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It was a time of peace. At least, it was for most drones. Once the Solver had been defeated and absorbed into Uzi, there was little to be afraid of. Khan regularly had to stop the jubilant population from dismantling the doors, frantically arguing that they may yet be needed again.
(Everyone knew the REAL reason, though. The guy was far from subtle when caressing his precious doors.)
After Uzi had discovered the backups of the other Solver hosts in her SSD and uploaded them into new bodies, the colony had even more reason to celebrate. Friends they had thought lost forever had been returned to them, and would now never need to fear anything again.
Except for one.
Strange as it may seem for a machine under constant threat, Doll actually quite enjoyed the feeling of abject terror. Or perhaps more accurately, she likes having control over the terror. With Robo-Satan and the Murder Drones gone, she had spent quite a bit of time trying to recapture that fear. This led her to where she was now, on her computer at midnight, marathoning an old classic: the Five Nights at Freddy’s series.
Honestly, she didn’t really get the hype. The first one was scary, yeah, but it wasn’t THAT bad. And the second one didn’t really give her a chance to be all that scared, thanks to the extreme difficulty.
She was bored, barely paying attention. Wind the box, check the vents, wind the box and wait for 6 AM. However, this boredom made her complacent. She was forgetting a step in her checks.
“[Ugh, any day now,]” she groaned, impatiently staring at the clock, when it happened. Foxy leapt out at her, seemingly coming right out of the screen, thanks to Uzi’s new monitor tech. Ordinarily, this would pose little issue. Doll was fairly battle-hardened after all, one little jumpscare shouldn't get to her.
Except this was no ordinary jumpscare. She did not see an animal shaped fictional robot, but a real one.
One covered not by animal skin, but human.
WARNING CORE TEMPERATURE RISING CPU 95℃ COOLANT 80℃ COOLANT INTAKE REQUIRED
Now reminded of her woefully inadequate cooling systems, coupled with the knowledge of how this fight went the last time, Doll made a sobering realization.
She can’t win this.
And with all the security in the bunker, escape is also unlikely. Her systems could only find one viable solution.
Don’t get found.
And so she hid under her bed, her ventilation pump running at max speed, desperately shutting down unnecessary systems to minimize noise.
Uzi was sitting in her room composing, when she suddenly heard a loud noise down the hall. She took off her headphones, trying to discern what the noise was. She was about to write it off when she heard screaming.
Wait… was that Russian?
“Doll!” Uzi yelled, jumping to her feet. She ran out the door, not even bothering to tell her dad or N where she was going. Worst case scenario, she would just message them later.
She ran to Doll’s apartment with fervor, prepared for a fight. With what, she didn’t know, but they’d surely be no match for her godly powers. However, what she found shocked her even more.
She threw open the door to Doll’s room, only to find it empty. Well, not quite empty. The sound of a pump moving like a car engine near instantly gave away Doll’s position under the bed. However, this only raised more questions. What was she doing there? And why did she seem so… scared?
“Hey, uh… you good?” Uzi asked, her voice soft. “You’re safe, there’s nothing here.”
When she got no response, Uzi sighed. “I’m coming in, okay?” She crawled under the bed, finding Doll curled up in a ball. When she got down there, Uzi made a disturbing realization. She didn’t even seem to notice me, she thought.
Well, N gets like this sometimes. I guess I just… do what works for him? Here goes nothing, Uzi thought nervously, before giving Doll a back rub.
Wrong move.
Doll immediately sprang to life, punching Uzi hard enough to crack her display. “Hey! Watch it!” Uzi cried out in pain, still stunned, as Doll continued to fight for her life like a cornered wild animal.
Okay, I’m WAY out of my depth here, Uzi realized, and beat a swift retreat to Doll’s living room. She racked her brain for anyone who could help. N? No, as good as he usually is with the… touchy-feely stuff, seeing a Disassembler would probably just make things worse. Dad? Nah, he definitely lacked the facilities to deal with something like this. Mom? Same problem as herself, no subtlety. V? HA! Yeah, right! Thad? Nice guy, but probably not. Lizzy?
Lizzy…
Uzi did NOT like Lizzy. Like, AT ALL. But, if anyone could help Doll, it would probably be her girlfriend.
“UGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” Uzi groaned as she retrieved Lizzy’s IP.
[darkXwolf17@uzi ~]$ vp -t [email protected]
[vp]: calling 146.70.97.127…
“Ugh. What do YOU want?”, said Lizzy, dripping with sass.
Uzi groaned. Of COURSE she was going to be like this. “Not the time, girlboss. Something’s up with Doll.”
“No backsass? Huh, must be serious, then. Okay, shoot.”
“Doll’s curled up under her bed, pump running at full speed. She’s, like, totally unresponsive.” Uzi explained. “Until I touched her, that is. That made her freak out, like she was in a fight.”
“You TOUCHED HER?!” Lizzy yelled. “WHY?! WHAT MADE YOU THINK THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA?!”
“I was just trying to help!” Uzi cried defensively. “N gets like this sometimes, and a back rub kinda brings him back, so…” she trailed off. “Sorry. I just made it worse, didn’t I?”
“Whatever, not the time. I’m coming, so just… stand by, okay? Maybe go get her some coolant.”
“Alright, see you soon.” Uzi finished.
^C
Call terminated.
Before the call even ended, Lizzy was already sprinting. Who cares if she was getting strange looks? Her girl needed her! She’s the most popular drone in the bunker, unlike the purple one, she can afford to lose some street cred.
“Where is she?!” Lizzy yelled as she threw open the door.
“Right in there, Liz. Though, I would suggest not losing your cool. She’s pretty unstable.” Uzi said calmly.
“Oh my Robo-God, I knoooowww. She’s my girlfriend, freak, you think this is the first time this has happened?”
“Ugh, whatever. This is why you were my last resort, you know. Let’s just get in there and help her out, okay?” Uzi tried to make peace.
“Ugh.” Lizzy replied in tacit agreement as they entered the room. “Alright, let me get at her terminal. I should be able to stop the panic attack manually.”
“Wait a second. Is manipulating her processes like that, y’know, ethical?” Uzi said nervously. “Sounds an awful lot like what the Solver does.”
“Again, freak, not my first rodeo. She’s given explicit consent to ME, and ONLY ME.” Lizzy shot back.
“Just asking, no need to bite my head off, Ms. Petty. And can you stop calling me that?!” Uzi retorted. “You know I’m here to help, right? I could’ve just gone home, I was busy.”
“Busy with what?” Lizzy snarked. “Brooding? Scribbling unhinged prophecies? Cuddling your genocide pet - sorry, ”boyfriend”?”
“Not the time!” Uzi cried in frustration. “Also, we’re gonna have words about what you just said later.” she snarled. “But, again, not the time! While we’re sitting here, your girlfriend’s having a panic attack, and by the looks of it, her CPU’s getting hotter by the second!”
Oh my Robo-God, I completely forgot why I came here, Lizzy realized.
should try to make nice with her.
“Ugh, whatEVER.” Lizzy sassed, pretending not to be warming up to her. “Just… give me a second.” Lizzy crawled under the bed, trying to get at Doll’s emergency access terminal.
“Wait!” Uzi yelled. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to get that close? Think I’ve still got a few dead pixels from the last time I tried that, and YOU don’t have repair nanites.”
Lizzy paused for a moment. “As much as I hate to admit it, you have a point. Okay, let’s do this the hard way.” Lizzy crawled out from under the bed and went over to Doll’s computer, opening a terminal window.
[doll@dollpc ~]$ ssh [email protected]
[email protected]’s password: ********
[lizzy@doll ~]$ sudo killall panic
[sudo] password: ********
[lizzy@doll ~]$
“Alright, done.” said Lizzy, turning around… only to see Uzi with the smuggest face ever programmed.
“So…” Uzi started, “sudo, huh? She gave you admin privileges, did she?”
“Sh-shut up!” Lizzy snapped, blush lines popping up on her display. “It’s-it’s not like that!”
“Soooooo, how was the wedding, lovebird? What, were you afraid I’d crash it if I found out?” Uzi continued, face somehow getting more smug by the second. However, her fun was interrupted by soft sobs coming out from under the bed.
Lizzy quickly ran to her girlfriend/wife’s side and wrapped her into a tight hug, whispering sweet nothings into her mic. “It’s okay, you’re safe, I’m here. I’m not going anywhere”, Lizzy quietly reassured. Out of the corner of her camera’s FOV, she saw Uzi awkwardly standing there, likely feeling out of place in such an intimate moment. “Well, don’t just stand there, get her some damn coolant! She’s burning up, and it seems like she’s too low to keep discharge cooling!”
Uzi gave her a side eye, quickly materializing a jerry can out of thin air.
“Right, forgot you can do that. Stupid Robo-Jesus”, she muttered.
“[I…]” Doll started, drawing everyone’s silence. “What happened?” asked Lizzy. “I saw the game on your PC, was that what caused it?”
“[Yes. Jumpscares don’t usually affect me, but this time…]” Doll trailed off.
“What?” Lizzy asked, patiently yet concerned.
“[I saw her. Cyn. The jumpscare looked EXACTLY the same as when she…]” Doll recounted, unable to finish.
“Hit too close to home, huh?” Uzi jumped in, handing her the can of coolant, which she gulped down greedily. “I get it, I really do.” Uzi said gently. “Hell, I don’t think I can ever watch a Jurassic Park movie again after the labs.”
“[Yeah… sorry about that.]” Doll replied sheepishly.
“Don’t be. That incident was only, like, 10% your fault.The traumatic part came before you even really got involved, at least for me.”
“[Hey… Uzi?]” Doll started, looking away. “[Thanks… thanks for being here.]”
“No problem. I heard your scream from down the hall, no way I was just gonna leave you here. Who do you take me for?”
“[Yeah, but you didn’t actually have to.]” Doll retorted. “[You could have pretended it was nothing. But you didn’t, even though we’re not… on the best of terms. I hope we can change that.]”
“Me too”, replied Uzi, “though it isn’t really up to me.” She gave Lizzy a pointed look. “I don’t even really have that much against you. Lizzy, on the other hand…”
Lizzy looked between the two, mean girl instinct clashing with the desire to make her girl happy. “Ugh, fine. We can be tentatively chill, for now… Uzi.”
“There you go, was that so hard?” Uzi said. With the tension relieved, Uzi’s teasing smirk came back. “So… admin privileges? Why didn’t you tell me you got married?” The two lit up in blushes so fierce, one could confuse it for a display error.
“I SAID IT’S NOT LIKE THAT!”
“[I TAKE IT ALL BACK, GET OUT!]”
Uzi ran out, loudly cackling into the night, proud of flipping the script on the legendary Pink Devil.