Chaos On The Ice Sheet

Le Snowy Land

Bang!

The bullet ricoheted harmlessly off of Doll's visor, its trajectory instead being sent spiraling onto the ice sheet below, wedging itself in the layers of white death beneath it. Red optics hollowed out in surprise tracked the bullet's descent, before they refilled with red pixels and were focused back on the gun-wielding space girl and her disassembly drone companion. The revolver smoked with the aftershock of its bullet, before Tessa shrugged.

"Just checking!" she said in her calm Australian tone, J doing nothing but keeping her eye on the Russian witch drone, who's expression fell into one of defeated frustration. She really didn't like this human and her pet, but they were her best bet at finding the location of the Cabin Fever Labs, and perhaps getting answers about her mother and her affliction. On the other hand, J also didn't trust Doll, thinking of her as a ticking time bomb that would betray her and Tessa as soon as she was given what she needed. As such, J's gun sights were on her, figuratively... and sometimes literally. Tessa however didn't seem bothered, and pocketed the revolver with a little spin, turning to begin their trek to the looming metal spires in the distance.

"Let's go!" Tessa called out to her companions as she lay her eyes on the path ahead...

Only to seize up, her body seemingly no longer willing to move as she made eye contact with three drones, one worker and two disassemblers, that she swore hadn't been there before, two of them very familiar to her.

Uzi, N, and V were similarly shocked into a stunned silence, N and V not expecting their former human caretaker to be on the planet alongside the russian witch that had tried to kill them a few days ago and N's abusive former boss. Uzi meanwhile was shocked to see J alive, accompanied by a human of all things. And Doll was with them too!? Were these two who she was working with the whole time!? How long were they in cahoots!?

The two factions simply gawked in shock for a moment, Doll and J also joining in the six-way staring contest, the persistent howl of the winds above proving to be the only audio to break the otherwise consuming silence amongst the cold, seething darkness of the world around them.

After a few seconds, all six of them took in a deep breath at the same time.

"HUH!?"

"V! N! YOUR ALIVE!?" Tessa shrieked in confusion. "Yeah! Tessa! It's me!" N replied, waving at the woman as he took a cautious step forward. Hopefully she still liked him. "A HUMAN!? DOLL!? J!?" Uzi screamed in response, prompting J's eyes to fall onto her. "BRUH! WHY HER!? YOU'RE STILL ALIVE! FUUUUUUUU-" J had a gamer rage midair, jostling slightly as she quickly remembered to stay airborne despite herself. "What are you doing here, murderer?" Doll growled out as she gave V a death stare, the murder drone reciprocating this action with a vengeance. If looks could kill, the two girls would have obliterated each other by now. "YOU! I STILL HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN WHAT YOU DID AT PROM!" V shouted, claws already sliding out of her forearms, Doll only grimacing in response as she prepared to fight against her parents' killer. This time, she wouldn't lose.

"B-but how?" Tessa croaked out, almost sounding as if a wave of tears was about to burst from within her helmet. She would take it off, but the toxic atmosphere of Copper-9 would have some objections to that. All the while, weapons began to whirr around her as well as the simultaneous activation of a purple and red Absolute Solver. "I could ask the same thing!" N replied, not noticing his two companions getting riled up around him.

It seems that the point of the mission, which was to just converse with Tessa about.. all of this, had been forgotten due to past prejudices.

"I'm going to kill you, and I'm going to make it slow..." Doll hissed at her opponent, only making V cackle louder as an 'X' assimilated the optics on her visor and her wings came out, blowing away a cloud of snow around her like the wind casting away sands on a beach. "We'll see about that, little girl," V mocked, 'X' glitching with static for a moment as she wheezed. Behind Doll's eye patch however, the Absolute Solver symbol was there, glowing brighter and brighter as the Russian began to lose her cool, an intruding red glow emanating from under it, casting an eerie glaze over the patches of white sheeting around her.

A peg-like foot grinded itself into the ground. "Things will not go the same for you this time, Uzi," J cooed as she made sure her wings were outstretched as far as possible in order to appear larger. She certainly was larger than her enemy, but Uzi was not bothered. She had faced worse than this corporate lap dog. "BITE ME! I totally kicked your ass last time we met, and this time will be even more embarrassing for you!" The goth girl anime lover shouted as the solver took possession of her right eye, triggering an eyebrow raise from J, followed shortly afterward by a chuckle that almost sent a chill up Uzi's spine with how mocking it was. "Foolish little girl, I'm going to savor watching you suffer," remarked the bitc-I mean J. This wasn't J's first rodeo with a Zombie Drone, and if she had it her way, it won't be the fucking last.

Tessa's mind swirled with thoughts, watching her old friend slowly take cautious steps towards her. She had thought he had been left out to the crows to be devoured, before his remains were refurbished into what he was now, his previous memories of their time together lost to the void of deletion. Yet here he was, in front of her, venturing to her in hopeful tones as if it was just yesterday. N also felt his AI matrix fall into a maelstrom of emotion. Tessa remembered him, even after all this time! He felt as if he was on Cloud 9! He could finally make up for lost time, introduce her to Uzi (and maybe make her stop wanting to kill all humans in the process but shhh), and get answers about what the hell was going on in the past!

However, only N and Tessa were happy, as everyone else had gotten a little.. sidetracked.

The two trio braced themselves, no more waiting!

"N!" Tessa screamed as she sprinted forward, arms outstretched.

"TESSA!" N shouted back as he also splayed his arms out, anticipating an embrace.

"V!" Doll shrieked with as much visceral rage as her voice box could muster up before bolting forward, red lightning bolts squirming on the ice around her as the Absolute Solver assisted in powering her charge.

"DOLL!" V roared as her wings beat repeatedly, propelling their user forward as her acute claws glinted in the light of the planet above.

"UZI!" J screeched, followed by her directing herself downward with a flap of her wings, using her aerial position to her advantage in order to get more speed for her inevitable collision with her opponent.

"J!" Uzi hollered as she took off like she was running a marathon, giggling maniacally as the Absolute Solver took centre stage on her visor.

Oh dear, things have certainly spiraled out of control now.

With that, the two sides leapt at each other, the world seemingly slowing down for them as they all screamed, both in happiness and anger, closing the distance between their chosen opponent. Or long lost friend, depending on who you are.

Then, they all collided, a massive shockwave spreading out like a virus across the area as the battles and reunions began.