Chapter Text
15
Emmett couldn’t focus on the captchas that were on the board in front of him. His mind was racing a million miles an hour as it had been for the past few days. Jaelyn had been exiled, threatened with death if she even dared show her face again…despite the fact she saved more lives than had been lost in the break in. Victoria had come back from the hospital, her new hands bandaged to keep them still and a sour look on her face at losing yet another fight against the Murder Drone.
The young Miner gave a horrific shudder as cold leeched down his back, remembering that golden cross as it stared him down. He rubbed a thumb over the silver plate on his bolo tie as he tugged on it.
The last time he’d seen that cross…in that face specifically…he’d been four. He barely remembered it but he remembered Beau landing on top of him, begging him silently to be quiet as their parents were ripped apart and eaten, screaming all the while.
It was the same one. The one that had made him wake up in night terrors since that day and caused every little piece of hellish life living as a child without his parents.
And Victoria had lost family to it too. She’d been eight, so she at least had her family whole longer than he and Jaelyn had. But…it was something they all shared.
Jaelyn didn’t even know which one took her mother’s life. And like Emmett…she barely remembered her mother, they’d been so young. He did remember pieces of Aunt Nori, how she’d hold him tight when the night terrors came, how she and Uncle Khan had taken care of him and his brother when they were sick.
It was kind of odd that Jaelyn threw her lot in with the Murder Drones…considering all the hell they’d rained down on their lives.
But that was kinda a moot point now he supposed. The doors were broken but were on heavy guard by the WDF. The breech point for the previous raid had also been fortified and repaired so there was no worries of people getting in that way. And yet…
People were still going missing.
Of course, there were those that blamed Jaelyn for it. Saying that one of the Murder Drones had managed to slip in while the WDF weren’t looking, if there were really more than three in the first place. But Emmett wasn’t sure about that. He had his suspicions of what was causing it, but it was out of his control regardless.
It really sucked not being able to be in control of your own life.
“Emmett Sterling!”
Emmett’s eyes hollowed as he looked at the teacher, who was frowning at him in disapproval.
“Good, now that we’ve dragged you back from outer space for the fifth time…can you give us an answer on this question, Houston?” the teacher’s arms crossed as she pointed at the question in, well, question, “Or are we gonna have a problem.”
“No problem, ma’am!” Emmett smiled, “All good uh…answer is P1H2P3C4H5D6M7…that was a long one.”
The teacher gave a nod and Emmett looked over at Vicky, who gave him a slightly uneasy look.
Msg: WD Unit: V1CT0R14 001-001-001 You ok?
Msg: WD Unit: 3MM3TT 001-001-016 I’m good! Just…worried ‘bout Jae. You?
WD Unit: V1CT0R14 001-001-001 Hands hurt, feels weird, but I’m ok…
Emmett looked back at the teacher before returning the shaky smile back to Victoria.
WD Unit: 3MM3TT 001-001-016 Wanna check on her dad tonight? I’m off mining duty until they get the doors fixed…
Victoria’s smile lightened a little bit and she gave a small nod…before she went back to massaging her hands.
“You think he’s doing ok?” Emmett asked as he and Victoria walked down the hall later that day.
Victoria tightened her grip on her bag, flexing her fingers to get the stiffness of the new digits out. She didn’t ask her mother where they got the new parts. She did not want to know. And yet…
She’d be lying if she didn’t get a jolt of relief in seeing her mother look at her…rather than through her. She’d not done that since her husband had died.
“I-I don’t know,” she finally said, “He’s…um…w-well…Jae was all he had left really. If it’s anything like what happened with my family I-I think he’s probably really hurting,”
“Yeah you’re probably right,” Emmett nodded, “Vicky, you think Jae’s ok out there? Like, she kinda seemed to tame the big Murder Drone but…”
“I-I don’t trust the one I punched, no,” Victoria bristled, “It might try to eat her,”
“Should we…y’know…maybe see if we could do something?”
“What would you suggest, N?” Victoria asked as they turned down another hall, “If they find out that we went to see Jae o-or find her to make sure she’s ok, they’ll banish us o-or worse.”
“Worse how? Jae kinda destroyed the MRI. Have you heard if they moved the Murder Drone’s body from there?”
“From what I heard from Lizzy, n-no. They’re too scared to. I-I think the only person who’d be brave enough to get it out of there is currently on house arrest,” Victoria admitted, “But considering how he had that meltdown when Jae was banished I-I don’t think they’re going to let him out anytime soon,”
They continued onwards, taking some of the less trodden paths so they didn’t get stopped. Emmett had put together what Victoria had teasingly called a care package, full of different little foods and drinks since Khan wouldn’t be allowed out of his apartment to go down to the mess hall. Emmett said he was just being kind was all.
The gentle ribbing between friends continued, Victoria giving a laugh as she forgot about the pain in her new hands and forgot about the fact that her main weapon of choice had been destroyed. She felt safe. Secure even. She brushed her hair away from her glasses as she looked up at Emmett and opened her mouth to speak once again.
“Hey…do you…want to go and ge-” she stopped as he froze, like one of those hounds that had scented prey on a hunt. Emmett’s hands tightened on his package and his eyes hollowed out, “What? What is it?”
“Do you hear that?” he asked, voice quiet.
“Hear what?” Victoria frowned, straining to hear as Emmett fell silent, a tremor in his hands as he swallowed.
And then she heard it.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
“I don’t think we should go this way,” Emmett’s voice shook, “Something’s not right.”
“W-Well then we should probably alert the authorities then if something’s wrong. If there’s a broken pipe it could lead to some dangerous situations. Remember what happened when that last one burst a few weeks ago? S-Someone could get hurt,”
“Vickyyyy!” Emmett tried as Victoria started forwards, though…her hands were shaking.
Emmett was right, something was very wrong with all of this. Her instincts were screaming at her to run, she was unarmed save her fists. But Emmett was here, surely things would be ok with him here! He had his pistol and that was enough to cause a Murder Drone to back off so this would work!
They both turned the corner and stopped dead in their tracks. Emmett’s eyes went hollow and he clapped a hand to his mouth as Victoria did the same. The dripping sound was punctuated by the harsh, bitterly cold smell of oil that dripped down from a corpse strung up to the ceiling, bleeding like a pig that had been butchered.
The unfortunate soul was there, dangling from a cable tied around a pipe on the ceiling. Their casing had been split and peeled open. All of it. The pristine white had been pockmarked with black smeared as the red FATAL ERROR blazed over their screen. Their entire internals were on display, some of it hung out by the connector cables or oil tubes, like vines on an old mossy swamp cypress. Victoria was reminded horrifically of the one time she had been on morgue duty, the internals of the drone on the slab bared to the world…but not set in this…grotesquely artistic fashion.
A long, whining, whimper left Emmett’s throat as those orange eyes fuzzed around the edges and he took a shaking step back. Victoria felt her fuel tank roil and she turned to the side, coughing and hacking violently as the little food she had eaten earlier tried to make another appearance. She spit up some of the coolant and wiped her mouth as she turned a shaking look back at the scene. A glinting and dying ember caught her attention, a dim green on the floor. She cautiously approached, ignoring the squawk of protest from Emmett as she knelt down and with shaking hands realized what was there.
It was a core.
A core that had been carefully, skillfully pulled from the victim’s chest, carved with images of flowers and trees in gorgeous macabre scrimshaw that looked almost real. What was worse…it was warm to the touch. Which meant, in those limited lessons she had in the medical ward, meant that this was done while the drone was still alive.
And it was recent.
“We…w-we n-need to go,” Victoria stammered, looking around the area, “We need to go now, N…!”
Emmett gave a mute nod and the two bolted back down the hall from whence they came, Victoria yelling for help, for anyone to hear, as they did.
They’d managed to get the attention of some WDF Members and lead them to the scene of the crime. No doubt it was the work of the serial killer lurking in the bunker. Victoria and Emmett had been scolded for going off the beaten path where they very much could have been killed by this ‘Artist’, but were told to go ahead and visit the Doorman apartment by the correct paths while this was being cleaned up.
Emmett was still mute from terror due to the experience and was scratching at his arms as if to rid himself of the sight and feel that he had witnessed. Victoria had put a reassuring hand on his shoulder as they made it to the Doorman apartment and looked up at the guards standing in front of it.
“We’re here to s-see Mr. Doorman? We brought h-him some food,” her voice was still a bit shaky, but the guards nodded. One of them even turned to knock back on the door.
“Khan, you’ve got visitors,” he started, “Brandon’s daughter and Luke’s son,”
The door hissed open and a very tired looking Khan opened the door. Upon seeing Victoria and Emmett though, some of the tiredness seemed to melt away.
“What are you two doing here?” he asked.
“W-we um, brought you some food,” Victoria offered, looking at Emmett who nodded and lifted the box a little higher.
Khan’s eyes softened as he stepped aside. “They can spend a little time with this old man, right?”
“Not too long but…” one of the two guards looked at the other, getting a wink from them, “I won’t tell.”
“Same,” the other one chuckled, “Go on kids, he probably needs this just as much as you two do,”
The two teenagers nodded their thanks and quickly made their way inside, following the older drone towards the kitchen as he looked over at them.
“You two don’t look so well…why don’t you sit down, I’ll get you something to drink, ok?” Khan offered, “I still have you kids’ favorites stocked up. I made sure to get more before…” he trailed off, pain flickering in his screen before he shook his head, “Anyways, I’ll get that.”
“O-Oh! Thank you,” Victoria started and Emmett gave a shaky smile as he tried taking another calming breath.
He gave a shiver as the coolness of the Doorman home trilled down his spinal strut. They’d always kept the place cold, both matriarch and patriarch of the home hated the heat and it was something that had passed on to Jaelyn. Khan soon returned with the drinks, handing them to his daughter’s best friends and Emmett gave a grateful nod as he swallowed the sweet coolant drink. Victoria nodded her thanks and started downing her drink as well.
The painful shaking behind Emmett’s eyes from fear finally died down, loosing his tongue and allowing him to speak once again.
“Thank you, Uncle Khan,” he smiled, “It’s uhhhh…kinda been a rough day,”
“Rough? Rough how?” Khan asked.
“We…um…” Victoria started, looking at Emmett as Khan opened up the box they’d brought and pulled out a couple power packs, “That killer…um…we kinda ran into one of his um…victims,”
“What?!” Khan demanded, dropping the packs and looking fearfully between the two, “You two aren’t hurt are you!?”
“Aha…mentally scarred jus’ a bit,” Emmett admitted as he took another sip to settle his nerves again, “But we’re good! I think.”
“He’s getting bolder I-I think,” Victoria admitted after a long drink of her own, “That’s the f-first one I saw in the um…in the daytime…”
“You kids need to be more careful,” Khan scolded, “I don’t like any of this and I certainly don’t want to lose either of you. Your families would also be very upset. Beau, Lizzy and Lisa don’t need another death on their minds,”
A knock on the door came and Khan gave a huffing growl as he lifted his voice once more.
“What.” he demanded.
“Khan, I know you want to spend more time talking to Jae’s friends but…” one of the guards started, “Councilman’s on his way here to chat. You’re not supposed to have visitors and I don’t want you nor them getting in trouble…”
“Of course,” Khan grumbled, “Idiot turncoats can bite me…but they’re right…you two get going. Please, please please be safe…”
“We will be, Uncle Khan,” Emmett nodded as Khan gave a sigh and drew the boy into an overly warm hug.
“God you’re looking more like your dad every day,” Khan chuckled, “Just wish he was able to see you,”
Emmett’s eyes dimmed slightly as he gave a weak smile.
“I miss him and Ma too,” he murmured, “Thanks,”
“Don’t think I forgot about you, Missy,” Khan chuckled, bringing Victoria into a hug as well, “Your Dad would be proud of you. Not everyday someone punches a Murder Drone in the face with their bare hands…hell, I had to use a spear to do that,”
Victoria returned the hug, shaking slightly. Both of them had come to see the Doorman patriarch as somewhat a father figure since neither of them had one in their lives. Seeing him like this, broken and shattered…hurt both of them.
“C’mon, Vicky,” Emmett started, “Let’s get goin’. Don’t want to get him in more trouble,”
“Y-Yeah,” Victoria nodded as they both got up.
“Thank you both for everything,” Khan smiled, “I’ll enjoy the food,”
The two teenagers smiled as the door opened up and waved as they made their way out the door.
Victoria did not go the normal way home, something that Emmett had protested about as she dragged him down a hall towards the human medical wing.
“Why are we going this way and not back to our homes!?” he demanded.
“If there’s one thing that I know…” Victoria started as she grabbed his wrist and continued on, “It’s that the ‘Artist’ likes unique canvases. Annnnd what’s more unique than a Murder Drone corpse?”
“Vicky this is a bad idea!” Emmett protested, “We shouldn’t be out here. It’s dangerous! What if we get jumped by the murderer? Or turns out Jae didn’t destroy the MRI like she said she did?”
“It’s just a quick little peek!” Victoria reassured him as she hopped over a bullet riddled barrel, “Just one little thing and then we go! He might not even have come this way…”
Emmett gave a whine as she yanked his wrist again and they pushed through the remains of the bulkhead doors to the old wing, peeled apart like a sardine can by claws of star-diamond steel. The further they got, the feeling of…being watched…overcame them.
It was not a pleasant feeling.
Emmett’s fingers twitched, inching for his pistol ever further as they got closer to the dreaded death machine. Victoria ignored the whines of protest, though her own hands curled up into fists, ready to start swinging at the first sign of someone jumping down and shouting ‘boo!’
The closer they got to the MRI machine’s room, the more the feeling of being watched increased. But, the magnetic pull was not there. It seemed Jaelyn had indeed broken the machine while fighting against R.
Victoria walked cautiously to the final door, broken and shattered but still obscurant, that lay between them and the MRI room. She opened the door, turning back to Emmett with a smile on her face.
“See, told you the machine was broken,” she smiled…only to frown when she saw Emmett’s look of abject horror, “W-What?”
Emmett shook his head, opting to mutely point and Victoria turned around. Her core sank to her toes as she looked at the ruined room.
The body of R was gone.
“...I-I think that’s enough reason to go and find Jae?” she finally squeaked out.
“...Y-Yeah, definitely,” Emmett nodded.
And the two bolted out of the room and ran as fast as their legs could carry them back to their apartments.
Neither of them heard the sound of a heartbeat spooling up…
From the desiccated corpse of the Disassembly Drone lying just out of sight.
