Murder Drones: Disassembly Required

Cloris reached out, patting N’s shoulder a couple of times. ”You’d love it if you could withstand it. But we can only do what we’re made to do. I can’t fly anymore then you can stay out in the sun.

Cloris nodded at N, then looked over at Karasu. ”N’s proposal is acceptable to me. Both of them can hold the fort while we go out to this location. Unless Aegis has an objection to this, then that’s the majority vote, Captain.”

Cloris couldn’t help it: she actually started laughing at N’s misinterpretation of the situation. At the same time, she felt a huge sense of relieve. A part of her was sure that they were going to die. She reached over, leaning forward and talking to Ray.

”I knew you could do it! What’s your status? We have an interesting development at our end, over.”

---

Uzi grinned at Chaos, giving him a high five. “Hell yah! You were awesome with that Plasma Cutter Chaos!”

Uzi reached out, giving him a fistbump.


She then looked over at Ray, walking over to him. She frowned at him.

”Hey, don’t put too much strain on yourself. Celebrate when you’re not wounded. I’m not sure if we have anything that can help a human here.”

She then looked over at V and J, strapping her gun back to her back. There wasn’t much point in holding it right now: it needed more time to charge. She pointed at there the solver beast used to be.

”Okay, what the hell was that thing?”

---

Lizzy would see a flash of red light come from Doll’s bathroom, and then the sound a loud metallic “clang!” It sounded like doll had dropped a whole bunch of somethings into the bathtub. Then there would be another flash coming from the kitchen and another “Clang!”. Doll would then open the door from the inside, quickly closing it behind Lizzy before she could get a look in. She looked at the blonde drone.

”Monstr ubit. YA takzhe sobral dostatochno yedy, chtoby ne peregret'sya.”

[“The monster has been killed. I've also gathered enough food to keep me from overheating.”]

Doll jerked her thumb at the kitchen a couple times. Lizzie knew exactly what her diet was, but accepted her. She then raised her hand at the door. The red solver symbol spun, then vanished. The lock clicked open audibly.

”Teper' my mozhem snova sosredotochit'sya na vypusknom. Nam pridetsya nemnogo skorrektirovat' nashi plany, uchityvaya prisutstviye lyudey. No v konechnom itoge eto oblegchit zadachu.”

[“Now we can focus on the prom again. We'll have to adjust our plans a little, given the presence of the humans. But in the end it'll make things easier.”]

Lizzie was clearly free to go if she wanted to go. Doll wasn’t keeping her trapped in the room. Granted she wasn’t going to consume the gathered zombie drone corpses with her present. She didn’t want to show Lizzie that unpleasantness.

The Captain sighs as the majority does vote in favor of him and Cloris going to investigate this mysterious message together. He didn't much like the idea of leaving N all alone here, especially given there was a chance of her freezing up again if something DID happen. They cut it really close with the last fight.

"I still have my reservations about that... But it's true, Aegis should still be able to provide support for N."

The AI then chimes in at this point too.

"I can understand why the Captain is insisting that there is at least one other pair of physical hands around here. Though N seems to be fine now, if she freezes up again, I wouldn't be able to pull her out to safety."

Still, equally as pressing was the incoming communications they were receiving from the Expedition Team -- something that N noticed and quickly flicked the switch in order to accept. Though Ray's victorious chants are mistaken by N to instead be 'agonized cries'. Cloris chuckled, and Karasu gently pats her on the shoulder.

"They're screaming in celebration, N. I think they just killed it."

Cloris is the first to ask for a status update on them. But the Captain steps in at this point.

"Good work, everyone. We'll be waiting for a briefing on what happened."

Right now, it took priority to see how things had gone over there. For a little while, they could put off the idea of heading out to investigate that mysterious broadcast.

---

As for what was going on in the Warehouse now... Well, for starters, V was half-tempted to give Ray a big hug, but she was still very mindful of the fact that she needed a good cleaning before that was an option.

"Remind me to give you a hug after I'm cleaned up, Ray."

The Disassembly Drone states with a smile.

Meanwhile, J walks over as Uzi and Chaos are finishing their own small celebration.

"That is what happens when a Drone goes rogue."

The twin-tailed Disassembly Drone explains, and then continues on;
"There's varying degrees of corruption. That is one of the most severe forms. And it is technically possible for all of them to end up like that."

She then crosses her arms.

"That's why we make the corpse towers. Disassemble the ones that can end up like that, and then gather them up in ambush points so that it's harder to collect the materials needed to evolve like that."

But -- J had a question of her own, now pointing at Uzi.

"But why the hell were there containers filled with goodies for that thing in this Warehouse? If you all have been manufacturing those things, then it's no wonder that monster was so difficult to put down!"

Eventually, she eases off and crosses her arms... But J does have this final remark to make:

"By the way. That Symbol of yours, when you used that trick to get V out of there? That's on several containers in here. And it's why that thing went straight for this room as a nest."

V glances over after hearing that, and she begins to narrow her eyes as she stares at Uzi. In all the excitement, she had almost forgotten, but... Yeah... She had seen some of those signs before...

---

Sitting in silence, even with the power back on, kinda sucked. Plus Doll's room was... Well, not exactly barren and unfurnished, but there wasn't a lot to do in here, with the way she had things currently decorated.

Fear had given way to boredom. Lizzy just sat there waiting to either hear back from Doll, or from that symbol over the door to disappear, whichever came first.

So when she hear that loud clanging in the bathroom, it did make her stand up with a jolt, she circles around the chair she had been seated in, and picks it up to use as a shield and a weapon. Then she hears another clang coming from the kitchen, and she begins to cautiously move to a more advantageous position.

Ultimately, proving to be unnecessary. The blinking of her optics sound off in the otherwise quiet room as she processes Doll's return and her words.

"Wow. That was surprisingly fast. And it felt sort of anticlimactic."

She remarks, now setting the chair down -- of course, entirely unaware of the battle that had just taken place in the Warehouse. Doll soon comments that they should return their focus to the Prom and make some slight adjustments, considering the presence of the Humans now.

The purple-haired Drone seemed to think that ultimately it would still play out the same. Lizzy was... A little less certain about that. She rubs the back of her own neck before replying.

"Are you sure, Doll? I mean, if you go through with this, I'm pretty sure the Humans are gonna be mad. And we don't know how many of them there are."

The blonde Drone explains as she calmly walks over to Doll.

"And while you can do those cool tricks of yours, I'm pretty much useless in a fight... Shouldn't you at least think about it a little bit? Like, Humans did make us, so... They should be able to help."

I return the fist bump "You are awesome, Uzi! Hug me, sister!"

J explained everthing to us, then she questions the weird symbol Uzi had that was on hers hand. "Im... Im sure its nothing much, really! Uzi is just a... a main character, thats all! Or... Jeez I hope its not really something serious but... Worker Drones is more than just robots I guess."

I look over at V and notice how messy she was. "Jeez V is dirty. Ray, when are you going to clean up your robot girlfriend?" I think about it for a little bit "You know what, we might be able to get life support back online now since that beast is dead. Then you can take a bath with your girlfriend, Ray!"

Cloris nodded at the captain, then looked over at Aegis. ”If N permits it I could run a quick diagnostic on her. If nothing shows up, then we shouldn't have to worry about leaving her with you.”

Cloris looked over at N. ”If the captain allows me to accompany him, is it okay if I perform a diagnostic on you?”

Cloris looked at the console curiously. ”For essential supplies, correct? What do they want from us?”

---

”Hey, don't push your luck Chaos.”

Uzi did not move to give him a hug. But there was the hint of a smile, for just a moment. She let out a sigh when Chaos called her a main character.

”I wish. It's probably nothing good though, whatever that was.”

Uzi stared at J incredulously. ”Going rogue? That abomination was a mutation, not a breakdown! I've never heard of anything close to this before!”

Uzi's eyes widened. She raised her hands and made pushing motions with her palms.

”Hold up! You're telling me that if you don’t make a tower of corpses, they’ll turn into a zombie army lead by a monstrocity? Just what even is this kind of corruption?!”

Uzi stared over at the containers that J was pointing out. A shocked look on her face appeared as she saw the symbol on them. ”That’s…”

Uzi walked over to them, raising a hand and touching the logo that was there. She then lowered it, looking back at J. ”We only produce only what we have to. My dad told me that when the worker drones took over the bunker, they had to reorganize things to make it livable for us. This warehouse was used to store things we didn’t need. Things that belonged to the humans.”

Uzi looked at Ray as he asked her where the life support was. The teenage android let out a groan. “Damn it all! I have so many things I want to ask you two!” She pointed at V and J.

”We’re talking about this absolute solver thing later! Right now getting the humans to breathe is more important!”

She looked over at Ray, frowning. ”Um, you can walk right? Or do you need your girlfriend to carry you?

---

In a way the battle had been anticlimatic. Her main contribution had been taking care of the zombie drones. Which was pathetically easy with the powers at her disposal. Granted she had kept track of things in case she needed to do more to the monster. But fortunately the disassembly drones took care of things.

”Lyudi i drony-razborshchiki byli ochen' nakhodchivy. Mne ne prishlos' mnogo delat'.”

[“The humans and disassembly drones were very resourceful. I didn't have to do much.”]

She considered Lizzies words, frowning. She looked down, clenching her fist.

”Ty prosish' menya prostit' yeye, Lizzie? Ostavit' smert' moikh roditeley neotomshchennoy?”

[“Are you asking me to forgive her Lizzie? To let the death of my parents go unavenged?”]

Doll raised her head, gazing over at the kitchen table, There was a cloth over a couple of the chairs over there. She then looked at Lizzie. The pain on Doll’s face was evident.

Karasu was still uncertain about it, but... Between N's insistence that she was fine, and Cloris offering to perform a diagnostic -- as long as N was willing -- there wasn't much more of an argument to be made here. Aegis is the first to speak up about it though.

"If that is the course of action we're intent on going with, then that seems an acceptable compromise."

Still, the update from Ray offered them some more room here. The Drones were willing to do some trading -- and possibly even let the crew stay in the event it became necessary. It was good news, basically. Even if they would need a little bit of recuperation from the fight.

The Engineer expressed his concern over what happened this time; wondering aloud if it was another metal monstrosity. Fortunately, the Captain responds in order to comfort his concerns there.

"No, no further enemies as of yet. We've done a quick patch job on the ship too, to keep the elements out and to prevent any further surprises."
He relays the good news first, and now the more important part to report...

"However, we've received a mysterious radio broadcast. And we received a coded message. It was done about as simple as it could get, while being difficult for computers and AI to solve. Whoever the sender is, they know we're here, and they want to be sure that only Humans show up to the meeting point."

The Captain finishes his explanation. He takes a breath and thinks it over for a second.

"We've been debating what to do on our end. We're working on a time limit and we're stretched thin. You deserve your say on this too, how do you think we should proceed?"

---

V noted Ray's very flustered response, and it prompted a smile out of her -- yeah, she kind of enjoyed teasing him...

Though that smile does fade as Chaos chimes in and calls her Ray's "robot girlfriend", she looks over at him, and then...

"Oh, ask YOUR robot girlfriend for a hug!"

V retorts, and J gives him a glance afterwards. The shrug she gives implies that she does not have a problem with either that title or that action.

In any case, the topic at hand gets slightly back on track as Uzi protests the usage of the word "rogue" to describe these things. Insisting it was more of a mutation than a breakdown. J simply rolls her eyes.

"If they were just breaking down, then we'd call them outmodes. You know? Obsolete rust buckets? Whatever has gotten a hold of them has gone completely rogue."

Despite the explanation, it only seemed to raise more questions for Uzi. J is at least willing enough to provide more information -- especially since the Humans would probably want to know more too.

"We don't have to worry about them turning into zombies after we disassemble them. We collect them into corpse towers for our nest. It's like setting up a beacon for that Rogue AI. Plenty of materials to evolve, right?"
J pauses briefly, then adding;
"Just like that thing. Difference being when one of them shows up to our nest, we pick them off and add them to the pile."

With that finally explained, V also chimes in with another point on that front.
"Also a good source of oil. Which we need."

Both Disassembly Drones had their suspicions of the Worker Drones here, but Uzi does provide a satisfactory reason for these crates being here. Plus if this WAS some kind of outpost for Absolute Solver, the Worker Drones probably wouldn't be the way they are...

Chaos also offers a defense of Uzi too. Which prompts J to give a sigh and ease off once more.

"Fair enough. We'll worry about it later. Let's get that Life Support up and running."

And as Uzi questions if Ray can walk still, V offers a hand to help him up.

"I think he's alright, as long as he takes it slow."

---

Doll briefly explains that the Humans and Disassembly Drones were plenty resourceful. She didn't end up having to do much -- and that was probably for the best, Lizzy thought.

"Well, no chance of them knowing about you, then."

Still... That was part of the reason why Lizzy was trying to make sure this was what Doll wanted. There was a lot of pain and emotion -- and she was justified in feeling that way. But it was also incredibly easy to make mistakes in that kind of situation.

She wouldn't phrase it that way, of course. Lizzy chooses her words more delicately.

"I'm asking you if you're prepared to make an enemy out of everyone. The other Drones are going to be scared of you. They'll side with the Humans. The Disassembly Drones already work with them."

Lizzy then gestures to the bathroom -- and then the kitchen.

"You're eating Drones. You're drinking their oil. And now you're basically going to declare war on everyone with this."

Lizzy then rolls her eyes.
"And like, I'd try to help. But my great idea to fight off the-whatever-that-was involved one of your chairs. I'd probably end up being a burden to you."

With that, the Worker Drone places her hands on her hips, staring at Doll.

"So I'm asking you if you're sure that you want to do something you probably can't come back from. You have options right now. Like... Think them over, maybe?"

"Yeah, I might have gotten a little carried away back there. Good job Uzi"

"I'll hug my robogf whenever I want to and I really need a hug." I retorted back

"I agree, lets worry about that weird thing later. Getting life support back online would be great and I wouldnt need to carry this space suit everywhere. Also being
able to eat solid food again would be great."

Cloris wasn't 100% sure N knew what she was asking her. She was 95% sure though. N must have had one of those, right? She smiled at the android behind her mask.

”Good. It won't take long once we start it. I won't be more intrusive then I have to be.”

Karasu then explained the situation to Ray. Likewise he gave the lowdown going on at her end. Cloris seemed surprised.

”They salvaged things from the original human settlement? I didn't expect them to do that. At least not for things that we need. I'm guessing that power regular isn't going to pay for everything.”

Cloris listened to Ray's advice on the matter with the message. Cloris let out a relieved sigh.

”I'm glad I'm not the only one who considered the possibility of it being this monster. But I don't think they would have been a bit more obvious with a trap. Like using a vocal communication of some type. Still, we'll be careful Ray.”

Cloris looked over at the captain. ”It seems like we're going to investigate this. With your permission, I'll give N a quick diagnostic.”

---

Uzi gave a very proud looking little smirk when Chaos praised her. She wasn't used to that kind of thing, and was hoping more of it would come in the future.

Uzi gestured towards where the monster was again, looking between the two disassembly drones.

”Well, next time don't miss one of these things! Eat them all so the rest of us don't have to deal with their creepiness!”

Uzi didn't look full convinced by Ray, but what could she do? They couldn't even check if he was significantly hurt or not until they got life support online. She motioned for them to follow her. She made sure to walk at a pace that Ray would be able to follow her at.

They eventually got to a set of double doors. It seemed to have a label at some point, but it was taken off. Uzi reached out, trying to open them. But they wouldn't budge. She looked over at the others.

”I don't think anyone has been down there in a long time. So we miiiiight need to bust the doors open.”

---

Doll glanced at the kitchen. ”Moi sily trebuyut ot menya zhertv, chtoby sokhranit' ikh. YA uzhe davno gotov stat' vseobshchim vragom.”

[“My powers require me to make sacrifices to maintain them. I've been prepared to become everyone's enemy for a long time now.”]

Doll considered the rest of what Lizzie said. She clenched her fists again, closing her eyes. She then relaxed a little, opening her eyes and looking at Lizzie.

”YA vse ravno prodolzhu plany na vypusknoy, kak i bylo zaplanirovano. No ya otzovu ikh, yesli naydu drugoy sposob sdelat' chto-to. YA podberus' k lyudyam i uznayu, smogut li oni mne pomoch'. Yesli mozhno sdelat' chto-to yeshche, ya sdelayu eto.”

[“I'll still proceed with the plans for the prom as scheduled. But I'll call them off if I find another way to do things. I'll get close to the humans and find out whether or not they can help me. If something else can be done I'll do that instead.”]

Doll walked over to Lizzie, putting a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. She spoke to her soothingly.

”Nezavisimo ot togo, kakoy put' ya vyberu, ya obeshchayu zashchitit' tebya, Lizzie. I ya obeshchayu iskat' put', kotoryy ne tak opasen dlya tebya.”

["No matter which path I choose, I promise to protect you, Lizzie. And I promise to look for a path that is not so dangerous for you.”]

Doll gave the other drone a reassuring smile.

"Alright then."

The Captain replies, especially now that the rest of the crew has weighed in.
"As long as the diagnostics check out, we'll be heading out. Make the preparations you'll need in that event, Cloris."

Still, Ray did point out a possibility that this could be a trick... And indeed, this Rogue AI was capable of a great many things. It would know about the Humans by now, too. Cloris agreed with that distinct possibility too.

Frankly, Karasu didn't know what to expect when they headed out there. But at least the fact that the Worker Drones were willing to trade with them was comforting... To that end, the Captain decided to offer some suggestions to the Engineer to secure an alliance.

"The power regulator should be a nice gesture of good will on our part. That and the fact that you took down that monster in their Bunker. Offer maintenance and repairs to them as well. I think you may be able to offer protection from the Disassembly Drones too. At least if what N was saying is accurate."

---

J rolls her eyes at Uzi's insistence that they "shouldn't miss one" like that.

"There's a whole planet outside your bunker, idiot. And by now, it knows that our nest is a trap. It was going around trying to power itself up first."

And then she pointed at Uzi.
"And if you Worker Drones had any good sense, you'd keep your doors closed! That's how it got like that in the first place! And oh look, it got into THIS Bunker, and it evolved SOME MORE!"

J was still fuming about the apparent lack of competency from the Worker Drones, clearly...

V lazily holds out her hand as she chimes in;
"Yeah, the whole reason we couldn't even get in here for months is because of those doors. Feels like we should have just tried knocking and asking nicely."

After having said that, V then looks over at Chaos, and sticks her tongue out at him as he manages a retort of his own this time.

In any case, the group started moving towards the Life Support. Uzi tried the double doors -- and they didn't budge. The Worker Drone then suggests they might have to bust them down.

V waves that off, though.

"I'll just go through the vents and see if there's a way to open them from the inside. It's probably as poorly designed as the power room."

With that remark, the Disassembly Drone pops the cover off of a vent, and is on her way through the shafts in order to get into the room. Given that it involved Life Support, she'd absolutely be able to get in through that method eventually.

And soon enough, she kicks the cover off, and emerges into the room. Then she makes her way over to the door to see if there's any convenient switches or panels.

Failing that, she'd check out any terminals in the area. Had to be some way to unlock the doors, right?

---

Doll replied that she was prepared to be everyone's enemy -- and while Lizzy could kinda understand why, that was because of a lack of options at the time. A fact that she was about to point out, at least up until the purple-haired Drone then admits that she's open to finding other ways.

She still wanted the Prom and the plans for it to go ahead as scheduled. But at least she was willing to TRY, and Lizzy appreciated that.

"Cool. I'll see if I can get in good with them too. Give them an incentive to really try and help you out."

She smiles as she says that, and that remains as Doll puts a hand on her shoulder and speaks in a soothing tone of voice.

"Just don't forget about yourself. You might have all those cool powers, but they have a cost, and you're not invincible."

Lizzy replies, but nonetheless seems appreciative of Doll's words.

"So! I suppose I'll interact with the Humans. See if I can learn more about them."

There was that mischievous grin again...

I glare at V as she sticks hers tongue at me "Just bathe with your boyfriend already! You are starting to stink!"

I look over at Uzi. "Is it me, or is J madder than usual? Wait, you just met her while I met her on the ship..." I think about how she wants to be top drone while Im giving Uzi all the attention lately. I then whisper to myself "No, she cant be the jealous type. Although that'll make her really cute."

We arrived near the life support area. "Im surprised Worker Drones hasnt decided to use this room yet. I dont mean as life support, but something stupid like place all the human skulls here room and occasionally play soccer with said human skulls. ...Anyways, it must be years if a Disassembly Drone cant pry these doors open. Or we should get Khan, appearently he is so great at doors he named his entire lineage after doors."

V offered to climb through the vents. "Maybe you and J should race who'd make it in the room faster? Nah Im joking, you wouldnt get it. Even if we do manage to get inside, that life support machine must be very worn down or something. I'd imagine it'll take a new power cell and a few fresh air filters to make the thing useful." Adding my insight to the entire ordeal.

"It might be possible to reroute all life support to one single room. The room me and Uzi held ourselves in was pretty much unused so we could reroute it there. Its an idea and might make the life support idea last a lot longer. What we'll also need is heat. I dont want to remove this suit and find out that my ass is already frozen"

Cloris frowned behind her mask. She honestly hadn't considered a disassembly drone wanting a lollipop. ”Sorry N, I don't have a lollipop on hand. Although…”

Cloris made a snapping motion with her fingers (although it didn't really sound like a snap given her gloved metal fingers).

”Actually, I do have something like that for you. Aegis, could you guide N through the diagnostic process like you did with J? I'll be right back.”

Cloris briskly walked out of the room. She came back a few minutes later carrying one of the arms of the imprisoned zombie drone. She held it behind her back to hide it from N.

”Okay, just sit there or lie down, whatever is more comfortable. Connect with Aegis and grant her access to your mainframe.”

Meanwhile, Cloris talked with Ray. ”In that case, we'll need to take stock of what we need and what they have. Then come up with a fair trade price for all the parts we need.”

Cloris smiled behind her mask. ”Even scientists like us need to be reassured sometimes.”


"Hey! YOU stink pal!"

Cloris heard that loud and clear. She cleared her throat. ”Well, we've got things to do. We'll keep you posted on things at our end. You seem busy, so we'll talk more later.”

After she was done talking, she looked over at N and Aegis. She walked over to the display.

”How does it look Aegis? Any abnormalities present?”

---

Uzi shrugged her shoulders. ”Don't ask me. You're her boyfriend. I only met her an hour ago.”

”Granted she has a stick shoved faaaar up her butt.”

Uzi thought to herself. She then got into an argument with the disassembly drones. While it was true Uzi knew little to nothing about the world out there. But she wasn't going to let that good point stand.

”Well excuse me for not going out into a cold wasteland in my childhood! And how were we supposed to know that a creature that can mimic voices was lurking around out there?! I've never even heard something like that!”

Uzi then let out a sigh. ”And yet, even if that  creature didn't exist, I feel like someone would have let you in if you had asked.

She then watched as V flew into a vent. She looked up after her, crossing her arms.

”Being able to fly is really handy. Hmmm… maybe that should be my next project…”

Uzi murmured, looking down with a thoughtful look. A little grin then appeared on her face.

”A wingset add on… Damn that would be useful.”

---

”I ty dumal, chto budesh' dlya menya obuzoy. Etot podkhod byl by nevozmozhen bez vashikh sotsial'nykh navykov.”

[“And you thought you'd be a burden to me. This approach wouldn't be possible without your social skills.”]

Doll paused, looking into Lizzie's eyes. Her smile faded, but she didn't seem dejected. If anything, she seemed more resolute.

”Byli momenty, kogda mne kazalos', chto ya teryayu sebya. No ya ne pozvolyu etoy sile odolet' menya. Teper' u menya yest' nechto bol'sheye, chem prosto mest'.”

[“There were times where I felt like I was losing myself. But I won't let this power overtake me. Now I have more than just my vengeance.”]


Doll knew that grin. She also knew what Lizzie had in mind with the humans. And that brought up a jealous side of her. Doll moved her hand away from Lizzie's shoulder.

”Yesli ty sobirayesh'sya vzaimodeystvovat' s lyud'mi, nam sleduyet nemnogo popraktikovat'sya. Takim obrazom, kogda oni popadutsya pod vashe obayaniye, vy budete znat', chto delat'.”

[“If you're going to interact with the humans, then we should do some practicing. That way when they fall for your charms, you'll know what to do.”]

Doll reached over, holding hands with Lizzie and interlocking her fingers with the other drone. She leaned in, raising her other hand and whispering to the other drone.

”Predstav', chto ya chelovek, popavshiysya pod tvoye neotrazimoye obayaniye.”

[“Pretend that I'm a human who has fallen for your irresistible charm.”]

Doll purred, squeezing Lizzy's hand a little.

Cloris seemed to get an idea regarding a lollipop for N. Now, Karasu wasn't quite sure what it was that she had cooked up.... And Aegis was left with the more important task of performing a diagnostic on N.

"Very well, Cloris."

Her hologram appears once more, and then she holds her hand out for N. What would follow is a similar exchange of information just like she did with J. Though this time it was for the purpose of running a full diagnostic on N's systems.

Eventually, Cloris returns, and Karasu spots the Drone arm she's carrying. That... Was sort of like a treat for a Disassembly Drone, he supposed... A bit morbid, considering.

But hey, Disassembly Drones did need to drink oil at the moment. Maybe they could make modifications to help them deal with that -- and the unusually high heat levels that would make them burst into flames in sunlight, if what Cloris was saying earlier is indeed true.

Ray also seemed hopeful that he could extend quite the offer for an alliance. But protection from the Disassembly Drones might pose to be a problem, considering J's own stance towards them.

"Just do your best. We'll try talking with her too. Or rather, I think Chaos could."

The Captain replies, and yes, it might be a bit underhanded to use a tactic like that, but it would be effective, and it had the greatest chance of success.

Afterwards, Cloris asks Aegis if there's any abnormalities. Aegis is in the process of finishing up now, and replies;

"Compiling the results now. I'll display them for you."

The hologram gestures to a nearby monitor, and the results are shown.

---

V quickly snaps back at Chaos.

"'Least I got the courage to bathe with my boyfriend! You keep wussing out whenever J flirts with you!"

And then Ray dogpiled on that, and V smirks, then pointing at him.

"Yeah! YOU take a bath with YOUR girlfriend!"

J simply blinks while watching this, and then she finally remarks:
"Well if he asks..."

Though the conversation is slightly interrupted by Uzi putting up another defense of herself and her fellow Worker Drones. J simply narrows her eyes.
"I don't know -- don't open the doors and don't take the chance, then? You're literally the only Worker Drone with a weapon."

And that railgun DID have some impressive firepower... But that kind of power most certainly came at a cost, and J theorized that would be the case even with a proper power regulator.

"Little tip though. You probably want something that doesn't have an abysmal charge time after you fire it once."

Still, the rest of the group watches as V goes into the vent. With Uzi seemingly getting inspired by it. J smirks, and decides to make a bit of a pitch here;

"Could I interest you in the JCJensen Space Wings Addon for Drones? Standard-issue for Disassembly Drones. But with some tweaks, we can fit them onto a Worker Drone."

Meanwhile, on V's end...

Now that she was able to take in the Life Support Wing, some of the things that she saw here was a little concerning -- not for herself, but for the others... Her eyes lingered on the Cryostasis section, as well as the myriad of errors and ominous red lights that came from it.

No doubt there used to be a lot of Humans there.

She shakes that off and heads over to the terminal next to the door. First, she tries seeing if she can just unlock the door and open it. Failing that, she opts to press the panic button to force it open that way.

Either way , once the door is opened, she moves over to the doorway and gestures for the others to hold on for a second by holding up her hand.

"Fair warning... There's a Cryostasis section here. But I don't think any of the Humans survived."

---

At least Doll seemed a little more hopeful now. Lizzy preferred seeing that smile. She'd seen the girl in a hardened state before, and while she always supported her friend, she didn't like seeing her that way very much.

"Well, yeah. As long as it's not a fight, I can get a lot done. Being popular does have it's perks."

Lizzy replies with a confident smile of her own, running a hand along her ponytail. After that exchange, Doll then begins to explain the difficulty she faced with her powers, but also seems confident that she won't lose herself to them. Especially seeing as how she had more than vengeance now.

"I'm gonna hold you to that. But I am glad to hear it."

That being said, the atmosphere did seem to change a bit as Lizzy's mischievousness came into light. Doll insists on the importance of getting some practice in, and then she begins to interlock her fingers with Lizzy's.

The blonde is a little surprised by this. Which only became more apparent as Doll leans in and whispers to her. The purple-haired Drone then purrs, squeezing Lizzy's hand a little more.

Lizzy regathers her composure, and leans in as well, then whispering to her.

"Are you like... Jealous, Doll?"

Rather than trying to tease her, it seemed like Lizzy was actually curious.

"B....bah! If I want to bathe with my hot robo girlfriend, I would!" As Ray implies I stink, I get a terrible smell seeping up towards my nose. "...Maybe I do need a shower, I dont remember the last time I took one. Crap shouldnt have said that out loud..."

Finally V managed to get the life support bay doors open. I stand where I am "Trust me, I learned from last time. Getting hit like that hurts, and Im still hurting!"

”Roger that Ray. Hopefully you'll be able to get the life support operational without any more incident.”

Aegis's diagnostic revealed something interesting: some files that were locked up. She looked over at the drone.

”N, do you know what those files are?”

Cloris pointed at the locked areas the diagnostic couldn't read.

---

Uzi let out a groan, rolling her eyes as they talked about getting a bath.

”For the love of Robo-God, just restore the life support systems and get your own rooms.”

Uzi looked over at Chaos with a look of disgust. ”Ew. That inside of your suit must smell hell. How are you still breathing?”

Uzi put her hands on her lips, giving J an annoyed glare.

”That thing probably copied the voice of someone Poser knew! How were we supposed to know that thing existed, let alone what it could do?”

Uzi frowned at J, putting her hands on her hips. ”I'm already planning on fixing that. I just needed to make sure that the weapon worked properly, that's all.”

In reality she really wanted something that would for sure kill a murder drone. But J was right: if she had to deal with multiple enemies, then this weapon was going to get her killed. She needed something that didn't have such a long recharge time.

Uzi looked over at J as she started advertising wings. Uzi looked at the drone in confusion.


”Wait… you want to sell me something? You? A Mur…”

Uzi stopped herself from finishing that thought. Something she wouldn’t have entertained before. But she couldn't deny that things weren't as cut and dry as before. Uzi looked over at Ray as he discouraged her from listening to her. She sighed, slipping her hands into her pockets and looked over at J.

”Thanks for the offer, but I prefer designing my own specs. ROBO JESUS!”

Ray wasn't the only one who jumped into the air when the alarm blared. For a moment, a strange symbol appeared over one of her eyes. And then it was gone as soon as it appeared. Uzi rubbed the back of her neck.

”I totally meant to do that. I'm totally prepared to react to everything.”

Uzi seemed to be trying to convince herself more than anyone else. She stopped walking up to the door when V stopped them. Her eyes widened as she mentioned the dead humans.

”Seriously? I never knew that we had humans in here that were… crap.”

She couldn't see Ray's face under the visor. But he seemed a little distressed. She frowned at him.

”I'll help you get it done. I'm good at working at systems. Um… what do you want to do about the humans in there? I don't know how you guys deal with your dead, but leaving them there seems kind of grim.”

Uzi looked at Ray sympathetically. For someone who went on about murdering humans, she to care about what happened with these ones.

---

”Bol'she, chem nemnogo. Vasha populyarnost' – vot chto delayet plan vypusknogo vechera vozmozhnym.”

[“More than a little. Your popularity is what makes the prom plan possible.”]

And with that, an understanding passed between them. Doll knew that it was going to be a constant battle. But she wouldn’t give in or give up. Unlike when V first killed her parents, she had something to lose now. And she wanted to hold onto it.

Doll cupped Lizzy’s cheek with her free hand, stroking it gently with her thumb. She looked into the other girl’s eyes.

"Nemnogo. No ya ne nastol'ko melochen, chtoby meshat' moyey devushke obshchat'sya s lyud'mi, kotoryye yey interesny. Yesli vy khotite sblizit'sya s odnim ili neskol'kimi lyud'mi, to ya ne sobirayus' vas ostanavlivat'.”

[”A little. But I’m not petty enough to stop my girlfriend from interacting with people she’s interested in. If you want to get closer to one or more of the humans, then I’m not going to stop you.”

That wasn't a lie. But it wasn't the core issue that was bothering her. She didn't want to acknowledge it, especially not in front of Lizzy. She continued stroking her cheek, staring into her eyes.

”YA beru stranitsu iz knigi drona-ubiytsy. U vas yest' moye blagosloveniye na prodolzheniye drugikh otnosheniy. No ya luchshiy lyubovnik.”

[“I'm taking a page from the murder drone's book. You have my blessing to pursue other relationships. But I'm the top lover.”

She said firmly, looking into Lizzy's eyes. It wasn't overly harsh though. It would come off as formal if Doll wasn't tenderly stroking Lizzy's check. She wasn't going to be overly possessive. But she didn't want to lose Lizzy.

The diagnostics returned a lot of green lights. In fact, everything critical was reading optimal right now. Even less important subsystems were. The only thing that tripped up was some files hidden in deep. The folder structure -- and the contents that lie within -- required a password.

One that N herself obviously didn't have. A quick ping from Aegis about it confirmed that to be the case. It left both of them confused as to what was going on. It would be possible to breach the security here, but it would take awhile, and require a whole different setup.

So, the diagnostic ends, and Aegis looks over as Cloris begins to question the resulting inaccessible files.

"Someone, somehow managed to tamper with N's files. Everything comes up green, but entire chunks of her memory are displaced."

A purposeful use over 'misplaced', which would imply some kind of accident or error.

"A cursory glance confirms that they would have to be within that protected folder structure. It's possible to crack it open -- but we'll want to take precautions before we attempt it. Who knows what else might be hidden inside."

The AI then finishes her explanation.

Karasu then looks over at N, he seemed a little concerned, and his gaze then turns to Aegis.

"Other than that, she's not in any risk?"

The Captain asks, and Aegis gives a nod of affirmation at that.

"Correct. I suspect the only reason she froze up like that is because it was related to her displaced memories. But stimuli of similar level shouldn't result in that happening again."

Karasu carefully considers Aegis's words... Then he looks over at Cloris.

"Well, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't still worried about it, but I'm willing to trust N. Guess it's time for us to get ready to head out, then."

---

J blinks as Chaos remarks that it'd been awhile since he had taken a shower -- and also admitted that he probably shouldn't have said that part out loud. Uzi had her own words about that. But J? Well, she had a different approach.

"Okay. Company mandated shower for you. Effective immediately once we get the Life Support back up and running."

After that, Uzi once more threw up a defense for her fellow Worker Drones, suggesting that the thing could have simply mimicked someone's voice in order to get inside. J was not having any of that, however.

"If you don't open the bloody doors, how does someone you know get outside?! This is basic logic! We literally operate off of logic!"

Steadily losing her patience, she mimes choking someone.

"How did you all survive this long?! You're practically begging to be killed! It's infuriating!"

Yeah, at this point J is just venting from the sheer stupidity on display... Still, after taking a few breaths, and at Uzi's next words, she settles down a bit.

"Well at least you're trying."

What followed next was a decent showcase of the different reactions everyone had to a sudden surprise. Uzi and Ray were talking about J's recent sales pitch here.

"Nonsense, the JCJensen Space Wings Addon comes with everything you need to fit it to a Worker Drone! Naturally you will need a licensed Engineer to install it for you-"

And then the alarm rings, and the door opens. Both Ray and Uzi recoil in panic. J? She immediately deploys a rifle and aims at the opening door.

Eventually everyone realizes that it was because of the panic button forcing the door open though. And V's warning hits everyone a bit differently too. Even Uzi, who was previously gung-ho about killing Humans, felt pretty bad about the news...

Ray asked if she was sure, and V gave a small nod.

"Unless the ominous red lighting is just for mood... You probably don't want to get your hopes up."

Uzi asked what he wanted to do, and Ray lets out a long sigh, accepting the grim reality. V gives him a concerned frown, and begins to reach out to try and comfort him.

"Hey, you don't have to..."

She was trying to give him some heartfelt words right now, and this... Stupid alarm kept blaring. She almost felt like it was getting LOUDER, actually. As if mocking her.

With a swift flick of her hand, she smashes the panel, and it gives one last pained blare before quieting down. She stares at it for a few seconds, and then turns her attention back to Ray.

"You don't have to-"

The panel sparks and sputters, and then she begins to repeatedly smack it out of frustration.

Now confident that it had finished, she looks back to Ray, and regathers her composure momentarily.

"You don't have to go in there if it's too much. Maybe you can just tell me what to do?"

V offers. But ultimately if he was set on heading inside, then she'd step aside and allow everyone in.

---

Doll could be surprisingly sweet sometimes. Lizzy was no stranger to deprecating speech, even for herself. But her friend always took the approach of trying to build her up. Even when uh... Lizzy said some ultimately stupid things every now and then. Not all of her jokes landed.

But it was becoming clearer that Doll really WAS jealous, and she was intent on pursuing something more romantic with Lizzy. The drone's optics soon display blush markers as she stares back at Doll -- the purple-haired drone places a hand on her cheek and gazes into her eyes.

That and being blatantly called 'girlfriend' confirmed it outright. Lizzy gives her a small, slightly shy smile.

"Jeez. I knew we were besties. I didn't think you felt that way about me, though."

Despite her choice of words, the tone in her delivery makes it pretty clear she's not opposed to the idea, though. Not long after, Doll sets the ground rules as well. She wants Lizzy to have freedom here, but to always remember that they have a special bond that takes priority.

Lizzy thinks that over for a little bit, and then brings her hand up to rest it over Doll's.

"Okay. That seems more than fair to me."

She replies with a smile. It felt like all of her internals were working overtime, and generating more heat. But she DID trust Doll, and they did everything together, so... It made sense, right?

"But that means even more than usual, we gotta find a way to resolve this safely, alright?"

And then... Lizzy blinks. Doll might recognize this as one of the signs of a sudden onset of clarity on Lizzy's part. And then she brings her other hand forward to grab Doll's remaining hand.

"I just like, had a thought!"
Lizzy is smiling more noticeably now.

"One of those Humans was like, an Engineer, right? Do you think he might be able to... You know. Fix your parents?"

Obviously none of the Drones could do it, even if they had the materials, that kind of job was just very complex for them. But Humans? Well, they MADE the Drones. And there's a whole section of Humanity just for maintaining and repairing them. So...

"Well Uzi, there is a human thing where you get used to a smell and never smell it for a good while. It just works, okay?"

Internally, I begin to blush. "L...Look, I was planning on taking a shower but then the ship crashed! Its not like I want to be... Nevermind! I'll take a shower once the life support goes back online! Jeez J..." I think back about how everyone teased me about taking a bath with J. "W...wait... Well nevermind. Just... nevermind"

V mentioned that no one in cryo survived. "Well, its to be expected. You cant simply just freeze yourself and expect to be still alive 100 years into the future. Back on the ship one person had to watch over the crew who was in cyro, to make sure their vitals and health was alright. I took the job and here we are. Still sad though. I'd recommend a proper burial but the planet has froze over. Nothing we can do, honestly."

I walk inside the life support bay after everyone else. "Hopefully everythings alright, not too complicated. We cant order parts unless its JCJenson."

Everyone was perplexed by the mysterious files that were locked away inside of serial designation N. Cloris questioned her on if she knew what any of those files meant, or what they contained, to which N could only shrug her shoulders and shake her head with a light frown.

"To be honest...I don't. Do you think it's something important?"

N scratched the side of her head as she listened to Aegis's theories and suggestions. Her eyes went hollow as the AI suggested that someone had purposefully hidden some of N's memories.

"What? Why would they do that?! They didn't lock away my- Oh, nope, there it is!"

Suddenly N's eye screen displayed a picture of a golden retriever puppy rather than eyes.

"Haha! Nevermind, everything is okay! I still have it!"

The picture blinked out of existence and her pale yellow eyes returned with its' disappearance. She smiled as Aegis suggested working on cracking those files open - But only after making sure it was all safe to do of course.

"Who knows, maybe we'll find something really useful in there!"

Still...Aegis' explanation on why the blackout occurred did make some sense, an opinion N voiced to the others.

"So you think I tried to access something that was locked out and it made me go all weird? That sounds pretty scary...But I don't remember anything about that!"

Finally, with Karasu's concern made clear, N stood up and walked over, pulling him into a hug.

"Don't worry Captain! If I stay plugged into Aegis then maybe she can wake me up if it happens again!"

---

Ray perked up as V tried her best to give him some comforting words, even despite them almost being drowned out by the beeping alarm.

"Yeah I-"

SMASH. Without even seeming to give the panel a cursory glance V crushed it with her hand. The engineer flinched out of instinct. It was a stark reminder of just how strong disassembly drones were, though he had almost forgotten it.

She tried to speak again only for it to start sparking.

"V, it's not-"

SMASH. SMASH. SMASH. The panel was practically ground into a pulp as V bashed it to the point that not even the engineer could ever hope to repair it. He flinched for the first couple of hits but eventually calmed down, just...Staring from behind a blank mask as she took out her pent up frustrations on the malfunctioning equipment. Eventually she had her fill and the sparking had stopped.

"Got it out of your system, V?"

Serial designation V was able to get out her words of comfort, to which Ray regrettably shook his head to.

"I've got a job to do. I'm not that good at guiding someone so..."

He frowned and fell silent for a moment...But eventually picked his head back up, looking at her. The visor on his helmet lit up with a blue symbol as he stared, eventually breaking his silence.

"I'll be fine, don't worry. I've dealt with worse."

As he stepped into the room he noted Uzi's words, responding to her.

"I'm not exactly surprised you didn't know. It's not like you ever had a reason to come back here. The previous residents probably never left a code to unlock the door anyway."

And of course, Chaos being the one to have watched over the ship's cryo made an excellent point himself.

"It sorta makes you realize how vital that role is. If someone was out here to monitor they could have booted life support back up the moment it went wrong. But..."

He stared at the entrance to cryo, a chill running down his spine.

"... Maybe they didn't expect to leave anytime soon."

Uzi asked how one dealt with death on Earth. That was...A complicated question.

"Poorly, for starters."

He stepped up to the control panel for life support and began tapping on the screen a few times.

"Beyond that it kinda just depends on the person. Some humans preserve their dead, some bury them in the ground. And some people burn them. I don't...Really have a particular preference, if that wasn't obvious."

Ray pulled a cable out from the wrist pda, plugging it into a port next to the terminal. Suddenly the red error screen vanished and a control display appeared.

"Chaos has a point, burying someone would be easier said than done. It'd take time and right now we cant be exposed outside for long without it being a risk. I think...We should burn whatever is left of them. I don't really want to leave them there either..."

Uzi offered to help with the systems, to which he looked back at her, giving a nod.

"You can help a lot actually. I'm going to check the hardware while you run diagnostics. Tell me what parts get a red flag while I'm looking under the hood."

With quick hands he was able to unscrew the front panel below the terminal, he got down on his knees and began to inspect the inside...Right up until Chaos mentioned the J.C. Jensen delivery system.

"... You mean even out here they can-How?! ... Do-... Do they still sell ice cream on those?"

If everything wasn't so serious, N's worry over a golden retriever would have been funny. She put a hand on her hip.

”It you remember a memory like that, you've probably got access to it.

Jade looked over at Aegis. “I'd like to take a crack at these files. But it's too risky to do that without the entire crew here. Aegis, could you prevent N from accessing these files completely? Until the situation is optimal for during further work on it.”

She looked over at N, putting a hand on her hip. ”That's correct N. Those memory files probably require a very specific way of accessing them. Any unauthorized access will trigger a countermeasure of some type.”

Cloris reached up, rubbing her forehead with her free hand. ”It should be okay as long as you don't try and click over that hornets nest. Aegis will make sure you don't, at least for the time being.”

She smiled behind her mask as N hugged the captain. She walked over to the two of them. ”I don't have a lollipop, but I have the next best thing.”

She handed N the arm of the Zombie drone, then looked over at the captain.

”I concur: we need to be prepared for this excursion. I'll gather what we'll need from my room and from storage.”

With that, Cloris took her laptop and walked out of the room. She made her way to the second floor. There was a balcony overlooking the first floor, which had taken the brunt of the damage. The recreation room was probably in shambles. Cloris entered her room and closed the door behind her.

Cloris had taken a minimalistic approach to her room, so there wasn't too much damage. Cloris had bolted most of the furniture to the floor, so the worst that had happened was all items and her chair being displaced. She set her laptop on her desk, then opened it up. She entered her password, then opened up a document program. She paused, then type a message into it.

”I know that you're in there. You had the chance to infect my laptop when I connected it to the zombie drone. I want you to refrain from doing anything at the moment. The ship isn't in any condition to go anywhere right now. I'll talk with you when I get back.”

Cloris then went into her dresser, fishing some things out. She then closed it, then opened the drawer of her desk and got one device from it. She then glanced up at her laptop to see if she got a response. Regardless of whether or not she did, Cloris would shut the lid, password locking her laptop. She then headed towards the storage room, intending to meet up with the captain.

---

Uzi stared over at Chaos incredulously.

”I don't think it works. Seriously, take a bath with your girlfriend.”

Uzi looked away from J, crossing her arms. ”Well… I'm kinda sorta the first person to go outside since the bunker was set up.”

Uzi seemed less convinced in her own arguments the longer things went on. She glowered at J.

”Okay, I messed up! It's on me, okay? I wouldn't have given that thing an opportunity if I hadn't gone outside. Happy?”

Uzi lowered her arms, letting out a frustrating huff. She looked over wt J, her annoyance clear on her face.

”I wasn't sure how much firepower it would take to kill one of you. So I just maxed out the energy output. It's awesome against abominations, but I'm screwed if I have to deal with an army of Zombie drones. I need to make improvements.”

Uzi cleared her throat, looking over ar J. ”Like I said, I like making my own specs. But I would like a good look at the aerodynamics of your wings. It would make designing my own much easier.”

Uzi watched as V reached out to comfort Ray. She could see that the murder drone really did care for him. There was no faking the consideration she was showing to him. Or the anger in lashing out against the control panel. She didn't say anything the first time, but the second time she lashed out she couldn't help herself.

”I think the control panel is dead V.”

Uzi let out a sigh, then looked at Ray. ”The only things I know about what happened came from the adults. I knew that we had to make the best of things. But I never imagined we just left a bunch of bodies to rot.”

Uzi listened to Ray quietly. Until she brought up Chaos watching over them. She looked over at the human in surprise.

”You were the one that watched the Cyrotubes. You must have been bored out of your mind.”

She didn't sound like she envied him. She looked over at the tubes with the red lights over them. A sense of dread filled Uzi as she looked up at them.

”I don't think they intended to sleep for long. I think they expected someone to survive, or for help to come quickly. But they were left alone…”

Uzi looked at Ray as he talked about how humans handled death. She frowned as he explained it.

”You humans made it really complicated. But I guess it's harder to recycle organic parts then it is for us to do with you guys.”

Uzi grimaced as he mentioned what they could do about the bodies. ”Maybe we could start a bonfire outside once daylight comes. I don't see what else we can do.”

Uzi started running the diagnostic. She looked unsurprised as all the errors popped up.

”Yeah that's completely expected. Everything's trashed. The air filter needs to be replaced, the power regulator is fried and the power source is dead. Really?”

Uzi sighed, rolling her eyes. “You humans used a battery? Sure, why not just  tie your life support systems to something that can't sustain itself?”

Uzi then blinked, looking between Chaos and Ray. “Deliver? Ice Cream? What are you two talking about?”

---

Doll paused, a slight blush appearing on her face. ”YA uzhe kakoye-to vremya tak k tebe otnosilsya. No ya ne khotel, chtoby ty slishkom uglublyalsya. I ya ne khotel riskovat' poteryat' tebya.”

[“I've felt that way about you for a while. But I didn't want you getting too deep into things. And I didn't want to risk losing you.”]

She paused, then gripped Lizzy's hand a little tighter. She stared into the eyes of the other drone.

”YA byl naiven, Lizzy. YA ne mogu uberech' tebya ot opasnosti, prosto ottolknuv tebya. Etot monstr zastavil menya eto ponyat'. Budet luchshe, yesli my budem derzhat'sya vmeste.”

[“I was naive Lizzy. I can't keep you out of danger just by pushing yoh away. That monster made me realize that. It's better if we stick together.”]

Doll leaned in closer, pressing her forehead against Lizzys.

”YA sobirayus' skazat' to, chto davno khotel skazat'. Chto-to, chto ya schital slishkom opasnym, chtoby govorit'. Lizzy, ya lyublyu tebya. Pozhaluysta, vyydite so mnoy.”

[“I'm about to say something that I've been wanting to say. Something that I thought was too dangerous to say. Lizzy, I love you. Please go out with me.”

If Lizzy accepted, she would give the other drone a soft, sweet kiss before pulling back. Either way, she would lean away from Lizzy and let go of her hand. She smiled as Lizzy accepted the ground rules. It made her feel much more at ease.

Doll looked towards the covered up cloth. She paused, frowning.

“pochinit' ikh, naskol'ko mog. Vse ikh sistemy snova rabotayut. No ya ne mog ispravit' ikh razum. Vozmozhno, inzhener vidit to, chego ne vizhu ya.”

[“It's worth a shot. But I used my powers to repair them the best I could. All their systems work again. But I couldn't fix their minds. Maybe the engineer can see something I couldn't.”

In truth, it was probably beyond repair by normal means. Which was part of why she had been trying to get stronger. Maybe consuming the zombie drones would give her the power she needed to fix them. But she would at least try alternatives that Lizzy suggested. If nothing else, she would show the blonde Droid that she exhausted every option she could.

As Cloris and N discussed the locked files, and as Aegis suggested that this was purposeful... N panicked slightly, wondering if they managed to take something seemingly very important away from her -- then after a little bit... It was revealed to be a picture of a golden retriever.

The tension eased away almost immediately. Aegis couldn't help but smile. Though as Cloris then begins speaking to her, she gives a nod in response.

"Yes, I can put a quarantine up so that N won't accidentally interact with it -- and so something can't make her interact with it."

In any case, it seemed like everyone was in agreement to NOT go rooting around in all of that until everyone could meet up and take the necessary precautions. Someone locked those memories away for a reason, and they probably wanted to make sure they stayed that way, too.

Karasu made his concerns clear, and N did her best to comfort them by pulling him into a hug. He cooperates with this, and some of the tension does seem to ease away from him as a result.

"That's true. If you and Aegis stay connected, then she should be able to prevent any mishaps like that. She'll also be able to support you more directly, too."

At least as long as the two of them would be safe... And with the other Expedition Team's troubles over now, they could focus on this mysterious messenger. Cloris retrieved her laptop and made her way out to prepare.

Eventually Karasu decides it's time for him to do the same.

"Well, I should go get ready too. Good luck, N, Aegis."

He says, giving a nod to each of them as he listed their names, and then he began making his way to his own room.

Fortunately, much like Cloris's own quarters, the damage was minimal, and the furniture had been secured in place. For the moment he retrieved some parts and tools from the shelf, and then sat at the table.

Laying it all in front of him, as well as the laser pistol that he had been using, he began to carefully open the weapon up to inspect and maintain it. Being diligent in taking care of his weapons had gotten him out of a lot of tight situations, and it was a habit he was going to stay on top of, especially since there was no way of telling what might happen when they set off...

Meanwhile... Cloris opened a document and typed into it. It was a weird message that would suggest she was being paranoid. But as she then steps away and begins to retrieve the things she needs, she'd come back to find a message typed in response, below hers.

"How unusual. You are more clever than most Humans I have interacted with.
I look forward to our conversation when you return. =)"

Cloris could see it plain as day -- not that it changed her course of action. The laptop is closed and password locked without issue.

---

Uzi once more insisted that Chaos takes a bath with his girlfriend -- and J waves that off.

"Worry not. I'll make him presentable by all of the JCJensen Company Standards."

She gives a confident smirk as she stares at Chaos. It was clear that she was going to be quite thorough in giving him a makeover... In any case, Uzi interjects again, though she was far less convinced of her arguments at this point. And eventually she admits that she gave that thing the perfect opportunity to get inside.

J simply lets out a small sigh. Her frustrations began to ease off now that she had vented so much.

"Well. At least you have the decency to prepare for a fight. Just pay attention to us, and maybe you'll learn some useful things."

She then runs a hand along one of her twin-tails again. And as Uzi asks to inspect wings in order to make her own design, J clears her throat and straightens out.

"Home-made modifications and improvised tech is strictly against the EULA of all JCJensen products. I strongly advise that you use our officially tested and approved line-up of hardware. Any homebrewing will void the warranty and leave you solely responsible for anything that happens."

After her spiel, she then adds;
"It's not illegal, but strongly discouraged. Unless you try to sell your modifications without our explicit permission. If you wish to continue, then bear all of that in mind."

Now, V's frustrations with the alarm panel was very clear at this point. Ray tried to say something to stop her from utterly smashing it to bits, but she was rather tired of everything interrupting these important moments between her and Ray.

The Engineer asked if she got it out of her system, to which she nods in response.

"Well, I can actually hear you now, so yes."

After having said that, Uzi then remarks that the control panel is probably dead. Prompting her to give the Worker Drone an unamused glance.

"It's lucky I didn't do more. Annoying thing."

In any case, the whole group was moving into the room now. Ray and Uzi were talking about how they handled the deceased back on Earth. Ray gave a pretty straightforward response about it. V chimed in at this point.

"Yeah... I wonder what happened to the Worker Drones assigned to this bunker? There had to have been some from back when the Humans were still around. You'd think they would have done something for them here."

That was a very poignant question. It seemed like every single possible line that could have ensured their survival had just... Failed. It left a lot of questions as to just what exactly happened, and how horribly it all went wrong.

In any case, most of the conversation didn't involve V at this point, and J was simply checking out other things in the room at the moment. But V DID come back into it to express something based on Uzi's words...

"Everything runs off of fuel or energy. Even us."
She spoke up, and then soon added on with...
"If the Worker Drones had done their jobs, all of this would have been running right, still."

But, after that, Chaos remarked about how they could still order things for delivery. Ray was understandably confused but began to check it out, and you could already see J getting that signature smirk of hers again...

Eager to make another Company spiel, she steps over to the rest of the group!

"Yes! The JCJensen Space Station! Working 24/7, around the clock to deliver all of your needs with our state of the art Delivery Rockets! Why rough it out in the wilds and try to ration your resources when JCJensen can give you exactly what you need?

Even... In Spaaaaaaaaaaaace~!"

... Yeah, J enjoyed the opportunities to do that a little too much.

Now that she had finished, V then interjects.

"I have a question that seems very relevant: What is ice cream?"

---

Yeah, Doll was being really sweet right now... Sure, Lizzy came off like she didn't care about anything beyond popularity and social status. But even she had an intrigue and desire for romance. What girl going to school didn't?

And everything that happened seemed to drive Doll to the realization that it was better for them to stick together, instead of her pushing Lizzy away. The blonde seems to have liked hearing that quite a lot, given the smile she has...

"Yeah. Plus I can make things a lot easier for you. There's a lot more ways than brute force to get what you want."

And then she looks around Doll's room.
"Plus, no offense. But I could seriously tidy this place up for you."

And as Lizzy returns her gaze back to Doll, the purple-haired Drone presses her forehead against Lizzy's. Finally saying what she had been wanting to say for awhile.

The blonde is naturally surprised all over again. But soon her surprise gives way to a gentle expression as she holds Doll's hands.

"You dork."
The tone of her voice suggested something more along the lines of "did you even have to ask?" rather than rejection, she then continues...
"I love you too, and I will."

And just as important as the confession and reciprocation of those feelings... Doll admitted that she would at least try what Lizzy was suggesting -- being willing to exhaust every possibility before going straight for the last resorts.

She could understand the apprehensions that Doll had, and that was why Lizzy soon gives her a response;

"Yeah, I know you tried your best. And I know you're trying to improve as much as you can with your powers every single day."
She acknowledges Doll's efforts, pausing briefly before continuing.
"And if one thing doesn't work, then we'll keep going until we find something that does work, okay?"

SURELY there was something that would work... And Lizzy had a feeling that a Human Engineer would make for an excellent starting point, if nothing else... And maybe if Doll could see that there was something to this beyond just vengeance...

"J...jeez s...stop teasing me I can take a bath on my own. But getting a new set of clothes would be nice."

"So uhh whats the damage to the life support system? It shouldnt be that bad, right? Or that good, I doubt it'll be easy. Whatever parts we need I bet we can just buy on the JCJenson.net"

My ears perk up as Ray mentioned ice cream. "Ice cream!? Aww, there is no icecream." Then V questioned what ice cream was. "Ice cream is a frozen good dude, probably one of the best things ever."

Cloris looked over at N. ”I don't expect you to N. You've been very well behaved.”

She looked over at Aegis, nodding her head. ”Make it so Aegis. We can't have , blacking out again.”

She smiled behind her mask as N asked he she knew it was N's favorite. ”Call it a lucky guess.”

Cloris's eyes stared at the screen of her laptop for a few seconds before closing it. The nature of that program was becoming more and more clear.

”That thing is a virus. One that infects anything it can connect too. But as long as I keep it isolated in my laptop, I can use it to my advantage.”

Of course she couldn't control the parts of the program that had already spread. She was sure there was more than just the two monsters they had run into. But she'd control what she could. There was more at stake then just their lives.

Cloris next went to the suit charging station, and took one of them. A long changing process in the bathroom later, Cloris emerged in an environmental suit. She then went to meet up with the captain.

---

Uzi let out an annoyed little groan as J looked at Chaos, but she didn't comment on it further. She rolled her eyes as J said to watch her.

”Yeah yeah. You're an awesome super bot and I'm a measly murder drone. So I should just eat up every little thing you do.”

Uzi blinked, staring at J incredulously. “Do I look like I care about the dangers of homebrewing? I don't intend to sell my stuff. I don't want jerks running around using my designs.”

Uzi huffed, looking away. Those jerks didn't deserve anything. They weren't even impressed by her railgun design! So what if it wasn't the original assignment?

And that was that. The panel was now dead and gone. But then V and Ray asked her about the worker drones who had worked here. Uzi frowned.

”Well anyone born after the incident had nothing to do with it. As for who was… my dad was a founding member of the Workers Defense Force. I think he said they did a lot of work after the humans…”

Uzi paused, pointing at the Cyropods. “After that.”

Uzi lowered her hand, crossing her arms and glowering.

”If anyone knows what happened, it would be my dad and his close friends. Stupid old man, keeping secrets from me…”

She was already grumpy. So when J went on about the JC Jenson rocket, she rolled her eyes and muttered. ”Fricking tool.”

She frowned at Ray's explanation of things.

”So you guys were traveling in space on a budget? No wonder you guys crashed-landed here.”

Uzi walked over to Ray, staring at the helmet. She leaned up and forward, looking like she was trying to peek past it and stare at Ray's face.

”Isn't it scary, knowing that you can't fix yourself as well as a drone can? How do you get out of bed without being terrified?”

And then they went into the talk of the battery and the systems that ran it. Something this specific that she wasn't as familiar with. Granted the concept wasn't alien to her.

”So it's a duel power system. A battery like that sounds pretty sick.”

Uzi paused, looking over at J. ”Please don't tell me you just have nuclear powered batteries available for commercial sale.”

She looked back over at Ray, her brown furrowing. She turned her gaze down slightly, a look of concentration on her face.

”If we don't have one in the warehouses and the delivery system doesn't pan out, we could check out other bunkers. Each of then also have to have a life support system, right? Even if we can't find an intact battery, we might be able to scavenge enough parts to make an operational one.”

Uzi then stared at Ray as he described ice cream. She didn't look that impressed.

”So sweet-tasting snow? Sounds pretty lame to me.”

---

Doll smiled back at Lizzie. ”U vas unikal'nyy podkhod k veshcham. Vy uzhe zastavili menya vzglyanut' na nekotoryye veshchi po-drugomu.”

[“You have a unique way of approaching things. You've already made me see some things differently.”]

Doll looked around, frowning as she looked at the mess. She shook her head.

”YA ne mogu prosit' tebya ubrat' vannuyu i kukhnyu, kak oni delayut seychas. YA naydu drugoye mesto dlya khraneniya... yedy. togda my smozhem vmeste ubrat'sya u menya doma.”

[“I can't ask you to clean the bathroom and kitchen as they are right now. I'll find some other place to store the... my food. then we can clean my place together.”]

Doll smiled happily. It was such a rarity, and it was because of the blonde drone in front of her.