Murder Drones: Born from ashes

Chapter 1 : Repair Job

Rain fell from the sky over the bunker. The only sounds that could be heard was the occasional howling wind and the faint groan of tools on machinery. This bunker is the most isolated area on Copper 9. Uzi slouched towards the mirror, her eyes tired from being open. A dark purple jacket laid on her shoulder, a striped beanie sat on her head, concealing most of her hair. The radio next to the sink was on, the time read off the digital clock. It then crackled to life as Uzi trudged to the dining room, joints creaked at the slightest movement, her mind a haze.

A tired voice came on the radio "Good evening survivors of Copper 9. This is your host speaking, it is April 10th, 2041. It has been 8 years since the Long Pause has begun. We are experiencing the warmest weather we have ever had since 2039...". Uzi slumped in her chair and stared at the pot defrosting a small pool of oil. She looked around the house. They haven't taken a family photo for awhile... maybe they should- the pot began to whistle. Uzi opened the pot and a cloud of steam hit the drone's visor. The oil was hot enough to melt right through her shell, lubricating her parts would just have to wait. She groaned and headed for the door.

The town was mostly quiet, the faint whirring of drills echoed through the town. Passing by the school she heard the faint talking of a teacher about the three doors protecting them from the monsters, now dubbed "Murder Drones". Uzi never bothered to walk into the class ever since the Long Pause. What she knew was from the preaching from one of the radio stations. They were vampiric stalky creatures that only lived to kill. Their blood bled into the systems of their victims, driving them mad with the insatiable lust to kill. Their pale metal skin always grew back thanks to the nanomachines that made them so volatile to begin with. Most had wings and tails, animalistic features that contrasted heavily with their uniforms of a black and yellow color scheme, which had quickly become the new symbol of fascism. There had been signs that they were perhaps human, but she never believed in those rumors, she saw what they could do, she saw what they did to Mom. Her job was risky, but it was better than having to be near Khan.

Thad hung from the ceiling, tightening the bolts on one of the doors, his sports clothing discarded for a gray coat which blended into the steel walls. Drones hung from ceilings, scaffoldings hugged the wall, elevating other workers maintaining pistons and wiring. A few different drones laid back against the wall. Their broken parts were being replaced by amateur repair drones.

Thad looked down to see Uzi finally arrive. "About damn time." he muttered under his breath. The worker rappelled down onto the floor.

"Good to see you, the network is down, Mr. Doorman said only you knew how it was wired. You know how it is, no connection, and the whole world thinks we're dead." Thad explained. The doors began to open, sirens blared from the speakers caution lights flickered on, changing the chambers into an orange hue. Thad waited for a response from Uzi who remained silent, he frowned. Like many others, Thad had lost his youthful bravado, what remained was a drone who remained perpetually exhausted with fear and uncertainty.

"Alright, I know it's dangerous at night out there, here..." Thad paused to reach into his inner pocket, pulling out a handgun, a Bren Ten, its age really showed from the wear on the edges of the gun. Before Thad could even speak, Uzi snatched the gun from his hand. The drone walked out into the rainy night, the doors closing behind her.

"You're welcome, prick..." grunted Thad.

-

Uzi felt the cold specks of water hitting her body, there was something satisfying about it all. She took in her surroundings, the large destroyed battleships surrounded her, she liked to imagine what their purpose was before being put here. Thousands of concrete buildings laid off in the distance. She began moving, her clothes became sopping wet, feeling like a second layer of skin, in addition to the occasional creaking of her body making the trek outside more unbearable.

She finally reached the ladder leading her to the top. Droplets of rain hit her visor, she had to constantly pause to wipe the specks off only for the water in her jacket to rub off onto her. Reaching the top, she saw piles of clutter and dead bodies littering the roof. At the center a makeshift satellite above. Uzi remembered when it was Vivian's job to repair the satellite. Uzi felt tense, her processors thinking of everything that could go wrong. She flipped open the left side of her chest, bringing out Thad's handgun. She aimed with one hand, pointing at the dead drones as she traversed the rooftop. Each dead body told their own story, limbs were missing, visors busted or removed, chests opened and cannibalized for wires and chips. Water spilled from the openings of these dead drones. A rusted turret sat behind piles of worn out sandbags. The parts were long since taken, it was more decorative in a twisted way.

Finally reaching the satellite, Uzi took out her wrench. The reflected surface caught the reflection of her purple eyes. Khan gave it to her a year back, that was probably the last time they had a proper conversation. She removed the bolts keeping the circuitry box shut and peered inside. The box was missing multiple wires. Uzi's weariness suddenly transformed into worry, someone was here before her, she had to work fast. Reaching into her side panel for her tools, her work was cut short as she heard someone groan.

"H-hel-p...pl-please..." moaned a voice weakly, Uzi turned towards the sound, under a pile of dead drones, a trader crawled out.

"What are...*cough* you doing...? H-help.." the Trader sputtered. The trader dragged his body further revealing that his lower half was missing. His visor was flickering, half full with rain water. Another drone got up from the pile, before collapsing due to the lack of a foot.

Uzi's body went cold, she saw a yellow glint flash off in the distance before a loud bang of a rifle echoed through the wastelands. *CRACK* the crawling trader stopped dead in his tracks.

A appeared in his chest, right into his motherboard. Uzi ducked down behind the satellite as she felt a huge wave of water kick up and flow in front of her.

"Holy shit! You got him!" a feminine voice exclaimed.

"Remember what we came here for" said a monotone voice "the sooner we're out of here the better."

Uzi peered behind the satellite and saw 3 Murder Drones their bright amber strip of lights on their forehead giving them away. One sat in the rain, seemingly cleaning his rifle in a slow and romantic manner, he was devoid of any clothing. The second was more feminine, her body wrapped in scraps of oil stained garments and a pair of wings folded up behind her. The third was wearing a gray leather coat sporting a yellow armband, he was probably the leader.

The Murder Drones separated, their footsteps sporadically becoming louder and fainter. "H-help..." groaned the last trader drone, the third Murder Drone kneeled down next to the crippled trader. Uzi took aim with the pistol, the gun shook in her hand. He caressed his face before pulling a machete from his back.

"Look! N's gonna kill!" said the second drone, perched upon a pile of dead drones like a cat. The tactical pistol shook in her hand, she wanted to shoot, why couldn't she do it? N muttered something before plunging his machete into his dying victim's chest, he sputtered for a few moments before the lights in his visor faded out.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" chanted the perched drone. "Quiet V, that's enough." ordered the monotone voice.

"H, go take V somewhere else." The Murder Drone disassembled his rifle and stashed it into the containers on his thighs. V sat on H's shoulders. Her wings folded open and the two lifted off into the night sky.

Rain water splashed onto N. Uzi finally built the courage to do it, her finger joints creaked and tried to pull the trigger, but it didn't fire.

The commander got up and turned his head, right at the Worker Drone. "You have the safety on, don't bother trying. You got 10 minutes. Start Running."

Uzi stashed away the pistol and ran along the edges of the roof. She slid down and began pushing the pager's buttons. "Come on... let me in..." she whispered. The camera on the wall zoomed on her. The doors creaked open, she slipped in as they closed again.

The flashing amber lights gave her comfort as the door behind her closed and the ones in front of her opened. Uzi walked through the door and handed the now wet Bren Ten to Thad. The other worker drones turned away from their work to see the soaked drone. Maybe dealing with her father was better.