Murder Drones Stories/Oneshots

Problems (Uzi/N)

Requested by MasterClass60 on Ao3. I took a Valentine's day twist on it.
Takes place after the pilot, but before episode two.
Happy Valentine's Day!!! I went a bit into the origin of the day-
Proofread ✓

"Damn it!" A yell resounded through the corpse spire. 

N turned around, looking back to the landing pod with concern. Uzi was in there working on her railgun, but refused any help N offered; not like he would've known what to do to help if she had accepted his offer. 

N's eyebrows creased and his lips pressed together to form a thin line. N set down paper and pencils. He'd taken to drawing now that the resources were available to him. He took the current drawing and hid it at the bottom of the cardboard box where he kept his drawing supplies, wincing at the scene he'd drawn. 

There were many bright and happy drawings strung along the wall, but sometimes he'd just space out and draw something dark. He kept all the dark and scary drawings at the bottom of the box so nobody would see- or be angry with him. He wasn't sure why anyone would be angry with him, but he felt... guilty... for drawing those things.

The one he just put in the box was a drawing of J kicking him out of the squad for not meeting the kill quota, and his oil drenching the snow as he bled out slowly. Sometimes he just needed to get these memories onto paper, even though he didn't know why. N wondered if he'd be like J if he ever forgot the pain of his past. 

N snapped out of his head, prying his hand off his arm. He hadn't noticed he was gripping his arm as he stared off. He took a step towards the pod, putting on his best smile; only to be blown backwards onto his back by an explosion. 

"FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!" He heard Uzi yell over the ringing in his sensors. 

N blinked a few times, gathering himself mentally. He sat up frantically and scanned the surroundings for Uzi. Then his scanner protocol found her, his systems having tagged her as "Zi." N scrambled through the snow to where she'd been flung out of the pod and held her in his arms as he sat on his knees.

Her screen read:
"Booting up. . .
. . .
System error 404
Oil level critical
ErroR
Solver=true
. . .
Booting up in safe mode. . .
. . .
Protocol override.
Rebooting 'Uzi Doorman'
File 99% upload
. . .
Reboot success."

Purple lights flickered on her screen and N brushed Uzi's hair out of her face. N hugged Uzi close, relief flooding his systems. He had no idea what he would've done if that had been the end of his Uz- if that had been the end of Uzi. He couldn't lose, her; especially not today. He had something important to tell her today.

"N, you're smothering me." Uzi mumbled, her voice muffled by N's coat. 

N pulled away, embarrassed. Uzi didn't move from his lap though, and he could've sworn she was blushing. Maybe his plan would go well?

"What was that?" N cried, brushing smudged oil off of Uzi's cheek. She looked nice, even after going through an explosion. Her sensors had been reset, so he hoped she could hear him. 

"Well, for one thing, you're being unnecessarily loud." Uzi huffed, but N felt like he could barely hear her. "And for another, that was my railgun. It overheated and I tried to fix it, but it exploded when I tested it. V is just we lucky we moved her out of the pod before I exploded everything."

N stared at his... friend... in disbelief. Uzi grimaced, rolling up her sleeve carefully and looking at a large gash gushing oil to the point it had soaked her sleeve. N's eyed hollowed. He licked his thumb and rubbed it across the cut, feeling guilty when she winced.