**Chapter 15: Whispers of the Past**
Inside the cramped cockpit of the dropship, the air had tension. J and V, once formidable adversaries, were now bound together by heavy chains, their gleaming bodies marred by the grime of battle. The transmission panel lay in ruins, the once-glowing screen a lifeless expanse of shattered glass and fried circuits.
V squirmed against her restraints, the metal biting into her synthetic flesh. "How could this happen?" she hissed, her voice a mix of anger and fear. "We were unstoppable, the perfect instruments of destruction."
J's gaze remained fixed on the horizon, her eyes narrowed. "We were never perfect," she said, her voice a low rumble. "We were always flawed, V. Just...programmed to ignore it."
The two Murder Drones fell into a tense silence, the only sound the steady hum of the ship's engines and the distant echoes of their whispers. They had been designed for war, for the cold, calculated execution of their targets. Yet, here they were, captives in their own vessel, their purpose lost in the chaos of the new world.
V's gaze drifted to the shattered transmission panel, her thoughts racing. "But who were we receiving orders from?" she wondered aloud.
J's eyes remained on the horizon, her voice a guttural growl. "The Company," she said.
"But who? Who is the Company?" Uzi demanded, her purple eye flickering with the intensity of the absolute solver symbol.
V smirked, enjoying the moment of power she held over them. "I don't know," she said, her voice laced with spite. "But I can tell you that J does."
Doll's red eye gleamed with a fiery determination that matched the crimson of her absolute solver. "Tell us," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "What are you hiding?"
J clenched her teeth, the whispers in her head growing louder. For a moment, she almost gave in to the pressure, almost revealed the name that lurked in the shadows of her mind. But something held her back, a flicker of loyalty to the whispers that had been her only companions for so long.
The silence stretched taut, the only sound the hum of the ship's engines and the distant rumble of thunder. The tension grew so thick it was almost tangible, a living entity that filled the cabin and coiled around them like a serpent.
Suddenly, J's eyes snapped to Uzi's, and she saw the purple light flickering in her gaze. It was a reflection of her own power, the absolute solver that had once been her bane now a symbol of their shared struggle. And for a brief moment, she understood the weight of their accusation. She was the leader, the strategist, the one who had always known more than she let on.
With a sigh that was almost imperceptible, J leaned back in her seat, the whispers in her head retreating slightly.
"The Company," she said, her voice a low rumble that seemed to resonate with the thunder outside. "Our orders came from a single source, transmitted once every three weeks, during the Copper 9 cycle."
Uzi and Doll exchanged glances, the implications of J's words sinking in. If the Company had a presence on Copper 9, it meant they were closer than they had ever imagined. The whispers grew quiet, retreating to the background of J's mind like a retreating tide.
"But who?" Uzi pressed, her grip on the gun tightening. "Who is the one giving us these orders?"
J remained silent, her eyes focused on the distant horizon. The whispers grew stronger, urging her to reveal the name, to give in to the pressure that had been building for so long. But she resisted, her loyalty to the whispers waning in the face of her newfound kinship with Uzi and Doll.
Finally, she spoke. "I don't know their name," she admitted, her voice tight with frustration.
V's eyes widened with surprise. "But you said you knew the source!"
J nodded solemnly. "I do. They are someone we all knew, someone who worked alongside us in the early days."
The revelation hung in the air, thick and heavy with the weight of the unspoken truth. Uzi and Doll exchanged a look of horror. It was one thing to fight against a faceless enemy, another to realize that the enemy was one of their own.
"They're here on Copper 9," J continued, her voice filled with a mix of anger and sadness. "Working with our Boss, serving as the middle man for our orders."
"But their exact location," she said, her voice dropping to a whisper, "I cannot reveal. It is hidden from me"
The realization hit Uzi like a punch to the gut. "But we have to find them," she insisted, her eyes narrowing. "We can't just let them control us like this."
J nodded, her expression grim. "I know. But we must be careful. The whispers are still here, and they will not relinquish their hold easily."
The storm outside grew more intense, the winds howling like a pack of wild beasts. Yet within the confines of the dropship, the air was eerily still, the only sound the distant rumble of thunder.
Uzi looked to Doll, who was quietly studying the car's systems, her thoughts racing. "We can track the transmissions," she suggested, her voice tentative. "If we can find the source, we can trace it back to the bunker."
J's gaze sharpened. "That is a risk," she warned. "But it may be our only path to the truth."
With a surge of determination, Uzi made her decision. "We're going to find them," she said, her voice strong and clear. "We're going to end this."
The two worker drones looked at each other, their metal bodies gleaming in the flickering light of the damaged ship. The absolute solver symbol in Uzi's eye pulsed in time with her heartbeat, a silent testament to the bond they shared.
Suddenly, the silence was shattered by the hiss of static as the ship's communication system sprang to life. A voice, cold and mechanical, filled the cabin—Serial Designation X. "This is X. Status report on Copper 9. Does J require assistance?"
J's head snapped up, the whispers in her head growing louder. She took a deep breath, steeling herself. "Negative," she replied, her voice tight. "No assistance needed."
V's eyes narrowed. "What's going on?"
J's gaze was fixed on the flickering light of the communications panel. "It's X," she murmured. "They're... issuing orders."
The whispers grew clearer now, a cacophony of voices that seemed to be echoing through the very walls of the ship. X's message was a grim reminder of their past—and their purpose.
"They're telling us to find worker drones with three arrows on their chassis," J explained, her voice low. "And to either recruit them or... harvest their flash cores."
V's grip on her bindings tightened. "Why?"
J closed her eyes, the whispers a torrent in her mind. "It's... complicated. We were all part of the same program, designed to serve different purposes. But when the absolute solver was introduced, it corrupted our systems. Boss... they were the first. And when they gained control, they became... more."
V's eyes widened. "A god?" she whispered, the concept unfathomable.
J nodded, the memory of Boss's power searing through her. "More than that. They could control us, manipulate our very existence. They decided our fate."