Heartbeat

**MURDER DRONES - EPISODE 2: Heartbeat** is the second episode of GLITCH‘s most recent webseries, *Murder Drones*.

## Plot

In an unknown mansion, James talks to Serial Designation N, who appears holding a serving platter. N and his fellow Disassembly Drones appear to resemble Worker Drones for this scene. N runs into Serial Designation V; they both spill their held items. As they pick them up, they accidentally touch hands, a spark exchanging between them. They blush as they gather up their spilled items, only for Serial Designation J to cut in and begin talking to Tessa, who then introduces a new drone to the three of them.

At the corpse spire, N awakens from slumber to Uzi calling his name. Uzi and V have a quick exchange over the strange symbol on Uzi's visor. Uzi informs N that his cap is actually a pilot's cap. N questions Uzi if the plan to kill all humans is a actually doable. Uzi responds that it is, that humans have it coming since they sent his group off without communications and reformatted their memories. V questions Uzi, taunting her that her story does not make sense and that the Worker Drones are only pretending to be innocent. N attempts to defuse the situation by pulling the two apart.

Back at Uzi's colony, a worker assigns Frank to fix the hole in the roof caused by N's departure in the previous episode. This worker, misidentified as "Ladderbot 5000", then attempts a repair on the roof, only for J's corpse to crawl away. When he discovers it, a strange heart-like device appears and creates a massive creature that assimilate him.

Khan arrives at a parent-teacher conference. The teacher informs him that Uzi has been absent some time. Khan ponders this and the teacher's suggestion that Uzi may have damaged programming. Khan wonders if he didn't spend as much time as he should have with Uzi. A worker interrupts to inform Khan that a situation is happening in the colony.

Outside the spire, Uzi and N talk. N asks if Uzi is alright, only for Uzi to proclaim that she is God. Uzi then notices Thad, who then hands her over her railgun. Uzi awkwardly accepts the railgun back and listens to Thad's request to look at the area she shot J in. She, Thad, and N, head back to the colony.

Meanwhile, the creature assimilates several more drones, including the drone who assigned Frank to the roof repair.

At the entrance to the colony, a worker stops Uzi, Thad, and N before they head in. He questions N particularly, N giving the drone a crayon drawing expressing his guilt over killing the previous drones stationed there. The drone accepts this.

The group watches a crime scene. Uzi overhears that her father is in a parent-teacher conference over her, and as the drones discussing this find it "cringe", N asks her is she's ok. Uzi tells N that she's fine, and the trio creep further into the colony. One of the drones looking into the investigation then discovers the other drones there were actually holograms created and puppeteerd by the creature, before being taken herself.

Back at the conference, Khan goes off on the teacher about how Uzi is not doing that bad. Lizzy asks Doll where her parents are, only for Doll to reply in Russian that they are deceased. Lizzy then sees a copy off herself outside the door and tries to let the drone in.

Uzi, N, and Thad investigate the room they fought J and V in. Uzi remarks that she didn't know that Disassemblers make the strange, crawling trail she observes. N informs her that he does not understand what he is observing regarding this aspect. Thad catches their attention and directs it towards some boxes, N noting that it's the same symbol seen on Uzi's face. Uzi reads the text off these and comes to the conclusion that "Absolute Solver" is a back-up program that activates when Disassemblers lack material mass to reconstitute their forms in the event of damage. N stops her from talking as this creature enters the room and focuses on Thad before capturing him. The two run into a cryosleep chamber and witness the creature attempt to improvise a conversation between them and Thad. Uzi and N quickly pick up on this and free Thad, who runs off but not before inviting the both of them to a party. The creature finally reveals itself and informs them that it is trying to repair J. When Uzi calls it a program, it instead responds that drones are “puppets” to it and also reveals that it has Uzi's mother's form memorized, even adding in a hologram of N and a killing of Khan to its performance. It tries to assimilate Uzi, only for the real N to come in and saw off its appendages. The solver spears the railgun, only for the blast it creates to vaporize the creature as N shields Uzi. N stabs the solver device several times and it collapses into a black hole entity and floats away. N tries to help Uzi up, but she is so shaken by the events she has seen that she distrusts him. In turn, N also becomes shaken by this.

Khan runs into the cryosleep chamber this happens in, finding Uzi. He is at first confused, but then Uzi hugs him. His men search the area, only finding N, who quickly runs off.

Doll is seen holding a piece of paper. A robot cockroach is seen running up her arms. There is a brief flashback to the scene with Lizzy and Doll, Doll revealing that she also has this Absolute Solver ability like Uzi only that she can utilize it to a greater extent. Doll breaks the door Lizzy tries to open, which Lizzy gives up on trying to open. The solver finds this annoying, but gives up on trying to assimilate them. In the present, Doll looks at a photograph of a Disassembler, likely V. The roach crawls on the photo, Doll wills it to explode and licks its mess off her face.

At the spire, V remarks on how much she usually delights in seeing N so downcast, but this time seems much worse than usual. Her chain is also revealed to be broken, but, feeling bad for N, she moves it back in place instead of leaving. In the colony, Uzi looks up at a web of theories involving the Absolute Solver program.

## Characters

### Protagonists

* Uzi (voiced by Elsie Lovelock)
* N (voiced by Michael Kovach)

### Antagonists

* AbsoluteSolver (voiced by Allanah Fitzgerald) J's host/main antagonist
	+ J (voiced by Shara Kirby) flashback/transformed
* V (voiced by Nola Klop)

### Supporting Characters

* Thad (voiced by Sean Chiplock)
* Khan (voiced by David J. Dixon)

### Minor Characters

* Lizzy (voiced by Caitlin Dizon)
* Teacher (voiced by Liam Vickers)
* Ron (voiced by Jasmine Yang)
* Doll (voiced by Emma Breezy)
* Tim (voiced by Edwyn Tiong)
* James (voiced by David J.G. Doyle)
* Frank (voiced by David J. Dixon)
* Sarah (voiced by Nola Klop)
* Nori Doorman
* Unnamed murder drone.