Murder Drones: Disassembly Required

Uzi didn’t know what toothpaste was. But she still took care not to squeeze Chaos too hard. She looked at him, staring at him firmly.

”Just don’t do something insanely dangerous when you’re making things up on the fly, okay?”

And with that, Uzi took off down the hallway and out of sight for Chaos.

---

Doll had given her girlfriend a little smile as she explained how she thought that the zombie drones weren’t smart. She ended up being right, although Doll was quick to point out how risky that was.

”S vashey storony vse yeshche bylo smelo posporit', chto na vspyshke kamery vashego mobil'nogo telefona.”

[“It was still bold of you to bet that on your cell phone's camera flash.”]

As she suspected, the solver monster immediately turned its attention to her. Doll was prepared for a fight. What she wasn’t prepared for was Lizzy flashing the monster with her camera over her shoulder. And it actually made the monster pause for a moment. Doll didn’t dare take her eyes off the creature though: it it would take was a single opening for it to make a move.

Then it engaged Karasu. Doll made a decision right then and there. If the human fell, then it would come after her next. And there was a chance that it would hold what Lizzy did against her too. She grabbed Lizzy’s hand, running off the bridge and practically dragging her along. She made her way to the floor below, where the crew quarters were located. She took Lizzy to the closest door (which was Cloris’s room), and opened it up. She then gripped Lizzy’s shoulders gently.

”Ostavaysya zdes', yesli tebe ne pridetsya pereyezzhat'. Izbegayte okon, nesmotrya ni na chto. YA dolzhen borot'sya s etoy shtukoy tam.”

[“Stay here unless you have to move. Avoid the windows no matter what. I've got to fight that thing out there.”]

She then pressed her palms against Lizzy’s face, leaning in until their visors were pressing together.

”Tol'ko ty smog by protivostoyat' takomu monstru. Ty potryasayushchaya, i ya lyublyu tebya, Lizzy”

[“Only you would stand up to a monster like that. You're amazing, and I love you Lizzy.”]

Doll gave Lizzy a short, yet passionate kiss. While she had no time to waste, she certainly made the most of this moment. She pushed her tongue into Lizzy’s mouth, exploring the other drone’s mouth. Then she parted, blushing and giving the other drone a smile. Then she ran off towards the nearest airlock.

---

Suddenly a figure lept over the stunned drones, landing in front of Ray.

”BATTER UP YOU ZOMBIE FREAKS!”

Uzi wasn’t sure if the lower discharge setting would be safe enough to use in this situation. So used the railgun in the only other way she could: she gripped the head of the gun and swung it like a bat, slamming it into the head of a zombie drone. It was enough to knock its head clean off. It zoomed off like a bullet, doing damage to whatever unfortunate Zombie drone was in its path. Its body also went a considerable difference.

Uzi looked back at Ray, glaring at him. ”Why do you keep doing this?! Every time I turn my back you’re trying to get yourself killed! How am I supposed to stop worrying about you if you keep doing stunts like this?!”

---

A red solver symbol appeared around the spear that was being thrown. It stopped just in front of Karasu. Doll had managed to make her way outside and onto the battlefield. She held it for a couple of seconds, her arm trembling as she held it up. The same symbol would be around her hand and displayed on her right eye Then the symbol faded away from all those places. Without the solver holding it up, the spear would quickly fall out of reach and down towards the planet’s surface. Unless Karasu was fast enough to react and grab it.

"You're welcome N!"
E shouts back.

Though her attention was pulled away by the shrieking Apocalypse Drone. Along with the fact that it was trying to bite her. Her brows furrow as she pouts.

"No biting!"

She wraps her tail around it's legs, and then she brings a hand back before shoving it at the Apocalypse Drone's mouth. Though not long after she pulls her hand back despite the fact that it definitely bit down on something.

It was... A metal dog bone?

Well, that didn't stop it from managing to wriggle free just enough to cut off it's own legs, and then it quickly started to circle around her... Just as it was poised to strike, E readied a weapon to defend herself. Only for the Apocalypse Drone to have it's wings skewered by what looked suspiciously like one of the spiked legs that it was sporting. E blinks, and then looks over at where the leg was thrown from...

~A few moments prior~

There was no denying that V was fast -- and she had a real penchant for fighting in close quarters. Slicing through the leg that it had like a hot knife through butter felt pretty satisfying, all things considered. It roared and started to back off before beating a swift retreat. It had committed to this action so fast that it didn't even notice that V used her tail to catch the severed leg.

She watches it as it swoops down below the cloud layer. Yeah, she had a feeling that was an attempted ambush... She glances back up to the ship to take stock of the situation. Several of the windows had their shutters closed, but some were still open.

She narrows her eyes, and spots red lighting signaling that something was wrong. She quickly scans the ship further, and spots the point of entry that the zombie drones are using. They got inside...!

V looks over to E, and then she catches the leg in her hand before bracing herself. She aims it true, and throws with all of her might, managing to skewer the wings on the Apocalypse Drone! Shortly thereafter, she yells;

"E! Get inside the ship and protect the Humans and their Drones!"

E gives a quick salute.

"Okie dokie!"

E begins to scamper to the airlock, meanwhile V moves one of her wings just as the Apocalypse Drone returns to ambush her, the clawed limb slips in-between the blades, and then she snaps the wing shut, several blades clamping down on the Apocalypse Drone. She turns her hand into a claw, and then she digs it into the face of the Apocalypse Drone, flapping her still open wing to spin in the air.

With her other hand, she creates a gun, taking a few potshots at the base of the drone's wings to damage them. Finally she opens her wing and relinquishes her hold on it, sending the creature hurdling towards the surface!

And as for J... She smirks as the Apocalypse Drone just keeps coming straight for her despite her attempts to shoot at it's wings. These things were kind of smart, so chances are, this one is a decoy, and there's going to be one trying to come up behind her.

Although what she hadn't counted on was N showing up at the perfect time to help her out anyway -- well, that makes this a bit easier. As the Apocalypse Drone gags on the arm stuck in it's mouth, she grabs hold of it, retracting her gun arm and then changing it into something else. She presses it against the chest of the Apocalypse Drone, and when she pulls it away, there's a device stuck to it.

Now, she just needed the right timing on this... She grabs hold of the Apocalypse Drone, and then flings it into the other one that was dodging her shots right as it tried to come up behind her.

She winks at the two of them, making a finger gun gesture. And as she 'pulls the trigger', the device explodes!

---

E rushes straight for the airlock that has all the Zombie Drones gathering, and she immediately launches her ambush, cleaving through them with a mixture of her wings and her swords.

"Wheeee!"

She giggled after her energetic yell. Before long she slips into the breach and changes her swords into claws, getting down on all fours and charging along. Any Zombie Drones unlucky enough to be in her way were met with a quick swipe to their legs to knock them over, then a follow-up to destroy their head.

She's racing through the ship, not slowing down for anything as she zeroes in on any Zombie Drone in sight! The closest descriptor to her antics would be that of a rabid wolverine.

Although even as she rampaged, she seemed to be able to tell the difference between a Zombie Drone, and a Worker Drone. They might get a little terrifyingly close to one of her takedowns, but she only gives them a brief glance before ultimately ignoring them.

Though she does skid to a halt as she hears a muffled voice. Tilting her head, she looks at the closet door and begins to approach it -- still on all fours at this point.

"Hmm?"

She hums, sniffing to try and tell what was hidden in the room. Didn't smell like a Drone of any kind...

---

Lizzy smirks, shrugging in response.

"Eh, they're vulnerable to light, so I took a hunch."

That being said... That much larger, meaner, nastier looking monster didn't seem like it would be so easy to deal with. This time the picture was not to try and blind it and send it crashing to the surface below, but just out of habit. Lizzy kind of spent too much time on her phone for her own good.

Still, the attention it had on her and Doll was short-lived if only because of the actions of Karasu. Lizzy was kind of enthralled with the fight at this point, wanting to see how it would play out. But Doll breaks her out of that by grabbing her hand and pulling her along suddenly.

"Huh?"

Is what Lizzy manages to mutter. Before long Doll takes her straight to a room and then urges her to stay inside and safe while she fights that thing -- she wanted to protest the plan. She had already come up with some ways to help, but she didn't have the time to work on any of them yet...

Before she can think of anything to say, Doll gently cups her cheeks and pulls her closer. Their visors touched and she couldn't help but blush a little. Sure, Lizzy was no stranger to flirting, but she hadn't really experienced being on the receiving end of someone so forward like this... Especially when it was someone she liked!

Doll then goes straight for a kiss, and she nearly immediately deepens it. Lizzy's eyes went wide and she freezes out of surprise. Soon, Doll parts the kiss, smiling at her while Lizzy was left processing everything that happened.

Before long, she takes off, leaving Lizzy to press the button to close the door, and then she slumps down onto the floor.

"... Hot."

That was the only comment she could think of at the moment.

---

Karasu continued to press the offensive against the creature even as it tried to back up and keep the range advantage on him. Though it was capable of breaking away and preparing a much more significant attack. He looks up at it...

And at this point, Aegis's perspective of the battlefield comes into play. She begins to calculate what the creature is likely to do at this point based off the movements it had. It was probably going to throw the lance straight at Karasu, hoping to either strike him, or hit the ship.

"Well, that's not good."

The hologram brings a hand to her chin as she runs the numbers. She draws the lines and angles, figuring out the exact trajectory... If Karasu tried to stop the attack himself, the chance of life-threatening injury was over 90%.

So, what if he avoided it?

She draws out the line for that as well, finding the exact point where the lance would meet with the ship.

Catastrophic damage had an 82% chance. The ship wouldn't immediately crash, but they wouldn't be able to keep it in the air for nearly long enough. And if they're still dealing with their enemies, then this would be a terrible way for things to play out...

"So we can't block it, and we can't dodge it."

She sighs... Okay, what if they tried catching it?

100% chance of a broken arm.

"Eesh. Okay, let's see if we can tweak that a little..."

If he prepared his movements in advance, he could turn with the momentum while grabbing onto the spear. 90%.

Now, if she ran Coral through his arm... 50%. Not great. But he'd live through it, and he could keep fighting. While she's calculating this, an unknown variable comes into play. A symbol that Aegis didn't recognize. She didn't know what it was, or what it was going to do. At least up until she saw the apparent source for it.

Doll, huh... Well, an ally then. Either way, she had to commit to this plan of action.

"Okay... Let's play it out."

She takes a deep breath, and as the Subjugation Gargoyle reels it's hand back, Karasu moves slightly to the side, bracing himself as red electricity surged around his arms with greater intensity than before. When it's thrown, the lance is slowed by Doll, giving him ample time to grab onto it.

He still spins with it, though this time it is to twirl the spear masterfully as he then faces the beast once more. Then it glows alight with the power of Coral.

"Thanks for the assist Aegis -- and Doll."

He comments, not taking his eyes off the enemy for the moment.


After that, he quick boosts towards the Subjugation Gargoyle, swinging the lance in a wide arc as red lightning danced through the air brilliantly! Thanks to his suit, and Aegis... He wasn't grounded like one might expect him to have been.

Oh yes, this battle was only just beginning...

I sat down alone inside the supply closet what seems like hours. I decided to hide out of fear, instead of being brave like the others. I could hear the battle occurring outside of the ship and it took me a couple of seconds to hit me; I did not shut all the windows shutters, making the chances of the zombie drones flooding inside the ship way greater.

"Im an idiot." I said to myself as I stood up. Not only did I risked my own life by hiding, I risked the other defenseless drones lives by just doing nothing. I picture the drones who'd need saving, such as Thad, Chad, Emily and Rebecca. While I dislike Rebecca, even she doesnt deserve death. "I should've been there for them, damnit..."

I realize why I acted in fear; I didnt wanted to die. Not because of the sole act of dying, but because I knew J and Uzi would survive this. They'd come looking for me and find my lifeless body, and I dont know how'd they'd react at that point. So instead of anything else I could do, I ran. Well, no more running.

I could hear something outside of the closet I am inside. I take a big breath and gather my confidence and with my plasma cutter on my dominate hand, I open the closet door and stepped outside. "Here I go..."

What greeted me was not a zombie drone, but instead a cute disassembly drone with--- oh my god she is coming right at me!

"IT'S A HUMAAAAN!"

"Oh shiii----" Taken by surprised, she begins to charge right at me. I aimed my plasma cutter right at her, but I couldnt fire. While I figured there'd be enemy disassembly drones, I didnt knew they'd be alongside zombie drones! And another thing, she is a living being and unlike those zombies, I couldnt dare hurt her. Instead I dropped my weapon and ran.

"Dont shoot! Im with the science team, AAGGGHHHHH"

Doll shook her head in bemusement. Her girlfriend was something else.

Tem ne meneye, ya somnevayus', chto kto-to yeshche sdelal by stavku na svoyu bezopasnost', polagayas' na vspyshku kamery mobil'nogo telefona.”

[“Still, I doubt anyone else would have bet their safety on a cell phone's camera flash.”]

---

Uzi rolled her eyes, letting out an exasperated sigh.

”Uggggggh! No Ray, I’m not disgusted with you. I’m just in a weird state of mind right now. Chaos goes and outright tells me that he’s interested in me. And J wasn’t helping matters. It was all icky and gross and gaaaash!”

Uzi stamped her foot in frustration. She looked over at Ray, staring at him apologetically.

“Look, my mind was in a weird place, okay? I’m not mad at you, alright? Vs good for you. And when she isn’t around I’ll save your butt as many times as I need to.”

Uzi turned to face Ray. He would feel a soft metallic hand gingerly press against the underside of his chin. Uzi raised his head so that she could look at his face. She looked rather annoyed with him.

“So you’re going to just throw yourself off a cliff then? Listen Ray, even if you were a bad luck charm, you’ve done so much. Ugg, I swear! It’s like you forgot that you directed the repairs on the engine! That you contributed to the battle plans and set up defenses in vital areas!”

Uzi huffed, reaching up and poking Ray’s forehead briefly. She was careful not to do it too hard. ”Who cares what a couple of drones think? You’re really cool and you have people who care about you.”

Uzi’s put a hand on her hip, letting out an exasperated sigh. ”I came because  I know you, and V isn’t in a position to protect you right… Holy crap!”

Uzi instinctively grabbed onto Ray as he pulled her close. She watched in shock as an unfamiliar disassembly drone started decimating the zombie drones in her path. Uzi shrugged her shoulders.

”I don’t know, but they’re helping us. So they must be on our side right now.”

Uzi realized she was still holding onto Ray. She withdrew her hands, looking away from him. ”That was totally instinct, okay?”

---

”Dobro pozhalovat.”

[“Your welcome.”]

Doll was at a huge disadvantage in this battle. She couldn’t affect the solver beast directly with her powers. And there was nothing around to throw at the creature. And even if there was  something she could use, the velocity at which she ship was flying would mess up the trajectory of her projectiles.

”V takikh usloviyakh eta shtuka mozhet metko brosit' kop'ye. A poskol'ku ya ne mogu napryamuyu ispol'zovat' svoy reshatel', vse, chto ya mogu sdelat', eto podderzhat' Karasu.”

[“That thing can throw a spear accurately in these conditions. And since I can't use my solver directly on it, all I can do is support Karasu.”]


Then she saw the gargoyle creature wait to close in. Something was off putting about the way it was standing there with its mouth open. The eyes on Doll’s visor widened as she realized what was happening. She grabbed onto the railing with one hand, pressing her other palm against the roof of the ship.

”Prosti za eto, Lizzy.”

[“Sorry about this Lizzy.”]

Right as it spit out the acid, the ship suddenly rotated a good 90 degrees. Now it was flying entirely sideways. If the creature wasn’t secure, they would go flying off. And if they managed to anchor themselves down, they would now be spitting their acid sideways against the wind. Which would send it blowing away from the ship.

If Karasu didn’t manage to grab onto something or was in danger of falling off, Doll would use her solver to lower him to somewhere he could hang onto. She was breathing heavily, her visor flickering between her normal eye and a solver symbol. She had never pushed herself to this extreme before. And she was starting to feel its influence.

---

Meanwhile inside, Uzi was not having a fun time.

[GAH! OWWW! OOF! FRICKING… OWWWWW!

Uzi slammed down into the wall (which was now the floor, then tumbled down the hallway before landing on her back. Her visors displayed swirls in place of her eyes.

---

Lizzy would feel the effects just like everyone else on the ship. Fortunately for Cloris, she took a rather minimal approach to her room, and had bolted down the bed, table, dresser, and wardrobe. Unfortunately she didn’t nail down all the stuff on her desk (including her laptop), and that wardrobe sure looked vulnerable to objects slamming into it…

Just when it seemed like they were making headway in dealing with their newfound threats -- it becomes clear that there is EVEN MORE of those Apocalypse Drones. Their attention was first on the ship, but thanks to the trio's efforts, they were now firmly declaring the three of them to be a major threat. As they watched the horde approaching, N suggested that at least they were together!

J was not a happy camper right now.


"I'm fine... I'm calm and TELL ME YOU HAVE IT READY."

She yelled, though her words weren't for N, but rather for the Worker Drones on the surface, deployed in strategic areas with more powerful weaponry...

"Abso-positively-lutely! Hey! You even got them pulled away from the ship!"

J puts her hands on her hips after receiving that response -- which the trio could hear thanks to the long distance comms they were told to use. The sky suddenly begins to light up with a barrage of blasts from anti-air weapons. The Subjugator Gargoyle was too close to the ship to try something like this, but the mass of Apocalypse Drones? Diverting their attention like this made them easy targets.

"Wow! It's like fireworks!"

The trio of Disassembly Drones could hear over the long-range communication.

"... Does this mean the Worker Drones have the highest bodycount right now?"

J immediately looks over, shaking her head.

"Absolutely not. I'm counting this for the Humans, it was their weapons."

Still, despite how massively the horde was cleared out, some distinctive shrieking began to grow louder -- stragglers and survivors. It looked like these Apocalypse Drones managed to just barely survive, but they were already regenerating.

"Hmph. Guess we still have some cleanup to do."

Still, the tables had turned now! J and V weren't going to be shown up by some Worker Drones, after all... This time they were going to be coordinating squad tactics with N, providing each other support and covering fire as needed. They were at their best when they worked as a team.

Shame they were usually so dysfunctional, but in this case, they had some pretty good reasons to set that aside.

Uh, speaking of that reason though. V manages to get some breathing room and points at the ship.

"Is it supposed to do that?"

J perks up after she cleaved the wings off of an Apocalypse Drone.

"Do wha-"
She blinks, seeing the ship rotating now.

"Okay, what the hell is even going on?!"

After that outburst, one of the Apocalypse Drones swoops by her, trying to land a strike on her. She manages to lean back just in time.

"Okay! I'm fine, and calm, and GO AWAY!!"

This time she busts out a laser gun, and it fires a brilliant yellow beam -- and she keeps sustaining it, quickly adjusting her aim and practically swiping through the Apocalypse Drones. She was targeting their heads and their wings.

Just when it seems like her gun might overheat, she shifts her free hand into... A cryo launcher? Aims it at the laser gun, and gives it a cooling blast. J was REALLY not letting up right now.

V backs off a bit, floating over to N.

"I haven't seen her this mad in awhile."

---

Lizzy had managed to get control over her faculties, now taking the time to get a little familiar with the room she had gotten stuck into. It was a nice enough place. Very minimal -- honestly, it could use some more color and flair. Just as she finishes that thought, she notices something sliding off the desk. Without even thinking about it, she moves her hand to press it down and keep it from doing so.

... Wait, why was it sliding off the desk? She looks over, noting that she managed to stop the laptop from falling, but several other small objects were not so lucky, falling towards the wall.

Oh, the ship is rolling. Much like Lizzy's eyes right now.

"Ugh."

Just as she starts rapidly sliding towards the wall, she manages to turn while holding onto the laptop, landing on her back.

Curiously, she can hear what sounds like someone having the time of their life right in the next room... At least it sure sounded like someone yelling "Weeeeee!"

---

So let's see what E is up to! Growing more curious about the closet, she thinks about approaching it. Suddenly, the door opens and someone steps out. Confusion is the first thing to register for her, this wasn't any kind of Drone. Hmm... What was it? As her gaze trails up the figure, it suddenly dawns on her.

"IT'S A HUMAAAAN!"

She yells excitedly, completely disregarding the weapon he had or the fact that he was aiming it at her, she begins to charge at him! Seeming to lose his nerve, he drops his weapon and starts to run, while pleading his case.

"Yay!! I love walks, and running too! Where are we going, Human?!"

She continues to chase after him -- still on all-fours, mind you. Along the way some Zombie Drones are unlucky enough to meet with the pair, and she uses a MUCH greater burst of speed to tackle and deal with them before they can even think of getting close to Chaos during his retreat.

Eventually, the ship begins to rotate, and E adjusts very quickly, getting onto the wall and speeding up just a little bit more in order to match his pace. When it turns enough that he loses his balance and falls, she hops over to catch him, before safely landing on the "new" floor.

"Whoops, gotcha, boss!"

She then comments with a smile.

---

Karasu's attacks were meeting their mark. But the creature continued to back up, seemingly preparing something else. Right about when the glowing yellow light began to fill the esophagus of this creature, Aegis decided it was time to perform another analysis.

"Okay. Let's take a closer look at this."

She runs a quick scan on this sickening glow. Before long she gets an exact match with the Disassembly Drones -- their nanite acid.

"Yeah, okay. That's kind of a problem."

She sighs, time for another deep dive into the possibilities...

"Pretty sure I already know what's coming, but let's run the numbers."

First, if he maintained his current trajectory, he'd be completely doused in that Nanite Acid. That suit had several layers to it. But this stuff also aggressively ate up anything it came into contact with.

The suit would be totally compromised and destroyed. Theoretically it was possible for him to be unaffected by the nanite acid directly, but he was also outside the ship in a toxic environment.

Chance of imminent death: 100%

She already knew the answer, so a quick glance to the ship if Karasu were to dodge revealed that the catastrophic damage to the ship would take mere minutes at best. Both results came out to 100%

"This is the second time this thing has done something like this -- you know what? New plan."

She started to run the numbers on what would happen if they waited until that thing pointed it's mouth, but before it could fire off that acid.

What would happen if Karasu shoves the lance in there, and Coral began to attack it from the inside? Yeah, if she ran it hot enough, she might even be able to burn up the acid...

Just to be safe, she could also have him pull off this attack from an angle, and then pull on the thing with all of his strength to aim it away from the ship.

"There we go. Yeah, I'm pretty tired of this thing."

Just as Aegis is about to commit her analysis, she notices something a bit off. Why did it look like everything was sinking away from her? Her eyes widen, and she looks down to see that she's rotating in the air -- and so is the ship.

She looks to the source, spotting Doll.

"Oh, okay. We're doing this now, apparently."

She crosses her arms, a little annoyed.

Time for a whole new set of calculations, she could still get Karasu to where he needed to be, and still land an attack on the intended attack on the monster. With a sigh, she uprights her Hologram.

"You know, I think I'm going to enjoy this part."

From Karasu's perspective, it's as though the ground quakes and shifts beneath his feet. But his HUD keeps him on target, he quick boosts towards the creature just as it lowers it's head and opens it's mouth. He came at it from an angle, rather than straight on.

But nonetheless he manages to thrust the lance straight into the jaws of the beast. Using his momentum he yanks on it, turning it away from the ship as he whirls around the Subjugator Gargoyle, landing on it's back and pushing against it with his feet to further leverage things.

Coral raced down his arms and through the lance, and the creature would begin to light up in a deep red. Right now, Aegis just wanted to damage this thing as much as possible. Though she did take some consideration into the fact that she would need to use some of her capabilities to shield Karasu's hands and arms in the middle of this.

Just in case any of the nanite acid did still manage to leak though. She was fairly certain she could prevent it from being an issue, but it was better to be safe.

"Why am I such a jinxer!?" I yelled, trying to flee the odd drone. "I shouldve listened to Uzi and stop jinxing us all! Im such an idiot!" I continued to grunt and scream as I ran through the walls.

The ship began to tilt at an 90 degree angle and I eventually loose my footing. "No! I dont wanna die!" I screamed as I slid down towards the odd Disassembly Drone, closing my eyes to not see the terrors that is about to happen to me.

She caught me, and instead of tearing me to shreds as I expected, called me "Boss." I couldnt mutter a word for a few seconds until I realized I wasnt dead. I check myself to see if my limbs was attached, and I was infact perfectly fine. I look up at her smiling down at me and if it werent for the helmet she'd see me blushing.

"...You're friendly? ...Why'd you call me boss?" After checking our current environment, I decided to thank her. "Th...thanks for saving me. What is your name?" After she replied. "Thats... a nice name, E. Nice to meet you, Im... Chaos."

After E lets me back on my feet I dust myself off. "...We should gather other drones and make sure they are safe. Looks like some zombie drones breached the hull so we gotta patch those up afterwords."

I look at the carnage E has caused while chasing me. "Man... glad she is on our side."

Uzi rolled her eyes, then jabbed a thumb at herself.

”Ray, I’m the last person who would isolate someone for being “gross” or “weird”.

Uzi tucked the railgun under one of her arms so that she could make air quotes with both hands. She then lowered her arms.

”Look, I don’t know what you’ve been through in the past. And I don’t know what kind of people you made friends with. But your old friends sucked Ray. If they didn’t want to be around you, that’s on them, not you.”

She turned her head, looking at the felled zombie drones behind her. ”Yeah this is scary alone. I know I said that zombies are cool, but actually dealing with them isn’t as fun as horror series makes them out to be. Except when you hit them: that was satisfying.”[/b]

She turned back around to face Ray. She gave him a gentle push back on the chest after be pushed her. She smirked at the human.

”Takes one to know one. Yeah, we’re cool Ray.”

When Ray insisted he wouldn’t tell anyone she hung onto him, she had given him an appreciative look. Which turned to confusion as he asked if she was leaning to the right.

”Um… no? I’m standing perfectly strAIIIIIIIIIT!”

Uzi was about to roll down the hall when Ray grabbed her leg. She blushed as she felt his grip on her leg. And he had an unobstructed view of  her panties. Before she could respond, Thad came tumbling down the corridor. She climbed to her feet as Ray grabbed the drone.

”Hey, you’ve got really good reflexs. You just like catching drones I guess.”

Uzi huffed at Thad, folding her arms together. ”Hey, if this were an anime, I’d be the main character. I’m not going down easily.”

Uzi looked towards the bridge, peering ahead of them and measuring the distance.

”I don’t anyone is manning anything! We need to stop this spinning and fast!”

Uzi stared at Ray. She shook her head in bemusement, then shrugged her shoulders.

”I can’t figure you out Ray. You panic when you get into a fight, but you’re perfectly calm in a rotating ship.”

Uzi smirked, grabbing his hand and climbing up onto his shoulders. ”I was born ready to kill monsters.”

---

At first, Doll’s plan was working to perfection. Not only did she manage to neutralize the acid and give Karasu the opportunity to knock the thing off, but rotating the ship took the ultra violet lights out of the equation. Hopefully those murder drones would get killed by the flying abominations. It was a win-win for the drone.

That was until the creature managed to not only grow wings, but out speed their ship enough to slam into it. Doll held onto the ship with on hand, concentrating as she put her hand on the top of the ship.

Doing this again was risky. But she didn’t have much choice. As long as the ship kept spinning like this, that thing would have the advantage. The solver symbol once again appeared on the ship. Immediately it started slowing its rotation. Doll grit her teeth, continually try to slow it down. After about 20 seconds it managed to stop upright. Doll raised her hand, clutching her visor. A display of orange text written in Russian came up at the corner of her screen.

”Khekh, bednyazhka. Vy ne mozhete effektivno ispol'zovat' svoi reshayushchiye sposobnosti, i eto prichinyayet vam vred. Yesli ty pozvolish' mne vzyat' na sebya otvetstvennost', ya odoleyu eto za tebya.

[“Heh, poor thing. You can’t  use your solver powers effectively and its hurting you. If you let me take charge,  I’ll defeat it for you.”]

”Nachni svoyu gryaznuyu veshch!”

[“Begone you foul thing!”]

More words flashed across her screen.

”Takaya tverdaya reshimost'! Yesli by tol'ko tvoi navyki byli takimi moshchnymi. Pri takom rasklade u vas ne budet osobogo vybora. Dazhe s ostatkami patcha tvoyey materi ya vse ravno smogu dognat' tebya, yesli ty perenapryazhish'sya.

[”Such strong resolve! If only your skills were as powerful as that. You won’t have much of a choice at this rate. Even with the remnant of your mothers patch, I can still overtake you if you overextend yourself.”]

The text paused. Then one last line appeared.

”Sniker. No bylo by zabavno, yesli by ty pobedil yeye sushchestv bez moyego kontrolya. Eto sbilo by s tolku programmu Earth Solver. Pokazhite im, chto drony Copper 9 prevoskhodyat ikh.

[”Snicker. But it would be amusing if you beat her creatures without me taking over. It would knock that Earth Solver program down a peg. Show them that Copper 9 drones are superior.”

UBIRAYSYA!”

[“GET OUT!”]

The orange text faded, and her visor turned entirely red again. But the solver symbol was still flickering where her right eye should have been. She held a hand over it, kneeling on both knees as the best lumbered ever closer.

”Davay, voz'mi sebya v ruki, Kukla!”

[“Come on, get a grip Doll!”]

Right now it was risky even to move. She hoped that she could get it under control enough by the time the creature got within striking distance.

---

Meanwhile Uzi gripped onto Ray tightly as something slammed into ship and sent it spinning.

[b]FRICKING ROBO-HELL?! WHAT’S GOING ON OUT THERE?!

---

Cloris’s room made a mess by the spinning the ship went under. Desk and dresser doors flew out onto the ground, or flew into a wall. And this in turn sent other things flying around.

Two things stood out though. One of them looked like a thin, gray cash box. This had a simple key lock on it. Also during the commotion, a chest slid out from under the bed and flew around for awhile. When things realigned, both these objects slammed onto the ground.

It was very fortunate for N that J's ire was directed at their enemies. It helped that there was so many of them to focus on, too. She couldn't afford to go smacking N upside the head right now. Even though it felt oh-so-tempting.

"Naaah, buddy. Not at all!"
She sarcastically replies to N's concerns.

Still, if there was one thing that put her into a better mood, it was the fireworks display. Ah, if only the good news could keep coming, though. Because it seemed like just when things would start turning around, things have to go and get even messier. The cleanup was fine, she could handle that part.

It was annoying. But seeing the SHIP rotate like that, it really set off her desire to keep things neat, orderly, well-organized... Fortunately, N had the presence of mind to get out of the way once J started to wildly fire on every single Apocalypse Drone in sight.

N talked about the last time J got this mad, specifically because of something that V did -- which prompted the Disassembly Drone to smirk in response.

"Yeah. That was pretty funny."

Still, N and V essentially getting the opportunity to take a break meant that they were also able to see what was happening with the ship. It looks like things were starting to right themselves now, so maybe they were FINALLY getting this situation under control.

... Right up until that bigger monster collides with the ship again, making it rotate several times at a faster speed.

"N, I wouldn't-"

V started, but it was too late. N already called out to J telling her not to look down.

The twin-tailed Disassembly Drone lets out a huff after having swept through the last Apocalypse Drone she could see. But she arches a brow after hearing N, looking over at her briefly. Then she glances down at the ship.

Her eyes twitched as she stared at the ship now spinning wildly. Then she saw the beast that seemed to be responsible for it.

Her current weapons retracted, and her arms began to cycle through various weapons. And as the ship is slowly halted, and turned upright once more, J sees her chance...

---

Let's see how things are going for E! Again! The Human that she caught seemed to be kinda scared about something. Huh. Maybe the ship WASN'T supposed to do this? It was kinda fun for her, but she could see why it'd be pretty inconvenient and alarming for everyone else!

She perks up a little when he asks why she called him boss.

"'Cause we're always supposed to listen to Humans! Niney said that!"

After she said that, he thanked her for saving him and asked what her name was.

"Aw, no problem! And I'm E!"

She replies, and then he introduces himself to her -- and E sets him back onto his feet and he dusts himself off. He glances down the hallway, remarking that the hull was probably breached and it needed to be fixed. E speaks up at this point;

"Actually, it's just the airlock! That hull is really solid. I didn't even make a dent in it when I slammed one of them into it at top speed!"

That raised several questions, but the conversation moves along as Chaos comments on her work, saying that he was glad that E was on their side.

"Aww, I did a good job, boss?"

She excitedly hops closer to him, almost as if eager for some headpats.

Then the entire ship started to shake -- almost immediately she grabs onto Chaos and she starts running along the wall, then the ceiling, then the floor, and the wall, and the ceiling again! She just kept going because that was about the best way for her to keep her balance while holding onto Chaos right now.

"Holy cow! This is a pretty wild ride!"

Eventually the ship began to slow down, and E was able to get him set back onto the floor proper.

"Kinda fun though!"
She remarks.

---

Yeah, no. Lizzy was pretty sure someone was DEFINITELY celebrating the fact that the ship was getting tossed around right now. They sounded way too happy about it. Then there was a much larger impact and the ship began spinning. Lizzy is sent tumbling, constantly adjusting herself to keep the laptop safe. Why did she even care so much about this stupid thing?

Well she'd kept it safe this long, so she felt compelled to keep it that way! Still, seeing bits and pieces flying everywhere as she was thrown about in the ship left her annoyed. Eventually culminating in a single...

"Ugh!"

Moments after she lands unceremoniously on the floor as the ship seemingly corrects itself.

"... Is the pilot drunk, or what?"

Eventually, she lifts her head and sees two very important looking things. A thin gray box, and a much larger chest. Curiosity got the better of her, and she gets onto her feet and moves over to investigate them. The first thing she did was pick up the small gray box to better inspect it.

And hey, if it was actually a box, then she'd feel pretty compelled to open it! Once her investigations on that avenue had been fulfilled, the next thing she would do is take a better look at that chest. An experimental tug on the lid reveals that it's locked.

And then not long after she sees the keypad. She smirks to herself as she gets a devious little idea, enabling an optical scan for fingerprints... Only to find none.

"Seriously?"

She groans. Well, maybe someone would know how to open this thing. Yeah it belonged to someone else but how could you NOT be curious when you have something like this right in front of you?

... Oh yeah, the guy in the next room was now making pinball noises and talking about a high score.

"That loser better not be flying the ship right now."

---

Seeing that the lance had been completely disintegrated, he pulls his hands away before the nanite acid would make contact. The extensive amount of damage done to the beast meant that it should eventually fall to the surface below -- which is exactly what started to happen. As it vanishes down the cloud layer, Karasu takes a moment to catch his breath.

Just as he starts to turn to Doll, the ship is rocked by a sudden impact. He stumbles only slightly, thanks to Aegis activating the magnetization on his boots.

Speaking of Aegis, her arms were now crossed as she stares at the Subjugator Gargoyle.

"I'm starting to dislike you."

She remarks as her hologram was rotating with the ship itself. At least Doll was trying to help with the problem instead of making it worse this time. She soon corrects her holographic form, performing another analysis on what to do.

This thing HAD to be slowing down after giving it such a beating. It was preparing a drill-like attack, but honestly? At this point Aegis wanted to give it a blow that was SURE to finish it off this time.

It was going to take the beast some time to get that drill up to full speed, not to mention trying to aim it at a moving target. No difficult choices to make this time, this time she wanted to go on the offensive.

She calculated exactly how fast she could get Karasu in there, and just how hard of a blow they could strike in the process. She also peeks up, seeing that they were going to be receiving some assistance very soon.

"I think it's time we showed you what Humanity is really capable of."

Aegis soon melds her form back into Karasu's armor, and a maelstrom of red electricity surges around his form as he charges at the monster, his boosters flaring to push his speed far beyond any previously seen amounts.

From above, J swoops down with what could only be called massively oversized greatswords, and they cleaved into -- and quite possibly even THROUGH the wings of the Subjugator Gargoyle.

But before it can even process that, Karasu slams into it at full-force, that red energy blade plunged into it's chest. And the sheer force would carry them both off the ship. But he wasn't done yet, nor did he let the creature go.

No, Aegis and Karasu were now being aided by gravity, racing down to the surface with the Subjugator Gargoyle caught in the massive blow. Coral once more began to surge through it's entire body. Aegis doing her part to kill the response time it had, make it as difficult as possible to try and push Karasu away, or attack him with the drill.

She was constantly running the calculations. If they could crash this thing into the ground, at this velocity... And based on the what she learned while she was channeling Coral through this thing, it should totally annihilate the core that it has.

For all who witnessed the sight, it must have looked like a bright red star was falling from the sky.

"Ninety? Who's that? ...Nevermind that, I dont need to know. I can learn later, anyways..."

"Just the airlock? Wonder how'd that happen, probably that big beast that created that very loud thud earlier. We should hurry and seal it tight using the emergency seals, it should keep those zombie things out after that." I told E.

"Yeah E, you did a good job." She lowered hers head, expecting a headpat. I decided to give her some. "Here, you deserved those. Good job E."

"Woah!" I held tight onto E. In this position, its like she is princess carrying me. ...Glad no one else is watching. After the ship stabilized, E placed me back on the floor. "G...Good work E, here is more headpats for keeping me safe." Headpats: Administered.

"...Anyways, lets close those emergency seals!" We rush over to the airlock, E destroying any zombie drones that came our way. Unfortunately, I seem to lost my plasma cutter, so I was mostly useless here. But the zombie drones proved no match against E, so she really didnt needed me.

Eventually, we reached the airlock. Air was escaping the ship at an alarming rate. If I where to enter the airlock now, I'd get suck out of the airlock like it was nothing. Luckily E is here and she'd need to save my ass if that where to happen. "What do I do..." At a safe distance, I could see that the emergency seal button is right next to the airlock, but if I where to step near it I'd get sucked out. I thought of plenty of ways to try to activate the seal, until it hit me: I once read the user manual one day because I was very, very bored. I activated the magnetic boots and now I could safely walk over to the airlock. I pressed the emergency seal, sealing up the airlock. "Phew, we made it. Hopefully those things stopped coming inside."

"Secondly... the windows. Looks like non of the zombie drones had broken through them, but just in case we should continue to pull down the emergency shutters." I take a couple of seconds to catch my breath, then I continued. "All while, you should kill any zombie drones that get in our way. Lastly, we should find any lost worker drone and bring them to safety. I assume they ran into hiding when the zombie drones came rushing in as the airlock got busted. Hopefully they are all right."

"Alright... lets go, E." With that, we continued our plan with me closing every shutter I can while E dispatched any zombie drone that came our way. And if E where to ask for this, I gave her headpats.

"That should do it on this floor, and now for the worker drones. Unless they are all alright in a room. E, can you scan your surroundings or something? I just want to be safe."

Ray was currently getting an eyeful of Uzi's panties from where he was sitting. Truth be told, in this emergency scenario he normally wouldn't have even given it a second thought, but in this situation, seeing a pair of panties brought to mind that time V put on a pair right in front of him with zero hesitation...His face turned cherry red as he quickly looked away.

Fortunately for him, Thad's untimely arrival gave him something else to focus his mind on. As he held the other worker drone up, Uzi commented on his reflexes, causing him to nod calmly.

"I'm not going to make a habit out of it. But I WAS one of the top technicians at J.C. Jensen for a lot of very good reasons."

Uzi suggested heading for the bridge to try and get this ship righted again, but Ray had a much better idea in mind...As she climbed onto his shoulders he looked up at her with a smile.

"I trust Aegis to get it under control, I've got a better plan!"

Ray activated the magnetic power of his boots and raced forward, straight for the drop ahead of them! Thad gripped tighter, fear filling his face.

"W-Wait, hold on! Where are we GOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGGG?!"

The engineer leapt ahead with no hesitation whatsoever, his feet making contact with the wall as he raced downwards at a 90 degree angle. He held the two worker drones by their arms to ensure they'd stay on his back no matter what.


"I already told you! We're going to murder some monsters!"

Uzi shared her confusion on the way Ray seemed to operate. As soon as battle arrived he was terrified and helpless, but now when the ship had been tilted sideways he seemed totally fine. The answer soon revealed itself as he spoke with a smile.

"I'm not compartmentalizing ANY of this well right now!"

The engineer raced down the halls even in spite of still being uneasy about all of this. He leapt over open doors and jumped down passages that would take them closer to one specific place...The staging area for the left-hand UV cannon. As the trio sped down the walls of the ship's interior a loud thump echoed through the hull, shaking the entire ship as it began to turn in the opposite direction... ... And soon began spinning too far in the other direction. They were now in the middle of a wild ride, but Ray couldn't afford to stop now! Thad was essentially floating in midair as he desperately clutched Ray's shoulders like his life depended on it.

"This is so not cooooooool!!!"

Ray laughed at Uzi's question as he desperately fought against his own nerves.

"Hahaha! I have no idea!"

Thankfully for them just as soon as the ship began to spin in circles, it soon righted itself, finally allowing Ray to drop off of the wall onto the floor. He stumbled a little bit before continuing forward using all the momentum he had built up. He rounded a corner just in time to spot two worker drones desperately trying to aim the UV cannon as it bounced left and right wildly. It was a drone with his head strangely lit ablaze, and another who was holding a magnet in his free hand. Currently the two of them were gripping the controls of the weapon, pulling it back and forth and fighting over who would get to use it.

"Come on, it's my turn to blast the big monster!"

"No way broooo, that's so not cool!"

Ray stepped over and pushed them both aside, glaring between the two of them.

"If you can't decide then go find somewhere to hide out! If you've got a problem with that then you can BITE ME!"

The two worker drones stared at each other in surprise before looking back at him. The one whose head was on fire rolled his digital eyes and crossed his arms. The other just shrugged before they both walked away calmly. The engineer wasted no time hopping into the seat and looking through the viewfinder.

"So that's the problem then..."

It took no time at all for him to spot the source of their issues: The great gargoyle beast that was walking towards Karasu and Doll, ready to deliver a killing blow. Ray didn't know why, but he got a feeling deep in his stomach that this thing wasn't going to go down so easily if only one or two of them attacked. That was why he turned and looked at Uzi.

"If I got you a view of the outside right now, do you think you can hit that thing with your railgun?! It doesn't even need to be a killing blow, I just need you to fire a shot at it!"

He reached a hand out towards Uzi.

"Trust me. I can do this."

Ray stood up from the cannon's seat, looking at Thad. It didn't take very long to note the pipe the worker drone was carrying with him.

"Mind if I borrow this?"

He pointed to the weapon in question, causing Thad to observe it for a second before nodding with a smile.

"Yeah. Go for it!"

With a smile of his own, Ray took hold of the pipe, gripping it tightly between both of his hands.

"Thanks."

Ray stepped over to a window after saying that one single word...Though as he did so his foot bumped against something...It was his helmet. He looked over at the two worker drones sheepishly before realizing he should probably have proper protection if he was about to do this...Ray took a brief moment to put his helmet back on and secure it in place.

And then gripping the pipe once more, he swung with all the weight he could put into it, slamming against the window and cracking it. The engineer panted as he caught his breath for a moment...And then he stepped back and put his whole body into one more swing. He almost slammed into the wall from leaning into it so hard, but the pipe struck true, completely smashing out the window and giving Uzi an opening to lean out of the ship and aim her railgun at the mighty beast.

"It's time! Uzi, I'm going to give a signal once you're lined up, and when I do I want you to fire! Don't worry about where you hit, just try and get a hit at all!"

---

The great subjugator gargoyle laughed at Aegis as she declared humanity's resolve. It approached without fear, without hesitation whatsoever. All because it knew victory was assured. That human would rush in for an easy attack and fall straight into one final ambush, one that he and his AI partner could never see coming. One way or another, this battle would end. And the abomination that stood before them was determined to see that it ended with humanity's loss. The subjugator continued to rev up its drill hand as if it wasn't going to change its attack at this rate, it waited for Karasu to rush in, just as it anticipated he would. And as he closed in...The beast's visor changed text.

"Thanks for falling right into my trap, idiot."

In that very same instant a multitude of human hands all attached to the beast via steel tendrils shot out from its back. They all converged and fell down towards the captain like a wave from the ocean. The creature laughed once more. It took pleasure in having led Karasu to his doom. Time seemed to slow down...

And then a voice called out from the ship's exterior intercoms.

"TASTE PURE SUNLIGHT YOU FREAK!"

[Play "Slash the void" from Amord's post here]

In that same moment Karasu and the gargoyle standing before him were bathed in a bright golden light. The abomination roared in pain as the light burned away all of its hands that were once before rushing towards the human. The spotlight stopped and the gargoyle raised its clawed hand that was still spinning, it fired the claw off at Karasu.

"UZI! NOW!!"

Once Uzi fired her railgun, the shot would luckily manage to strike the claw and disintegrate it, stopping the attack on the spot. Once more the beast roared as Karasu continued to advance forward, its wings were drawn out, and the gargoyle prepared to blow him back with a gust of wind...Only for J to come in with a timely strike which severed the wings completely.

It was out of tricks. It had no more plans to force the humans into a retreat. There were no more cunning traps left to plant. Karasu's blade met its mark in the chest of the Witch's general. Oil and a strange crimson liquid sprayed out from the point of impact as coral energy surged into the wound. Karasu and the gargoyle plummeted off of the ship and straight towards the planet's surface. The beast writhed helplessly as it tried to regenerate the hands it had lost, it opened its jaws to try and bite him to no avail, the velocity was far too great, it could only accept its fate as it roared in defiance.

With no options left to the subjugator gargoyle, the two of them eventually struck the surface of the planet in a great impact... Dust and snow billowed in the air around them as it clouded their vision...When the fog of snow finally fell, Karasu and Aegis would witness it. Despite all that they had done, despite having critically damaged the gargoyle's core...it stood up before them, half its body had been ripped to shreds from the impact, the pale yellow light coming from its eyescreen flickered intermittently as it stared the human down...And it laughed. A horribly glitched, barely working laugh that was still able to show the evil contempt it held for the opponent it faced. The beast's left arm raised up, even despite ending in a stump...


A pinprick of pure darkness began forming above the arm...And an alarm rang out from the gargoyle.

"C-C-C...Callback Ping. Callback Ping. Callback Ping. Callback Ping."

The alarm and ominous voice continued to play out endlessly as the void grew exponentially above the beast. Karasu would find that an army made up of hundreds of zombie drones had now gathered around them...And in response to the alarm each of them raised a hand which began to form voids of their own. The subjugator gargoyle slowly began to fall apart, but even up until the end it kept the blackhole going as it grew alongside hundreds of others...The void began to grow further until it was about to engulf Karasu as well. The lot of them were all sacrificing themselves to the void, all to take him down with them.

As the void consumed the gargoyle, there was one last message displayed on its visor...

"Goodbye, humanity's resolve."

Had Ray missed seeing her panties? He didn’t seem to be… ah, there it was. Yep, that blush confirmed he had definitely seen it. Well at least he was being modest about it. This was no time to focus on that, so Uzi left it at that. Just a slightly embarrassing moment that could be swept under the rug. She raised a digital eyebrow at his his comment about being a technician.

”So you need good reflexes to be a technician? Did they make you do all your repairs on a moving conveyor belt or something?”

That aside, he piqued Uzi’s interest when he mentioned that he had a better plan. She gave him a little smirk. ”Alright, that’s what I’m talking about! Lets plan the crap out of things!”

Uzi blinked, looking at him in surprise. Then she gave him a wry little smile. ”You know, that makes me feel less worried about you. I would question your sanity if you switched between being calm and panicked without any transition.”

Fortunately none of them seemed to have lost their footing after the ship constantly spun around. Well, only one person needed to keep their footing. But Thad and Uzi managed to not fall off of the human.

The purple-haired drone’s eyes narrowed when she saw those two annoying drones from before. Then Ray said something that completely shocked her. She stared open mouthed at the human.

”Hey! That’s my catchphrase!”

It’s something she normally would have gotten on someone hard about. But it was strangely endearing for Ray to just shout at the drones. And kind of badass if she was being honest.

”Okay Ray, I’ll let you get away with using my catchphrase on account of that being cool.”

Uzi hopped off of Ray as he moved to the chair and sat down. Uzi smirked as Ray asked her if she could get a shot off with her railgun.

”You bet I can! I’m the best shot on Copper 9!”

Well, she was the only shot on Copper 9, not counting the murder drones (as far as she knew). But then she frowned as she considered something.

”Ray, where exactly am I going to shoot from? I don’t want to be sucked out from an airlock.”

Uzi watched in curiosity as he took Thad’s pipe. Then her eyes widened in realization as he put on his helmet.

“Seriously?!”

Yes, he was serious. There was a displace of air as the window shattered. Uzi made her way over, aiming and waiting for the signal. And when Ray told her to fire, a wide grin spread across her face.


”BITE US YOU STINKY ABOMINATION!”

Uzi pulled the trigger, and a streak of green shot out towards the creature, slamming into it. It hit it right on its claw, completely disintegrating it. And with that, Karasu got the opening he needed. Uzi pumped her first, but then realized something.

”So um, I think someone fell to the surface with that thing.”

---

Doll watched helplessly as Karasu and the beast tumbled off the ship and out of sight. She breathed heavily, still trying to get her systems under control. Was it truly over? Would Karasu end up fine? No, he was the one person she knew everything would turn out okay for. After all, if he didn’t survive she wouldn’t exist. Now all she could do was try to recover and go back inside.

---

Lizzy would be able to open the cash box with pure strength. It had been built in mind to keep humans out, not drones who had considerably more strength then the average man. Inside there would be a bunch of folded up papers. There were various maps of Copper 9 in there, including the locations of the bunkers. There also appeared to be various designs that Cloris had drawn up. While she worked primarily on her laptop, she did like to draw things out by hand.

V watched as they had to throw practically EVERYTHING at that monster to finally kill it. She was torn between wanting to make sure it was dead, and wanting to check on Ray. Eventually she opted for making her way back to the ship. That thing had gone through so many spin cycles at this point that she was hoping that he wasn't too banged up.

For the first time in awhile, the skies were quiet. It didn't take V long to find an airlock and make her way back inside. She begins to race through the halls, scanning for Ray -- any of the Humans, really. But especially him.

After a little while of searching, she manages to track the group down in one of the rooms overlooking the deck where that monster was. A recently smashed window revealed the plan that they had used to fire the railgun at it. She slows down a little, but nonetheless makes her way over to him.

"You alright?"

She asks, quickly looking him over. After determining that his suit wasn't compromised, she makes her way over to the side of the window to activate the shutter. Soon enough the strong winds and the elements were sealed outside safely, and she turns to him once more.

The relief on her face was so plain to see... At least up until she saw Uzi and Thad nearby, she crosses her arms, hardening up a little. But it was pretty easy to see through the fact that she was happy that things had worked out.

---

Chaos seems confused by E namedropping "niney" like that, but he sets that aside in order to focus on the more immediate problems. Since he now knew that it was the airlock that was compromised, and not the hull, he instantly formulated a plan to deal with the breach.

Although first he gave E some headpats, which she was incredibly thankful for! In fact you could read it on her face. Literally.


Of course her excitement was briefly interrupted by the ship spinning as it did, but you know, she was able to handle that part well enough -- and she even kept the Human safe! And she got MORE headpats!

"Wow! You're so generous, boss!"

She expressed her gratitude, and then Chaos said it was time to seal up that airlock. She gives a nod, and accompanies him! Any Zombie Drones that managed to get in at this point had a really, really bad time of things when they ran into her. Honestly at this point Chaos didn't even have to worry about a thing.

... Well, almost. That was a LOT of air being sucked out of the ship right now. E could handle it, but it was obviously way too dangerous for Chaos to get any closer than this. Just as she's about to ask how they were going to seal this up, he seems to remember something; then he activates his magnetic boots and safely approaches the airlock, and presses the emergency button to seal it up.

It didn't take Chaos long to express hopeful sentiment that this would stop them from getting inside. E gives an excited nod.

"Well they're sure not getting through that anytime soon! So I think we're good now!"

Soon after that, Chaos continues to explain the plan just to be SURE that there would be no other issues with the ship. E straightens out, giving another nod as she also gives a salute.

"You got it, boss!"

With that, the two of them set off. They were working pretty well together, E was pretty good at sniffing out any Zombie Drones, even if they might have been trying to hide -- Niney taught her all kinds of neat tricks for that!

Chaos had plenty of time and safety to tend to each of the shutters. Soon enough he calls out to her again, asking if she could scan for all the Drones. She turns to him and thinks it over for a moment.

"I think so!"

With that, she closes her eyes -- reflected as such on her visor, then she opens them and they seem to be glowing just a little bit more than usual. She all around at the walls, the floor, and the ceiling.

"Hmm... I think they're all safe! I'm seeing a lot of them hiding!"

Maybe that also meant that the attacks were over.

"Where would you like to go, boss? I wanna do a clean sweep of the entire ship to make sure none of those zombies are still around!"

E then asks, while also explaining what she intended to do next.

---

Well, at least things were getting quieter on the ship now. Lizzy had plenty of time to go snooping into these little goodies that she found. That cash box tough to open, but not impossible. Though instead of finding anything juicy like she expected, it was just a bunch of notes and maps. Locations of the different Bunkers on Copper 9, and some different schematics and sketches.

Although... Kinda weird that this was on the ship. Did any of the Humans have the time to write this stuff down after getting into the bunker Lizzy was from? She thought that over, but the timing didn't seem to quite make sense.

She folds the papers back up and slips them into the little cash box. Then she stands up and looks over at the door... Now technically, Doll did say to wait until she came back. So, Lizzy decides to take a seat on that chest and decides to wait. Either Doll would come and get her or someone else would.

In the meantime, she pulls out her phone and begins to type up a text.

"Found some interesting stuff in here. Think those tricks of yours would work on a keypad lock?"

She sent the message to Doll, and with nothing much else to do, she decides to browse the internet for a bit.

---

Aegis's eyes widened when she realized that this thing had another trick up it's sleeve after all! Just like the previous two times, she began to run calculations on what she could do as she saw those countless hands burst forth and rain towards Karasu.

She didn't even get to running the numbers before she heard Ray's voice. Bright light shines down on the monster, and it's desperate bid begins to burn away; becoming ash in the wind. Then there was no time for hesitation! She could get him through attack at this point! But just like before, she didn't even get to her analysis before Ray called out for Uzi next.

A brilliant green beam of light engulfs the Subjugator Gargoyle's arm, effectively removing the drill hand as an obstacle. The beast straightens out, intending to use the wings it had next. But J's timely intervention meant that even that had been removed as an option! Aegis couldn't believe it. Everyone was coming together to make sure that this final blow would strike it's mark.

And it sure did hit dead center, just like she planned to begin with! As they fell from the sky, the creature still managed to find strength to resist; but it was too little, too late. It couldn't regenerate fast enough to stop this, and it couldn't reach him with it's jaws.

Neither Aegis nor Karasu had any words to give to the monster at this point. Then came the final impact against the surface! That was more than enough force for Karasu to finally cleave through the shell entirely and damage the core!

Aegis used her abilities to protect him as much as she could. The creature took the brunt of the impact, but he undoubtedly still needed assistance... And as the snow and debris begins to settle, Karasu was on his knees, catching his breath after exerting himself as much as he did. Unfortunately, the creature didn't stay down for long. Just how ridiculously tough was this thing?


It laughed with a broken voice, raising the badly damaged limb -- more of a stump than an arm at this point -- and an ominous pin-prick of darkness formed, before slowly expanding. It began sending out a callback ping, and Aegis looked around as she saw the hundreds of Zombie Drones approaching, responding to the callback ping and forming their own voids, quickly adding to the mass that was growing before them.

The Subjugator Gargoyle was soon swallowed, and Aegis began to act, running everything she could through Karasu's suit.

"Get up, Raven! You have to move!"

She began to move the armor for him, getting him onto his feet and using the boosters to try and get him away from the pull of the void.

Those precious few seconds ended up making all the difference. Off in a forgotten facility in Copper 9, a Drone not from this time worked quickly.

"C'mon, c'mon...!"

It was typing furiously into a terminal. She wouldn't get another chance like this, not without having to start over again! But finally she finishes the command string and presses enter.

A machine whirs to life...

"Callback ping."

That's right... That Subjugator Gargoyle gave her the perfect opening!

Bouncing across the planet until it made contact with the Zombie Drones surrounding Karasu and the expanding black hole.

"ANUBIS System activated."

A flash of light engulfs Karasu, whisked away through time and space, beyond the reach of the void.

Aegis found herself thrown back into the nearest home vessel; the ship.

"What... What happened?"

She shakes off her stupor.

"No, no... Keep it together, Aegis."

She took a deep breath, more of a symbolic gesture than anything else.

"Think... If the others find out the Captain vanished, they're going to panic..."

And so, she put her desperate plan into action. She would need to craft a convincing lie. She could find him again! Then it would all work out!

After giving E some well earned headpats, I could really tell she appreciate them. ...Perhaps way too much. "Hope you are not serious, E..." If she is ever confused what I mean, I try to brush it off. "...Nevermind E, lets continue on." If she overheats over the idea about being headpatted, I am worried what will happen if she'll have her hands held or if someone decided to peak up there.

E quickly scanned our environment and it turns out all drones is safely hiding out of harms way. "Good, I am glad they are all safe."

"Lets do what you want E." I said, replying to her. "I want the ship to be cleared of any remaining zombie drones. Then we'd dont need to worry about anyone else getting hurt."

With that, I followed E as she continued hers onslaught on those zombie drones. "Hopefully I can meet up with the rest. I wonder what Uzi and J is alright." Frankly, I was worried about them. It seems like hours since I last saw J and Uzi and Im not sure if they are alright. While they are tough and can handle themselves, I am still afraid to loose anyone.

Uzi pumped her fist, grinned at Ray. ”Booya! Now that was a successful first test! Did you see that things hand just explode?! Robo-god, we’re awesome as hell!”

Uzi wasn’t one for sappy emotions. But even she felt her heartstrings pulled when she saw Ray hugging V like that. Now Uzi understood: between this and what she heard them doing earlier, it was plain and obvious.

”This is love. These two love each other.”

Uzi had never seen this before. She grew up with a single parent. And that was a tumultuous relationship at best. Was this what her father had felt for her mother? Was this what it was like for them? Uzi never felt so jealous in her life before. What would her life had been like if she grew up with parents this close?

Uzi looked over at Thad as a message went across his screen. She then looked back over at the two. She didn’t say anything, but she did look directly at V when she stopped hugging Ray and crossed her arms. Uzi gave V a shit eating grin. One could practically hear Uzi going “I’m not letting you forget this anytime soon”


Then Ray threw up all over the floor. She didn’t know anything about human biology, so she didn’t know if something serious was happening.

”RAY!”

Uzi shouted, practically tripping over in a panic as she ran over to the human. She put a hand on his shoulder, looking at him with worry.

”Are you okay?!”

---

Doll got a notification on her phone. She managed to climb to her feet. Right now wasn’t a good time to check it: she would return inside first.

---

Doll opened her phone when she got inside. She immediately sent a message back. ”On my way”

She made her way to Cloris’s room, walking a little gingerly. She still felt a little overheated from exerting herself. She hugged Lizzy the moment she made it. Lizzy would be able to feel how hot she was. She backed up slightly, looking over at the box. Then she looked back at Lizzy, staring into her girlfriend’s eyes.

”Mozhet li otkrytiye etoy korobki podozhdat'? Mne nuzhno otdokhnut', prezhde chem ya snova ispol'zuyu svoyu silu.”

[“Can opening that box wait? I need to rest before I use my power again.”]

As it turns out, V wasn't the only one that was happy! Ray soon lets his emotions show in a much larger way as he calls her name and then proceeds to lift her up in a big hug. The Disassembly Drone was surprised by this, especially since it was in front of the others -- but it was hard not to let her own emotions show as well...

She ends up returning the hug.

"Nah, they didn't even get the chance. They're just sneaky and tried attacking the ship while we were busy."

She looks over at Uzi, and her eyes are replaced by text:
"Shut it, Narc!"

Still... For as much as she was enjoying this reunion, it became pretty clear that he was deeply troubled too; his hands were shaking so much! As he finally lowers her to the ground, he takes a step back as it worsens.

Her eyes widened when he suddenly fell over and began to vomit. Thad began to awkwardly excuse himself, and Uzi openly expresses her concern. As for V? She froze only for a moment before she hurries over to his other side.

"I don't think Humans are supposed to do that! What happened?!"
She lifts her head to look at Uzi and then points at her.

"You! Tell me what happened!"

Fortunately, there was about to be an explanation as a familiar hologram appears; Aegis!

"Don't worry! All of the Humans are pretty shaken after this... It's the adrenaline, it's wearing off."

The girl soon continues;

"To be honest, even the Captain was affected by it. I managed to get him back to the ship and into his quarters. I'll be monitoring his vital signs and if anything happens, I'll notify everyone."

---

As J straightens out, she spies Doll on the deck of the ship. She arches a brow, wondering why and how a Worker Drone was out here during all of that -- but she lets it go for now as the purple-haired Drone returns to the inside. Not long afterwards, N landed next to her in order to let out a victorious cheer.

"The hell is-"

She was about to ask about 'Humandrones', right as N then proceeds to talk about needing a team name. J sighs, shaking her head.

"Sometimes I wonder about you, N."

Still... Now that everything had been settled and she could think clearly, there was one thing she DEFINITELY wanted to check on now;

"I'm heading inside to check on Chaos."

With that, she begins to walk towards the same entrance that Doll used earlier...

---

E tilts her head slightly as Chaos comments his hope that she isn't serious -- but she sure was! Headpats were great! Especially from Humans! But he soon moves on and also expresses relief over the fact that the Drones are alright. And contrary to what she was thinking, he's perfectly willing to accompany her on her patrols too.

"Okie dokie!"

E starts to lead the way, carefully checking every nook, cranny and vent on the ship. She even checked the closets, storage containers -- she was thorough! Whether she found a Zombie Drone or a Solver Core trying to hide and bide it's time, she quickly dealt with it and kept the search going.

But most of the ship was pretty quiet by now. Eventually, they run into J.

"Ah, there you are!"

J proceeds over to Chaos and looks him over, seemingly inspecting him for any injuries.

"Good! Looks like you're alright. I'd say we led a very successful operation!"

J straightens out, pleased that there were good results despite the messy battle. Her smirk does fade a little as E chimes in with;

"Heck yeah! I was all like woosh! Shing! And they went "aaaa, nooo!"
Then the ship started spinning really, really fast!"

E smiles as she relays her... "Report" to J, staring at her excitedly.

The twin-tailed Disassembly Drone blinks, and then she sighs heavily.

"Dear robo-god, there are two of them now."

J remarks, prompting E to bring a finger to her own chin as she tilts her head in confusion. There was a second E? That's pretty weird! Oh, but it could be exciting too!

"Can I meet the second E?!"

She asks, and J rolls her eyes in response.

"Suuuure. Go look for the other Disassembly Drone in a hat. She's named N."

E gives an excited nod and starts to run off -- though she does spin around and run back briefly in order to say;

"By the way. Do headpats get you propagernate?"

She asks, staring directly at J. The twin-tailed Disassembly Drone just stares back, completely dumbfounded. E didn't see anything wrong with this, she had to spend some time thinking about difficult questions too!

That's what she thought was going on here.

---

After a little bit of a wait, Lizzy got a reply from Doll. Without even realizing it, she felt like she could... Well, okay, not breathe easier because Drones don't NEED to breathe. But she felt less stressed.

"Huh. We use a lot of Human sayings that don't really make sense for us."

She mused to no one in particular, since she was still alone in the room. Though not for long! When the door opens, Doll manages to step inside and almost immediately she hugs Lizzy. She was happy to reciprocate the gesture of course -- but wow, she felt genuinely hot to the touch right now.

As Doll takes a step back, Lizzy couldn't help but comment on that:

"Okay, you've always been hot, but this time you're literally hot to the touch. Are you okay?"

Lizzy asks, hell it wasn't just that, there was also the fact that Doll didn't seem quite as confident as before. Maybe she was overthinking it, but it was almost like Doll was struggling to keep her balance right now. The purple-haired Drone asks if the box can wait since she needs to rest.

"Oh, yeah. I'm curious about it but you take priority."

She waves that off. She glances around, and then leans in close to whisper quietly to Doll;

"Do you need oil? I'm pretty sure I heard fighting in the ship, so I might be able to sneak some without anyone noticing."

Yeah, it'd look a little suspicious if she was spotted with anything, but she could just say that she was getting a headstart on some cleaning. If they saw Doll struggling like this, it'd look a lot stranger. Plus... You know, sometimes Doll had urges that were difficult to resist.

Yeah, Lizzy had seen that enough times. She was helping her out with all of this for years, after all.

---

The Drone finally collapses back into the chair.

"Holy crap it worked!"

And then she pumps her fist excitedly.

"Yes! First change in the timeline verified!"
She does dial it down a little at this point, just drinking it all in.

"Well... The Humans probably aren't as excited about all of this. Sorry, guys. It's the only way we're gonna be able to stop Absolute Solver, though."

She stands up from the chair, putting her hands on her hips as she looks over at the massive machine that she had to personally repair, modify, and then use.

"Sure is weird that I keep talking to myself, but I'm sure I'll get out of that habit when I can meet up with people!"

After everything was done and finish, I gave a sigh of relief. "You did good E. Here's more headpats" I gave her more headpats.

Finally we see a familiar outline, it was J!

"J!" I said as I run towards her. "Glad you are safe!" I responded to her as I hugged her.

I gave her a quick kiss, then relayed what we did in the ship. Not once did I told her that I hid in a closet. "I was not worried in one bit, J! Knew you'd make it out safely. We did, J! Me and E saved any worker drone we came across, and killed every zombie drone on this ship!" I said to her, still in mid-hug. "And at not at one point I was ever scared."

Soon, E departs, but turns around to ask one question. I look at J in confusion. "...All I did was give her some headpats..."

"But anyways! J, what happened? Are you alright? Is everyone else alright? ...Is Uzi alright? You gotta tell me everything!"

Uzi continued grinning at V. Words flashed across her Visor. ”You’ll be seeing plenty more of this smile, stinky.”

After that she did stop smiling. Especially after Ray collapsed. She bristled when V demanded what happened.

”Why are you acting like it’s my fault?! I saved him from a bunch of zombies, we made our way up here, he smashed open a window and I blasted that creature!”

Fortunately Aegis explained as to what could be going on. Uzi gently grasped Ray’s hand and helped him up when he held out his hand. Uzi frowned at Ray.

”Ray, you’re getting some rest. Aegis can do a quick diagnostic. We haven’t crashed, so we aren’t in any hurry to fix things. You just threw up for Robo-sake!”

Then Ray turned to V and asked her to teach him how to fight. She blinked, then she gave Ray a little smirk. ”Asking V to give you an anime style training arc. You’ve got style Ray.”

---

Doll opened her mouth to say that she was fine. But Lizzy would see through that. She didn’t want to tell her about the full scope of the programs influence: that another mind was vying for control. Right now she wanted to keep Lizzy in the know, but odmit certain details. Doll reached up and rubbed her forehead.

”YA ne znayu. YA nikogda ne zastavlyal sebya tak sil'no, kak segodnya.”

[“I don't know. I've never pushed myself as hard as I did today.”]

Doll was grateful to have Lizzy by her side. She had intended on going on things alone. She wondered what her life would be like if she actually had gone on that self-imposed exile. Doll couldn’t imagine it would have been a pleasant life. She nodded at Lizzy, whispering back to her.

”Bud' ostorozhen, ladno?”

[“Be careful, okay?”]

"I don't know if it's your fault or not, but you're the one that's spent the most time with him aside from the one standing over there!"

V points at Thad, who is probably very glad that he's opted to stand a fair distance away. Still, at least the Disassembly Drone does ease up as Ray explains the situation briefly -- and Aegis's elaboration on top of that gets V to settle down entirely.

"Good..."
That's what V had to say in response. She wasn't the biggest experts on Humans, so learning that he was definitively okay meant a lot to her.

As for Aegis... She felt bad about lying. But everyone was so messed up right now -- they needed a breather. And if she finds Karasu, then it's no harm, no foul! Still, in light of just how much stress Ray was under right now, she also couldn't ignore that he was trying to get straight back into work, either...

Uzi was the first one to chime up about it, and V also mirrored the sentiment;

"No more work for now. You need rest."

And one got the sense that the Disassembly Drone was ready to carry him back to his bedroom if it came down to it... Aegis decided to take a more measured response for this.

"Uzi and V are right, Ray. The Worker Drones and I can handle things, and there aren't any critical errors on the ship. We're fine. Let it sink in."

After Aegis said that, V would help Ray over to the wall that he intended to lean on for support, and soon after he turns his attention to her, and both praises her abilities, and asks for training... He wanted to learn how to fight? The Disassembly Drone was a little worried; she'd put up a very convincing facade. Truth was, she was just as scared out of her mind about a lot of things...

But she knew this was important to him, too. He was right, he did need to learn how to take care of himself. She would always do everything she can to support him, and this was nonetheless a crucial step in doing just that.

Of course, Uzi had to comment on it in her usual fashion. V rolls her eyes briefly, before turning her focus towards Ray once more.

"Well, it'll be my first time teaching someone... But I'll try my best."

She replies; she much preferred the idea of handling all of the dangerous stuff herself. But this battle was proof that it wasn't very realistic. There were going to be situations when he had to fend for himself. Even setting this aside, he also had the tendency to charge straight into dangerous situations.

She gives him a slightly worried expression as she thinks all of this over... If this was what it was going to be like, then he was absolutely right about needing this. He couldn't afford not to learn how.
The worry in her face vanishes as she gives him a small smile.

"But only when Aegis gives you a clean bill of health. You take it easy until then."

---

"Sure, N. I'll look forward to it at our next company meeting."
J replies sarcastically -- although this time around it had a fair bit less bite than usual.

Her fellow Disassembly Drone waves goodbye and tells her to have fun with her boyfriend. Normally you'd expect J to give a snappy comeback at this point. But after all of this? A mini-vacation didn't sound so bad.

"Yeah."

She replied, leaving N with her thoughts, and investigations...

---

Gosh! Even more headpats! This was the most that E had ever gotten in such a short span of time! She really liked this boss. He was really kind to her.

"Heehee! I'll keep it up, then!"

Soon after that, Chaos spots J and runs over to her to give her a big hug. He also follows it up with a quick kiss, two actions that J herself reciprocates, smiling afterwards.

"Of course! Like I said, I am a true professional."

And soon thereafter, J listens intently as Chaos explains everything that happened on his side of things. Whether he was embellishing it or not, she was impressed. It took a lot of effort for a Human to step up for anything like this.

"You know what? You handled yourself so well that I might need to start your employee training sooner than expected!"

Ahh, but then came the big whammy. E asked a question that caused both J and Chaos to look at her in confusion. Eventually he admits that all he did was give her headpats. J clears her throat.

"I assume you mean 'pregnant'?"

E then gives a nod.
"Yeah! That funny word!"

The twin-tailed Disassembly Drone couldn't believe what she was hearing. But at this point, she just didn't have it in her to even try to get angry. The battle was over, and according to everything she heard, E kept Chaos perfectly safe. So...

"You don't have to worry about that."
J replies, and E ponders it for a moment.

Eventually the drone in a top hat nods.
"Okie dokie!"

With that, E finally runs off. Eventually she's able to get a look out the window to see a familiar blinking light. She focuses on it for a moment, and then realizes that it's from Niney!

"Aww. I think you'd like it here too, Niney."
She remarks with a smile. She'd love to be able to send a message back, but unfortunately she didn't have any means to do so immediately on hand.

Well, that was okay. She'd just have to meet up with her later!

And as for J and Chaos... The scientist was quick to ask how much J knew about everyone else. The twin-tailed Disassembly Drone begins to give her response;

"I'm perfectly fine. We took out every single enemy. I haven't had the time to check up on everyone else just yet, but I heard Ray and Uzi earlier, they helped take down a particularly nasty monster."

---

Lizzy could already tell that Doll was going to try to say that she was fine -- she was very clearly NOT fine, though. It was so obvious that it seems the purple-haired Drone realizes this before she can even muster up the same excuse. It probably helped that Lizzy was giving her a skeptical expression too. Fortunately, Doll decides to come clean, even if only in part.

"Yeah, I had a feeling you were going to be pushing yourself, after what you did earlier."

Lizzy responds, at least grateful for the fact that Doll was admitting this much. Hell, she even goes a step further and accepts Lizzy's help! The blonde Drone smiles and nods.

"Wanna stay in here, then? I'll go grab some stuff and bring it back for you."

She offered, and once they had a plan of what to do -- whether Doll wanted to stay here or if she needed a bit of help moving to some other area, Lizzy would accommodate that. Then it was time for her to go exploring the ship to find some parts and oil.

Just as she thinks about how it might take a bit, she rounds a corner to see complete carnage in one of the hallways.

"... Wow."

Okay, easiest mission ever. Lizzy opens a closet, getting out a bucket and a mop. All she had to do was pretend that she was just cleaning up some of the mess, and no one would really bat an eye. So that was precisely what she did, collecting Drone limbs and depositing them into the bucket, along with some generous heaps of oil.

Once filled, she would begin to take them back to the meeting point with Doll. She was whistling as though she was in the middle of her work, just on her way to get rid of some excess and get back to it.

Eventually she meets back up with Doll, bringing more than enough for a meal -- at least she hoped, anyway.

"Here you go. It's fresh... I think."

It was kind of hard to tell because Lizzy didn't have an appetite like this. But at the very least it should make a dent in the problems that Doll is facing right now...

---

As for N... When she peered over the edge of the ship, the clouds were partially obscuring what was below, but even from this distance it was easy to see the newly formed crater, left over from the Subjugator Gargoyle's desperate last bid to take out Humanity's Resolve.

So that left one to wonder... Was that really the end of the battle? Could be worth checking to make sure!

"...Are you serious J? Really? You'd be my higher up... and..." from my experience, dating in the workspace isnt as favorable as it sounds. This is why I chose to date Aperture's CEO's Daughter rather than someone in the company. However... I'll make an exception for J. "It'll be hot." I blurted out. Dating in the workplace? Fucking your higher up? The highest form of forbidden love.

"...Where'd E thought that? That "Niney" person must've been telling her some weird stuff. Really hope she doesnt tell N about any of that, or else N would actually believe it and get pregnant."

"Just glad you are okay, J. I know you are tough, but I still worry. Lets catch up with the others. Im sure they're fine but I'd like to make sure."

Before we leave, I look at the mess we caused. "...I dont want to be the guy who has to clean up all this mess." I said to myself.

"I heard Uzi's railgun go off, but I have no clue where. Theyre probably heading back inside now though"