Chapter Text
In the past, this would have been a good week. Classes had been lax, giving her plenty of time to gossip with friends and manage her social accounts. The biggest loser in the school had made a fool of herself at least once every day so far, providing free entertainment. And the cafeteria had served wire bolognese with iron filings yesterday, her favourite meal.
That was before all the spooky witch stuff that got Doll killed and nearly led to robo-satan eating the planet. Now, during those lazy classes, she had almost no friends to gossip with, because most of them were dead, and the few that weren't, she had to share with the freak. When the loser made a fool of herself, the two hottest drones on the planet (after herself, of course) ran over to join in. And whoever was on kitchen duty managed to get a hair in her bolognese sauce.
Now, the rational part of Lizzy's processor knew none of it was the purple freak's fault; she had just been the spark that set off a chain reaction that had been building for years. But that part of her processor also told her not to spend as much time on her phone, as it would mess with her optic calibrations and force her to wear glasses at some point. Needless to say, she was not one to often listen to the rational part of her processor.
Instead, she chose to lie on top of her desk, doom scrolling through meaningless updates from around the bunker as she waited for another day of boring classes to start. Her bestie, V, was sitting with her on the chair opposite, her pegged feet up on the desk while she gave the prehistoric robo-chicken she kept as a pet scratches under its chin. The two didn't speak that often, preferring just to exist in each other's company for the mean girl energy they shared.
Of course, her peace couldn't last forever, as a purple glow surrounded the classroom door and threw it open with a slam. Two drones walked in, the first dragging their feet as they trudged to their seat in the row in front of her, the other practically skipping with joy as they sat behind them. It was annoying how V seemed to perk up with their presence, making it hard to consider the hot psycho killer hot.
Her reaction to N made some sense, given what little of their shared history she had managed to pry out of little miss cagey. Still hard to believe he had barely changed his altruistic ways since becoming a murder machine, but that just meant he should have been an easy target to manipulate. That would be, if it weren't for the purple freak, Uzi Doorman, somehow getting her grubby little fingers on him and teaching him to have a backbone. How the little nuisance managed to get V's respect while dressing like a clown collage reject was beyond her.
She hoped it would still be a quiet day; with how tired the freak looked, perhaps they would fall asleep in class and not make themselves a problem. That was wishful thinking, as the purple weirdo let out a long, drawn-out groan. “Damn Zi. You good?” Thad asked from his seat on the other side of N. She could say many things about the green jock, not all of them true, but she couldn't deny the boy's relaxed desire to help others, even if she didn't agree with the company he kept.
“No," the loser flatly stated with a growl. "Stupid solver bullshit not letting me sleep.” As though she cared about any explanation, she didn't need to know what the freak was doing last night. It was probably something weird and gross with her freaky witch powers. “Didn't even get a chance to drink anything," the little purple aberration continued to complain. "Gonna be running warm all morning now.”
The nuisance's sap of a boyfriend reached out, offering a thurmes covered in dents and black stains. “You want a sip of my oil? It should take the edge off,” he suggested. He's such a loser, desperate to please. She'd say the two disappointments deserved each other if it weren't for how hot he was, twink ass pushover.
A blush filled the purple freak's face as she looked away to try and hide it, ew. “Sure, thanks or whatever,” she mumbled, clearly down bad for the mangy mutt in murder drone form. Ugh, couldn't those two do their gross lovey dovy shit like anywhere else?
“Eh, we’ll just slam Braden between one of the doors a couple of times; that always makes you feel better,” V commented, willingly getting involved with the freak and lowering Lizzy's opinion of her.
Why did she always do this? How did she always do this? That little glitch was supposed to be at the bottom of the social ladder, and she still was. But somehow she had all the cool drones (that were left) flocking to her like stupid, mindless moths to a stupid, looser flame. It had to be the witch powers, right? Nothing else could explain why people suddenly cared about her, which made her constant bitching about them even more annoying. As the lesson started, and everyone either started taking notes or falling asleep, the pink drone couldn't help but ponder what she would do with such god-like power.
The bell for first break had rung out a while ago, but Lizzy just wandered the halls, no destination in mind. V had wandered off somewhere, presumably to try stealing the freak's boyfriend back, if she knew what was up. Pushing her way through the crowds, she never drew her attention away from her phone, none of the other scrubs worth her interest.
She still felt each shove, an attempt to force her down the social ladder, to steal away the position she had crafted for herself as queen bee of the school. So, of course, she pushed back harder, the sound of others falling to the floor or crashing into lockers a pleasant symphony to her synthetic ears. And no one would dare challenge her, not with the loyalty of a murder drone in her pocket. The satisfaction it brought would normally be enough to lighten her spirits, but something about this week, today in particular, continued to sour her mood. So she started to get nastier, shoving drones who were nowhere near in her way, and tripping those she could physically overpower.
Her optics low to the ground, she spotted a pile of books, holding one drone up to reach into their locker. Her spite yet to be satisfied; she kicked them hard, sending the drone tumbling to the ground. “OW!” they yelled out in a gratingly familiar voice, a brief glance identifying it as the freak. That was mildly satisfying, but a venomous bite still itched within the pink drone as they walked past, hoping it would finally be enough for her to rela- “Hey! Watch it!”
She would have normally ignored the little purple freak's outrage, a white noise to the choir of her day. But something about the past week made it screech like nails on a chalkboard instead. Lizzy felt her self-control slip away briefly, the blinding fury coming out as icy cold words. “Or what, Doorman?” she questioned as she looked over her shoulder, bright pink LEDs feeling more like a frozen blue.
The little gremlin flinched, not a reaction she had ever seen, but it seemed to draw more from her, like a pickaxe tearing away at the crumbling dam that had held back every venomous thought she had ever had about the loser. “You’re going to blow up the class again with another one of your failed projects?” She turned, staring an entire armoury's worth of daggers at the purple monster as it stepped back in shock. “Or maybe you’ll go on a rampage and kill a bunch of nobodies?” A loud, heavy step forward, practically stomping as she made herself bigger, more imposing to the waste of scrap.
“Or perhaps you’ll get one of my friends killed and steal the other?” She could feel her teeth grinding against each other, the glitch's face a screwed-up mix of shock, fear and anger as her voice tore through her throat in a scream. "Or you can just whine my audio processor off about how much your life sucks!”
Silence suffocated the hall as the freak, no, the entire school, looked at her like she had grown a second head. Lizzy's temper was nothing new to anyone, though often hidden under many well-maintained layers of social control. For her to explode like this was a terrifying thing for most to see, something she should have immediately noticed and tried to hide, if her processor was clear. But right now, all she could see was the defiant little thorn in her side, its sunset eye emotes reduced to thin rings before filling in with indignant fury. “The hell, Lizzy?” Her voice rose to match the attack. “What’s your problem?!”
“You and all your bitching, that’s my problem!” the pink drone sneered, revolted by the pest that refused to accept its place beneath her. “You got a hot boyfriend, robo-magic, and you still complain about stupid shit!” Did she sound jealous? Maybe, but emotions that had long been restrained had stolen the driver's seat from rational thought, so she had little desire to stop. “Meanwhile, I watched several friends die, and no one cared!”
“Don’t act like you actually cared about them! You kept most of them around to make yourself look good by comparison!” While the freak wasn't wrong, Lizzy didn't appreciate being called out by a loser who shouldn't even have any friends. “And Doll got herself killed by going solo and not being able to handle the solver! Hell, I can barely keep it together myself!” And here she goes again, making about herself and complaining all the way. “All the stupid annoying voices, the stupid heat and the stupid cravings! I wish I could go back to being a normal drone like you!”
“Please, you get god-like powers, and I’m supposed to feel bad?!” Most of the surrounding students had started to back away, afraid of being caught in the destruction everyone expected to follow.
“Fine!" the freak yelled, equal to Lizzy's screeching with fists balled up by her side and optics shut tight. "If you’re so sure you’re all that, why don’t you have them for a week?!”
“Bet!”
…
The word had come out before she could think, fear striking her the moment she realised she'd yelled it with a large audience watching, and probably more in the distance that heard the whole thing. Even the freak seemed shocked into silence, her sunset eye emotes frozen in thin rings. Damn it! She couldn't back out now; it would tank her reputation. Taking a breath to calm herself first, unwilling to let her emotions dig her into deeper trouble, she attempted to regain a form of control over the situation. “One week. You give me your spooky god powers for one week," she stated, turning her outburst into a true declaration of challenge. “If for some reason I try to pawn them back off onto you before then, you win.” It wasn't like she would lose; if anything, it would be the easiest week of her life. She wouldn't even need to lift a finger, the telekinesis doing all the work.
The little gremlin opened its mouth, as if to protest, but stopped. They genuinely had to think about it, something Lizzy wasn't sure of; it could have either been a good sign or a bad one. "You also lose if I have to jump in and deal with it when you lose control," she added, her umbra eye emotes showing serious consideration of the challenge.
"Whatever," the pink drone brushed aside, "as if I'm gonna lose." She turned her scowl back to the purple nuisance as she continued. "Now, stakes," she stated, "name your prize."
The freak gave a sinister grin with a low chuckle. “I win; you have to record an apology for all the years of bullying and harassment.” That's it? No ruining her social standing, truly degrading acts? Just admission of fault? If that was all the little glitch could come up with then- “And you have to change all your LED colours to purple.” There it was, a subtle permanent mark that announced to everyone that she had lost. Well played, Doorman.
"Fine," Lizzy responded, doing her best not to spit her words and keep her behaviour cordial. Such a risky punishment for failure deserved an equal reward. "When I win, I'm throwing out your entire wardrobe and replacing it with dresses of my choice." She puffed out her chest with pride, after all, she would be doing the freak a favour, getting her an actual sense of fashion. But the little monster barely reacted, more bored by the declaration than intimidated; perhaps she needed to up her prize? "You also have to be my loyal servant until graduation." That got a reaction, the glitch stepping back in recoil from the idea. The best part was graduation kept getting delayed by all the world-ending events; at this rate, they wouldn't see the end of school for another ten years, when they would be hitting their thirties. She put a finger between her teeth and bit down, considering her options long enough for oil to start dripping from her mouth. EW!
After licking up the oil from her hand, double ew, the purple freak held it out. "Deal," she calmly stated, a look of confidence and determination in her face that Lizzy was eager to crack. Taking the offered hand, the two gave a firm shake. "Meet in class after school, at four. I transfer the absolute solver over to you, and you start your one hundred and sixty-eight hours of hell." With that, the gremlin turned and walked away, with the school bell for the next lesson close to sounding. The pink drone mirrored the action, with her next lesson in the opposite direction. Obviously, Doorman was exaggerating; this bet was going to be too easy, and winning would make it clear to all the peons not to mess with Lizzy Magister.
This lesson was just as boring as the last, the teacher droning on about the history of, what, watermelons? At least she had her bestie to keep her company and stave off the boredom. They didn't talk much, but when they did, it was always some juicy gossip. It helped that V had super-sensitive hearing, able to pick up all the scandalous activities around the school that made for great blackmail material. This time, though, it was strange; she didn't start sharing right away, instead waiting for the pink drone to drop her guard. "So, heard you and Uzi had a fight in the corridor," the bombshell drone said quietly, her words hidden beneath the teacher's monotonous drivel. "Who won?"
"We made a bet," Lizzy replied, not as concerned about keeping quiet, given the teacher was barely paying any attention to them.
V looked at her sceptically, struggling to believe either pink or purple drone could have been cordial long enough to make a deal. "Really?" she questioned, getting a sly smile in return. Excited by the idea, she own face took on a shark-like grin. "Stakes?" she pressed, eager for more details.
The queen bee couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. "I get to fix the little freak's sense of style, and she's my servant for the foreseeable future," she bragged, proud of her prize to be.
"Damn," the disassembler drew out, surprised the little purple thing would ever agree to such a hefty punishment. "What's the catch?" she asked, knowing Uzi would have only accepted if she was either confident in her victory, or her prize would be something equally, if not more crazy.
Lizzy scoffed, feasting on the attention V gave her. "All I gotta do is hold on to her creepy magic powers for a week," she nonchalantly explained. It would be such an easy win; it almost seemed unfair if it weren't for the satisfaction she would get from making the purple freak suffer.
But with her optics glued to her phone, the pink drone didn't see how V's face dropped with shock and fear. "What?" Her voice seethed with a mixture of panic, anger and deadly seriousness.
"Yeah," Lizzy sighed, not picking up on the tone shift. "She thinks I'll record some stupid apology video and change my colour to purple. That ain't happening." She chuckled at the thought, as if any apology from her would ever be genuine. And purple? Such a lame colour that would clash with-
She couldn't stop herself from yelping as strong hands grabbed her by the shoulders and violently pulled her towards V, their visors dangerously close as yellow eye emotes scowled into her synthetic soul with controlled fury. "Lizzy." V's voice was sharp, commanding her attention in a way only a disassembler could. "As your closest friend and someone who knows the solver, you don't have a chance."
…
"The hell you mean?" Lizzy raised her voice at the gall of her friend for even suggesting forfeiting such a lucrative opportunity, the class turning to face the two as the teacher carried on in the background. The school had never cared about their 'education'; given that they could just download all the information needed to perform any job, why would they start now?
V's voice rose to match, but where the pink drone's was filled with indignant irritation, hers was controlled like a lethal blade cutting to the point. "I mean, Uzi struggles to keep that thing under control half the time, and she's more stubborn than ten of you," she stated, as though it were a universal fact, which was totally not true. Lizzy was way more stubborn; that was how she got what she wanted. But V continued to pierce that delusion with her words. "You ain't winning this bet."
Flabbergasted, Lizzy couldn't believe her closest friend was doubting her. Did she not know what she was capable of? "You think I can't-"
"I know you can't," V interrupted, making her stance on the matter clear with a scowl paired with a low growl.
"Then bet it." Damn it! The words escaped the pink drone a second time before she could be rational. But this time felt more casual, like she didn't have to worry as much, more a friendly wager than a competitive challenge. That didn't seem to be what the disassembler thought; her eye emotes shifted to large thin rings with stress marks underneath. "You win?" she casually asked, trying to remove any tension between them.
V's scowl returned, though now paired with her signature psychotic smile. "Lifetime supply of oil," she demanded, getting up close enough to Lizzy for her to smell the putrid substance on her breath. "You provide," she added, with an almost sultry tease that sent shivers down the queen bee's spine. Why did she have to find the dangerous ones so hot?!
She scoffed as she placed a hand over V's face, pushing her back into her seat. "Then I expect a lifetime supply of makeup when I win," she bit back, still irritated that no one seemed to have any confidence in her. She thrusted her hand out, ready to accept another prize.
The giggle V gave was haunting, as though she knew something the pink drone didn't. "Deal," she accepted, her clawed hand wrapping around Lizzy's to give it a gentle shake, the blade scratching the delicate acrylic casing. The two didn't talk for the rest of the lesson, as the rest of the class returned their focus to the teacher, desperate not to draw the ire of either the murderous drone that could violently kill them within seconds or the queen bee of the school, who clearly had a plan to win these bets she was accruing; otherwise, why would she take the risk? That didn't stop whispers of speculation from circling the room, or making their way beyond the school, thanks to the many online messages excited students began to share...
The whispers continued to echo through the halls between lessons, with many small pockets of students discussing their thoughts on the escalating events. "You think Lizzy's gonna be able to control the freak's powers?" one girl muttered to the drone next to her as they reached for books from their lockers, unaware that the topic of their conversation was within earshot of them.
"She's gotta have a plan," the boy quietly responded, "otherwise, why would she risk it?" It was an unspoken fact around the school that Lizzy had a way of knowing the outcome of most things. Only the freak's mum could outdo her powers of foresight, and she had freaky robo-satan magic to do it.
"You right, you right," the girl replied, lost in thought as she put the book she had just pulled out back. "Still, I'm not too sure."
It was incredulous of them, but the pink drone couldn't blame anyone for the growing excitement as she walked past. The bet she and the purple nuisance had made quickly became the talk of the school, and her little spat with V only added fuel to the growing fire. After several weeks without another world-ending disaster being averted, the many faceless drones clearly were chomping at the bit for something new and fresh, and someone finally putting the Doorman freak in her place was what they were all craving... right?
With pride in herself for standing up for her fellow drones against the purple menace, even if most of them were losers, she couldn't stop herself from striding through the halls like she owned the place. All the chatter about how she was better than Doorman and not the other way around was music to her ears. That didn't stop her from walking into the back of another drone, bouncing off as the offender didn't even notice her, too eager to be a part of a large, excited crowd that was desperate to be somewhere. Curious as to what could cause such a commotion, Lizzy clambered on top of the waves for robotic hands, walking across them with little effort.
When she got to the front of the crowd, she was surprised to see a foldable table set up, with a sign hung above that read 'Lizzy Vs Uzi Bets!' There were rolls of tickets, quickly being devoured by greedy hands, as money poured into lockbox after lockbox. Manning the table was a familiar, friendly green drone, writing things down in a rapidly expanding binder as they handed out tickets. "Thad? What are you doing?"
"Oh, hey Lizzy!" the chipper green jock called out, waving her over so they didn't need to try talking over the noisy crowd. "Just managing the bets." Just as he said that, a fistful of credits was shoved into his face, forcing him to take the money and offer a ticket in exchange.
This confused the pink drone further: what was going on that would encourage so many drones to put their hard-earned savings on the line, just for the hope of doubling their value? "What bets?" she questioned, just as Thad wrote another gamble down in the binder.
Once he was able to put the pen down, he started to explain. "Well, the deals you've made with Uzi and V are spreading like wildfire around the whole bunker." They were? That was news to her, and it suggested she had started this new craze. Of course, it had to be something like this and not one of the many fashion trends she had actually tried to start. "Now everyone is taking bets on if you're gonna get through the week or not."
"Seriously?!" Lizzy snapped, infuriated not by the fact that people were taking bets on their deal, but that anyone would dare doubt her ability and bet against her. She would need to find those low-lifes afterwards and give them a piece of her mind. Or she could make the freak do it, no need to dirty her own hands.
But Thad paid her rage no mind, dealing with another bet while she fumed for a moment, allowing her to think her angry thoughts before continuing. "Things were getting rowdy, so I stepped in to manage everything." He gave the pages of the binder a quick once-over, reminding himself of the wagers. "Currently, it's seventy-six bets in your favour, and twelve against you, with a total pot of ten million credits." T-ten million?! That was enough to purchase ownership of the entire bunker twice! Ok, with a prize like that, even she could understand a few individuals betting against her, as it would be fewer heads to share with.
However, that got Lizzy curious, because she now knew V and the freak's thoughts on the bet, as well as most of the school and the rest of the bunker, if some of the WDF members in the crowd were anything to go by. But she had no idea what Thad's take on the deal was, and he was a stand-up guy with relatively acceptable opinions on most things, so she had to ask. "And where do you stand?"
Thad held his hands up in defence, gently shaking his head while his smile became more amused. "I am choosing not to have a say, cos I know both you and Zi could easily tear me apart," he chuckled, more knowledgeable of what the two could do when angered than any other drone, thanks to being the one to break up some of their fights before all the robo magic stuff kicked off. At least it wasn't doubt that she could- "And I know what Zi's been going through pretty well," he winced as he scratched the back of his head, "so I don't wanna sway the bets in any way."
...
He just said he didn't think Lizzy could do it, didn't he? It wasn't exactly what he said, but his words had been chosen carefully so as to sound like he wasn't choosing either side. And while that may have worked on every other oblivious sheep-bot in the bunker, Lizzy considered herself an expert at reading others, able to pick up on their true intentions based on hints in their visors and body language, and Thad was not a subtle drone when it came to this. "Whatever," she scoffed as she walked away, earning a small, sad look from the green jock before her returned to dealing with the unruly crowd and their demands for entertainment.
"Twenty credits on Lizzy winning and using the powers to take over the bunker!" one drone called out, getting a slap around the head for shouting and possibly giving the cheerleader ideas. It wasn't a bad one; after her win, perhaps taking over as the true queen of the bunker- hell, all of Copper Nine, would be a fun way to fill her time. "I got a parlay that the freak forfeits by the end of the weekend!" another joined in; clearly, most of this crowd wanted to choose the winning side, just a shame that the respected greed jock wasn't among them.
School had just finished, and on most occasions, Lizzy would have sighed in relief, especially seeing as tomorrow would be Saturday, the start of a full forty-eight hours without having to worry about assignments or pretending to pay attention in class. But not this time; instead, she pushed her way through the waves of drones that make a beeline for the exit, eager to get the deal she had made over and done with. The crowd quickly petered out, leaving only the few students who had after-school clubs or nowhere else to go. As she walked past, she could hear quiet cheers from the handful of groups. "You got this, Lizzy." "Show that freak who's in charge." "Don't let us down." Glitch, please, this is gonna be easy.
Reaching their shared homeroom early, the pink drone planned to wait inside for the purple nuisance, only to stop when she heard sounds from within. "Curious. What are you doing. Little sister Uzi?" a familiarly grating voice questioned, immediately telling her the freak was already here, and doing something that made the robo-satan trapped in her tail curious.
"Shut up!" the purple annoyance snapped, "Quit distracting me!" Stopping to think, while Lizzy could walk in and not waste a moment getting the show going, spying on the gremlin for anything she could use to better her chances of winning was a no-brainer. So instead of barging to announce her presence to an empty room, she carefully poked her head around the door, listening intently as she watched the freak at work.
From her yelling, a whisper formed nearby, sitting in the chair next to her. They were a shadow of a person, their long hair and short dress indistinguishable from their body. "She's got a point, though," the spectre said with a strong Australian accent, "What are you doing? Isn't Lizzy going to be here soon?"
Their optics darted to the side briefly, as though tracking movement that wasn't there. "I'm putting together a few extra firewalls," they started explaining with a sigh, with no one else listening aside from the tail and her hidden spectator. "As much as Liz losing control would prove my point, who do you think would have to deal with it? I'd rather win by her admitting she was wrong than have another feral solver on our hands." That left a bitter taste in the pink drone's mouth; the purple nerd was going out of their way to give her an advantage, just because she was certain that Lizzy couldn't handle it.
Another ghost formed to her right, leaning against the wall with a disapproving scowl. They had a lot more details in their form than the others: a young drone with long indigo hair and bright red LEDs. A large button-shaped eye patch covered the right side of their visor, and a massive hole had been torn into their chest, causing oil to spill over their cheerleader uniform. "So you handicap your chances of success?" Doll questioned, leering down at the purple drone. "Foolish."
She was about to walk in and give the little nuisance a piece of her mind, but their head quickly spun to the wall, the pink drone barely able to hide in time. "Bite me!" the purple glitch barked, "Still better than the alternative." ... Ok, was the freak actually losing her marbles? Because unless there was something she wasn't seeing, they were arguing with empty space.
The tail seemed to ignore its host's insanity, pulling a thick black bow from thin air and placing it daintily atop the fashion disaster's beanie. "Ooo. I look forward to playing with a new toy. Giggle. And one with a pretty bow." Lizzy winced from her hiding place at the irritating noise. Ok, dealing with the talking tail may get a little tiring, but at least it had a better sense of style than the freak.
Meanwhile, the shadow leaned in towards the purple drone, the smile on its face only apparent by the way her white glowing eyes pinched together. "You want us to help in any way?" she offered, "Mess with her a bit?"
"No more than you do to me," the sad purple thing replied, seemingly in a different conversation from the one their gross ass tail was having. Eventually, they noticed the bow on their head, swatting it away and grabbing at the tail. "And you! Stop that!" she spat, shaking the unruly appendage violently and getting a monotone screech from it. "This is why you're losing all admin privileges while this bets on." She swung the fanged maw down, slamming it into the table and flinching from the pain she inflicted on herself. Ha! Loser!
Rolling her eye emotes at the ridiculous display, Doll walked up to the purple drone and sat on the back of the chair opposite. "If you allow me more autonomy, I will keep them in line," she proposed with a sly smile, the symbol of the solver glowing in the palm of her hand as she offered it to Uzi.
The freak gave a heavy sigh, grabbing at their visor as though the chair had somehow irritated them. "Fine. Thanks, I guess," they grumbled out, optics darting to the corner of the room where the clock hung. Noticing the time, her eye emotes hollowed in realisation. "She'll be here any minute," the purple scrap stated, turning to the surrounding space with a stern look. "I need you three to promise me you won't mess with her too much. I don't wanna get accused of rigging this thing against her." Wait, three? There are two more than just the yellow tail-rat? This might be a bit harder than the pink drone thought-. But nothing she couldn't handle!
"Fine. Eyeroll," the weird tail thing reluctantly responded, unamused that it wouldn't get to play as much.
"Okidoke," the shadow replied with more cheer, giving a mock salute with an arm behind their back, similar to the sole disassembly drone boy.
Doll, however, lingered for a while, allowing a moment of awkward silence before answering. "I promise she will get what she deserves," she ominously stated with a slight growl.
Another sigh left the emo glitch, though this time with a growling undertone that Lizzy would never admit caused her core to quicken and a dusting of blush to form on her visor. "Good enough," they grumbled, hands returning to the wireless keyboard in front of them. "Now just need to finish these last few lines." Their sunset eye emotes faded behind a wall of text, command-line code scrolling past at ridiculous speed.
The pink drone waited by the door for a while longer, hesitant to interrupt the freak and get domed for surprising them. They didn't get to sit in silence long, though, as a familiar annoyingly chipper voice called out from behind them. "Hi Lizzy!" N chirped, startling her into letting out a shrieked squeak.
From behind him, V strode up, her face schooled into a neutral expression. "Sup," she emotionlessly greeted, the first thing she had said since making the bet with the pink drone. Was she really that bent out of shape from a deal she was clearly going to win? Whatever, shouldn't have bet against her then.
Before Lizzy could respond, the freak's head poked out of the door, looking between the drones wildly. "How long have you been there?" she questioned, irritated to have been kept waiting for even a moment. She couldn't blame them; the sooner this was over, the better.
“Whatever,” the pink drone dismissed, forcing her way past the looser to take her usual seat. They looked like they were about to start an argument over the push, only to shake their head and let out a dangerous growl. What was it about others growling that made her core skip a beat?
V and the twink followed in, taking chairs opposite the two drones, while the freak got back to work on their keyboard, a DSB cable plugged into their nape, ready. “This'll take a while,” she stated, offering the other end of the cable to Lizzy.
Rolling her eye emotes, she took it and plugged herself in, greeted by several pop-ups requesting access by 'darkXWolf17'. Oh, she was going to make so much fun of the purple nerd for this later. As she worked her way through the various windows, agreeing without reading any of the details, the golden teddy bear nervously spoke up. “I don't know about this Uzi.”
“Don’t bother N," V dismissed, irritated by the stubbornness of the two worker drones with her twitching irratically behind her. "Neither of them is willing to back down.” It was something the bombshell disassembler appreciated when it came to annoying either of them, making the fun last so much longer, but in a situation like this, it just became a hassle to deal with.
Equally problematic was Lizzy's view of the purple thing and those who chose to follow her, taking every word as an insult slung directly at her core. “What? Think I'll be a better god than your girlfriend?” she jeered, trying to goad the hot twink into saying something stupid she could mock.
“W-what?! No!" N stumbled over his words to defend himself, then poked his fingers together as he looked away, self-conscious of the reason for his reluctance. "I just don't see the point in risking another massacre,” he mumbled, which, to be fair, was a good reason… if it weren't for the fact that it suggested that Lizzy wouldn't be able to handle the robo-witch powers.
With their doubt shutting down the rational part of her processor once more, she decided to triple down on impulsive decisions for the day. “Then bet it.” She couldn't even curse herself out for this one; it should have been expected.
The murder twink nearly fell backwards out of his chair in shock at the suggestion. “Huh?!” was all he could say. Even V was silent with surprise, questioning how deep the pink drone would dig her grave before realising she couldn't climb back out.
Meanwhile, the freak just shrugged as she continued typing away at the keyboard, starting to transfer extra files over to the school's queen. Something about a firewall? “Might as well N," they offhandedly commented, before her tone took on something more malicious. "She's gonna lose; might as well milk her for all she's got.”
He didn't argue, instead pulling a finger to his chin as he contemplated. “In that case…” he idly drew out, optics unfocused until he snapped his fingers with an idea. “I want a puppy,” he smiled, an honest, innocent smile.
... “Seriously?” Lizzy seethed, the fuck ass twink's requests would be impossible! How was she supposed to get a dog? Not only had humanity sent all dogs off-world after making them immortal, but they also didn't record where they sent them, so even if she was somehow able to leave the planet, she had no idea where to go! And don't even get her started on any robo-dog toys, cos not one of them survived the first core collapse, let alone the second! She-! Why was she getting upset about this? She wasn't going to lose, so she would never have to bother. “Fine," she sighed, reluctantly accepting before letting a playfully evil smile crawl across her face. "But when I win, you dump the freak and become my boyfriend-”
She had never had a blade pointed at her threateningly so fast, let alone five. V had her claws a hair's breadth away from her throat, N's sword pointed directly at her core, catching on a thread in her cheerleading uniform, and the freak had a knife hovering dangerously close to her visor, a trick she was copying from Doll, who did it better, by the way! “Joking! I'm joking!” she surrendered, not looking to die today, though if by some unholy miracle she does somehow manage to lose this bet, it might be a good alternative. Slowly, the blades were pulled away, and the looks of murder she had been given faded to irritation. Just like when she first learnt of Doll's spooky witch powers, and that time she walked in on her doing something. She never did get an answer to what that was. With her best option to hit the freak where it hurt, scrubbed from the table, she had to settle for something a lot less entertaining. “You have to give an hour-long presentation about all the things you hate about the freak,” she grumbled, annoyed to have lost such a prime opportunity to get under her skin, just because her self-preservation instincts kicked in. A little too late, guys!
A look of horror crossed N's face at the suggestion. Was he really that much of a simp that he feared upsetting his freak of a girlfriend by pointing out her MANY flaws? Whipped. “But-!” he attempted to protest.
“Eh, that's fine," the purple gremlin interrupted, shrugging her shoulders as she continued typing, a prompt accepting five-factor authentication briefly blinding Lizzy before she dismissed it with a huff. "He accepts.”
“Uzi!” the twink whined, clearly upset about having the choice taken from him, though it seemed to be more about the threat of insulting her than any loss of autonomy.
The loser just looked at her boyfriend, confused. “What?" she questioned, "Not like she's gonna win.” The disassembler wrang his hands nervously, optics darting between everyone in the room. Eventually, he sighed, accepting a handshake with the pink drone to seal the deal.
As he did, the freak's typing came to a halt, as she had prepared the last few lines of code. “Alright," she called out, drawing everyone's attention, "once the transfer is complete, we'll probably pass out while our bodies adjust.” She immediately pointed to the bombshell disassembler, who was picking her teeth with one of her claws. “You’re currently staying at Lizzy’s, right, V?” the loser asked, clearly underestimating how wrapped around her finger the pink drone ha-
“Eh, when I feel like it,” she responded with a shrug, returning to cleaning her fangs shortly after. Lizzy just looked at the hottie in disappointment. Aside from her looks and mean-girl attitude, why did the two of them hang out again? Because it clearly wasn't built on the respect to let her finish her inner monologue.
The freak sighed in frustration; no one could ever get a straight answer from Miss Grumpy McTraumaBot. “Mind checking in on her over the weekend?" she requested with a deadpan look, "Make sure nothing gets out of hand?” It was still insulting to Lizzy that they thought she wouldn't be able to handle the powers, but she wasn't about to turn away from them handing her the victory.
V scoffed, obviously not happy to be working against herself in this challenge, but unable to deny that she would rather lose than deal with another feral solver drone. Which makes sense given how much the loser was kicking her ass when she lost control back at camp. “Fine, whatever,” she grumbled out, turning away with a scowl.
Satisfied with her answer, the freak placed a finger over the Enter key. “Ready to experience the hell I've been going through?” she challenged, offering the pink drone one final chance to back out.
But Lizzy refused to let herself look weak in front of anyone, especially a loser, when so many tantalising prizes were on the line. “Please," she snarked, "only if you're ready to lose, drama queen.”
With a huff, her fist slammed down on the keyboard. “Here we go!” she yelled, sparks of pink, purple and yellow trailing across the cable connecting the two as their systems buzzed with activity. Their eye emotes glitched, the yellow receding from the freak's eye emotes until it formed a faded border around the dominating purple, looking like a fancy eyeliner. At the same time, yellow filled in from the top of Lizzy's vision until it was balanced with her original pink. The symbol of the robo-witch powers, the solver, flickered across her screen with several warnings. It was a painful process that lasted a whole minute, neither drone able to hold their body back from spasming on reflex. By the time the transfer was complete, Lizzy collapsed, her consciousness fading as the words 'Forced Sleep Mode Active' overtook her visor.
The pink glitch slumped in her chair, Forced Sleep Mode displayed boldly on her visor. Meanwhile, Uzi groaned, drained from the experience but with just enough energy to force herself awake. "Did it work?" she groggily questioned, looking around as her vision faded in and out of focus.
V leaned forward, pushing herself into the purple and pink things' personal space to examine them closely. When all she could see was the change in their LED colours, she slumped back into her chair with a shrug. "I dunno, you tell me?" she sassed, with her mouth somewhere between a smirk and a scowl.
"Don't hear Cyn or Doll any more, so I guess," the purple drone mumbled, with barely any strength left after the transfer process. Slowly, she pushed herself out of her chair to stand, but her legs quickly gave out from underneath her, forcing N to rush in and catch her.
Looking down at his girlfriend, he saw her eye emotes struggle to stay open, large digital bags pushing them closed from below. "You ok, Uzi?" he asked calmly, with gentle honeyed words. He knew outwardly she hated being doted on like this, but from spending so much time together, he had started to pick up that she actually craved the attention and struggled to process the care others had for her.
"Mer... Tired," she murmured, before her visor was filled with large text that read Sleep Mode, her body going limp in his arms. He pulled her up into a bridal carry, a gentle rumbling coming from her chassis in that position.
V followed suit, taking Lizzy and slinging her over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She looked at the two in front, a light giggle escaping her as she recorded the scene. She was so going to make fun of Uzi for this later. "Guess you're taking Purple back, and I'm dropping Pinkie off," she sighed, annoyed to be already put on babysitting duty, even if it was no skin off her sharp, dagger-like teeth.
She expected N to follow up with a chuckle and silly comment, but was surprised and a little concerned when instead, his mood remained sceptical. "I still don't like this," he mumbled under his breath, only caught by her thanks to super sensitive hearing. Then he looked up to her, his face nearly as stressed as when they first fought Cyn. "What if Lizzy wins?" he stressed, the accumulating bets getting to him.
It was an understandable reaction, the little pink glitch looking to have the three of them under her thumb in some way or form, even if N got off the lightest. But V couldn't hold back a giggle at the thought. "That ain't happening” she reassured through her mirth, “she ain't got the stuff that little firecracker has." It was a recent nickname she'd started using to tease the purple drone, emphasising her explosive energy and personality. Though Uzi always acted irritated by the mention of it, it was obvious the purple thing enjoyed V's name for her.
Then she sighed, the nature of the bet crawling in the back of her processor. Lizzy was stubborn and wouldn't give up easily, but she really didn’t have the willpower Uzi had over the solver. "I just hope she throws in the towel before she loses control,” she relented to her worries with a low growl. “I really don't wanna deal with another feral solver."
N gave her a grunt of agreement, the two nodding silent goodbyes before going their separate ways for the weekend. All the while, a red shadow watched, following the female murderer and the pink traitor into a familiar apartment, distinguished from the others only by a few photos hanging on the walls. Continuing through a glitter-decorated door, the murderer carefully laid the pink drone on a bed, surrounded by pastel blankets and cushions. The metallic walls of the room were covered with flowery stickers in pale pinks and blues, and dim fairy lights cast a soft glow over the space. Too tired to worry about any consequences, V curled up at the foot of the bed like a cat, allowing herself a moment of rest while the red shadow continued to watch.
"Ne volnuysya, Uzi. YA pozabochus' o tom, chtoby ona ne pobedila."