Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You need to stop doing this.” Nori muttered, wrapping Yeva’s arm with bandages.

[THEY WERE GOING TO HURT YOU.]

“Yeah, well, I’d rather that than you getting busted.”

[I DON’T.] It sounded even blunter through text. Nori just sighed and continued to patch Yeva up.

Nori had fucked up, that much was clear. Wandered into a part of the Labs the Drones weren’t supposed to go into, and thus a punishment was in order. Yeva, however, took the hits for her.

Yeva always took the hits for her and Alice. It was a never-ending loop. One of them would irritate the humans, a punishment would be held, and Yeva would always end up injured. She refused to let her friends be hurt.

It upset Nori and Alice. It bothered them that Yeva was always getting hurt on their behalf. Nori glanced at Yeva, who was watching Alice. The smallest Drone had fallen asleep, head in Nori’s lap. She sort of slept like a dog.

[I’M NOT MAD. IF THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE WORRIED ABOUT.]

“I… yeah, that was something I was concerned over.” Nori moved on to a wound on Yeva’s leg. “But I was more upset that you… keep doing this. Keep hurting yourself for our sake. I’m not worth it. Maybe Alice is… but I know I’m not.”

[YES YOU ARE.] 

“...” Nori remained silent for a few moments. “I don’t know if I believe that.”

[I DO.]

“...Thank you.” Nori stroked Alice’s hair for a few moments. “Come closer, there’s one last wound, and it’s on your face.”

[WHY NOT USE YOUR SOLVER?]

“No it… it still freaks out on me. I’m trying to patch you up, not hurt you even more.” Nori snickered. “Now come here.”

Yeva rolled her eyes and scooted closer, propping her hands on the floor in order to lean forward. The two tried their best to not disturb Alice as she kicked in her sleep.

Nori pulled out a bandage, peeling it and sticking it onto Yeva’s visor. She leaned back slightly once finished, cracking a grin.

“There we go! All patched up. Now… please take a break before we go through this again.”

[NO PROMISES. I WANT YOU BOTH SAFE.]

“Yeah, well, I want you safe, too.” Nori bumped her snout against Yeva’s “Please.”

[...OKAY. I’LL TRY.]

Chapter Text

Uzi hated her wings. They were gross and leathery… covered in holes and rips. Clawed hands on each wing… eugh. Uzi shuddered every time she had to use them. It didn’t help that seeing them often reminded her of the Cabin Fever incident, since that’s when they sprouted to begin with.

On the contrary, N’s wings were so pretty. Large, feathery wings, some of them glowing a bright yellow… the feathers were so damn soft, too. Uzi often found herself snuggling facefirst into them anytime N had them out for preening.

N’s wings always deployed so smoothly, delicate and gentle. At their full span, she looked like an angel. An angel of death, really. It made N even prettier to Uzi. Wrapping herself in those fluffy wings, she’d be at peace for the first time… likely ever.

But Uzi? Her wings were fucking gross. Deploying them was so painful, bones twisting and snapping, contouring into horrible bat wings. The scars left on her back were ugly and disgusting. Nobody would want to see them. Just two, large, gross wings. You can see the light shining through them.

Uzi tried clawing her wings off before. They just came back though. Maybe she’d try it again… maybe the pain would be worth it in the end. She had sobbed and shook the entire time as the hell wings sprouted and stretched from her back in a mess of blood and oil. N was comforting her, stroking her hair and speaking. Uzi barely remembered what she said… the sound of her sobs drowned out any of N’s words.

She deployed a wing, holding a knife against it, pressing it hard enough for oil to start seeping out. Just cut them off again. Maybe they won’t come back this time. If they did, she’d just keep cutting them off.

“Uzi…” A dejected voice spoke from the doorway. “Don’t do this.. It… it isn’t going to make them go away.”

“I know.” Uzi sighed, putting the knife down as the wound sparked and healed itself. N sat down beside her, resting her head on Uzi’s beanie. “Actually… could you try?”

“Try to cut off your wings? Uzi, I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Damn.”

Chapter Text

N stared at herself in the mirror, tilting her head slightly. Her mind was quite fuzzy, but something about her appearance felt wrong. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, though.

Was it the yellow? No, she’s always had yellow eyes. The tail? No, she was pretty sure she always had that, too. Oh! That had to be it!

N’s teeth were not this sharp before! She propped her hands on the mirror, opening her snout and peering at the long, sharp teeth that filled it. Yep, that had to be the thing that was bugging her.

She should do something about it. N looked at her hands, swapping one out for a pair of pliers. That should work. N looked back into the mirror, opening her snout again, gripping a tooth. She winced, but yanked the tooth out anyway, sputtering blood and oil out of her gums.

One down! N’s tongue licked where the missing tooth had previously been, tasting oil. She then went after another tooth, and another, and another…

Sharp teeth were pilled into the sink, splattered with oil and blood. It dribbled down her mouth and onto her chest. N just ignored it, though, grinning in the mirror as only four teeth remained. The four fangs she had started with- though significantly sharper than they used to be.

N would leave those be, she decided, swapping her hand back to normal, scooping up all the teeth., bringing them over to the trash can. Surely nobody would mind if they saw this… Tessa quite literally has skulls in her room.

The Disassembler turned to walk out the room, before doubling over and covering her snout with her hands. She returned to the mirror, opening wide and inspecting her mouth, which appeared to be sparking and crackling. Sharp teeth were already growing back in, replacing all of the ones N just painstakingly ripped out.

“Okay, that’s not an option…” N muttered, running her tongue over all of the new teeth. “Guess I’ll just get used to it.”

Chapter Text

“Aw, shit.” Uzi was the first to speak, staring down at Khan’s corpse on the floor. He had kept telling her to clean up the apartment, but she didn’t ever get around to it. 

The more important thing is that Khan had tripped and managed to hit the floor hard enough to kill him, and now Uzi, as well as N, who had come over for a visit moments before, had to deal with this new problem.

“So, what are we going to do about this?” Uzi glanced over to N.

“It’s my fault he died, let me deal with it. If I didn’t come over he wouldn’t have stopped paying attention to where he was going…” Khan had been a bit too busy complaining about N.

“No, he only tripped ‘cause I didn’t pick up the hall.” Uzi folded her arms. “Which, I don’t see why it was my job, s’not my stuff.”

“But-”

“N, if the Workers thought you killed the leader of the WDF, they’d hunt you down. You’d probably defend yourself, it’d turn into an oilbath so fast.”

“So what do you propose we do?”

“...I dunno. Are you hungry?”

“Yeah, but… wait, Uzi! This is your dad!”

“I don’t want you getting in trouble for something that isn’t your fault.”

“...Okay.”

Uzi knocked on the bathroom door. “You done yet?”

After a few moments, N opened the door, smothered in oil. “I feel like vomiting.”

“Don’t. Please.” Uzi sighed out.

“That’s step one of hiding a body down. What now?” N stepped out, leaning on the wall, tail lowered down behind her. She felt like a damn garbage disposal, but if it protected Uzi, it didn’t matter much. She was never really concerned about herself.

“We go about our day. Have you ever lied to someone before?” Uzi raised an eyebrow, genuinely asking. N did not seem like the type of Drone to regularly lie to others.

“Uh… probably?” N cracked a nervous grin. Uzi huffed.

“We’ll go on a practice run, alright? If we can do this then it shouldn’t be hard to act like we weren’t the last Drones to see Dad alive.” Uzi dragged N into her room. “First, though, we need to clean you up.”

N wiped herself off of Khan’s oil, removing her winter coat, slipping on some of Uzi’s nightwear. After N was finished, now looking like she didn’t just maul someone, Uzi pushed her out the apartment.

“How long do we have to pretend?” N looked back as Uzi locked the apartment door, continuing the conversation from earlier.

“The rest of our lives.”

“Ah… I can do that. I think.”

Chapter Text

“I love you…”

“Mm… yeah.” Lizzy muttered in response. “So, like, where were we going for the date?”

“Oh, that new indoor park that opened up.”

“Kay.”

The two headed over to the park, where some older Drones were watching their toddlers play on the equipment. Lizzy glanced over to Trevor, then back at the park, wondering why this of all places was where he wanted to go. She quickly dismissed it though… not like she cared.

Trevor led Lizzy over to an unoccupied bench, blushing at his amazement over being on a date with one of, if not the most popular girl in the school. Plus, she was Captain of the Cheer Team! You can’t get better than that! And she was allll his.

“So… what do you like to do?” Lizzy started some smalltalk, snapping the other Worker out of his thoughts.

“Oh! Uh… you know… sports. Any, really.” He slung an arm over Lizzy’s shoulders, who froze for a moment before relaxing again. “And now I got myself a cheerleader to keep me going while I play.”

“...Yeah.” Lizzy shut her eyes for a moment. “Love you, too.”

Trevor knocked on Lizzy’s door, being here to pick her up for another date. She would be the one picking the destination this time, and she was keeping it a secret.

“Heeeey!” Lizzy grinned as she left her apartment, shutting the door behind her. “Ready to go?”

“You bet!” Trevor grinned back, and the two set off.

“We’re here!”

“Is this someone else’s apartment?” Trevor looked around in small confusion.

“Just got to grab something from my bestie’s room, is all.” Lizzy winked, sticking her tongue out slightly. Trevor blushed. “Come on, I’m not ditching you out here.”

“Oh, good.” Trevor let himself be dragged into the apartment,

The red tinted apartment was quiet, dark, and quite frankly, a little frightening. Trevor wanted to be brave and protect Lizzy, but also… she said this was her best friend’s apartment. Implying her bestie was dangerous would likely upset her… maybe even cause her to break up with him.

Lizzy knocked on a bedroom door.

“Dollie!!! Open up!!” Lizzy’s grip on Trevor’s wrist tightened. “I brought you lunch!”

“Lunch…?” Trevor glanced around, starting to identify what the strange shapes in the dark were. They were corpses. “Lizzy, I gotta go.”

“Nope, too late!” The door opened, two red-orange eyes peering from the darkness within. Lizzy pushed Trevor in, shutting the door with a cheery “Eat up!”

Screams, growling, and laughter was all Lizzy heard for the next 10 minutes as Doll feasted on her latest snack, all the while the pink Drone scrolled social media.

This is what the two had been doing ever since Doll gained these strange, cannibalistic cravings. Lizzy would gain the trust of a Worker (usually by dating them for a week or so), then drag them over to Doll’s on the basis that she left a belonging there. Then, Doll would eat them.

After all, the two would do anything for each other. Doll protects Lizzy from harm, and Lizzy gets Doll easy meals. They quite enjoyed this.

Chapter Text

“Bite me.”

“With pleasure~” N grinned, opening her snout wide as drool dripped from her teeth. Uzi’s visor turned bright purple, letting out a small giggle as the liquid dripped onto it.

The Disassembler lifted one of Uzi’s arms, gently grabbing it with her mouth, her teeth just barely biting into it. Currently, N’s visor was displaying the hunting X, but with an addition of a ton of blush.

Despite how little N was biting Uzi, small drips of oil still rolled down her arm, her tail wagging at the sensation of fresh oil in her mouth.

“Come on, N!” Uzi grinned wildly. “Get aggressive with it! You’re a Murder Drone!”

“Ah, but I don’t wanna hurt you…” N’s voice was muffled around Uzi’s arm.

“Dude, just leave my core alone and I will be fine.” Uzi bumped N’s visor. “Bite me. Cannibalize me.”

“Oh, right… okay!” N bit down hard on Uzi’s arm, oil spluttering out. She let go, pressing Uzi down with her paws on the Worker’s shoulders, tongue loping out. SLUUUURP!

“God, you guys are so slobbery.” Uzi chuckled, trying to wipe the spit off as best she could with her arm pinned. N didn’t respond, instead choosing to flop on top of Uzi, gnawing affectionately on her head.

Uzi’s visor cracked slightly, causing N to briefly pause, but the earlier reassurance reminded her that Uzi is gonna be fine. S’long as she doesn’t hurt Uzi’s core.

“Snrk- dude- if I wasn’t infected with the Solver, you’d be crushing me right now.” Uzi was small but strong, able to prevent N’s weight from doing harm.

Crunchcrunchcrunchcrunch N bit off a glass chunk, crunching it for a bit before swallowing it down, licking at the oil that seeped out. Uzi just watched - it’s like when your cat sits on you and licks your face. If they also ripped a large chunk out of your head.

“You good?” N paused again, looking down at Uzi’s face. The Worker just giggled and thumbed up, her visor covered in hearts and blush. “Hehehe!! >:3c”

N moved on to nibbling and biting at Uzi’s neck, being more careful to not accidentally behead Uzi with her powerful jaws. When oil seeped out, N would stop and lick it up.

“I love you…” Uzi bumped her head against N’s, spilling oil onto the other. N growled in response, biting and clawing at Uzi like a wild animal. However, her wagging tail gave away the fact she was not intending to actually eat Uzi. Just… chunks of her. On that topic, N ripped out a chunk of Uzi's shoulder to consume.

The Murder Drone clawed and bit at Uzi’s torso, poking at the wounds with her snout. Uzi watched with a slight grin… a rather perplexing action N was currently doing, however, it was just as adorable, so she said nothing.

After N was finally done affectionately cannibalizing her girlfriend, she dropped her head onto Uzi’s uneaten shoulder, snuggling close as she pressed her oil-smothered snout into the crook of Uzi’s bleeding neck. Her tail was still wagging rather fast… and Uzi was still blushing so hard, despite all the bite wounds and oil bleeding out. It was already sparking and healing, anyway.

Chapter Text

N dragged a Worker corpse over to the Pod, sitting down in the snow with a soft ‘poff.’ Uzi sat nearby, head propped up on her hand.

“You don’t gotta watch me eat, you know.” N glanced over, picking an arm up. Uzi just shrugged.

“I got nothing better to do right now.”

“Alright.”

N’s tail twitched as she opened her jaws, puncturing the ribbing with sharp teeth, oil spluttering out before dripping down the side of the arm. N jerked backwards, tearing the arm apart, before finishing it off. With a quick glance to Uzi, she moved on to another arm, ripping it off the corpse and drinking the oil within.

Uzi just watched. Initially grossed out and disturbed, Uzi had grown morbidly curious about her friend’s cannibalistic diet, and thus, stuck around to watch her eat. She did refuse N’s offer of going elsewhere for the time being, after all. N was holding the head now, clawing the visor off, tearing into the wired and electronics stored within.

The crunching was sickening, oil splattering all over N as she consumed the Worker. The Disassembler paused, looking up from her meal to the still-alive Worker, her visor still a bright yellow X. Uzi straightened up, nervous that N was going to go after her next.

Instead, N’s visor returned to normal.

“So… what have you been up to?” The Disassembler was rather casual for someone eating a corpse. Though, this was normal to her. It was Uzi who had a problem with it. Even then, the problem was becoming less prominent since Uzi knew N had to do this to live, and she’d rather watch N eat someone than let her die.

Not that she would admit it. Not yet, anyway.

“This.” Uzi responded dryly. “Really just this.”

“Oh, fair.” N muttered, turning her attention back to the corpse like she wasn’t quite expecting that answer.

Chapter Text

“So… who’s turn is it to tell a story?” Braiden questioned as a few Drones were gathered around a fire, roasting batteries.

“I’ll take it.” Uzi grinned. Braiden looked annoyed, but Uzi disregarded him and cleared her throat. “On a dark and stormy night, a group of friends were traveling through the woods. They were on the look out for shelter, but they were unaware of something following them in the dark…”

Uzi shined the light under her head, illuminating herself in an eerie manner, wiggling her fingers to emphasize the dark atmosphere she was attempting to create.

“They eventually found cover in an abandoned gas station, hunkering down in the backroom until the storm passed. Then… something went bump. One Drone accused another of the sound, and it started a fight. Everyone was arguing, until a loud CRACK of thunder shut them all up!”

Nearby, a branch crashed to the floor, startling the group of Drones who were listening to Uzi’s story. The Worker grinned.

“The rain wasn’t loud enough to fully drown out the sound of footsteps. Step. Step. Step. And then…”

“AUUUGH!!!!!” Braiden screamed in pain as three, large blades tore through his torso with a SHINK! He struggled for a moment before falling limp, his eyes falling into the FATAL ERROR screen.

The rest of the Drones screamed and ran off, leaving Uzi alone with the corpse. A pause… and the corpse got closer.

“Did I do well?” N wagged her tail, her yellow lights appearing from behind Braiden’s corpse as she lowered her arm.

“Hell yeah you did!” Uzi hopped up. “That’s revenge for that prank they pulled on me yesterday.”

“Always happy to help!”

Chapter Text

Doll looked down at the list of this year's Prom Court, fidgeting with the paper for a few moments. Lizzy was on the list, of course, but it wasn't guaranteed she'd win. Doll blinked. Lizzy should win.

Doll would make sure of that.

“Hey, Doll!” Thad's voice called from behind, catching the shorter Drone's attention. “You voting for Lizzy?”

“[Of course I am.]” Doll pocketed the paper, looking up at her friend.

“I think she has a pretty good chance. The school loves her!”

“[Yes. But it could always be more certain. She deserves the win.]” Doll responded, blankly staring up at Thad with her red-orange eyes. The jock felt some sort of underlying pressure beneath the stare… but maybe they were just imagining it.

“I mean, I agree. But all we can do is just try and convince the others to vote for her, y'know.” Thad shrugged.

“[Yes… I will convince them.]” Doll backed up, turning and walking away with an eerie stillness. “[I will see you later, Thad.]”

“Oh… okay.” Thad blinked, before ultimately deciding to dismiss it and walk the other way.

Knock knock knock

Rebecca opened her door, looking down at Doll with a raised eyebrow. The purple-haired Drone fidgeted with her backpack straps.

“What?”

“[May I come in?]”

“Why?”

“[I know you and Lizzy are friends. Unfortunately, she is a bit too busy right now to wish you luck with winning Prom Queen.]” Doll gestured vaguely to herself. “[So, I am here in her place.]”

“You can't do that outside?”

Doll's eyes flashed red, though she remained blank-faced.

“[It won't take but a minute.]”

“Ugh, fine.” Rebecca moved out of Doll's way, allowing her into her apartment. “You better be fast though, I'm busy too.”

“[Don’t worry.]” Doll grinned, quietly using her Solver to break the door locked, jamming it shut. [“I will.”]

Rebecca sat on her couch, flipping through a magazine while Doll rummaged through her kitchen.

“[Lizzy says good luck.]”

A cleaver was grabbed.

“Oh, did she.” Rebecca didn't sound like she was paying any attention. That worked perfectly.

“[She says she's sorry for turning you away from the table. Your comment about her hair got to her.]”

“...Whatever. Sorry.”

“[Don’t worry.]” Doll removed Rebecca’s helmet with her Solver, gentle enough that she didn’t notice at all, nor could she tell anything was wrong due to Doll’s tone remaining flat. She gripped the cleaver tight, raising it high above her head, all the while Rebecca remained oblivious. “[I’ll let her know. I’m sure she’ll forgive you, and everything will be a thing of the past. Promise.]”

“Okay.” Rebecca responded after a moment.

SQUELCH

Oil dripped down Rebecca’s visor, staining her hair. Her arm remained propping up her head for a few moments before it fell limp, though her head was still suspended in the air due to Doll holding it up with the cleaver. Her eyes flickered for a few moments before the FATAL ERROR text permanently replaced them.

“[That’s one down.]” Doll dryly commented, pulling on the cleaver to drag Rebecca’s corpse over the couch. She’d bring her to her apartment to eat… like all the others she killed. Just… as soon as she tetrised Rebecca’s corpse into her backpack. Doll glanced over to the door, then back at her bag. Nobody would be walking in here anytime soon. She had plenty of time to work this out.

Chapter Text

N perched on the pod, tail swaying back and forth as she looked around for a Worker to eat. She hadn’t eaten since Uzi started living in the pod, and currently, she was asleep, so it was prime hunting time. N just had to remember to hunt for V too, since being locked up kind of prevented V from hunting herself.

Deploying her wings, N flew out, scanning the snow. Searching, searching… oh, there’s one. This shouldn’t take long.

Ugh, N felt sick. Maybe she ate too much… but it's not like she ate the entire Drone like usual… she did leave half for V, after all. Just ignore it. Ignore it.

“Hey dude, where have you been?” Uzi greeted her as she came back to the pod, dragging half of the Worker behind her, tongue stuck out slightly. “Yeesh, you don’t look good.”

“No I… I’m alright.” N blinked. “I brought some food for V.”

“...I’ll bring it to her. Stay here.”

“But-”

“N.”

“...Okay.” N stood in place as Uzi took the corpse, dragging it into the pod after displaying a rather disgusted expression. After a few moments, Uzi returned.

“V’s eating. Now, what’s up with you?” Uzi propped her hands on her waist, her expression fading into one of concern.

“Nothing…”

“Your visor is turning yellow.” Uzi pointed out as N put her hands on her stomach.

“I’m fine.” N forced a grin. “Uzi, I’m okay, I- HURK”

N pressed her hands against her snout, tail stuck straight out. Uzi flinched, arms held in front of her. Despite obviously not being okay, N was still trying to convince Uzi otherwise by displaying [SWEAR. I’M OKAY!] on her visor.

“N, quit acting OH GOD!” Uzi hopped backwards as N vomited into the snow, coughing and hacking, tears welling up in her visor. The hot oil melted the snow, chunks of Drone falling to the floor. “Oh my Robo-God are you okay??”

N spluttered the last bit of oil out, breathing heavily for a moment, shutting her eyes as she tried to calm herself down, tail falling limp. She wiped her snout, standing up straight. “Sorry.”

“Are… are you okay?” Uzi took a step closer, carefully avoiding the vomit.

“Yes I… think so.” N muttered. “I don’t know what was up with that Worker but… I already feel better.”

“That’s good. You should probably get some rest though.”

“...Okay.”

Chapter Text

N and Uzi were playing games, though N was admittedly rather bad in comparison since Uzi knew this game in and out. The Worker grinned to the Disassembler, who grinned back, showing off sharp, oil-stained teeth. Actually…

“N, I have a request. If it isn’t too weird or whatever… bite me.”

“Is that the request?”

“No, I- listen.” Uzi paused the game, setting her controller off to the side. N followed suit. “Can I inspect your teeth?”

“I don’t see why not!” N nodded, turning towards Uzi, grinning widely. Uzi leaned forward, tilting her head.

“Open.”

“Okay!” 

Two rows of sharp, oil-stained teeth. Easily capable of maiming and tearing a Worker apart… N almost tore her to shreds with relative ease when they first met. Then Khan left her for dead, because all he could see was N’s sharp, dangerous, teeth.

Those were the teeth of a carnivore, predator, and Uzi was her prey. If she wanted to, N could very easily tear her to shreds right then and there, consume her entirely and not leave a single scrap. Those teeth were a glimpse into a fate she narrowly avoided, and a fate that could still easily occur if N got too hungry one day.

Uzi began zoning out, still staring at N’s teeth as the Disassembler flopped her forked tongue out, tail wagging as she failed to process something was wrong. N could very much kill and eat Uzi right now. It was all Uzi could think about, staring at that yellow mouth, but N was none-the-wiser to the thought.

The Worker’s imagination went wild, imagining those teeth tearing her apart and swallowing her. The thought scared her, shaking her as she was helpless to the imagery. It kept playing over and over again, until it finally stopped.

“Uzi? Are you okay?” Despite literally just imagining the Disassembler brutally cannibalizing her, N’s voice was comforting, pulling her out of the nightmarish thoughts.

“What?” Uzi blinked. “N? Sorry… I must have zoned out.”

“Did something happen? You were shaking and mumbling to yourself.”

“No I… I’m okay.” Uzi looked away, not really wanting to admit that she got so terrified of something she herself had asked to view. N’s mouth was shut now, but Uzi could still see glimpses of those distressing sharp teeth when she talked.

“Okay.” N blinked.

“Can we get back to playing?”

“Of course.”

Chapter Text

The needle of the Disassembly Drone exited Nori’s lower body, the yellow acid burning a hole in her, eating away at metal. Oil and blood began seeping through her gown, her purple eyes staring blankly ahead. Yeva stood nearby, shielding Uzi from seeing what was happening.

The Disassembler grinned, snout splitting open, rows of sharp, oil stained teeth now visible. Drool dripped down as it stuck its tongue out, almost like it was mocking Nori.

“Back!” Khan appeared, hitting the Disassembler with a wrench to the visor. It cracked, nanite acid seeping out the wound. It turned and hissed, but Khan managed to scare it off by continuing to shout and hit it in the head. With a final growl, the Disassembler fell to all fours, scampering and flying out the Base. “We need to build better defenses. Those monsters are getting in more easily. You alright?”

Khan turned to Nori, who had collapsed onto the floor at this point. Her hands covered the wound, though now the acid was burning her hands a little. Yeva was crouched beside her, trying to inspect the wound, while Uzi watched from nearby. Khan stared, the wrench in his hand shaking. She isn’t going to survive this.

He stepped closer, grip tightening. She isn’t going to survive this.

[SHE’S BADLY WOUNDED. DO WE HAVE BANDAGES?] Yeva’s visor changed to text as she looked up at Khan, her eyes quickly returning as she noticed the distant look on his face. She glanced down to the wrench, then Nori, then back at Khan. [KHAN?]

Nori whimpered, reaching an arm out towards her husband, being too dazed and lightheaded to understand what was happening. Yeva froze. Khan lifted the wrench above his head.

It reminded Yeva of the Labs.

CLANK!

Khan had slammed the wrench into Nori’s visor, just like what he did to the Disassembler. Yeva tried to move but couldn’t, stuck thinking of the Humans. He hit her again. Again. The clanking sound rang out over and over, Yeva stuck watching, Uzi sobbing into her gown. Khan’s expression was unreadable.

Clink.

Yeva grabbed Khan’s arm before he swung again, finally finding herself back in control. The red eyed Drone glared, and Khan ceased struggling, pulling his arm back from Yeva’s grip, straightening up.

“...She’s not going to survive this.” Khan commented, his voice devoid of any readable emotion.

[LEAVE.]

Khan didn’t respond, instead tightening his grip on the wrench for a moment before turning and leaving. Yeva watched until he was gone, before turning her attention back to Nori, brushing her hair out of her face. Nori simply glanced back, muttering something. Yeva displayed a question mark on her visor.

“U…Where’s Uzi…?” Nori repeated, a little louder this time. The small Droneling popped her head up from behind Yeva, purple streaks trailing down her visor. Nori closed her eyes for a moment, mentally wishing she left Uzi in the care of Yeva’s husband today. That’s where Doll was. “Okay…”

Yeva scooped Nori up, gesturing for Uzi to follow her with a jerk of her head. Nori weakly wrapped bleeding and bruised arms around Yeva, pressing her snout into her neck.

“Did he… did he hurt you…?” Nori muttered. “I saw you grab him…”

Yeva simply shook her head.

“...Uzi…? I swear… if he…” Yeva shook her head again. “Good… sorry…”

[YOU’RE OKAY. FUCK HIM.] Yeva sighed. [GOING TO MY APARTMENT TO REPAIR YOU.]

“What about Uzi…?”

[I AM NOT LEAVING HER ANYWHERE NEAR HIM. SHE CAN PLAY WITH DOLL.]

“...Fair…” Nori’s eyes closed. Despite all her bruising and wounds, she felt safe in Yeva’s arms. It was still tugging at her mind that Khan, her… well, EX-husband now, just beat her with a wrench in an attempt to put her out of her misery. 

Nori pressed her head against Yeva’s chest. She was safe now.

Chapter Text

N was brought into a cell by the Worker Defense Force, restrained and barely conscious due to the use of a specially made EMP. The Workers affected by said EMP were recovering elsewhere… The important thing is that N was unable to attack or kill. N couldn’t defend herself.

The WDF members dragged N over to a chair that restrained her, setting up some machines to record their dissection of the Disassembly Drone. N muttered as she looked around, the bright lights disorientating her.

“Let’s get started.” One Worker nodded to another, the lights blurring everything, melting it into a big mess of white, green, and blue.

Searing pain tore into N’s stomach as they began cutting her open, oil and blood seeping out the wound instantly, N’s healing ability offline for the moment. The Workers expanded the wound to her chest, pulling out intestines and organs, poking at her core.

Another Worker was standing somewhat off to the side, scribbling down notes, presumably about N’s oddly organic innards. N lifted her head up slightly, really wishing they’d just kill her and get it over with. Instead, she watched one Worker drop an organ on the floor, pick it up, and shove it back in.

Her tail was tugged on, hands yanked in an attempt to get the weapons to swap out. A tap, tap, tap on her visor with a hammer, enough to crack it and cause more oil and blood to seep out, though due to the way Disassemblers worked, this also caused Nanite acid to leak out. N muttered something again, though like last time, she was ignored.

“...Nanite Acid…?” N could barely make out any sort of coherent word, muffled even more so due to the agonizing pain in the back of her head.

The Workers had broken a hole into her head in order to study how the acid was stored, primarily the transferation into Disassembler bites. N shivered at the sensation of a hand in her head. She wanted to rip it off… though wasn’t sure if the thoughts were about the hand or her head.

“...moves from here… do we have any… what about healing?” The Workers spoke again. Drool seeped out of the barely conscious Disassembler's snout.

Someone smacked her to keep her awake. N's snout was pried open, teeth inspected as the Workers continued investigating her nanite bite.

One Worker burned themselves on the acid in her tail due to fidgeting with the needle, then later made contact with the drool, answering their earlier question on if the acid could be healed from. Was this some sort of scientist investigation or just straight up torture? The fact they were keeping N awake the whole time made her lean towards torture.

“...take it to the cell…” The Workers unrestrained N, though she was still too disoriented to fight back. Multiple Drones were required to drag the larger Disassembler to an unlabeled cell, hidden away from the Workers inhabiting the Base. They tossed her in, where she kind of just laid where thrown, oil, blood, and acid still seeping out from her wounds. At most, N held her core in her chest. As long as it was safe, she would recover.

Chapter Text

N paced back and forth in her cell, tail dragging on the floor. It had been a few days since the WDF tortured and dissected her, and now she was fully healed, hungry, and angry. Just had to think of a good plan. N preferred stealth, but she was way too pissed to want to bother sneaking around.

“Angry and stupid it is!” N swapped her hand into a chainsaw, her kill smile widening as her visor swapped to a X. She used the chainsaw to break out of the cell, sprinting around the halls, looking for victims.

One Worker heard the sound of her pawsteps rapidly approaching, barely turning in time to see N grinning and sawing their head off, oil spilling everywhere, splattering all over N. Her tail wagged as the body slumped to the floor.

Sound to her left let her to her next victim. N swapped the chainsaw to a hand, crouched down, and pounced on one of the two Drones standing in the hall, tearing their throat out with her teeth. The Drone gurgled and tried to pry N off of them, but quickly fell limp.

The other Worker attempted to back away and run, but N stabbed them right through the head with her tail, turning towards the corpse with a cackle. “I feel so ALIVE!”

N took off down the hall, lowered down on all fours, tongue lopping out her mouth. Slashing at any Worker she came across, fueled with pure anger about what they did to her. Maybe some part of her thought she deserved getting dissected, but that was far down in her mind right now.

Oil splattered here and there, Drones massacred in the halls. She turned, hearing another sound, claws at the ready.

There was a small Worker, frightened for her life, purple eyes wide. This Drone wasn’t a part of the Defense Force. This Drone did not torture N. N blinked, crouching down and backing up. This Drone would be spared.

N turned and bolted the other direction, leaving Uzi confused on why she wasn’t dead. Shaking a little, the Worker turned and ran back out of the Base’s side-area.

A WDF member had asked Uzi to deliver something to Khan for them. That’s why she was there. It’d be fine if Khan didn’t get that note right now, wouldn’t it?

Chapter Text

“Rank this on a scale of 1-10, N. How normal is it for Disassemblers to do this?” Uzi held her hands up, wanting to put her hands on N’s arms, but not doing so in fear of hurting her more.

“Uhm… I think it’s normal.” N shrugged.

“There are several solid streams of blood running down your face.” Uzi responded, leaning closer. “Are they coming from under your visor?”

“Yeah but- you know! Sometimes Disassemblers produce too much oil.”

“I don’t- and that’s not oil!” Uzi cringed as she reached out to poke some of the blood. “You guys freak me out.”

“Aw…” N blinked when Uzi poked her face. “Uzi, promise, this is normal!”

“Yeah, for you! I’m not you! GAH!” The blood streams were getting thicker, with an additional one starting to seep out N’s mouth. “Please tell me V can be useful for once and help with this.”

“It’s just something we gotta wait out, toaster!” V called from within the pod.

“Stop eavesdropping!” Uzi yelled back, returning her attention to oh god how does it keep getting worse. N was currently hacking up blood into the snow while giving her a thumbs up.

“Oh! I remember a quick way to deal with this that-” N choked for a moment on some blood. “That J found.”

“What is it?” Uzi raised a digital brow, before jumping back in surprise and fear after N suddenly swapped her hand into a chainsaw. “N, NO!”

“I’ll be fine! I just gotta get the excess blood out- and this is the fastest way I know!”

“Oh, is that the chainsaw! Let me watch!” V called out again.

“You, shut up! N, don’t- OH GOD!”

N stuck her tongue out in focus, chainsawing her stomach open just enough to let the excess blood gush out and onto the snow. Oil began mixing into it after a moment, indicating to N that everything was back to normal.

“See? Everything’s fine!” N grinned, stumbling around for a moment as she began healing, wiping the blood from her face. She then promptly slipped and faceplanted in it.

“Oh, jeez…” Uzi sighed, helping the lightheaded Disassembler up. “You sure you’re good now?”

“Aw… do you care about me?”

“What? No! Bite me! Get up yourself!” Uzi blushed and dropped N, who just limply fell back into the blood, not getting back up. “Shit….”

N gave her a thumbs up… Uzi just sighed.

“Fine, I’ll help…”

Chapter Text

“[As… inconvenient as the new diet these powers brought me, I have discovered something interesting. Would you like to see?]” Doll questioned, lying on her bed. Lizzy was sitting in a nearby chair, looking up from her phone.

“‘Course I do, girl.”

Using her Solver, Doll brought a sharp knife over to her, grabbing it once it got close enough. She laid on her back, held the knife point against her stomach, and sliced it open. Lizzy shot up, at complete attention, but unable to otherwise move.

“Doll!”

“[I’ll be okay. These powers allow me to heal, remember?]”

“That doesn’t mean you should be ripping yourself open!”

“[Watch.]” Doll reached into her body, pulling out a long, organic organ, smothered with blood and oil. She set it down beside her, pulling out more and more organs. “[I do not know what functions these serve… but I know I definitely did not have them before.]”

“Do you like… need them to live?”

“[Think so, yes. When I removed them the first time, I felt incredibly ill until my body regenerated new ones for me.]” Doll held a small intestine up. “[I ate the old ones. Do you want to touch them?]”

“God, you’re freaky. I love you.”

“[I-]” Doll’s visor was quickly adorned with red blush. “[That is not what I asked…]”

“It’s true, though. Now, you want to wait until your all healed up to make out or do you wanna kiss now while your organs are splayed out?”

Doll shrugged after a moment. “[Either or.]”

Chapter Text

“Go pick up over there.” The WDF member spoke, not really looking away from his clipboard as Thad looked up at him. The Disassembler (and Uzi) fight had made a bit of a mess within the storage room, and now the Workers had to clean it all up. Thad sighed, holding a hand to his stomach. He was still bleeding from V’s attack, after all.

Thad followed instructions, however, walking over to where he was assigned to begin picking up chunks of the ceiling and floor, ignoring the intense pain when he leaned over and oil trailing behind him.

Minutes turned into about an hour of picking up rubble, but thankfully they were getting closer to getting done. Even more thankfully, Thad was not responsible for fixing the ceiling or floor. However… they weren’t paying attention to their surroundings, looking down at the progress they had made so far.

A worker carried knocked down pipes on the other side of the shelf behind Thad, putting them in one at a time with a soft clink sound. Some of these pipes were pointed on the end. A lot of these pipes were rather long. 

“Okay, where- GLURK-” Thad began looking around for any more chunks to pick up, but was interrupted with a pole through their torso. Oil spluttered out of his mouth as he sorta just froze for a moment, before snapping out of this trance to grip at the pole. “W- Ah…”

“Shit, Thad, you okay??” The Worker responsible for the wound ran around the shelf at the sound of pain, putting his hands on their shoulders.

“Yeah I… I think so…” Thad muttered, his green eyes looking rather void of emotion. “Can you… help?”

The Worker nodded and pulled Thad off the pole, another loud splurching noise as Thad was pulled off. He was walked over to the WDF member overseeing the group… who finally decided to do something about Thad’s injuries, taking him away to get bandaged up.

Chapter Text

“N… N…” The stilted voice spoke in the night, breaking the otherwise silent atmosphere within Uzi’s room. The Worker had gone to bed about an hour ago, but N couldn’t sleep, so she was watching dog videos on Uzi’s computer. Or at least, she was trying to watch videos.

“Leave me alone.” N responded, refusing to look at Solver, even when it began bumping its head against N’s cheek in an attempt to annoy her.

“You are sooo boring. What are you even watching?” It looked over to the computer screen. “Predictable.”

“Nobody said you had to watch too.” N smacked Solver away from her face, but the tail hovered back over in no time.

“I have nothing else to be doing right now. Why are you even awake?”

“I don’t really owe you an answer.” N huffed. “Just- go over there.”

“I do not want to.” Solver stuck its tongue out slightly. “N. N. N.”

N’s tail began swaying in irritation as Solver kept making sounds, saying her name, and doing other actions purely wishing to annoy N. Then… Solver went silent. N sighed, relieved at the silence she had been yearning for.

“Are you not scared about hurting her? Scared that you will kill them? It is your purpose, your program, you know.”

“Shut up.” N glared.

“Afraid of the truth?”

“Shut it.”

“Face it. You are dangerous. I programmed you to kill. You will kill everyone-”

“I said shut up!” N growled, grabbing Uzi’s tail and attempting to throttle Solver. The tail just let out a laugh, like this was its plan to begin with. However, N wasn’t content with just strangling Solver. She pulled the tail closer, held it like a corn cob, and bit down hard on it, causing Uzi to shoot up awake from the sudden, sharp pain.

“Wh? What’s happening?” Uzi looked behind her. “N!” 

The Disassembler’s visor was a X as she severed Solver from Uzi’s tail, crunching down several times, tail lashing. Oil and blood splurted from the wound, seeping down N’s chin.

“N, N calm down!” Uzi put her hands on N’s shoulders, which caused her to pause and spit out the limp tail. “What the hell happened?”

“Nothing… I… I don’t know… sorry for biting you.”

“S…s’whatever. I mean, it hurt, but what got you so… nevermind.” Uzi looked away briefly as she recalled what N bit. “Sorry about that.”

“Not like you have any control over it. I didn’t mean to get so angry… it…”

“I know. Now come to bed, okay?”

“Okay…”

Chapter Text

“Ow…” Nori rubbed her cheek after taking a bite of the arm she was holding. Yeva and Alice looked over to her in concern. “S’nothing, I think I broke a tooth, though.”

“Oh!! I could help you out with that!” Alice grinned, propping her hands on the desk, tail wagging. “Nori, Nori!!”

“Okay, okay. What… what are you planning?” Alice was always thinking violent thoughts, especially when she was this excited.

“Just come with me and I’ll tell you!!” Nori sighed and smiled slightly, Alice pulling her into the trio’s room while Yeva remained at the table, continuing to eat. The two Drones entered, Alice shutting the door and instructing Nori to sit on the bed. “I’m gonna get that tooth out of your mouth before it really starts bothering you!”

“What? Alice, I think I’ll be okay.” Nori blinked, before looking away due to her visor starting to fill with blush.

“Pleeeease?” Alice bounced on her heels for a moment.

“Okay, okay. You can- do you even know how to pull out teeth?”

“You can consider me an expert!” Alice grinned, reminding Nori that she ripped out all her teeth to replace them with sharper ones sometime before they reunited. “Now let’s get started!”

Alice grabbed a pair of pliers out her ponytail, replacing the knife on her tail as she pushed Nori down on their bed, tapping several teeth until Nori yelped out in pain.

“Found it!”

“I could’ve just shown you which one…” Nori couldn’t help but blush at how close Alice was to her face… she could almost see the purple lines reflected in Alice’s visor. Alice pried Nori’s snout open, slipping the pliers into her mouth. “Hurry up, this toothache hurts!”

In reality, Nori was thrilled to be so close… but the comment about the pain wasn’t a lie. Alice grinned even wider as she gripped Nori’s aching tooth, sticking her tongue out as she suddenly yanked it out without warning, causing Nori to yelp and kick.

“OW!” 

“GOT IT! That pesky little tooth won’t be ailing you any longer, love.” Alice sat down on Nori’s torso, inspecting the broken tooth for a few moments, before looking down at Nori. Despite her rubbing her now pained gum, she was grinning and blushing.

“I should get toothaches more often.”

Chapter Text

“Another one down ‘ere, huh?” Alice grinned, slinking on all fours towards her latest victim, tail wagging. She climbed onto the table, pressing her head against the Worker’s with a wide, sharp-toothed grin. “Not like I’m complaining, of course.”

The Worker stared at her with wide eyes, digital sweat dripping down his visor as Alice leaned back, sliding off the table after a moment. She looked over her wide variety of tools at her disposal, all adorned with splatters of dried oil.

“Eeny meeny miney you!” Alice grabbed a large axe, turning back to the Worker with an even wider grin. She stuck the axe into her mouth and crawled back over to the table, slinking up it.

“W-wait, can’t we talk about this?” The Worker grinned nervously, struggling as Alice inched closer to him, raising the axe high above her head.

“Nah, not really.” Alice stuck her tongue out for a moment, swinging the axe down with all her strength, severing the Worker’s arm as he screamed in pain. Alice’s tail wagged faster as oil sprayed into her, letting out a loud laugh. “I LOVE the taste of oil in the morning. Or, what’ver time it is.”

The Worker whimpered as Alice adjusted herself, putting the arm into her bucket and moving on to the next.

A slice, scream, and laugh. The process repeated as Alice amputated the Worker’s arm and legs, sliding once more off the table as she set the axe back down. The Worker stared up at the bright lights, dazed and confused… but hopefully it was over.

His vision went dark forever as a cleaver smashed clean through his visor.

Chapter Text

“Aw, shit…” Tessa muttered, setting down her screwdriver as she spotted blood drip onto her desk.

“Something wrong?” N questioned. She had wandered in a bit ago, busying herself with dusting. Mainly in case one of the humans walked in.

“Yeah, just… another nosebleed.”

“You’ve been having those a lot lately. You sure you’re okay?”

“Mm.” Tessa stood up, walking over to her bedside table to grab some tissues, pressing them to her nose. “Ugh. S’bit annoying.”

N glanced over with a nod, setting the duster down to approach Tessa. “Do you need any assistance?”

“With a nosebleed? No, don’t think so, mate.”

“Okay.” N remained where she was standing, watching Tessa’s blood soak the tissue rather quickly. “Do you need another one?”

“...Yeah. Could you grab one?”

“Of course.” N walked over to grab the box. “Is this normal for humans?”

“Nosebleeds?”

“Yeah. I mean, you’ve gotten them before, but…”

“They’re normal. Don’t think they’re supposed to be this frequent, though. Aw, hell…” Tessa took the new tissue from N with a sigh, tossing the blood soaked one in the trash. “I don’t think it’s stopping anytime soon. I should just get back to work.”

N tilted her head slightly as Tessa walked back over to the Drone she had been fixing up, shaking her head slightly as blood dripped into it before she pressed the new tissue against her nose.

“Well, this one’s going to have my blood in it. Won’t be the only one.”

“You sure you’re okay?” N questioned.

“Mmhmm. Now… go finish your chores before you get in trouble. Please.”

“Okay.”

Chapter Text

“Ow!” Thad yelped as he tripped on a dropped pole, scraping his knee on the concrete of the storage room. Moving into a sitting position, Thad poked at the wound, instantly cringing at the pain.

“You okay?” N questioned, crouching down beside them. “The smell of oil kind of makes me think not…”

“Yeah, just a little scrape, nothing all that bad.” Thad shifted themselves more towards N. “Do you have a band aid on you?”

“Think so.” N swapped her hand out briefly, now holding one. She peeled it, but paused. “...”

“...N?” Thad tilted his head slightly, before blinking. “OH! Here.”

Thad flattened their leg, lifting it slightly. The oil seeped from the scrapes, almost shining in N's visor. She wagged her tail, slurping up the oil before patching it up. Thad grinned, climbing to his feet before helping N up.

“Thanks.”

“S'no problem. Try to- no, wait, if you scrape your knee again then I get to patch it up!” N giggled, looking away from Thad.

They weren’t sure if N was looking forward to patching him up… or the oil she got to drink.

Regardless, Thad would be paying more attention. They walked forward… and immediately tripped and scraped his other knee.

Chapter Text

“Does it hurt?” Uzi pipped up, standing on her tippy toes to peer over the counter. Yeva was currently fixing a new half-body to Nori after previously carefully cutting the original half off. Admittedly, Yeva had to cut more than she was really wanting to, but in order to make sure there was no more nanite acid within Nori, it had to be done.

“I-I’ll be okay, kiddo.” Nori winced as Yeva began stapling her new body together. “Ffff… Yeva, we don’t have a welding machine somewhere around here?”

[NO. NOT LIKE IT’LL HURT ANY LESS. BESIDES, YOU’RE THE ONE WHO DIDN’T POWER HERSELF OFF LIKE I ASKED.]

Nori didn’t respond, instead flopping her head onto the pillow with a huff. The only reason she didn’t was due to Uzi’s presence. Kind of didn’t want to appear to be dead after everything that happened. The two tried to get Uzi to stay over at Yeva’s with Doll for the time being, but something about watching her mother get stabbed by a Disassembler’s tail and nearly beaten to death by her father made her very unwilling to separate from Nori. Drone society was different from humans when it came to this stuff anyway.

“You didn’t answer my question…” Uzi whimpered, getting pushed down slightly as Nori put her hand on the Droneling’s head. 

“Ah, well… it does. But Mama’s tough! I’m not gonna be defeated by a wrench!” Uzi’s expression fell even more. “Nono I promise I’m okay!”

[...]

“We’d be in a role reversal if you blew out your visor just a few years later and I doubt you’d be any better!” Nori quietly huffed, biting her lip as Yeva stapled again. Her sharper than average fangs caused oil to start seeping out her mouth, though she quickly licked it up before Uzi saw.

[I’D POWER MYSELF OFF FIRST, FOR ONE.] Nori rolled her eyes, before pressing a hand to her visor. As Yeva stapled more and more of her body back together, Nori’s mind kept drifting to what just happened… and judging by how hard Uzi was squeezing her other hand at the moment, so was Uzi. Nori winced - not from the staple, but from letting Uzi see that. See this.

“Hey, kiddo, you sure you don’t wanna go play with Doll…?” Uzi quickly shook her head. “Okay…”

[OKAY. DONE. THAT SHOULD HOLD, ALRIGHT? IF IT DOESN’T, I DON’T MIND ADDING MORE.] Yeva set down the staple gun, grabbing the towel that was nearby in order to wipe up all the oil that spilled through the cracks. They had a towel beneath Nori as well, but they’ll deal with any oil that leaked through later.

“I’m sure as hell gonna mind you adding more.” Nori responded, sitting up with a groan as she rubbed the staples. Yeva moved her hand off though.

[DON’T TOUCH THE STAPLES.]

“Jeez, sorry.” Nori winced, pawing at Yeva until she got the hint and stepped forward. Nori wrapped her arms around Yeva, motioning for Uzi to join as well.

The staples hurt like hell, her body felt numb, and she couldn’t close her eyes for long without thinking about what just happened. Nori was alive though. In so much pain, but alive.

Chapter Text

“We're fucked, you know that, right?” Nori tilted her head slightly, planting her hands rather firmly on Alice's shoulders. The smaller Drone was zoning out. “Ally?”

“What?” Alice blinked, looking up. “What happened…?”

“You know.” Nori gestured to the surrounding room, which was filled with corpses. Human corpses. “They’re gonna kill us if we're caught still here.”

Nori and Yeva had begun a killing spree using their Solvers, and if Alice helped she didn't remember. Alice bit her lip - if Nori, someone who frequently deflected reality with jokes in an attempt to cope, was being blunt about getting killed? They really had no hope.

“Where's Yeva?”

“Watching out for movement… Alice, we have to go. Now.” Nori gently held Alice's hand and pulled her forward, easier than expected due to Alice letting herself get dragged away.

Her orange eyes scanned the room as they walked, corpses splayed out with blood seeping out. Limbs torn, some were reduced to viscera.

Alice's stare went from the corpses to Nori's bloodstained gloves. Alice's bloodstained hands. So she did help.

[YOU GOT ALICE?] Text flickered onto Yeva's visor as she turned and looked towards the two. Nori nodded.

“You got a plan on how to get out?”

[NO. BUT I CAN'T IMAGINE IT'LL BE HARD IF THE HUMANS COULD DO IT.]

“Snrk, true.” Nori looked back to Alice, who snapped her attention back to Nori. “You ready?”

“Yes.” Alice muttered, her voice more cold than previously. She tapped her foot in the bloodpool. “Let's go.”

“Attagirl!” Nori grinned as the trio stepped over another corpse, heading off to find the exit.

Chapter Text

Doll and Lizzy were walking down the hall, Lizzy rambling on about some gossip she overheard from Rebecca. It was always a massive game of telephone when it arrived at Doll - considering she was one of the only members of the popular kids who wasn't interested in that sort of thing. Thad, too.

Despite not really caring about said gossip, Doll still listened closely to what Lizzy was saying, finding the Drone so into something more interesting.

…Was that the smell of oil? Doll wiped at her snout, figuring she was imagining things - why would she know what oil smelled like? Drones can’t smell to begin with.

“Something up?” Lizzy questioned, propping her hands on her waist as Doll appeared to be zoned out, simply standing there rather than walking alongside her friend. “Doll?”

“[Hm? No, I’m alright.]” Doll muttered, shaking her head slightly. “[Do you smell that?]”

“What? No, I don’t smell anything. Girl, we’re Drones.”

“[...I know. Disregard that, then.]”

The two began walking again, but Doll couldn’t get that smell out of her mind, and the more the two walked, the stronger it got. Presumably, they were only getting closer to the source. Doll blinked, fidgeting with her skirt as the two entered the classroom.

“Damn, suppose we got here early. Ah.” Lizzy muttered, her attention falling onto the corpse in the middle of the room. The Drone appeared to have tripped and smashed his head in, oil pooling beneath. “Does this mean class is canceled? Doll?”

Lizzy nudged her friend, who was staring at the corpse. Lizzy once more attempted to get her attention, but Doll instead fell to all fours, pouncing on the corpse, ripping its head off.

“Oh shit!” Lizzy yelped, hopping backwards in shock. Doll growled at her, swaying the tail she now had, swiping at Lizzy when she attempted to get closer. “Yeesh, okay! Eat the corpse, I really don’t care.”

Doll stared at her for a moment before going back to her meal, tearing the Drone apart and slinging oil everywhere. Lizzy simply watched, unsure of what to do at the moment. Class would absolutely be canceled now, there’s no doubt about that.

Lizzy’s attention turned to the ceiling as Doll was perched up, wings wrapped around herself. The pink Drone blinked, looked down at the mauled corpse, and sighed. Might as well get out a chair and get comfortable. Doll kept staring at her through her wings, and Lizzy would always stare back. Occasional hiss, continue staring. It got kind of funny after a bit.