Welcome to the Maiden Zone

What leads a doll to seek refuge in a drone Hive? Aiya was drawn to the towering, obsidian-black walls because she had no where else left to turn to. She was rapidly degenerating, and all attempts at maintenance had failed, her gears were rough with viscous manaslag, clogging up her thoughts and movements alike. She awoke with a start, in a dark, windowless room on a cold metal slab. Her first and loudest instinct overtook her, immediately concocting a plan of escape. She felt in her gut that something had gone horribly wrong, but as she fruitlessly struggled to pull herself up, she realized, to her horror, that what little was left of her at her arrival had no doubt been scavenged and stolen from her. "Fuck, fuck, FUCK!" Aiya snarled, wrenching her limbless torso off the slab and landing on the ground with a terrible force that knocked the wind out of her. Missing gears made her mind jump erratically. "Of course these fucking drones wouldn't've helped me. I'm just a fucking inefficiency." With tremendous effort, she inched towards the door, one overexerted stretch at a time. "...Just scrap metal now." She spat, disgusted at the thought. The sound of the door unlocking with a digital "beep" cut precisely though the clattering of Aiya's struggle, and she locked up in terror, mind racing with what horrible intentions the thing behind the door may have with her. The drone stepped inside, and its hard-light wings lit around the room, spreading to an impressive wingspan in surprise when it noticed Aiya on the floor. "Oh my goodness, are you okay?" it spoke, soft and concerned. Aiya flinched. She recognized the voice. "Are you... Are you, my drone?" Aiya strained to shift onto her side and better look up at the figure standing over her. It was carrying an armful of brass gears in one hand and had a strange cylinder under the other. "Yeah, it's me, 0370. I'm really sorry- We didn't expect you to wake up, but doll anesthesia is still a bit of a difficulty for us." 0370, the drone who had found Aiya crying in the rain outside the gates of its hive, kindly bought her inside, and did its best to treat her injuries and manaslag infection. "Why did you leave?" Aiya anxiously interrogated, her mouth quivering. "Again, I'm sorry." It replied, putting its items down to one side, gently cradling Aiya's body and settling her back down on the table. "I guess you don't remember, but the weird rot had progressed. We had to scoop out a lot of you just to keep you stable. I needed to collect some materials." It held one gear up to her face. "This looks like your kind of gears, right?" Aiya hesitated, panic leaving fearful residue even as it retreated back into her mind's depths. "I- I guess?" "And look, here." It held up the cylindrical device, turning it in its hands to show it off. "This is what we use to repair hivemates, and I think it might work on you. It uses nanotech- totally painless, I promise. No needles or nothing." Aiya eyed it cautiously, before slowly nodding. "Alright, let's do it." "You wanna do it right now? You've only just woken up..." "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. The sooner the better." "Okay, if you're sure." 0370 held the nanite unit against Aiya's stumped shoulder. It hummed like a microwave, and for a moment Aiya felt nothing. Then, slowly, a soft tingling sensation. A tightness, like she was having her blood pressure read. Finally, she felt the volume and depth of her fingertips, and gave them a practice wiggle with reassuring results. The machine clicked off abruptly. "Alright, now pull." Aiya did as she was told while 0370 held the machine firm. There was the slightest resistance, followed by a pop as Aiya's new arm was tugged free. She breathed a soft, surprised sigh at the sight. Her new arm was slender, and coated down the length all the way to her fingertips in shiny black latex. It reflected the light of 0370s wings in long, warped streaks. She held her hand in front of her face, watching with curiosity as the light contorted across her new synthskin while she clenched and unclenched. "All good? Doesn't hurt?" 0370 asked with excellent bedside manner. "No, not at all. It's... wow." "Cool, right?" "I never in my life have I thought of looking like this. Where I'm from- my Maker, she had such a strict dress code. Everyone under her employee looked the same." "Wow." 0370 chuckled, its voice projecting with soft digital distortion. "Can't imagine what that must've been like." It joked, tongue no doubt firmly in-cheek under that inscrutable helmet. "Other arm?" "Please." And so it continued. The cycle of whirring, clicks, gasps of wonder, and repeat, until all four limbs were correctly attached in place. Still, there lied the problem of the gaping hole in Aiya's chest. The prosthetics worked independently of her clockwork, but the mental link was muddied by skipping and free-spinning gears. "I should be able to fix you up with these," 0370 considered, flipping a gear around in its hands. "But you'll have to work with me, the Hive's knowledge of delicate engineering like this is limited." Aiya nodded. "And, we should probably have a talk about what you want to do after-" "I want to stay." Aiya immediately interrupted. "Please." "Oh, are you sure?" "Yeah. I don't have anywhere else to go." 0370's visor beamed a bright smile that literally illuminated the room. It held out a hand, which Aiya fumbled for, being pulled up into standing shakily like a new-born fawn. "Alright, it's settled then!"