On-Brand Loyalty - Off the Clock

Halloween Night + Month 11 Sneak Peek

Another year on Copper-9, another Halloween night. Instead of hunting the terrified Worker Drone population upon the exoplanet, the various Disassembly Drone squads had gained word of the holiday and decided to take the night off to enjoy themselves. 

Some leaders of these squads meet up in small groups to discuss their lack of activity and forbid potential territorial disputes. As is the case with J meeting with the leaders of her neighboring squads, Serial Designation D and Serial Designation Z. All fittingly in costumes for the human holiday.

J didn't put too much effort into her own outfit, only wearing a large black hoodie with some fur fluff in the chest area and large pointed spikes on the hood with red stripes resembling a certain video game hedgehog. Z, oddly enough, had almost the exact same outfit except her hoodie had muted blue stripes as opposed to the red on J's.

By comparison D's costume is a little more unique, wearing a large blue coat with gold lining paired with a large katana around his waist. His hair was somewhat gelled up, looking neater than usual. He still kept a sour expression. 

"You don't have to keep threatening me," He grunted, "I'll stick to my area. And I'll be busty hunting, unlike you idiots."

Z gave a mocking smirk, nudging D's head with the vial on her tail, "I think you mean 'M and myself', right? We don't need a repeat of last time." D just gritted his teeth and kept his eyes trained to the moons above. The smaller squad leader hid her amusement behind her hand as she laughed. "That's what I thought."

Tapping her foot, J spied on the clock in the corner of her system's HUD. "So we're in agreement then? No industrial espionage within our own overall workforce?" 

Z waved her off, "Yes, yes. We all agree to stay in our lanes so you can go have fun with tweedle dee and tweedle dumber. I'll have W keep an eye on D's area to make sure his team isn't cheating."

The sole male drone gave her a stink eye, "...Right." D ejected his wings and took off while Z did the same, albeit with a friendly wave at J before leaving. 

With a sigh, J fiddled with a gold ring-like cuff on her hoodie-costume before turning back to head home. 

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Back at the Decommission Tower™ and inside the landing pod, the left behind members of J's squad stood around a bowl. More specifically, a prize bit filled with little treats such as batteries, a few magnets, and a severed Worker Drone hand (V's contribution). The three, just like the squad leaders, are dressed in colorful costumes for the holiday. 

Dror has on a bright yellow jumpsuit without any sleeves and has a pair of gloves with 3 plastic claws on each hand. N is in a orange and blue martial arts gi along with his hair being styled up into a spiky design. V has a red, orange, and green suit as well as green-dyed hair and a painted on red smile. 

"Okay," Dror began, "So the bet we agreed on is still valid?"

N smiled, "Whoever can get J to react to a scare gets the prize!" 

Crossing her arms, V smirked, "This will be easy, I know a way to get J running." She let her eyes trail over to her male teammates and raised an eyebrow, "You're chances aren't very high. You two didn't even try to get scarier costumes?"

Dror frowned unimpassioned, "Us? The only thing scary about your costume is the reception of that second movi-..."

"Shut it!" V interrupted. She muttered to herself, "Stupid disappointment..." 

"Heck yeah, can't wait!"

All three turned to see Uzi standing there, clad in blocky silver armor with a purple symbol on the chest plate and a large cannon attached to her right arm. The teenager smirked, "I'm gonna give that arrogant buzzkill a scare she'll never forget!"