N was quick to take the initiative, launching himself at the crab drone quicker than it could react and ramming it back into the wall.
"Ow."
It attempted to swipe at him with one of its claws, but N grabbed the offending arm to halt the attack and squeezed with everything he had, crushing the forearm like a soda can.
"Ow."
He then grabbed one of the camera-like appendages and tore it right off the stalk before crushing it as well.
"Ow."
N reached for the other one, but pulled back when the creature's stinger suddenly shot up between them, narrowly missing his head. So instead he grabbed the stinger and used it to stab the crab several times in the chest.
"Ow. Ow. Ow."
N's eyelights widened for a moment before he grabbed an arm and flung the creature away down another corridor, sending it bouncing off the walls before sliding across the floor in a shower of sparks.
"...Ow."
N paused as he watched the thing squirm and twitch before starting to rise again. He knew for a fact he had gotten it right in the core, which should have been a fatal injury. But this thing just didn't care.
"*Condescending Tone* Look who ate their spinach today!" the monster mocked as it stood back up no worse for wear.
"What are you?" N muttered more to himself than anything, but it still heard him.
"*Maniacal Grin* We are the hands of fate. We are the ghost in the machine. We are the final solution. We are *Dramatic Pause* the Absolute Solver."
The name triggered something in N's CPU, a kind of familiarity so ominous that it made him lock up for just a moment.
The creature noticed and took the opportunity to rush him. He barely got his hand up in time to avoid taking a claw to the face. He went for a punch with his free hand, only to have it caught by the other claw, forcing a stalemate. At least for a moment.
But as N started to overpower it, the Solver didn't seem at all concerned.
"*Mocking Laugh* Silly girl, cheating to give her team an unfair advantage," it said, camera-eyes boring into N with sudden interest. "*Shaking My Head* Unfortunately, you're not dealing with the average Disassembly Drone. Increasing output to sixty percent."
Suddenly the Solver went low, getting under N's center of gravity and lifting him off the ground to throw him into the ceiling. As he fell back down the Solver delivered a vicious roundhouse kick. He got his arms up in time to protect his head, but the attack still hit like a freight train and sent him spinning through the air like a frisbee until he collided with a wall.
But perhaps the one good thing about a lifetime of abuse was that N could take a hit. So when one of the Solver's pincers opened up and a gun barrel shot out, N still had the wherewithal to deploy his wings and shield himself. He briefly considered just tanking the bullets and rushing the creature down, but something told him that was a terrible idea.
And when the first bullet hit, he knew he made the right call. Whatever the Solver was firing, it was NOT 9mm caseless. These bullets hit much harder and the report from the weapon sounded different.
"*Intrigued Expression* You were always an interesting one, Serial Designation N. We're glad to see that hasn't changed!"
N's eyelights hollowed at the creature's use of his name, but he didn't get to dwell on it for long before he heard the distinctive *bloop* of a grenade launcher. A quick blast from his thrusters got him out of the way just before they hit, and just as they exploded a message appeared before his eyes.
