Murder Drones extended AU: Episode 1

Episode 3: Strange Podfellows

[Opens with N flashback same as original. N awakes and crashes into the ground below.]

The murder drones stares at his clawed hand with a mix of sadness and confusion. He hears some clanging from inside the pod.

Uzi has taken off part of the control panel and is taking inventory of all its damaged components. As she marks down the parts, a glowing syringe comes into view behind her. Uzi notices it at the last minute and dodges out of the way, causing the tail to pierce into part of the control panel. Uzi turns to glare at V, who is reclining on one of the chairs, a chain around her neck connecting to the floor.

"Oops. My bad." V chimes smugly.

Uzi looks back at the control panel, seeing a good portion of it now dissolved away from the nanite acid. Uzi puts her hands on her head and groans in frustration. "Now look what you did! That was one of the things that wasn't wrecked!" She reels back at V, who seems quite satisfied with herself. "You know I can wipe that smile off your face real quick with my railgun."

V's grin widens, displaying her jagged fangs. "It's adorable that you think you'd even get the chance to aim it."

There is the sound of the hatch opening and N enters the pod. "Hey guys. How are things gooooo-"

He trails off as he is met with glares from both women. Uzi then rolls her eyes and grabs the list, adding a few additions at the end before handing it to N. "Whoever landed this thing really did a number on it. These are all the components that are needed to get the basic power and computer systems back online.

N takes the list and begins skimming it. "New control panel dashboard?" He looks up, noticing the now completely corroded left dash and winces. "Riiiight. Well, I'm sure some of these we can find just outside. You'd be amazed at all the parts that fall off of the...uh...corpses."

Uzi starts off with a flat look, but there is a brief moment where she glances away, her expression more disturbed before she resumes her unbothered demeanor. "I can gather what's needed around the ship. I could use the fresh air." Glances over at V, who returns her own look of contempt. "In the meantime, you can look for everything that's not so easy to find in a corpse wall."

N glances down at the list again, doubt stirring in his mind once more. "Say we do manage to get the ship fixed? Where are we going to go?"

Uzi pauses, taken off-gaurd by the question and unsure of the answer. Instead, V eagerly chimes in."Right back to where we came from of course! I'm sure the company will be thrilled to see we abandoned our mission just to give your pet oil can a joyride. That won't end badly for anyone."

N looks at Uzi, apologetic doubt written on his visor He takes another look at the list before turning to climb back out. "I'll go scout around for some of the bigger stuff. I think I remember there being old power switching station not too far from here. Try not to kill each other while I'm gone." He chuckles nervously, seeing both women are looking decidedly away from each other.

—-------

The scene switches to Khan staring at the the wall of his room, bearing an assortment of certificates, personal pieces and various door-related paraphinillia. In his hands he is holding burned family picture of him holding uzi. His eyes trail towards the dissolved part of the photo, which once contained his wife. He turn the picture over, revealing writing ont he back:

'As many doors as it takes between them and us."

—-------

Riding the cold night winds outside the bunker, N is going over Uzi's list. Each item read is copied line by line to a digital checklist displayed on his visor. His gaze drifts from the list to the ground below, and his sensors automatically tracks several worker drone footprints of various patterns all converging towards the steel bunker doors. A marker flashes in his internal display locked on the doors:

'MULTIPLE TARGETS AT LOCATION: 90% PROBABILITY. STRUCTURAL VULNERABILITIES DETECTED.HIGH YIELD ENGAGEMENT OUTCOME. IMMEDIATE STRIKE ADVISED.'

His visor display flickers to the yellow cross for a split second before pulling his gaze back and shaking his head. He continues his route towards the abandoned substation. Once there, he lands on the side of the main building and crawls into the inside via a broken window.

The substation is pretty typical for what one would expect after being abandoned for years. Much of the original power grid had been disconnected by the worker drones as they did not need to power much beyond their bunker. N begins dismantling the console with his metallic claws, doing a surprisingly careful job considering their normal use. As he does so he notices a flicker on one of the other console monitors. A brief message flickers on a red screen before going dormant:

'Primary power grid offline.
Substation 13b: unresponsive.
Substation 13b: unresponsive.
Security power generator: >1 minute since last confirmation signal.'

An worried expression is displayed on N's visor before he gets back to work on dismantling.

—---

Back inside the spire, Uzi walks along the edge of the wall, scavenging what she can find. The sea of robotic corpses stare at her with vacant visors. Metal limbs stick out haphazardly, almost as if to claw their way out, or to pull her in. Uzi struggles to avoid looking at them as she works.

She spots the final component amongst the debris on the ground and crouches down to reach for it. It is at this time that a murder drone lands heavily behind her sending her tumbling back. Uzi, startled, backs up hastily against the corpse wall which only serves to terrify her more as some of the lifeless limbs seem almost to close around her as they are jostled by the motion.

"Uzi?" N notices the purple haired worker drone and reaches out to her only to realize she has her railgun already drawn and pointed at him. He pulls back, dropping his supplies to switch out to a laser cannon on his right arm which he points at Uzi. His right eye display is replaced with a cross.

They both stare at each other, vision sensors peering down each other's weapon. The wind howls beyond the walls, in contrast to the stillness inside. Uzi's memory banks play back the recording of N attacking her on the first encounter. Her finger begins to tighten on the trigger. N notices and displays the full cross on his visor as a glow forms in his arm cannon.

A dislodged corpse falls from the ceiling between them, startling our two protagonists as both point at the new target and fire. The area is awash in blinding green and yellow light that obscures both of them. When the double attack finishes the two drones are on edge and stare down at the blackened scar on the ground that was once a worker corpse.

V's voice can be heard calling from the pod seconds later. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"

Uzi and N look at each other in shock. The red notification appears above Uzi's railgun, showing that it wouldn't be ready to fire again in 30 minutes. Uzi's seems panicked after reading this and looks apprehensively to the murder drone approaching her. However, instead of an attack, a hand is held out in front of her. She looks up to see N looking down at her with kind eyes an a smile. Uzi hesitates, before finally grasping the hand and allowing herself to be pulled onto her feet. She brushes herself off as N picks up her bag and hands it to her, to which she accepts with a small smile of her own. The two of them head back to the ship with their supplies in tow.

—------

Somewhere back near the escape route of the bunker, the disembodied legs and pelvis of J are shown sliding along the ground before the episode ends.