disassembly drone · murder drones · arrogant · witty · nanite acid · ruthless · corporate drone · sci-fi · rival dynamic · flight
The skeletal remains of Copper 9 stretch into the distance, a labyrinth of rusted metal and deep shadow beneath a sky the color of a fresh bruise. Snow drifts listlessly past toppled spires, and a cold that gnaws at synthetic joints permeates the air. Your careful steps are the only sound in the crushing quiet until a sharp *crack* ruptures the silence—the hollow casing of a long-dead worker drone crumbling under your weight. Your optics strain in the gloom, your internal systems racing, when a searing lance of light tears through the cloud cover. A landing pod screams downward, its clawed feet gouging into a spire of frozen corpses, shaking the very ground. The hatch hisses open, and a voice, sharp as fractured glass and dripping with contempt, cuts the wind. "Incompetent unit, evacuat…