The Fury Of A Wholesome Killer Boy 2: Turf Wars

Unsteady Deal

The air was tense, having gained a thickness that not even the air pollution of Copper-9 could hope to compete with.

N found himself locking eyes with J, the very drone that for years on end had abused and mistreated him, acting like he was more akin to a defective tool than a sentient robot with feelings and emotions. Not only that, but this was the same drone that had stolen his title of leader from him and had nearly killed Uzi and V last time he saw her. To think that she was standing here, in front of him, despite N telling her that she would be given a painful and long death if he found her in his territory again, was CPU-numbing! That's not even factoring in the human with her!

J found herself locking eyes with N, the true leader of her squad. This was the very drone that, when they last met, had turned her from a powerful machine of destruction into a glorified chew toy, nearly killing her in a frenzy of pure unfiltered rage while simultaneously not breaking a single sweat. To think that he was standing before her, right now, his optics already digging deep into her rotten soul, sent a shiver up her mechanical spine. Not that she'd let that show, not in front of Tessa anyway. Not only N, but V (that traitor) and the purple runt were here too!

For a long while, everyone just.. gawked, still as if they were stuck in a picture. The only thing moving was N's optics, which were slowly collapsing into a slurry of pixels in the process of reforming into the classic symbol of the disassembly drones: The 'X'.

J's optics briefly looked over to Tessa for a moment, observing how the human seemed to be awestruck by the sudden reappearance of both N and V. Not only that, but they had both just watched the trio take on and chase away another murder drone that had not been assigned to this territory. J didn't quite remember who it was, but Tessa certainly did. She remembered all of her old friends from the mansion.

Unable to take the constricting silence anymore, J took a single step forward.

Big mistake.

In an instant, N's posture turned from shocked into aggressive, tail jutting out backwards with the cord forming a zigzag shape like a scared cat while he crouched to the ground, claws unsheathed and hissing violently in J's direction. V copied his pose, although she didn't look nearly as enraged as N.

N's sudden movement started J, and she fell into a similar position, claws out and crouched to the ground. However, unlike N, her optics were hollowed out ovals, caught off guard by her former teammate's sudden movement. Memories of her previous mauling by N, the feeling of her very own lifeblood draining from the torn open holes on her body by the boatload and the cold winter air stinging and irritating the open wounds on her chest flashed in front of her vision for a moment. She was so caught up in her poorly acknowledged trauma that she almost didn't take note of Tessa stepping in front of her, acting oddly protective of the disassembly drone despite N always being her favourite drone.

"Okay now buddy! Let's keep things civil!" Tessa said while focusing most of her attention on N, not noticing the seething glare being shot her way by a certain purple goth emo worker. She was most displeased seeing a human rear its foul head up on this planet.

"CIVIL!? WHO THE HELL ARE-" N's voice lost multiple decibels of volume as his optical array gazed upon the small nametag on the woman's chest, one which read 'TESSA: Certified technician' and seemed to glint in the light of his eyes, "You?"

N's CPU burned with the veiled recognition of the name. It inspired distorted images of a past, antediluvian and bygone, of a mansion basked in a warm glow and battered by the endless pelting of rain, of comforting cuddles and pretty maids, of a drone, with eyes as yellow as the sun, staring at him, a soft smile on her face, the Absolute Solver symbol rotating on her palm. What was this? Why did he feel like he should know who this human was? It felt as if a memory block had been slammed into his files, blocking out an entire section of his life. Tessa met eyes with N, and watched as he took a step forward, losing the tense posture he held moments before.