Murder Drones One-Shots [Volume One]

I Loved You From the Start

A/N: Request from @charley0690 Khan x Nori.  Enjoy!

Nori walked with Yeva carrying some samples to the laboratory inside of the cathedral halls. Both worker girls remained silent while walking. Normally Nori would be the one to spark conversation but she seemed off, like something was distracting her mind.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Yeva asked her friend, which made Nori startled for a moment.

"When do you think we'll get out of here?" She asked her Russian friend. Yeva stopped walking and looked at Nori worryingly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, is there more than this? Or is it just...working?" Nori sighed, she felt like she'd been in a loop for so long. Every day was the same, about the only normal thing they did was work in office cubicles for the humans before returning to their lockers being chained up until they were needed again.

"We're worker drones Nori. They made us to be like this. While I wish it was different, that's how it is. There's nothing we can do." Yeva replied. It was the cold, hard truth, making Nori flinch as she said so, but sugarcoating the situation wouldn't make it any better.

"I guess. Let's just go." Nori walked off; Yeva tried to get her to talk again but it was like she had completely shut down. Nori's hope of getting out was lost. She was just an automated robot after all, nothing more, nothing less.

As the two workers reached the laboratory with the samples in hand, they saw another group of workers currently testing and modifying weapons. One of these workers in particular testing an automated door. He caught Nori's attention, realizing he was one of the machine learning worker drones instead of an experimental drone like her and Yeva. Setting the samples down, she walked up to him.

Looking further into his appearance, he wore the standard uniform, the only difference being goggles on his head. Oil and grease stains seemed to cover his face here and there, making her giggle from how cute and messy it looked.

"What are you doing?" She asked the male worker, he jumped from the sudden interaction but was awestruck by Nori's beauty. Her appearance alone lit up the room, he was shy, but cleared his throat after realizing her uniform signaled an experimental drone.

"Automated Hydraulic Mechanism Doors, some of my best work yet!" The male worker spoke proudly, Nori chuckled at the model he created. It was impressive to say the least; she handed out a hand to him which he shook.

"Nori."

"Khan, nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

"002! What are you doing? Get back over here with 048!" Nori heard her number be called. She growled at the human who called her, Khan felt bad for her, experimental drones had it pretty rough. They didn't know if they would live into the next day. It really was a terrifying thought.

Nori looked back at Khan with an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry Khan, I need to go back now. Maybe I'll see you around." She said in a soft voice, her tone changed and he noticed. He didn't want her to go. Something made him want to hug her, tell her it would be alright. He felt an...emotion? For once.

"I'll see you around Nori. Stay safe." He said, she nodded her head and walked off. It almost pained his core to see her leave, but following her wouldn't do Khan any good. He'd be questioned by the scientists then powered off from a possible corruption error.

The humans had no mercy for the AI sentient beings.

Meanwhile Yeva had seen the whole thing go down, smirking she teased her purple friend about the male worker drone. Nori felt a blush flush onto her visor, lightly punching her Russian friends arm. Their interaction nothing short of sweet, but as soon as they were having fun, they got taken in to get experiments done on them. She prayed to live another day so she could see Khan again. Any kind of motivation to keep living was welcomed in her CPU at this point.

The round of experiments wore her out on this particular day, she felt something spreading into her network and it scared her. Nori wasn't sure how much longer she would last here in the cathedral, luckily enough though the rest of the week they were told to work in the office and if anything weird happened to go to the scientists and report it. Yeva felt the same thing, but she was so used to the treatment it just became the norm for her. Something Nori wished was different.

While Nori slowly waltzed to the office cubicles, she bumped into someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry-hey it's you!" Nori spat out, immediately feeling a little better once she realized who she bumped into. Standing there in front of her was Khan with the same goofy smile on his face.

"Hey! I see you lived another day! How are you feeling?" He asked her, he took the risk of laying a hand on her shoulder. She felt comforted by this action, placing a hand on top of his, a small but short spark between the two of them formed. They looked at one another before blushing.

"I...feel strange, but I think I'm okay. I normally feel like this after the experiments so it's not like it'll be any different this time." Nori said. Khan nodded, a sad look in his optics. Oh, how he wished he could take her away from there.

"Listen, Nori," Khan began, writing on a piece of paper then handing it to her, "You know how they gave us workers private emails? This is mine. If you want to talk then just send me a message, okay? A cute girl really shouldn't have to go through something like that."

"You think I'm cute?" Nori's optics widened in shock. Khan smiled and laughed a little, scratching the back of his head.

"Very. I'll see you around hot stuff." He pointed finger guns at her and winked while walking off. It was then that Nori felt something rise in her core. A newly fanged smile appeared on her face, visor glitching for a second. Khan seemed to have opened something in her she never thought she had.

Something lurking deep inside of her, a new side she could use to her advantage. And on the plus side? Khan was a complete hunk, a catch from the start.

Nori, now in the present times looking at some pictures with Khan in her core form, saw the picture from when they all met back up on the surface of the Cabin Fever Labs after the explosion. She looked at her husband in contentment. She loved him from the start and would love him until the end of time.

Word Count: 1130 words.