Lovable N || N x Harem

Chapter 2

The storms of Copper-9 could get extremely dangerous at times, even to the point where the resident disassembly squad had to take refuge somewhere to wait it out. The nuclear storms that scraped the planet's surface contained a special energy that messed with their systems and disturbed the nanites within them. The risk of flying out in such a hazard was not worth it.

Tonight was one of those nights, where the clouds in the sky grew tenfold and darkened till they blended with the unlit vastness of space, where the winds picked up speed and acted as a warning to those who heard and felt it, a telltale sign of what was to come. From where J sat in her pod, her audio receptors could pick up the howls of the wind, how it grew in intensity and how it was accompanied by the explosions of lightning. She ignored it, keeping her attention on the screen in front of her. Reports weren't gonna write themselves.

Her fingers were fast, almost terrifyingly so. They were like blurs, moving at such a pace that couldn't be perceived by the human eye. She was so engrossed in her work that she almost didn't hear the opening of the pod door, and the light footsteps that followed.

J was an analyst. When and wherever possible, analysing and critical thinking was something J tried to apply. Didn't matter how insignificant or pointless something was, she analysed it regardless, for it was part of who she was. The sound of the footsteps were no exception to this. J hummed in thought, carefully probing her mind for a memory of a similar sound, and when she found it, the corner of her lips tugged down slightly. The intruder to her little work sanctuary was none other than the team's very own psychopath: V.

She turned in her chair, eyes meeting the neutral expression of V, who leaned against the doorway with her arms crossed. Why she was here, J had no idea, but as long as she didn't disturb her from work, she had no real problem with it. She turned back around, continuing with typing until she was interrupted again by V suddenly appearing next to her, staring at the screen.

"Watcha doin'?"

J immediately recoiled, pulling back slightly with a startled grasp. V was always like this, so unnerving, so unfocused, so unpredictable. One minute she could be calmly resting on the doorway, the next she could be right in your face without you ever hearing her move in the first place. Despite her best efforts to analyse her, V was always a mystery to J, she could never understand what went through that mental processor of a brain, if there even was one in that head of hers. It seemed like most of the time all she thought about was killing.

"Sweet robo-jesus," J said quickly. V eyed her and cackled. Her voice was sweet yet sour, warm yet cold, sounded silky and safe when the owner was a dangerous weapon of destruction. The contrast was uncanny.

"Something wrong?" V said with a sneer.

J caught the look V sent her. It was a jibe, a mock at her usual composed demeanour. J silently slapped herself in her head for showing such an emotion in front of what was possibly the most angering and unpredictable drone. "Yeah," J replied, after a second, catching her breath, "your head."

V laughed at the verbal jab, not denying it. "Haven't even been in the room for a minute, yet already throwing insults?" Her mouth opened in a wide, ear splitting grin. "I haven't even done anything wrong. How very un-leader-like of you."

J grinded her teeth together with slowly building anger. V always knew juuuust the right way to get under her metaphorical skin. She knew which buttons to press to get her mad, and V pressed all the buttons at the same time, repeatedly.

J growled, not going to take the slander towards her. "Considering how I've put up with you and the other corporate screw up for years, I think I'm a pretty damn good leader."