Cloris listened to the full reasoning that the Captain had to give, before offering her own response on the matter. She had her theories about why this thing was being so secretive -- but Karasu could rule out one of them, when she had finished her explanation.
"Given the firepower that those things have, and their resilience, it could absolutely take out two Humans. The Disassembly Drones gave us an edge. If all it wanted was us dead, it could have struck at any point."
He replies, following with;
"So it would want to find the one that's set all of this up. But it can settle for any number of things based on how this plays out."
After all, no matter if you got that one exact card in poker or not, you had to play the hand you were dealt. And something told him that this thing wasn't going to be folding... Regardless. As they were ascending the stairs, he spies another message.
"Looks like you were right though. No more traps. I'm still going to keep an eye out to be sure."
But... The rest of the trip was uneventful. When they reached the top, lights then turned on automatically, revealing scrawlings all around them on the walls. They looked twisted and nonsensical. Save for one specific marking, and the words below it. Cloris wondered if it was related to the monster.
"Or related to something else. I certainly never saw that mark before now."
In any case, as they approached the only other thing in the room, the holographic display kicked in, scanning for biological life -- and satisfied that it had found that, it begins to reveal the secrets. Text on the central display leaving a message of apology and of their intentions with all of this.
And the fact that everything here would be deleted if they WERE followed.
"Great. Only mistake they made was not accounting for that thing holding back and watching from a distance."
He checks over his pistol again.
"Let's hope we don't run into it when we're done here."
In any case, it also directed them to look to the display on the left... And from there, a recording would begin playing....
The Drone in the top hat perks up slightly as the code name 'Serial Designation E' is delivered.
"Boss, there aren't any dogs on Copper-9!"
She answered back with a smile.
"Maybe there's some mechanical dogs, but I dunno if they have any screws that would need tightening."
... Yeah, she seemed like a real winner.
It became more evident as the apparent leader of the squad signed up M for another patrol route.
"Aww! Lucky! Patrols are perfect for finding these things to play with!"
As if right on cue, one of those zombies shuffled into view -- and promptly got obliterated by a spiked ball and chain that E swung with alarming speed and accuracy.
Shortly thereafter, the atmosphere changes though. Everyone is put on edge, but E just looks around, confused. Then those mechanical footsteps are heard... Understandably, as the creature comes into view, most of them are shaken by the sight of it. Save for E, and U.
E lets out a whistle.
"That's a big toy."
Her flail is then retracted, and she produces a gun instead! Joining with the others in firing at it. But all of their rounds keep missing it, as if bending around their intended target. Before long, it closes in on one of them. It doesn't take long for things to start going that much more wrong...
One of the Drones was destroyed -- first the head was crushed, then the body was blown up by an explosion. E was caught in the draft of it, but undamaged. Her hat rattled from it, however. And as the thing takes flight and blasts even more air out from the action, it flies off of her head.
She blinks, and almost as if becoming a different person, she starts making her move -- not to join the others in the air, but instead using her arms to produce equipment that she needed. With her left hand, she's created something that resembles an antenna; maybe a signal booster?
In her right hand, she's created a computer, and then she crouches down, directing the signal booster at center mass of that beast, while staring at the computer in her right hand. In all of the chaos, she had a chance to do something unnoticed.
Text flew quickly across the screen, she was 'typing out' elaborate strings of code. Even Cloris would have difficulty keeping up with the rate of her work. But she could more than likely piece together exactly what it was for. The body of yet another squad mate crashes in front of her -- and the beast along with it. A crater is formed, but E only adjusts her aim and keeps working.
If she stops now, things are going to get a lot worse. U and 99 are buying her valuable time right now. But eventually, their squad is scattered, and 99 is trying to desperately fend it off... After using the rifle to cause huge snowdrifts, and then an impromptu trap, she calls out for E to retreat.
Right on cue, she finishes the last of the coding and confirms it. Both the signal booster and the computer then retract back into her arms, and she produces her hands again.
"That was for my squad. Let's see how you like being blinded."
Just as the beast comes into range of the cannon, it probably tried switching it's vision mode. But each attempt to do so was met with the same error:
Permissions revoked - Seek Administration
It was permanently stuck in night vision -- and as the cannon fired, releasing a blinding light, that thing gave out an anguished cry and thrashes wildly. E picks up her hat, and gives a nod to 99, soon fleeing the scene.
After this, and a little bit more footage later, it pauses and gives the Humans some time to process what they just saw.
"Whatever that thing was, it wasn't like the one that we fought on the ship. So... We should probably guess that each of these things are going to be a little bit different from each other."
Karasu comments, and then considers Cloris's following words.
"I think J might be under the impression that her squad is the only one left, after what we just saw."
The Captain then replies. And if that WAS the case, then she didn't want to bring it up because that would only cause further stress for the group. They had enough on their hands right now. Cloris, for her part, was already putting together a message for Type-99. But Karasu had a feeling this wasn't everything, just yet...
"I think they have more to show us."
Karasu remarks, and then waits to see if his suspicions are right.
Well, Chaos came around to the idea pretty fast! Already saying that he'd find someone after all this and try getting a job at JCJensen. J then smirks.
"No need, I'll hire you. But you're right, we'll take care of all that later."
... And her smirk only gets more smug as she watches him fumble over his words and fail to deny how he feels about Uzi. And the little Worker Drone had a pretty good reaction, too! She had frozen in place for a little bit trying to process it.
Then she tried to wave it off nonchalantly -- just as Chaos starts running off to... "Take care of the apartment", and nothing else. Of course. Which only makes Uzi flustered in turn. Oh yes, her mission to embarrass the two of them worked pretty well.
"Gotta say. Normally I do things more mean-spirited than this. But this is pretty fun too."
J then begins walking, stopping as she's next to Uzi.
"Told ya."
She gives a little wave, and continues on her way to the apartment to join Chaos. Soon enough, she's entered that same room.
"Okay! Let's get to work."
Ray wondered why Cyn would even bother taking the risk of giving them free will, and V calmly shakes her head.
"It's not a risk for her. She could take them apart whenever she wants. She lets them go free because then she doesn't have to direct them to do everything herself. Like I said. She gets bored of them."
Still... Ray did seem to get an idea, and he suggested that they could try running a full diagnostic to repair them back at the ship. As long as she was willing to do that, of course. V blinks at the offer. To be honest, she had never really thought about getting them back before...
He was concerned about the invasion of privacy, but V calmly waves that off with her hands.
"Oh, no. I think if it's just you seeing them, that's okay."
She replies, and falls silent as she thinks it over some more. Then she hears him manage to quietly whisper that he doesn't want to see her get hurt. Yet again the distinct sounds of her optics blinking echo out. And then she begins to blush, smiling at him.
"I'll... Be more careful too."
Still... Her mood goes back to something a little more neutral as he asks about Cyn. She looks down as she thinks about how to best describe her to him.
"No. She's a lot more than a Disassembly Drone now. I don't know how you would describe her, except for maybe 'Witch'."
V explains, and as Ray thanks her for the protection should they ever run into Cyn, she gives a nod.
"Yeah. No problem."
Doll was understandably apprehensive... And Lizzy wasn't about to try and say that she should just discard all of her feelings or something. But right now, this might be a situation of 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'.
Regardless. There was no need to try and keep driving that point home. But they had something more fun to talk about! Namely, that Human who had a downright adorable reaction to them. Doll expresses her surprise over how he viewed them.
"Oh he absolutely will. I don't think we've teased a boy for awhile now, this time it'll be a Human!"
Lizzy already seemed to be cooking up shenanigans involving that...
"Imagine what it'll be like, showing him off. Ha, I think even my parents would get jealous!"
Still... One person that she didn't want to make jealous was Doll. So as she leans in for a kiss, Lizzy returns it. No matter how things played out with Chaos, she fully intended to stick with Doll, too.
» Murder Drones: The Elliot Manor
» Murder Drones: Disassembly Required
» Murder Drones: A Merch in Time
» RWBY Planning: Revamped
» One-Off: Remembering
» Koihime Musou ~Birth By Sleep~
» One-Off: The Lab of a Human
» WaPeach Game Concept