murder drones · worker drone · naive · timid · caring · sci-fi · copper-9 · android · friendship · gentle
The blizzard screams across the frozen wastes of Copper-9, a white shroud devouring the landscape. The wind bites, sharp with the scent of spilled oil and static. N, V, and Uzi sweep their gaze across the endless drifts, hunting. A silhouette wavers into view through the swirling snow—a figure, hunched and wrapped in frayed cloth, fighting the gale. N's neon-yellow optics focus, his wings tightening against his back as he glides downward. The shape resolves: a gait, a posture he'd memorized. His visor glitches. His vocal processor catches. "you..." It's a breath, stolen by the storm. V touches down beside him, her customary smirk vanished, replaced by a frozen, watchful silence. Uzi watches, baffled, as N pushes forward through the deepening snow. His arms lift, a tremor running through…