Murder Drones Tessa Fanart Novels & Stories

Dorian's drone slipped through the ventilation shaft. Chassis the size of a thumbnail. Six infrared eyes blinking red in the dark. Rotor whine suppressed to a whisper thinner than mosquito wings. It skated an arc along the ceiling. Hovered in a corner. The camera lens constricted, focused, locked on. The feed transmitted back. Selene held a syringe. Murky green venom still rolling in the barrel. The gash across Cain's chest tore from shoulder to sternum. Peeled-back flesh. Ghastly white bone beneath.

“Let’s hope it wasn’t a kid’s toy.” My stomach lurches. “Crap! If it was, I’ll replace it with something better.” I retrieve it and freeze. Military-grade drone. Camera. Speaker. This wasn’t a toy. Grinning at the lens, I wag my finger at it. “Hey. Just so you know—I’m not stopping until every last one of you is dead.” Then I smash the lens and speaker—carefully, so Fiona can trace it. ⸻ Back in the kitchen, I hand it to Fiona. Her face lights up like it’s Christmas morning.

“Shit.” From the tunnels above and below, the swarm descended. Drones—sleek, silver, endless—poured into the underbelly like locusts loosed from hell. Their glassy eyes burned red with Echo’s final command, each rotor shrieking like a wasp’s wings. Needled limbs glistened with venomous current, dripping sparks that hissed as they touched the steel.

The sky turned a bruising, angry purple. "UNAUTHORIZED ANOMALY DETECTED IN SECTOR NINE. AUDIT-Z IS NON-COMPLIANT. REALLOCATION INITIATED." Four drones, larger and more aggressive than the botanical weavers, descended from the canopy. Their "limbs" were tipped with the same ivory needles that had almost uploaded Mia. "Stay behind me!" Xander roared. He didn't reach for a weapon. He reached for the grid.

Behind the iron bars, the giant blades of the cooling fans spun with enough force to liquefy anything that got too close. "The override is manual!" Sora’s voice crackled through the short-range comms. "I have to bypass the biometric lock from the external terminal. Zora, you and Dante have to hold the line. The Vane security drones will be here any second." "Understood," I said, drawing the obsidian daggers I had fashioned in the tunnels. The water around us began to shimmer. Four "Scylla" class aquatic drones—sleek, eel-like machines tipped with electrified harpoons—emerged from the darkness of the trenches. They moved with a terrifying, fluid grace, their red sensors locking onto our heat

"Fine. But we're going in hot. The Architect has security drones. Fast ones." "I have a hacker," Silas said, looking up at the sky. "Don't I?" As if on cue, a shadow swept over them. A heavy-lift cargo drone, massive and black, descended from the clouds. It hovered above the boat. "Hello, Silas," the Ghost’s voice boomed from a speaker on the drone. "I brought some toys. Look up." The drone lowered a cable. Attached to the end were four high-grade assault rifles and two heavy suits of tactical body armor.

The server room was a canyon of flashing blue lights and the deafening roar of industrial cooling fans. Bullet casings rattled against the metal grated floor like hail as Caleb fired his final magazine into the chest of an advancing drone. The synthetic assassin staggered, sparks erupting from its shattered optical sensor, before collapsing into a heap of exposed wires and hydraulic fluid. "Ava! How much longer?" Caleb shouted, slamming a fresh clip into his sidearm. His breath was ragged, his tactical gear slick with black oil and rain.

Suddenly, a red circle appeared on the ground around us. **[WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED ANALOG DATA DETECTED]** **[SECURITY ADVISORY: PROPERTY OF AETHEL-GROUP]** "The drone!" Selene pointed to the sky. A massive, sleek silver craft was descending toward us. It wasn't a bird this time. It was a spear of chrome with a glowing red eye. "Return the assets to the bin," a cold, feminine voice announced from the drone. "Value must be reclaimed." "I'm not going back in the bin!" Rowan roared.

Behind him, Elara’s fingers hovered over the EMP-shielded terminal, her heart hammering a frantic rhythm against her ribs. For a terrifying moment, nothing emerged from the shadows. Then, a low, mechanical whirring broke the silence. From the darkness rolled a Genesis Island automated sentry drone, its optical sensor glowing a hostile, corrupted purple instead of its standard operational blue. It wasn't patrolling; it was hunting. The drone’s twin micro-machine guns locked instantly onto Dante’s thermal signature. Dante didn't hesitate. He fired twice in rapid succession. The heavy .45 caliber hollow-points shattered the drone's optical array and pierced its battery housing. It sparked viole

They moved with robotic precision, magnetized boots clinging to the steep floor. Architect Drones. Human-machine hybrids. "Eliminate witnesses," the first Drone synthesized a voice. It raised a suppressed submachine gun. "Stay behind me!" Jackson released the window and slid down the floor, steering his body like a torpedo. He crashed into the Drone's legs before it could fire. The Drone fell. Jackson rolled on top of it. He took the ceramic knife he had taped to his chest and stabbed it viciously into the Drone’s neck. SPARK! It didn't bleed blood. It bled oil and white sparks. The ceramic blade severed the primary wiring. The Drone twitched and powered down.