Weeks had went by. Theo and Penny would sit outside in the snow and work on theories. All of the drones had adapted to this new life. One worker drone named Allen had taken over as the leader and made sure to keep everything running smoothly. He had started to build more things in Penny and Theo's bunker, like a school and card room for the older drones. Despite Ember trying to get Penny to go to the school, she would always refuse. She wanted to focus everyday to figuring out her parent's murder and the solver.
Penny and Theo were outside like usual talking about some new things. Penny had stolen one of Ember's drawings of the weird creatures with X eyes. Looking at all of the details, they noticed it was standing on a pile of drone heads.
"What do you think that is?" Theo asked. Penny shrugged.
"Maybe it's when drones with the solver go insane?" Ember mentioned about drones going insane a couple of times." Penny suggested. Theo scratched his head.
"It can't be. That drone has a totally different body structure than us!" Theo pointed at their legs.
"See? They have proper legs instead of our weird metal pole things." Penny sighed, rolling over on her back staring at the snowy sky. Theo joined her.
"Maybe if we take a break it'll help us freshen our minds. We've been working nonstop for weeks!" Theo mentioned.
"No way! Every second of not doing this is a second wasted!" Penny exclaimed.
"Why does everything have to be so difficult?" Penny crossed her arms.
"If the humans were still here maybe they could've told us what these things are." Both of them just stayed silent for a moment, listening to the sounds of the cold wind and distant chatter. Suddenly, Penny noticed something falling from the sky. She sat up and squinted.
"Do you see that?" Penny asked Theo. Theo got up and stared at the sky.
"What is that?" He asked. Penny shrugged. With a little more staring, they noticed it was aimed towards them. Penny and Theo immediately ran out of the way as it got closer and closer. Suddenly, it slammed into the ground, leaving a big cloud of snow. Penny and Theo dusted themselves off as other drones started to surround it curious. It appeared to be a black space capsule. Everyone started to whisper to each other.
"Was it sent by the humans?"
"What's in it?"
"Is it a bomb?!"
Penny and Theo remembered about Tessa being on that ship. Maybe humans were in it.
"Step aside fellow drones!" A voice exclaimed. Everyone looked over and saw a drone with dark blue eyes, a blue helmet, a fake mustache, and a black jacket. It was the Allen guy. Penny and Theo rolled their eyes. They thought he was a massive show off. Allen walked up to a small door on the capsule. He knocked on it. After a couple of seconds, nothing had happened.
"See? Nothing to worry about!" Allen exclaimed. Suddenly, the capsule door flew forward, knocking Allen to the ground. Everyone gasped as fog started to emerge. Two yellow X eyes appeared. Penny and Theo froze. Penny looked down at Ember's drawing and then at the eyes. They were exactly the same. Just then, they both flew out and sliced two drones' heads off. They flew into the air with the body part, with fatal error flashing on the visors.
One of the drones had grey hair that went to their shoulders. They wore a zipped up dark red jacket that reached down to their legs.
The second drone had the same colored hair, but it was in a long braid that reached their ankle. They had a dark red hoodie with one of the sleeves being ripped off. Both of the drones had a black headband with five glowing yellow circles on top. They had murderous smiles as they looked at the rest of the drones. Both of them also had yellow labels on their arms that said disassembly drone.
"Ok never mind everybody panic!" Allen yelled. Everyone started to run away screaming as the disassembly drones started to dive down at them. Oil splashed everywhere as drones got brutally murdered. Theo started to run away, but Penny stayed still. Theo stopped and looked back at her.
"What are you doing?!" He yelled.
"Getting some information." Penny said as she ran towards the drones.
"Are you crazy?!"
"Just go back to the base! I swear I'll be fine!" Theo didn't move for a minute until Penny reassured him. He sighed and ran with the rest of the drones. Penny watched the disassembly drones as they tore apart bodies one by one. The one with the braid looked at Penny and started to charge towards her as their hands switched to chainsaws. Penny jumped out of the way as they barely missed her. They slid across the snowy ground and tried to hit her again. Suddenly, the drone stopped as the solver symbol appeared on their chest. Their eyes went from X's to normal drone eyes. They looked surprised as Ember appeared next to Penny. She threw the drone as far as she could. They stumbled into the snow. Ember grabbed Penny.
"Are you freaking crazy?! Let's go!" Ember commanded. They both started to run away.
"The solver!" The one drone yelled. The other disassembly drone stopped chasing someone and looked back at Ember. Their eyes also changed into a surprised expression, but then back into X eyes as they gave an angry expression. They flew towards Ember and Penny. Ember grabbed a big piece of metal and used it as a shield. The drone slammed into it and got their claws stuck. Ember used her powers to lift the metal into the air and throw it with the drone still on it. Penny and Ember ran into the base with the rest of the drones. They slammed the door shut. The disassembly drones tried to open it, but Allen ran in front of the door and held it shut.
"Everyone, run to the first level and stay safe! I'll handle this!" Allen exclaimed pulling out a hammer. Everyone did what he said and ran down the stairs to the first level. They all backed away from the door when they heard metal banging noises. Theo ran up to Penny and hugged her.
"Are you alright?!" He exclaimed. Penny hushed him as they both listened. They heard splattering noises and lots of banging. After a long two minutes, it stopped. Everyone went dead silent when they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. The door swung open. Allen was standing there, covered in oil. He raised his hammer up as everyone cheered.
"Freaking show off." Penny mumbled. Allen stopped forward and cleared his throat.
"As your leader, I'll do anything to protect you! So from now on, no one can leave this bunker. I'll make sure to get top tier security so those murder drones won't ever hurt us again!" Allen exclaimed. Everyone cheered again. Penny stopped.
"Wait, you're going to lock us up?!" Penny asked.
"Yep! We have everything a drone could want down here! I'll make sure to provide y'all with more card games and human stuff!" Penny stood there dumbfounded.
"But-"
"Penny I swear to robogod you better shut it." Ember groaned pulling Penny back. Everyone started to go back to their bases. Ember dragged Penny away. Theo followed her into her bedroom. Ember slammed the door shut in Penny's face. Penny sighed and threw herself on her bed.
"You good?" Theo asked Penny.
"Of course not! The entire bunker is on lockdown because of those murder drones!" Penny exclaimed.
"How are we going to get information now?!"
"Well, we got a lot of information already. People with the solver can predict the future." Theo mentioned. Penny remembered something.
"One of the drones yelled solver and became way more aggressive when they saw Ember use the solver. Do they know about it?" Theo scratched his head.
"If they were sent by the humans, then their main goal must be to kill drones with the solver since that's what destroyed Earth." The two drones theorized for almost the rest of the day. They barely had any evidence except for the drawing. After a couple of hours, Penny's bedroom door opened. Standing there was Ember.
"Penny, can I talk to you for a second?" Ember asked. Penny nodded and got up. They walked out of the bedroom.
"Since nobody is allowed to go outside, I'm forcing you to go to school." Ember said. Penny stopped.
"Are you kidding me?! The stupid human thing?!" Penny exclaimed.
"Listen, I'm not going to have you here all day whining all the time. This is final. No more sneaking out, no more theories, no more anything."
"What am I even supposed to do in that boring place?!"
"I don't know, maybe you'll make some friends to hang out with."
"Theo is the only friend I need."
"You won't be saying the same thing in ten years." Penny grunted and stormed back to her bedroom.
"You're starting tomorrow!" Ember yelled before Penny slammed the door.
"What happened?" Theo asked.
"Ember wants me to go to that useless school. Valuable time wasted on stupid stuff." Penny groaned.
"My mom wants me to do the same thing, but maybe we can just take a tiny break from theorizing." Penny shot him a look.
"We can't take a break!"
"We have no more information to do any more theories! Maybe school could actually help us! Some other drones may have some valuable info." Penny rolled her eyes.
"You really think those pick me's have any information? And if they did do you think they'd give it to outcasts?"
"I mean, maybe." Penny sighed.
"I'm sneaking out tonight, you with me or not?" Theo thought about it for a second before shaking his head.
"Usually I would say yes, but this is actually dangerous! They could kill us in seconds!"
"So? Just adds to the fun!" Theo face palmed.
"Just stay safe alright? I should get going, my mom's probably worried sick."
"Ok, mama's boy" Theo blushed.
"Stop calling me that..."
"Ha, no." Theo elbowed Penny as she laughed. Theo left the base as Penny prepared to sneak out. Looking through her drawers for any weapons, she found a cell phone that Sage had given to her. She got her backpack and placed the phone, the pickaxe, and a laser pointer to distract the disassembly drones into the bag. Penny looked over at Ember's room. She was back to drawing the crazy monsters. Penny sighed as she quietly left the base.
She looked down the hallway at the door to the staircase. Some drones were working on it, making it high tech. Penny just whistled as she walked past them.
"And where do you think you're going young lady?" One of the drones asked.
"I'm just going to visit a friend. You know, play some cards, like what normal people do." Penny said. The drones looked at each other before letting Penny go. She ran up the stairs to the top. Oil still stained the ground from the fight earlier.
More drones were tinkering with the exit door. This time there was no way to get past them. Penny reached into her bag and got out the laser pointer. She pointed the laser at the wall. The worker drones stared at it confused. She moved the dot further away from the door as the drones followed it. After some preparation, Penny took a mad dash through the door and made it out.
She looked in horror as most of the snow on the ground was black. The bodies of worker drones were everywhere. It was worse than the rebellion. Penny looked up and saw the disassembly drones flying in the distance. They were picking up corpses and building something with them. Penny took out her phone to record, but she was too far away. She quietly moved towards the drones. It looked like they were building a spiral of corpses around the space capsule. Penny heard them talking and decided to hide behind a massive piece of metal to eavesdrop. She started recording on her phone.
"Oh come on! It wouldn't hurt to get to know each other, since our memories are a little fuzzy." A high pitched girl voice said. Penny noticed it was the drone with the long braid. The drone was placing a corpse into place as the second drone just flew past her.
"Socializing is not part of our jobs." The drone said chewing on an arm. He had a low melancholic voice.
"We were sent here by the humans for a reason." Penny kept that pinned in her mind. The humans did send them after all.
"Well, not necessarily..." The girl drone started to say. The boy one sighed.
"Just get back to work before I get rid of you myself." The girl drone rolled her eyes before soaring upwards to get more corpses. Penny was fascinated by them. They acted just like normal worker drones. But what did the girl drone mean by not necessarily. Did they have a different reason for being there? Did humans even send them at all?
Suddenly, Penny saw a blur fly past her head. She froze as the boy drone landed right in front of her. Penny was behind him, trying to stay as still as possible. The drone was picking up body parts and making a pile. He didn't even notice Penny standing there. She knew that the second he moved he would see her. Penny got out the laser pointer and carefully moved the dot close to the drone. He looked at it curious before starting to follow it. Penny almost laughed. It works every time.
Penny ran towards the base as the drone was still fiddling with the dot like a cat. She bursted through the door and immediately closed it. The worker drones who were working on it all groaned in pain after being slammed in the head with a door.
"What was that for kid?!" One of the drones cried. Penny had to make up a lie quick.
"Well, it's your guys' fault for leaving me out there to die!" Penny exclaimed. The drones tilted their heads.
"When those murderous drones were coming, nobody told me where to go! So I've been stuck out there for hours!" Penny tried to sound as innocent as possible. Eventually, the drones went with the lie and let Penny go back to her base. She snuck back into her bedroom. Luckily, Ember was already in sleep mode. Penny listened in to the audio she had collected.
"...since our memories are a little fuzzy."
That part stuck out to Penny. Did they have actual lives before becoming disassembly drones? Where did they live? Why were humans trying to kill their own creations that had helped them with mining for centuries?! So many questions, so little answers.
Penny decided to try and got to bed a tad bit early since Ember is forcing her to go to school. Maybe Theo is right. Maybe the other worker drones can help them. Or maybe they'll just get betrayed.
Sorry for this chapter being so short! I'll make it up in the next one! Anyways WHO IS READY FOR EPISODE 7 OF MURDER DRONES!!!!! (It's been YEARS)