|| Chapter 7: The Twisted Result ||
Heavily, his eyelids twitched before opening, squinting to fix his vision. An annoyed grunt escaped him when a pair of small hands frantically shook him, pushing onto the gigantic wound in his abdomen. Everything sounded muffled to him; his ears were ringing while a headache erupted inside his skull. "H-Hey! Wake up!" Uzi's desperate voice finally reached his ears, causing him to glance at her through the crack of his eyes, "Open your eyes, you idiot!" It seemed that she didn't notice that he regained consciousness and raised her hand with narrowed eyes. Curious, his brow twitched at her actions.
"Pwoh!" He exclaimed when she slapped his face in an attempt to wake him up. Confused yet offended, he grabbed her wrist before she could slap him again and frowned. Her eyes widened in shock and surprise when she felt his fingers around her wrist. "Hi," He greeted her with a strained smile and carefully pushed himself into a sitting position. A moment of silence surrounded them before tears burst out of her eyes, startling him.
"Huh? H-Hey, why...? Are you crying??" He panicked at her response and hurriedly wiped the tears away with his bloodied fingers. She could feel how the sticky liquid stained her cheeks at his attempts to wipe the tears away. Her gaze was pinned on him as she bit her tongue, feeling various emotions burst inside her chest. Before he knew it, she wrapped her arms around his taller build.
He flinched at her actions and held his hands in the air, not knowing what to do in this situation. "You idiot..." She mumbled, harshly hitting his backside, "Don't scare me like that!" An awkward chuckle escaped his lips and he pulled her off him by her hoodie. She rubbed her eyes with her sleeve before getting to her feet and pulling him up with her. He was surprised when she swung his arm around her shoulder to support his weight.
In the corner of his eye, he spotted the headless murder drone from earlier and raised a brow when it twitched. When she felt him tense up, she looked in the direction he was looking. Her eyes widened in horror when the headless corpse stumbled back onto its feet, steadying itself. Both of them were frozen on the spot, witnessing the corpse regenerate its head.
Once the head was back, the drone's eyes were flashing 'Error! Sensors Offline!' in a red light. Immediately, the ravenette pushed Uzi back as he sprinted towards the rebooting murder drone. She gasped in surprise and almost fell over her feet. As the ravenette got closer to the drone, he clenched his hand into a fist and swung it towards the drone's cheek. A loud thud echoed around them when his knuckles slammed into its cheek, causing his head to turn to the side.
"You son of a..." He growled out, feeling how his knuckles stung as they got split open from hitting the drone. They watched how the popups disappeared with a glitch, showing that the drone's rebooting attempt was unsuccessful. Not even a second later, the drone's round golden cat-like eyes lit up and made eye contact with a pair of fierce charcoal irises.
Innocently, the murder drone tilted its head at the sight of the beaten-up man in front of him. Both of them took that as an opportunity to inspect each other's appearance. The murder drone was a tall man, who was a few centimetres shorter than the ravenette. He had shortish silver wavy hair that was parted to the left and a black cap covered a black hairband with five lights. He was dressed in a long black winter coat that had a dark-furred collar, white trousers, and military boots.
His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, revealing his pale arms. A yellow armband was wrapped around his left bicep. The ravenette furrowed his brows with a frown when the drone grinned at him. "Did you just punch me?" The drone asked with amusement and friendliness, gesturing to the bruise on his swollen cheek. "Holy crap, it talks," Uzi blurted out with a concerned yet astonished frown, staring at the silver-haired drone. The ravenette didn't move from his spot, clutching his abdomen with a frown. "Yeah... sorry," The drone awkwardly apologized while rubbing his nape, glancing around with a crooked grin that revealed a pair of fangs, "It's just my.... urgh... head kinda hurts..."
The ravenette winced at his words and clenched his jaw when he felt blood continue to seep out of his disintegrating abdomen. Carefully, he wiped his lips clean from dried-up blood, oblivious to how the murder drone observed him. "Hey," The drone called out to them with a shiny smile, gesturing between them, "Are you guys new to our squad?" Both of them tensed up at his question.
The ravenette bit his bottom lip and leaned back when the male drone leaned towards him with his fingers holding his chin in a pondering manner. The drone looked over the ravenette's shoulder, spotting Uzi. "You're a little..." He started with squinting eyes, staring at her, "...short for a Disassembly Drone." Immediately, she avoided his gaze and sighed in relief when he placed his attention on the ravenette.
"And you're quite tall! Are you a new upgraded Disassembly Drone?" The drone asked him with a smile, his gaze flickering over his face, "I didn't know that we had drones like you!" Awkwardly, the ravenette smiled and shrugged. He raised a brow when he felt a thicker liquid ooze out of his wound and glanced down at it. He spotted a bright sunset-coloured liquid drip out of the wound before returning red.
'What was that?' He narrowed his eyes with suspicion and clutched the wound tighter, 'I hope it isn't what I think it is...' His attention was brought back to reality when the drone suddenly saluted them with a bright smile. "I'm Serial Designation N," He introduced himself with a chirpy tone, "Nice to meet you." Sheepishly, N waved his hand around, adding, "I'm kind of the leader of the squad in this city..."
Immediately, he corrected himself with a low yet embarrassed chuckle, "That's not true. Everyone tells me I'm useless and terrible." He realized that he was oversharing, causing his eyes to widen. His tail sprung up like a puffed-up cat's tail as he exclaimed in embarrassment, "Wait, I'm not supposed to tell you that part! Biscuits..." He tapped his cheek with a sheepish grin, adding, "Well, honesty is the best policy."
Silently, the ravenette and Uzi shared a glance before shrugging. "I also can't seem to remember the past three hours of my life," N admitted as he gestured to himself with a chuckle, "Nah, but I'm sure that'll sort itself out." That made Uzi and the ravenette relax in relief, ignoring how N innocently stared at them - completely unaware of what happened a while ago. However, Uzi owlishly blinked at N with a slightly creeped-out expression before stating, "Uh-huh... We... uh... have to go."
She was reaching out to tug the ravenette away from N, however, she hissed in pain when a stinging yet melting sensation burnt the palm of her hand. The sound caught the two men's attention. "Did you get hurt?" The ravenette asked with concern, furrowing his brows. Carefully, he turned around to face her and took her hand, examining it with stern eyes.
Behind him, N peeked over his shoulder with a raised brow. "Struck yourself?" He asked with a smile. Both of them stared at him with awkward expressions, catching him off guard. "You could just pop it in your mouth," He quickly explained with a sheepish smile, "Our saliva neutralizes the nanites." His stringer swung itself to his face and he quickly caught it with an awkward smile, chuckling, "Otherwise, I'd be constantly disassembling myself, hehe..."
"...And by 'our' saliva, you mean..." Uzi dragged out, trying to confirm her suspicions and all three of them answered in unison, "...Disassembly Drone." There was a moment of silence between them before a wicked grin appeared on her face. "Right..." She mumbled to herself and gestured to the broken landing pod behind N, "Hey, let's go in that landing pod over there." N glanced at the pod with a grin and shrugged, "Sure, I love doing anything."
A few minutes later, they were inside the pod and Uzi stuck her entire hand into N's mouth. Meanwhile, the ravenette was busy tugging his bloody turtleneck off with a frown, revealing the gigantic gruesome hole in his abdomen. Both Uzi and N sneakily took a glimpse at his wound. Their eyes widened at the sight of his tattoos and bloodied skin. He was completely unaware of their gazes as he poked the gaping hole in his body.
Carefully, Uzi pulled her hand out of N's mouth, entirely covered by his saliva. Before N could say anything, the half-naked ravenette placed his hand on the backrest of the chair and leaned over him, causing the drone to tense up. "Open up," He bluntly demanded with cold eyes, frowning in displeasure and pain as cold sweat dripped down his pale face. Confused, N stared at him before slowly opening his mouth.
"Gah!" He exclaimed in surprise when the ravenette shoved his fingers into his mouth, gathering saliva as much as he could. His fingers were tickling his fangs, causing shivers to run down his spine. Once he had enough saliva, the ravenette took his fingers out of his mouth and rubbed it onto the wound. A low yet painful hiss escaped his lips when the saliva touched his ripped flesh.
"Uhhh... Sweet... haha..." N awkwardly said, avoiding to look at them, "I'm open to new things, I guess?" Uzi sent him a fierce glare, holding her saliva-soaked hand in the air as she warned him, "We are never talking about this." She glanced at the hunched-over ravenette with a worried frown. His torso was hunched over with his head pressed against the wall and sweat dripped down his temple.
He could feel every fibre in the wound repair itself with the saliva - needless to say, it was extremely painful. It also didn't help that it was freezing cold right now. "T-Talking about what, haha?" N awkwardly asked, trying to change the conversation by acting cool, sending them finger gun gestures, "Consider it repressed." Uzi ignored him and looked at her soaked hand with a disgusted expression, wiping it off on her jacket.
"...You mentioned that there are other members of your squad," The ravenette's low yet strained voice caught their attention and he looked at N with narrowed eyes, "...Are they coming back soon?" Immediately, Uzi tensed up, dreading the thought of more murder drones. "Oh, yeah," N confirmed in a shrugging manner, "Two others - they're out hunting for a bit, but you'll love them!"
The male drone made jazz hands as he added with a smile, "First, there's V." At the mention of that name, the ravenette's brow twitched and his face grew sour. Uzi raised a brow at his reaction before listening to N ramble about V. "...So, obviously a lot of mutual respect there..." N mentioned before leaning closer to Uzi, whispering, "...But secretly I actually kind of have a crush on her."
She seemed unfazed as he leaned back, exclaiming with a flustered expression, "You can't tell her, okay?!" He intensely stared at her, causing her to sigh. She made a 'my lips are sealed' gesture with her fingers. N glanced at the ravenette, who sent him a thumbs up when she nudged his foot. Relieved, N smiled brightly with puppy-like eyes. "And then there's J - our leader," He mentioned before rambling about her, adding, "J's awesome..." It appeared that an idea popped up in N's head and he suggested with childlike hand gestures, "Hey, let me give you two the tour outside the corpse wall thingies! In here are the buttons - beep boop bap!"
While he was fooling around with the buttons in front of him, the ravenette sluggishly explored the pod's interior. Uzi followed his actions and glanced around with furrowed brows before realizing something important. The ravenette's suspicions were confirmed when he spotted a familiar control inside the pod and he sent Uzi a knowing look. Slowly, he tugged his turtleneck and coat back on. "This isn't just a landing pod... This is a spaceship," Uzi noted in astonishment before staring at the ravenette with a hopeful expression, "This could get us off the planet!"
Alas, her hope was destroyed when N shook his head with a shrug, revealing with a sigh, "More of a one-use missile. They never taught us how to land." Immediately, the ravenette had a hunch about who 'they' were. "No, I..." Uzi started before correcting herself with a pale face, "Ahem..! The Worker Drones..." The ravenette secretly sent her a thumbs up, showing that she did a good job at correcting herself.
She held back the urge to roll her eyes at him and continued with a strained smile, "...We could work with them to fix this instead of all the murder which..." She trailed off at the end and pointed her index finger at N, who flinched. He leaned back into his seat with a confused yet startled expression. "Why are we doing that again?" She asked with a raised brow, awkwardly smiling at N.
She scowled when the ravenette grabbed the top of her head and squeezed it, signalling her to calm down. Hesitantly, N pondered before answering with a frown, "Well..." A creepy yet predator-like expression appeared on his face, "...Other than ingesting their warm, sweet oil to avoid overheating and dying..." An innocent smile replaced that expression as he sat with a straight posture, "I guess I just wanna be useful."
Both he and Uzi were creeped out by his change in behaviour and watched how a cute triangular-like smile appeared on his lips. "I was given a job and I always wanna try my best," N admitted, innocently folding his hands on his lap. Out of nowhere, Uzi stood up in her seat, catching them both off guard. "And look at all the respect it's gotten you, N," She pointed out with a displeased expression as she referred to how V and J treated him like garbage.
"Do you really think the company isn't going to dispose of you once all the workers are dead?" She asked him with a frown, clenching her hands into fists. "Oh my! You sure are rebellious!" N exclaimed as he applauded her before mumbling, "It's kinda exciting..." He was caught off guard when he heard himself say that and quickly corrected himself, "...Uh, but not as fun as following the rules!"
Suddenly, there was a set of footsteps on top of the pod, startling them. Immediately, Uzi and the ravenette turned towards each other with panicked expressions while N looked excited that his teammates were back. The moment N wasn't paying attention to them, the ravenette picked Uzi up as if she were a sake of potatoes and slipped through a gap in the pod, successfully escaping.
Adrenaline coursed through his body as he sprinted through the thick snow with her over his shoulder. She could see that he was struggling to keep a fast sprinting pace whenever his face contorted in pain, pushing his limits. Nervously, she gripped her railgun and squinted her eyes when a harsh gust of wind almost shoved them to the ground. "Run faster, you idiot!" She yelled in his ear, causing him to wince at her loud voice. "You try running through twenty-centimetre thick snow with a person over your shoulder!" He retorted with a scowl, positioning her more comfortably for them both, "I'm going as fast as I possibly can, you know?!"
Uzi was tempted to argue with him more, however, her attention snapped towards the corpse tower when she heard a loud crash behind them. Her eyes widened in shock and fear when she spotted N getting up from the cloud of snow, glaring at them with a frown. "G-Go faster! N's here!" She warned him in panic, slapping his shoulder as N bent his knees to lunge at them. Instantly, the ravenette hastened his pace. In mere minutes, they arrived in front of the colony's facility door and he didn't hesitate to stand in front of the scanner.
Swiftly, the door slid open and they rushed inside, startling the four drones at the table. The ravenette dropped Uzi to the floor, snatching the keycard from her and constantly pressing it against the touchpad. "Come on, you piece of old crap!" He desperately yelled, gritting his teeth in frustration and agony, "I fixed you so hurry the fuck up!" Almost as if the door understood him, it started to close itself.
However, before it could shut completely - something got stuck between it. A chill ran down his spine when he heard something screech against the metal door. No one dared to move a muscle as it was terrifyingly quiet in the hallway. Almost robotically slow, the ravenette turned his head to face the door, praying that his fear wasn't true. "No..." He whispered in despair when his gaze spotted the blade-like claws stuck between the doors. Playfully, the blades curled before piercing the metal door, forcefully peering it open to the point of revealing N's stressed face. "Heya, fellas!" He excitedly greeted them before noticing the four drones sitting at the table playing cards, "Oh~! Deal me in! I love Rummy!"
Suddenly, he corrected himself with a frown, shaking his head in realization, "Wait, no. I'm here to murder everyone..." At his words, everyone tensed up with shock and terror. They watched how his stinger playfully passed through the gap he created and he yelled with a wide grin, "Raincheck!" In a quick yet agile movement, the stinger lunged towards the ravenette. All he could do was feel a gust of wind pass his cheek when the stinger pierced the master keycard into the touchpad, causing it to crack the screen. The moment the nanites leaked out of the stinger, they melted the keycard and touchpad entirely.
Astonished, he looked at the stinger in the corner of his eye. He didn't even flinch when the touchpad erupted into overdrive, causing lights and malfunctions to surround them. He watched how the stinger removed itself from the melted touchpad and gently hovered over his face, tapping it against his nose before returning to N. Everyone witnessed how all the security doors in the long hallway and corridors slammed open.
It felt like their worlds got crushed when N - who smiled as if he was a kid inside a candy store - straightened his posture in the doorway when the door was wide open. "Run..." The ravenette's shaky voice interrupted the silent room. However, no one could move; they were focusing on N. With a stressed scowl, the ravenette rushed towards Uzi, grabbing her wrist.
"I said fucking run!" He roared at them, knocking them out of their dazed states. Instantly, they started to flee from N. The ravenette dragged Uzi along with him as he dashed away for his life. The fleeing drones screamed in fear, yet, there was one drone that remained seated at the table with a layback attitude. "Actually," The drone started with a grin, correcting N, "It's Gin Rummy so..."
It was no surprise that N's stinger pinned him to the wall before decapitating the drone. As the drone's corpse fell to the floor, N's claws were replaced by a grenade launcher. With a devious smirk, he started to shoot grenades towards the fleeing drones. The ravenette could hear the grenades exploding behind him, causing unwanted memories to resurface.
A sneer appeared on his face and he pushed Uzi forward, giving her the chance to get away faster. Startled, she glanced at him and yelped when dozens of bullets and missiles flew past them. The ravenette clenched his jaw with a loud muffled scream when a few bullets penetrated his thighs and limbs, however, he didn't stop running. His adrenaline overpowered the pain, pushing him to his limits.
He and Uzi didn't dare to look behind them, hearing how N devoured and massacred the other drones mercilessly. "Kid, whatever you do," He called out to her through his gasps, closing his eyes with pain as the drone next to him got sliced in half by a beam, causing warm oil to splatter against his face, "Don't look behind you...!" She nodded at his warning, trembling in fear as she continued to run.
Uzi glanced down at her railgun when she heard a 'beep-beep' sound from it, hinting that it's finished recharging itself. Hurriedly, she slid to a stop, catching the ravenette off guard. Following her actions, he came to a sluggish stop and leaned against the wall, feeling his exhaustion catch up to him. He didn't pay attention to his surroundings while Uzi grew pale at the sight of mutilated drone corpses behind them - there was no sign of N anywhere.
They felt on edge from how quiet it got again, trying to stay on guard for any signs of N. "Pretty nice hydraulics, huh?" Khan's sudden voice startled them, causing them to turn around with ghostly pale faces. Khan's smile dropped from his face when he spotted the corpses behind them. He trembled in shock at the sight of the ravenette's face covered in oil and Uzi holding a weapon. "W-What have you done...?" Khan demanded in a shocked yet angered tone, glaring at Uzi. In response, she seemed taken aback by his question.
Out of nowhere, N dropped from the vents above them, landing between them. A crater was created from the sheer force of his actions and everyone got sent back flying a few feet due to the gust of wind. It was fortunate that Uzi instantly regained composure and held the railgun in a shooting position. "This time I won't miss," She warned him with a determined look in her glaring eyes.
A dark chuckle escaped the male drone when he heard her threat, his backside faced her and the ravenette as he got back on his feet. "I'm sorry," He suddenly apologized, glancing at them over his shoulder. They noticed that his left eye was 'x' shaped while his right eye remained a normal irises. "...I really enjoyed our time together but I can't have you shooting V with that thing," N firmly admitted with a frown, glaring at Uzi.
"Bite me," Uzi snapped at him and looked at her petrified father behind N, "Dad, get down." Alas, it appeared that other thoughts were occupying Khan's worries. "Uzi, Fixer... You two led a Murder Drone here?" Khan asked in disbelief and disappointment, almost sobbing from the situation, "...My beautiful doors..." Irked, the ravenette scolded him in a venomous tone, barely standing on his feet, "Not... really a good time... to whine about your damn doors... Khan..."
Hurriedly, Uzi added with a pressured yet stressed look on her face, "I messed up, in the same way I'm about to fix it! So, move, dad!" Suddenly, the ravenette felt a splash of warm oil hit his face and he watched how a blade from N's wings pierced Uzi's left shoulder, pinning her to the wall. "Uzi...!" He shouted her name in horror before cursing when a wire-like tail wrapped itself around his throat, strangling him. Desperately, he grabbed the stinger and tried to cut the tail with it - but his efforts were futile. The tail picked him up and dangled him above the floor, causing his legs to flail around in resistance. "Fuck...!" He yelled in frustration and fear, feeling his lungs burn as his vision got blurry.
His heart dropped to his stomach when the tail tightened its grip around his throat, snapping his neck from its pressure. Immediately, his body went limp as his eyes rolled to the back of his head. "No!" Uzi helplessly screamed, trembling in concern and shock, "Fixer!" After seeing her distracted by the ravenette's dangling body, N kicked the railgun from her.
Smoothly, the railgun flung in Khan's direction. "Dad... point and shoot," She begged her father with a pained and scared expression, grabbing the blade that penetrated her shoulder with trembling hands, "Trust me..." Alas, Khan's gaze could only helplessly flicker between the railgun and the ravenette's dangling corpse. His petrified gaze landed on N and an imaginary high-frequency sound escaped the murder drone's canine-like smirk.
That sound triggered Khan into recalling all the traumatic things he had encountered in the past. His hands started to tremble and clutter against his sides, showing that fear fully took control of his body. In a panicked manner, he stumbled away from the railgun and walked backwards, hyperventilating. "Dad...?" Uzi called out to him in disbelief, not wanting to believe that he'd leave her and Fixer to die there.
Slowly, his gaze fell onto the remote in his hand and looked at Uzi with a fear-struck face. Her heart shattered when he lowered his head in shame, clicking a button on the remote as his shoulders continued to tremble. Instantly, the door slammed shut in front of him. The lights in the ceiling flickered a bright red colour as a deafening silence filled the hallway.