Uzi Doorman was walking down her “street,” which, like everything else out here, was barely visible beneath all of the snow. She had been heading to the headquarters of the Worker Defense Force, as she was somehow put in charge of the feral drone they captured a few days ago. Misread sarcasm was likely the culprit.
Getting clearance from the WDF, playing cards as per usual, Uzi headed into the basement. Down there, was the greatest threat to the Worker Drone’s lives. Uzi dropped her backpack on the nearby table, knocking on the glass window. It existed merely for the purpose of checking on the danger held within the room - it was quite a reinforced pane.
“Purple Drone, you’re back!” A particularly wolf-like Drone appeared at the window, pressing his paws against the window. He was chained to an oddly wooden pole in the middle of the room.
“...Hey.” Uzi sighed, looking at the other for a few moments before pulling a chair out. She still wasn’t sure what exactly she was supposed to be doing when it came time to check on the odd Drone. Neither of them knew each other’s names. Uzi called him Wolfboy, and he called her Purple Drone.
“So, what’s been going on outside?” The wolf asked, fidgeting with the sleeves of his winter coat. Uzi simply shrugged.
“The same. It’s only been like a few days since you got locked up.”
“Ah, right… listen, uhm… I’m overheating. It's getting quite hard to ignore.” The wolf tapped his fingers together, looking more at the floor. “I’ll probably try to break out.”
Uzi raised a digital eyebrow, tilting her head slightly.
“You… haven’t tried breaking out before?” The wolf shook his head. “That’s odd. If I was locked up, I would have tried to break out as soon as possible.”
“Regardless…” Wolf sighed, holding a paw on the chain, “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I haven’t done anything to help you.”
“I know, but every time I think about it, I just feel bad. I just wanted to warn you.”
“...Thanks.” Uzi sighed. She kind of felt bad about him being trapped down here, though there was also that whole issue of well, he’s a cannibal. “Listen, if I get you out of here, would you listen to what I say? I’m not gonna set you loose and let you go on a slaughter-spree.”
“I’m great at listening!” Wolf wagged his tail. “One question, though. What’s your name?”
“Uzi… Doorman.” Might as well tell him. She’s not going to let him out of her sight. Well, outside of school, anyway.
“N.”
“Just N?”
“No… I have an actual name, but I decided to leave it when I self-exiled myself. So it’s just N.”
“Alright.” Uzi sighed. She looked to the barricaded door, figuring it wouldn't take much to make the door accessible. There was something still on her mind, though. “You said you’re overheating? Is that something I should be worried about?”
“Oh, yes. I need oil, if not, I start overheating, and I lose control of myself. Then I either die, or I… stop overheating.”
“Okay, that’s… we can deal with that when we get out. Just keep yourself under control.” N nodded quickly. “I’ll see if I can sneak a hammer in here to remove those nails. It shouldn’t take much for you to break that wooden pole, huh?”
Once Uzi left, N turned his attention to the pole he was chained to. Giving a small nod and a tug, the pole appeared to be more sturdy than initially thought.
“I guess I’ll have to… chew it?” Even in his most calmest state, his teeth were pretty sharp. Wood wouldn’t be much of a problem. The WDF didn’t seem all that concerned about N, now that he thought about it - why else would the only thing holding him captive be made out of wood? Actually, he could probably bite through the chain itself if he really tried.
“N, I’m back! I can’t say if it was really a surprise on how easy it was sneaking this in.” Uzi held the hammer up as N pressed himself against the window. He likely could break it, but they didn’t exactly have a ton of time to spare. Although he couldn’t watch her remove the boards from the door, N still remained looking in her direction, tail wagging. “Got it!”
Quietly, she opened up the door, where N was waiting inside. His ear had a notable rip in it that it didn’t have before, but now wasn’t the time to ask him what happened. Stopping him in his tracks, Uzi held the hammer in a defensive pose.
“...I really should’ve asked this sooner, but… how do I know you aren’t going to kill me?”
“I haven’t tried to yet.” N sighed. “Please, Uzi… I just want out of this basement. If I was a danger to you, I would've killed you by now.”
“I’m watching you, Wolfboy. Come on.” Uzi motioned for N to walk in front of her, and the two headed up the stairs. “Stop! The Worker Defense Force is right up ahead.”
Uzi walked in front of N, peering into the room where the WDF were still playing cards. Khan notably had his back turned to them. Still, several WDF members were facing the two, and could easily see them should they walk forwards.
“Are there any vents around?”
“Huh? Oh, there’s one up there. If you’re going to escape through it, do it now.” Uzi glanced up to the vent. It didn’t take long for N to skitter into it, somehow undetected as his tail hung down for a few moments. Uzi stepped out in front of the WDF, informing them that she was done with her task and was about to head home.
Outside, Uzi managed to shut the door right as N fell out of a hole he found while traveling through the vents, landing face first in the snow beside her. After getting up, he looked around the village with a small smile.
“I missed the snow. So, uh, now what?”
“First, I’m bringing you home before someone sees you. Then, we’re gonna deal with that overheating issue you mentioned. How is it, by the way?”
“About the same.”
At Uzi’s home, N sat down on her bed as she explained a few things. Like how he shouldn’t be leaving her room and that the leader of the WDF is her father.
“Doesn’t that sound pretty dangerous?”
“He doesn’t really come into my room, so you should be fine. Just… try not to kill him, would you? I’m pretty sure you killed Mom and I’d rather you not be the sole reason I become an orphan.”
“...Sorry.” Uzi shook her head slightly.
“Doesn’t matter.” Liar. “After school tomorrow, I’ll try to see if I can figure out how to get you oil. But for now… all I can provide is my own.”
Uzi jabbed a finger in N’s direction.
“But you can’t take all of my oil, I need that to live.”
“I know… but are you sure?” N’s torn ear twitched, and suddenly, Uzi realized just how desperate he was getting for oil.
“I’d rather I willingly let you bite me than you mauling me out of hunger. So yes, I’m sure.” Uzi rolled her sleeve and held her arm up. N’s tail twitched, and he quickly bit into Uzi’s arm. “H-Hey, be careful! Don’t go ripping my arm off!”
“...’orry.” N muttered.
“Just drink the oil. This is awkward enough.” N would've nodded in response if he could. Rather, he simply started lapping up Uzi’s oil. She could feel his hot breath. Robo-God, he really was a dog, wasn't he? A dangerous predator, easily capable of murdering and maiming. And here she was, letting him drink her oil. He was probably going to rip her to shreds and eat her, what was she-
N straightened up. Uzi stared at him for several minutes before speaking again. “You alright, now?”
“Mmhmm. Thank you.” N wiped excess oil from his mouth, sitting on the floor. His tail curled around his legs. “Can we talk about something?”
“Like what?” Uzi responded, wrapping her arm up with some bandages. N talked a lot while he was imprisoned. It was one of the reasons why Uzi felt like she already knew N so well, while also still knowing so little.
“Just anything…” N trailed off into his regular rambling as Uzi sat on her bed.
In the morning, Uzi shook N’s shoulder, waking him from his dog-like sleep.
“Hey. Wake up.” N lifted his head up as he partially exited sleep mode. “I gotta get to school, Dad’s already at work. Just stay here, okay? I’ll be back in a few hours.”
“Mmm… okay…” N lowered his head back.
Once N actually woke up, it didn’t take long for him to fall back into the all too familiar lonely feeling. Uzi wouldn’t know if he snuck out, just for a little bit, right? He just wants to talk with someone again. After pacing back and forth for a few moments, he poked his head out of Uzi’s room. Just like she said, it was empty. Snow crunching beneath his feet, N stepped out of Uzi’s house, looking around. He wasn’t sure how many Drones attended school, but it was somewhat empty at the moment. He headed off in a direction, looking around at all the houses. Up ahead, he spotted two figures out in the distance. One didn’t quite look like a Drone, and the other was piling snow up.
“Hello!” N waved, before tugging at the broken chain around his neck. Too late to feel guilty now.
“Oh, hey there. I didn’t see you.” The taller figure wore some sort of suit with a large bow affixed to the helmet. There was a face, similar to a regular Drones’ visor, in the glass of the helmet as well. The other was a rather small Drone, who had stopped digging in the snow to look over to N. “N, right?”
“Huh? Oh, uh, that’s… it’s Nathan, actually.” N tilted his head with a twitch of his ear. How’d she know his new name? “...Who are you?”
“Tessa Elliott! This here is Cyn.” Tessa gestured to the small Drone, who was now standing with her head angled oddly. Tessa didn't explain why she knew him when he’s never seen her before - at least, not to his knowledge. He didn’t really recognize Cyn either, but his self-exile caused him to forget some people, so he didn’t dwell too much on it.
“You have a tail.” Cyn pointed out. “Can I pet it?”
“Huh? Oh, sure.” N looked back over to Tessa while Cyn began stroking N’s tail, verbally repeating the word ‘pet’ every time.
Hanging out with Tessa and Cyn, N quickly lost track of time, only remembering he wasn’t supposed to be out and about when several drones his age began leaving a rather large building nearby.
“Ooooh biscuits! I can’t get caught out here!” N hopped backwards, causing the two to look at him in confusion. Two unfamiliar Drones walked up beside Tessa.
“Hm? What’s the matter, Nathan?”
“I promised Uzi- shoot, I don’t think I remember where she lives!”
“That weirdo lives over there.” The unfamiliar Drone with twin pigtails pointed towards Uzi’s house.
“Thank you!” N dashed off, quickly scrambling into Uzi’s room, getting only a moment to breathe before Uzi entered her room and slung her backpack on the floor.
“School was just as boring as usual. Anyway… how- what’s with you?” Uzi raised a digital eyebrow at the panicking wolfboy. “Are you overheating again?”
“What? No! I’m fine!”
Knock knock knock.
“Who could that be?” Uzi walked out of the room. “Oh, I’ve seen you two around.”
N peered around the corner of the hall leading to the front door. Tessa and Cyn were standing outside.
“Is there something I can help you with?”
“We are just here to say hello.” Cyn responded, limply holding her arm up. “Waving.”
“...Hi. I’ve never talked to either of you before.” Uzi looked past, or more accurately, above Cyn, spotting the two Drones who were talking to Tessa when N left. “Why are Vanessa and Jennifer here?”
“They want to see the dog.” Cyn responded, tilting her head the opposite way it had previously been held. “I can see him.”
“N! You went outside, didn’t you?”
“Sorry… I don’t like being alone.”
“Well, I can’t just hire a babysitter, now can I?” N lowered his ears and let out a small whimper. Uzi groaned in response. “N, you’re a wanted criminal. You can’t just wander around where the WDF can see you.”
“This lil’ guy’s a criminal?” Tessa walked past Uzi, over to N, patting him between his ears. “Hard to believe!”
“...I think he ate my dad-” Vanessa was interrupted by Uzi shutting the door on her. Cyn, who also walked in after Tessa, looked over the sound.
“Why do you not want them in here?”
“To be honest, I’d rather none of you be in my house, but here we are.” Uzi shook her head slightly as Tessa continued petting N. She then held up her bandaged arm. “Careful, he bites.”
“Aw, he shouldn’t be snacking on humans. Not anymore, anyway.” Tessa muttered that last part, straightening up and motioning to Cyn. “Well, I think it's time we went home. We live just down the street, you’re both welcome to come over!”
N tilted his head like a confused puppy after the two left. “Uzi, doesn’t almost everyone live down the street?” If not, they lived across the street. Uzi didn’t respond, simply walking past him, back into her room.
In the morning, N groaned. He was beginning to overheat again. Uzi was already at school, and her dad was at work. N shook his head rather quickly - he can’t disappoint Uzi again by wandering around outside! Why was it so hard to follow this specific rule, anyway? He’s great at rules!
…
N found himself knocking on Tessa’s door.
“Hello? Tessa? Cyn?” N called, and was about to leave when he heard the door unlocking. “Hi!”
“Oh, hey, Nathan! Took me up on my offer, didya?”
“Uh huh. Trying to take my mind off things.” N’s ears raised as Cyn’s voice was audible beside him.
“Ow. Your tail is hot.” Cyn’s hands hung above his lowered tail, which he quickly moved away from her.
“Sorry about that, Cyn! Probably wasn't the best idea to come here right now, but-”
“Ah, is someone being a rebel again?” Tessa folded her arms, her face screen displaying a somewhat smug smile.
“What? No! I uh, I just needed to take my mind off my overheating.” N glanced towards Cyn again. “There aren't many places I can go to distract myself.”
“Why not just cool yourself down?” Cyn asked, tugging on N’s coat to catch his attention.
“...I need something specific to cool down.” N looked over to Tessa with a nervous expression. “I don’t want to get locked up again…”
“Here’s my advice.” Tessa patted N on the shoulder, her thick gloves preventing her from feeling the ever intensifying heat that was emitting from N. “Be quick, be clean, and don’t get caught.”
“Okay.” N gave a small nod, his ears lowered again. Without questioning Tessa’s willingness to give him advice, he set off to the headquarters of the WDF. Despite the breakout of their prime target, they were still playing cards like nothing happened. N pressed himself against the wall, staying in the shadows, and away from camera view.
He waited, and waited, until finally, one Drone stood up and walked past him. From what little N could read of his ID, it did not say he was a Doorman, so presumably, this wasn’t Uzi’s father. Though… it never hurts to be absolutely sure. N slunk after the Drone, following him into what appeared to be some sort of storage room.
“Now, where are those extra cards- hello?” The WDF member looked behind himself as the door shut, the room falling into darkness. Two eyes stared at him, bright, yellow, hungry. “Who’s there?”
“Question.” The eyes got closer. “You aren’t Mr. Doorman, are you?”
“N-no?”
“Oh, good.” The sound of something fluffy repeatedly hitting the ground was audible. Then, pounce. N didn’t need the light on, he could see just fine. The WDF member he was attacking, however, couldn’t see anything but a bright yellow X. To prevent anyone finding them, N bit down hard on the Drone’s throat, theoretically deactivating him. He then slung the Drone over his shoulder after wrapping some spare towels around his bleeding neck.
Poking his head out of the closet, nobody was coming, so N slunk out, once again keeping to the shadows. His visor was now displaying one eye and one X.
“Phew. I didn’t think I would make it out that easily.” N sighed, patting the Drone on the back with a wide, sharp smile. “Alrighty Mr… oops, I think I bit the lanyard in half.”
It wasn’t really worth it to go find it, the guy would be marked missing with or without it, anyway. He just had to get home before Uzi did. Creaking her door open, N looked around the empty house, trying to figure out where the best place to eat would be.
“Uzi probably wouldn’t want me eating someone in her room, would she…” N sighed as he felt movement on his back - the Drone was stirring. “Biscuits, you’re still alive?”
“What’s going on…?” The Drone muttered, trying to prop himself up on N’s back, only to slip and fall back with a grunt.
“Nothing, nothing…” N stepped around the room, the Drone’s paper towel falling off, dripping oil on the carpet. “Uzi’s gonna kill me.”
At this point, one might as well just commit. N dropped the dazed Drone on the floor, spilling more of his oil on it. He bit the neck again, this time completely severing the head from the body with one, powerful crunch. The Drone muttered something, cut off by his decapitation, but N was tuning him out. He began lapping up the oil that spilled out both halves of the corpse, biting at the chest when the liquid started to lighten up. Growling, biting, visor displaying a X, temperature cooling.
Tearing metal, consuming it, making just an absolute mess. N was so distracted that he didn’t even notice Uzi arriving home.
“N, I’m home- oh, Robo-God.” Uzi froze, voice quickly brought down to a whisper. There was a feral creature in her house, and he probably heard her. N’s torn ear twitched. Okay, he definitely heard her. The visor wearing a X stared her down, growling softly, hunched over, his arm in front of his kill. Uzi simply raised her hands, back pressed against the door. “Hey, hey, I’m not going to steal your food, alright? See? I’ll just go.”
Uzi quickly went back outside with an exhale of relief. She forgot that N was a cannibal. Peering into her home through the window on the door, N was still staring, but after a few moments, went back to brutally eating the WDF member. Yeesh, she did not want to hear this, no matter how muffled it was.
“Dad doesn’t get home for another hour. I should go for a walk until N’s done.” She sighed, stepping back into the snow.
During her walk, Uzi ran into Thad, whose initial greeting was a double finger gun.
“Hey, Zi. Something wrong?” Thad asked, propping his hands on his waist.
Uzi stared at him for a few moments, trying to figure out what to say, if anything at all. How does one say ‘I just witnessed the most dangerous threat to our safety, who I broke out of jail, by the way, eating one of my Dad’s coworkers in my living room’ in a normal tone of voice? Walking in on that was terrifying! Uzi should’ve figured N was going to need to kill and eat someone sooner or later. Was it too hopeful of her to think he wouldn’t ever go off this far before he got oil?
“Uzi? You didn’t go into sleep mode while standing, did you?”
“What? No.” Uzi rolled her eyes in slight annoyance.
“Well… I was actually looking for you. We should probably get started on that writing assignment.” Thad tilted his head slightly. Uzi blinked. Oh. Right. She sort of forgot Thad paired up with her after everyone else in class refused to. “Should we head over to your place?”
“My place? Why do we have to go to my place?”
“We don’t have to, Uzi. I’ve just never been over there before. Besides, the living room is getting remodeled and that’s really the only place in my house where I can get work done.”
Uzi groaned. She cannot let Thad in her house while N’s eating someone.
“When is this due again?”
“Tomorrow. It shouldn’t take long anyway.” Uzi sighed again.
“Stay here.”
“What, is your room messy or something? I don’t mind.”
“I think you would.” Uzi rolled her eyes as she shut the door on Thad. Uzi went still, scanning the living room to find N and the corpse. It didn’t take long to find either.
The carpet was stained with oil, the entire top half of the body missing, alongside both arms. The rest of it was scratched and bitten up, while the head’s visor was cracked and smashed in, wires pulled out and chewed. The culprit was curled up asleep on the couch, staining that in oil as well.
“N, wake up! And don’t maul me!” Uzi shook his shoulder, and N lifted his head after a few moments.
“Hrm? Oh, hi Uzi.” N gave a bright, oil-stained smile to the drone, which instantly fell when he noticed her irritated expression.
“Listen, N. I know you need oil to live, but could you wait until I get home first before you start ripping Drones to shreds? Thad’s right outside!”
“Sorry, Uzi… I was overheating, and you weren’t home… I started panicking.”
“You have to start giving me an early warning when you overheat, okay? We can talk about it later - just do something with this corpse and clean yourself up! Thad shouldn’t recognize you, so you should be safe. Assuming you’re no longer overheating?”
“I’m fine now, yes. I’ll get to work.” N quickly grabbed the foot of the corpse and dragged it into Uzi’s room, leaving a small trail of oil as he did so. Seems like most of the oil was drunk already. After a moment, N returned, grabbing the head before going back into Uzi's room, closing the door behind him.
With a sigh, Uzi quickly wiped the trail up, and moved a table over the main splatter of oil. She then finally let Thad into her house.
“I was starting to think you forgot about me out there!” Thad finger gunned again.
“Just come inside.” Uzi sighed.
“Reeks of oil in here. Is that… related to your bandaged up arm?”
“Sure. What’s this project on again?” Admittedly, she didn't usually pay much attention in class, but ever since she started harboring a cannibalistic fugitive, it was a lot harder to retain anything. Before Thad could respond, N exited Uzi’s room with a smile.
“Oh hey, I didn’t know you already had someone over. What’s your name? Don’t think I’ve ever seen you before.” Thad turned to face N, who was a bit distracted by Uzi displaying “WIPE UR FACE” on her visor. N’s tail lowered as he quickly did so, smearing the dripping oil onto his sleeve.
“N…Nathan.” N muttered out.
“Thad. I’m Uzi’s classmate.” Thad held out his hand, but N kept his paws behind his back - they still had oil smeared on them, after all.
“Let’s get this done.” Uzi grabbed Thad’s attention away from N and over to where she was sitting at the table. N sat down nearby them on the couch.
Thump. Thump. Thump. N’s wagging tail repeatedly smacked onto the couch as the wolf boy peered over Uzi’s shoulder. He’s never attended school as far as he could recall - Thad and Uzi’s papers made little sense to him.
“Nathan.” Uzi lowered her pencil. It was hard to focus with the constant sound. “Do you want to go to see Tessa and Cyn?”
“Huh? Oh, sorry… I’ll go.”
“Does he have to, Uzi?” Thad asked. “I want to get to know him better.”
“You two can chat after we get this done.” Uzi sighed as N skittered over to the door. “Wait, hold on a moment.”
Uzi hopped up and dragged N down by what little of his fur collar she could grab - most of it was hidden beneath the chained collar.
“N, what did you do with that WDF member?” He was not gone long enough to have finished him.
“Hid him under your bed. I’ll get him back out when I come back.”
“...Don’t hide corpses under my bed anymore.” Uzi sighed, letting go of N’s fur collar. “Use the closet or something, I don’t want to sleep above a body.”
N gave a nod, and left the house. Tessa was at her place, as per usual.
“Hey, Nathan! Got your overheating problem under control?” Somewhat blunt, huh?
“Yeah… uh, Uzi kicked me out temporarily ‘cause my tail wagging was distracting. So… Can I hang out here for a little bit?”
“Yeah, of course! Come in, we were just about to watch a movie.”
Uzi arrived at class after checking on N, Thad giving her a smile and thumbs up from his chair. He and N had gotten to converse a little bit, where Uzi stopped it early due to the sheer awkwardness. N was clearly trying not to prattle on about his cannibalistic nature, but evidently, that was the main thing on his mind.
Despite this, Thad still found N to be cool and asked to come over again soon. Uzi sighed, resting her head on her hand as students talked amongst themselves.
Uzi found herself lingering on Doll, particularly the large claw marks partially hidden beneath her button-styled eyepatch. Doll has had that injury as long as anyone knew her, but nobody knew how she got it.
Claw marks… Did N attack her? If so, why did nobody know that? Doll seemed to be pretty genuine when she said she couldn't recall what clawed out her eye. Though, N was her top guess, since she was aware he was capable of easily killing.
“Hey, stop staring.” Vanessa appeared beside Uzi, startling her slightly. “Don't you know that's rude?”
“Says the one who makes death threats on the regular.” Uzi rolled her eyes. “I just got lost in thought. I wasn't staring.”
“Uh huh.” Vanessa folded her arms.
…Uzi fell back to staring at Doll. As far as she knew, if you get attacked by N, especially when he means to kill, you die. There's no escaping it.
“Okay everyone, quiet down.” The bored voice was barely audible above all the chattering, but the students quieted down regardless, sitting down at their seats.
Like usual, Uzi was not paying attention. She had more important things to worry about, such as trying to figure out what to do when the village runs out of WDF members. Or N gets caught. It'll be helpful if she had more people who were in on it. Then, it wouldn't fall solely on her to figure this stuff out. Sure, N could help, but when he starts overheating, he starts getting violent, which isn't really helpful.
Uzi wondered if she could ask Doll about the scratches again, but quickly decided against it, not wanting to pry into something so personal. Besides, asking again wasn't going to suddenly unlock her memory.
…Actually, what if she could unlock N’s? It could help figure out how N got that virus in the first place. She's never done that before, though. Maybe N could find books on it at the library while Uzi was at school.
Then again, N probably wouldn't be very approving of Uzi going through his memories like that. It wouldn’t hurt to ask though, would it? It was likely the only way they would find out how all this happened, and maybe even erase the virus before N eats everyone in town.
“Hey, Uzi!” Thad was suddenly at her desk, waving. “Can I come over?”
“You can’t already want to talk to N again.”
“I don’t know him all that well! Besides, it's weird that I only recently knew of his existence, and he apparently lives in your house. Why have you been keeping him locked away?”
“I have not!”
“It was just a joke, Zi! But, uh, where was he all this time?”
It would be so easy just to lie and tell Thad she didn’t know. They couldn’t be the only village of Drones, right? Just say N was from another town, and she took him in because he was hurt. But… her mind fell back to her earlier thoughts. It would be easier to deal with this if she had someone else to rely on. Thad’s trustworthy, right?
“Thad, can you keep a secret?” Uzi glanced up to him with a sigh. “A really important secret?”
“Of course! What is it?”
“Well, I can’t discuss it here! There’s still Drones around.” Uzi rolled her eyes, feeling like her classmates were staring at her. “Just… follow me to my house.”
“Okay.”
“Hi, Uzi! I- Oh jeez, Thad!” N quickly hid something behind his back, but Thad could very much see the oil splattered on his face, coat, collar, and paws. “Uzi!”
“It’s okay, N, I’m going to explain everything to him.” Uzi held her hands up, sighing as N quickly skittered to sit behind her, peering out to Thad.
“Uzi, what’s going on? Why was N covered in oil?”
“Thad, just listen! This is the secret I was talking about!”
Thad held his arm and gave a firm nod, as if he was afraid moving too much would set off the apparent cannibal in the room. Uzi gave a quick run down on N’s situation: how he has an uncontrollable virus, the WDF locking him up and Uzi breaking him out, and the main thing, how he was killing WDF members to eat.
“N doesn’t attack just any Drone anymore. Believe me, the guilt he feels from then is extremely apparent.”
“...I, uh…” Thad rubbed the back of his head. “I don’t really know what to say to this. But… you did say it was a really important secret.”
Thad smiled after a few moments. N simply tilted his head, torn ear twitching as he stared up at him.
“Well, as long as he’s only attacking those who hurt him, I can’t say I really mind.” Thad gave a small smile, stepping closer to where N and Uzi were.
“But… I’ve killed families…” N muttered out, some oil still dripping out his mouth.
“You didn’t have much of a choice. How many times do I have to tell you that?” Uzi ruffled in-between N’s ears, before stepping away so he could stand up. “Now, come on. You gotta actually look at Thad.”
“Okay…” N muttered, taking a bite out of the arm he had previously hidden from Thad. The Drone flinched slightly, not realizing he was going to be seeing that so soon. “Sorry, I was cooling down when you came in.”
Thad chuckled nervously, thinking back to Uzi's explanation. Cool down, or die.
“Hey, have you guys ever tried figuring out if there was a way to remove this virus?”
“Actually, I was thinking about that in school. I just haven’t been able to ask N if he would be okay with my method, cause I was explaining this all to you.” Uzi gave a small shrug. “I figured it would be easier dealing with Wolfboy when I had some help. But don’t worry, I’m not gonna make you deal with him overheating for a while.”
“Heh, thanks, Zi.” Thad was about to pat her on the shoulder, but decided not to, and just went with his usual finger guns.
“Wait, what exactly is your method?” N questioned, swallowing down another chunk of Drone arm.
“I was… gonna see if I could look at your memory banks to see if I could uncover anything hidden away. Maybe it’ll tell us how you got that virus, and even how to get rid of it.”
“Oh, yeah, true! Uhm, thanks for asking if I’d be okay with it.” N muttered.
“Murderous cannibal or not, I still need permission before I go combing through personal memories.” Uzi folded her arms. “Now, let’s get this over with.”
Thad took a step forward. “Uhm, can I join?”
“Yeah, why not. I don’t know what you can do, though.” Uzi led N and Thad into her room, instructing N to sit down on the floor beside her computer. Thad stepped over the splatters of oil and the limbs that were strewn about, sitting on her bed. “I don’t know why N doesn’t clean his messes more often.”
“Sorry.”
Uzi held out a node to N, instructing him to put it on. Afterwards, N was put into a sleep mode so Uzi could look through his memories without messing him up. Words and numbers were displayed on his visor.
“Hm… that’s super odd.”
“What’s up, Uzi?”
“No matter what I do, I can’t get around this admin permission. Apparently, the admin allowed someone to access N’s programming a while ago, but this action has since been reversed. I wonder if… aha!” Uzi grinned as she managed to check just who was N’s admin. “Wha?”
“Uzi?” Thad watched as Uzi powered N back on and removed the node.
“Come on, you two. I’ve got some questions to ask someone.”
“Tessa! Tessa, get out here right now!” Uzi hit the door rather harshly, causing N to lower his ears and flinch slightly.
“Oh, hey, Uzi. Is there something you need? Kind of… beating on my door, arent’cha?” Tessa appeared, after momentarily holding the door in front of her to prevent Uzi from hitting her on accident.
“I’m trying to look into N’s memories to see if he had the origin of his virus hidden away somewhere, only to be stopped by needing admin permissions! When seeing if there was any way around this, I discovered two things; one, I can’t ignore that, and two, you’re an admin! It’s still written in N’s code that you gave someone access to his programming a while ago, but that was then later reversed. Again, by you!”
“Huh? Oh, er…” Tessa’s face display went blank for a moment, before a nervous, but cheery smile returned. “I guess I have some explaining to do, hm?”
“Yes!” Uzi stomped. She grabbed her computer from N’s paws, shoving it into Tessa’s arms. “You’re going to give me permission to look through N’s memories and programming, and then you’re gonna explain why you’re an admin!”
“Okay, okay, I already said I would. Come in.”
“Where’s Cyn?” Thad asked as Tessa shut the door behind him.
“Cyn? She’s in the backyard, playing. Mm… she really shouldn’t see N’s memories.”
“Why? That… that kind of really scares me.” N muttered. Tessa approached him, but paused and let out a small sigh.
“N, when was the last time you cooled down?” Uzi shot a glare over to Tessa as she asked, feeling even more suspicious of her for knowing about N's need for oil.
“Uh, right before we came over here.”
“Okay, good. This might take a while, and I don’t know if we’ll get a warning when you’re unresponsive. Don’t want you dying now, do we?”
“...” N sighed. Even if he did just eat half a WDF member, his overheating meter was filling quicker than usual lately. Is it because he was inside a somewhat warm house all the time now, rather than being out in the cold? He hasn’t told anyone yet, though Uzi has pointed out how inconvenient it was for N to need oil sooner.
Regardless, Tessa sat him down beside her TV, grabbing a HDMI cable, plugging it into the back of his head. Uzi then connected her laptop to him with the node from earlier, putting him into sleep mode again. He fell limp, so Uzi had to quickly catch him to lean him back on the wall he was against.
“Here, Miss Admin.” Uzi mocked. “You need to allow me to do this.”
“One moment.” Tessa shook her head slightly. “I’m going to go bring Cyn to Jenny’s house so there’s no risk in her walking in on this.”
The room was silent as Uzi and Thad waited for Tessa to return, occasionally glancing over to each other. Thad tried to avoid looking at N, his completely motionless form unnerved him.
“Alright, I’m back.” Tessa walked over to Uzi’s laptop, identifying herself to N’s programming, allowing her and Uzi to access N’s locked up memories. As Tessa thought, there weren’t that many. “Just know, I did all this for all of you. To have a better life.”
“Whatever.” Uzi huffed. “Clearly, it didn’t go as well as you wanted it to.”
Tessa and Uzi joined Thad on the couch as a message popped onto Tessa’s TV, informing the trio that the first memory Tessa chose was loading. It had been so long, she couldn’t exactly recall when N got his virus, not to mention the dates were all out of whack and corrupted, so there was going to be some trial and error. N’s tail twitched as the previously black screen changed, but he otherwise remained motionless.
...
Tessa sat up in her bed, stretching for a moment before sliding out and over to her desk, picking up her brush.
“How was your night?” A Drone asked from the doorway.
“Oh, N. The same as usual, I suppose.” Tessa responded. N was always the first one to greet her in the morning - he was kind of programmed to. She wanted to monitor a virus she noticed he had been infected with a few days ago, and so had him frequently go and find her throughout the day. While doing so, she had noticed that she had no means of fixing or removing the virus herself, though she wasn’t sure if it was due to lack of skill (she doubts it was that), or the virus just being too complex for her.
N himself doesn’t appear to even know he has a virus, and so, is acting pretty much the same as always. Tessa figured that if it got any worse, she’d take him over to U, a Drone who had a great skill for coding. It was like a human knowing a lot about the brain - if they were also capable of rewriting your basic functions.
“Are you feeling any different?” Tessa questioned, brushing her hair. It was the first time she had asked N since he initially got infected. The Drone tilted his head slightly in confusion - sort of like a puppy.
“Different? Like… how so?”
“I’m not sure. Just… let me know if you feel off, yeah?” N gave a nod as Tessa finished tying her bow. “Alright, I gotta check on the others. Wanna come with me?”
“Of course!”
…
N and Tessa were standing outside of U’s room. The virus was beginning to become noticeable, in little ways, N glitching out and dropping things, which caused him to get berated more often by the JCJenson employees and Tessa's parents. Tessa would always interject, and then get yelled at as well. He would also act somewhat… doglike. Tessa’s pretty sure she’s heard him growl before.
“U! We need to ask you something!” Tessa knocked on U’s room. Well, it was more accurate to call it a closet that she had dragged a bunch of spare computers into. That leads into the main reason the employees didn’t care very much for U - she stayed in her closet all day and refused to come out. Considering how the employees treat her, Tessa couldn’t really blame her.
U opened the door a crack and peered through. Tessa and N were really the only ones she tended to open up for.
“What do you need?”
“N’s got a virus.”
“...How did that happen?” As far as she knew, it was pretty hard for certain Drones, such as N, to get viruses, due to them never leaving the mansion.
“So far, not sure. But he’s acting… well, like a dog. It’s getting him in more trouble than usual.” Tessa sighed, patting N on the back. “Do you think you could help?”
“I can take a look. Come in.” U opened the door, immediately shutting it back once both N and Tessa were inside. U was already back in her stolen spinny chair, adjusting her helmet. Typing away, she held out a node to Tessa. “Stick this on Dogboy’s head.”
Doing as she was told, Tessa stuck the pad onto N’s visor after he sat down. Text began flying down the screen, before a message that read “UNVERIFIED USER ATTEMPTING ACCESS. ALLOW? ADMIN REQUIRED” alongside a yes or no prompt. U turned her head slightly, though her hair still hid her face from Tessa.
“Hey, Miss Admin, you need to let me look at his programming.”
“Oh, I guess I just…” Tessa tapped the yes button on N’s visor, and the message disappeared, more text scrolling down the screen. N fell completely limp during this, with U mentioning she had forced him into sleep mode.
After what seemed like hours of dead silence, outside of the beeping from N’s visor, it suddenly went blank, and U turned in her chair, pulling the node off of N.
“Okay, I see the virus you’re talking about. I tried many different things, but I couldn’t get rid of it either.” U sighed, folding her arms. “So far, it seems to just be affecting his behavior, right? I don’t think it’s much to worry about, unless it mutates.”
“Mutates?”
“Or gets more unleashed. It was hard to tell what its next course of action was.” U poked N in the head, his visor displaying a power on message. “I could factory reset him, but that’s not guaranteed to do anything. This virus is nothing like I’ve seen before. Besides, N would be gone.”
“I’d rather a dog-like Drone than another empty husk.” Tessa shook her head, too many Drones she’s had to factory reset because of her parents - if they didn’t just straight up kill them, anyway. “Thanks for trying, though.”
“‘Course. Let me know if it gets worse."
N’s virus had certainly become more noticeable in the past few weeks - namely, the fact he now had ears and a tail. His teeth were also a lot more sharp. However, he still seemed to be the same playful, caring, and sweet N.
Then it got worse.
N and T were assigned to clean up one of the many halls of Elliott Manor. Most Drones were employed to the JCJenson company, with occasional swap outs to the Manor, but a few of them were permanently assigned here. Funnily enough, they were the exact drones the Elliotts, sans Tessa of course, couldn’t stand. Was it out of keeping constant watch over them? Nobody really knew, especially Tessa and the Drones themselves. Obviously, Tessa enjoyed these particular drones being at the house all the time, they were the ones she was closest to, consisting of N, J, V, U, T, L, C, and D.
Regardless, T was looking beneath a carpet to find something off a shelf he dropped.
“Did you find it?” N asked, looking over from where he was dusting the wall. His helmet covered up his ears, and he was keeping his tail low to the ground to keep it from knocking over anything in the hall.
“Uh… yeah, I think so.” T snatched something and pulled it out, placing it back on the shelf. “They shouldn’t really notice, right?”
“Well, you didn’t break it, so… it should be fine?” N gave a small shrug.
“Hey, do you think you’re going to go through any more changes?”
“I hope not. It’s weird enough trying to get used to having a tail.” N rubbed the back of his neck with a twitch of his tail. “Why?”
“Just wondering, is all.” T put a hand on N’s back, before immediately retracting it. “Robo-God, N! You’re burning up!”
“I am?” To be honest, N did feel quite hot lately, but just ignored it and figured Tessa’s parents were simply messing with the thermostat. Did he usually feel that? He couldn’t recall anymore.
“Yes! Your systems aren’t giving you alerts or anything? I really feel like you shouldn’t be that hot.” N tilted his head slightly with a ‘er…’
“You’re overheating?” Tessa asked after T dragged N to her. “What exactly does the warning say?”
N tapped the side of his head, replacing his eyes with the warning box.
‘WARNING: OVERHEATING. COOL DOWN OR DIE.’
“...Blunt.” Tessa sighed as N’s visor displayed an eye and a X. “What’s with your face?”
“I don’t know… grr…” N covered his mouth. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay, we just gotta cool you down, right? Shouldn’t be too difficult. Stay here, T and I will go look for a fan.”
N gave a nod and sat on the floor, fiddling with his tail. The warnings were getting harder to ignore, as was the heat itself. After a few minutes, a Drone N wasn’t too familiar with entered Tessa’s room, asking if he knew where she was.
“Uh, I’m not too sure. You can wait with me, though.” N angled his head in a way the other Drone wouldn’t see the X blocking out one of his eyes. “She said she wouldn’t be gone for long. Close the door, too.”
“Yeah, I can wait here. Not doing much, anyway.” The Drone hesitated, shut the door, and approached, sitting down beside N. “So, what’re you up to, any-”
N suddenly swiped at the Drone with large claws, slashing into his face. He fell backward, pounced on by the now feral Drone that was snarling and growling as he went for the throat. The Drone called for help for only a moment before his head was severed, and N began lapping up the oil seeping from the wounds.
Unfortunately, this is right when T and Tessa came back, U in tow.
“Is he eating someone?” U muttered, the trio trying to decide if they should attempt prying N off the dead Drone and risk getting maimed, or if they should just wait and come back later.
They chose option 2. It was a long, awkward wait, but the door eventually opened back up, with N leaning out of it, looking a bit dazed. His snout was smothered in oil, as was his suit and paws.
“Hey, Mr. Cannibal. What was that all about?” U raised a digital eyebrow as N stared at her.
“Hm…? Oh, uh… that dead Drone?”
“You ate him.”
“Oh.” N shook his head rapidly, like a dog out of a pool, which just got oil everywhere.
“N, stop!” U yelped, shielding herself from the oil with T.
“Sorry.”
“Anyway…” Tessa wiped some oil off her face. “I brought U here to see if she could help with your overheating issue, and then I find out you’ve mauled a guy!”
“How is the overheating issue, by the way?” T asked, leaning forward to be visible behind Tessa. N just glanced between them - at most they’ve simply scolded him for cannibalism.
“It’s… oh, it’s gone, actually.”
“I don’t like those implications!” T finger gunned at him.
“Here, let me take a look.” U grabbed N’s oily paw and dragged him all the way to her room, avoiding running into anyone else.
Tessa and T hung back, as they needed to clean up the dead Drone in Tessa’s room. Sure, the JCJenson employees, as well as Tessa’s parents themselves, have killed several of the Drones out of pure annoyance, but Tessa felt like they would twist this into a reason to scrap N.
“Hey, what’s going on in here?” J appeared at the door, alongside V.
“Uh… Drone died?” Tessa looked over to the two. “Do either of you know how to get rid of a body without being detected?”
“We can handle it.” J approached, grabbing the Drone by his wrists. “V, grab his legs.”
J and V carried the body out the room, hopefully succeeding in not getting caught. Though, even if they did, it’s not like they knew how the guy died anyway.
“Let’s scrub this down.” Tessa sighed, pulling a container of cleaner out of her closet, while T started scrubbing the oil with a wet rag.
“Put this on your head.” U handed N the same node as last time. “Since Tessa gave me access last time, I shouldn’t need it again, but… Oh, yeah, here we go. In.”
U wasn’t really sure why she kept talking - she already put N into sleep mode. The overheating warning message had changed to a nearly empty meter. U turned in her chair and held a hand on N’s cheek, noting that he did feel a lot cooler than before. Did drinking oil have anything to do with that? She’d have to check when he was on again, trying it now would just be awkward. Turning back to her computer, U looked through a few more virus related things, having more access than before - presumably because the final stage of it had been “released.” There still wasn’t much she could do about it, though, besides seeing the overheating meter.
U pulled the node off of N’s head, booting him back up. The wolf-like Drone sat up, looking over to U.
“Did you find anything?”
“It seems like eating that Drone was in fact, the reason you cooled down and stopped trying to kill everyone.” U responded, tapping N in the side of the head. “But I need to check and make sure. I edited some of your coding so you can check when you begin overheating. I know it’s probably obvious considering you, well, start feeling super hot, but this’ll give you an early warning.”
At U’s tap, the meter appeared on N’s visor.
“Here, drink this.” U held out a small cup of oil.
“...Where’d you get this?” N questioned, tilting his head, visibly glancing over U to make sure the oil didn’t come from her.
“A dead guy in the basement- just drink it.” N gave a sharp nod and drank the whole cup, sticking his tongue out afterward. Not out of disgust over having to drink oil, but because he was rather looking forward to drinking more. The meter returned to zero. “S’what I thought.”
“Is Tessa going to scrap me?”
“What? No, I doubt that, Tessa hates scrapping Drones. Besides, you're like, her favorite Drone ever.”
“But I have to kill Drones!” Favorite… ever?
“No, you just need our oil. There’s plenty in the basement.”
“That’s true…”
U stood up. “Come on, let’s go tell Tessa.”