Disassembly Delayed | Murder Drones LBF AU

FIELD TRIP - 4

The air feels crowded and the night looms over your shoulder like an observer. Icicles bear underneath every surface that has an ounce of humanity in them. An engine in the far distance creates a ruckus and the sound of snow being crushed underneath challenges the loud roaring of the bus. It comes to a stop as it reaches its destination. The door opens and their supervisor, Hero, walks out into the snow. He counts how many students come out of the bus. One student walks out sluggishly like he's high. He starts mumbling something but before he can finish his thought, something nails him in the back of his head and into the soft ground below. The girl behind him apologizes and picks up the book off his back before following the teacher. The troublemaker behind her uses the boy he hit as a doormat and also starts to follow along. More and more students depart from inside the bus and all collectively use the student on the ground as a doormat until he gets up and catches up with the group. Nova is the last one out, he looks around the atmosphere and grips his backpack's strap as he feels uneasiness begin to wash over him. He starts walking towards where their classmates are and holds the collars in his hand, one being decorated, one with his key, and the other one being plain. He looks up at the cabins and the sign, "CAMP 98.7"  A memory flickers in Nova's head, it only taking place before he went on the bus.

North holds the photos of Nova's mom, pointing to the necklace that she had, along with Milo's mom. "After the core ruptured, I never noticed the collars." He unbinds the two photos and grabs the collar that was keeping the several photos together, "I only remember your mom being quite the catch!" At his odd flirting with someone who wasn't there with them, Nova looks at his dad confusedly. North hands him the photos and opens the closet full of the sinister drawings that his dead wife drew. He lets out a mournful sigh and starts talking again, "She was always all, Build doors to defend against the upcoming sky demons!, The singularity awakens, Look at this cool 'S' I can draw!" He sighs once more and continues, "Turns out, I'm not who either of you required." He shuts the door and turns to his son, "Just... Be safe, okay?" He gives his son a house key that was attached to another necklace he had in the closet.

Nova puts Milo's and his housekey collars in his pocket and puts on his mom's choker. His attention is led back to his classmates. "Uhh, teacher. What's this field trip for?" Hero opens up a fold-chair on the roof and settles it on the slanted surface using the snow as brakes. "Yeah, Nova's idea. Ask him." He responds flatly, the other student asking one more question, "Ugh, Who?" The student in question moves behind the classmate, "I've been in all of your classes for years." Many of the students let out a yell from their unexpected entrance. "Fuck off. I wanted to go alone, for the record. But he's mad at your test scores!" Hero tips his hat up to better see the students below, "No year-end bonus, no learning." He lowers his hat back over his eyes and leans back in his chair. Sure is a great staff.

One of the students lets out a scoff and crosses his arms, "So we're just unsupervised?" Before he could get an answer, three blinding yellow lights create a trail down to their destination, which is right in front of the crowd. A large cloud of fog creates a hazy atmosphere and uncertainty runs through the air. The large metal wings that were visible shrink down to the body's shoulder blade sockets. The three murder drones slowly attempt to find the crowd but turn around and their attention is locked onto the group. "Welcome, campers to your few nights at Camp 98.7!" H greets them, seemingly very excited, "How about we check for who we have tonight?" D offers, pulling out a spare clipboard and checking off the names of each student present. "One, two..." She looks up at the drones, recognizing that they don't look so on board about this. R shoots a harpoon at the third student, she reels back the arrow and blows the oil off the tip before licking it clean. All of the students overlap their numbers and look extremely aware and awake. "Look like we have everyone!" H shouts, tapping on D's clipboard, "Minus one..." D mutters, looking back at R with annoyance. H moves in front of the argument and keeps her smile, "We have plenty of fun activities planned, so let's get a move on, everyone!" D crosses her arms and looks over to Nova, "So no sneaking off to discover weird stuff." Nova notices her directive and nervously averts his eyes away. "Our first destination, the bunks!" H announces and begins to go in the direction of the cabins. She stops mid-walk and looks back at the students, now noticing the worry on their faces. Before Nova could add his friends' words to the group, Alex helped the dead body up by the shoulder, the other being assisted by Slimsy. "Sounds good, guys!" Alex says, "Anything for my favorite lesbians!" Slimsy adds, the other drones quickly realizing that the disassembly drones mean no harm. At least for now. The group becomes startled again as Nova starts talking from the outer ring of the crowd. "Yeah so, they're my friends too so... It's cool." He averts his eyes and gives them a thumbs up. He looks back at his audience, only to see fear override their comfort. They all collectively yelp and run to the murder trio.