|| Chapter 4: Everything Turns Upside Down ||
The sound of a scalpel carefully cutting off pieces of burnt skin filled the operating room. There was a groan of pain here and there, but it was rather quiet. The ravenette tossed the burnt skin into a container to examine later and carefully reattached the wires inside the drone's arms. These two somehow came to an understanding that neither of them found each other dangerous and agreed to stand down.
So, the ravenette made a deal with him: He would help him with his injuries and he would owe him a favor. 'I don't like the fact that I have a living murder drone inside my home,' He sweatdropped at his thought as he stitched a new patch of silicone skin from another corpse onto the drone's wounds, 'I'm really digging my own grave...' The said drone stared at him with a stoic face, watching him work so diligently. He never once thought that a human would still be alive here on Copper9 since all the humans were on Earth. "Can I stay here?" He blurted out, causing the ravenette to flinch and turn to him with a look of disbelief.
Innocently, the drone tilted his head at him, confused yet curious as to why he reacted like that. "...Why?" The ravenette suspiciously asked, narrowing his eyes at the half-naked drone sitting on the operating table. "It's cosy and warm here," He answered in an honest tone, sending him a charming smile that revealed his canine teeth, "My teammates are dead anyways so I don't have to go back to District 3." That unnerved the ravenette, but he didn't show it.
He didn't respond to him, ignoring him as he continued stitching new skin onto him. It was fortunate that the new skin was the same colour as his skin, perfectly blending in. Out of nowhere, he felt something coil around his thigh and he glanced down with a raised brow. He tensed up when he spotted the drone's tail playfully wrap itself around his leg, almost as if it was showing that it was happy.
"...Fine," He mumbled, ignoring the tail and tilting the drone's face to the side to add a new patch of skin onto his throat, "You can stay in the accommodating level for a few days." Immediately, he felt the tail squeeze his leg in a delighted manner, however, the drone's face remained stoic. "What's your name?" He asked the drone with a small hum, finding his hidden reactions quite amusing, "I can't keep calling 'You' or 'Hey' if you're going to stay here."
"E," The drone revealed in a monotone voice, glancing at the ravenette from the corner of his eye, "Serial Number E." He could feel how the stitches pinched the skin together on his throat. "Then I'll call you Ezekiel," The ravenette mused with a slight hum, leaning away from him when he finished the stitching. He slowly tugged the surgical mask off and rubbed the back of his nape with a groan.
The tail uncurled itself from his thigh and draped on the table, occasionally moving around. Once he was done stitching the wounds, he placed the equipment back onto the table and turned away from him. "You have to stay in here for a while," He told him, tugging his surgical mask off, "I personally think that you should reboot yourself for better recovery." Ester stared at him for a moment before nodding, accepting his advice.
"I'll come to check up on you when I get back," He added, glancing at him over his shoulder as the operating room door slid open. "Okay..." Ezekiel mumbled with a small smile, lying down on the table again. The ravenette stepped out of the room and the door slid closed behind him. Sneakily, he pressed a button under a table and relaxed when extra locks appeared on the door behind him.
The lights flickered off in the room as Ezekiel started to reboot himself, entering sleep mode. Slowly, the ravenette hung his bloody gloves and lab coat over a chair and picked up his mask. A fierce yet dark glint appeared in his eyes, and he felt tense and on edge. This entire situation was a problem that wouldn't have existed if he had been careful with his calculations.
'I wish I shoved that scalpel into that damn drone's throat when I had the chance,' He thought while entering the elevator, impatiently tapping his foot against the floor. Soon, he entered the accommodation floor and noticed that the apartment was sparkling from how clean it was. An amused sigh escaped his lips when he realized that Ellipse cleaned up after him.
"Ellipse," He called out, placing the mask on the counter as he approached a tall metal cabinet. A 'ding' sound was heard, announcing that she was listening. "One of the Disassembly Drones in the corpse piles was still alive," He alerted her while opening the cabinet, revealing the various firearms and weapons hanging inside it. "Increase security measures and surveillance in the operating room," He coldly ordered, clenching his jaw.
"Understood," Ellipse responded before a few beeping sounds were heard across the facility. Calmly, the ravenette buckled a few harnesses around his upper body and attached pistols into holsters at his hips. He covered his hands in black latex gloves and loaded his rifle, checking that it was still usable. He took the long white trenchcoat out of the cabinet and tugged it on.
Once he was done gearing up, he grabbed a toolbox and left the apartment without a word. His mask released a large puff of smoke when it covered his mouth. As the elevator doors slid open, a gust of cold air entered the box. His hair fluttered in every direction because of it, but he didn't care. With squinted eyes, he stepped out of the elevator and started his journey to the colony.
It took him at least an hour or two to arrive in front of an enormous metal door, which appeared to be frozen. However, the three bright yellow lights above it showed that it was still functioning. He spotted the motion tracker on the door when its tiny eye shifted to his approaching figure. When he stood in front of the door, his chin beckoned it to open.
Immediately, the door swiftly opened, revealing Khan and another group of worker drones on the other side. They all seemed to be dressed in similar outfits to Khan, hinting that they were the drones that handled the doors. They all seemed to be staring at him, wide-eyed. Khan, however, awkwardly greeted him when he entered the facility with menacing eyes, "G-Good to see you again, Fixer..."
"Yes, hello Khan," He nonchalantly returned the greeting as one of the drones scanned their card, causing the door to close behind him. All the drones were glancing at him, whispering to each other about how this black-haired drone loomed over them. "So, lead the way," He snapped at Khan when he had enough of the whispering, startling everyone.
"Y-Yes, of course! Um... This way," Khan stuttered out, turning around to lead him down the enormous corridor. The ravenette walked behind him, looking completely bored. The drones followed behind the tall man, stealing glances at him. Soon, Khan stopped in front of a glitching touchpad in front of Door 2. "This keypad doesn't want to scan our cards when we have to rotate shifts," He explained with an inaudible gulp, stepping away.
"Hmm," The ravenette hummed at his words, approaching the touchpad. Casually, he placed the toolbox onto the floor and popped it open, showing off all the different types of tools it had. He crouched in front of the touchpad and cautiously disconnected the wires from it. Once the wires were disconnected, a loud alarm echoed through the corridor when the door went into lockdown mode.
All the other drones jumped five feet in the air, completely startled and frightened. "Oh shut it, ya bastard," He cursed at the touchpad, hitting it for a second. Instantly, the blaring alarm went quiet. Grumbling under his breath, his slender gloved fingers peered the touchpad open and fiddled with the components inside it. He raised a concerned brow when he felt an icy cold capacitor inside the touchpad.
"That's not good," He mumbled under his breath and removed the capacitor, setting it down on the ground. Swiftly, he picked up a new capacitor from the toolbox and inserted it into the touchpad. He made sure that all the necessary wires and signals were connected to the new capacitor. He added a thin case over the capacitor to prevent itself from freezing over again and closed the touchpad case.
"You guys should let the touchpad capacitor warm up before scanning the keycards," He mentioned sternly, glaring at them over his shoulder, "The entire system will short-circuit if you don't do that, you idiots." They stared at him with wide eyes, completely speechless. Ignoring their reactions, he looked back at the touchpad and pressed a button, causing a hologram keyboard and screen to pop up.
Quickly, he typed codes onto the keyboard. "There," He scoffed with a triumphant look in his eyes as he clicked 'enter', "I fixed it." Not even a second later, the door next to them returned to normal lock mode. He packed up his toolbox and got to his feet, stretching his lower back with a groan. 'Now just three more problems to do,' He reminded himself, ignoring how the drones were amazed at his work.
Thus, Khan took him to all the spots inside the facility that had problems. However, the ravenette reassured him that he knew his way around the living area of the facility and shooed Khan away. Khan sulked at his harsh personality and told him the damaged classroom number before dragging himself away. The ravenette rolled his eyes at his behaviour and headed to his destination.
On the way there, some of the teenage drones stared at him with astonishment and curiosity. They seemed to be intrigued by his height and the mask on his face. "Woah..." One of the male drones whispered in awe when the ravenette walked past him. He glanced at the short drone with a raised brow, who flinched before scurrying away. He felt bothered when a few of the female teenage drones started to send him flirty looks and winks, giggling.
However, when he walked past the infirmary sector, he caught a glimpse of a familiar purple-haired drone in the corner of his eye. He paused midway and contemplated whether he should go in or not. Sighing, he entered the infirmary sector. The moment he stepped foot inside the room, he spotted the bandages on the right side of her face. She held an ice pack over it while her railgun was next to her, but smoke seemed to escape its barrel as it glowed a bright green colour. "Lemme guess," His amused yet concerned voice almost caused her to jump five feet in the air, "You tried to use your incomplete railgun."
Her gaze landed on his figure; he was leaning against the wall with his left hand inside his pocket while the toolbox was in his other hand. "W-What are you doing here?" She growled out, glaring at him. "I see you're still feisty," He joked before his eyes turned stern, his entire demeanour was intimidating, "And I'm guessing that you're the reason why I got called here to fix a destroyed classroom." Ashamed and embarrassed, her face got bright pink and she looked away, crossing her arms over her chest. Her ears perked up when she heard footsteps approach her and she glanced in that direction.
Her eyes widened when he stood in front of her, holding his white trenchcoat out to her. "Use it," He blankly told her with his gaze pinned on her, "I don't want it to get dirty when I fix your mess, kid." Irked, she was about to yell at him, however, she clicked her tongue and snatched the coat from his hand. "How would you know if I don't toss it in the trash?" She taunted him with a small scoff, touching the material of the coat.
"I'll know because I lent it to you," He retorted with a look of disbelief and flicked her forehead, "So don't do anything stupid and get better, kid." She was speechless at his actions, however, it made her smile a bit. Without another word, he left the infirmary. On the way out, he walked into a male teen drone, who was about 5ft9 or so. The drone stumbled back a bit when his forehead made contact with something hard.
He had grey-blonde hair sticking out of a backward red-orange cap and hooded lime-green eyes. He was dressed in a dark yellow-green shirt with a jock vest over it, black jeans and white sneakers. The blonde was startled when he was faced with a muscular chest before looking up at the owner of the chest. His face grew pale in shock but also in awe, noticing the ravenette's dark eyes and mask.
"Oops," The ravenette nonchalantly uttered, tilting his head, "I didn't see you there. My bad." Before the blonde could say anything, he walked away. The drone's gaze was pinned onto his retreating backside; he was in complete disbelief at what just happened. "Wow," He whispered as his face sparkled, "Such a badass...!" Uzi deadpanned at the blonde's reaction and facepalmed, shaking her head with a sigh.
Meanwhile, the ravenette approached the bent classroom door and peeled it open. Instantly, it revealed a completely destroyed classroom. His eye twitched in annoyance when he realized how much damage that railgun caused. "Oh my god..." He grumbled under his breath and entered the destroyed room, shoving anything in his path. For the next few hours, he started to fix the desks, floor, and walls.
As he was about to push a desk back into place, he froze when he felt a gaze on his back. Instinctively, he pulled a pistol out of his holster while turning around to face the unknown presence. With the pistol barrel aimed at the presence, he squinted his eyes before furrowing his brows at the sight of a teenage female drone at the doorway. She seemed to be around Uzi's height, however, something about her unnerved him. She was dressed in a black, red, and gold striped cheerleader outfit with black winter boots. Her skin was a sickly pale colour and her long dark purple hair contrasted it. There seemed to be a beanie on her head. Her sharp crimson neon irises stared at him, observing him.
"Students aren't allowed here yet, kid," He sternly warned her, lowering his pistol. The tiny hairs on his skin stood on end for some reason. His gut churned as his instincts told him that something was really wrong. "Who are you?" She asked in Russian while narrowing her eyes at him, showing that she was suspicious of him. "People call me Fixer around here," He answered her in perfect Russian, catching her off guard.
"Why are you here?" He added in a cold tone, shoving his pistol back into the holster, "This area is taped off until tomorrow for repairs." A tense yet heavy silence filled the room as they stared at each other. "...My bag is here," She perfectly lied with a convincing smile, folding her hands behind her back. "Oh really?" He played along with her lie and picked up a completely burnt backpack.
"Is it this?" He sarcastically snarled, tossing the burnt backpack to her feet. Calmly, she glanced at the backpack before looking at him again. "Guess it is," He mused while turning around to face the cracked windowsill behind him, completely unaware of how she quietly approached him. His skin crawled when he felt an ominous aura behind him, causing him to turn around with a vicious glare. His gaze met a pair of calm crimson irises a few inches away from his face. The female drone was leaning closer to him, forcing him to tilt his head back to create space between them. "I've never seen eyes like yours before," She mentioned with an emotionless expression and reached to poke the beauty spot next to his eye, "They..."
"Enough," The sound of his icy cold yet bloodthirsty voice caused her fingers to twitch in the air, pausing midway. Her lips parted in surprise when she made eye contact with bright sunset-coloured irises, staring her down in a predator-like manner. Once he saw that she was distracted, he pushed her out of the way and stormed out of the room. His head was buzzing from thousands of thoughts, completely oblivious to Ellipse's alerts warning him about dangerous heartbeat levels.
He slammed the abandoned office doors open, gasping and collapsing on a nearby chair as the doors clicked closed behind him. His eyes were stinging as if they were dipped into bleach and he wanted to claw them out. He held that temptation down, ripping his mask off his face. The mask tumbled to the floor with a loud thud while the pitch-black room was filled with quick and wheezy gasps. The toxic cold air of the dusty offices entered his lungs, burning them more than before. A pounding headache appeared in his skull, causing him to grit his teeth in pain.
"Warning: Lack of oxygen will result in User blacking out," Ellipse warned in a hurried voice, "It is advised to..." However, her words were drowned out when cold sweat poured from his face. With a loud groan, he clutched his chest; it felt like his heart was getting torn apart. "Fuck this...!" He growled out before slamming his forehead against the table, sending a harsh shock of pain throughout his entire body. That action made him gasp, successfully getting air into his lungs as they finally got used to the toxins.
'It hurts...' He grunted with his head pressed against the table, shutting his eyes in pain, 'It hurts like hell...' In all honesty, he had no idea how much time passed but he could feel his vision slowly slip away. He could hear panicked voices in the hallways outside the offices, but they started to get distorted and distant. Out of nowhere, the doors slammed open and he didn't even react when someone's fingers grabbed a fistful of his hair, harshly pulling his head back.
"Oh, robo Jesus!" Uzi screamed in shock when she saw the large cut on his forehead. With disbelief, her eyes widened as she witnessed a gush of crimson liquid spilt from the forehead wound and his nose. "Ew..." He moaned in agony, tasting the heavy iron flavour entering his mouth. He glanced at the owner of the hand and sent the blurry Uzi a sheepish smile, apologizing, "Sorry..." Not even a second later, his eyes rolled to the back of his head, completely unconscious. His body slumped when he blacked out. Uzi's fingers gripped his hair tighter, trembling with different emotions.