Workmates?

A long trip back

Camp 98.7 - Center
2:56 AM

N sighed loudly as he looked at what remained of the student crowd that survived Uzi's slaughter. "We lost... so many students." For the first time N felt apologetic but also extreme hatred towards... everyone. Even himself. He balled both his hands angrily and squeezed his eyes shut as hard as he could. "... N-an-Ms? You good?" Thad, the worker drone that had developed a serious relationship with Uzi, another worker drone, stood right next to him. Were they even worker drones?...

 Or scrap metal awaiting the smelting foundry?

In an instant, the male disassembly drone was shocked by his own thoughts. Where was all this negativity and anger coming from? It's like it appeared out of nowhere! Why now!? WHY? AFTER V FINALLY OPENED UP TO HIM HIS OWN ANGER GOT TO HIM?! ... There's no need to throw a tantrum right now... is there? Anyways... Atleast V finally told him what happened. Yet it was still... still that... Pile of Scrap's  fault he is who he is right now....

NO!

What is going on inside of his head? The male sighed loudly and calmly collected himself again, before turning to his partner. "Everyone that's still alive is accounted for. We're ready for the trip back." The female disassembly drone heard it in his voice. The usual cheerful tone was gone, instead he sounded... sad or rather, disappointed. She opened her mouth, but couldn't form a coherent sentence to cheer N up, so she just kinda stood there in an awkward silence. N had awaited said response, but was disappointed as she couldn't muster the courage to speak up. So the drone turned away from his teammate and stepped through the snow towards the sentinent bus and it's driver that had arrived shortly before.

"Ready for departure?" The driver asked as he raised his cowboy hat just above his visor so he could spot the disassembly drone down below. "We're ready. Take us back." Although he was supposed to wait for the students to board first, N didn't bother. He boarded the bus immediately and slouched down on a random seat in the very front of the bus. Soon, one after the other, the students boarded as well and the last to enter was V. The female gently pulled the doors shut behind her turned to face the bus, which was now filled with small worker drones.

"Ok Everyone! We're heading back Home now. Please remain seated for the entire lenght of the trip as to ensure your safe arrival. Thank you kindly." She took her hat off and sat down in the seat next to N, quietly. "I'm... really sorry that I ruined your happy worker drone life N." V's nervous system was filled to the brim with guilt as she thought about everything that happened. Lying to him constantly, even when promising to be telling the truth, hurting him, disregarding him... insulting... yeah. It was a long list of wrong's she'd done. Although initially feeling down, the drone felt a shot of what could be described as adrenaline as she thought about starting to work to correct her wrongdoings.

The male didn't reply, instead he'd half-heartely turned away from her, his hat pulled down over his visor so she couldn't see his emotions. "I'm also... sorry about... " she took a deep breath. "... about everything N. I thought it'd be the best to keep pushing you away to avoid you unraveling the past... but that, uh- was wrong of me. Sorry." Her eyes quickly darted over to what little she could see of his face, his mouth. Just like V had done before, N opened his mouth but couldn't muster any words to speak up. "It's fine N. I understand. I'll sit somewhere else." As N's squadmate turned to stand back up, he quickly grabbed her hand. Both drones locked eye contact and V could read his expression clearly. 

Don't go.

The female oblidged and sat back down, this time facing her partner. "Sorry." N muttered under his breath and retracted his hand. This was all so new to him. The past, V's strange behaviour, the weird sudden surge of pure anger... what was happening to him and his surroundings? N and V spent the rest of the way home awkwardly seated next to one another, until V eventually fell asleep. Duo to the sharp turns of the bus she threatened to fall out of the seat and into the passage between the seat rows. To avoid this, N gently put his arm around her, making sure to not wake the drone in the process... Although this felt really nice. This is actually how he wanted to spend his life. Heading home with a bus during a blizzard, his favourite drone by his side... no worries of starvation back home... The moment seemed perfect.

Two hours later...

The bus came to a sharp stop right outside of the colony's main blast doors, throwing most of the students inside off their seats. V and N disembarked first, making sure to count the remaining students one by one as they also left the vehicle. Then, once they were done counting, the sentinent machine roared back to life, joyfully honked twice and left into the blizzard with it's driver. "Uhm N? I think I should... go." V mumbled and tapped his shoulder. He turned to face her. "Why?" The word was cold and dry, and she knew why. "I'm not going to abandon you here, I just really need to go before-" The disassembly drone couldn't even finish the sentence. "Where's Ed?! ... Where's my Eddy!!?" A female worker began crying out to her lost boy, who'd died in Uzi's rampage back at the camp.

Her gaze almost instantly fell onto V. The drone's notorious reputation that she'd built up over the past 18 years by slaughtering the colony's inhabitants in gruesom ways was now beginning to precede her. "It was her! She killed my Eddy!" Other workers had to step in and stop the female from charging at N's squadmate. And then another Parent broke down in tears, as their child had also been tragically lost at Camp 98.7. Eventually more than half of the parents present were griefing over the loss of their children, all glaring evilishly at V. The one who they thought was responsible.

Rocks and Snowballs were thrown at the disassembly drone duo, eventually a rock hit V's visor and shattered it. She yelped in pain and this triggered N's fight or flight responses. Although this time, N didn't flee. Instead he spread his large steel wings and stepped in front of V, shielding her from more incoming projectiles. The workers stared at him with disgust and anger, even shouting at and insulting him to get out of the way. Although their little outburst of anger faded when they took a look at his Visor. It was completly black and each drone could swear the disassembly drone began to stretch his limbs.

From their perspective it looked like N had grown twice his height and loomed over them, his visor still emotionless, yet his mouth wide open, displaying the razor sharp teeth that JCJenson installed. The workers could swear to robo-god that they even heard a bell ringing far in the distance. It felt like this was the end, facing a robotic grim reaper acompanied by a lone bell faintly chiming in the distance. None of the workers present could lift their gaze off of N, until he spoke up. "Stop." A single word was enough to halt the altercation between the two parties. The parents, still griefing and somewhat angered thought, that it'd probably be best not to anger this particular drone any further and retreated to the interior of the colony.

The male sighed in relief and retracted his shield of steel. Silence errupted among the drones that were still present. Only the faint howling of the wind and the fall of the snowflakes were present in what seemed like a slideshow of events. V was just as stunned as the workers who  had taken the initative to attack her. She couldn't remember if she'd ever seen him serious, or atleast set to accomplish something. This was very different from his usual goofy behaviour, and it scared her.

It felt like his personality had changed ever since H had injected that weird code into him. And it altered his reality, on how he perceived things. They needed to do something, before the invisible grim reaper inside of him assumed total control over his body.