New Program

oof

tw: panic attacks

"Well, this is a predicament."

Chad facepalmed at his friend's nonchalant attitude. He kept his distance from the empty elevator shaft while Aiden oh-so stupidly decided it was a good idea to lean over the edge, "just to make sure."

"Doesn't help that the stairwell's collapsed, too," they said with a frown, standing back up and making their way back to the hole the two of them made at the corner of a boarded up doorway, "looks like we live here now."

As Aiden sat back in the strange "nest" and started tinkering around with their camera again, Chad simply stood there, finally starting to process everything.

Yeah, the weird murder drone wasn't going to kill and eat them because of that hard drive Aiden plugged into them, but who's to say a different one wasn't gonna find them? They were trapped here, with nothing but a flimsy hole in a wall to escape through if something decided they were easy prey. What if they starved to death up here? What if one of them fell off the edge?

He slumped against the wall and slid down, putting his head in his hands. So many bad things could happen up here, to both of them.

You know, normally he wasn't the kind to be so pessimistic— but who couldn't be (other than Aiden, of course)? This entire situation practically sealed their fate.

He noticed his breath getting unsteady.

"Calm down, man," he mumbled to himself, running a hand through his hair. It felt weirdly stiff now, thanks to the murder drone's saliva paired with the cold air of Copper 9. "Just... calm down."

A few minutes passed, and though he managed to get his breathing under control, he still felt shaky. Despite this, he forced himself to crawl back through the hole and sit in the nest across from his friend. There was no way in digital hell he'd sit anywhere near the edge of the hole in the wall.

Aiden barely noticed him, letting out a vague acknowledging hum without looking up from his work. Knowing he wouldn't get their attention anytime soon, he turned to stare outside.

The blizzard had cleared up a little while ago, revealing a waning crescent moon, leaving the world in a dark shade, edged with slivers of white.

It would've been pretty if he wasn't so stressed.

Suddenly, a familiar pink face poked out from the top of the hole, which absolutely did not help his anxiety.

He jumped back slightly, holding his chest, "GAH— oh my GOD, don't do that!"

His very manly yelp finally startled Aiden back into reality, who perked at the sight of the returning murder drone.

The larger drone simply chirped at him, dropping down and crawling toward them. He noticed it wasn't using one of its arms to walk, though judging by the fact it was holding it to its chest, he could assume it wasn't hurt or anything. Not that he was concerned. It would just be... inconvenient?

As it sat down in front of them, his (not) concern was replaced with utter disgust. He tried not to gag as it offered a severed arm to him.

"N-..no th-thanks..." he tried lightly pushing it away from him with a sleeve over his hand, only for the drone to practically shove it in his face.

He instinctively slapped the arm away, the sound of it clanging against the ground deafening.

The silence that followed was even more so.

The X in the drones visor changed to a pair of hot pink eyes, staring at the arm on the ground. Its hand and tail were frozen in place. Aiden shrank into their sweater. Chad's breathing got worse.
Then, the drone dropped the rest of the body parts it was holding.

Chad flinched back, clenching his eyes closed and throwing his arms over his face. For what felt like the umpteenth time, he braced himself for the not-so-sweet release of death.

Instead of the reaper's embrace, he felt hands tentatively grab onto his arms. They pulled them away from his face, and he was met with the sight of pink eyes staring at him with... concern. For some reason, the feral vibe of the drone had disappeared completely, nothing but those... maternal instincts Aiden mentioned before left behind. Behind it, his friend looked at him perplexed but worried.

Even so, Chad could feel his emotions escaping his control.

.

Was M wrong?

Was what he brought not food? Did it not like it?

He couldn't help but stare as the blue-eyed young one started breathing heavily. Its hands shakily reached up to cover its mouth, as if to fix the problem.

He's seen this before.

He knows it.

If only he could push through the fog...

Everything snapped into place at the sound of a choked sob.

X.

His teammate. The leader of his squadron. Serious, strict, clean, everything that made a good leader.

This happened to X too.

It happened randomly, almost even frequently. Sometimes after a hunt, he'd collapse at the back of the landing pod, or maybe he'd flee in the middle of a fight and hide in a random abandoned building, breathing just as heavily as this. He'd cover his mouth too, as if that would... fix the problem.

But it didn't. It never helped.

But.. what did?

What helped X?

Oh!

Carefully, M guided the smaller drone into his chest with little resistance, rubbing his back as his breathing became just as erratic as X's would. He instantly moved to clutch bunches of his sweater tightly in his hands, eyes whipping around as if he couldn't see what was around him anymore.

Slowly, M took a deep breath.
He repeated the action, over and over, methodically rubbing his back until the drone finally started to mimic it. The other one came around and joined him, keeping a hand on their friend's shoulder.

After a few moments, he slowly and carefully unfurled his wings, wrapping them around the two drones protectively.

He was surprised when he could comprehend what the blue-eyed one was saying.

"That.." he gulped slightly, finally loosening his grip but not letting go, "..that's never happened before... what was that?"

The layered one went to speak up, until M answered for them.

"Panic attack," he mumbled, petting the smaller drone's hair, "..bad. Scared."

The blue-eyed one blinked up at him.

"Holy shit, you can talk."