The Pilot (7)

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Deep underneath the ruined surface of Copper-9, a system of long forgotten tunnels stand abandoned by drone-kind. The tunnels were once used to transport important resources and documents between JcJenson Research Outposts.

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A partially destroyed drone resides in the once prestigiously kept tunnels now filled with rubble and dust.

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The drone had no concious, it was in a state of intense hibernation, and showed no signs of ever showing any more activity than its occasional radar scan.

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Its body was badly damaged, most likely from a fight it could not win, and the drone's visor was seemingly ripped off its face. Its shoulders, which once seemed to hold wings, were now home to cracked and dismantled pieces of metal.

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The drone's body began to twitch and stutter.

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The body of the drone shot to life as two white lights dimmed where its visor once stood

-

"Come on S!"

E's excited voice buzzed in S's ears as she followed closely behind him.

"Where are you even taking me, idiot?"

She smiled softly as the two drones descended deeper into the seemingly endless tunnels. His short gray hair swayed side to side as he weaved between rocks.

"You'll see!"

S rolled her eyes and kept following closely behind. E's steps got quicker and quicker as S noticed a faint light coming from farther in the tunnel. She tilted her head in confusion.

"Why is there light this deep underground?"

S walked into a large open cavern. She looked up and saw the moon staring back directly down into a large opening in the cavern hundreds of yards long extending up to the surface.

"Woah, it's beautiful E…"

"I know… I found it while searching these tunnels for workers. This is as far as I made it before I went back."

S starred in a trance towards the moon. The cavern made it so much more beautiful than she ever thought possible.

"Come sit down S."

E was patting the ground next to him. She moved over and sat besides E, her eyes still transfixed on the moon. 

"You know S… I've been thinking…"

"About what?"

S turned to the right, her eyes locked with E's as her face began to heat up. His yellow eyes were full of warmth. 

"You… I really like spending time with you S. Ever since we came to this planet, I've just grown more and more attached to you."

"I-"

"Every time I'm near you, my entire mood just lightens up. The others would berate me for being sentimental but not you S. You understand my feelings, and I just feel like you've grown to be an irreplaceable part of my life."

"You know D won't approve of whatever you're hinting at…"

"Then we don't have to tell him. I don't care what D thinks anyways. You're the only thing on this desolate planet that I give a damn about S.

S's mechanical heart began to beat faster and faster as her eyes remained locked on E's. She remained silent as he kept pouring his emotions out.

"S… I lo-"

A pinging sound shot out from the unexplored section of the tunnels. S and E both snapped their heads towards the sound and stood up quickly. S finally spoke as the two looked towards each other .

"Is it a worker?"

"It has to be. I'll get it…"

E shook his head slightly in anger as both his hands transformed into long slender blades. His feet stomped on the rocky floor as he stepped into the tunnel where the noise originated from.

S watched on as E peered his head around a corner. His eyes went wide as he looked up slightly.

"What is it, E?"

E tried to back away but his head was quickly grasped by a large metal hand. The hand quickly crushed the front of E's face. The sound of crushing metal and wires bursting panged S's ears.

"W-WHAT? E RUN!"

He desperately tried to run but his body was completely stationary. E's head was torn off his body by the hand. His core ejected from his chest as desperately scrambled to get away. 

S called out desperately to E's scrambling core.

"COME HERE!"

S dashed for E's core as it dashed back towards her. 

In a split moment E's head was dropped and his core was snatched by the same robotic hand that tore his head off.

"NO NO PLEASE! STOP PLEASE DON'T!"

E's core crumbled under the robot's hand. In under a minute, S went from the happiest drone in the world to most alone.

S's mouth gaped open as her visor displayed her immense fear, heartache, and rage.

"Y-YOU FUCKING MONSTER!"

S seethed with an unimaginable hatred for whatever the hell had massacred E.

"COME OUT YOU FUCKING PILE OF SCRAP!"

She transformed both her arms into cannons as they each blasted a missile towards the tunnel the drone was hiding behind. 

Smoke filled the tunnel as S backed away slightly. When the smoke cleared her eyes widened with even more fear.

A tall drone, 8-10 feet tall, stepped forward. Its body was horribly damaged and mangled. The drone was missing its left forearm, it had multiple masses of wires hanging out of its chest as well as other cavities in its body , and Its visor had been completely ripped off leaving only two dim white lights staring blankly at S. The creature's body was covered in thick, black, and dusted metal. It looked like a disassembly drone, but S knew it was something entirely different.

"W-what the fuck…"

She stepped back slightly as the drone's hollow eyes glared down at her. It dropped E's crumbled core. S glanced hopefully down at it, but no movement or light came from the spider-like core of the disassembly drone.

"S-stay a-away!"

She aimed both her cannons at the drone once more. S didn't know if the injuries on the monster were from a past fight or from her two missiles.

The large drone began to twitch violently as it stepped towards S. Her body began to shake as he stepped closer. 

The drone gripped the rocky floor and rushed S like a starving animal. She narrowly backed off far enough before it slammed into the ground where she'd stood a split second early. The sheer force of his attacks were too great for her to even handle one, she could tell just by the way the air moved around him. If a single one of the drone's attacks landed, S would die.

She kept frantically moving away as the drone's attacks got faster and faster like a fighter coming out of retirement. His once sluggish attacks now seemed to edge closer and closer to S's body.

I need to get out of here, NOW!

S extended her wings out and pushed up into the hole where the moon shone down in the cavern.

The drone stared up at her, its body twitched more as it began to slam its singular hand into the rocky floor, cracking it more and more with each hit.

This is good, he can't reach me…

S looked over towards E's deceased body.

I can do this… I can avenge him here and now!

S began to fire missile after missile at the drone. It gripped the floor and shot from wall to wall as it dodged each and every shot fired at it. The drone's feet dug into the wall and used the force to launch to another.

"W-why is it so fast…?"

She kept firing over and over as the cavern began to collapse around the drone. S's eyes lit up as an idea sparked in her mind. She fired at the ceiling as she started moving higher and higher towards the surface.

"GOOD LUCK DODGING THIS YOU FREAK!"

She unleashed a barrage of missiles towards the ceiling as the entire cavern began to shake and collapse around the drone. It stared at S with those same dim white eyes.

You realized you can't get to me, right, you freak?

It began to beat heavily on the floor. S could easily assume it was angry. What she couldn't guess was that the drone could get to her.

The drone's boots began to ignite as he pushed off the rocky floor and shot upwards at S. She barely had time to react as it came barreling upwards towards her at impossible speeds.

She braced for impact, but before the drone could reach her, its boots lost their spark and it fell back down over a hundred yards to the cavern floor.

"H-holy fuck… Fuck this… I need to warn the others."

The cavern began to fall and collapse around the enraged drone as S flew off.

In the distance she could still hear its repeated beating on the floor as well as the tunnels caving in

Hopefully it dies…

Her eyes began to blink repeatedly. For the first time she wished she could cry. The only thing that resulted from her sadness was a low weeping noise.

"E…"

Her body began to shake once more as she fought the urge to fall out of the sky to her death. The one person that was always with her was suddenly gone and would never return.

-

S scrambled to the floor as she rushed into her ruined landing pod. Three drones looked at her with confused glances as she collapsed to the floor.

"What's wrong S?"

Her squad leader, Serial Designation D, a male disassembly drone with long gray hair stood up and knelt down beside her.

"E is dead…"

The three exchanged worried looks. A short male drone walked over and put his hands to his side.

"Erm actually, it isn't probable for us to die. We're the strongest things here. Not even the guardian drones stood a chance, sooooo."

"SHUT THE HELL UP Z! SOME SORT OF DRONE KILLED E!"

She stood up and rammed her fist into Z's face. S raised her fist again and grabbed him by the collar before swinging into him again.

"Stop."

D grabbed her wrist before she could collide with Z's face for a second time.

"Tell us what happened S."

S let go of her fellow disassembly drone and glared at D.

"E wanted to show me some sort of cavern he found, when we got there we heard a noise, and then when he went to check out the sound IT g-grabbed him… I-It tore off his h-head then crushed his core before he could get away…"

A light rumbling shook the pod. None of the drones could tell if it was near or far.

Q finally spoke up despite her silence throughout the entire conversation. She never spoke much in general.

"What was that?"

"Probably one of the old buildings collapsing."

D replied but then quickly turned his attention back towards S.

"Well then what the hell was it?"

"It was a tall drone, taller than any disassembly drone, its body was tattered and beat up with a missing visor and arm."

Z snorted.

"So E got killed by a pile of scrap."

"That fucking thing was anything BUT a pile of scrap. It was a monster. I've never felt so afraid before…"

D spoke up.

"So where is it now?"

"I forced the cavern to cave in, hopefully it's either dead or trapped under the debris."

D began to walk towards the exit of the pod as he motioned for the others to follow.

"Let's go guys, If S is telling the truth then we need to make sure this thing is dead. I know E wasn't the strongest, but if that thing killed him as easily as S says then we need to handle this now."

The four drones stepped out on the snow. Their pod stood high up on a hill overlooking a crumbling city. D put his hand up to his visor.

"Where at S?"

She hesitantly pointed outwards to a hill on the other side of the city.

"Over there."

"Well then, let's g-"

A loud crash erupted behind the group of drones. Everyone turned around and saw their landing pod now turned over on its side.

S backed away slightly while beginning to shiver and shake once more.

"No. Nonono. Please don't let it be…"

The large drone from before climbed over the landing pod. S's eyes began to hurt with grief as she saw E's wings plastered on the back of the drone's back. 

"I-It took his w-wings…?"

D stepped past the other 3 to confront the drone.

"Is this him S?"

S was frozen in fear. She couldn't utter a word, but D understood perfectly fine that this was the drone she was speaking of.

D glared down at the drone's chest. The light allowed the faded text strung along his chest to be read.

"The Archangel? What a shitty name for a rusty bucket of wires."

The Archangel stared down at all 4 drones. He did not back away or look afraid in the slightest. 

"What? Not much of a talker?"

D taunted the massive drone peering down at him.

The Archangel extended a claw on his right hand and dug deep into his own face, his blank lower face now scarred with a long eerie smile.

D's face contorted into a look of disgust. The Archangel had carved a grotesque smile into its own face.

"Eugh… Guess not."

D retracted both his arms and drew a blade from each. Z and Q followed suit as they withdrew a cannon and long thin blade each out of their arms. S was still frozen in fear in the back of the crowd.

Before another word could be uttered by the cocky disassembly drone, The Archangel jumped down into the middle of all 4 drones. He swung rapidly and with extreme force into each drone. Q and Z were caught off guard by the sudden speed of the seemingly bulky robot. They both took direct hits as their bodies were sent flying a few hundreds yards into the distance.

S was already familiar with the drone's aggression so she instinctively backed away. D's blades caught The Archangel's fist after his two teammates were struck. He barely managed to parry an attack as one of his blades cracked under the pressure.

"EVERYONE FOCUS!"

D's voice rang out around the area as the drone rushed him. He was barely fast enough to evade blow after blow from The Archangel. D was slowly being out maneuvered as his efficiency diminished with each narrow dodge.

S finally snapped out of her trance and fired a missile towards The Archangel's back.

The Archangel lifted its leg as D gasped. D was knocked back as part of his torso was kicked through. In the same moment the drone turned around and punched directly into the missile. It exploded directly against his fist, but before S had a break the drone was already rushing her.

Right as his fist went to connect with S's chest, Q and Z both appeared on the left and right side of The Archangel and used their blades to redirect the fist downwards.

"STAB IT WITH YOUR STINGERS!"

Z's voice called out to everyone as he and Q thrusted their stingers into The Archangel's chest.

They bounced off…

Z's eyes went wide as he let out a gasp.

"What…"

The Archangel's fist, which was now anchored in the snow, acted as support as he turned his body and kicked both Q and Z to the side with his immensely reinforced legs.

Their visors cracked as they collided with one another. 

Before The Archangel could stand once more D came from behind and wrapped his legs around the drone's neck.

"HAHAHAHA, TAKE THIS ASSHOLE!"

He began to laugh wildly as he fired off a missile point-blank in the drone's exposed wires where its visor once stood.

D was blown back by his own explosion, but the leader of the squad quickly recovered all while continuing to laugh.

The Archangel gripped its face and stumbled for a moment. It began to slam its singular arm repeatedly into the ground like an angry gorilla.

"HAHAHA, YES! ATTACK ITS EXPOSED WIRES GUYS!"

S fired off another missile at the drone as D rushed back in and began to stab the slim areas where wire was exposed.

"TAKE THIS, AND THIS, AND THIS!!! HAHAHAH."

While rapidly stabbing The Archangel's exposed wires, D's face was grabbed by the hefty drone. D looked up in utter shock and surprise.

"Wh-wha-"

His head was separated from his body in an instant and thrown to the side as The Archangel began to slam his body repeatedly against the ground.

He ignored the mass amounts of missiles coming from S's cannon and the gunfire coming from both Q and Z's Assault rifle arms. Q called out desperately but didn't dare step closer yet.

"STOP!"

The Archangel began to slam its fist repeatedly into D's chest where his core was located. No one could do anything but watch as D's core was crushed under The Archangel's immense one-armed strength. Within a second, D's body was nothing more than a sheet of paper thin metal and crumbled wires. The Archangel kept pummeling D's lifeless body until the scraps of his body were unrecognizable from paper shavings.

"D, NO!"

S could only watch as Q rushed in towards The Archangel and slammed her long-bladed hand against his black metal back. The wings that once belonged to E stopped the blade from getting any closer as The Archangel quickly turned and grabbed Q before throwing her to the ground.

"Q! YOU IDIOT"

Z rushed in and met the same fate as the two drones before him. The Archangel stomped on Q's face, crushing it instantly, and then grabbed Z with its bulky hand. Z tried to stab and claw at The Archangel but it simply began to beat on him with the same rage and intensity as it had done to D.

"Oh god, oh god I need to run."

S withdrew her weapons and extended her wings as she sped off towards the ruined city as The Archangel kept mercilessly beating on Z's still alive body. His screams slowly faded as she rushed farther and farther away.

-

S landed quickly on the ground and stumbled slightly before storming down a random set of stairs leading underground. She took a right and darted down the dark tunnel.

"I just need to run! It doesn't matter where! I just need to run!"

S kept wandering for what felt like hours, but in reality she was only storming down the tunnel for a few minutes. The creepy silence was quickly replaced by the fading in screams of drones. S could see a faint yellow light in the distance gracefully cutting down a horde of workers.

"Another disassembly drone, YES!"

S got closer and closer towards the drone. She noticed the drone was V, the top ranking disassembly drone of last quarter, and she was backing away slowly from a worker with a weapon of some sort. S began to speed up and draw her blade in her right arm. She couldn't hear what was spoken, but S dashed over V and stabbed the male worker drone directly in his face. His body was sent stumbling back a few yards as he let out a scream.

The female worker drone which had been hidden behind him quickly met the same fate as S's blade stabbed through her.

S flicked the oil off her hand and turned around to face V.

"V! I'm so glad I found you!"

"Err- S, what are you doing here?"

V glanced sadly at the lifeless drone's S had just killed. 

"Listen, where is the rest of your squad, you guys are in danger!"

"Why?"

"I'll explain once we have everyone! Where are L and N?"

"N is back at our landing pod, and L is on the other side of the tunnel."

V pointed towards where she had come from. 

"We need to hurry, something is out there, and it WILL kill us if we don't stick together!"

V raised an eye and began walking back the way she came.

"Uhmmm, if you say so S, cmon…"