Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Interlude 2: VENDETTA 

The cold, toxic air of Copper 9 hissed between the bare surfaces of tall buildings long abandoned. Their glass and cement, eroded by harsh weather and years of neglect, coupled with miles of dead forests and the uncountable skeletal remains of humanity, shrouded the planet in a constant eerie atmosphere. 

But tonight, something was different, like a weight had been lifted... and replaced with another. You wouldn't be able to see it at first, but the reason lay in the absence of a particular landmark in one of the planet's many cities. A feature in the skyline that had become a symbol of terror itself for years. 

But now, it was missing. 

The spire of corpses built by the murder drones was gone, leaving a relatively open stretch of ground surrounding the area closer to Outpost 3. Anyone would at least question what had occurred, but not all. Especially when you were the reason behind it. 

A shovel hit the ground, digging up dirt before tossing it onto the growing mound beside the girl. Red beads of sweat had formed on her visor, the drone in question having forgotten what it was like to actually have a body. One that, to be fair, she wasn't even sure she could still call her own, given she was practically puppeteering it rather than moving it herself. 

Doll sighed, taking a break from the digging she'd been doing for an hour now. 

Her mother's core may have granted her new life for a second time, but it was clearly an incomplete process. There was a constant feeling of disconnect between who she was and her body. It sometimes felt as though she were still nothing more than a ghost, now using her old body as a shell. 

Her red eyes grew hollow. For all her power and morbid tastes... the thought disturbed her. 

“You know that with your spooky powers, you could be done in a second, right?” 

A voice pulled Doll out of her thoughts. Turning away from her work, her eyes landed on Lizzy, sitting on top of a rusted car while boredly scrolling through her phone. A closer look at the reflection on her visor, however, showed that in truth she was just staring at the home screen. 

A bit of worry tightened around Doll’s stolen core. It was obvious the blonde was fighting her own demons. And how could she not? She had killed for the first time not long ago, and Rob had been anything but deserving of it. 

At least, the large sentinel forming a protective circle around the drone provided some comfort. Sparky hadn’t left Lizzy’s side since they got out of the Outpost, probably having noticed her distress the last time they saw each other. Now he had his eyes closed, deep in sleep, with her back pressed against his side and their shared cowboy hat resting atop Lizzy’s head. 

Doll still wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about her girlfriend being so close to the mechanical beast. To be fair, he seemed tame enough, save for the hostility he had shown Doll the first time they came face to face since the labs. Understandable. She was the most dangerous thing on the galaxy now, after all. Save perhaps for her cousin, wherever she was. 

The thought of Uzi and, of course, her fight with her aunt made guilt squirm inside her chest. But she forced it all down. She couldn’t falter now. 

“I wanted to do this on my own, the old-fashioned way.” Doll’s eyes slowly drifted down to her side, settling on what looked like two bodies lying on the ground with only a white sheet covering them. “My parents deserve as much, after I kept them from proper rest in my madness.” She said solemnly. 

Lizzy finally looked up at the Solver drone, raising an eyebrow. 

“If that’s what they get, then what do THEY deserve?” She asked. For anyone else, the question would have made no sense, but to Doll it was obvious. “I can recognize some of them...” 

The red-eyed drone looked around at their surroundings. You'd need a keen eye to spot them, but hidden among the rubble, crumbling buildings, and other hiding places, there were... drones, or what used to be them. 

Hundreds of gazes kept close watch over the pair of girls; their dark visors sometimes flashing a red Solver symbol even though their broken, damaged, and even severed bodies shouldn't have had the capacity for it anymore. They were all those who had once been hunted by the murder drones and later used in the construction of their spire. Now they were only husks with a new overlord. 

Doll could easily hear the criticism in her voice. 

“My mother believed drones had souls, just like any other living being. I’m on the fence about the matter. But in any case, whatever made these people themselves is long gone.” She extended a hand, a red Solver glyph manifesting in her palm. Her eyes began to shine brighter. “Now, I am their master, and with their remains I shall claim what’s ours by right and destroy all who stand in our way. Never again will I be threatened!” 

Doll then crushed the glyph in her hand, her fist tightening as she struck a dramatic pose. 

Silence followed for a long, increasingly awkward moment. 

Until Lizzy's chuckles broke it, a blush soon creeping onto Doll's visor. 

“You’re such a theater kid sometimes. Honestly, I wonder if the only reason we bullied the purple gremlin and not you was because I think you’re hot.” Lizzy said, and the confession only made Doll's crimson blush glow brighter. 

But the blonde's gaze briefly landed on Yeva and Dmitri's bodies, then returned to Doll. 

“But you are a hypocrite.” She concluded. 

The Russian drone finally let go of the shovel, leaving it stuck upright in the snow-covered ground. Then she began to approach Lizzy. 

“All drones are equal… but some are more equal than others.” Doll was back to her serious, emotionless tone. “Just like I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to sacrifice anyone if you were at stake.” 

Now, it was Lizzy who blushed, turning her head away in an attempt to hide it, Without success. 

It wasn’t new by now, but Doll still hadn’t gotten used to Lizzy’s changes. They were mostly unnoticeable, except for half her visor display now being tinted red, but even then, you could see her now-pointier fangs whenever she spoke. 

The fact that Doll was technically Lizzy’s new administrator didn’t sit right with her. For all the control she wanted, Lizzy was the one thing she wanted to remain free. 

“How are you? Please… be honest. I know for a fact what you’re going through can be... challenging.” Doll reached the vehicle, crossing her arms as Sparky barely opened an eye to acknowledge her presence with a low, effortless growl. 

The blonde turned back to her sharply, a frown on her face. 

“Challenging?! I’m constantly overheating to the point I melt the snow I step on, daylight hurts like bathing in acid, and I can’t stop thinking about draining the oil out of every other drone I come across!” The girl yelled loudly, yet somehow the robo-dino beside her didn’t seem bothered. “This is awful!” 

Doll took a step back, her eyes turning hollow as guilt began to gnaw at her. She fidgeted with her hands. 

“I’m… sorry.” She merely said. 

Lizzy slowly relaxed, her shoulders no longer tense, and her features softened with sadness. 

“No… it’s nothing. If this is the price for having my bestie back, then so be it.” Doll stared at her, eyes widening. A strange feeling, one rare even before she died, stirred within her processor. Could drones even feel butterflies in their stomachs? “But still… Robo-God, we’ve known Rob all our lives. He was the one the WDF would send to make presentations in class when we were kids.” 

Lizzy clenched her teeth, self-hate and guilt tearing at her as faint tears appeared beneath her eyes. 

“And I just ate him… If the others hadn’t bought the excuse that he just fled the Outpost after giving you power… I don’t know what we’d have done.” Lizzy finished, now covering her face with both hands. 

Doll knew the answer. She’d get rid of anyone in her way, and if she particularly liked them, maybe just exile them instead of fully terminating them. But she chose not to speak. Instead, she got closer to Lizzy, being careful not to touch the sentinel as she leaned over the car. 

Doll gently lowered Lizzy’s hands, bi-colored eyes meeting fully red ones. 

“Hey, it’s going to be okay. You just need to get used to it… rewire your mind.” Lizzy opened her mouth to speak, but Doll put a finger to it. “You’re no longer just a worker drone, you’re something much more. And I will help you… I won’t abandon you again.” 

Her words brought tears to Lizzy’s eyes once more, though this time for a much better reason. Without warning, and slightly startling Sparky, the blonde lunged forward to hug the Russian drone. She held Doll close, her body trembling. 

Doll was quick to return the embrace; her eyes closed. 

“Thank you.” 

A full minute passed in silence, both girls for once unbothered by their constant body heat. 

“But still… my dad would be so terrified. He may not have shown it back in class, but when you and Uzi began… well, going crazy, he really was worried. With time, I learned to see through his poker face with ease.” 

Doll let go of her and stepped back. She certainly didn’t feel any particular way toward the now-gone teacher, but she did remember the few times the orange-eyed drone had tried to approach her, for once with a hint of genuine concern in his voice. 

Her father had also spoken highly of James, often pointing out how, during their so-called 'revolution', he was the voice of reason and a trusted advisor whenever even Khan felt overwhelmed. 

Perhaps she should have paid more attention in class, after all. 

Too late now. 

“I’m sure he’d understand.” Doll tried to reassure her friend. Then her eyes drifted to her parents’ bodies beside their soon-to-be grave. “It’s sad to see the old guard gone. I could have used their guidance.” 

Lizzy wiped the digital tears from her visor. 

“Isn’t your uncle still alive?” 

Doll’s eyes widened. 

She was right. 

Khan was being held by Alfred in Outpost 7. Her uncle in all but oil and she had drifted apart over the years, especially after Nori’s supposed death, and even more so when she lost her parents. But still, there was hope to reconnect, and the thought seemed pleasant to her... until she remembered what had happened between her and Nori. 

What if he tried to take control of the Outpost? People still respected him despite his recent failings. 

In that case, she’d need to kill... 

No. 

She’d convince Khan to join her... as second in command. Third, if you counted Lizzy, but she and Doll kind of worked together anyway. 

She would achieve this, even if she had to lie for it. 

Without waiting for a response, Lizzy kept going. 

“I swear if she had something to do with it... if what Outpost 7 said is true, I will...” She was unable to finish, her fists tightening and jaw clenched, but Doll could read the killing intent in her visor. It was weird seeing the former cheerleader like this. But then again, she too had once been innocent. 

Things change. 

And she didn’t need Lizzy to say the name to know who she was talking about. 

Doll turned and leaned against the car, crossing her arms again as her gaze locked onto her parents while the wind lifted the sheet for just a second, revealing their corpses beneath. A spark of something she had suppressed until now began to resurface. 

“Tell me about her.” Doll began. “You two were... friends, then?” 

Lizzy faced her, but Doll didn’t return the look. 

“I thought you were over her.” She asked instead of answering. 

“I am. My goals no longer begin and end with her. But the grudge is far too great.” Finally, Doll sent Lizzy a side glance, her red eyes narrowed. “Surely, you can understand. What if we were to find whoever was responsible for your father and brother’s deaths?” 

A few seconds of silence passed. 

But Lizzy sighed. 

“She was clearly putting on a front. At first, I thought our fake friendship wouldn’t last after the mess you caused.” Doll didn’t flinch at her words. She had already accepted her mistakes. “But to be honest, the girl was fun to be around, and she had her moments of vulnerability... but...” 

“But?” 

“I don’t know. I also thought her ‘murder bitch’ attitude was a front, but the more time passed... the more I doubted it. She might no longer kill worker drones, at least not from our Outpost, but she’s always eyeing the others like a beast being held back.” 

Doll hummed deep in thought while Lizzy continued to speak. 

“She did confess to many things, and I don’t think she’s proud of most of them but... if it was all a front, I think it got to her head. I’m not sure if there’s a line to draw anymore.” 

Another moment of silence passed, this time broken by Doll herself. 

“Did she ever apologize? Ever say sorry?” 

Lizzy looked down, fidgeting. 

“No.” 

Startling both the now-ghoul and the sentinel, Doll turned around sharply. She was frowning, and her red eyes shone brightly. Lizzy had seen that look before. The first time Doll told her about her plan for prom. 

“You should go back inside. You’ve barely slept since you awakened your taste for oil. I managed to gather some reserves from Uzi's place. You should drink some.” 

The blonde didn’t like that one bit. 

“What?! But it’s not been that long since... Rob. I can wait.” Doll, however, only shook her head. 

“Even from here, I can feel your heat. You need to consume oil NOW. Before you lose control again.” 

“But... But...” Lizzy couldn’t finish, especially when Doll was suddenly face to face with her; her gaze bored into her. 

“Don’t be childish, Liz. It doesn't fit you.” 

Finally, Lizzy rolled her eyes. 

“Fine.” She adjusted the cowboy hat and jumped off the car. The ruined vehicle groaned as Sparky stirred as well. “But I’m going on a quick ride first. I need some air. Come on, boy.” 

Doll stepped aside, because something told her the mechanical dino wouldn’t care if he happened to land on her when jumping off the car. When he did, Sparky brushed past the Russian drone, throwing her a glance along the way as a low growl escaped his throat. And for some reason, Doll had to suppress the primal urge to show her fangs in return. 

The sentinel’s mood, however, shifted completely once he reached Lizzy. He circled the girl once, letting out a livelier purr and using his tail to tickle the drone as he went. Liz tried, without much effort, to make him stop; the lizard managing to coax a few chuckles out of her. 

That did put a smile on Doll’s face. 

“Anyway, see you soon.” Lizzy said while adjusting the saddle on Sparky, then throwing Doll an almost embarrassed look. “I mean it... I don’t want to be alone.” 

“Don’t worry, I won’t take long.” Doll was quick to reassure the girl. 

Lizzy nodded before jumping onto the robo-dino, and with a quick, firm pull on the rope now wrapped around the mechanical animal’s neck, the pair sprinted away, leaving behind a cloud of snow and dust. 

Doll was left alone in peace. 

Her eyes drifted toward her parents’ bodies. 

Screams and a murder scene flashed before her. 

Or as peaceful as her trauma allowed her to be. 

. 

A red flash of light illuminated the dark room back inside the Outpost, Doll appearing out of thin air in a cloud of quickly disappearing digital numbers. 

It had taken her no more than half an hour to finish burying her parents, in the end choosing to carve a tombstone for each of them with her Solver. The reason for her sudden rush was simple. Each time she dug, her mind was assaulted by memories, or rather nightmares. 

All those that had driven her mad before prom. 

She remembered the helplessness she felt while hiding in the closet as the murder drone killed her parents. 

She remembered the hate and anger. 

And now she’d decided to put an end to it. Doll deserved closure, and Lizzy could use the answers too. But for that, she’d need better underlings than the decayed zombies outside. 

She looked around, finding the morgue in the same messy state they had left it in after her resurrection. But her eyes soon drifted to what interested her the most right now, finding the names she was looking for on three of the sliding drawers built into the wall. 

She approached them calmly, manifesting her Solver to open them with a simple flick of her hand. She didn’t need to look inside to know what, or rather who, was there. 

But now came the part she still wasn’t quite sure how to do. 

The drone closed her eyes and concentrated, searching for the same file and executable she had used almost instinctively during her fight with Nori. Finding the Solver file was easy enough, but the fact that her natural anti-virus marked it as malware made navigating its insides difficult. That hadn’t been the case before dying for the first time. 

She knew she was corrupted in a way, but that only meant she wasn’t exactly bound by the limitations of even other hosts. 

She just needed to learn how it all worked. 

After a few minutes, she managed to find what she was looking for. 

Callback_ping.exe 

It was executable through the Solver program, and its description stated it was essentially a marking tool that could also be used to gain control of external users the host was the administrator of, or even those who lacked one entirely. Doll’s, however, was obviously broken. Its code was fractured, but she had yet to fully understand what that meant. 

She exhaled once. 

And activated the program. 

A sharp pain inside her chest forced the air out of her lungs. Her knees suddenly failed, forcing her down as her eyes turned hollow and began to glitch. She could feel her core beating faster and faster while her whole system was overloaded by a task it wasn’t designed to perform. 

Worst of all was when the drone felt something rise up her throat, and soon Doll was forced to puke what she quickly realized was some kind of black goo. She knew it far too well. It wasn’t oil. In fact, she didn’t think it was a substance you would find in nature. 

It was pure corruption manifested in physical form... 

And it was part of her now. 

The pressure only mounted, and soon she could feel the same substance seeping out of the many crevices in her body. It began to pool beneath her and, even in her pained state, she could see rapidly changing lines of code rising from the goo itself. 

She clenched her teeth and swallowed the pain, both literally and figuratively. She had to get used to this new... state of hers. She would command the pain, not suffer it. 

Groaning, she raised a hand, a Solver sigil manifesting and circling at the tips of her fingers. 

This had been easier back when fighting her aunt... 

But she had been running on autopilot then. 

Still, with a final push from her processor, the command was sent. 

A digital screen appeared above the Solver symbol, and on it, 'Callback ping' could be read. A pulse of red energy followed, coming straight from her body. It seemed to reverberate through the chamber until, with weakening movements... 

It vanished. 

Long, silent seconds passed, and for just a moment Doll thought it hadn’t worked. That maybe her use of it in the spire had been just luck. 

But the sound of movement drew her attention. 

A red hue began to glow from the open caskets, and as Doll pushed herself back to her feet, crimson sparks joined the spectacle. It would have scared anyone, but not her. In fact, she smiled, even if it faltered a little given the ache she still felt inside her chest. 

Shortly after, there was real movement from within, a drone's hand rising from one of the caskets. Two new pairs soon appeared in the others, the light in their hands shining red while moans and guttural sounds began to echo through the morgue. 

Doll was forced to step back when the caskets began to shake, and one of them, the closest to her, was even knocked over by the drone inside. Once it hit the ground, the body spilled out, and from the other caskets, two more bodies rose as newly made zombie drones. 

More shaky movement and another pair of fallen caskets followed, and soon, three drones stood before Doll. 

Rebecca, Emily, and Braidon. 

Her former classmates were still dressed in the dirty, tattered clothes they had died in, and while Rebecca had a noticeable, nasty scar crossing her midriff, the other two bore one around their necks. 

The reason was obvious. 

From afar, she had witnessed Uzi’s first rampage as a Solver drone. It had been far more brutal than Doll’s, but the fact the red-eyed drone had begun drinking oil long before it happened probably helped make the experience far smoother. 

Their bodies seemed to have welded back together where the damage had been done. 

Still, what truly drew Doll’s attention were their visors. 

A flashing red Solver symbol was displayed on each of them, while their bodies, once they reached her, became frozen in place as if waiting for a command. 

It was time to test if their processors were still functional. 

Doll raised her hand again and circled her fingers, altering the configuration of the drones, of whom she was now the administrator. 

Their visors stopped flashing. The Solver disappeared soon after. 

Lines of red code began to appear and disappear rapidly, their systems reinitializing under new guidelines, new... management. The display continued for a few more moments, their bodies trembling with each passing second, but in the end, their visors suddenly went dark. 

Only to light up again. 

Three pairs of eyes were now on display, all red, with no trace of their previous colors. What had once been groans turned into voices, glitchy at first, but eventually settling into their normal tones. 

“W... What... is going on?” Emily was the first to speak, the pigtailed girl raising a hand to adjust the glasses still attached to her face. 

“Duuuudes... this is like the worst hangover of my life.” Braidon followed, using both hands to clutch his head. 

“Stop your... yapping! Where the hell are we?” 

And finally, that was Rebecca. 

Doll smiled, proud of herself. 

“Welcome back to the world of the living. I say… I’d started to doubt if your processors were still functional.” Doll spoke, carefully inspecting her old classmates. “I guess you can still be considered ‘recently deceased’ even after a year.” 

They seemed to flinch a little when they saw her. Their last memories of the Russian drone not quite pleasant. 

“Doll? Death? What are you…” A sudden headache cut Rebecca off. “Wait… I remember…” 

“Uzi… She killed us.” Finished Braidon. All three pairs of eyes turned hollow. 

“That means we’re… undead?!” Emily especially seemed terrified by the fact. She quickly began to cross herself. “Holy Robo-Christ! My mom is going to kill me again!” 

“Well, at least she’d notice. I bet my parents didn’t care. Sucks to be the middle child of the family.” Braidon said, shrugging, though from his tone it was obvious he was joking. 

Of course, they’d have noticed. 

“Shut up! Look at your eyes, morons!” Rebecca shouted, clenching her fist tight. She then turned to face Doll, frowning. “Explain. Where is the purple freak?” 

Doll didn’t like her tone one bit, but it was understandable, she supposed. 

“In short, I brought you back from the dead. It’s been about a year since your deaths and mine. My cousin was possessed by the same evil that I suffered from, but she and her murder drone pets were able to defeat it.” By the looks on their faces, it was obvious that only made them even more confused. “But now they’re gone, together with most of the leadership in the Outpost. I’ve occupied the power vacuum.” 

“What?!” The three drones shouted. 

“Like… no offense, girl, but aren’t you, like, a serial killer?” Braidon questioned, looking away nervously. 

“And a devil spawn at that.” Emily said next, her legs trembling. “Why bring us back? I doubt it’s out of the kindness of your core.” The small girl tried to make herself look menacing, in vain, of course. 

But her words had affected the Russian girl. She was surprised even herself by the fact that, if she hadn’t needed them, she probably wouldn’t have thought of bringing them back. When did she begin to disregard her old ‘friends’ so much? 

Her mother would be so disappointed in what she’d become. 

“She’s our administrator. She’s got total control over us.” Rebecca finally spoke, drawing the others’ attention. She had been quietly inspecting her system and, even in her deepest firmware, she found Doll’s signature. 

Sweat appeared on Emily and Braidon’s visors. 

Doll only rolled her eyes. 

“If you wish to return to the grave, then be my guest. But if not, my help demands payment, and it is your service that I demand.” She explained, crossing her arms. “Dronekind still faces many threats, and I will unite us all against them. For that, I need followers to carry out my orders. You will be part of my... retinue, in a way. And your first task will be...” 

“Woah, woah, woah! Slow down, red.” Rebecca cut her off just while she began to approach the Solver drone. “There’s no way in hell I’m going to let a psycho rule my life. If not for Lizzy, we wouldn’t have accepted you into the cheerleader team and, even then, I still gave you a chance despite how creepy you were. And this is how you repay me? You were always below us in the social hierarchy, just like that emo.” 

Doll’s face, despite her words, remained emotionless, even when Rebecca came face to face with her. 

Their eyes locked. 

“No matter how much power you have, you’ll always be a loser that couldn’t move on like the rest of us. We all lost someone. You’re not even unique in your suffering.” 

. 

A second of silence. 

Two. 

Three... 

“I’m leaving.” Rebecca concluded, beginning to step away under the frightened gazes of Emily and Braidon. 

A complex red Solver glyph appeared on Rebecca’s back, rotating and glowing like gears layered on top of each other. The newly raised drone felt her entire body go rigid mid-step. 

Then, a sudden force slammed her down, her knees hitting the floor loudly. 

Braidon and Emily gasped, moving to hug each other, and Rebecca would have as well if the air hadn’t been pushed out of her. In fact, she couldn’t even mutter a single word or protest as a mounting pressure assaulted her from all around. 

She was then rotated around, moved by an invisible force, her legs dragging along the way. She knew the cause of it, but it didn’t make it any easier to bear once she saw Doll. 

A wide smile filled with razor-sharp teeth now crossed the Russian drone’s face, and her right eye had been replaced by the Solver itself. 

“Loser? Perhaps. I have indeed lost many things in my life, and it filled me with venom. It festered within me, and I couldn’t let go of it. I went insane.” She chuckled, Rebecca now before her with tears under her eyes. “That hate made me commit many atrocities... maybe it just enabled me, but it did mold me into the one drone this forsaken world needs. One that wouldn’t hesitate to make hard choices.” 

Rebecca’s visor cracked, and her left arm suddenly turned the wrong way with a nasty snap. No oil came from her wounds as their bodies were devoid of it. Only smoke escaped them. And still, her cries never left her throat. 

“You are lucky, Rebecca. Uzi was brutal with Sam, and practically nothing of him was left. If not, I’d have chosen him over you.” Doll leaned down to face the girl. “I always found you annoying.” 

Finally, Doll let go, her eye returning to normal and her grin disappearing. 

“You’ll serve the greater good that I envision, but along the way I’ll be generous. You’ll return to your families and live as normal, if not even privileged... until I have need of you.” 

As Doll spoke, cracking noises mixed with Rebecca’s now audible cries. Her arm fixed itself, and her visor slowly repaired itself. Not as fast as either a disassembly drone or a Solver drone, but far faster than any other member of their kind. 

“Your bodies have been altered. Your new strength will help you.” 

Braidon, still deeply shaken, stepped forward. 

“You were about to say you already had a task?” He asked, and Doll nodded. 

“As a Solver user, I can feel a connection to every other infected drone, and I can tell that, though most have left, a few have remained. And I know that pulse very well. Serial Designation V.” Doll then closed her eyes and concentrated. “I know it’s her, but she… isn’t alone. Whoever it is, it doesn’t matter. I want V brought here alive. I don’t care how you do it, but that’s my command.” 

“V?! That’s madness. She’s like the worst of them.” Braidon grabbed his head, eyes widening and... 

He suddenly burst into flames. 

Something that was ignored by everyone, including himself. 

“None of my books teach you how to hunt the killer, they’re always about running away!” Emily was equally alarmed. “Not even in my self-insert fanfics was I that crazy!” 

Doll groaned, then rubbed her visor. 

“I didn’t say you had to fight her, but if you have to bring her here as a core, do it. She’s northwest of here.” 

“Why... don’t you do it yourself.” 

Their eyes turned to Rebecca, the girl finally back on her feet, though her eyes still showed the pain her newly healed body was going through. 

Doll looked at her with a deep frown, her red eyes glowing brightly with a silent threat at her tone. 

“I mean... why us and not you, boss? With your great, spooky powers she’d be no match for you, for sure.” The girl quickly corrected herself, sweat appearing on her visor. 

“The Outpost is going through a deep restructuring. I must be present to attend to it.” Doll turned around, her hands clasped behind her back. “And... I don’t want to leave Lizzy alone. I changed her too.” Braidon raised an eyebrow. 

“Lizzy? I thought you two had broken up after the whole... murder spree.” 

Doll only threw them a side glance. 

“Life changes unexpectedly. You’re proof of it.” A red aura, followed by raining lines of digital code, surrounded her. “Leave now, and don’t talk to anyone or visit your families. For all intents and purposes, you’re still dead.” 

And before the three drones could ask anything else, the Russian girl vanished, leaving them in silence. 

One that lasted for a few awkwardly long seconds. 

“This suuuucks. One moment we’re going on a simple school trip and now we are freaking undead.” Emily cried as she pulled at her pigtails, her eyes hollow. 

“You tell me. She could have at least fixed my... problem.” Braidon pointed at his burning head, only for the flames to snuff out as quickly as they had appeared. 

A tapping foot caught their attention. 

Rebecca was staring at them with narrowed eyes and crossed arms. 

“Alright, I guess I’m stuck with you two. But let’s make one thing clear. I am the leader!” 

Emily and Braidon looked at one another, then back at Rebecca. 

“Fine with us.” They both accepted, shrugging. 

. 

Soon, it’d have been a week since they separated from the others. 

Soon, it would be the longest time she had been separated from N. 

The thought was strange to V. Once, his presence had been a constant since her earliest memories, and even if his naivety could get on her nerves sometimes, he was a rock you could always lean on for support... a good friend, family, even. Sometimes she even wondered if Uzi deserved him. 

But they’d grown. Much had changed. 

And now, even if for some time, they had to part ways. 

V scanned the surrounding buildings and, like usual, her many eyes found nothing. That had been the case for most of their journey across Copper 9, almost a eight days by now. Since leaving the outskirts of Outpost 5 and heading toward their home, the only notable event had been another of Aldred’s scout teams crossing their path almost by accident. 

That had worked in their favor, given they were both starving. 

And yet... home. 

She doubted Outpost 3 would be welcoming, but she could still hope, right? 

If not for her... 

She turned around. 

Not too far from her, Thad followed. The ghoul’s almost completely golden eyes observed his surroundings with curiosity... while still munching on the arm of one of the scouts. In part, V was glad his mind wasn’t exactly right. The act would have been far more traumatizing otherwise. 

She sighed, adjusting the backpack hanging from one of her shoulders, kindly borrowed from the dead scout team and currently filled with said group’s body parts. She had taken the idea from the time Uzi used to carry her 'oil emergency reserves' in her own weird bat-themed backpack. 

“Come on, Thad. Don’t lag behind, we’re already close.” The disassembler called to him. 

Sharply, he looked at her. 

His lips almost instantly curved into a smile, the arm in his mouth falling into the snow. 

Then, he actually gave her a thumbs-up. 

She smiled back. 

At least he seemed to be improving each day. Words were still hard, with the most she'd heard from him being her sister’s name or hers, but little else. Still, the worst came at night when they slept. He had... terrible nightmares, and it showed. Just a few days ago, it had gotten so bad V had to sleep hugging the boy. 

The memory was embarrassing and yet, but just like last time... it was one of the best sleeps she’d ever had. 

The male drone had slowly gotten to her. She might as well try to have an actual conversation. 

“We’ll soon see Lizzy... Honestly, I both want to and don’t. How am I going to explain what happened to you and your dad?” She looked away. “If it wasn’t for that horned bitch, we’d have gotten out of there just fine.” Her gaze drifted back to him. “And you’d still be normal.” 

The almost ever-present smile on Thad's face was gone. 

Their eyes locked for a few seconds. 

And the boy threw himself forward to give the taller girl a hug. 

V almost instinctively took a step back, arms raised, but nothing would help her escape his embrace. 

Not that she’d want to. 

Resting her head on top of his, they stayed in silence, only the breeze echoing around them. 

She couldn’t help but smell his hair. 

It wasn’t exactly clean, especially after what they’d been through. But she could very clearly distinguish his scent in it. Ghouls apparently grew natural hair too, just like them. They found out a few days ago when they discovered his wig beside his sleeping spot. 

That was better. 

It meant it was really his... 

And hers. 

Her eyes widened at the thought. 

She shouldn’t see him like that. 

Never. 

She was bound to conflict, she knew it, and she couldn’t bear the thought of dragging the poor boy into it more than they already had. Living amongst the worker drones had been a sweet relief, but that dream was over. 

After fixing Thad, she’d look for N, Uzi, and J... 

Somehow. 

“That red menace better help you.” She muttered. 

The disassembler felt movement and looked down, finding Thad’s big yellow eyes, with a single strip of green, staring at her. 

She almost melted. Even in his state, she could feel the care in them. 

“And if not, I won’t rest until I find a way.” 

They separated, even if Thad had to be gently pushed away a little. And it was then that V took notice of their surroundings. Like, really took it all in. 

With her ordinary eyes, no special filter in between. 

She knew it was the outskirts of the city where Outpost 3 was located, one whose name she never bothered to learn. 

None of the buildings flanking the street exceeded three floors. And to her surprise, even after all this time, many local shops were mostly intact, with whatever non-degradable little things still on display, never to be bought. 

The strangest thing was that they lacked any of the big corporations’ logos. Instead, in big bold letters, were many different names referring to families or just puns related to whatever they were selling. 

“Looks like the outskirts were much cozier.” She said to no one in particular. “Even after all these years, I never bothered actually seeing what this place looked like. When you can fly, why look down?” 

She had actually tried to fly home with Thad, but not only did it tire her out much faster, the boy seemed deathly afraid of it. 

Her eyes traveled along the sidewalk, bodies still littering the ground right where they had died. A particular sight captured her attention. 

A couple, or what seemed to be one, sat side by side on a bench... holding hands. 

A strange feeling twisted inside her. She refused to believe it was guilt. It was far too late for that, especially when she hadn’t had anything to do with what happened on Copper 9... or did she? Technically, everything led back to her and her family. 

To the gala... 

She felt a tug on her jacket. Thad was looking at her with worry. 

She used her red scarf, the one they both shared, to cover her face up to her eyes. 

“It’s alright. Let's get going.” 

. 

Three pairs of red eyes watched the odd team from not too far away, their presence hidden by their bodies’ low temperature compared to even ordinary worker drones. They were huddled together, peeking around the corner of a small brick house. 

“Oh, thank Robo-God they were already close by. I was dreading having to walk across half the planet.” Rebecca muttered. “Were they just… hugging?” 

“The vile witch has my man Thad under a spell. Don’t worry, bud. I’ll save you.” Braidon followed, pushing Rebecca out of the way to glare and gesture at the murder drone. 

“Well, vampires do enchant people to become their thralls.” Rebecca and Braidon looked behind them at the sound of Emily’s voice. The pig-tailed girl was reading from a thick book and adjusting her glasses from time to time. “The only way to break the connection is to…” 

“Is that a freaking human bestiary? Why the hell are you carrying that around?! How did you even get it?” Rebecca didn’t even let her finish, raising her voice just enough not to be heard. 

The black-haired girl looked almost offended by the question. 

“Well, they are basically robo-vampires and we need a trusted source to combat them. I had to scavenge every bookstore on the way here to find something useful.” 

Groaning, Rebecca reached out and grabbed the book from the girl’s hands, then carelessly threw it deeper into the alley. Emily whimpered as if something precious had just been stolen from her, a single tear under her eyes. 

“Alright, listen here, you two. I don’t want to find out if we are sensitive to light like those hot psychos, and soon it’ll be daytime. Ideas on how to take her out?” Opening her arms, Rebecca made the other two zombie drones come closer. 

“Wait, aren’t we even going to try talking to them first? I know what I said but… she’s scary, and Doll didn’t order us to fight her.” Braidon was the first to speak, his eyes, just like Emily’s, having turned hollow. 

Rebecca threw him a glare. 

“Listen, N may have been a sweet pie, but we know V. Even on her good days she’s still a bitch. Our best chance is to attack by surprise and take her out before she can react. Then we take her core and bring it to the Russian freak. We may even gain some points if we can take down a murder drone on our own.” 

They didn’t look very convinced by Rebecca’s reasoning, but still, Emily eventually spoke. 

“What can we even do? We’re monsters ourselves now, which is kind of cool… even if sinful.” She made a quick cross on her chest. “But we’re still no match for her.” 

“Yeah, we should have raided the WDF armory before we left, like I suggested.” Braidon added. 

“None of us have ever used a gun, moron. We’d probably shoot ourselves in the process.” Rebecca stroked her chin. “But how…” 

They spent a good while thinking in silence. Many plans were suggested, all of them useless. Anything that meant a direct fight was sure to end terribly for them. 

Then an idea struck Rebecca once she lifted her gaze, spotting a gas station not too far away on the side of the road. It wasn’t that big, clearly meant only to supply the local folk… but it could be enough. 

“Braidon, did you ever try to control your wildfires?” She asked the boy, who arched an eyebrow. 

“Nope, why would I? Ever since Uzi messed with my head, my batteries have been acting weird and I’ve been trying not to think about it… too much.” 

A grin spread across Rebecca’s face. 

“Well, maybe we can make a pyromaniac out of you.” 

. 

. 

V and Thad had continued on their way in peaceful silence, this time side by side. It almost became awkward... at least for her, as Thad looked as happy as always. Or at least she hoped his expressions were genuine. She couldn’t bear the thought that internally he was in pain or trapped, with the cheerful front being all she saw. 

Her worries, however, were pushed aside once she felt a spark on her arm. 

Her eyes widened, realizing their hands had touched. 

And of course, the next thing she thought about was holding his. 

Digital sweat began to run down her visor. Could he even consent to hand holding in his state?! She blushed brighter each second. 

But... she reached for it, slowly opening her palm until... 

“Help! Please, anybody help!” A cry erupted not too far away. 

V’s right eye was instantly replaced by an X, the other narrowing as her left hand switched to a submachine gun and she took position in one fluid motion while aiming at the source of the voice. Thad’s eyes went hollow and he quickly closed what little distance was between them. 

All they saw was a gas station. 

The voice was coming from within. 

“Please... I’ve been trapped in here for days.” 

The eyes on top of her head scanned the area but found no immediate threat. Her posture relaxed and she threw Thad a look before standing fully upright again. Keeping a wary eye on her surroundings and still armed, she took a step forward, only to be stopped by the boy. 

“V...” She sharply turned to him. 

Hearing him had almost become a luxury by now, and as she expected, he looked worried. 

She smiled softly. 

“It’s okay. I’m big and strong.” She ruffled his hair. “Besides, I think I recognize the voice. Must be someone from the bunker.” She turned back toward the main building of the station. 

They may not be welcomed anymore but... she couldn’t just stop caring. 

“Wait here.” She told the boy who, after a bit of hesitation, nodded. 

Still keeping her weapon at the ready, she closed the distance. 

“Hello? Just so you know before you see me, I’m not going to eat you.” Awful thing to start with, to be honest, and she’d be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy the faces unprepared worker drones made when they came face to face with a disassembler. 

“Uh… Okay. Honestly, I don’t care who you are. I was doing a scavenging run when some rubble fell on me. I… I think my leg’s broken.” The female voice continued. 

V entered the building. Inside, she found what she expected. Shelf upon shelf, some of them still stocked with products that had expired long ago. Advertisements covered the walls, with some posters even promoting a local concert that never came to be. 

“Where are you?” V changed her hand back to normal. It wasn’t like she wasn’t deadly with just her hands. 

“Inside the office. Thank you.” 

True enough, the voice came clearly from a little room in the farthest corner of the place, its door already half open. In front of it were a few puddles of clear liquid, most likely water from the recent storms. 

V stepped toward it. 

“I thought Khan had set up the rule to only go out in pairs. Well, except for Lizzy; she’s got Sparky.” She opened the door and stepped inside, light from outside pouring through a single window and illuminating the otherwise dark room. “Wait…” 

There was no one here except... 

She caught a glimpse of someone peeking from outside the window. 

Black hair in two pigtails. 

Glasses. She knew them from somewhere. 

She went on alert again, just in time for a smell to reach her sensors. 

She paled, realizing what it was. 

Turning to the side, just behind the wall and hidden from the outside, were more than a dozen gasoline cans and even a couple of flammable gas containers. Her eyes hollowed out. 

She looked down, realizing what she thought was just dirty water was in fact... 

“Shit.” 

Outside the building, from a safe distance, Emily ran toward her companions. Her presence and alarmed look were enough of a signal. 

“Do it!” Rebecca yelled at Braidon. 

The boy didn’t respond. Instead, his full attention was focused inward. He had his eyes closed, sweat running down his visor. He concentrated. He knew what it felt like when his system overheated and burst into flames. He might not show it, but it hurt... a lot. 

Now, if only he could at least direct it into his hand. 

V had already begun sprinting out of the trap. 

But a spark of flame lit up the prepared trail of fuel. 

Fire quickly made its way inside the building, reaching the prepared explosives. 

Right before the disassembly drone got out. 

A blast instantly vaporized the main building, the following fireball engulfing the immediate vicinity and shattering every window still intact while cracking the foundations of most buildings around. The trio of zombie drones were thrown back with brutal force, their bodies slamming into the wall behind them and breaking a few internal parts. If not for their new unnatural existence, those injuries would have surely been fatal. 

On the front of the station, however, a poor drone felt emotions he had kept buried until then resurface. 

Utter terror being the most prominent. 

Thad had heard V’s quick steps before he saw her alarmed face, eyes hollow as she fled. Gripped by an unknown need to protect her, he had run toward her with equal haste. 

Only to be met with a wall of fire. He lost consciousness then for a few minutes... and was only awakened later on by approaching voices. 

“The hell… did you put in there? C9? How are we going to check if her core is still intact?” One screamed, interrupted between words by coughing. 

“I don’t know! I just used all that was left around. I didn’t even think it’d work given gasoline goes bad after years.” Another, much meeker voice, responded. 

“The fire must have breached the underground deposits. Shoddy work, even if it’s been decades since last maintenance.” Another male voice concluded, this one much closer to the ghoul boy. In fact, it was almost like he was leaning down over him. “Thad? Man, wake up. You’re safe now.” 

The boy felt a hand shake him. 

And his eyes snapped open. 

The trio looked down at the awakening drone, finding it curious how his eyes were no longer yellow. Instead, they had inverted. His natural green now dominated his eyes while a small strip of yellow remained at the bottom. 

Thad stared at them, raising a hand to grasp his head as a sharp pain still made everything look fuzzy. 

“Guys? You… you are alive?” 

He got a better look at them. 

Rebecca, Emily, Braidon. 

Just like he remembered, but with tattered and now half burnt clothes... and red eyes. 

“Yep. Doll kind of brought us back to life.” Braidon grinned, giving him a thumbs-up. 

“With a hundred strings attached to the deal.” Added Rebecca, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes. 

“Why were your eyes yellow just before?” Emily leaned toward him curiously. 

“My eyes? They…” The thought, paired with the heat coming from the still burning wreck, made him realize. “V…” His eyes shot open and went hollow. He quickly got to his feet. “What have you done?!” 

The zombie drones watched, confused, as Thad ran toward the fire. 

“Wow, dude. It’s okay, she can’t hurt you anymore.” Braidon raised his hands and approached Thad from behind. 

He watched the blond boy clench his fists. His body was even beginning to tremble. 

“Thad? What’s gotten into you?” Rebecca said as she and Emily stepped closer, flanking Braidon. 

There was silence for a few seconds, save for the crackling of flames. 

But Thad did turn around. And the sight frightened them. 

Gone was the green. Instead, hollow golden eyes stared at them... and his mouth. It was open in a grin, sharp teeth shining with the orange hue of the flames. 

“Oh…” Was all Braidon managed to whisper before the ghoul burst into a run toward them. In just a second, the ghoul, mindless once more, had lunged at him and tackled him to the ground. Before he could even raise his arms to defend himself, Braidon had already received a bite to his shoulder. 

A scream tore out of him while his companions took a good moment to react, their eyes hollow and shaken by the shock. 

“Get him off of me!” Braidon cried; his voice finally snapping them out of it. 

Rebecca was the first to move. Grabbing a still burning piece of wood from the ground, she raised it high above her head. 

“Sorry, not sorry.” 

And she brought it down with force... only for it to shatter on Thad’s head without the boy even flinching. He still bit with lethal intent, cracks and bending metal coming from the zombie drone as the bite tore through his frame with surprising ease. 

“Back...” Braidon clenched his teeth, eyes narrowed as he glared at Thad with a deep frown. 

The air began to heat up until... 

“Off!” 

Braidon’s body suddenly burst into flames, his entire upper body now on fire. That was finally enough to make the rabid drone give up on his assault, his eyes widening as he jumped back before the flames could harm him. 

Thad groaned, almost a growl, his eyes darting from Rebecca to a now standing Braidon, the latter with a hand covering his wound. It was healing, but the small amount of oil pouring out was the most unnatural thing. 

The ghoul was about to lunge again when he felt a pair of arms grab him from behind. 

“Stop! We don't want to hurt you!” Emily tried to reason with him, but it only made him struggle even harder. Sweat appeared on her visor as she felt her grip slipping. “Help...” She called to the others. 

Luckily for her, they were already approaching. Rebecca had even taken a cord from her boots, ready to tie up the rabid boy if necessary. 

But Emily watched as both she and Braidon just... stopped. 

And not just that, their eyes had gone hollow and were slowly retreating back. 

Rebecca covered her mouth with obvious terror while Braidon’s face showed nothing but disbelief. 

“Guys?” Emily asked, fear growing inside her too. 

Braidon pointed behind her. 

So she looked back. 

And the sight made her release Thad instantly. The ghoul, for once, was caught off guard by this, not attacking and instead looking as well. 

Something was coming out of the flames. 

No. 

Someone. 

A shaky, limping figure made its way out, and they knew perfectly well who it was. V wasn’t recognizable if not for her size. Most of her frame had been liquefied by the fire. Her servos and metallic skeleton, still glowing red hot, were the only things keeping her upright. Even then, one arm was gone, and the absence of several ribs made her posture tilt. 

Her hair was gone, the eyes on top of her head had burst, and her visor was completely dark. Still, the worst was the flesh. Burnt and scorched meat clung to her body in smoking chunks, and in her open chest, her half-metal, half-flesh core seemed to beat like a human heart. 

But... 

A wide, jagged smile marked her face. 

The zombie trio’s reaction was one of disbelief and dread, the complete opposite of Thad’s, the ghoul now showing a bright smile once more. 

“Burnt...” Words, glitchy and almost unintelligible, but words nonetheless came from V’s strained voice box. “... you burnt it.” 

They didn’t understand what she meant, what importance it had, but the growl that followed was clear enough. Thad, meanwhile, raised a hand to grip his scarf. 

“Fuck this...” Rebecca mumbled, spinning around and sprinting away without a second thought. The other two followed after her. 

A giggle escaped V. 

Her body began to crack, and a pair of metallic wings burst from her back. They were just as mangled as the rest of her, but yellow light still flickered through them. She wouldn’t be able to fly, but she just needed a little push. 

She bent her knees and jumped with such force the ground cracked beneath her. 

Thad looked up in awe while a demonic shadow covered the fleeing drones. 

Emily and Braidon stopped dead in their tracks, the futility of running away made clear in an instant. 

Rebecca, however, didn’t get the memo. But even then, just as she was about to reach the other side of the street and the relative safety of an apartment building, the disassembly drone came crashing down on her. 

She screamed as her legs were shattered on the spot, V’s weight being too much for her. Rebecca’s back hit the ground. Her entire system was shaken, her eyes failing to work properly for a few seconds, and when they finally came back online... 

She saw a glitching golden X. 

Rebecca was then reminded why worker drones used to fear the night. 

“Not again...” She exhaled in defeat, not even resisting. 

V raised her only hand, holding the zombie drone in place with her weight. Her hand tried to change into claws, but they got stuck, her body so damaged it refused to work properly. 

She didn’t care. 

She bit down on what little of her claws had come out and began to pull. 

A sickening sound followed as burnt oil poured from her claws like blood from an open wound. If it was painful, she didn’t show it. 

Emily and Braidon then witnessed a horrific scene, one not even Uzi, in her frenzied state, had matched back at the camp. Thad stepped in front of them, as if he hadn’t tried to eat the boy just a moment ago. He wasn’t smiling now, though. 

V used her claws to slowly and methodically tear Rebecca apart. Piercing her chest, severing limbs, clawing at her face until her visor was ripped out, and in the end even biting off a chunk of her head. 

All through it, Rebecca screamed and cried, begging to die already at one point. 

But Doll’s gift was also a curse. 

She didn’t die, not when she should have. Even as her mechanical organs were gouged out, even when her lights finally began to fade, her core still kept her alive, pulsing with red energy. 

Still, in the end, the murder drone’s assault was too much even for Doll’s eldritch influence. The last thing Rebecca saw was V devouring her entrails and slurping what little oil remained inside her limbs. The disassembler's jaw tore and crunched through metal with famished hunger. 

Her very matter now served her. 

The three spectators watched as V’s body began its repair sequence, though not that it had much to draw from. Her hair grew back, as did her arm. Her main frame was reforged, grey nano-goo bubbling as it printed a new carapace. Even her regular uniform reformed... but not the piece of clothing she’d hoped for. 

After the process was done, and with her body now mostly intact, she stood up, exhaling long and deep. Her breath came out visible, her body trying to extinguish the heat the process produced. 

Still displaying the X, she turned to face the two zombie drones left. Her gaze seemed to suck out whatever spirit they had left. Their legs shook and buckled, falling to their knees as they raised their arms in plea. 

“Please! It was Rebecca’s idea. We weren’t even supposed to fight you!” Braidon was the first to speak, eyes closed to avoid looking at the disassembler even once. 

“I just want to go home!” Emily cried, tears appearing under her eyes. 

V tilted her head. 

“And why would I...” 

She didn’t get to finish, a body slamming against her. Thad had finally moved and now hugged her tightly, almost as if he feared she’d run away. He was silent, but V could feel his body shaking slightly. She almost forgot where she was, her regular eyes appearing once more on her visor. 

She patted his back. 

“There, there.” 

They stayed in silence, and Emily and Braidon, despite their situation, couldn’t help but look at each other. They both shrugged and looked back at the couple. 

“Are you two... together?” 

V’s eyes widened. 

She let go of Thad and, gently pushing him aside, stomped toward them. 

“Why are you here?! Who in their right mind attacks someone like me?!” Her claws were out again as she leaned down, putting one right under Emily’s chin while flashing Braidon her teeth. “I won’t even ask how you are alive... that eye color betrays it.” 

Her eyes narrowed. 

“SHE’s involved.” 

“We were meant to take you to her.” The male zombie drone responded. “Didn’t tell us why... but given your history...” 

“We were already going to the Outpost, idiots! Why do you think we’re here? Tourism?” 

The two drones blinked twice. 

“We don’t know! By the time we died you were still killing us for the hell of it! Of course we’re going to assume the worst.” Braidon shouted. 

V flinched a little. 

He had a point. 

“Does that mean we can go home?” Emily whispered, then looked at V with pleading eyes. “Can you tell Doll we made you come? She won’t let us return to our families if we disappoint her.” 

The proposal made V clench her jaw. Thad eyed her worriedly. 

The fact she’d sent them specifically to find her meant Doll wasn’t over her revenge. How could she be? 

But that also put a concerning thought in her head. 

That she wouldn’t help willingly. 

“You know what. It’s time to put an end to this shitshow.” V threw a glare at the zombie drones. “Make sure Thad gets to the bunker.” 

A wave of relief washed over Emily and Braidon, who smiled at each other. 

They could live another day... 

Wait. 

Did they even count as alive? 

Thad’s golden eyes, however, had hollowed out. The previous moment of clarity had been brief and he was back to a delirious state, but even then, he understood very well what V intended to do. 

He lunged at her, one arm extended to grab hers, but V’s wings, bursting from her back, pushed him away. 

They locked eyes. 

And she winked at him with a smile. 

She then jumped high, her wings, even if unnecessarily, flapping as she ascended. Upon reaching a high enough altitude, she tilted forward and propelled herself away at an incredible speed. Her destination was obvious to the drones left staring. 

“So...” Braidon began, turning to Emily. “Do you think we could make a graduation ceremony just for us? We kind of missed it.” 

Emily ignored the question. Instead, she lowered her gaze from the skies toward Thad. 

“We should get moving if we want to get there in time. Though we can take it eas...” She cut herself off when she didn’t find the boy. “What?” 

Braidon pointed ahead of them. 

In the distance, Thad had already sprinted after V, their connection serving as a compass to guide him. 

“Robo-Jesus, how can he be so fast?!” Emily pulled at her pigtails. 

The male drone passed her, already jogging after Thad. 

“We’d better not lose sight of him.” 

Groaning, she knew there was no other option but to run. Enhanced physical stamina or not, she hated this. 

As they ran away, 

Only the gutted and carved-up body of Rebecca stayed behind, the flames of the still burning gas station reflecting against what was left of her visor. 

. 

“I know what you mean, Doll. But our manufacturing isn’t exactly geared toward weapon production, let alone research in that field. We barely have enough materials to keep civilian needs supplied with the outside world dangerous again.” Clark spoke, leaning against the wall of his office on the manufacturing level of the Outpost. 

Once, he thought that with murder drones around or not, he would at least enjoy some peace in his old age, but the last few weeks had proven him wrong in so many ways he’d never expected. 

He eyed the Russian drone, the girl reading some reports he’d gathered on Outpost 3’s true industrial capacity. There wasn’t much to it, but as she inspected them in silence, the old drone couldn’t help but feel nervous. 

She was Yeva’s daughter alright, but at least with her you knew she had the best intentions... with Doll, however... 

“It says here Khan shifted production to increase civilian goods and reduce defense equipment. Why?” She raised her gaze, expecting a quick answer. 

“With the murder drones tamed, we had kind of a boom thanks to scavenging the surrounding area. Khan thought we could start actually producing luxuries beyond the bare necessities and stop rationing like we used to. Give the young ones a glimpse of what our first year of independence was like, he said.” 

Doll merely hummed at first, leaving the reports on his desk. 

“Noble act, but so many years of struggle may have clouded his mind. There is no peace to be had.” Hands clasped behind her back, she looked down. “It’s time Dronekind's pacifism came to an end. People like my uncle and my parents planted the seed, but we must carry on their legacy.” 

She looked back up and locked eyes with the old drone. 

“Make all the necessary restructuring in the Outpost. Soon I’ll make sure we have the entire planet’s resources at our disposal.” 

The statement made Clark arch an eyebrow. 

“And the other settlements?” 

A menacing smile crept onto Doll’s face. 

“They will submit or suffer the consequences. We can’t have dissidence in a time like this.” Clark’s oil ran cold at that moment. She began making her way out of the place. “And by the way, I shall be called Chairman from now on.” She added, throwing him a side glance. 

Clark gulped and nodded. 

Once outside, Doll found someone already waiting. 

“Any luck with the miners?” 

Lizzy looked up from her phone. Her expression was blank when she saw Doll approaching, but the sudden spark in her eyes was hard to miss. 

“Lira is thankfully very much on board with the whole deal. She’s willing to push her people to increase production, as long as they get vacations and some nice land on the surface once things stabilize.” 

Doll shook her head almost instantly. 

“No drone shall own a piece of land. Humans have taught us that it only leads to disparities and greed in the long run... but their service shall be compensated once the planet is united. Also, their labor won’t be needed as much once I put the dead to work in the mines and factories.” Lizzy frowned a little upon hearing Doll. “The living will only need to supervise. Quite a peaceful life we could achieve.” 

“I don’t think people will enjoy watching their grandpa be put to work.” Lizzy pointed out, crossing her arms. 

The Solver drone waved her hand dismissively. 

“As I said, they're just empty husks, but if it’ll keep morale high, we could take away any distinction from them. Without wigs, clothes, and all sharing red eyes, no one would tell them apart.” 

“I still don’t think...” 

Lizzy didn’t get to finish when she saw Doll’s eye twitch, then her neck snap upward to the side. 

Almost like something was calling to her. 

“Doll?” The blonde reached out to her, only for Doll’s neck to audibly snap back toward her. 

“Stay inside the bunker. I’ll come for you once I deal with this.” 

Her bi-colored eyes went wide. 

“Wait, what?! What’s wrong?” But before she could say anything else, Doll had already vanished in a cloud of digital numbers, leaving the ghoul by herself. 

“Oh, come on!” 

. 

. 

V had taken only ten minutes at top speed to reach the Outpost, though even that had been too long. Normally she’d have used their spire to guide her, but she soon found, to her astonishment, that the landmark she and her team had built was gone. In its place was the open area they’d first landed on twenty years ago. 

She wasn’t even a little sad their work had gone to waste. 

Not at all. 

But whatever had managed to bring the thing down without leaving any rubble or bodies... that troubled her. Though not enough to take her attention away from why she was here. 

She landed right where the spire should’ve been, her eyes quickly scanning the area. There were signs of fighting. 

Nori’s doing, most likely. 

“Doll! I’m here like you wanted! Time to end this.” She yelled at the air, but only the wind responded. She grumbled. “I know you can feel my presence. Show yourself, you creepy psycho!” 

“You’re no one to talk... V.” 

The disassembly drone snapped around as she heard the voice. She found Doll herself sitting almost nonchalantly on top of a rusted car. She had her head tilted and was watching her with curiosity; the cloud of numbers from her recent teleport still lingered around her. 

Normally, she’d have already aimed a gun at her, but V knew it was useless against a Solver drone. And she did intend to at least talk first and slash later, if necessary. But there was something strange about the red-eyed drone. 

Something that felt wrong. 

They both stared at one another for a long, tense moment. V’s top eyes were already picking up multiple readings. 

Too many to make sense. 

“So... here we are.” She just stated the obvious. 

“Indeed. How things change...” Doll’s voice was devoid of emotion, which surprised the taller drone. Nothing like at prom. “Since I came back, I’ve wondered what I’d do, what I’d feel once I saw you.” 

Her lips curved downward. 

“Turns out, I just want to move on, as they say. I’m tired... of seeing the image of my parents, murdered at your hands, even in my most private moments. I’m tired of wasting my life on someone like you.” 

V frowned. 

“Like me?” She scoffed. 

“Just another sad pawn in someone else’s schemes. Someone whose every decision they took on their own accord only drove them into an even deeper hole, while the rest were decided by people they despised and yet couldn't lift a finger against.” 

The disassembler’s jaw tightened. 

“I’d pity you if not for our history.” 

V’s sensors were detecting movement. 

She ignored it. 

“Well, I’ve done enough pitying myself. But that’s in the past, and I want to move on too.” V was trying with all her might to keep herself calm, a difficult task given the smug look now on Doll’s face. 

“Oh, but that’s exactly the problem.” Doll leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands. “What exactly do you expect? A nice little cottage to retire to? A blank slate wiped clean of all your deeds? We both know it’s not that simple.” 

V opened her mouth to quickly retort, but finally, her system wouldn’t allow the issue to be ignored. Almost forcefully, her neck snapped to her left, then to the right. All around the edges of the clearing she found no source of heat, but there was a faint static energy signature surrounding her. For once, she used her normal eyes, as faulty as they were, and what she saw... made her gasp. 

Dozens upon dozens of lumbering zombie drones began to emerge from the rubble and crumbling buildings. They moaned and trembled like every move they made was an astronomical task. Even at first glance, and with how many were missing vital body parts, V could tell there was no logical explanation for how they were functioning in the first place. 

But there was an eldritch explanation, and the black goo oozing from their open holes betrayed it. She knew Rebecca had tasted strange... 

“So that’s what you did with your classmates...” She muttered, and Doll nodded. 

“Yes, though their good preservation after death and relatively short exposure to oblivion made the end result much better than... the rest.” V was getting nervous as the Russian drone spoke and the drones began to surround her. Sweat formed on her visor. “That reminds me. What happened to your own companions? What happened... to my aunt and cousin?” She narrowed her eyes. “We’ve heard some awful news, and Nori barely had time to explain before our... disagreement.” 

Once more, V had to deliberately and internally shut down the flaring alarms in her HUD. 

“They left the planet. Uzi got kidnapped by humans and the others went after them with the help of some rogues of their own.” She began, only to look down in the end. “I haven’t had news since.” 

And if things had gone smoothly, they should have returned by now, the drone couldn’t help but think. 

Doll, for once, was caught off guard. 

“Humans?” She crossed her arms and legs, swinging one of them as she stroked her chin. “This only justifies my actions even further. Maybe not as much as the Solver's main host, but they are a threat that must be dealt with as well.” But she looked back at V, another question already forming in her mind. “That still doesn’t answer one thing. They left, and yet you stayed. Why? A coward, perhaps.” 

V took a step forward, stomping the ground and pointing a finger at Doll as she flashed her fangs. 

“No chance! I’d have gladly gone but... I need to help someone. I need YOU to help someone.” She was quick to defend herself, but the strength in her words soon faltered as she began to reveal her true reason. 

After that, the most unusual thing happened. 

Doll’s expression began to change rapidly, showing a wide range of conflicting emotions. First, there was confusion. Then incredulity. 

And finally... 

A wide smile slowly curved her lips. 

Then she threw herself back, one hand over her chest, the other covering her visor. 

She laughed loudly. 

V may have never cohabited with the Solver drone, but even she knew this was extremely rare for her. That only made her echoing laughter even more unnerving. 

“You… you’ve got some nerve asking ME for help.” She said, her laughter slowly turning into mere chuckles as she wiped a digital tear off her visor. 

“I said it’s not about me! It’s Thad! I want you to help Thad!” 

And the laughter instantly came to a stop. Slowly, Doll straightened her posture, a deep frown on her face. 

“Explain.” 

V hated to be in this situation, even if she knew it was coming... though the zombies, she should have imagined something else was up.  

“We disassembly drones have the ability to transform worker drones into something half-way to our own nature. For that we use our oil which they must ingest.” She began to explain. “In a way, that binds them to their new... sire.”  

The image of Lizzy flashed before Doll, but she pushed the thought away.  

“That bastard Alfred and the other leaders betrayed us. We had to fight our way out against them and that crazy solver bitch from the lab but... Thad and his father didn’t make it.” The sudden weakness in V’s voice made even Doll feel unsettled, a realization soon forming. “I... couldn't let him die. Not like this. So I did what I had to.”  

V locked eyes with the Solver drone, silence settled between them for a considerable time...  

Until Doll spoke.  

“Robo-God, it’s true. I found it hard to believe when Lizzy told me... but you like him. Far more than a friend.” A bright, golden blush soon covered V’s visor; looking away from Doll’s judging gaze. “I can see it in your eyes. Believe or not, it’s a feeling I too know well.”  

The disassembler didn’t have to reason too much to know who she was talking about. Lizzy had more than once, drunk or not, confessed how... complicated her relationship with the red-eyed drone had been.  

V glanced back at Doll.  

“The problem is that the process shouldn’t be used on dead drones. Something went wrong and now it’s like his mind is trapped inside his own body. Nori couldn’t do anything to help and Uzi was gone so.... that leaves you.” V stared at her, expectingly.  

The Solver drone hummed. 

“If you'd taken his body to me, I may have been able to raise him like the others... though I myself am not sure what long-term effects my powers could have.” V’s eyebrow twitched; she didn’t like the idea of the Solver drone messing with Thad one bit. 

Still, Doll sighed. 

“How quickly you forget; he was my friend too, and Lizzy’s only family. Of course, I’ll help him as best as I can.” 

Finally, after all the built-up tension, a weight was lifted from V’s shoulders, and a faint smile managed to sneak onto her face. 

“You, however, I can’t deny my urges any further. Vengeance is due.” Doll declared, her voice dead serious, and the smile vanished from V’s face. “And it seems I’m not the only one.” 

Doll kept her gaze forward; she didn’t need to look around to know zombie drones now corralled the disassembler from all directions. 

“Curious. They may not be as hollow as I thought. I can feel the anger and rage still in them… or maybe it’s mine, seeping into them.” Doll tilted her head as V began to take a defensive posture. “I wonder if you recognize any of them. How many did you personally kill?” 

V clicked her tongue as her right eye shifted to an X. Both her hands morphed into submachine guns, yet she still kept them lowered. Doll didn’t seem bothered one bit; she was amused, even. 

“What gives? Would an apology even matter?” The disassembler simply replied. 

“I suppose not.” Doll replied, almost bored. 

She raised a hand… 

“Tear her apart.” 

The command took no time to have an effect, as the horde burst into a sprint toward V. Their crumbling and lumbering bodies should not have allowed such speed, but most likely only the momentum of their still-functioning servos was propelling them forward. 

One push at a time. 

Their low groans grew into full-on growls and glitchy sounds, some of them resembling what could have once been words. 

But none of it mattered to the disassembler. V cursed and wasted no time raining fire upon the approaching group. She didn’t even have to aim; with their numbers, shooting in any direction would guarantee a hit. 

And that, it did. 

Shooting echoed all around them, followed by the sound of projectiles hitting metal, glass, and polymer. In their decayed state, even her low-caliber rounds pierced easily through the zombies’ frames, but even then, it did little to stop their march. 

She narrowed her eyes, once more remembering Khan’s words about improving her shooting. She steadied her breathing and... 

One by one, the drones began to fall; their visors pierced, and the strange black goo, which the disassembler was certain wasn't oil, poured from the open wounds. Many of those behind tripped and followed their undead equals to the ground. 

But it was useless. 

There had to be hundreds by now. 

“Shit!” V switched one of her guns for a missile launcher, her wings coming out of her back next. She was sure she could thin out the horde before they got too close... and she still wasn’t desperate enough to try fleeing. 

So, she flexed her legs. 

Prepared to jump. 

And the moment she was up in the air... 

A knife struck her left wing, straight into the yellow light where one of her gravitational engines was located. Her eyes went hollow as she lost control of her flight. 

“Uh, uh, uh.” Even among the confusion, she could hear Doll’s voice in the background. “We are playing fair here. And besides, you’re the big bad murder drone. What could you be afraid of? These are just poor worker drones.” 

V barely managed to dodge a lamppost, forcing her to land. Before that, she fired a missile to clear the ground, at least for a few seconds. The explosion rocked the area, the zombies being reduced to tiny bits and leaving behind only a goo-covered, smoking crater. 

“I bet you never counted how many bodies composed the spire. Hell, you probably never counted how many you killed each week.” Doll continued to speak, taunting V as she finally hit the ground. 

“Well... that was always J’s job!” The disassembler was panting, a warning sign flashing in her visor before she closed it. 

She had overestimated how much eating Rebecca had actually healed her, and now her own oil reserves were dwindling. Something told her these zombies didn’t have anything worth consuming. 

“Of course, why would you care? Though… even I, as a killer, remember each one of the girls I murdered. Maybe after a few more hundred, their faces would become interchangeable. But something tells me that’s not your case... you never cared to begin with.” After saying those words, Doll vanished and appeared on top of the same lamppost V had dodged, looking down on the disassembler as the horde finally got into close quarters. 

The murder drone switched her hands for a pair of chainsaws and, once the first zombie got in range, she started to rip and tear. 

What followed would leave even her crudest works of the past in shame. She didn’t have to worry about her prey escaping nor even trying to protect themselves. No, the zombie drones only moved forward, biting and clawing their way closer and closer. 

One came from her left, a female drone dressed in a bright pink coat. 

“Cute.” V muttered before ramming a chainsaw through her chest, the pink soon drenched in black slime and mud. 

A second one was smart enough, or really lucky, to come from behind. They lunged at her, arms wide open and, with how many targets she had to worry about, managed to get on her back. A growl came from their throat before they opened their mouth and bit the disassembler on the neck. 

“Son of a...” It hadn’t even hurt. Their teeth, corroded and weak, weren't able to pierce her armor. Still, the weight of the drone was a hindrance. “Get off of me!” 

She tried to kill them with the chainsaws but was unable to reach. Only a leg was cut off, but still they clung to her like a devil. Enraged, she used her nanite tail to stab the zombie in the back. Only a few seconds later, the grip on her loosened, and the drone fell to the ground already half liquefied. 

But when she looked up, she saw the distraction had cost her. 

Three zombie drones were upon her, all of them wearing what she recognized as WDF uniforms. It showed in their almost coordinated movements. Feeble and unthinking as they were, their bodies seemed to remember what years of hard-drilled training had taught them. 

Wouldn’t save them in their second chance. 

V made an X with her chainsaws, severing two of the drones practically in half in a single strike, but the third one at the center found an opening. Digital sweat appeared on her visor as V tried to use her tail again, only to find in shock that she couldn’t move it and that someone had grabbed it. 

In the corner of her eye, she saw a zombie had managed to sneak past her by virtue of missing their lower half and being forced to crawl. They had reached for her tail and were trying to painfully rip it out. 

V swore, then faced the last guard zombie as it lunged at her. She closed her eyes and, without thinking, headbutted it directly. The creature’s teeth pierced and broke her visor, but that could heal. 

Unlike the zombie’s face, which had been pulverized by her superior strength. 

In a quick motion, she decapitated the stunned drone with her left chainsaw, then looked back and slammed her peg leg into the crawler’s head, crushing it instantly and freeing her tail. 

She panted heavily, enjoying the few seconds of respite. 

“You know what, Doll... You’re right about me.” 

The Russian drone had been quite entertained by the fight below, but she didn’t expect the disassembler to address her directly, yet. 

“I love the slaughter, I love feeling more powerful than those around me.” 

As V spoke, she dodged the grab attempt of a zombie, their numbers now leaving her no room to breathe. Still, she kept talking. 

“To no longer be looked down on, to not be a weak, meek drone anymore. I love it!” As she screamed, she reached for that same drone, grabbing them by the neck and, with a single powerful squish, snapping their spine. 

Their body fell, but not dead, as their visor still flashed red. The injury, however, made sure they would never move again. 

“The thrill of combat, the ecstasy of the hunt. When you are near death, you feel the most alive.” 

Spinning around, she wasted no time punching the nearest zombie drone straight in the head, ripping half their face apart in brutal fashion. The closest drone managed to grab V’s arm before she could pull it back. 

A big mistake. 

V did it anyway, dragging the zombie with her effortlessly. Her visor turned into a wide X just before she opened her mouth and took a bite out of their head, killing them for a second time instantly like a wild animal. 

She spat the foul substance that trickled down the edges of her lips, tossing the body aside. 

All the while, Doll frowned at the disassembler. The pride in her words made hatred burn inside her corrupted core. The image of her parents’ murder came back to her with force. 

V opened her mouth again to speak, but this time she wouldn’t have the luxury, as more than four zombie drones threw themselves at her. They bit and kicked wildly, with the taller drone barely able to dodge or even stay upright. 

That changed once more as more followed, the horde finally managing to tackle her and pin her down, her back soon hitting the ground. 

Her golden eyes went hollow as the mindless drones began to claw at her, scratching at her reinforced body in an attempt to tear her apart as they were commanded. Even if in the process their fingers were torn to shreds, they still tried to use their mangled stumps to break through. 

Fear wasn’t foreign to V. The Elliotts and Cyn had made sure of that, but it’d been a while since she last felt it. 

Now... 

She remembered it pretty well. 

Even after V’s image was lost beneath a mound of dead drones, Doll kept watching, her anger turning to glee at the scene. A satisfied smile crept onto her face. 

But it didn’t last long, as just a moment later she caught sight of something strange. In the distance, almost where the horde mixed with the rubble and ruins of the surrounding city... zombies were being thrown into the air. 

Almost like something was rapidly bulldozing its way through the crowd... toward the disassembler. 

Doll’s eyes widened as she recognized a reptilian tail. 

Meanwhile, the zombies were beginning to breach V’s armor, their dirt-covered hands soon blackened with oil as her insides were slowly revealed to the world. Once they reached her heart, its golden light was already glowing through her flesh and mechanical parts. 

But a loud howl, one she hadn’t heard in a while, echoed not far away. 

Crashes and bodies hitting both metal and ground reached her audio receptors through the zombies’ moaning, and when they finally took their attention off their handiwork, they turned to find... 

A sentinel hitting them like a battering ram. 

Sparky crashed through the bodies on top of V, pushing them aside while catching an unfortunate drone in his jaws. Their head popped soon after under the incredible pressure they could apply. 

V stared at the reptilian robot in disbelief. She watched the beast roar while swinging his tail against the few drones still holding her down. After that, V was free again, her torso quickly regenerating. But she still remained on the ground, lying on her side and watching as he began the true carnage. 

If the zombies could feel fear, it’d surely be now. 

The sentinel began to claw and bite without discrimination, and any drone caught in his path was soon turned into an unrecognizable pile of scrap and goo. One by one, an area around the fallen disassembler was cleared of threats. 

Their numbers were still far too great, but the now visible piles of bodies at least gave them some cover from the horde. 

Shaking off her dizziness, V finally decided to jump back into action. 

Literally. 

She let her wings burst from her back just long enough to push herself off the ground, only to retract them again and switch her hands for a pair of flamethrowers. 

Sparky, on the other hand, had cleared everyone in close quarters and now eyed the menacing crowd while a low growl escaped his throat. His central eye flashed with red light several times, clearly a remnant from when his incapacitating flashlight was still functional. 

He wouldn’t need it, though. 

Especially when he regurgitated a murder drone’s hand from his mouth, already in gun mode. He shot a few stragglers with surprising accuracy, right in time for V to come to his side and fire her own weapons. 

In a few seconds, they were surrounded by a ring of fire that protected them from the zombies, at least until their hunger grew so great that the flames wouldn’t stop them from crossing through. 

Retracting her weapons, V turned to the sentinel, who likewise looked at her. He tilted his head while a chirping sound escaped him. 

She smiled and reached out to pat his head, the cowboy hat still neatly perched on top. 

“Atta boy. I’m... glad to see you.” The beast somehow began to purr, leaning affectionately into her touch. “Thank you.” 

It was a peaceful moment among the chaos. 

Until a large crimson Solver rune appeared around the sentinel. V’s eyes went hollow as she reached to grab him. 

But it was too late. 

Sparky was lifted into the air and, no matter how much he fought, the immaterial grip wouldn’t let go. Next to them, a small opening appeared in the ring of fire, and it was then that V realized the undead crowd had suddenly gone silent. 

The crowd split apart, revealing Doll calmly walking toward V with a flaring Solver at the tips of her fingers. 

“Stupid lizard. The only reason you’re not scraps is because you make Lizzy smile.” She moved her fingers and, at the same time, Sparky was moved out of the clearing, right above the horde. “But know that my patience is limited, and one day I may simply... make up an excuse for your mysterious disappearance.” 

The Solver vanished and the beast screeched as he fell into the horde. 

Sparky hit the ground hard and before he could even begin to recover, half a dozen zombies grabbed onto him, with two more keeping his jaws shut and three using their weight to immobilize his tail. He roared in animalistic anger, but the sounds came out muffled, and it was clear he wouldn’t be moving on his own any time soon. 

Inside the clearing, Solver and disassembly drone stared down at one another, neither flinching even a little. 

Frowning, Doll was the first to speak. 

“You weren’t done earlier, correct?” The fact the red-eyed drone even bothered to ask took V by surprise. More digital sweat ran down her visor. 

“I have killed... too many to count, deserving or not. And the excuse of slavery died with the Elliotts.” Her jaw clenched and she looked down at the snow-covered ground. “And it was all for nothing. It didn’t give us freedom nor peace... and I don’t even know if I could live without conflict at this point.” 

A second of silence. 

“I used to read stories with Tessa, of great heroes going on quests and slaying monsters. They purged all those corrupted and wicked so the rest could prosper. Fantasies. But I always wondered how it 'd feel to kill for a higher cause.” 

V looked back up again, locking eyes with Doll. 

“I’m sorry you parents died for nothing.” 

. 

. 

. 

“Nothing...” Doll muttered. 

V got even more nervous. She didn’t know what to expect, but it certainly wasn’t anything good. That fact was made clear when the air became tinted with a red aura that flashed sporadically, red lines of code descending like a glitch in the matrix of reality itself, appearing and disappearing. 

And at the center of it... 

Doll. 

Her right eye was hollow while the other had glitched into the Solver symbol. Her mouth curved upward, slowly opening to reveal a drooling, jagged maw. 

“Of course they died for nothing. What greater cause could justify killing them in the safety of home... all while their poor, miserable child watched helplessly?” 

The Solver drone got into a combat stance, a knife appearing in her right hand while the left manifested a glyph. Behind her back, just as her long hair began to float as if gravity no longer affected it, a larger rotating Solver glyph with clockwork-like details flashed into reality. 

Then, around its edges, at least half a dozen more knives began to circle behind Doll like a halo. 

“I’ll make you suffer!” 

V said nothing. Instead, she instantly got into combat mode as well, her visor displaying its haunting X while her left arm morphed into the missile launcher once more. 

Wasting no time, she fired two rockets at the Solver drone, but, as she had honestly expected, those were easily deflected by her eldritch powers. The rockets were knocked to her sides, impacting and exploding among the zombies surrounding them. 

They didn’t seem fazed by it. 

Not giving V a chance to reconsider her options, Doll charged forward, knife at the ready and gleefully laughing. 

“Damn psycho freak!” The disassembler yelled, switching the launcher for a flamethrower and her other hand for a simple, yet always effective blade. 

A blast of fire soon seemed to engulf Doll whole, and V’s top eyes were unable to tell if the flames had managed to hurt her. Stopping projectiles was relatively easy, but as Uzi had confessed during one of their mock fights, less tangible things were much more difficult to stop. 

The answer came quickly and in horrifying fashion when Doll burst through the flames. Her face and most of her frame had suffered second-degree burns, and her clothes were half scorched as well. 

And yet, the smile was still etched on her face. 

V cursed, only having a second to move her blade and block Doll's knife, barely a palm away from her visor. Letting go of the flamethrower, she changed her hand to claws and swung at the Solver drone... 

Only for her to vanish out of thin air. 

The disassembler gasped, instantly sensing a presence behind her. Her top eyes caught sight of Doll about to stab her in the back. 

She succeeded. 

Right under V’s neck. 

A scream came from her right then, but V wouldn’t let her get away with it. Using her tail, she pierced Doll’s hand and a pained groan of her own finally made that smug smile disappear. 

She let go of the knife, which disintegrated before even touching the ground, and stepped back as she watched the nanite acid begin to crawl up her arm, eating away both metal and whatever flesh lay within. 

Doll took no chances. 

Once the yellow glow reached her upper arm, one of the knives rotating behind her broke out of formation and came to her aid... 

By cutting her arm clean off. 

Her regeneration kicked in fast, but still, a mounting pressure was becoming noticeable inside her. One she’d come to know very well since her return to the living. V didn’t question it when, from the edges of her visor and out of her wounds, a red-tinted dark goo began to ooze out. 

Just looking at it made her dizzy, so she averted her eyes, though not before swinging her blade vertically. 

It would have been lethal if the same knife that had cut off Doll’s arm hadn’t gone to her other hand, allowing the Solver drone to block it. Still, the disassembler’s greater strength meant the blade kept moving, carving a nasty scar across Doll’s visor that soon began to smoke as it healed. 

Using her telekinetic powers, Doll attacked V not only with the weapon she wielded, but also with the other knives behind her, which came at the murder drone from all directions. 

They traded blows, the clash of blades, the piercing of armor, and their pained cries echoing through the dark expanse of Copper 9’s night. 

Doll tried a few more times to use her teleport to catch V by surprise or her Solver to throw junk and rocks at her, but the disassembler not only adapted quickly, she was also older and far more experienced in combat. 

In the end, they both remained covered in V’s oil and Doll’s strange goop, their bodies riddled with wounds that sporadically spat sparks. 

V was tired of this... 

It was time for one last Hail Mary. 

She let go of her melee weapons, switching one arm back to the flamethrower while the other... she kept hidden behind her back. 

Doll, who had just been forced to her knees to puke some of the bubbling corrupted material from her body, looked up and raised an eyebrow as she gasped for air. 

The blast of fire came quickly, swallowing her entire view and hiding V behind the flames. 

She wouldn’t let the disassembler do whatever she was planning. 

Most of her knives had broken during their fight, but she still had three levitating behind her. With a single flick of her hand, they were launched directly at V, straight through the fire. 

She heard something pierce flesh, followed by a muffled grunt of pain. She smiled... 

Before a golden ray of light suddenly pierced through the flames... hitting her right in the chest. 

She was thrown backwards, her visor going dark. With a loud thud, she lay motionless on the ground, a gaping, smoking hole slightly above the left side of her torso. Inside... part of her mother’s core had been obliterated, and its red eyes flickered as they threatened to shut down. 

Without the flames to cover her, V saw the result of her little trick, the laser cannon still hot in place of her hand. She smirked, though the smile soon turned into a grimace of pain. The disassembler looked down and saw a knife still stuck in her abdomen, the adrenaline having dulled the pain... 

Until now. 

“Bitch...” She muttered, grabbing it and pulling it out. 

She watched as the knife dematerialized the moment she did and just after that, her sensors sent her a new warning. 

They detected movement. A lot of it. But looking around her, it wasn't what she had expected. The zombie drones... 

The sound of bodies tumbling down and metal hitting snowy rock and mud filled the entire clearing. 

They were crumbling like puppets whose strings had been cut. 

Sparky was most happy about it. Shaking off the ones that had been holding him in place, he stood up, accidentally, or not so accidentally, trampling one of them. He let out a loud howl of triumph just as the last zombie fell. 

The entire area was now littered with bodies. 

“This is... grim.” V commented under her breath. She never realized how many bodies they had collected for the spire. 

Easily more than were actually alive right now in the outpost. 

“V?!” 

A voice, one she couldn’t believe at first, reached her. The disassembler turned sharply toward it; her eyes hollow as a nervous and unpleasant feeling settled in her gut. 

“L... Lizzy?” 

Right there, carefully walking among the dozens of corpses, the former cheerleader approached. Sweat covered her visor and her hollow eyes, together with the stress lines beneath them, betrayed her worry. 

But what truly caught V off guard was the color of her usually pink eyes. 

They were half red like... 

“Oh no...” The disassembler said, the realization hitting her like a train. 

For a split second, the worry in Lizzy’s eyes changed into obvious anger. She opened her mouth to demand the answers she so much needed, but upon seeing Doll’s inert body on the ground, the distress came back with force. 

Without saying anything, she burst into a sprint. She pushed right past V, their shoulders colliding even as the taller drone began to plead for her to listen for just a second. 

She ignored Sparky too. The large beast trotted happily toward her, and his disappointment was evident when his head and tail slowly lowered. 

Lizzy reached Doll’s body and kneeled beside her, tidiness be damned as her clothes were quickly covered in dirt. She extended a hand and caressed the Russian drone’s left cheek. Shaking her gently, she got no response. 

Tears were already welling up in her eyes when she turned to glare at V, gripping Doll’s jacket tightly, or what was left of it. 

“What have you done?!” 

V was quick to raise both hands. 

“Woah, woah. It was her that attacked me first... after she commanded the undead to kill me... and after she sent your old classmates after me.” 

The disassembler’s response gave Lizzy more questions than answers. 

“My... classmates?” She began to look down, only to lock eyes with V again when she remembered a much more important matter. She stood up, leaving Doll’s side as she stomped toward V. “What happened to my family?!” She yelled, showing sharp teeth that the taller drone knew hadn’t been there before. 

“That’s why I’m here! They betrayed us, Liz. The bastards only wanted to get rid of us and, when things went south, they blamed it on us. Your father... he didn’t make it.” V tried to explain in the most concise way possible, ending with an apologetic look. 

The blonde felt like someone had just gut-punched her. She knew all that already, but hearing the confirmation twisted her insides. Still, she wanted to trust V’s words and believe it wasn’t the murder drones’ doing. But the lack of mention of someone in particular made her look up... 

Almost hopeful. 

“My... brother?” 

Finally, a half-smile graced V’s features. 

“He...” 

. 

. 

“...is right there.” V’s words were cut short by Lizzy herself, the former cheerleader pointing behind the disassembly drone. 

'Impossible, we were still so far away from...' V thought, turning to face the northern edge of the clearing, right where the spire used to stand, and, true enough, golden eyes could be seen among the dark. They were rapidly approaching. 

“Holy shit, he really did it.” V commented before turning her attention back to Lizzy. The shorter girl’s jaw trembled as tears now freely ran down her visor. “He’s changed... I was forced to do something that shouldn’t be rushed, but there was no choice. I wanted...” 

It was obvious Lizzy wasn’t listening to her. In fact, with every word, V watched the girl take another step away from her and toward Thad, the boy now clear in view. 

The male ghoul, for all his apparent obliviousness and almost mindless state, was clearly exhausted from the run. Sweat covered his visor and his eyes were hollow, but the moment they landed on V first, his lips curved upwards. It was the most honest smile V had ever seen, one you could only find in someone in his situation. 

But his mood changed the moment he saw the drone now sprinting toward him. 

He stood frozen in place, surrounded by dozens of fallen zombie drones. It didn’t bother him, nor did he question it. Instead, he opened his mouth to speak words his poor mind couldn’t piece together. 

They wouldn’t be needed. 

Lizzy got to him and threw herself into her brother’s arms, the two of them hugging each other tightly. 

“You goddamn... idiot. Don’t scare me like that again.” The sister said between hiccups, red tears mixing with pink on her visor. She held on to his jacket with all her might, as if at any moment he could simply vanish. “I thought I’d lost you.” 

She felt her legs lose all their strength, shaking until she felt herself about to faint. She was grabbed mid-fall by her brother, his arms gently lowering her until they were both on their knees, eyes locked. He too was crying, golden tears glowing in the dark. 

She reached out to cup one of his cheeks. 

“What have they done to us...” She whispered. 

While the pair of siblings had their moment, V watched from afar, arms crossed. It was honestly sweet to see. Robo-God knew they could use more moments like this. But then, a worrisome thought crossed her mind. 

How was she going to help Thad back to his senses if Doll was... 

Her HUD suddenly sent a bright, flashing warning. 

A terrible threat was close. 

Alerted, she looked around, seeing nothing but rows upon rows of dead bodies, the pair of siblings, and the sentinel looking at them curiously. 

That could only mean... 

She turned around, expecting to see Doll fully regenerated or at least still combat ready, but instead all she saw was her body, still inert on the ground just like she had left it, except... it was now in an even worse state. The hole in her chest left by the cannon was visibly bigger, its edges bent outwards as if something had burst out from within. 

V gulped, her eyes hollowing as she noticed drops of the same black goo that fueled the Solver drone falling from the sky. 

She looked up. 

And her core skipped a beat. 

“What... the fuck are you?” She whispered, not expecting an answer from whatever was hovering in the air before her. 

A ghostly dark figure was looking down at her, its body composed of nothing but an ink-like substance that quivered like liquid. But its shape left no doubt this was Doll; her long hair was clearly visible behind her. It became even more obvious when red lines began to appear on its supposed face, slowly forming a jagged smile and eyes that were little more than hollow circles. 

But the most disturbing thing was that her form seemed to be constantly destroying and reforming itself, with drops of the black liquid detaching from her body, ascending upwards and disappearing while any gaps left behind were quickly filled with more of the stuff. Crimson lines of code flashed around her as if her form was nothing more than a program forcing its way into reality. 

In the distance, Thad was the first of the siblings to see this, quickly standing back up to come to V’s side. But his sister was faster, grabbing him and holding him in place. Any worker drone would have had no hope of restraining him, but they were both now beyond the limits of their kind. 

He looked at her, silently pleading for her to let go, but Lizzy shook her head. 

She knew it needed to end here... 

Somehow. 

Doll, meanwhile, raised a hand and examined it. She wasn’t looking forward to being in this form. It was unpleasant, like her very existence was a mistake the universe was desperately trying to correct. But she knew this was now her true self. 

Except... 

There was something different from when she had first manifested herself to Lizzy. 

Her attention shifted toward V again, the disassembler slowly retreating one cautious step at a time. 

Doll’s smile widened. 

All around the murder drone, a static sound began to come from many of the corpses around her. It was their voice boxes, all being tuned by Doll’s corrupted influence to speak a single sentence in unison through a dozen different voices. 

“I̵ ̶a̸m̶ ̸b̶a̵n̶i̵s̷h̶e̷d̵ ̴f̴r̷o̷m̶ ̴d̸e̵a̷t̵h̷” 

V felt her oil run cold. 

By instinct, both her hands switched to a pair of guns and began to rain fire on the ghostly figure. 

As the bullets hit the goo and disappeared without leaving any visible damage, Doll realized what was different now... 

She was material. 

The corrupted Solver drone then burst into movement, flying directly toward V, who could only watch as her weapons did nothing. 

In a last attempt, she changed one gun into her laser cannon and the other back to her normal hand to steady her aim. Without letting the weapon charge fully, she fired, a ray of energy shooting forward toward the rapidly approaching threat. 

It hit Doll directly, her liquid-like body exploding around the beam's trajectory. Half of her was instantly disintegrated... 

Only for it to reform a second later without slowing her down for even a moment. 

V gasped. 

She was upon her. 

Doll’s until-now humanoid form dissolved, becoming a cloud-like entity that emitted no light except for her face, still etched on its surface. She lunged at V rapidly, her gelatinous mass splashing across the disassembler's body before wrapping tightly around her arms and legs. V struggled, but the sentient goo shifted with every movement, tightening its grip and molding itself to keep the disassembler pinned. Its surface rippled constantly, as if laughing at her attempts to free herself. Within seconds, V stood completely immobilized, trapped inside Doll’s embrace. 

Not far away, a large Solver glyph flashed into reality above Doll’s inert drone body. Glowing brightly, it exerted its influence. With a few initial spasms, it began to move, standing up clumsily like a puppet being commanded to do so. Its visor was dark, but her mouth opened, and this time it was her own voice that spoke. 

“Death... would be too good... for you.” The Russian words came out broken but unmistakable. She stepped forward with the hole still gaping in her eviscerated chest and the glyph commanding it hovering above her head. 

V, on the other hand, was living a nightmare. 

Doll increased the pressure around her, far beyond anything she had ever felt until... 

Her carapace cracked and shattered. 

Limbs bent at impossible angles. 

And servos popped out of place. 

She wanted to scream, but the moment she opened her mouth, more of the black goo slipped inside, making her choke and gag on her own words. In fact, it only got worse when, through every little wound, every crack in her armor, Doll began seeping into the disassembler’s body. 

“I’ll make sure... you know no freedom... no respite.” Doll’s hollow body continued speaking. “You were... a beast without a rightful master.. until now.” 

V felt her insides twist and be mangled without a care for all the pain it caused, all so Doll could reach what she was looking for. 

Her core... 

Which soon was breached as well. A hundred warnings popped up in her HUD, all screaming about the same vulnerability until... 

It stopped. 

All warnings vanished from her visor, leaving only her hollow golden eyes which, after a single second of calm... 

Began to flash and glitch red. 

“You will be my executioner. The monster I send to destroy my enemies.” 

With the siblings, whose bodies were now encircled by Sparky’s protective stance, something else was happening just as V’s torment reached its zenith. 

Thad had suddenly stopped struggling against his sister’s hold and now lay on the ground with both hands grasping his head. Lizzy asked what was wrong, only for Thad to respond with a loud scream of pain. He shot upright, looking up at the dark sky. 

His eyes were glitching red too. 

Doll’s worker body had finally reached the disassembler, crimson tears now running down V’s visor. She didn’t bother, or perhaps couldn’t, look at the husk beside her, even as she leaned down to speak. 

“Forget... about knights in shining armor... and noble causes.” 

As she spoke, part of the goo shifted to face V. 

The red lines that formed the jagged smile and eyes of the true Doll glared at her as a sudden message appeared on the disassembler’s visor, just when Doll spoke one last time. 

“You are mine.” 

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