#also a good right of way to talk about a DBH and Ultrakill crossover

[fandomsfordays21]

I always find it upsetting that there isn't very much crossover content between ULTRAKILL and Murder Drones. I don't mean in the sense of them fighting each other, either.

I mean, sure, it would be really cool to watch V1 fight N, V, or Uzi but imagine them just... interacting.

I mean, we know that V1 has at least SOME sentience outside of its hunt for fuel. All of the machines in ULTRAKILL do, to some extent. I think it would be neat to see how V1's intelligence would interact with that of a Disassembly Drone or a Worker Drone.

V1 was designed to be a weapon. They were made during a time of war, after all. Not only that, it's heavily implied that V1 was the machine designed to END the war. V1 was made to destroy fucking EARTHMOVERS for God's sake, it had to have been intended to be a last charge.

That is the difference between Machines from ULTRAKILL and the robots/drones from MD. Drones, whether Worker or Disassembly, were designed with intended sentience and human-like behavior. They have expressive faces, they have humanoid bodies, they have emotions that obviously seem to be an intended feature considering the previously mentioned expressiveness. A Machine from ULTRAKILL, though, gained that sentience from their fuel source.

In the lore of ULTRAKILL, blood is the fuel of all life. All living things run on blood, and all living things bleed. Machines from ULTRAKILL have both these characteristics, and are therefore alive. This is not only a technical thing, there's evidence of Machines being sentient. The Gutterman's poem, Mindflayers and the Swordsmachine both caring about their appearance and partaking in body modification, Mindflayers specifically being stated to make a body FROM SCRATCH and being so upset when it's damaged that they fucking SELF DESTRUCT. This isn't even mentioning the fact the Swordsmachine is a type of celebrity, so much so that he has admirers that copy his form, that being the red and blue Swordsmachines, named Agony and Tundra respectively. This also means that Agony and Tundra CHOSE names so they could be unique. Even V2 shows this sentience in the form of getting enraged when she is hit with the Knuckleblaster, the arm that V2 stole. The Earthmovers even show some sentience, as they are tragically stated to have reached for heaven while shutting down, like they were asking for help from the God that was no longer there. Even the Terminals with them creating the style meter and with them cheering or booing you while in the Cybergrind.

Even V1, despite being the player's vessel and having no ways to obviously display a personality or intelligence, has actions or traits that could imply it. Taking the arms from V2, the line of text "You're not getting away this time." When V2 runs away during the 2nd fight. This meaning V1 probably intended to kill V2 back in Limbo and was salty about V2 running away again. This is interesting though, because despite V1 showing signs of being upset when V2 runs away, they don't kill Gabriel after either encounter. You could easily prescribe this to "Well Gabriel can't continue the plot if he's dead." but it is pretty strange that V1 acts upset when V2 runs away again, triggering a chase, but let's Gabriel leave both times without complaints. Not to mention the fact that when V1 reads books, they tend to mostly focus on text involving Gabriel, deeming that "The rest of the text is irrelevant". (Also the thing of calling skeletons Hank for some reason? Who tf is Hank, Hakita? Is he a real guy that V1 knew or is this a show of creativity of V1's part?)

Do you think the machines of ULTRAKILL would be envious? Envious that these little drones get to have freewill? That they were designed with intelligence and the ability to express it? Would a Mindflayer be jealous of the pre-built feminine forms of V or J? Would V2 be jealous of the Disassembly Drones and their ability to regenerate? As they never have to scavenge for parts in order to have two working arms? Would V1 be jealous of the voiceboxes the Drones have? Because they are organic sounding and fluid? (We are assuming here that V1 has the SAMS system voice they are commonly portrayed as having.)

Most of all, would a Machine be jealous of the abundance of resources the Drones have? That they don't have to explore the deepest pits of Hell, leaving behind a war-ravenged wasteland that was once Earth? That they can have society instead of constant war? That even though some Drones have to consume oil to live, that it can be consumed anytime? That they don't have to fear for when the fresh stuff runs dry? Would a Machine harbor hatred that these Drones have been blessed by humans with their intelligence, while it had been cursed unintentionally?

And especially, what would the Drones think. What would they think of these barbaric creatures? What would they think when the steel is cut and they see the pulsing flesh and blood underneath? What would they think of the cold optic of V1 or V2, knowing that there is a thinking and feeling mind behind it. Would they think of them as monsters? Beasts? Demons? Or would it be similar to a human seeing an alien? Unfamiliar and frightening, especially when they show the ability to communicate.

Or, you know, you could have V1 explaining how an ULTRARICOSHOT works to Uzi and effectively making her railcannon more dangerous, that works too.