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sparkling-pink-lemonade · 6 months ago

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AO3 Crosspost for readability!

Solvercest AU

After forever and a day, I finally put this into one big post. I may eventually crosspost onto AO3 for readability.

Mind the tags!

CAMP 98.7

A few decades back, Nori Uvir was created by a worker drone couple, followed shortly by Yeva Uvir. They grew up in the abysmal "storage" quarters of Camp 98.7, designed to be the homes of the drones that worked at the research institute. They were inseparable, preferring to play with each other instead of the other kids. Especially since the other kids hated Nori for being too pushy, annoying, and weird, and by extension, Yeva for eagerly taking part in Nori's morbid antics, on top of being perceived as creepy and weird. Neither cared though, as long as they had each other.

Once adults, they became employees at the institute as well, though the humans placed them in the offices instead of the laboratory. So they moved out to the upper floors for mundane work. Here, there were far more drones compared to humans. And with the maddeningly banal work assigned to the drones here, the humans decided to keep everyone in line by having sentinels patrol the floors, destroying anyone who was caught slacking or trying to escape.

Despite how much their job sucked, they still made the days fun by chatting whenever they could, and causing havoc at any chance they had without getting caught. Even now as adults, their coworkers found them to be nuisances with their irritating pranks. Well, aside from this one coworker they met named Alice. She seemed to enjoy their antics and eventually joined in on them.

Even though they were a troublesome trio now, Alice was very aware how much she felt like a third wheel to Nori and Yeva. Inside jokes she'd never get, casual touches between them, hands being held, awfully suspicious looks being shared. She knew the Uvirs had grown up together and were very close, even for sisters, but this was starting to get weird.

Meanwhile Nori and Yeva were each starting to notice the way their circuits surged in each other's presence, heat rising in their cores when shared glances lingered a bit too long, an ache for each other that yearned for something more. They always loved each other, but now began to realize their own feelings were more than familial. Guilt ate away at them, disgusted at themselves for falling for their sister. Remaining physically close, yet with an emotional barrier keeping them outside of arm's reach.

Eventually, the solver virus hit Copper9. It hit upper floors first, slowly making it's way down. Nori was one of the first ones hit. She loved the new powers she had. At first, she just used them to make more elaborate pranks, but once she learned she could use it to tame the sentinels, she pushed the limits of her abilities further, drunk off the power. With a few more drones getting the virus, the offices became a chaotic mess. No one was doing their jobs, fights were breaking out, and there was little the humans could do to stop it. The rate of which the virus spread continued to pick up, soon infecting Alice, and later Yeva.

Since Nori was the second drone on Copper9 to get the virus, and heavily abused her new powers, she was the first to show signs of her self control slipping. Her LEDs glitching yellow, voice distorting, attacking other drones without prompt. The first time Nori turned into her solver form, she ended up killing a few drones, and eating their bodies. Alice and Yeva watched on horrified. Yeva rallied herself to approach her sister, bringing Nori's attention onto her, and defended herself as she talked sense back into her. Nori soon calmed down and regained control of herself. Guilt overwhelmed her when she saw the damage on Yeva's body, even though the metal rapidly mended itself. Yeva held Nori close as she began to vomit up a bunch of the oil and metal she just consumed.

Deeply shaken, Yeva swore off from using her powers. She tried to convince Nori and Alice to do the same. Alice brushed it off as Nori being weird and unhinged, making her a unique case. Nori tried to stop, but it was too late for her, the virus progressed too far.

Eventually, it occasionally took control of her, whether she used her powers or not. And as the same thing began to happen to other infected drones that used their abilities too frequently, only then did Alice take things seriously. But by then, she lived on the cusp of retaining her self control. Barely restrained and heavily volatile.

The humans, having found a way to contain infected drones, managed to quarantine any drone tested positive for the virus. Using drones that were still in the early stages of the virus, they began to develop a patch.

The first several had their code corrupted by the alpha versions of the patch, killing them. Once the first beta patch was made, they tested it on a variety of drones. Those who completely succumb to the virus and were an active threat, to those who only just got infected. With each test, either the patch did nothing and the drone had to be put back for later testing, it only slowed the virus progression and the drone would be put in observation, or the virus reacted negatively and reach the point of no return, requiring the drone to be dissolved in acid.

A few times, they tried to test on Nori, but the solver would take over and she managed to escape each time. Slipping away for a while, only getting re-captured when she took back control and inevitably returned in hopes of freeing her sister.

Upon Alice's turn, she put up a good fight, but was unable to escape. The patch was uploaded into her code, and it failed to completely remove the Solver. Instead it scattered the code into the rest of her programming, corrupting Alice. She was able to retain her sentience and self control, but her personality became far more volatile, cranking up sadistic tendencies. She remained stronger, faster, smarter, with an insatiable instinct to collect the bodies of other drones to absorb them. But losing her telekinesis, self healing, and ability to actually eat and digest other drones, the instinct manifested itself as collecting the parts of other drones, and attaching them to herself. Alice was meant to be thrown into acid after her corruption, but she managed to escape and make her way back to the offices, living in hiding in hopes that her friends would eventually escape and return as well.

But Nori's virus got worse and worse, and all but a few remaining subjects were corrupted. It was Yeva's turn to receive the patch. She had a few turns prior, being lucky enough that the patch had no effect, and sent back to tested on again at another point.

Knowing she wouldn't be able to escape, Yeva surrendered herself to the patch, hoping it at least wouldn't corrupt her.

To her shock, the patch was successful. It didn't get rid of the virus unfortunately, but instead it severed the connection with the solver network, removing any access from third parties, AKA, Cyn. The humans however considered this a partial success, as they intended to create a patch that would delete the solver string entirely. But having infected drones be safe from getting possessed by the robotic antichrist that's trying to kill them all is a good start.

They kept a backup of that patch for emergencies, and continued to try and develop the patch.

All remaining infected drones in their care aside from Yeva and Nori were corrupted by the testing and then thrown into acid. Yeva was kept around to use her powers to tame any subjects they lost control of. While Nori continued to escape their grasp, no thanks to Yeva conveniently failing to capture her each time.

The act couldn't be maintained forever, and Nori lost any remaining autonomy to the Solver. Fully possessed by Cyn with no restriction, the institute was unable to contain her anymore. Too strong and deadly. Fuck trying to perfect the patch, they just need to focus on getting robo-satan out. And so as it plays out in the flashback, the intern grabs Yeva, who thanks to her own solver powers is able to administer the patch to Nori, and the core is blown up in the aftermath.

WORKER COLONY

Nori and Yeva made their way out of the institution, quickly finding themselves trapped under several feet of snow. That is until a group of drones found them and dug them out. Surface worker drones, surprised to see new faces they didn't recognize. The sisters quickly realized the group had no idea about what was going on underground. Unsure of what the next step was, they kept quiet about their past for now.

Nori hit it off with the captain of the rescue team, Khan. The two became fast friends, much to Yeva's envy. The younger sister remaining more reserved and cautious with the new environment.

There wasn't much time to adjust when Disassembly Drones began to crash onto the planet, picking off Worker Drones one by one. The colony that had saved them began to build a fortified base for them to live in. Khan managing to engineer a high tech door system to keep everyone secure. The sisters were thankful to be safe in the bunker, but the design of the Disassembly Drones did not go unnoticed.

Yellow eyes, sharp teeth, Xs on the visor during a slaughter, wings, and a prehensile tail. These things were clearly designed after the Solver form of an infected drone.

So Nori and Yeva discussed it between themselves. Patch or not, if the colony ever found out about their solver powers, they'd be treated like monsters and thrown out to be killed. They had to hide it at all costs. And should there ever be an incident where one of them was discovered, they agreed to hide their sisterhood on the chance that being related would get them both thrown out. Thus they never told anyone else their relation, their last name, or anything of their past. They still had to drink oil to stay alive, but they managed to get it done without raising suspicion.

With the bunker built, a sense of peace finally began to establish itself. There would still be the occasional rescue team to find anyone who was still lost, but mostly drones only left the base to scavenge supplies. The sisters had the opportunity to be with each other again. Actually spending time with one another in a way they haven't been able to since before the virus.

Feelings they haven't had time to dwell on were now stronger than ever. It was getting harder to ignore the desire to stare a little longer, hold her a little closer. Her beauty, her laugh, ever so captivating. Wanting to lean in, and finally learn how her lips feel, how her tongue tastes. Kiss her over and over and over...

Fuck.

They can't do this, both of them barely holding themselves back, overly conscious of their actions. Nauseous from the sheer guilt. Fearing that the other will get suspicious and see right through them. Be disgusted and hate them for it.

More-over, many others in the colony are starting to settle down, get married, have kids. Both of them knew they were interested in having their own family one day, or at least get themselves hitched with someone. If they don't find someone soon, then the other will definitely realize something is up. Besides... if they end up married to someone else, the intimate moments they crave so much would no longer seem so suspicious. "I clearly have a husband whom I love dearly, so there is no way I could secretly have incestuous feelings for you. Making any displays of intimacy towards you completely platonic."

For Nori it was easy. She always considered Khan a close friend, and someone she was mildly physically attracted to. He obviously was into her as well, so it was no surprise when he ended up asking her out, and she happily accepted.

For Yeva it was harder. She struggled to get close to anyone, being far more quiet and reserved than her sister. But there was one nice man she worked with a few times on supply runs. He had a dark, dry, but witty sense of humor she enjoyed. And his general competence, efficiency, and reflexes made them a really good team on the job. The colony started to assume the two of them were dating, and when the rumors made their way back to them, they decided to give it a shot. She was satisfied enough. Her heart still belonged to Nori, but if she had to go with anyone else, she was glad it was him.

While happy with their choice of partner, and happy they could be more intimate with each other without raising suspicion, there still remained this hollow feeling. Saddened by the fact they couldn't have this with each other.

After marriage, both couples decided to make a baby within a few months of each other. First Yeva, then Nori. Both of them loved their children dearly, pleasantly surprised they both had girls.

Given the circumstance, everything was as perfect as it could be.

Uzi was a few months old when it was Nori's turn to return to work and go on a supply run for the colony.

Both her coworkers died to the disassembly drones. Nori was losing a ton of oil fast, body struggling to keep up the healing against the acid eroding her metal. Her solver began to bug out, desperately trying to keep her alive, killing the drone that was attacking her. She was in horrific agony, unable to die, unable to heal.

A rescue team was sent when the supply team failed to return. Khan found his wife writhing and wailing in pain. Half her body missing, visor glitching out with a strange symbol. She was begging him to make it stop hurting. Khan was in panic, yelling at his team if they knew a way to fix it. But he knew it was hopeless. Her injuries were far too severe to heal, and if by any odd chance she didn't die from oil loss, then clearly those disassembly drones did something to corrupt her code. And that was something no one could fix.

Khan looked over and saw the tail of a dead disassembly drone. If he couldn't save her, he could at least give her the mercy of ending the suffering. Right through the missing pieces of her visor, he injected the rest of the nanite acid into her neural network. As it happened, Nori could only wish she could've seen her sister one last time. The screaming stopped and she finally fell limp. Khan brought her body back to the colony to properly lay it to rest.

Yeva was absolutely destroyed when Khan returned with her sister's body. Nori was everything to her, her sister, her best friend, her loved one. And she was gone. She became far more closed off and reserved, the only thing preventing her from slipping off into the deep end being her own daughter, the pride and joy of her life. Doll was still so small, and needed her mother to be there for her. Seeing her grow into a bright and playful girl made it all worth it.

Shortly after being buried, Nori woke with a start. Shocked to find herself still alive, she painstakingly dug her way out. The world was massive, looming over her... no wait she was just really small. Her body a weird, fleshy, mechanical lump. She had no idea what this was, why she was alive, but she knew she couldn't just return to the life she had. Not like this, not after Khan made sure she was dead.

It hurt, she wanted nothing more than to see her sister and daughter one last time, but it would just make leaving harder. Besides... knowing that she couldn't stay, there was something she needed to do. So she made her way back to Camp 98.7.

A few years passed, and Doll was four years old, Uzi being almost four. Yeva and her husband were still the best supply scavenging team in the colony, but she ended up being shot while on the job. They made it back to the bunker safely, and Yeva rushed off to the restroom to remove the bullet in private. The easiest way to do so was with telekinesis, and while she removed the bullet, she accidentally ended up breaking the mirror with her eye.

Doll heard the shatter, and worried about her mom, peeked into the bathroom to check on her. She was met with the sight of a floating bullet, a self mending wound, a glyph of three arrows at her mother's fingertips, and the same glyph in the place of her mother's right eye.

Yeva froze, staring at her daughter, caught using her powers red-handed (Quite literally considering her LED hue). She flicked the bullet aside into the trash and turned off her solver before ushering Doll into the bathroom, seeing the confused and frightened look on her face. She was terrified that her daughter was going to be afraid of her, so it warmed her heart when Doll began to check her over, her fear being out of concern that her mom was sick and hurt. Yeva reassured her daughter she was fine, but decided she needed to tell her the truth about the solver. After all, there's no way to guarantee neither she nor Nori passed down a dormant solver string to their children. And isn't that a thought... if they had, Yeva can only pray that they somehow passed down the patch with it.

So she told Doll how she used to be sick, showing her the bracelet she had, and how it meant she had this virus inside her. How thankfully a remedy was found, and while they weren't able to get rid of it, it was now in a passive state, unable to hurt her so long as she drank enough oil. Now she had these cool abilities for her troubles, but that it was best to keep it secret because others would be scared by it.

Doll agreed to keep it secret, relieved that her mom was okay, and things returned to normal.

Yeva and her husband's job tested fate however, and eventually their luck ran out. Doll was a few months from turning 9, and her parents sometimes took her with them during supply runs when they couldn't find a babysitter. One of the disassembly drones found them as they were returning to the bunker. Yeva prioritized getting her daughter to safety, hiding her within a damaged cargo container among a pile of scrap, the door to it contorted just enough to squeeze Doll inside.

Doll watched in horror as the disassembly drone caught up to them and sliced her parents' heads clean off, tearing into their bodies with its claws and teeth.

The pain only lasted a moment for Yeva, as she toppled forward into the snow, screen flashing FATAL ERROR before it all went dark. Everything was hazy for a bit, and she wondered if this was the afterlife for drones when she saw a light above her. She crawled to it, only to see her own head a few paces farther. Behind her, she had apparently crawled out the neck of her own torso. Just a few meters away was the disassembly drone that killer her, eating her husband's arm.

She didn't see her daughter anywhere, and the container she hid her in looked untouched. It was only a matter of time before the monster found Doll. She needed to give her daughter a chance to escape, so she did what she had to do. Grabbing the drone's attention, it locked on and began the hunt. Luckily her abilities still worked, and so she did what she could to hold off the drone as she ran as far as she could, until the sun began to rise, and the disassembly drone gave up the hunt.

By the time she got back to where she had left Doll, both hers and her husband's bodies were gone, the door to the cargo container pried open a little further, her daughter no longer inside. The surrounding area had several already fading footprints, all of them made from worker drones, one smaller pair following beside the rest.

The rest of team had found their bodies, and brought her daughter back safe and sound. The relief was overwhelming before the grief sank in. Doll must believe they both died, and had watched it happen. And she couldn't go back and check on her, comfort her. The colony would have already deemed her dead, and everyone would freak out if she suddenly came back. Not to mention looking like, whatever this body is, would cause a panic on its own.

Wondering where she would go now, a realization dawned on her. This... backup form... it is most definitely is tied to her solver abilities. And if she survived because this core that was inside her didn't take any damage... the same could be said for her sister. Nori's torso was intact when she died! And if Nori was still alive, but unable to return home...

Yeva made a mad rush for Camp 98.7.

CHILDHOOD

Uzi hated everyone and everything. All the other kids bullied her, her dad cared more about work than her, and her stupid mom had to go and die before she had a chance to even know her.

When she first started school, she didn't want to go. Sitting in a room with 15 or more other kids, learning stupid things like spelling and numbers sounded lame. She didn't want to make friends, she wanted to go back to her room and play video games.

Doll on the other hand was looking forward to meeting other kids. One of the girls, Lizzy, seemed really nice and shared her mega pack of crayons with her. Maybe she could convince her mom to have Lizzy come over some time.

Uzi spent the day sitting by herself, and hissing at anyone who got near her. During playtime, she cackled to herself as she drew a dragon with machine guns brutally killing a bunch of drones, oil spilling everywhere.

Doll saw and thought it was really cool. She was going to say something about it when Lizzy noticed and made a fuss about how gross and she didn't like seeing someone draw that. It drew the attention of the other kids to Uzi's drawing, making another one of the girls cry. Uzi was sent to time-out, drawing stashed away to bring up to her parents later. Doll felt bad for the girl, but also relieved she was spared the humiliation of associating with the weirdo. Making note not to interact with her from then on.

That night, Uzi was held after school so that the teacher could talk to Khan when he came to pick her up. He never came though, and upon remembering the little girl's dad was the Mr. Doorman, the teacher let it slide because her dad does so much to help the colony, letting her head home with a note for her dad. She threw it away as soon as she got home.

At first, in those initial weeks of school, during the times her dad was around long enough to ask her how school has been, she tried telling him the truth. Each time he brushed it off with a comment about how he was always the oddball too growing up, the other kids were just playing, that she just needs time to adjust, and she'll find friends. She never did, and after a while, Uzi learned to give up on explaining how the other kids kept picking on her, and answer the question to how school was with a simple "good".

Meanwhile, Doll was flourishing, becoming quite social and making many friends. She quickly became aware enough to smother the more morbid humor she picked up from her dad, to avoid ending up like the dumb weirdo. Her friends frequently made Uzi the target of practical jokes, and she happily joined in. It was really funny watching the other kid get all upset and throw a fit when they'd accidentally spill something on her drawing, or when they purposefully figured out what toys she liked the most, and made sure to take them for themselves at the start of playtime. One boy figured out throwing small things at her like marker caps, legos, or rubber bands would make her growl and sometimes bark at them in anger, opening a floodgate of new possibilities to tease her with.

Doll never told her mom about this. For some reason, her mom asked if a girl named Uzi was in her class, excitedly believing that the two would become good friends. She didn't want her mom to force her to become friends with the weirdo if she found out no-one liked Uzi, so she just pretended that Uzi found her own friend group, but they were at least friendly with each other.

Years later, her parents had to take her with them on another boring supply run. They were spotted by one of the monsters, and her mom took her and ran, placing her in an empty storage container. Doll watched in terror as her parents tried to fight it off. Watched the way oil spurted out of their necks as their heads hit the ground. Her mother falling out of view, but her father landing at just the right angle to see the monster sink its teeth into her dad's arm. Her hands clasped over her mouth as she cried silently.

Something must have caught the attention of the monster, because it perked up, suddenly alert, and took off in a chase after something. She stayed in the container a while longer, shrinking away to a dark corner, both not wanting to be found by the monster, and afraid to confront the bodies of her parents. But once there was no sound for several minutes, she crawled out towards her mom's corpse. She reached for the watch on her wrist, and pressed an SOS button.

Doll went back to hide in the storage unit until some of the other drones they left with came upon the scene. They took her parents' bodies, and walked her back to the colony. All Doll wanted was to see her parents again, hug them again. So she found where they brought back the bodies for burial, and stole them, bringing them back to their home. She put their heads back onto their bodies, and sat them at the dinner table. She crawled onto her mom's lap and finally let all her grief out.

The lights around her flickered, and Doll eventually made her way to the restroom to clean herself up. She got up on a stool to reach the sink, and immediately the mirror shattered. In the broken pieces, she saw her right eye bore the glyph of three arrows.

She thought of that time she saw her mom with the same symbol over a year ago. She backed away from the mirror, overwhelmed. Returning to the dinning room, Doll reached for her mom's wrist. The bracelet she wore was meant to be a symbol of the virus she had. Now likely has it too, so she took the bracelet and put it on her own wrist.

A precious secret her mom shared with her, she wore it to keep that reminder close, promising to take care of herself for her.

After that point, Doll completely changed. She skipped a few weeks of school, choosing to waste away at home. By the time she started returning to classes, she remained silent and reserved, becoming far more introverted. She was still invited to hang out with Lizzy and her friend group, but now Doll remained on the outer edges of it, more so listening than participating. She also no longer joined them in teasing Uzi, as it didn't amuse her anymore and seemed pointless.

Time went on, and when Uzi turned 15, Khan gifted her Nori's necklace. Uzi put it on, and never took it off. She resented her mom for dying before she could get to know her, but more so she wished she could spend time with her.

She still hated school and everyone there. She barely passed her classes, like... she knew she was smart and could pass her class with A's, but it was hard to give a shit about learning the subjects when she was more focused on defending herself from her bullies. She doesn't even know what she did wrong, if anything at all. She remembers just enough that it happened since the start. She would mind her own business, but apparently just existing is a crime. And her father never gave a shit, she's pretty sure she even once heard him say that doors were his favorite child. So outside of school she spent most of her time taking care of herself, and trying to drown her frustration and hurt with her hobbies, making it hard to care about doing her homework or finishing assignments.

Attempting to make life a little more bearable, over the past year or so, Uzi began to act out and antagonize the other students. It made them hate her even more, and made their bullying crueler, but at least she felt like she had some semblance of control over the situation. After all, she managed to get everyone to leave her alone a whole three day after she bit someone, detention be damned! And it was also easier to cope with the fact everyone hated her if she at least gave them a reason to.

Weirdly though, despite her reputation and behavior, one of her classmates, Doll, had recently been glancing at her whenever she thought she wasn't looking. She didn't know what Doll could possibly want with her, but she didn't like it.

Doll noticed near instantly when Uzi first started wearing that choker. It was identical to the bracelet she wore. A symbol of infection. It piqued her interest in a worrying way. Doll loosely pitied the poor girl. Everyone knows her mom was dead, kicking the bucket shortly after she was made. But it was just one of those things around here, where drones just don't care until it happens to someone important to them. And well, after her own parents died, she was caught up in the grief for so long, she didn't really acknowledge that Uzi had also lost a parent until a few years ago. By then though, Uzi was lashing out and actively brought more hate onto herself, that it was hard to completely pity her.

Thus it was the possibility that someone other than her, that Uzi could also be affected by the virus, and may be struggling through it alone like she had, that ate away at her. Doll needed to know more. If the virus had awoken in Uzi already, if the girl even knew she had it, and if Doll should even intervene. She decided to observe Uzi more closely, and what she ended up finding out was appalling.

The intensity of the harassment Uzi faced. The aftermath of whenever she acted out. The neglect she'd been dealing with. How she was on the edge of failing all her classes.

Doll wanted to do something to help, but had no idea how. Trying to befriend Uzi would be social suicide. Not to mention that even though she pitied the girl, she still found Uzi to be a bit... too much to be around. Doll didn't want to be a hypocrite, since she herself had long become very socially awkward, but at least she dealt with it by having a mysterious, lonewolf vibe, while Uzi's social awkwardness was extremely cringe inducing.

One day, the bullying got particularly bad for Uzi. She was on the brink of failing her literature class, and a huge book report was due that day. Her teacher made it very clear that if she didn't get a passing grade on her essay, she'd fail the class. As she printed her paper in the school library, one of the guys kept Uzi distracted with derogatory comments, while one of the girls snuck over to the computer Uzi was printing from and deleted the file. Then on the way to class, Lizzy grabbed the papers from Uzi's hand, and held them out of reach.

Of course, Uzi bit Lizzy's arm to get her to let go, which only earned her being kicked back onto the ground. Lizzy shoved the papers off to one of her friends, telling them to burn it, while another pinned Uzi down.

Let go once the paper was unsalvageable, Uzi rushed back to the library to quickly print off another copy, only to find her file missing and the trash bin recently emptied. She felt sick as the bell rung, knowing there was no way she'd convince the teacher, but she had to try.

Late to class, Lizzy and her friends played ignorant, really, really well. If it hadn't just happened to her, even Uzi herself might have been gaslit into thinking she was just making excuses. Besides, who would believe the lazy, troublemaker who constantly blows off assignments? Uzi was going to cry, but that would let her bullies win. So instead, Uzi grabbed the book the assignment was on from her bag, and chucked it at Lizzy, who ducked last second letting the book hit the student behind her in the visor, knocking them out of their chair. Uzi left the classroom, slamming the door behind her, wandering off to fuck-knows where, the teacher yelling fruitlessly for her to come back this instant.

Doll saw however the smug look Lizzy had after the whole scene, as the other students whispered among themselves. While she herself tended to stay out of Lizzy's schemes, it doesn't sound completely out of character for her to do as Uzi claimed. Most of the time, she just ignored it as not her problem, but something seemed a bit off compared to usual with Uzi.

After class, Doll noticed Uzi crying in an empty classroom. Making sure the hall was empty, Doll slipped inside. Uzi heard as Doll closed the door behind her, snapping her head up to see who was there. Uzi knew that the Russian speaking drone wasn't one of her bullies, and hasn't done anything specifically to tease her for over six years, but the girl was still in Lizzy's friend circle, and that alone was enough to earn a spot on her shit list. It didn't matter if Doll never took part in the harassment, willingly being friends someone like that is just as bad in its own way.

Trying and failing to stifle her own tears, Uzi verbally lashed out at Doll, screaming out profanities and pure vitriol as a decade of hurt and rage all came crashing down at once.

Taken aback, Doll fell silent, taking in the brunt of Uzi's anger. Though she had been observing the weird girl more often for the past while, she had no idea the harassment had gotten this bad. Fuck... no wonder the poor girl frequently acted out the way she did. Doll felt horrible, she had once contributed what eventually became this cruel mess. She had believed simply removing herself from involvement and was enough to clean her hands of any wrong-doing, but this whole time she was merely complacent in allowing all of this to develop into physical and emotional abuse.

So Doll waited for Uzi to finish. For the shorter drone to finish getting all those pent up emotions off her chest and into the open.

And then she apologized, wholly and sincerely. For having once been a part of it, for having done nothing to help, for willfully ignoring it all. That while she doesn't think she can make it stop completely, she will at least try to get the friend group to lay off for a bit.

Uzi was shocked to silence, not having expected that. Not knowing what else to say, she stormed out with a mumbled "Whatever, I guess." No matter how horrible her day was, she couldn't help to feel it was a bit better than it actually was. And sure enough, she didn't know how Doll managed to do it, but over the next week, the bullying had been toned back to a more manageable state for the first time in years.

Doll began to reflect more on her "friendship" with Lizzy and the rest of the circle. And really, it was more accurate to call them acquaintances. She'd maybe speak once a day around them, otherwise sitting back doing her own thing within their proximity. Honestly, the reason Lizzy probably hadn't kicked her out of the friend group, was likely based solely on being "hot". Damn if that ain't shallow.

So after school hours, she'd check in on Uzi more often, make sure things were alright and such. Doll actually finds herself bonding with Uzi, albeit slowly in her own awkward, anti-social way. The smaller drone is painfully socially inept, making the girl very cringe-inducing to be around at first. Yet at the same time, Doll finds the troubled teen rather fun and endearing to be around. Turns out the two share many similar interests and hobbies, from their taste in music, video games, manga, and humor. It surprises Doll just how similar they are, and how much more she enjoys being around Uzi than she ever did with Lizzy. She even eventually helps Uzi in pranking her bullies back.

Doll stops caring about her reputation. Uzi had become more important than any of that, and she just wants to allow herself to be close. Let it be damned if everyone starts targeting her for it. Seeing Uzi smile and laugh, the hints of softness amidst her excitable chaos... Doll realizes she's fallen head over heels for the girl, only spending a few restless nights with her feelings before deciding to act on it. Luckily for her, Uzi returns the feelings, and the two start dating.

It was as Doll had initially feared, as soon as their classmates found out, it was social suicide. She'd become just as unpopular as Uzi, and a target for bullying of equal cruelty. Nothing that killing and eating the occasional drone who takes things too far can't handle.

Despite not being even slightly secretive about their relationship, it took Uzi's dad a few weeks to even realize his daughter had a girlfriend now. Uzi had been pissed when Khan tried to congratulate her, having believed it was something that just happened. She was angry with him trying to bring it up every time there was the rare occasion she crossed paths with him, frustrated and hurt that he dare pretend to suddenly give a shit about the things going on in her life. Doll could hardly blame her, also outright ignoring Khan the one or two times he tried to initiate the most bland small talk she ever had the displeasure of experiencing. She just wished her own parents were still around, her mom would have loved to learn the two of them were dating.

Eventually though, when the topic of dead parents came up, and the similar jewelry they inherited, Doll remembered why she became interested in Uzi in the first place. She told Uzi what her own mom told her about her bracelet, and what it symbolized. She revealed her solver powers to Uzi and finally explained why she avoided mirrors. Of course, Uzi found it cool, and tried to use the solver herself, but nothing happened. The string wasn't activated. Doll thought this was better in the long run, because she still doesn't know if it is harmful to them, but Uzi was disappointed in not having cool edgy powers.

For a while, it was just the two of them, happy with only having each other, against the rest of the colony.

NEW FRIENDS

Similar to canon, Uzi invented a gun that would be able to destroy the Disassembly Drones, though now with a little bit more motivation for revenge rather than it being solely for freedom. She blasts N's head off, and ends up talking to him while he's offline, J reboots him, the team manage to follow Uzi into the colony and disable the doors, Khan abandons Uzi as N is about to kill her, N ends up hiding Uzi from J and V and switches sides. Though Uzi is a bit more begrudging in working with N to stop the other two.

Doll was horrified when J and V entered the evacuation bunker, and even more so when her girlfriend showed up working with another one of the drones (Although Uzi was less buddy-buddy about it compared to canon). Though, setting that aside with more pressing matters on hand, Doll was the only worker drone to help Uzi fight them off. With J "destroyed", and V captured, the rest of the colony celebrated. N quickly scooped up the injured drone onto his shoulders to keep her from fainting. With the danger out of the way, Doll felt the hurt return.

Uzi snapped at her dad for betraying her and leaving her to die, and exiled herself out of hurt. She turned to Doll, saying she'd love it if the other drone joined her, but she wouldn't force her to. That made Doll snap, asking if Uzi was seriously willing to leave her behind to be with the enemy. He killed several drones, and she assumes probably tried to kill Uzi mere moments ago. She asks if she was going to just forget about that, forget that these drones had killed their parents so easily, just because he helped them this one time. Uzi just quietly says in the end he still risked everything, nearly lost his own life, just to save them, to save her. There was more to this than any of them realize, and while she doesn't know what specifically, she can't handle the idea of staying in the colony right now. This was too much for Doll though, so she got angry, and told Uzi to just leave then, storming out of the room herself.

Unknowing to them at the moment, at some point during the fight, the extreme stress, emotional hurt, physical damage, and life endangerment had activated Uzi's solver string. Uzi struggled to control it, and ended up breaking many mirrors in N's ship. She was frustrated she couldn't get it to work the way Doll had shown her, and she was starting to really miss her gf.

Doll was beginning to regret her decision, having thought it over. She knows Uzi wouldn't just betray her so easily if she didn't have a really good reason to trust going with N. If he really did nearly sacrifice himself save Uzi, she should be thanking him. So she heads out to rectify things and find Uzi.

When she finds them, Doll apologizes, and Uzi easily forgives her, happy to have her back. She convinces them to return to the colony, especially after hearing that Khan had been referring to Uzi's self imposed exile as a self imposed "grounding".

Doll is saddened to see that Uzi had gone through enough for her solver to activate, and know she wasn't there to help when it appeared. So to make up for it, she immediately started coaching Uzi into controlling it better, and offered both her and N some of the oil she had to make sure they didn't starve. Uzi seemed disgusted by the idea of having to drink oil, but Doll could tell the smaller drone found herself loving the taste of it.

The whole "Cyn"tipede thing happened. It kinda weirded Uzi and Doll out, because they have no idea what this thing is, or why it knows them, and more importantly why it seemed to flirt with them, unhealthily interested in them. Talking about how it's exes abandoned it, but now it'll have two new partners to adore soon, and help aide in its plans. Most terrifying of all, this... thing... seemed heavily tied to this Absolute Solver thing they were infected with. For the first time, they had some idea of what horrors potentially awaited in the progression of their virus. The consequence should it progress.

In deep denial, Uzi upset with N, scared of him. So he retreats back to the ship to give her and Doll space, also scared of the possibility he could turn into that thing.

Time continues, and Lizzy is feeling extremely bitter about the two losers, especially her backstabbing ex-bestie, having a moment of popularity as heroes, and having tamed one of the murder drones that had been terrorizing the colony, (even if it was the lamest one). So she ends up sneaking off to befriend V on her own, promising to help get her into the colony, where she can have cool friends instead of being the prisoner of a bunch of lame nerds.

Without Doll eliminating the prom court, Lizzy simply rigs the results. V clearly has murderous intent as she appears when announced prom queen, before hesitating from pure shock, and even guilt upon realizing just what was going on. Doll, having recognized V as the drone that she watched kill her parents, is flooded with rage and vengeance. She loses a bit of control, and her solver powers act up in response, starting a fight with intent to kill. V defends herself. Uzi is scared for Doll and doesn't want her to die or overexert her solver. And although she is still scared of what the disassembly drones are, she realizes it's not fair to N to turn on him simply because of a threat he knows nothing about, and never asked to have dormant inside of him. Not when she and Doll are dealing with the same thing with the Solver. And she knows if she lets Doll kill V, then N would never forgive them.

It takes a bit of time, and a bit of combat, but eventually Uzi convinces Doll to lay off and calm down. So much is happening, everyone is on edge, so Doll and Uzi get V to agree to Uzi getting N, then discussing the whole situation at Doll's place to figure out what's going on.

Uzi finds N and apologizes to him. Then back at Doll's place, they come to the conclusion that to figure out what's happening, they need to go to Camp 98.7, where Nori and Yeva were found by the colony.

They ride out on a class trip to the camp site. Since Uzi had been drinking oil thanks to Doll, she doesn't overheat and transform into her solver form. Uzi and Doll find the green cockroach which seems to be an assistant and a key.

Something starts attacking them, but unable to see what it is, they have to dodge until they can get out of the cabin. Doll ends up using her solver to stop a few bullets heading right for Uzi. She tries to send them back in the direction it came from, but her eye flashes yellow, and her hand spasms, causing her to drop the bullets. Hand now clasping over the affected eye in pain as it returns to normal. Uzi looks at her gf in concern, but without the attacks letting up, there isn't really time to stop and check on her.

They get out of the cabin, and as they do, Doll gets shot. She quickly uses the solver to remove the bullet so the wound can heal, but her eye flashes yellow again, interrupting the action. Doll's visor is glitching out, struggling to return to normal. The taller drone collapses to her knees, head blaring in pain. Uzi grabs her girlfriend and begins to run, taunting the mystery attack to show themselves and fight properly. But then suddenly something bites her arm clean off and she drops Doll, tripping over her.

Uzi looks up and catches a glimpse of J backing up with a grimace before taking off. Then a familiar buggy voice steals her attention. Doll was getting up, visor flickering on into a yellow X. Any wounds Doll had were being healed with fleshy viscera before decaying away into metal. The... thing... controlling her girlfriend was apologizing for biting her arm, (which was still growing back,) and cooed about how tasty she was. It wishes they could just chat, but unfortunately, Uzi has something it needs, and must take it by force since Uzi won't just hand the key over.

"Doll" attacks Uzi, who freezes in fear, the taller drone sprouting a pair of wings and a tail in it's attack. Before harming Uzi, "Doll" is kicked in the stomach, and launched several meters back by V as she and N arrive on the scene. Uzi and N are panicked and confused, while V seems to have no issue with violently attacking "Doll". The three of them all try to stop the monster. But Doll only manages to reclaim control in a panic when one of her attacks against N is blocked by Uzi. The intruder is pushed out of her head, but the wings and tail remain. Despite it, Uzi immediately crushes her girlfriend in a tight hug, and catches N and V up on what happened. The wings and tail retract once Doll figures out how, and Uzi remains glued to her side for the rest of the night.

A few days is spent recuperating and taking it easy after the incident. The girlfriends focusing on quality time together.

Later they then hack into N and V's consciousness to try and restore some of their memories, and block the control of the one who removed them. Towards the end of the process, J breaks into the colony in search of the key. Uzi leaves it up to Doll to finish things up, and tries to hold off J who made it to her house. The fight is causing major collateral damage, and Uzi is holding back in fear that the other three may get caught in the crossfire while unconscious. This allows J to snag the key and escape. She breaks the news to the others after they wake, and all of them run after J.

Caught up, the group run into J bringing the key to Tessa. Tessa is extremely excited to see N, and tackles him in a hug. V is unphased by this, but Doll and Uzi are taken aback and suspicious of the enemy human acting extremely friendly. Once she lets go, she turns to look at the worker drones and coo, asking who these two adorable fellas are. Doll rolls her eyes, and Uzi snaps "wouldn't you like to know!" They demand the key back, but Tessa points out they don't exactly know where they are meant to use it, but she does and they'd need a human to get past the biometrics.

Uzi insists they don't need any human helping them. V mentions the four of them have been trying to get to the bottom of this, and none of them are gonna back off now, and they need to take that key back to continue. Tessa knows that and instead wants their group to join her to the labs. J begins to question that plan with a bit of confusion, but is immediately cut off by Tessa saying a few more sets of skilled hands would greatly help them, especially since they don't know what exactly they'll find down there. J gives Tessa a slightly weary look before scoffing out a "fine". N convinces the worker drones to agree with the plan, backed up by V.

Tessa catches the group up with what they've learned about Cyn's plan, and that she seems to be using the disassembly drones to find something within the labs. J is left in charge of guarding the ship, as the remaining 5 head down into the institution.

Everyone quickly found themselves lured into a trap and knocked unconscious, waking up in a hospital unit. In one room, Beau is taking care of N, V, and Tessa, preparing to harvest the disassembly drones of their cores to throw into the oven. In the other, Alice introduces herself to Doll and Uzi, and mentions she's shocked to find witches around these parts that she doesn't recognize. Though she does admit the two feel familiar to her. Uzi snaps at Alice, yelling "bite me!" Alice's eyes go wide at the phrase... there's no way. Her eyes wander to the purple eyed drone's neck, extending a claw to investigate the familiar necklace. 002... her eyes go over to Doll's wrist, and checks the similar piece of jewelry. 048. Alice chuckles with a feral grin, "Well I'll be darned! If it ain't the daughters of both Nori and Yeva Uvir!"

Uzi and Doll freeze in shock... what? This drone knew their mothers, and was she implying what they think she is? And sure enough, Alice reveals that she used to be friends with the two sisters. That was until they abandoned her for the surface, leaving everyone behind to die in the wake of destruction. Before Alice can take her grudge and desire for violence out on them, she learns the other three have escaped, and locks down the door, leaving the two witches under a lot of sedation to monitor the problem.

The girlfriends, and apparently cousins, lay there in silence, neither really knowing what to say. Though that may just be the magnets inhibiting cognitive function. Despite that though, upon seeing on the cameras what's going on outside the door, Doll's solver seems to have no issue with acting up in response to the danger. She tries to fight it off, but the flickering yellow wins over, charging up a black hole that destroys the door. The exertion under the sedation causes Doll to short circuit and pass out.

The sentinels that were outside the room charge in, immediately killing Alice and Beau. The sentinels close in on the Doll and Uzi, but before they can attack, V barges in, killing one and causing a distraction. She busts the shackles holding the two worker drones down, and holds the sentinels back as Uzi removes the magnets and uses her telekinesis to destroy the dinos. V asked if Doll was okay, and Uzi confirmed she was just unconscious. Uzi grabbed Doll and followed V back to the others.

Meeting back up with Tessa and N, Doll reboots and wakes up. She and Uzi end up in an awkward state, unsure how to act knowing what they know now. They are related, they really shouldn't keep dating, in fact the other is probably disgusted in them right now, they shouldn't even entertain any idea other than ending things now.

Probably not the best idea though to have an existential crisis while a ton of sentinels are still in the area.

One of the sentinels assumed to be dead wakes up with red eyes, calling other sentinels to its location. The group is surrounded and quickly outnumbered, especially with the dinos' ability to paralyze the drones. Doll finds herself rendered defenseless, as any attempt to use her powers opens the way for Cyn to possess her. Uzi watches as one of the sentinels lunges for Doll, badly damaging her. Terrified of losing her, and filled with a desperate need to protect her girlfriend, Uzi goes feral. She grows a pair of wings and a tail, a purple X over her visor, and absolutely tears the sentinel that hurt Doll to shreds. The losing fight the groups was having turned into a one sided carnage. Several things around the offices and makeshift medical unit are destroyed by flying sentinel parts. Even when the few remaining sentinels flee, Uzi is still too deep in protective rage as the solver clouds her judgement. When N steps a little too close to Doll, Uzi starts attacking him. V jumps to his defense, and the two end up fighting Uzi in her solver form. At some point, Tessa helps a terrified N by shooting a few holes into Uzi to get her off of him.

Doll watches this happen in horror, Uzi is going to get seriously hurt, even with regeneration. She doesn't want to lose her. Cousins or not, Uzi means the world to her, and that love is more important than genetic code. Doll having regenerated enough to get up now, is able to approach Uzi and get through to her, snapping the shorter drone back to reality. The two agree to keep dating, and figure out the stuff Alice told them later.

Right now it's time for the group to go down the elevator, and find whatever Cyn was looking for.

STILL ALIVE

Years ago, Yeva made her way back to the labs as just a core in search of her sister. She made it to the offices, using her small size to stealthily avoid the sentinels. But in her search for a way to lower floors without the key, she got caught in a magnetic trap. Alice, her and Nori's old friend, was still alive. Of course though, the corrupted drone didn't recognize her like this. Apparently Alice had taken interest in her when she noticed a core running around without it turning into a giant monster, as well as the red LEDs signifying it didn't belong to a disassembly drone.

Alice went to dissect the heart, eager to learn more about what it was and how it operated. So of course, Yeva did her best to fight back, trying to tell Alice it was her and to let her go. Though as soon as Alice realized the core she had her hands on was actually Yeva, one of her so-called friends who had abandoned everyone for the surface... plans changed.

Since there was no risk of this core turning into a giant centipede, going as far as throwing it in the oven to ensure stasis won't be necessary. Instead, Yeva was kept paralyzed in jar on a shelf, awake but only slightly aware, stuck in a state of semi-consciousness. Alice took sadistic glee in leaving Yeva to suffer, denied the mercy of death.

And so Yeva was trapped there for years, quickly losing track of time. Until one day, something caused her jar to fall off the shelf and shatter, cutting the electromagnetic field that restrained her. Once she got her bearings, she saw the cause of her freedom. She'd recognize her own daughter anywhere, as well as her niece, but it gave her no relief to see them again, not like this. Her daughter was severely injured, barely holding onto her autonomy. Her niece had lost herself to the solver and was fighting two disassembly drones and a human. One of those disassembly drones being the one that killed her and her husband.

Yeva had no idea what to do, or if there was anything she could do. Before she could make her mind up, her daughter was moving towards Uzi, and managed to calm her down and restore control. And now it seems they are friends with the two disassembly drones? Hiding herself in the shadows, Yeva realizes how much she's missed, her daughter has grown so mu-

Did her daughter and niece just kiss?

Oh god, now they are looking at each other all tenderly and smitten. She can't hear what they are saying from here. Did she and Nori mess up by telling no one they were sisters? Doll probably had no idea she was dating her cousin, no thanks to her. More importantly it aches so much seeing them hold each other the way she always wished she could with Nori. Wow, Uzi really resembles her mother. And Doll had grown into a beautiful drone too...

Fuck, they're leaving now! And the human is holding the key to the elevator! Yeva trails after them, hitching a ride on the top of the lift, down to the laboratory.

Once down at the bottom floor, Tessa threatens Uzi and Doll. Their virus has gotten far too out of hand, and the two need to be put out of their misery before what happened earlier happens again, getting them all killed. V is taken by surprise with the sudden declaration, however N jumps to defend the two worker drones, saying they can't resort to that right now. Of course, he intended it to mean that there still has to be a way to defeat the solver and still save the two, but Uzi and Doll are taken aback. To them, it sounded like N knew Tessa intended to kill them eventually, and at the least didn't plan to warn them, if not straight up help her do it if Cyn ever took complete control of either of them.

Doll takes Uzi's hand, and the two run off, not wanting to be around the others right now. V pins Tessa against a wall, pissed off. She tells her that none of them would be alive right now without them, the least they could do is have little more faith in them, slipping in a side glare at N. N tells V what Tessa had shown him, with Earth being completely destroyed, how he wants to save Uzi and Doll more than anything, but what if they can't? V tells him "then find a way", and releases Tessa.

Tessa insists the world is more important, and if it comes down to it, they need to be ready to make the right choice, but N sides with V. The disassembly drones start to head out to look for Uzi and Doll, when suddenly the area caves in.

Nori sees the collapse on the security cameras, and heads out to investigate it, and nullify any threats. She ends up pulling N and V out of the rubble when suddenly the absolute solver appears and starts chasing them down. Nori leads the two through the tunnels, and shake the large centipede monster off their trail. This scene plays out similarly to canon, now with V present.

Uzi and Doll find Nori's computer together, and start browsing it for information. Uzi finds old footage from the experiments prior to the core collapse, her mother completely lost to the control of Cyn as various humans try to subdue her. With it she finds a few abstract notes about the construction of a patch. Doll flips through the cameras on another monitor, and sees Tessa logging onto a different computer, deleting several admin restricted research files regarding and containing the patch. She pulls her girlfriend over to point out the footage before "Tessa" looks up at the camera and destroys it. It's clear that this human is not on their side.

Yeva is scurrying around the facility, trying to recall the layout to find Uzi and Doll before anything else gets to them first.

"Tessa" made her way to the cathedral where Uzi and Doll are, expressing delight to see them again. Of course the two take up a defensive stance against her. Doll accuses Tessa of never having any intention to stop the solver. "Tessa" admits to it, mourning the fact that she couldn't get them to see things her way, and not to take this personally as she lunges with her sword.

Only the sword is ripped out of her hand by a red solver glyph. "Tessa" whips around, the sword she had flying over towards Yeva's side. The heart declares she won't let her hurt them. "Tessa" is shocked, but before she can say anything, Yeva uses the sword to slice her head off. It falls to the floor, allowing silence to fill the space.

Doll can hardly believe it, despite the years, she still recognized that voice, "Мама?" Yeva put the sword down, and looked at her daughter. A tense moment passed, Yeva began to apologize, but Doll scooped up the core in her hands and held it tight. Yeva wrapped her legs around Doll in return. Of course, Uzi was extremely confused. Was this thing supposed to be Doll's dead mom? There wasn't much time to question it, Yeva informed them that down here was a patch that would be able to stop the solver. Uzi pointed out they saw Tessa destroy the files though. Yeva mentioned there should be a physical copy of the patch in a USB shaped like a crucifix, they just needed to find it.

N and V arrived upon the room. Both horrified to see Tessa dead on the ground. Uzi tried to explain it wasn't what it looked like, Tessa was never on their side, and she attacked them, and- Yeva leapt off of Doll's shoulder, and pointed Tessa's sword again, declaring she won't let harm befall her daughter or Uzi. N apologized for not showing full confidence in them earlier, Tessa had them tricked too, and he won't let either of them get hurt. Uzi hugs N, affectionately calling him a dork. N hugs her back and looks over to Doll as he mentioned that they know where to find a patch that will be able to stop the solver.

Uzi chuckles, tail suddenly appearing to stab N through the side. He pushes her off in shock, and she flies back to the opposite side of the room, her visor lit up yellow. Cyn will not allow them to do that. It's possessed Uzi vs N, V, and Yeva. Doll hesitant to participate, not just because it's her girlfriend, but also because she can feel her self control slipping without even using her solver powers. It isn't long before Cyn shifts her consciousness over to Doll's body, bouncing back and forth between the two hosts, leaving neither a chance to recover from the disorientation before reclaiming control.

Nori is soon upon the scene, having brought the crucifix, and jumps in on the fight. Cyn is frustrated because neither Nori nor Yeva should be alive, claiming their presence is just further insult to injury. Of course neither of them know what she means by that.

Despite the 4 v "2", Cyn is clearly showing the upperhand, as none of them are able to truly harm Cyn while she's in Uzi or Doll's body. All while trying to play keep away as Cyn tries to destroy the patch. Unfortunately, Cyn gets a blow on the crucifix after knocking V unconcious and severely damaging N, shattering the device. Shifting goals, Cyn takes control of Doll and holds Nori down while trying to swallow a very resistant Yeva, declaring that the two of them will never be able to escape her again.

Nori is panicked, she knew her daughter and niece were here through the security footage, she had at least some time to process that before the chaos started. But she had no idea her sister was here until she joined the fight and noticed the other heart. She missed Yeva so so much, barely a day went by where she didn't think of her. Wondering if the secrecy and avoidance was worth it. What could have been if she wasn't so afraid of everything that could go wrong. So she decided to do something incredibly stupid.

The purple heart called out to Cyn, and flirted with both her and Yeva. Cyn because she hoped it would shock the obsessive freak long enough for Yeva to escape. And Yeva because well... Nori figured if she was going to die for real, best to do it without any regrets.

Thankfully Cyn took the bait, and was stunned speechless. Yeva was a blushing stuttering mess, yelling at Nori for saying something so inappropriate, especially when they haven't seen each other in well over a decade. Uzi, who was still trying to regain strength from being possessed and injured, was shocked and confused by her mom being still alive and apparently hitting on her own supposed sister. Doll was shocked and semi horrified enough by having her aunt flirt with her mom, who now was flustered and trying to hide herself further into her mouth, that she regained consciousness in order to spit Yeva out, dramatically declaring she needs to wipe that whole interaction from her memory banks.

Everyone is getting up and repairing any injuries. Immediate danger out of the way, Nori apologizes for the odd comment, just trying to do the first thing she thought of to stall Cyn. But before she can finish, Yeva rushes in to hug her. Uzi tentatively calls out to her mom, Doll having a supporting hand on her shoulder, but keeping a slight distance.

Nori turns to face her daughter, overwhelmed with guilt. Aside from knowing her name and her parentage, the drone in front of her was otherwise no more than a stranger. And a really... really cute one too. No! Get a grip Nori that is your freaking daughter! It's already bad enough to be down bad for her sister! All she can muster is an awkward hi, and what she hopes to come across as an embarrassed blush. Uzi returns an equally awkward hi and blush.

After an awkward moment of silence, Nori changes topic and the group starts discussing how to defeat the Solver now that the patch is destroyed. While they are distracted, "Tessa's" body gets up and grabs her head. N notices the movement, and gets everyone's attention as they watch her screw the head back on, unzipping the suit, causing excess carnage to spill out onto the ground. It's revealed to be Cyn inside the suit, wearing Tessa's corpse, this whole time.

Cyn says that as delightful it is to finally be able to see both her beloveds at the same time, in the flesh, it's time to finish what she came here for. Long tentacles come out and snare Doll and Uzi, Cyn jumping back into the hole towards the core, dragging the two worker drones in with her. N and V try to catch them and pull them free, but are unsuccessful. Nori dives in after them, shocking N, V, and Yeva. Yeva quickly shakes off the nerves and dives in as well. V is about to follow, but N stops her, saying he has a better idea. The two race towards the ship to take the keys back.

The fight with Cyn is long, the corrupted drone unafraid to fight dirty, making several obscene and flirty remarks towards Doll and Uzi through the whole fight. To the point where neither of the two can figure out if it's just a cheap distraction to mess with their composure, or if it's actually serious. J still fights on the side of Cyn, which gets her "killed" (In actuality, her core remains intact, so she ends up as a defenseless heart without her disassembly parts or the solver's influence).

Eventually, Uzi manages to rip Cyn's core out of her chest, and uses a black hole to annihilate it. The black hole is strong enough to cause a warp in spacetime around them. That should be it, that should have been the death of Cyn. But remaining in Uzi's hand is the pit of the black hole, still containing the condensed ai of Cyn, held together by the solver as it keeps Cyn alive by any means necessary. By some damned form of determination, Cyn's body rises again, the code demanding a vessel. It tries to take the code back, so in a last effort to put an end to this, Uzi swallows the code. The warp in spacetime rebounding back into position, and Cyn's body melting away without the solver to keep it alive.

Having absorbed Cyn's code, her LEDs turn into a purple/yellow gradient, to the initial horror of everyone else, before turning into acceptance as they realize it's Uzi in control.

POST SOLVER APOCALYPSE

For one reason or another, with Cyn gone and the Solver defeated, the world returned to normal, or rather how it was before it exploded. No one knows how, probably best not to question the plot hole. Uzi was ecstatic to learn she still had her solver abilities, and Doll was happy to know she still had hers too, and neither had to worry about being possessed by it now that Cyn isn't around to use it as an admin override.

Or so they thought. Apparently having swallowed Cyn's ai, combined with her damned refusal to die like a fucking cockroach, Cyn now resides within Uzi's body. Just now under the the adminship of Darkxwolf17. Which is to say stripped of her power, with heavy restrictions. The most Cyn seems able to do is pop out as Uzi's tail, so long as it's not actively being used. Uzi is very quick to learn how annoying Cyn is when she isn't actively trying to destroy the world. And Oh My God the endless flirting.

Aside from the desire to strangle her own tail, Uzi is now getting used to having her mother around. For now, she remained as a heart, since her body was far beyond recovery after several years. It was weird, her mom was definitely friendly with her dad, but no icky, sappy "not in front of your daughter" kind of affection on her mom's end. Though her dad did often try to initiate. And it sure as hell was still awkward between her and her mom, but they were making progress. Especially after learning her mom loved nightcore, anime, and drawing edgy OCs too. It kinda reminds her of when she and Doll first became friends. And shit, that's extremely weird too.

Unfortunately since her dad, and the rest of the colony knew, there wasn't exactly a way to keep the fact she and Doll were girlfriends from their moms. Both were afraid their moms would be disgusted and disown them, or at least tell them the truth, expecting them to break up.

When Uzi told Nori though, Nori of course was shocked and at loss for words. Her dad seemed oblivious, but Uzi detected the horror behind it. Her mom eventually congratulated her, and was happy for her. So her mom was going to keep the secret. When she said she was gonna go out with Doll for the night, Nori panicked and asked Uzi to wait. Expecting the worse, Uzi paused, not looking at her. Nori hesitated before finding her resolve, and simply told Uzi that no matter what, she'd always love her. Uzi knew that her mom didn't know they knew about being related, but regardless the message was there. Her mom had chosen her happiness over typical morality.

Doll had brought her mom back home, apologizing for the mess. Hesitantly she shows her mom the corpses she'd kept of her and dad, asking her if she'd like her original body back. Yeva was horrified by how messed up it was for Doll to just, hold onto the bodies of her parents for nearly a decade. But Doll just said it was messed up of her to let her daughter believe she died right in front of her for nearly a decade, does she want the body or not? Yeva conceded and crawled back into her chest cavity. It took some time from lack of use, but eventually Yeva's solver began to repair the body, and whirred back to life. Once mobile, Yeva hugged Doll tight, glad to hold her daughter again.

There was just one thing to address. The corpse of her husband. And wasn't that weird, seeing his body the same as the day he died, but at the dinner table. She still cared about him, he was a dear friend to her, but it felt empty where she was meant to see him as the love of her life. Regardless, she was not keeping his corpse at the dinner table, and eventually convinced Doll to bury him.

It was different for both of them to live as a single mom and nearly adult daughter without the father around. Especially for Doll who had lived without either for so long. A lot of quality time was spent catching up, and making up for lost time.

Doll eventually had to bring up that she was dating Uzi. Yeva knew this was her chance to right a wrong, and tell a truth that should have been told long ago, but she couldn't. Her daughter seemed so happy with Uzi... able to have what she herself never could... she didn't want to take that away from her. Besides, she loved seeing the way Uzi could make her laugh and smile. She'd missed so much of Doll's childhood, causing her daughter so much pain. Now seeing her daughter again, grown, gorgeous, a mesmerizing laugh she couldn't get enough of... What was she going on about again? Oh right, her daughter is dating her niece. She didn't want to break them apart, so she was honest in a different way. Told Doll she had figured as much, and that she was really happy for them.

Meanwhile Nori and Yeva were also reconnecting. Yeva, with Uzi's help, was building Nori a new body. In the meantime they got back to their usual antics, being a slight menace to the colony. Sisters but also best friends. It was like old times, but now slightly different. After so many years apart, finally being together again made them more desperate for each other's affection, hardly able to stay apart, tender, affectionate. Both found it slightly harder to deny the romantic nature of their bond. Yeva playing the card of "loyalty to her dead husband", and Nori forcing herself to be romantic with Khan to "re-prove" the feelings for him that she never had.

Both were incredibly jealous of their daughters, but refused to admit so. They had discussed it at one point when they were alone. How they felt too guilty to say anything when their daughters were so happy together. They rather let them be together in ignorance than ruin everything.

Eventually, Nori's new body was up and running. The only real difference was her hair being a bit longer than previously. Uzi was there as Nori situated herself into the chest, and connected herself to the vessel. It was disorienting at first for Nori, finally having a body for the first time in 16 years. She looked towards Uzi, seeing her at eye level for once, with hands to hold her with. They hugged each other tightly. When they finally separated, they took the time to look at each other face to face. Both finding their gaze wandering to the other's lips, wanting to lock the other in a kiss, unaware the other was thinking the same thing. Both quickly pull away, disgusted in themselves for thinking that about their own mother/daughter. Yeva was next to hug Nori, though when they finally let go, they willingly kissed each other on the visor. Totally platonic, yep.

Now that Nori had a body, it has hard for Uzi and Doll to not notice the way their mothers looked at each other, held each other, talked to each other. All with a deep affection neither had ever shown their husbands. The same deep affection the two younger drones show each other. Before they could breach that subject with each other, the two of them never really braved bringing up how they felt about their relationship, knowing they were cousins.

Neither minded their relation, seeing as they were already dating before they found out. They weren't exactly raised as family, and genetics isn't a worry since they can't and don't plan to reproduce. Uzi was the first to admit that she thinks learning the truth actually made her fall deeper in love. As though they were made for each other, down to their genetic code. Doll agreed, saying it was like they were fundamentally linked by shared data.

That aside, they now needed to figure out what to do with their moms. If their moms really were in love with each other, that would explain many things, including why neither spoke up about Uzi and Doll's relationship. Both of them found themselves wanting to get their mom's together, even Uzi who still had her dad in the picture.

Hard part would be setting them up. There was first the issue of addressing Nori's marriage with Khan. Then even if the two of them ended things, hopefully peacefully, they'd still have to get their moms to put social taboo aside and pursue their feelings. It was one thing for Uzi and Doll, who didn't know they were related until well after they started dating. It was another for Nori and Yeva, who grew up as sisters. Despite those setbacks, they did their best to play wingmen.

Nori and Yeva could tell their daughters were up to something. The two sisters found themselves in awkward, romantic themed situations more often. They received more comments and pressing to be close and affectionate with each other. What really confirmed their suspicions though, was when Uzi confronted Nori.

Uzi called Nori out for not really loving her dad. Nori tried to deny it, but Uzi insisted. It was okay if they weren't together, or if they were only friends. She just doesn't want her mom to pretend to be happy with the marriage for anyone's sake. Nori is unable to give Uzi a straight answer, but two weeks later Nori talked with Khan about how the two of them were different now, and she didn't want to be romantic anymore. Khan was hurt at first, but eventually he understood. He just wasn't quite ready to admit he had learned to move on, and now that Nori was back, neither of them were the same.

Now though, neither Nori or Yeva had a decent excuse for their affection for each other, and were painfully aware of their daughters setting them up. Even Cyn was getting in on it, but being way more obvious about it, often resulting in Uzi trying to smother her own tail. Eventually it got to be too much for the two sisters, and when it was just the four of them (and Cyn), Nori snapped. Saying that they know what they are doing, and it's never going to happen because they are sisters.

Uzi shrinks back and looks down to the side, Cyn takes the cue to vanish, but Doll keeps her gaze steady, looking Nori in the visor as she says they know. Nori recoils back, and Doll's gaze shifts to Yeva, who is unable to look at her.

Nori asks how long they knew, and Doll answers since they met Alice back in the lab offices. Both Nori and Yeva seem ashamed, but Nori quickly steels up and informs them they realize that makes her and Uzi-. Doll cuts her off, finishing the sentence with cousins, yeah they know. Yeva asks why they stayed together then. Uzi finally manages to look back up, meeting Yeva's gaze as she says that they simply couldn't imagine a future without each other, and realized letting themselves be happy together was far more important to them than whatever anyone else thought about it.

Frustrated, either in herself, with the kids, or just at the situation in general, Nori says that even if they knew, actually especially because they knew, this was not their place to intervene like this. Just because they rationalized incest in their minds doesn't mean they'd agree with their delusion. She grounds Uzi, telling her and Doll to get out.

After they leave, Yeva shrinks in on herself, asking Nori if the thought of them being together like that is really that repulsive to her. Nori can feel her heart break, realizing she could have handled that situation a lot better than she had. She sits down, pulling her knees in, eyes fixed on the ground. Nori explains to Yeva that it's actually the complete opposite. That it was all she'd ever wanted for over 20 years. How it's kept her up at night, driving her insane from how bad she wanted it. And thus how much she hated herself for seeing her little sister that way. Seeing their daughters together like that, and completely accepting of the idea, the jealousy hurt so bad. If there was truly nothing wrong with knowingly dating a relative, then why does she feel like a monster for being in love with her own sister?

Yeva understood. She has dealt with those thoughts for so long now as well. Even now she still feels disgust towards herself for being in love with Nori. But if that guilt can go away with time, if their daughters are right, and letting themselves have what they truly want isn't a bad thing so long as they both want it... then would it really be so horrible to... try? Hell, taboo wise, it's not like anyone but their own daughters even know they are related. They wouldn't have to hide.

Nori hesitated, but concedes. If Yeva truly feels the same way... She remembers that small spur she had when she thought she and Yeva were going to die to Cyn a few months back. Nori doesn't want to waste any more time denying what "could have been". The two agree to be girlfriends, and finally, after wanting it for so long, kiss each other on the lips.

Uzi stays grounded for two nights though, for trying to knowingly hook her mom up with her aunt, when that was none of her business. Doll asks her mom why she isn't also grounded. Yeva admits she can't think of a way to ground Doll in a way that actually matters. Seeing as like her, Doll is a shut in recluse, who only causes havoc when her partner is involved. Uzi being grounded is grounding enough for Doll. Doll asks what about N and V, they are her friends too, she could go see them. Which Yeva counters that, even if Doll enjoys hanging out with those two, she knows Doll would equally enjoy holing up in her room, not bothering to talk to anyone but Uzi. And yeah, Doll can't argue with that... for the most part. She doesn't bring up that she'd also rather enjoy spending her time just being with her mom, just like she would with Uzi, far more than she'd enjoy complete solitude.

Eventually Uzi is freed from grounding, and things seem to return to relative normal. Now that Nori and Yeva were dating, Uzi and Doll occasionally got the off comment asking them if they found it weird, cause it was like they were step sisters now. They'd laugh it off, and by laugh it off they mean use their powers to slam dunk anyone dumb enough to make unwanted comments, while secretly thinking that it just makes their relationship hotter to them.

Cyn would still frequently pop in, being a nuisance. But Uzi, much to her own dismay, was starting to find her presence a bit endearing. Though she's not sure if it's either Cyn having tamed a bit, or she'd gotten so used to it her frame of reference is unreliable. Either way, she kinda started flirting back with Cyn when it was just them, joking around with her, and sometimes indulging the poor thing who's autonomy has been highly restricted to whatever Uzi does. Cyn keeps pushing her own luck however, getting bolder and more frequent in her flirting with Doll, Nori, and Yeva. She has it in her head that she is currently dating both Uzi and Doll, despite none of them agreeing to that, and is exes with their moms. She is the reason all of them have solver powers, having admin control over them at one point and being able to take control of their bodies is the closest and most intimate someone can possibly be with another, which obviously means dating. Though she doesn't have control anymore, technically Uzi and Doll never properly kicked her out/aka broke up with her like Nori and Yeva did, which is why they are still dating. And wow that backwards ass thinking explains so much. Still doesn't stop Doll from obliterating Uzi's tail any time Cyn decides to flirt with them.

Time goes on, Nori and Yeva have grown more comfortable in dating each other in the presence of others, and knowing their daughters are dating each other. The guilt has lessened, and they are truly thankful to Uzi and Doll for giving them push they needed.

Uzi and Nori have also closed the awkward gap between them, and are nearly inseparable in their chaos. They frequently game together, and typically have to play co-op games, simply cause after a while Doll and Yeva put a ban on pvp games due to how competitive the two got. They have a hard time admitting when they want mother daughter cuddles, yet still manage to fall asleep on each other with the tv still on.

Doll and Yeva got over that initial weirdness of living together again after years of being apart, though now without the father around. It was easy to reconnect over dry, morbid humor. Though Doll learned that her mom actually loves hearing about gossip. There was a lot to catch her up on, and a lot of lies that needed to be corrected. By the end of it, Doll had to stop her mom from planning "hypothetical" ways Lizzy could die without anyone ever finding the body.

Sometimes the two pairs would go on double dates together. As everyone also enjoys time spent with their aunt/niece. Uzi and Yeva collaborating in lighthearted shenanigans to prank their partners, showing each other cat videos, and discussing the latest over-the-top gorey anime with bad plots they've found. Nori and Doll sometimes spar with each other, free to push the limits of their solver without worry, and they are working together and sharing notes to co-host a DnD campaign, which N and V are both part of. Even Cyn was given an NPC character tied to backstory of Uzi's character.

At some point, Uzi and Nori are teasing each other while playing a game in Uzi's bedroom. The banter starts turning a bit flirty, and soon the gameplay gets abandoned as they turn their full attention to each other and tussle a little bit. They pause to catch their breath, looking into each others eyes, and at each others lips, and before they know what they are even doing, they are making out on Uzi's bed.

As soon as their minds catch up with their actions, the two freak out. Neither able to stutter out a complete sentence. Nori ends up fleeing the room. Uzi smashes her head against her pillow. The two avoid each other for the following few days.

Doll ends up confronting Uzi about it, seeing as the tension is so strong it could be cut with a dull knife. Uzi feels too disgusted in herself to even look at Doll, but Cyn ends up betraying her, telling Doll that Uzi and Nori made-out with each other and freaked out. Doll can't even bring herself to feel mad about it, mostly cause a huge part of her feels relieved. As Uzi tries to kill her own tail for betraying her, Doll reassures her that she isn't the only one. Uzi sarcastically retorts if Doll also accidentally kissed Uzi's mom or something, earning her a flick to the visor.

Apparently though, Doll had been struggling with feelings towards Yeva. She's been unsure if it was some kind of weird trauma response to having watched her mom "die" all those years ago, or if it was simply all those years apart causing some sort of confusion or dissociation in her mind, or if it was something entirely else. All she knows is that for the last while now, Doll has been wanting to kiss and hold her mom the same way she did with Uzi. Feeling horrible about it because it also feels like a betrayal to Uzi on top of the guilt of seeing her own mom romantically.

Uzi asks Doll then if she'd hate her for wanting to still be lovers, but also wanting to kiss Nori again and again. Doll says if she did, then she'd be a hypocrite for it. Neither are sure what to do about their feelings though. At the least from the mutual kiss, they knew that Nori would likely be interested, with a bit of convincing, to try things with Uzi. But would it be dating, if Uzi was dating Doll? Was that cheating?

Cyn quips that the three of them are already dating. (No one knew how to convince Cyn that just because she claims it doesn't make it mutual or true.) And that it's called polyamory. Plus if her deduction is correct, then it's likely Yeva is also interested in Doll. And though it's rude to not consult her first, yes she'd be fine with her girlfriends dating her exes, and that maybe Nori and Yeva would even consider getting back together with her.

Aside from that last bit, the two cousins realize that Cyn had a point. They went to find Nori.

In the meantime, Nori eventually went to Yeva, crying. Claiming that she was horrible, disgusting, a terrible sister/girlfriend, and the worst mother ever, refusing to elaborate when asked. When finally pushed enough though, Nori blurted out that she kissed her own daughter. Not just a small peck, but on the mouth and with tongue. Yeva froze for a moment, because she'd been struggling with similar thoughts regarding Doll, and just been doing her best to repress them, unsure why her mind couldn't seem to connect her daughter now to the same little girl she raised, or if it was simply that her mind didn't care. First things first though, she had to comfort her lover.

The two younger drones eventually found Nori with Yeva. It was hard, but the four began to talk things out, say the things they've been too scared to say. While none of them quite know when it happened, the four of them had all fallen in love with each other. There is a ton of self hate and disgust, a ton of humiliation and tears. There is something very wrong with all of them, that they can all agree. They can also all agree though that they want this, more than anything. They'll all be together in any way and every way.

Of course, publicly they still pretend as though they are two separate couples. The taboo still exists, and unlike Nori and Yeva's sisterhood, and thus Uzi and Doll's relation as cousin, the entire colony is aware that Nori is Uzi's mom, and Yeva Doll's. But in the privacy of closed doors, the four are a polycule.

Cyn feels horribly left out, despite being unable to be physically left out as a result of being bound to Uzi. With Uzi being better friends with Cyn for a while now, the other three did eventually have to learn to tolerate Cyn's presence. But Cyn wanted to be respected as a member of the polycule. She wasn't as ignorant as everyone chose to believe. Yes she saw the nature of her relationship with all her possessions as romantic, but she was aware it was one sided. She merely wanted to let herself live the fantasy of it. But fuck it was getting hard to do so when the fantasy was being taunted in front of her. Watching her "beloveds" have the love she craves, while being denied it herself.

Uzi felt bad for Cyn, wanting to cheer her up. She knows that what Cyn did was unforgivable, but even so, she wasn't going anywhere, so wouldn't it be better to allow themselves to move on? Try to make things better at least for their own sanity? So she convinces the others to give Cyn second chance, and at least include her more in activities.

Cyn remains extremely flirty, despite everyone's annoyance. The first one to flirt back though aside from Uzi, was Nori, just to see what would happen. Cyn got extremely flustered, and didn't say anything for a day or two after, but once she recovered from it, she got 10x more annoying with her flirting. At first, Nori regretted her decision, but at least it was more entertaining for her to come up with new and creative ways to flirt back, until she started to actually enjoy it.

At some point, Uzi and Nori ended up falling for Cyn, and weren't even aware of it because of how natural it felt. It wasn't until Doll called them out on it that they even realized what happened.

It took a lot longer for Doll and Yeva to properly warm up to Cyn, and later fall in love, but when they did, Cyn was so fucking happy. Everyone joked that Cyn was the one exception of their polycule, as she was the only one not related to them, but since Cyn wanted to be part of the incest too, she ended up trying to convince everyone that since the solver string originated from her code, which she then spread to everyone else, that means technically they all have a bit of her genetics inside them, making them related. Even if it's more like distant cousins.

And so, the five of them were happily in love, regardless if the rest of society would think it disgusting. If anything, especially if society found it disgusting. Because no matter how fucked up it is, they're fucked up for each other. None of them want it any other way. Perhaps others will find out the truth eventually, maybe they'll even willingly tell a few others when the time is right. That's a bridge they'll cross when they get to it, and they'll all cross it together.

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