Aberrant Algorithm.

Aligning the Futures Past.

V blinked at that, did Uzi just suggest leading her, N and J not only to the bunker she called home but inside? where all those defenceless oil-rich workers were, V could simply feel herself giddy at the prospect of being able to drink so much oil. Suddenly as quick as it came to her that line of thought evaporated, she hadn't needed oil since she'd drank from Uzi back when she had caught her. Not even the desire to bath in it had come over her when she had been out hunting with J, her reserves still felt as full as ever and it made V wonder if was there something about Uzi's oil that had stopped the driving desire to drink it from worker drones.

"That seems risky," V spoke, while she'd love nothing more than to balloon animal some workers the drones there were likely in some way Uzi's friends and family here, "Not in the sense I'd get peckish or even N, we've not needed a drop of oil since we had yours for some reason," She shrugged seeing the quizzical look now on uzis face, "But J might still want to disassemble every toaster in that bunker."

Uzi blinked digesting V's words, first she had just suggested leading three murder drones into her colony and while Uzi didn't particularly care for anyone in said colony actively getting them killed was different from just leaving, second V just implied her oil had sated hers and N's drive to drink oil if that was true then it'd make sense not wanting to let J near an easy buffet of worker drones. "It's something from the Bunker I need," Uzi fiddled with her finger, "So I could head there myself."

"I doubt N will let you go back by yourself," V smirked watching the smaller drone's eyes widen, "So he'll probably head back with you making the trip quicker."

Uzi could feel Cyn in the back of her processor laughing at that, it made Uzi pout more, "Fine," She folded her arms in mock angst before smiling up at V, "We should back, I think I owe J an apology."

"And her you," V smirked picking Uzi up again leading to the smaller drone's eyes widening in shock.

"V!" Uzi yelled and V crouched getting ready to launch herself into the air, "I CAN WAAAAALK!" V didn't give Uzi the chance as she took off into the air heading back towards the corpse spire, laughing at the smaller drone's screams of protest at not only being carried but flying.

---LINE BREAK---

She rebooted with a scream of horror pulling at the warm flesh-like binding that trapped her to an operating table set upright, what had happened one moment she was stalking the office hallways scavenging more drone parts for herself after corralling the sentinels again behind one of the safety doors then the next something had gotten the drop on her and had sent her into a boot loop.

"BEAU!" Alice, the antlered survivor of the camp 89.7 lab screamed pulling on her bindings again to no avail, "This ain't funny! Get me outta here!" Her shouts went unanswered as the sound of something dripping off in the distance echoed around her, again Alice tugged at her bindings trying to free herself, "What is this crap made of?" She asked no one in particular running her fingers along the part of the binding she could feel, it was slimy and pulsing to touch oozing something thick and viscus.

Alice's struggles and thoughts were cut short as she heard a warbling bark, a bark she knew infinitely well as it spelt doom and death for any drone that caught sight of what made it. Frantically Alice began intensifying her tugging of her bindings, as she could see the green light above the door if one of the sentinels that stalked the corridors got in here she'd be as good as dead.

"No, no no no no!" Alice began to hyperventilate as her bindings didn't loosen, "It ain't fair! I survived no! BEAU! HELP ME YOU VARMENT!" Her voice hitched in fear as the metallic footfalls of the sentinel drew closer and closer, where was Beau, he was small enough to sneak around the sentinels so why hadn't he come to help her?

A metallic thud hit the floor in front of her as something was dropped from the ceiling above, chancing a look down her optics widened in pure panic, there on the floor were the remains of the untrained neural network that had once been Beau. Its top half had been cracked open oil dripping down the ragged edges like a half bitten hard-boiled egg, and it made Alice scream more her single chance at escape had already been snatched away.

Before she could come up with any other way out the warble of a sentinel echoed from right next to her head, turning her optics off Alice turned her head away hoping the sentinel would make it quick. Second ticked by and the killing bite never came, so slowly Alice switched an optic back on chancing a look to see why it hadn't killed her.

Alice wished that she had not looked, there stood a sentinel but not like it should look. Gone were the smooth metallic lines and blue lights, in their place sat pulsing yellow and black pustule growths that ran the entire length of the sentinel's back all pulsing and oozing a viscus oil-like substance, its mouth hung loosely open dripping the same fluid while on its head a new larger optic had, grown baring a sickening yellow hexagon symbol.

A symbol Alice knew and had seen before, back when zero-two had left her and the other down here to die. Alice tried again to pull herself free as this warped sentinel just stood there watching her its unmoving form accompanied by the occasional wheezing warble noise. As she struggled Alice failed to take notice of two more sentinels with matching alterations stalking into the room, she did notice however when they forced the table back into a laying position blurring her vision out with a blinding yellow light.

"Mocking greeting. It has been a long time hasn't it?" A monotoned feminine voice echoed around the room, a voice Alice had only heard once before and it sent shivers down her spine and a whimper from her lips, "We are surprised any of our favourite toys are still here, it is wonderful to see you again." An insectoid clicking echoed around the room as coming out of the blackness behind the light descended a long centipede-like metallic neck that ended in the upper half of a worker drone head. "Zero-One-Seven. megolaniacal purring."

The segmented thing twirled around as a claw-tipped appendage came from the darkness as well and gently caressed Alice's face, causing the drone to flinch, "Faked surprise. Oh, you probably do not recognise us, do you?" As it spoke the thing's head began to crack and shift its shape to a much more familiar one to Alice, even the drone's hair began to shift losing its silvery shine for a rich purple and gaining a side ponytail, "Fake joy. Don't recognise us now Alice? Cruel inflection. We have so much catching up to do." The lower half of the drone head began to form out of oozing yellow fluid as a face Alice remembered from before the collapse stared back at her, a sick twisted grin spread across its lips.

She wanted to scream but her voice never came to her as the claw moved a few strands of her hair out of the way, the face leaning in close. Alice could only pathetically whimper as the segmented neck turned the head to the side almost as if listening to her, whimpers for a quick death. In response the horrific aberration just began to laugh, it was a laugh whose very vibrations distorted Alice's optics and visor briefly only enhanced by the barking warbles of the three warped sentinels in the room.

"False concern. Kill you? Oh Alice," The thing claw dragged itself across her visor leaving a deep scratch as it feigned the type of concern a parent would for a child, "Why would we let you go so easily? Melicous glee. We have such wonderful plans for you!"

Before Alice could be given a single moment to process what it had said to her the head split apart as the hexagonal symbol flashed down over Alice sending the once crazed cannibal drone screaming in pure terror, a scream of such intensity her vocaliser could not handle the frequency, only to be drowned out by the distorted warbles from the sentinels in a mocking approximation of laughter.

There deep below the surface of Copper-9 something that had used a drone wanting life and family had manifested once more, and it would make good use of the cute puppets left behind on this desolate world to achieve its goals.