Chapter Text
N didn't even have a chance to move on his own.
In a flash, Thad's hand had landed on his shoulder and he felt Uzi and himself be yanked back into the hole with an incredible amount of force. Facing back forwards mid-pull, the upper part of N's visor collided with a small chunk of loose rubble he had failed to clear earlier. The discomfort N felt from the mild injury, however, was completely overshadowed by the overwhelming cacophony of metal twisting and snapping and wood breaking that poured into his audio receptors as the bleachers behind him were forcefully slammed back into the wall, closing the passage he had created with his tail off.
Spilling out into the corridor, N tripped on the last bit of melted wall and fell to the ground, with Uzi falling out of his arms and landing in front of him. Thad, who had used every bit of his strength to pull someone as heavy as N so quickly, was pressed against the wall opposite, breathing heavily, having gone flying into it after having lost his grip on the disassembly drone.
"T-that i-is..." Thad began breathlessly after a few moments, weakly raising a finger as if for emphasis, "M-my B"
"Yeah! It is!" Uzi called out from the ground as she attempted to pry herself off the floor. "You almost got us killed you f*cking degenerate!"
"D-don't worry Thad..." N reassured exhaustively as he got back to his feet and went to help Uzi sit up, "Us two have also almost gotten one another killed at some point and then saved e-each other afterwards... multiple times actually, so c-congratulations on completing the trifecta."
Thad, in spite of himself, couldn't help but chuckle, "T-thanks man. After that whole thing with you two kicking your squadron head's ghost centipede's ass or whatever that was, it's nice to see that I can keep with you guy's in one way at least."
There was complete silence between the three drones for nearly a minute as they all tried to recompose themselves, catch their breath, and collect their thoughts.
"Putting your guy's absolutely disgusting life-style aside for the time-being, where do we go from here?" Uzi inquired, now sat pressed against the wall opposite of the hole as she gestured at the blocked passage.
"I don't think we'll be able to something like that again on the other side." Thad stated, "Doll's gonna be on high alert from now on, and it doesn't look like V has enough juice left to be an effective distraction if she had the time to do THAT in the middle of fighting." he emphasized, pointing at the back of the bleachers.
N let out a sigh and pried himself off the wall. "So we'll need to find ANOTHER way in then, perfect..." he grumbled out.
"Are the gym's emergency doors open?" Uzi asked.
"No" N responded bluntly, "They've been blocked for days in preparation for the prom, and even if they weren't, Doll's probably locked them by now. The vents aren't an option either, they've all been sealed off, you guy's learned with V after last time."
Thad stared at N, confused, "How do you know about the vents?"
"Because I tried to break in here a few days ago." N confessed.
"Umm... why?" Uzi asked with a bewildered expression.
"Because I wanted to help with building the stage and the planning committee wouldn't give me the answer I wanted?" N replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh..." Uzi responded slowly, "Yeah that... that kinda makes sense for someone like yo-"
"Also because I needed to set something up in there and to steal a new basketball." N added further.
"Oh, there we go, the REAL reasons." Uzi stated exasperatedly before turning to Thad, "Don't be fooled by the "happy go-lucky idiot good boy" act Thad, this guy's a master criminal." she stated, pointing a finger at the disassembly drone, "N here can break into auto-shops and empty them like it's nobody's business. Also, I'm pretty sure he's the reason my collectibles have been going missing because he hasn't been in my room in like... a month and no more of them have disapp-."
At once, Uzi cut herself off as the middle part of N's confession struck her, "Wait... "set something up?" What the hell were you setting-"
"Uhh, guys!?" Thad interrupted loudly, "There's no time for this back and forth! Lizzy and Rebecca are still in there and we've gotta get them out!" he stated, glaring at his two companions.
"I know but I can't think of anyway how!" N said in a raised voice as he stepped once more in front of the blocked passage and threw his arms out, gesturing at it, "Look at this man! I don't know where to go from here! I can't move the bleachers without risking launching them across the gym and hurting Liz or Reb or without Doll just pushing it back in place and I can't melt the wall on the other side anymore either! There's no other way to get in!"
"Well we've got to think of something!" Thad retorted, "A solution isn't just gonna fall out of the sk-"
At that exact moment, the sound of shattering glass came from above and something heavy impacted the wall opposite to the gymnasium. N barely had a chance to look up and catch sight of the now broken window before something (or rather, someone) fell into his still out-stretched hands as broken glass rained down onto them.
"Whelp..." N thought to himself as he now stared wide-eyed into Rebecca's dazed and lidded neon-blue optics, "That solves 2 problems at once."
"Hiya Reb!" N greeted in an upbeat voice as he gave the blue-haired drone girl a wide smile.
Breaking herself out of her confused trance, Rebecca's optics lit up upon realizing where she now was and who was holding her.
"hI N!" she replied back in an equally joyous, yet heavily disjointed voice before throwing her arms around the disassembly drone's neck and hugging him tightly.
"Mmm... hugs are nice..." N thought to himself as he leaned into the embrace, smile still present.
"YOU DIDN'T SAY PLATONIC PRINCESS!" Uzi's suddenly hysterical voice rang out through the corridor as she pointed a finger at the pair while also trying to get stray chunks of glass out of her hair. "SHE'S IN ON THE OPEN RELATIONSHIP STUFF TOO, ISN'T SHE!? YOU f*ckING DEGENERATES ARE EVERYWHERE!"
Breaking out of the hug, Rebecca turned and pointed a finger shakily at the angsty teen, "f*ck YOUUU, SSSTANKKK ASSSS HOTTT TTTOPICCC SHOPPPINNN BITCHHHH! YYYYOU'RE A D-IDID-DEGENERAA-" she started.
"What happened in there?" Thad interrupted curiously, saving Rebecca from having to pronounce word's she couldn't even dare to in her current inebriated state. "You just came in flying through the window!"
Thad then caught sight of the small hole within Rebecca's right palm, which was slowly leaking out a stream of oil, "And what happened to your hand!?"
"DONNTTTTT! Itssssssss my waaaar-wooooounndddd! I aaam a wwarriorrr!" Rebecca slurred out as N grabbed onto the girl's hand and promptly stuck it into his mouth, "Thatttt BBBITCH Lizyzy tried to contain my powerrr! Sshhhshshsehee trrriiiiied tto Hholllddd me BACKKK from ssslaying! I ran out thereeee, myy tablee raised like a ssssword at tthhheee beasssstttt, toooook a bulleet fforr myy bunnnkeeerrr... aanddd now Immm HEREEE."
All 3 drones stared blankly at the mentally gone girl within N's arms for a few moments longer before the disassembly drone spat her hand back out and turned to Thad, "Can you take her and Uzi somewhere safe please?" he asked exhaustively.
"S-sure" Thad stuttered out, still trying to wrap his head around the word's which had spilt out of Rebecca's mouth. "I-I'll b-bring them over to the old man, try to shaperone them to the med-bay."
"Can you walk Reb?" N asked as he tried setting the girl onto her own 2 feet, and surprisingly, in spite of the chunk of rebar embedded in her foot, her fall from the bleachers, the (now plugged) bullet injury, and her collision with the wall, Rebecca seemed fine with walking on her own (relatively speaking).
"Wwwwwhere areeoyu goinggg N?" Rebecca sputtered out as she immediately almost stumbled into Thad.
"I gotta go save Lizzy from having her hair be used as floss" he replied chiefly.
"Saaavee Lizzyzz!?" Rebecca shouted indignantly, "Bbbuuutbubutt Sssshesss so meannnnn thoughhhh! I remeememeber the thingssss she ssssaid she wasss gonna do tu yu overrrr the phoneeee at our ssssleepover! You're sssssso nice and sweeet annd yuo deserve sssssssomeone who treatssss you wiwwith RESPECTTT! Youuyu should lettttt her DIEEE!" she suggested before beginning to shuffle down the hallway away from the group.
"Sorry Reb, but no can do! Lizzy's too useful to be dead!" N called out in response with a roll of his optic's before turning to Thad and Uzi, the former of who had the latter held within his arms, prepared to leave.
"Listen..." Thad began slowly, "I know that you heard this before from her dad... well, YOUR dad too now, but take care of yourself in there man."
"Wait... Dad?" Uzi mimicked, completely bewildered as she looked from N to Thad.
"Thad, literally what the f*ck do you even mean? D-did I miss something here?"
"Don't worry, I'll be all good, and so will Liz, I kind of promised him that I'd get her out in one piece."
"Wait, Lizzy's Dad, YOUR dad? wait... Wait... WAIT, WHAT THE ACTUAL f*ck DID YOU JUST SAY!?" Uzi demanded, her head violently tremoring as she attempted to process what she had just heard as best she was able.
"LIZZY... YOU... HER... DATING... COREPLAY... OPEN... SIBLINGS... WHAT!?"
"I don't really know how I'm going to handle those two in there exactly, but I'm sure I'll be able to pull something out my wrists!" N reassured, ignoring Uzi's mental breakdown and giving Thad a firm nod of his head. "Genocide robot, remember?"
"YOU'RE NOT A GENOCIDE ROBOT! YOU'RE AN INCESTUOUS HAND-SUCKING MAN-whor* AND A TRAITOROUS SNAKE!" Uzi shouted, pointing a finger in N's face.
"Awwwwww! Thank's best-buddy!" he replied with a wide, genuine smile, "You have no idea how relieving it is to know that you of all people don't think that I'm a genocide robot!"
And with that, Thad, with Uzi in his arms who was still shouting about N being a massive pervert, a traitor, and Robo-God only knows what else, turned on his heel and walked back down the corridor, nudged the absent-minded Rebecca to continue moving along the path until all 3 drones turned the corner and were then out-of-sight.
Taking in a deep breath, N went into his pocket, pulled out his phone and checked the time, which was 9:26, before re-opening his messages with Lizzy;
N: soooo what happened with keeping rebecca safe
A few seconds passed before N got a response,
Liz: literally wut the f*ck do u want from me
Liz: bitch is f*cking deranged
Liz: went nuclear when dolly did the thing 2 the bleachers & punched me in the face
Liz: charged v with a table who sh*t the bed @ aiming TWICE
Liz: then our girl f*cking yeeted her out
N: shes fine btw
Liz: f*ckKK
N: i didnt c that much from under the bleachers, how r things going in there
Liz: get the f*ck back in here rn
Liz: u gotta c this sh*t
Not wasting another moment, N stuck his phone into his mouth and promptly scampered up the wall towards the broken window. Within seconds, he had reached it and tentatively stuck his head through and got, for the first time that night, a proper look at the overall state of the gymnasium; it was in total disarray.
The ground was littered with countless broken tables and chairs, dents and holes in the flooring, dried oil, spent bullet casings, chunks of metal, what looked like one of V's wrists, spilt coolant, the occasional chunk of rebar, long, thin, and sharp strips of metal which had once been ceiling fan blades and, of course, the ruins of the basketball hoop, which was now missing it's metal stand. The only object that still seemed to be somewhat intact was (ironically) the stage at which the battle had first begun. For the wall's, there wasn't a single area of white concrete for more than 6 feet in any direction that didn't possessed a knife embedded within, a hole caused by a ricocheted bullet, or a scorch mark made by a laser. The roof was where perhaps the most catastrophic damage had occurred; only a handful of overhanging lights remained and the large ceiling fans had all been ripped down to be utilized as weapons. The metal rafters where V had previously hid before the start of prom were heavily damaged as well, which called into question the continued structural integrity of the roof.
The most devastating blow to any form of integrity, however, was not in regards to the roof.
It was, instead, in relation to the shattered state V's pride and ego surely must have both been in at the moment.
The female disassembly drone was currently being battened back and forth across the gymnasium by two Solver-wielded tables like she was nothing more than a giant metal ping-pong ball. From his position, N couldn't see Doll's face, but judging from the slight shake she was now afflicted with and the trembling of the finger's of her free-hand, he could only guess that she had, in fact, gotten far too much into her emotions during the fight. Whether her losing control was from the sheer ecstasy of having V completely at her mercy, the physical and mental exhaustion, the prolonged effects of the "Lizzy-juice" which she had drunken an hour previous or an accumulation of all four factors, N wasn't sure.
The only thing which he knew for certain was how fortunate he was to have had the blonde-haired girl's assistance tonight. In spite of Doll's earlier statement on how, "If everything goes according to plan, it should all be over within a matter of seconds" there was no real way of knowing beforehand how the events of tonight were going to transpire; her plan involving the rebar could have easily succeeded or failed all on it's own and the lives of everybody who had come into the gymnasium would have been put at a far greater risk than they would have without the spiked coolant. Perhaps Doll would have accidentally killed people in the mass of hysteria that would have been sure to follow V's appearance or her launching the rebar had the gym still been full, or maybe her battle with V would have gone down a very different path if she had had to concern herself with avoiding causing undue harm on the other panicking worker drones, who knows for certain?
One thing was clear to N though; whether she did so for a laugh or a VERY well hidden desire to protect her fellow classmates, Lizzy spiking the coolant and nearly emptying the gym before the battle had even begun had saved lives tonight, and with the oil she had entrusted him to give to Doll, had saved V's as well.
Which is exactly why, after pulling his phone out of his mouth and reopening his messages with the blonde-haired girl while still clung to the window-sill, N's optics widened in confusion upon reading the text she had sent him while climbing.
Liz: ngl not rly feeling saving her anymore
N could only text back 2 words,
N: scared loser?
Lizzy's response arrived quickly,
Liz: stfu its not even that
N: then y
Liz: cuz like
Liz: look at her out there
Liz: shes been getting spanked 4 like half an hour straight
Liz: & shes barely gotten any hits in
Liz: +this is legit the 2nd f*cking time this table tennis sh*t has gone down
N: tbf shes fighting our girl
Liz: ik but still
Liz: half the fun with her is the danger aspect
Liz: but like
Liz: i thought SHE was dangerous
Liz: she can only slay cuz shes a murder drone
Liz: and cuz theres barely any challenges
Liz: didnt YOU kick her ass a few months back
Liz: & thats how she got chained up in the 1st place
N: i cheap shotted her but ya kinda
Liz: c? its fake af
Liz: hell u even said b4 she used 2 be different
Liz: she wouldnt b like this if she was a worker
Liz: the danger appeal isnt genuine & i realize that now
N: i legit dont understand
Liz: its inauthentic
Liz: im authentically a fabulous bitch, dolly was authentically a quiet badass b4 u f*cking ruined her, purple freak is authentically a sperging loser & ur authentically an effeminate good boi when u arent pretending 2 b depressed
N: u know im not pretending :(
Liz: WHATEVS my point is that thing is inauthentically a girlboss warrior and i dont respect it
N: i STILL dont understand but whatevs
N: do u want 2 save her yes or no
Liz: ehh shes fun but like
Liz: girlfriends been a real f*cking diva l8ly
Liz: especially the pass few mins with her and dolly screaming @ each other abt robo-god knows wut
Liz: idk tbh
N couldn't work with an "idk tbh". He NEEDED Lizzy to be involved with this, otherwise Contingency Plan 3 wouldn't pan out properly.
N: cmon its plan 3, you get 2 watch me die and emotional manipulation is ur favorite
Liz: ehh try harder
N: fine let her die
N: but if u do then after tonite
N: its just u & me with no one else to bother us~
N: no more dolly 2 joke or bully people with
N: just good boi hours 24/7 4 lizzy with no breaks
Liz: holyyyy sh*t ive taught u social engineering so well
Liz: legit have never been so proud in my entire life
Liz: gud job flirting with me 2
N: wut
Liz: swiggly line
N: I DIDNT EVEN REALIZE I TEXTED THAT WHAT
Liz: LOLLLLLLLL IM IN UR HEAD BITCH
N: IM IN YOURS 2
N: I HAVE U FIGURED OUT WOMAN
N: I KNOW WUT U R
N: YOUR DAYS R NUMBERED
N looked up from his phone and shot a quick glance towards his corner of the gym by the main entrance; There, tucked into the side of the scaffolding and barely visible, was a tiny surveillance camera he had set up a few days prior in anticipation of Contingency Plan 3 needing to take place. The final part of his plan in the set-up for Lizzy's downfall was about to commence, and all he would need to do afterwards was send the footage recorded to Rebecca.
If he survived tonight, that is.
Liz: u aint got sh*t figured out
Liz: but lets do this
N: good stuff
N: im on the window sill
N: keep ur eyes on me
N: dont pay any attention to them just wait for my signal
Liz: my eyes are always on u enny~
N: shut up
Slipping his phone back into his pocket, N looked across the gymnasium at the bleachers opposite to him; a worker drone in a hot pink dress with fragmented pink optics on account of the now even larger crack running through her visor had emerged from the dark area behind the wooden steps and was now staring straight up at him, middle finger raised in both greeting and as a signal. Shooting a thumbs up in reply and looking away from the blonde-haired girl, N's gaze fixed itself intently on the battle still ongoing in the center of the room.
That is, if you could even still call it a "battle".
Doll had discarded using V as a ping-pong ball and had instead taken to just simply kicking her repeatedly in the side, with the disassembly drone doing little else but groaning as steam continually poured out of her now fully exposed chassis, the red strapless dress completely gone.
Had it not been for the stains of tears which were visible on Doll's cheeks and visor as she slammed her repeatedly foot into V's abdomen, N would have thought that she was still enjoying herself.
"I TOLD YOU TO GET UP!" Doll ordered loudly as she aimed a particularly hard kick into V's chest. "GET UP AND FIGHT BACK!" When no response came from the beaten disassembly drone besides the low, unconscious rattling that escaped her throat and yet another loud warning sound meant to indicate her metal body's now sky-high temperature, with a dark red cautionary symbol appearing on her visor shortly thereafter as if for emphasis, Doll promptly struck V with her boot hard once again, this time directly in the head. "GET UP AND TAKE EVERYTHING FROM ME AGAIN! TAKE MY LIFE, TAKE MY SOUL, TAKE MY FAMILY AGAIN!"
"TAKE HIM FROM ME! I DARE YOU!" she demanded at the top of her artificial lungs.
Doll stood shaking and glaring down at V for a few moments, as if waiting for a retort, and when no such response came, the worker drone raised her hand and quickly lifted the broken table her opponent laid upon into the air.
The intense velocity of the rapidly rising table-top brought the disassembly drone sky-high before it was suddenly ripped away from underneath her body. V continued flying through the air for a few seconds longer before she collided with the dented metal fixtures of the roof and promptly began falling back down to the ground. Once the disassembly drone had reached the mid-way point in-between the roof and floor, N saw Doll twitch her index finger and, in the blink of an eye, the still mid-air table-top, which had been rotated and wheeled back in anticipation, swung and battered V hard, sending her flying across the gymnasium and directly into the stage where their battle first began, which immediately began crumbling and caving in around her.
Without a word or wasting a second, Doll lowered her right arm and began making her way towards the stage. Idly, she casually swung her left hand out to her side and materialized a knife out of nowhere, which began slowly rotating around her body in a some-what hypnotizing circle-like pattern.
Though one of her red-optics was now twitching uncontrollably and her body was shaking as though afflicted with some sort of virus, Doll still held a firm gaze on the now fully offline disassembly drone, whose visor no longer had a cautionary symbol visible on it and instead only displayed a flashing pop-up reading in bold lettering, "OVERHEATING IMMIENENT"
Her burgundy dress in tatters, braid completely undone, body shaking like she was some kind of starving animal, and with a wild, deranged look on her screen, N could see none of the girl he had been both cuddling with and talking to on the couch of their apartment not even an hour prior, nor even any of the girl who had winked at him at the front door of the gymnasium and had creepily smiled at him in-between the bleachers just a few minutes ago.
He could only solemnly ponder where his Dolly had gone in the small amount of time he had spent outside of the gymnasium.
And then, completely shattering N's train of thought, the girl he loved returned out of nowhere.
As if all power had seemingly left her body at once, Doll suddenly stopped dead in her slow, deliberate tracks and the shakes which she had formerly been afflicted with ceased. Her wild red-optics, with her cheeks still glistening with the faint residue of tears, hollowed out and the worker drone went seemingly dead to the world as she began muttering something completely inaudible under her breath and stared, head tilting slightly at the completely broken and destroyed disassembly drone who lay across the gymnasium from her.
For a full 20 seconds, Doll remained staring at V, optics transfixed on her defeated opponents screen, violently shaking her head mid-way through while gritting her teeth in apparent discomfort.
Eventually though, after taking in a deep breath and seemingly ripping herself out of whatever thoughts were torturing her so thoroughly, Doll then shut her optics and the knife, which was still rotating around her body via the Solver, multiplied into 2, then 4, then 8, and then finally 16 separate blades, all orbiting around herself for a few moment's before raising her hand in V's direction.
At once, N's wings unfurled,
and Lizzy took off running.
Doll re-opened her optics and she exhaled,
"...I hope that maid can find peace now, I truly do." she uttered quietly before launching all 16 blades at varying parts of V's body.
And just as she had finished her speech, N, muttering one of the prayer's Emily had taught him one afternoon a few months back, took off from the window sill at a breakneck speed, flying directly towards the mid-way point in-between Doll and V.
