Null Protocol || Ramattra x Reader

Chapter Four

(Y/n) could barely breathe, waiting for the hand on her throat to squeeze the life out of her – the life that was already on borrowed time. But after a long, tense moment, the Ravager pushed her back and she fell onto her butt, propping herself up with her hands as she took in a greedy lungful of air. He could've easily choked her or snapped her neck – Ravagers were made to kill humans, after all – but he had simply left it as a loud warning not to push her luck. Just because he appeared beaten and broken didn't mean he was weak.

"But if I don't fix you, we both die!" Her cry was met with an indifferent scoff.

"I do not fight for myself, I never have, and if securing your end means you cannot harm my people, then I will gladly die for them."

She got into a crouched position in front of him, just out of arm's reach but close enough to look down at the mess of wires that was his stomach. The heat radiating from him was enough to make her sweat – his engine was still running on low power, and since the coolant wasn't displacing the heat, it was instead released into the chilly atmosphere. She carefully took off her coat, finding that despite being deep in the Himalayas, she actually felt comfortably warm. "That's not good," she mumbled.

His reply came with blatant annoyance. "Have you just now opened your eyes, human?"

"If I don't fix this, you'll die, but I don't know how to fix it." She ran her hands through her hair, anxiously tugging at the strands as he seemed to do a double take.

"So your efforts would have been for nought." It was like he couldn't go a single second without mocking her, and she let out a huff between pursed lips.

"You would need to guide me through it." She met his gaze, deeply earnest. She knew omnic anatomy, but Ravagers appeared more complex than even the humanoid models like Zenyatta – though the humanoid models were made right before the start of the Omnic Crisis and thus the last new model ever created by humans. "And since you're telling me what to do and watching me, I couldn't do anything to sabotage you." Surely that would convince him, right?

"You are so desperate to meet your end." He paused as if considering her, something akin to intrigue breaking his previously clipped tone. "Why?"

"Because this is what I do." It sounded simple, too simple, and he let out a low, disbelieving growl.

"I tire of your games-"

"Is it really that hard to believe I've accepted that which I cannot change?" She tried to copy his profound way of speaking and he rolled his whole head like he was attempting to showcase rolling his eyes.

"You have not," he replied shortly. "I can see it in your eyes. You are afraid." She stilled, not realizing it was that obvious that even an omnic could see it.

"Yeah." The admission was barely loud enough to count as a whisper. "I'm scared. Terrified, honestly." She took in a slow, shaky breath. "But I'm dead no matter what I do, and if at least one of us survives this, then maybe some good can come from it."

"The only good that will come of this is your demise, human."

"Then why didn't you kill me?" Her eyes snapped up to his sharply, but he didn't answer. "You had me by the throat but you didn't finish it, so clearly you know I'm useful – even if you won't admit it."

His voice shook the cave in a deep roar. "Your only use is to prolong my life instead of taking it like many other humans have tried and failed. Ravagers have been hunted down to nigh on extinction because of your kind." His hands balled into fists at his sides, his anger turning the air boiling. "And if you are so foolish as to aid the one that brings your very demise under the false pretense of prolonging your own existence, then I will use you to further my goals. That, I promise you."