#Nix doorman AU

[devastator1775]

I about figured out what little changes I can make to episode 7 so it makes more sense within my AU....

Edit:

[simplelinesunfashiond]

Highway to Hellsite

Because @abalonetea low-key encouraged me to finish an AU scene despite not knowing what it was, and @idreamonpaper and @drabbleitout actually encouraged this weirdness at one point, and I have no willpower when it comes to both spoiling and embarassing the hell out of Jackson Alistair Lewis. A short non-magical AU about blogging and your obvious crush on a celebrity going viral.

Jackson Alistair woke to the sound of his phone obsessively buzzing in his ear. He moved, stretched, felt something pop in his back and slowly lowered himself back onto the pillow, blinking at the ceiling for far longer than he supposed he really needed to. He had some things to consider, though nothing so much to worry about, he thought. He had survived the gala, uploaded a decent number of shots, and, overall, not completely flopped at his first press event. Good. It all faded out, a little, in comparison to the real reason he was even invited. Being the administrator of the first known DawnShadow fan page wasn’t much for a marketing resume, but damn if it wasn’t good for getting in close with DawnShadow’s marketing team when the band reformed and started catching on. So, maybe his interests hadn’t been one hundred percent professional.

The event certainly had been, at any rate. A fundraiser, a big deal. He hadn’t actually known much about the organization up front, just that it was run by the founder of a network of medical facilities. He knew who that man was, though. And he knew who that man’s second-in-command on his medical staff was. And if there was one thing that was bound to get Nathaniel Ettonridge out into the world, it was his crazy-genious daughter. Even if the band hadn’t been contracted to perform at the more public part of the event (which, thank whatever powers, they had), Nat would be sure to make an appearance. And what an appearance it had been, though the tailored coat was nothing compared to the guitar god on his arm. There had always been rumors, but this was…Well, whatever it was, it felt important. Maybe just because he'd spent so long looking at ancient pictures and wondering, but...maybe not that, really.

The phone buzzed again, and he finally bothered to look at it. A lot of new notifications, more honestly than he’d expected – in fact, suspiciously many. And a few messages from Sydney, who hadn’t dragged herself clear across the country just to watch him snap pictures at an event she wasn’t actually invited to. Understandable. The messages were about what he expected. How was the event, was it exciting meeting everyone, how did he end up getting on stage? And then, a little bit of a different one.

“Did you bring anyone back with you? ;)”

Of course not, and what sort of strange question was that? He asked her as much.

“I’m just teasing. But we’ve talked about this. You can tell me anything. I did figure it was probably a joke, though…” A joke? What was a joke? After a minute of him not answering, another alert snapped him back. “…” And then another. “You haven’t seen it yet?”

He flipped on instinct back to the notifications. A lot of new traffic, likes, reblogs, retweets, notes from all over the series of pages he’d been maintaining across their different platforms. And then, before all that, the ominous truth of the matter.

“Kim ‘at’ed me in something?” he asked, out loud, and then paused to consider the odd sensation of trying to say “@” out loud. What was more, it was a post from another blog, someone he had met the night before. He paused, thought about it before he even attempted to open it, and couldn’t recall anything that had occurred between him and Sarra being interesting enough to go viral. Finally, he went to her account, and stared for a long moment at the odd gradients that served as placeholders for what must have been a completely unreasonable amount of pictures. He glanced over his shoulder to his laptop, and wondered if it was worth another attempt to connect to the hotel’s terrible wifi. Finally, after far too long, the images began to materialize. He scrolled around a little, not looking, just moving the screen up and down, and wondered in an aggravatingly sincere confusion how someone else’s hellsite post had managed to send that much attention to him not just on said hellsite, but across the board.

He scrolled back to the top.

It had only one line of explanation. “The most interesting thing that happened all night.” And the first picture under that wasn’t one she had taken. It was a screenshot of one of his. And so were a few of the ones after that. And there were a few of her pictures, of him, usually of him taking pictures, of…Well, until he saw them all in one place, he hadn’t realized just how many pictures he had taken of the same person. The first large swath of reblogs were all Sarra, adding more pictures to the string.

People, at first. It was just a very striking image, one he couldn’t possibly pass up. The fact that Dr. Orion Lourandera’s other main celebrity contacts were royalty in the fashion industry, and his own siblings, was too good to be true. At first glance, the twins were almost indistinguishable from each other. Jackson wasn’t totally sure if the garments they were wearing would be considered gowns or coats, but the long gauzy material, all blue and green and teal with glints of gold, trailed to the floor like peacocks’ feathers. The sister was the one with her hair swept up and pinned, the one who never took her sunglasses off. The other, with short hair swept back and impractically high heels, was the brother. At some point, his outermost layer – apparently some sort of jacket – was discarded, to reveal that the rest of whatever sort of couture clothing item that was, was open down most of the back. Intricate scrolling tattoos of very small text ran from the base of his neck down his spine to the small of his back, and Jackson remembered wondering just how close one would have to get to actually be able to read it. He did not, on the other hand, remember just how many pictures he'd tried to get of it. Or how long he'd actually stared while wondering, though that was apparently long enough for Sarra to notice and snap a few pictures of Jackson frozen like a statue with his camera half forgotten as the rest of the guests moved around him. It was a decently long exposure, if the motion blurs on everyone else were anything to judge by.

He finally managed to scroll past the vast swath of his pictures of Anderson Lourandera, with its handful of pictures of himself, before the next section started. This one was all pictures of Jackson, posted by an instagram account he'd never heard of before. Something private maybe? The first one had managed to clearly catch the moment the doorman had IDed him, and how much taller everyone else around him was, and was simply captioned, “Whose baby is this??? Why is he here alone???” with a teary-eyed emoji and a random selection of hearts. The one after was Jackson, as well as a few other camera-wielders, and based on the small lock of blonde hair in the corner of the image, this was a picture that Anderson had discreetly taken over his own shoulder while leaning dramatically on the bar. “These media boys think I'm posing for them. They must never learn the truth. #too drunk for these heels #i will literally fall over #no srsly #someone #stop ogling and help me #dammit."

The captions weren't all exactly coherent, but there were…Well, there were a lot of pictures of Jackson. Including a very zoomed in one of him showing his ID to the bartender. His info had, thankfully, been blurred out, but based on the small excited-looking key smash, whatever had been seen was exciting. Oh, Jackson realized, thinking back to the first picture, the fact that this man had thought he was a child, my age I guess.

And then, there was one of him talking to Sarra, who was pointedly side-eyeing the camera. “Askfbsi I've been caught,” and then a very distraught little emoji.

Then, there were the concert shots. A couple of Jackson in the crowd, looking particularly giddy, and captions pointing it out. Then, a few posts with no pictures, just black, with very over-excited and unspecific captions. And finally, the part where he ended up on stage, himself.

Jackson still remembered the feeling of awe, like a coronation, when the strap of the PRS was lowered over his head, the feeling of the strings under his finger, the mother-of-pearl inlays glinting under the stage lights. Nix, with the same ancient red Fender, cluing him in on the set, testing his knowledge on a couple things. No problem. That's why Jackson was here – he was the guy who knew it all.

It was only screenshots but it was clearly a series of videos. When he got to tear into his favorite solo. The moment of shock he'd hoped nobody had noticed when Nathaniel hit that note in Firebird. Nathaniel daring Jackson to do the vocals for Twilight Angel. People cheered, good-natured but egging him on, until he agreed. Sarra had interjected in the next post to add the link to the full video, with a struck-through comment of “no but for real he was amazing go watch it.”

And, in glorious conclusion, a picture Sarra had taken herself, a panoramic view of the scene, of the over-dramatic rapturous look, head tossed back, laughing out loud, of Jackson killing the last solo in the outro of Visions of Midnight on one edge of the image, and, on the other side, Anderson Lourandera, gaze locked on the stage, skin tinted with a faint alcohol-induced blush. One shining with energy, and with the aid of stagelights, the other a vibrant beacon standing out of a sea of dark suits and satin and velvet winter dresses. It was, Jackson concluded, a very odd scene, and it suggested that people had shown up with the image of a more political event in their minds. That seemed like it should have been important, but he couldn't place why. Couldn't quite care. Found himself forgetting, failing to notice, a little more every time he looked back at the picture. He did manage to notice that the artistry of it put every one of his shots to shame.

A few other comments came up under that, a lot of people gushing about various aspects, and a few repeating the demand to know who this kid was. And then, the conclusion, which had been reblogged back to Sarra's page as well. A screenshot of a select few of the posts from Jackson's “house of light" tag, which had existed long before the gala but which now included a couple of last night's pictures, and a screenshot of part of the House of Light's official blog, including a couple of shots of Jackson walking out in a long-hemmed vintage velvet coat that, now that he thought about it, was actually from HoL. The tags underneath included the phrase “#if you see this #call us.” And that was where the “@” appeared. Kim's commentary read, “Admins for @visionsofdawnshadow and @houseoflight-courtofshadow need to quit being horny on main.”

Jackson stared at it for a long moment, then took a screenshot of the whole thing and, after another minute if hesitation, sent it to Sydney.

“Is this what you meant?” he asked.

“Don't freak out,” Sydney answered. “Besides, like I said, I was already pretty sure nothing happened…”

“Why?”

“Well, I know who you are so…I called? The west coast shop. Mostly talked to Eva. (Cuuute accents, by the way).”

Jackson's brain failed to formulate more than “…,” so that was what he sent her.

“It's no secret they work a lot with the band, so he's heading back east with them.”

…

“Aaand it wouldn't hurt to have an assistant/photographer/model/killer musician on board for that kind of project?”

. . .

“…We sort of figured…you might want the job. She thought maybe you could meet with them before you leave? If you don't want to I can totally call her back!”

Jackson switched back to the page of Sarra and Kim's pictures, stared at that panorama for a minute. Saved it. Looked again. Reblogged it to his own page, added a relevantly embarrassed-looking gif. Wrote back to Sydney, “Just tell me where to go.” Then, a second later, “Also, I love you.”

[devastator1775]

Hope, Love and V - Chapter 1: What the hell happened while I was offline?

Summary: Weeks after the events of Cabin Fever Labs, V finally wakes up from her coma. Things have changed, in more ways than one and V finds it hard not to think she deserves this. Luckily, she can count on the love and support of her friends to get her through these hard times. (Nix Doorman AU)

Darkness. All she could see, was Darkness. Alone in the dark, while surrounded by creatures out to destroy her.

Her eyes closed; she could hear everything. Bullets roaring. Sentinels screeching and flashing of their boot-loop-inducing lights. Her blades swishing through the air. Her own frightened gasps. The lingering echoes of a loud impact at the bottom of the elevator shaft. The faint sound of someone calling out her name. Faint explosions.

Pain. She felt pain. No …agony. Another chunk bitten out of her arm. Out of her leg. Her gun ripped out of its socket. Claws tearing at her metal skin. Metal teeth sinking into her wings as she tries to get some distance between them. Tearing one out. More damage than her nanite healing can keep up with and eventually …even that stops.

She feels her body give out. Her thirst is unbearable. Her body craves oil and is unable to get it.

Then, more sounds. First, the Sentinels closing in on her, the scraping of their claws on metal floor, encircling her. Then, shouting, chaos, Sentinels screeching in pain.

Silence.

She’s low on power. Everything is shutting down. She can’t even open her eyes. She can only faintly hear someone speaking to her.

She’s being dragged. She feels her back falling against something, maybe a wall.

More words. Sad words? She can almost understand some. ‘Forgive’… Something shuts close. She’s alone.

Silence again. For the longest time, just silence. She falls in and out of consciousness. Her healing nanites still haven’t kicked in.

The world rumbles. Something deep down is roaring. A desperate, frustrated roar.

Then, a jolt, deep inside her. Her core aches. Then…

Pain? An excruciating pain? Her insides are twisting and burning? She’s so low on power, she can hardly perceive anything around her.

Then it stops. A blissful feeling.

Silence, once again. Minutes? Hours? Days? She doesn’t know. Until finally….

Voices. Searching?

“I found her!”

“Seems the same thing happened to her as with the other one.”

“She’s in bad shape.”

“She needs med-technical attention immediately.”

“You grab her there. I’ll hold her here. On three. One, two, …three!”

PAIN!

V’s eyes jolted open with a loud gasp. She bolted upright, but something pulled at her, making her fall backwards again. Something around her wrists. Restraints of some kind. Around her chest as well. She frantically looked around. She was in a room, in a bed. Looks like …an infirmary or a hospital-like room, or something? How long had she been here? While she was pondering on that, it was then that she noticed something …missing.

The thirst. The hunger. That unsatiable craving for oil …gone? That wasn’t possible. While she had made sure she’d ‘topped up’ before entering the labs, that battle had taken so much out of her. She should be starving. She should have gone in Auto-Hunt mode. The only feelings she now felt were …sleepy. And confusion.

She heard a door open, quickly followed by someone gasping and something falling to the floor. Her eyes fell on a Worker Drone in a hospital outfit, a nurse by the look of it. Judging by the clipboard on the ground, V’s sudden awakening hadn’t been something she expected. She looked frightened. Wait, no …surprised?

“Oh my gosh…” The nurse – V could read the name Ratched on her nametag – quickly ran to the door, sticking her head out. “I need a doctor here, STAT! She’s awake!”

A doctor? For what? Experiments? Torture? Taking advantage of an injured enemy? V pulled on her restrains, her anger growing. Why was she here? What had happened? What of N and Uzi? Tessa? The Absolute Solver?

Why wasn’t she dead?

A Drone in a doctor’s outfit ran in. “Miss V, I need you to calm down.”  “Please, don’t try to exert yourself. The state of your injuries are- “

“Release me!” V yelled, pulling on her restraints as hard as she could. Suddenly, without any sort of warning, she felt pain surge throughout her entire body as she completely cramped up. It felt like every single joint in her body tried to pull itself inwards. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t even open her mouth to scream in pain. On her visor flashed the [ENERGY SURGE] warning.

The doctor and the nurse rushed to V’s side as the former pulled a drive out of his pockets. “Quickly, undo her bindings.”

The nurse hesitated for a second, but after a stern look from the doctor she undid the bindings around V’s chest. They both lifted her up a bit as the doctor plugged the drive into a data port on V’s nape. She felt the pain gradually subside and her body relaxed again. She let herself fall on her pillow again, panting heavily. That had taken much more out of her than she realized.

“Wh-what happened to me?” V asked after a few moments of collecting herself. She slowly sat up. “What did you do? How did I get here?”

The doctor gestured the nurse to bring him the fallen clipboard, giving it a look as he walked over to the foot of V’s bed and dismissed the nurse with a wave of his hand. “I am doctor Steen. You may call me Francis. You’ve been under my care since you were brought in.”

“Didn’t ask that and I’m not doing that.”

“Fair enough.” The doctor adjusted his glasses. Heh, she used to have a pair just like those. “This might come to a shock to you, but you have been here for several weeks. Almost over 6 weeks, to be less than precise.”

“6 weeks?” V repeated softly. Had she been offline so long? She should’ve overheated and died by now, but …she didn’t feel any thirst at all. Questions for later.

“What you just experienced, Miss V, was a seizure brought on by a disruptive energy surge, triggered by excessive motion.” The doctor explained. “Simply put: if you don’t stay calm – in any every way possible – you unquestionably will trigger another attack. Do you understand what I’m saying, Miss?”

V bit back a sarcastic insult, the thought of going through that pain again the only thing being from doing so. She nodded slowly.

“As for what I gave you…” Steen held out the drive. “This patch tricks your system to ‘divert excess energy toward auxiliary components’, temporarily pacifying the damaged circuitry causing the surges. It’s – at the moment - the only thing we found that can bring you some relief.”

“Damaged circuitry?”

“Putting it …mildly.” Steen frowned, flipping over a page. “You were brought in with …well, you were on the brink of deactivation. Chewed up, as those in the rescue unit that brought you told me.”

Chewed up. The sentinels. V flinched as a vision of those beasts flashed before her eyes – and on her visor. She had tried to buy the others as much time as she could, held out as long as she could – as long as her healing allowed her. At one point …she just couldn’t anymore. She got boot-looped, unable to move …but still able to feel as those things started to feast on her.

“Miss V, still with us?”

Startled back to the here-and-now, V shook her head and turned back to the Doctor, who – to her dismay – looked upon her with concern. She scowled at him and judging by the shrug, got the message.

“Anyway …” Steen continued, unperturbed by the scowling murder drone under his care. He had dealt with more vicious patients in the past – most often Miss Doorman. “We tried to repair what we could, but ….there wasn’t much we were able too. Whatever you did that caused your damage, you exerted your systems beyond their advised parameters. I’ll spare you the tech-medical jargon, but in short: 45% your circuits are fused together, your wiring has melted and corrupted software is wreaking havoc on other systems and those are just a few on that list.”

“So why aren’t I repaired yet?” V asked.

“We are, but these repairs need be done in intervals. The extent your injuries require – “

“Not what I meant!” V almost yelled. She took a deep breath. She felt her patience was running low, but figured she wouldn’t get answers by yelling and being a nuisance. That was more Uzi’s style. “You know I’m a Disassembly Drone?”

“I’m aware.”

“You know I can heal myself? Head blown off, arms ripped off, things like that are nothing to me.”

“I know. I was chaperoning my son during prom.”

“So …why aren’t I regenerating?” V asked.

“If I had to take a guess, because of the same thing what happened to Miss doorman and her …companions.”

“They’re alive? Uzi? N? Tessa, I guess?” V asked, more surprised than relieved – even if that sensation was there as well.

“Heavily damaged, in shock and both in very critical condition, but …yes, alive.” Doctor Steen took a chair and sat down next to V. “Maybe I should start from the beginning. I guess, it all started when it felt that the planet was going to die.”

V listened as Doc Steen told what had transpired in the weeks before she had woken up. How the planet seemed to be turning against itself. Gravity got weird, there were tremors and storms. Real ‘End Times’ stuff.  Everyone in the bunker was naturally terrified, thinking they would – along with the planet – would die. This went on for several hours, until …it stopped. No storms, no tremors, no danger.

It wasn’t long after that that Khan returned to the bunker, bringing the injured Uzi, N – and to anyone’s surprise – J and a human named Tessa with him. So, they had managed to make it out as well. Uzi and N were heavily damaged, and in dire need of repairs. Tessa also was wounded, but it seemed J refused to let anyone but herself get close to her. Maybe for the best, since no Worker Drone doctor has any knowledge about how to treat human wounds anyway.

But V started to notice something weird about his story after that. It was something about what he said about the explanation that Khan had given the colony. He had told a story about ‘a rogue AI’, who – to her surprise – was also responsible for the destruction of Earth. This ‘rogue AI’ was also responsible for the creation of the Disassembly Drones, which was true.

But there were things in things in that story that just didn’t make sense. So, after Uzi and N had helped Tessa destroy the AI, the nanites in their bodies were deactivated and thus that ‘freed them from its control’? V had done many questionable things – both necessary and unnecessary – during her time on Copper-9, but she had always been in control of her own action – whether or not she liked doing them.

V wasn’t dumb. She figured that Uzi and N had withheld the whole story, but for whatever reason she’d need to ask them. V was so lost in her thoughts; she didn’t notice that the doc had finished his story until he snapped his fingers in front of her visor. She hissed at him in return.

“Back with us, Miss V?”

“Bite me.”

“Yes, you are indeed friends with Miss Doorman.” Doc said dryly, standing up. “But she’ll be pleased to hear that you have woken up. Your friends have been visiting you pretty much daily.”

“Oh, you allow your prisoners to have visiting hours?” V asked coldly. It was an unnecessary remark, but she was absolutely fed up with this man. Normally, she’d pop off his head and have his oil for supper, but without the constant thirst plaguing her and threatening her with overheating, the vey thought made her feel …queasy.

Steen chuckled. “Miss V, you are not a prisoner. You are my patient.”

“IF I’m not a prisoner …why these?” V gestured to the undone restraints. “Why bind me to my bed when I was out cold most of the time?”

“Those were for your own safety.” The doctor explained. “You were having extreme night terrors the first few days, and you were triggering your seizures by thrashing around. It was the only way make sure your system wouldn’t overload while we weren’t here to supervise. “

“Well, I’m awake now. Take the rest off.”

“The rest?” Steen seemed confused.

V was seriously on her last bit of patience. “My legs are still bound! I’m done sitting in this bed. I want to stretch my legs! If you’re scared I’m gonna bolt, I promise I-!”

The look in Steen’s eyes made her halt. Something was wrong.

“I …I’m sorry. I should have mentioned this could happen, but with this whole situation it completely slipped my mind.” Steen said softly.

An icy feeling formed in V’s chest. “Wh-what are you talking about?”

“You must understand, the damage you sustained was severe and despite our initial repairs there was always a change that-“

V’s eyes hollowed as she realized what Steen was talking about. She tore her sheet from her body …and her entire body went numb at the sight. It was clear that her legs had undergone numerous repairs. There were welding seams, pieces of plating, nuts and bolts holding things in place.

But what scared her the most…

Was that she couldn’t feel her legs. She had been so distracted by her situation that she never realized she hadn’t moved them at all. She grunted, trying to her knees to her chest.

Nothing. Not a twitch.

“My …my legs.” V looked at her legs, stunned, confused, angry, sad, …a plethora of emotions was running through her processor. She wanted to yell, to curse, to make promises of violence untold and cause unbridled harm.

She could only stare.

“Miss V?”

V looked up slowly at her doctor.

“I know this is quite the shock, especially after all you’ve been through already.” He smiled softly at her. “But I promise you we’ll do anything in our power to help. There are several courses of action we can undertake and improve your mobility. We can-“

His voice faded away as V stared at her legs again, slowly reaching out the give them a soft squeeze, as if they would spring back to life. All she could hear was her own core beating in her chest, a ringing in her ears. Tears were starting to form in her visor as the hard truth was dawning on her.

“I can't move my legs ...I’m paralyzed….”

[devastator1775]

So Nix, what is she like?

In a way, she's a pretty good mix between Uzi and N, while still being her own person. In a lot of situations, she'll show more of N's side than Uzi. She's intelligent, kind, curious and a dry, somewhat sarcastic sense of humor.

Unlike her mother, she's more mellow, not easy to anger but when she does, the person that wronged her better run the other way. Even harder if that anger is directed at someone who has wronger her friends. She's fiercely loyal to her family and those she considers family.

Still, she's a teenager, thus she gets annoyed very easily. Digital hormones, eh? Even so, she's very close with her parents and loves spending time with them - even if she can get a bit annoyed when her parents start flirting with each other.

Nix is well-liked among her classmates, but tends to keep a rather small circle of friends, which includes her honorary cousin Avery Casio-Sharp, the daughter of V and Lizzy. Avery has their own backstory, so feel to ask as well.

She's a bit of a dreamer and often fantasises about flying and exploring space. She longs to venture out on her own and discover who she will be in their vast universe.

Bit of trivia: while not directly stated in the story she first appears in, Nix has recently started figuring out her sexuality (she's lesbian), but hasn't told her family yet. Not that she's afraid of how they'll react, she's figuring out how she's gonna tell them. Uzi and N already kinda know, though - she's an open book to them - , but they're waiting for her to come out on her own time.

[devastator1775]

Nicole "Nix" Doorman

I'm gonna say it first. It's ...okay-ish. It's bad, but not bad for a first attempt. I used Bea-Boo on DeviantART's base for this.

[devastator1775]

Ask Box is open. Anyone wanna ask about my Nix Doorman AU, feel free to do so.

[devastator1775]

Now, I know we all fear the kind of ending we're gonna get with episodes 7 & 8. So ...have this fluffy alternative!

No, I'm not using the upcoming episode angst as an excuse to post my own work again. If that was the case, I'd post these as well!

and this one!

Or this one too!

Or my latest, which is an introduction to a character I will use in a big AU project I'm gonna write someday!

I'm crafty, but not that crafty.

[devastator1775]

Uzi's quest for N's birthday gift

Summary: Nix Doorman AU. After finding out that N and the other Disassembly Drones don't have a birthday, Uzi decides that at least she can give him a birthday gift anyway. Shouldn't be a problem. There's no-one who knows N better than her. How hard could it be, right?

Prompt by @gravityglitch-blog: Not sure of how Drones regard the concept of birthdays, but maybe Uzi makes one for N since he can’t remember his original? Or N gives Uzi a gift on her birthday, if Workers keep track? You absolutely don’t have to do anything with this, it’s just what popped into my head first

Uzi let out a long, frustrated groan as she crossed out another item on her notepad. She had been at it for a few hours now and she wasn’t getting anywhere with ideas. Why was this so difficult? She tapped her pen on the subject at the top of the list.

Birthday present for N, because I am an awesome girlfriend. >:3

“’Awesome girlfriend’ …right.” Uzi muttered to herself. Part of her was really mad at herself for coming up with the idea. “I can’t even come up with an awesome present for my boyfriend who does anything and everything for me.”

Another part of herself was mad at her for being mad at herself for this. “But you are doing this for N, so he can feel special as well, so this will all be worth it.”

And then there was the self-doubting, angsty teenager side of her – that she really thought she had overcome ever since dealing with eldritch being, powers, dead moms that weren’t dead after all, ect, ect… “But what if he hates what I’m potentially giving him?”

And, of course, the zealous overachiever. “No, he’s not going to hate it because it’s going to be the most awesome present given by his awesome girlfriend.”

The girlfriend part of her made her giggle. “He’s totally gonna make out with me where I stand. And I’m gonna be like ‘N, no, don’t do that. That’s embarrassing!’, but I’m gonna let him….”

She looked down at her list. “But first I need to figure this out…” She had gone through this routine a few times over the last few days. Quite the vicious circle she’d gotten herself in.

With a heavy sigh, she went through her memory banks and opened the recording of the event that had led to her current enforced labor.

UziBirthday_TalkWithNVLizzy.mp4

She smiled as the video popped up. Her birthday was a few days ago, and unbeknownst to her, N had managed to round up V and Lizzy to help organize a surprise party for her. Even more surprising, people had actually shown up …with presents …and were having a good time. Thing sure had changed after she ‘helped stop the End Times’. Sure, everyone was told a rather …embellished version of her involvement, because they felt that the real truth would …be rather hard to believe.

She shook the thought from her mind and played the memory.

Music and the chatter of people filled the room Lizzy had managed to occupy for the party. She and N were standing by the snack table with Lizzy and V, with the former sitting comfortably on the latter’s lap, taking advantage of her girlfriend’s wheelchair-bound status. There were taking sips from a bottle of gasoline from Lizzy’s father’s private supply she had smuggled with her. There was a warm tingly sensation all of her body – nothing to do with the glass of gasoline – as N wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. She leaned into N, laughing at a joke Lizzy had made at V’s expense. Judging by the small smile that tugged at the corner of her lips, she wasn’t really bothered by it.

“Stop laughing.” V warned.

Feeling bolstered by spirits, both alcoholic and emotional, Uzi let out an amused scoff. “It’s a little funny.” she said, giggling as V threw her a disgruntled look. “I wish I was there to see you struggling to say anything.”

“I was put on the spot.” V explained herself. “It’s not like I prepared something for when I was named prom queen.”

“You prepared to slaughter us all.” Lizzy countered. “Which you used me to do.”

“And you used me to let Doll kill me.”

“Aww, I’m sorry.”

“Ugh, you’re forgiven.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet.” N cooed.

“Shut up, loser.” Both V and Lizzy replied in unison, although the smirk and glint in their eyes betrayed the friendliness behind their jab. N just chuckled, having – finally – figured out the signs that showed the difference between those two being serious or playful in their threats.

V shoved Lizzy, who had been sitting way to comfortably on the former’s lap, off her. “Hey, wheel me over to Thad, I want to laugh with his ridiculous hat.”

“Use your crutches, lazy bolts.”

“Don’t want to.”

“Then you’ll stay right here.”

“Fine, I’ll ask someone else, then.” She turned her wheelchair over towards another group of people. “Maybe Chelsea, whom I heard totally has a crush on me, will be- “

Uzi snickered as Lizzy promptly grabbed the handles of V’s wheelchair and started to haul her away from the group. She could overhear the latter mutter something about her ‘being the only one that’s allowed to do that’, which made her giggle. Despite everything. Uzi was happy for her former-enemy-turned-frenemy-turned-friend. She knew that V had been struggling to adjust to her new condition. And despite the brave face, Uzi knew that V still had ways to go before she’d be completely there.

“You know, sometimes those two seem more like rivals than girlfriends.” N remarked, taking a slip of his glass of gasoline. The face he pulled made Uzi giggle, and she quickly took the glass of liquor out of his grip and replaced it with a bottle of oilnade. The way he beamed at her made mechanical butterflies flutter in her stomach.

“Well, if they drink any more of this stuff, I wouldn’t be surprised they’d start serenading each other in front of everybody.” Uzi replied, swirling the gasoline around in her glass. A giggle bubbled up from deep inside her. Maybe she’d better slow down with the stuff as well.

“So …you enjoying your party?” N asked, rubbing the back of his head.

“Surprisingly, yes.” She replied sincerely, looking up at her boyfriend with a bright smile. “I mean, it’s a bit …crowded for my liking, but …yeah, I’m having a great time.” She stood on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on N’s cheek. “Thank you for doing this, N.”

“You deserve this, Uzi.”

Robo-God, that smile of his could make her melt. She managed to wipe her goofy, lovestruck smile of her face and cleared her throat, trying to get some of that ‘edgy loner coolness’ back, leaning casually against N. “So …when is your birthday? Like, for no reason. It’s not that I want to organize a party for you too, hehe…”

“Oh, I don’t have one.”

Uzi chuckled. “C’mon, be serious.”

“Seriously, I don’t have a birthday.”

Uzi almost dropped her glass. It was like something fell in the pit of her stomach. “You …don’t?” She asked. She pointed over to where Lizzy had brought V. “How about…?”

“Nope.” N smiled, oblivious to the shock in Uzi’s expression.

“You don’t celebrate the day you were activated?”

N rubbed the back of his head. “Well, I don’t have any memories from my life before I got rebooted and Tessa saved me from the dumpster.” He explained. “And my time with Tessa is still fuzzy. And then there are the numerous times I regenerated from normally fatal injuries, so there isn’t really a date I can pick, y’know.”

“But- “

At that point, their conversation got interrupted when the commotion of V launching herself at someone who had made a rude comment compelled them to separate the fighting Drones. Uzi sighed as she paused the memory and returned back to her regular vision. While they hadn’t picked up the conversation after that, it really had stuck with her. N was an incredible Drone, a wonderful friend and an amazing boyfriend. Someone as sweet, loyal, kind – Uzi made a mental node she’d write down all the positive traits of N someday – as N deserved a birthday. A special day where it was all about him, with people celebrating that you are here.

Uzi never really had that until the party a few days ago, so she knew how special such an event could feel. N deserved it, and even if there wasn’t a day where they could celebrate his birthday, that didn’t mean that he couldn’t get a present. And that’s why Uzi had secluded herself to the floor of this ruined skyscraper: to think and decide on a present for N. New determination steeled her spirit and she looked at her list …only to feel her confidence falter again. The entire page was filled with ideas and all of them had been crossed out.

A puppy? Bad idea. Poison air’s gonna kill the thing.

Book about puppies? Boring.

Golden Retriever plushy? He’s not a kid.

A bottle of gasoline? N doesn’t like to drink heavy stuff.

New coat? Lame!

Coloring book? AGAIN, HE’S NOT A KID, UZI!

A picnic? Romantic, but not original enough.

A saucy picture of myself? NO, NOT GONNA DO THAT!

Uzi let out a frustrated yell and fell backwards, staring at the decrepit ceiling. She felt tears form on her screen. She felt like such a failure of a girlfriend right now. She knew N better than anyone and she couldn’t even come up with the perfect gift for him?

“’Awesome girlfriend’, my rear plate!” She threw the notepad out of a window and pulled her knees up to her chest to sulk. A shadow passed the window, making her look up in surprise. A moment later, she heard something land on the roof, followed by footsteps that clearly were coming closer to the room she was hiding in.

“Oh no… not now…” She mumbled with hollowed eyes on her screen.

The door creaked open, and to her dismay, it was N that peeked inside.

“Hey, there you are! I was looking for you.” N greeted her as he stepped in the room. He held the notepad in his hand. “This yours? It landed on my noggin as I was flying past.”

“Uh, yeah, it’s mine…give it back.” Uzi rambled, holding out her hand.

N cocked his head, raising a digital eyebrow. “Is everything okay, Uzi?”

“Sure, sure, why wouldn’t it be?”

“You are digi-sweating a lot.”

“Hormones!” Uzi blurted out, instantly regretting the waterfall of excuses that came out of her mouth. “I’m on my robo-period.”

N wasn’t buying it. “Uzi, are you avoiding me?”

“Pfff, what?” Uzi waved away his comment. “Naaaah….”

“Sure feels like it.” N commented, and the sad expression in his eyes made Uzi hate herself that she was making him feel like that. “Uzi, I know you’ve been busy with school and it’s healthy in a relationship to spend time apart and such, but normally you text me non-stop about your day or you come over to my home, things like that. And you haven’t been doing that lately. It makes me …miss you.”

“N…”

“And today, when I came over to your house, you dad told me you were out here and you were ‘looking glum’ and I find you here in this …rather unsafe building, throwing a notepad on my …hang on, what’s on here?”

Uzi felt a panic rise up and she scrambled up to run up to him. “Girl stuff! Give it back.” She jumped up to grab the pad, but due to her accursed short physique, she was unable to take it out of his hands.

N remained silent as he looked at the notepad, eventually looking up at Uzi with a puzzled expression. “Uzi, will you please tell me what this is about?”

“Nothing!” Uzi liberated the notepad from N’s grasp and turned away from him, clutching the item close to her chest. “Forget what you saw.”

“Uzi…”

“It’s dumb! It’s stupid. Not worth your time!” Uzi squeezed her eyes shut, self-loathing bubbling up from a dark place she thought she had overcome. She took in shaky breaths, trying to keep tears from falling down her visor. Uzi flinched as she suddenly felt a pair of hands fall gently on her shoulders.

“Uzi, remember back when we went looking in that ruined warehouse?” N began, his voice soft and patient. She could practically hear that little smile on his lips, feel that soft expression in his eyes. “And I had that …little accident?”

“You mean: you overheated and attacked me because you hadn’t been telling me you hadn’t been able to drink enough oil to cool yourself down?” Uzi guessed. The memory flashed before her eyes. It happened not too long after the events of prom and she had been desperate for answers. She had been taking N to the furthest reaches of the city for long times and he hadn’t been able to consume oil. He had overheated and his system made him automatically attacked her. He had managed to stop himself, but he almost managed to bring himself permanently offline in the process. She luckily had been able to feed him enough oil to wake him up. He still needed some of her oil, so she had permitted him to bite her …and she vehemently denied she kinda enjoyed the experience because he was so gentle with her.

“Yeah, that’s the one.” N squeezed her shoulders softly. “Remember what we promised each other then?”

Uzi remained silent for a few moments, before eventually letting out a heavy sigh. “We’d tell each when something was wrong. No more secrets between us.”

N hummed agreeably. “And I’ve been keeping up my part of the promise.” He slowly turned her around, so she was facing him. He cupped her chin and made her look up, smiling softly at her. “Will you?”

And there was the melting feeling again that his smile always gave her. A ghost of a smile tugged at the corner of her lips. She took hold of N’s hands and placed them on her cheeks, closing her eyes as she enjoyed the warmth that they gave off. She eventually nodded, taking a deep breath.

“Okay…. but I’m telling you, it’s dumb.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

“I, eh …it’s…” Uzi took another deep breath. “At the party, you told me you didn’t have a birthday, and I was, like, ‘nah, a great guy like N deserves a special day’, but I can’t just pick a day and decide it’s your birthday, right?”

She didn’t wait for N to answer. The frustration that had been building up the last few days needed to be vented out. “So, I figured that I still could give you a present, because it’s a nice thing to get, you know. And I thought it would be easy because who knows you better than me? So, I made a list with ideas, but nothing I’ve come up with is good enough for you and why did I ever think that I could do this because I am such a failure of a girlfriend, and- “

Uzi got the air knocked out of her as N pulled her into a hug, which she immediately returned. She started to sob softly into his shoulder while he gently rubbed her back and kissed her cheek.

“You, Uzi Doorman, are not a failure.” N eventually said, his fingers running softly through her hair. “If anything, you are an awesome girlfriend because you would do this for me, even though I never asked for it.”

“You deserve it, N.” Uzi mumbled softly.

“That doesn’t mean you need to do this alone.” N said, pulling away from the hug. He cupped her cheek. “Together, remember?”

“Together.” Uzi repeated with a soft smile. She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry I went crazy over this.”

“Eh, I’m used to you acting crazy. It’s probably the thing I love most about you.”

“Oh, thanks!” Uzi laughed as she playfully punched his chest. “You goof.”

N took the notepad out of Uzi’s hand and gave it a look. “You know, you’re right that you know me the best, you know? I’d enjoy any of the things you’ve written down …maybe not the puppy, because, yeah, poison air and such…” His eyes turned back to the list, and suddenly blushed as his eyes hollowed. A sly smirk spread on his lips. “Out of curiosity, what would you wear for the picture?”

“Okay, we’re done being mushy!” Uzi announced as she snatched the notepad from N, blushing ferociously. She grabbed his hand and started to drag him to the roof. Uzi felt a lot better after talking to N. She now realized that she had been acting silly, letting herself get so worked up over this. She hooked her arms around his arms and rested her head against his shoulder as they walked. When they reached the roof, they sat down on the edge of the building, looking at the sky for a while.

“You know …I think I know which day I’d choose for my birthday.” N suddenly announced.

Uzi looked up at him in surprise. “Oh?”

“The day we met.” N answered with a bright smile.

Uzi chuckled, but stopped when she saw he was being serious. “Really? Why? I shot your head off that day. You stabbed my hand. You nearly killed me twice that day.”

“Okay, but beside that, it feels …right.”

“Still not following you…”

“Because everything changed for me that day.” N looked up at the moon, the rings reflected around his eyes. “That day was the first day to becoming …me.”

“Have you been huffing gasoline fumes?” Uzi teasingly asked. “You’re not making sense.”

“Think about it.” N explained. “At first, I was just a regular, same-as-everyone Worker Drone. With Tessa, I was basically just a real fancy pet and as a disassembly Drone, I just …followed orders. Sure, I was always, me, but …I was never allowed to explore being me. Does that make sense?”

“Eh, kinda.” Uzi replied, making a shaky gesture with her hand. “I think I get what you’re saying. You mean, you were just what they told you needed to be, right?”

“Yeah, like that.” N pulled Uzi unto his lap, chuckling as she started to blush like crazy. “But you, you changed all that. You made me question things. You made me see I was more than just what other told me I needed to be. You let me be how I wanted to be.  You made it possible for me to grow to being the person I am now. And it all started that very day, with you. And that makes you, Uzi Doorman, are the greatest present I ever gotten for my birthday.”

Uzi believed that if her cheeks would burn any brighter, they’d melt right off. “Oh, I, you, I mean, ….oh, my…”

N let out a laugh. “Seems I have got you flustered, Uzi?”

She jumped off his lap and turned away from him. Something was building up deep inside her core. A warmth and happiness that made her tingle all over her body. She tried to push it down. “N-no! I just…you’re being….”

Oh, what the hell. Just give in, Uzi Doorman.

Uzi buried her burning face in her hands and let out a loud squeal of delight, jumping up and down like an excited child. She couldn’t stop giggling. And every time she thought it was going to stop, she’d look at N and his bright, amused smile and she’d start giggling again, her cheeks blushing bright and leaving her flustered. She suddenly turned on her heels and ran up to N, jumping up into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. She planted her lips firmly on his, kissing him as hard as her tiny frame could allow.

Once they finally pulled apart, a dizzy Uzi rested her chin on N’s shoulder, trying to catch her breath.

“I guess – whew…” N began, stroking Uzi’s back. “You liked what I said.”

Uzi giggled and planted a few kisses on his cheek. “Shut up…lovable idiot.”

“So, that’s a ‘yes’.” N adjusted his grip, making sure Uzi was completely secure in his embrace. He deployed his wings and winked at Uzi. “You ready?”

Uzi wrapped her arms around N’s neck, nuzzling against his cheek – reveling in the fact that she made him blush. “Always.”

Uzi whooped as N took off and flew up high in the sky, both of them laughing as N did a few daring tricks. As they were flying back to the bunker, Uzi sighed contently as she enjoyed the sigh of the clouds drifting underneath them. And as she looked up at N, she realized something as well.

N was her greatest gift at well.

…

Maybe she could get Lizzy help her take that picture, if she swore never to tell anyone. She’d figure it out later.

Right now, she was with N.

And that was enough for now.

[devastator1775]

Please reblog and tag. Cheers! And if you're wondering about some of these stories:

"Hope love and V" Chapter 1

Nix Doorman AU fic collection

"Those who dare anger the Overlord of Weapons shall pay the price" Chapter 1 (Carmilla Carmine story)

"In the Face of Eternity, we found solace with each other" (Immortal Vuzi AU)

Edit: I just realized I'm kinda making two fandoms fight over which one gets content first. Oh well, fight for my entertainment, so I can provide for yours.

[devastator1775]

New story, set in the Nix Doorman AU! Read it while it's hot!

[devastator1775]

A different road towards Mass Destruction (EPISODE 7 AU REWRITE)

Summary: A rewrite of the finale of Episode 7, so it makes sense in my Nix Doorman AU. A little adjustment here, a big change there, add a little bit more dialogue and ...presto! Also on AO3!

Uzi stared at the screen that had shown all that had happened with her mom and the AbsoluteSolver. How it had taken her over, how Yeva – doll’s mother – had used some crucifix to exorcise the malevolent AI and how they inadvertently had had a hand – no pun intended – in the Core Collapse of Copper-9. The tape had ended for a little while now, but Uzi was still staring at the static, her eyes replaced by the Solver’s symbol.

CRACK!

The tv screen cracked and Uzi – painfully flung back to reality as her right eye flickered yellow once again – stumbled backwards, panting heavily. The candles that lit up the halls went out, showering the cathedral in darkness for a few moments, before lightning struck outside and illuminated the room and cast a shadow of someone standing in the doorway and slowly started to make its way towards Uzi.

The latter never noticed. What she had seen on the tape had scared her immensely. She felt panic well up inside her, pulling on her choker until it came off. She stared at the thing in her shaking hands with frantic breaths, fear in her expression. Her mother’s necklace slipped out of her hands, dropping to the floor with a high-pitched ping. Uzi stared silently at the ground, trying to make sense of what she had just seen, what it all meant and in what her next move should be …when she suddenly heard something behind her. She slowly turned around, her hollow eyes slowly widening in shock as she saw-

“Doll?” Uzi asked, staring at her rival – by lack of a better word. 

The red-eyed Drone stared at her for a few moments, opening her mouth to say something …and promptly stumbled to the ground, coughing up oil and groaning in pain. Her shock at seeing the girl changed to a mixture of curiosity and worry. She slowly approached Doll and with every step that cold feeling inside her stomach grew. Doll looked damaged, extremely damaged even. Oil was leaking from numerous wounds and sparks flew from exposed circuitry. Something had attacked her and damaged her so much that her regeneration couldn’t kick in.

Despite her damage and obvious tremendous pain, Doll managed to push herself towards a pillar, so she could sit upright.  Convincing herself that the Russian Drone wasn’t able to attack her, Uzi closed the distance between them and knelt down.

Doll managed to look up. Her visor was cracked and her screen was glitching between her eyes and [⚠ DANGER ⚠]. “<Uzi…>”

“Doll, what happened?” Uzi asked. “What …who did this to you?”

“<Uzi….>” Doll repeated, her voice weak and barely audible. She grabbed Uzi's hand.“<Fight …. fight back.>”

“Fight back what?” Uzi asked. “Doll, what attacked you?”

Doll’s visor started to flicker and her head started to droop. “<The hu- …the hu->” Her chin fell on her chest and her visor showed the message [⚠ Low Power ⚠].

She was offline, but …still alive, it seemed. Uzi couldn’t help to feel a tinge of sadness for Doll, despite everything she had done. After all, Doll seemed to wanting to help, even if she had done things completely wrong …and unforgivable. She didn’t deserve to be brutalized like that. Uzi stood up and backed away from the unconscious Drone, fear once again growing in her chest.

“Yikes.” A familiar voice announced behind her. Uzi turned around and saw Tessa leaning casually against the cathedral doorframe; her figure briefly illuminated by the flash of lightning. “Someone’s been busy.”

Uzi realized how this looked like. Doll damaged and she standing there unscathed. Tessa probably thought that she…

“Tessa, I- I didn’t-“ Uzi panted, backing away slowly from the human as the latter pulled her sword from her back. Sparks jumped from the floor as the sword carved into the stone tiles while Tessa slowly approached her. Uzi gestured frantically towards Doll’s body, as if to make a point.  “Sh- she just –”

Tessa kept coming at Uzi with confident strides.

“Wait!” Uzi’s visor glitched as she felt the Solver’s influence trying to take her over again. She let out a shrill gasp as one of her wings popped out of her back, while some sort of claw shot out and grabbed a pillar, holding her in place. “Something else did this to Doll?”

Tessa swung the sword over her shoulder, looking over to the fallen Drone. “Oh, ‘someone else’, ey? And what could possibly be able to – to …” Her voice faltered and she seemed to stumble for a moment, her hand clutching her helmet, almost like she felt lightheaded for a second. She shook her head and continued her way towards Uzi. “Nah, not gonna fall for that. Nice try, little Drone.”

Uzi raised her hand, the Solver symbol appearing in her open palm. “Please, you – you have to believe-“ She froze when her visor showed her a message.

⚠--//ERROR: AbsoluteSolver_trn [like object non-interactive] --⚠

Uzi’s thoughts were running at lightspeed. She had seen this message when she tried to use her powers on Doll when she attacked Uzi in her home …which seemed so long ago, even though it all happened that same day. Their powers didn’t work on each other because they both had the Absolute Solver. But now Tessa…? No, it was different somehow, but Uzi couldn’t figure out what. She didn’t have the time to, anyway.

“Don’t worry. Makes my job easier.” Tessa said as she closed the distance between her and Uzi. With a swift kick, she knocked the scared Drone to the ground. The sword dragged across the ground as Tessa made her away around Uzi, the latter wincing in pain as the blade cut through her wing. She tried to use her powers to halt the blade, but Tessa stomped on her wrist and raised her sword. “Thought there’d be more of you silver freaks anyway.”

Tessa aimed the tip of the sword at Uzi’s chest and rested her arm on it. Uzi wrapped her hand around the blade, wincing in pain as it slowly started to pierce her chest despite her best effort to pull it away. Her eyes kept glitching between the colors purple and yellow. Tessa raised her fist above the handle, readying herself to give the final push and-

A blade suddenly rested against her neck, halting her final blow. She looked over her shoulder and saw N standing behind her. One of his eyes was showing an ‘X’ and in his free hand he held a crucifix – or more precise, an USB drive shaped like a crucifix.

“You knew about the patch, yes, or no?” N demanded, pushing his blade slightly harder against Tessa’s neck. “One. Chance.”

Tessa placed a finger against N’s blade and casually pushed it from her neck. “Cuuuute.”

Before N had time to react, Tessa had suddenly swung her sword against N’s blade and knocked him briefly out of balance. The Disassembly Drone quickly regained his composure, reacting just in to time to parry another swing of Tessa’s blade.

“Why are you doing this?” N yelled as he and Tessa exchanged blows, sparks flying all around them.

“I need to do this!” Tessa did a backstep and thrusted forward, aiming for N’s chest.

N deployed his wings, giving one fierce flap to dodge the attack and stagger Tessa. “WHY?”

Tessa seemed to falter for a moment. “I – I…”

N noticed how weird she suddenly sounded, and he briefly dropped his guard. Tessa seemed to overcome her brief confusion and immediately took advantage to use some acrobatic moves to bring herself closer to him. N shrieked in surprise as she landed right in front of his face, but managed raise his blade in time to block Tessa flurry of attacks.

“I told you, N!” Tessa shouted as she swung her sword again and again, forcing N on his knees. “You needed to choose! The Universe or one little Drone!” She raised her sword over her head.

N saw his opening. “I have chosen!”  He lunged upwards, his arm outstretched and –

Tessa let out a gasp. She looked down at her chest …and N’s blade that stuck inside her. The sword slipped out of her hands, falling on the ground with a loud metallic clatter. “Oh…”

“I’ve chosen Uzi.” N announced through gritted teeth. He pulled his blade out of Tessa’s chest, whom fell on her knees, clutching her stomach. Her entire body was trembling as she slowly looked up at N.

“N …” She began weakly. “I remember…it wasn’t…” Her voice faltered as she fell over on the ground and stayed there. Motionless.

N looked at the thick red liquid that was staining his blade as it was dripping on the floor. As the realization of what he’d just had done hit him, he started breathing heavily, nearly falling over if didn’t use his blade to keep him upright. His audio receptors were ringing, the world was spinning and he barely noticed that Uzi had rolled over on her stomach and had started to drag herself towards him.

It wasn’t until her hand clutched the crucifix that he managed to fall back to reality. “H-hey, buddy. Yeah, that should help” N began weakly as Uzi took the patch out of his hand. He started to help Uzi stand up. “All I know is, I need you …to figure things out.” He smiled as Uzi put her hands in to his’. “Together.”

He pulled Uzi to her feet, their hands interlacing. He smiled softly at her …before suddenly the latter crushed it, making him wince.

Uzi started giggling weirdly.

A moment later, she used her powers to destroy the patch.

N’s eyes grew in shock as slowly the realization started to dawn on him.

Uzi kept giggling. “That’s really sweet.” She began, but her voice wasn’t Uzi’s anymore.

It sounded like …

Uzi’s head snapped up, her smile wide and her eyes yellow. “Big Brother.”

Cyn. The Solver.

N didn’t have the time to process before Uz- The Solver threw him against a pillar and pinned him against the stone with a claw through his shoulder.

“Too bad you served your purpose.” The Solver commented, hunched over and their head snapping towards the pinned N with their unsettling grin. They started to make their way to him as another clawed tentacle grew out of their back. “Don’t worry. Your backups will forgive me.”

They raised their claw, ready to dispose of N.

They swung.

Just before it could decapitate N, a pickaxe collided against it and knocked it away. A purple Solver symbol appeared around the pickaxe. A heart – wearing a mourning cap – jumped down onto N’s shoulder, quickly cutting down the clawed tentacles from the flabbergasted Solver.

“Nori?” The Solver asked, genuine surprise soon replaced with anger. “You’re dead.”

Nori angrily pointed the pickaxe at the Solver. “You’re frickin’ grounded.”

“ANGRY!”

A battle commenced. The Solver launched claws at the Nori, but she quickly deflected them, giving N time to fly up to escape. A Solver-power guided pickaxe got thrown and landed in the middle of the Solver’s face. N readied his gun and prepared to shoot, but …he hesitated. The Solver looked at him, their expression neutral. All he could see was Uzi and he couldn’t bring himself to harm her. A wide, disturbing smile grew on the Solver’s face. A moment later, it teleported towards him and Nori, clawed tentacles growing out of their back. It grabbed N and threw him against the wall.

N fell on the floor. He blinked and the Solver was suddenly in front of him, pinning Nori to the wall. He deployed his blade and held it against the Solver’s neck, ready to slice …only to find himself once again unable to do it. The Solver grinned at him as they grabbed the blade and started to push it against their neck. Oil started leaking from the cut. N panicked and tried to push the blade in the other direction, trying to keep the Solver from hurting Uzi.

Nori took advantage of the Solver’s distraction to use her powers to grab her pickaxe and cut off Uzi’s arms. Free from the solver’s grasp, she landed on N’s arm and …slapped the Solver once across their face. She grabbed her pickaxe again and gave the Solver a mighty slap, slinging it across the room where it landed on a small building.

Nori spun around and gave N a few slaps as well, giving him a look that spoke a thousand words. Get your head in the game, dummy!

Behind them, the sound of lightning sounded as the Solver regenerated their arms, electricity sparking around them. They raised their arm, making a giant [null] sphere appeared, which started to shoot [null] discs at them, which they barely managed to dodge. N and Nori flew up, dodging [null] attacks left and right as they made their way over to The Solver.

Barely managing to dodge another attack, N managed to close the distance between them and the Solver, grabbing one of its arms, which Nori promptly sliced off. With the connection severed, the [null] sphere disappeared. As the Solver raised their remaining hand to create another [null] sphere, Nori quickly jumped on its head to distract it. N flew up again, deploying his gun. He flew around the Solver, showering it with a hail of gunfire, which the latter deflected with one of their wings while it deployed [null] spheres into N’s flightpath.

After Nori managed to cut off the Solver remaining hand, they used its brief disorientation to slam directly into it, knocking it off the chapel. The Solver deployed their wings just as N and Nore landed on the opposite wall. Nori quickly threw her pickaxe toward the Solver.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion.

The axe flew towards the Solver with every intention to kill.

The Solver stared right at them.

It winked at N.

N saw Uzi in danger.

N reacted instinctively. He took off and managed to reach ‘Uzi’ before the pickaxe could hit her, pushing her out of the way of its path …and bringing himself into it instead. As their eyes met, N managed to bring a soft smile on his face.

Yellow eyes briefly flashed purple.

The pickaxe collided against N, cutting off both of his arms and threw him on the ground. N groaned as his blurry vision slowly started to clear up. A pickaxe suddenly landed right next to him, barely missing him. As he looked up, he noticed that the Solver had taken Nori and was …going to eat her?

N’s thoughts were racing, faster than he’d ever thought before. He needed to do something. He had seen Uzi’s eyes. She was still in there. She had managed to break free from the Solver’s control, if only for half a second. He needed to reach her again.

It was then that N had an idea. He had no idea if it would work, but … Despite being severed from his torso, N still had control of his arms. He quickly made them start to write out a message.

“Nori!” N shouted. “I should mention, Uzi and I, uh…”

The Solver stopped mid-attempted-meal to look down at the message that N had written out in his own oil.

HANG OUT? WE JUST KINDA ARE HANGING OUT A LOT IDK

He had also drawn a big heart and some type of dog.

The Solver lowered their hands in annoyed confusion. “What?”

“Uzi Doorman.” Nori began, her voice filled with the reprimand and authority only a mother could muster and that could bring any teenager to their frightened knees. “Those things killed your frickin’-“ She raised a tentacle. “MOTHER!”

The Slap of Motherly Love landed with such might, it made the Solver plummet to the ground in a matter of …a second. Nori landed back in its hands.

“OW! I’m not- “The Solver’s voice started as they scrambled up, their eyes started to flicker between yellow and purple. Suddenly, a familiar – but angry - voice sounded as yellow eyes turned into purple. “HEY LADY! YOU DON’T FRICKIN’ OWN ME!”

Uzi was back.

N started to laugh in victory, but was almost instantly switched to a scream in horror as he watched as Uzi unceremoniously punted the Heart into the flesh pit.

“UZI!” N shouted as he walked towards her.

The latter spun around; her furious expression locked on N. “WHAT?” she asked – practically growled. She angrily stomped her feet as she walked to N. “We did not discuss being gross and –“ She started shrieking in teenage annoyance.

“That was your mom!” N shouted.

Uzi stopped mid-scream.” What?”

N panicked. “Wait, no!”

They both started shrieking at each other …and fell into each other’s arms. Tears streamed down Uzi’s face as N rubbed the back of her head in comfort. Uzi tightened the embrace for a few moments, before they both let go.

N smiled softly at Uzi, brushing a lock of her hair out of her visor. “I’m glad to have you back, Uzi.”

“I’m still mad at you.” Uzi said, but the blush on her visor and the small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth said otherwise. She took a step back, her hands pressed against her temples. “Wait, you said that heart was my freaking mom?”

N chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. “Yeah, long story. She kinda saved me fro-“ N paused and looked at something behind Uzi. “Uh, didn’t I see Doll earlier?”

“Yeah, something attacked her.” Uzi explained. “She’s in a bad shape.”

“Well, she must’ve regained some strength, because …she’s gone.”

“What?” Uzi spun around and looked where she had left Doll. She was indeed gone. Only a puddle of oil to indicate a damaged Drone was laid there as proof was left. Uzi groaned. “Guess we’ll run into her again ….”

“Do you know what attacked her?”

“My guess it was-“ Uzi noticed something moving behind N. Her eyes hollowed in shock. “TESSA!”

N immediately spun around, his blade deployed and resting against the neck of Tessa once again, who stood before them, clutching her stomach and blood slowly dripping on the floor. Uzi quickly hid behind N, clutching his arms and peeking from behind his back, giving the human the stink eye.

Tessa took in shallow, raspy breaths as she looked up at N. “N, Uzi, you need t-“

“Yeah, we’re done listening to you, backstabber!” Uzi announced. “Why don’t you just lie down and-“

“Please!” Tessa desperately cried out. The fear in her voice made N take a step backwards and even Uzi felt something wasn’t right. “You-“ she coughed. “Please, listen to me. I don’t know how much longer I-“

“Tessa, what’s going on?” N asked, holding out his blade again. He was ready to listen, but he wasn’t going to drop his guard down this easily…this time. “Why is JCJenson doing this?”

Tessa groaned in pain, but managed to find her voice. “Not them. Don’t work for them, not really …my cover…”

“What do you mean?” Uzi asked, her curiosity spiking.

“I work for the …the New Earth Alliance government of the Unified Colonial Planets.” Tessa began.

“Who and what?”

“They formed ….out of the remnants of human governments ….” Tessa groaned. “Ugh …after Earth’s destruction. Preserve what’s the human race. Rebuild our society on various exoplanets. I’m an Agent. My mission …infiltrate JCJenson and see what their role was with the Solver and its destruction of earth…”

“So …you’re a spy?” N asked, a hint of his usual childlike admiration in his voice. Uzi slapped his shoulder, and gave him a look that told him he needed to focus.

Tessa nodded, suddenly clutching her stomach in pain. “I got in. Became a technician. Managed to …work my way up and get a spot on their secret operation regarding the Absolute Solver …found out they were trying duplicate and weaponize it …without much success, luckily.”

“Of course…” Uzi deadpanned. Why wasn’t she surprised that humans never seemed to learn from their mistakes.

“They discovered Cyn had gone off-planet after she – the Solver – destroyed Earth…they were tracking it …they found her… dispatched a team…” Tessa took a few deep breaths. Her pain seemed to get worse. “…was ordered by NEA to stay behind, but …I went against orders. I …wanted revenge.”

Uzi wanted to ask for what, but by what she remembered from N and V’s hidden memories, she could guess. Killing her parents – awful as they were. Taking her Drones – her friends away from her and warping them into monsters that helped decimate the human race. Yeah, Uzi could relate with wanted revenge.

“They – we – found Cyn – the Solver using her body - on Bauxite-12. Hiding among the Drones as it was repeating what it did on Earth.” Tessa continued. She fell on her knees, wrapping her arms tightly around her stomach. “We engaged. We fought. We …lost. Everyone died.” She slowly looked up. “Everyone….”

Uzi eyes hollowed when she realized what Tessa was saying and judging by the way that N’s blade fell from Tessa’s neck to his side told her he figured it out.

“She ….she killed you?” N asked. “Wait, how are you-“

“The Solver realized that it needed a human to gain access to Cabin Fever Labs and finish its work on Copper-9.” Tessa stated. “It remembered me. It choose me. It …it….”

Tessa slowly reached a hand to her helmet and pushed a button on the side. The darkened visor cleared up, finally showing the human behind the blackened screen. “It changed me…from the inside out.”

Uzi gasped in horror and even N backed away in shock. While there was blood staining the inside of her helmet – probably coughed up when N stabbed her – they could still see enough. Tessa eyes were glowing slightly, like something was being lit up behind them; they could see wires and circuit sticking slightly out of her skin.”

“What …what did it do to you?” Uzi asked.

“Made me forget. Altered my memories. Made me believe I was sent to Copper-9 for a reason. Whispers in my ears that told me what to say, what to do. ” Tessa groaned. She clutched her stomach and let out a pained cry. “Gave me a clone of J with altered memories as well to help my story. I didn’t know the truth. J doesn’t know the truth.”

“But …why?” Uzi asked, stepping away as N put away his blade and helped Tessa on her feet.

“It …needed a ride…” Tessa stated weakly. “Hide in plain sight …until it got close.”

“Wait, are you saying that you …brought Cyn with you?” Uzi asked. She looked around, almost expecting to see Cyn slither from out of the shadows. She looked over to the human. Tessa was breathing rapidly and trembling. “Tessa, where is it?”

 Tessa slowly looked up. “In- ….”

“In where?” N asked.

Tessa let out a whimper. “Inside me.” She suddenly lurched backwards, letting out a long scream of pain. Before Uzi and N had time to react, something suddenly tore out of Tessa’s wound.

“JUMP SCARE!” A heart with a yellow eye, wearing a yellow band that read MARKED FOR DISPOSAL P/N: CYN-N~A like a sash, lunged towards N with enormous speed. “NECK TWIST!”

With one swift move, the heart had wrapped its tentacles around N’s head and snapped it. Uzi readied her solver powers, but she didn’t even time to react as she saw him drop to the floor, as the Solver-Heart jumped at her. A yellow solver symbol appeared on one of the claws that were cut off during the battle and flew in Uzi’s direction.

“STAB.” The Solver-Heart announced as it drove the claw in her shoulder, pinning her to the floor.

The Solver-Heart jumped on Uzi’s chest, tapping her visor. “Oh yes, get snuck upon!” It hopped off Uzi and scampered over to Tessa, who was passed out on the floor. “Thank you for being my flesh suit and, also, that was sarcasm.”

It spun around and ran towards the flesh pit. “Honestly, I am-“ It jumped down. “-Starving!”

Suddenly, a bright yellow light and tentacles erupted from the pit, thrashing around in an almost victorious, yet violent manner. Uzi had managed to free herself from the claw and had crawled over to N, shaking his hand in an effort to wake him up. A sound behind her made her look away from N and she noticed two tentacles slithering towards them. She gasped when it grabbed both her and N and started to drag them towards the bit. Uzi grunted and whimpered, trying to grab N as well as trying to find something to hold and keep them from falling down the flesh pit of certain doom.

As they got dragged over the edge, Uzi noticed a human ribcage and she slammed her hand into it, pinning her in place. She immediately looked down and managed to grab N before he was out of her reach. She grunted, trying to pull herself and N up, but the tentacles were determined to drag them down.  

She noticed that N had turned back online. Her fearful eyes met his worried ones.

“H-hey.” Uzi managed to say, wincing as the tentacle pulled at her again. The rib broke a little, but didn’t snap all the way through. She looked at N, smiling softly at him. “Thanks for, like …”

Suddenly, a glint grabbed her attention. Something was falling down. She recognized it as the set of keys that Tessa had tossed at J before they went down the labs. She didn’t know how or why it was suddenly here, but …maybe it could be a chance.

She smiled lovingly at N. “…everything.”

“Uzi, don’t you dare!” N shrieked as Uzi took a better grip around his hand. Leave it that lovable goof to see right through her.

Uzi threw N into the air, broke off the rib and jumped off from the flesh wall. She used her Solver Power to grab the key, after which she threw both it and the rib that was stuck in her hand at N. The rib severed N’s leg – making sure he wouldn’t jump after her immediately – and the key landed right in N’s shoulder, making him wince.

Maybe she had put a bit too much force behind that one.

As she prepared her Solver power again, she noticed the unconscious body of Tessa not too far from her N.

She looked down at N – who was using his blade to keep himself from tipping over - for a few moments, before her visor showed the message DIE MAD. The flicked her wrist and both N and Tessa’s body got thrown out of the Cathedral.

She managed to gave N one final look …before the tentacles grabbed her and pulled her down the pit. As she fell down a long hole of flesh and yellow lightning, she managed to bite of one of the tentacles that held her. She crossed her arms, wrapped one leg over the other and closed her eyes, waiting for whatever was on the other side of this ride.

Silence.

She felt …like she was floating.

Tock

Something hard pinged against her visor.

Tock.

Another one.

She finally managed to open her eyes and, to her surprise, noticed that she was floating in the void of space. In front of her she saw a large orange light. The inner core of Copper-9.

She sighed.

Okay, I’m here …. now what?

[devastator1775]

Do you have some uhh murder drones on ao3?

I do. <-Link

They started out as a few fluffy oneshots, but they now have become the basis of an AU multichapter story I'm gonna write, that will also involve my Nuzi fanchild Nicole "Nix" Doorman.

All stories I post on AO3 will also be posted right here on Tumblr.

EDIT: Message for anyone reading this. If you haven't already, consider leaving a kudos and a comment. I always wholeheartedly enjoy reading those.

[devastator1775]

Next Murder Drones fanfic is gonna be focused primarily around V & Lizzy and will solidify a good chunk of my Nix Doorman AU lore.

[devastator1775]

Casual reminder that I take "Nix Doorman AU" Asks and I do fic requests.

No NSFW (I'l do spicy, but nothing too much)

No abuse, gore, things like that.

I'm big of fluff stories - as regular readers might have found out.

I write mainly "canon ships", but hey I'm willing to experiment. (Which sounds like a great title for a vuzi story...)

Requests can be finished in a estimated time period of either the same week or several months later. I'm terrible at fan work time management.

Whether or not I'll write your request is still up to me.

With that in mind, do feel free to keep asking different asks , just don't keep spamming the same ask, or I'll temporarily ban you.