shaking as he approached the furthest cage. The drone inside was sleeping upside down.

“Alex, what are you doing? We need to go. Just look at one of these two.”

Alex shook his head. “N-no. It has to be the one I’ll face. It has to be the Champion Killer.”

The Champion Killer. That was the name given by the gladiators to the Murder Drone known for ending dreams of championship. The one that has to be beat.

“She’s sleeping!” Thad said. “There’s nothing you can do. It shouldn’t matter which one you look at.”

Alex final looked at him, and it was with an expression full of bitter resignation. “You don’t get it, Thad. This is the last thing I’ve got going for me. If I don’t do this, there’s no way I’m ever making it to gladiator. You heard them, I’m a pity invite. Well not anymore.”

“Dude, there’s nothing you can do. Heck, you’ve already done it. We are in the Outlook right now.”

Alex looked down at the pole in his hand, and dread like he’s never known fell through the pipes of Thad’s legs.

He began to run toward him as Alek lifted the pole. His processors brought time to a crawl as the butt of the pole went between the bars of the cage. Thad was reaching out to grab the back of Alex's shirt, two steps away.

Then the monster unfolded, limbs moving faster than any opponent Thad has ever seen. The wings pulled back, and a clawed hand grabbed the pole as it came toward her. Sharp, yellow eyes locked onto Alex, then Xed out as she yanked.

Thad’s had brushed fabric as Alex was pulled forward. Then everything was all to fast.

Alex yelped in surprise at being pulled off balance, and then he was screaming. The barb of the Champion Killer’s tail was in his back. Then the tips of claws appeared between his shoulder blades as she stabbed a hand into his chest. Alex’s scream became gargled by oil and he thrashed. She pulled, wrapping her tail around his leg and grabbing his shoulder with her other hand.

Thad watched as Alex was forcibly pulled through the bars of the cage, watched as the pole clattered uselessly to the ground, watched ad the Champion Killer bit into the neck. He watched Alex’s head fall off.

It was when the yellow eyes turned to him that Thad lost his paralysis. He ran.

Chapter Text

Uzi couldn’t shake the sense of unease that she had. There was an off-ness to tonight. Maybe it was that weird glimpse of something in the hall. Maybe it was because her limited sleep was catching up to her. Maybe it was the impending dread that she’d be stuck alone with V in a week.

Regardless of why, the unease at the pit of her stomach wouldn’t go away. Even now as she sharpened the second sword of the night, something that usually numbed all her emotions, Uzi felt on edge.

Uzi lifted her foot, letting the grinding wheel roll to a stop, and stared at the unfinished sword.

“Something wrong?” A drone a few wheels over paused his own grinding. Drones were working late after the mass event of the weekend. “If you see a flaw with the sword, you should take it to the forge master. He can sort it out.”

“Oh, no it not that, I was just-“

“Gee, watch it! Bunch of…” The muffled voice of a drone outside the armory shouted, the end of his statement falling into unintelligible disgruntlement.

Uzi set her sword down. “I think I should go, I’ll be back to finish this later tonight.”

“If you like, I could-“

Uzi ignored him as she walk to where she heard the outburst. A drone was in the hallway, collecting broken weapons from the floor.

“What happened?” Uzi asked.

“Couple young gladiators game running by and knocked the scrap out of my hand. Lucky I didn’t get stabbed. They may be gladiators, but that doesn’t mean they own the Gladiator Ring!” He shook his head, then bent to pick up a sword with a folded blade. A spear tip fell from his arms as he did so.

Uzi knelt to give him a hand. “Which way did they come from?”

He accepted the help, giving her a brief smile. “Down that way.” He pointed to the right. Bet they were sneaking in to the lady guilds, the pervs.”

That seemed like a sound enough explanation. There were plenty of times boys tried to sneak a peak in the girls locker room in high school. Not that there was anything to really see, the only difference between male and female Worker Drone models was that the females were smaller on average. Without accessories, they were indistinguishable.

Maybe it was just the lingering unease she had, but Uzi did find a gap in the logic. “Are there even supposed to be gladiators around right now? It’s after ten.”

He hefted the last of his scrap. “Don’t know. Never bothered wandering to those spaces, got enough to do here at the forge. Now if you don’t mind, the master wants to see all this melted.” The worker edged around her and disappeared through a doorway.

This is stupid, I don’t have anything to be worrying over. Still, Uzi followed the hall down the direction the worker had pointed. This was the way she always came to get to the armory. She was already here, might as well check in on the Disassemblers.

N was asleep before she left, again passing out on the floor of his cage instead of hanging. He and V were still suffering their wounds, V didn’t even feign a strike at her today.

The way back was quiet. Like it always was.

The door to the Outlook was closed. The outward door didn’t look all that special from the outside, but Uzi knew it pack some secret that bade breaking into it nearly impossible. And breaking it was impossible.

It was in the short hallway that Uzi noticed something off. A discarded lanyard with a name card, much like hers, laying two feet from the Outlook entryway. Picking it up, Uzi recognized the face of one of N’s first ring trainers, Jeffery according to this.

Did someone come to the Outlook after hours?

No that didn’t make sense. First rings did grunt work, they rely on having experienced drones tell them what to do. Unless one was sent to give her a message? Awfully carless to drop this, though.

A quick scan through her memories confirmed that this wasn’t here when she left for the armory.

The uneasiness Uzi felt grew. She lifted her badge, and opened the Outlook.

Immediately, she knew things were horribly wrong. The soundproof walls had blocked it out before, but now she heads all the aggravated cries that V was making. N was also riled up, standing with an aggressive stance, X glaring down at her. When he realized who she was, he dropped down.

“Grruh, huphf,” he huffed. She’d never seen him like this. He was upset.

V was near the top of the cage, making enough ruckus for all three drones.

And J was eating somebody in her cage.

“Shi-“

~*~

Uzi hung back as disgruntled trainers dragged scraps of disembodied drone away. Things were a mess.

Lexia was pinching the space between her eyes as a worker explained that the security feed was cut shortly before the incident. They had no footage.

J was throwing a fit over the loss of her catch, roaring and slashing at the crooks as trainers pulled pieces away from her.

N was alert, but a lot calmer. He was favoring his injuries.

V was less calm, but behaved enough to pipe down. Uzi could see where oil trickled from re-opened wounds.

It ticked her off. Someone came in here for robo-devil knows why, stressed out N and V enough to make them aggravate their injuries, got himself killed by J, and left the mess for Uzi to find.

She still didn’t know what the fallout would be.

“-and that’s all we have to go off of.”

“Mm. Very well. Take the keycard to HT room and place it on my desk. I’ll have to write to Melvin and see that this Jeffery is suspended until further notice. Felix,” Lexia called to one of her cos, “call our private investigator. I want to know if there were any other drones involved, and I want to know who this is. And how did he know to cut our camera feed.”

Over her time here, Uzi learned that the Outlook was one of the only places that had a security camera, at least this side of the arena. Areas where the wealth gathered were better monitored, but there was enough fear surrounding the fate of trespassers that it’d be a waste of resources to have cameras down every hall. For as wealthy a colony as the Ice Bunker was, nothing could be wasted on Copper Nine. Except for copper, that was wasted quite regularly.

Uzi didn’t know if there was someone else or not. She knew frightfully little for how short a time she’d been gone, leaving to do the second part of her job only to come back to this less than thirty minutes later.

Why would someone do this?

She hadn’t been told to stay, but neither had she been granted permission to leave, so Uzi kept to her side of the wall. Her testimony was given.

As the last bits of metal were gathered, trainers began to mutter their goodnights and leave. Some were required to stay, looking wholeheartedly displeased as they stood in designated spots. With an investigator coming, handlers had to be on hand.

Uzi couldn’t blame them, this was a rude disruption to their night.

She was ignored by most everyone, even the investigatory when she showed up. Lexia relayed what Uzi told her before. Her voice said ‘lets get this over with’ so clearly that the investigator hardly investigated anything at all.

But she did identify the dead drone. A Wind Guild knight, though only for a few days.

The moment the investigator announcement, the simmer of tension released. The remaining trainers began to relax their stances.

Lexia let out a huff. “An idiot then. Can’t imagine what he thought he’d accomplish. I’ll leave that side of things to Amanda, she can contact the guild. Very well, this case will remain open until we discover what might have led to this. We are done here tonight.”

The trainers began to gather the last of the crooks.

“I’m sure Amanda will be in contact with you, Investigator. Stay on standby.”

And then everyone was leaving. N whined as he watched them go.

As she went by, Lexia paused to acknowledge Uzi. “You did your job, night girl. Until further notice, do not return to your armory duties.” She looked over her shoulder at J, who was sulking as she licked her claws. “We won’t change J’s feeding schedule for this. We can consider it a justified kill, I don’t want to deal with a starving stretch so close to a matchup.”

“Got it,” Uzi sad. “So I’m not, like, in trouble or anything?”

“What would you be in trouble for? You’re our watch person, not a guard. You saw, you called.” And with that, she left Uzi to the rest of her shift.

Chapter Text

Uzi’s sword privileges were gone.

Okay, that was an unfair way to look at it. Whith the recent incident, her responsibilities outside the Outlook had been ‘reduced’ until the whole case was closed and the investigators were certain that this was an isolated incident.

Which means that she was not allowed to leave her post for any reason other than to feed the Disassembly Drones.

For now, she had to put that headache aside. Not like it was that bad, it would just make her nights a lot more boring.

Today wasn’t about to be boring. It was the day Uzi was finally going to learn more about her magical heritage.

The manor before Uzi belonged to Doll’s family even though they were not Ice Bunker residents. It grew from the floor of the cavern, and while it didn’t quite reach the ceiling the way Lizzy’s mansion did it was still a very impressive piece of architecture. Carved from the stone it was embedded in.

Green’s antenna tickled Uzi’s cheek. She reached up to run a finger down his back.

She climbed the seven stairs to the double doors. Heavy oak wood, these doors were salvaged from the surface world. The plated trim was forged within the last century, but the wood was much, much older.

Uzi thumped the knocker, causing a resounding echo.

She waited.

A buzz alerted Uzi to her phone.

Doll: No one uses those things anymore, just come in.

Uzi hesitated. Something about just entering a mega structure like this seemed wrong. When she pushed the door in, she was greeted by dim red lighting and an echo.

There were double stairwells leading up to a balcony, but it was too shadowy to see anything distinguished. A chandelier with red flamed LED candles was the only source of light, and it looked like it was set to its lowest setting.

Her phone buzzed again.

Doll: Sorry, we have no staff here. To much of a pain unless my pa is here. Go down the hall to the right, third door, go to the end, down the staircase, and I’ll meet you there.

Looking two her right, Uzi saw that there were three different hallways on the right side of this central chamber. She assumed Doll meant for her to take the immediate one.

As promised, Doll was waiting for her when Uzi arrived at the designated location. It was a simple room with an ornate red rug, a dais, and some shelves with a mix of books and artifacts.

“You place is hella creepy Doll,” Uzi said. “What’s with all the red torches and candles and stuff?  I could barely see the doors till I was right in front of them.”

“Red is my family’s color, and we prefer to conserve power when the house is not in use.”

“Aren’t we using it right now?”

“Not officially.” Doll’s smirk was something Uzi didn’t know how to interpret.

It was weird, being in this place with just Doll. This was the first time Uzi has interacted with her without Lizzy around. As annoying as Lizzy was, the absence of her carefree aloofness made Doll’s presence more… weighted. Like the princess was a buffer to the intensity and mystery of the Cabin Fever heir.

“This way,” Doll said. She flicked her fingers out, and the wall behind her moved to reveal a staircase.

“Well that’s a door I haven’t seen yet,” Uzi said. “And dad said those were just in fiction.”

“It was your dad who built it,” Doll remarked. She was already down the second step.

“Wait, really?” She paused at the edge of the disguised door to feel along its edges. It felt nothing like what her dad built.

“Hm, no I’m mistaken. Not your dad Doorman. Your grandfather Doorman. Unless your dad is over one hundred years old?”

“No, no he’s not.”

So maybe he doesn’t know about this.

“Doesn’t matter. Only magic users can use it now.” As if to prove her point, Doll opened her hand again to reveal her red triad, then twisted her wrist. The door slid shut behind them.

Darkness was brief, Doll’s hand lit up again and light projected from her palm.

“Whoa, can I do that?”

Uzi summoned her own triad and was about to spread her hand open when Doll grabbed her wrist.

“Don’t. You do not know this power.”

“I think I can handle a little light spell.”

“You can. But can you handle what comes after?” Doll didn’t wait for an answer.

Uzi wanted to go ahead and make a light of her own, she’d already calculated the precise movement Doll used. But she was here to learn about her powers, and Doll did know more that she did. For now, she’d comply with what she was told. Even though it was totally lame.

The stairs went deep, slowly curing around until they opened into a large chamber. By her calculations, they were four stories underground. And this was the royal level, embedded deeper than any other to keep them as far from the surface as possible. Even the prisoners of the Sub Pit weren’t this far down.

The rooms above had felt rather barren with their scant decorations, but this chamber was truly devoid of anything other than a massive red rug with a hundred red candles around it. Real candles, flickering freely and dripping wax.

A single drone stood at the center of the rug. The Imperatritsa of Caben Fever Colony, Yeva Morozov.

This drone radiated with piercing authority while having all of Doll’s ease. Her red eye’s met Uzi head on, neither angry nor kind. Just intense.

“Daughter of Nori, child of the Solver. You come with the claim of seeking guidance, yet you seek something else. I hope that you take what you claim to seek, and abandon what you want to seek. Take a seat.”

Any thought of rebellion came too late, Uzi was on her knees in front the Empress the moment she ordered it. Doll was doing the same next to her. This was somebody she did not want to cross.

“Be still, children.”

A shiver ran through the room, the vary air around them. Strands of Yeva’s hair lifted up, red simmered around her, then collected in her resting hand. She lifted it from her side and raised it in the air, triad vibrant. Unlike when she and Doll summoned the triad, particles of red blipped around Yeva.

She made a move so sudden and so fast that Uzi wasn’t ready for it.

The cavern was collapsing around them. She had no thought to move, her core simply sized as the walls and ceiling shattered into a rain of rocks. She could feel the tremors from the sheer kinetic energy, but they were not crushed.

Red struck through every stone and every molecule of grit, lighting them in a hellish haze. Yeva was floating in front of them, eyes blazing brighter than any drone’s screen should be capable of.

The rocks began to shift and twist, turning back into the walls in ways that they shouldn’t fit. They transformed, becoming more than barren rocks. Cloth waved around, beams creaked, stones glittered.

The chamber was completely transformed from a blank cavern to an ornate sanctum. Tapestries telling unknown stories hung between wood doors lined with precious jewels.

A throne stood behind Yeva, made of bronze and adorned with golden candles. Somehow, Uzi understood this throne belonged to no queen she knew. And Yeva did not go to sit in it. She merely folded her hands in front of her.

“If this alone amazes you, then you know very little,” Yeva said.

Uzi was very aware of her core’s cycle right now. Holly hell…  Suddenly her little tricks seemed very pitiful.

“I shall not teach you anything on how to use your magic until you truly understand where this power comes from and what it can do. To you, and to the world we know. Until you understand this, you will be to dangerous to teach. And if you attempt to learn before I deem you ready, I will kill you myself. Am I clear, Uzi Doorman?”

“Yes ma’am.” Her voice was an octave higher than it should be.

Yeva summoned one of the tapestries forth. “Then let us begin with the history of our magic, as far as we know of it.”