Null Protocol || Ramattra x Reader

☙Chapter Eleven❧

"You are safe with me." She shivered at his deep, authoritative voice, and she wondered how he could sound both so aggressive and so protective at the same time. The snow leopard snarled as the barrier disappeared, and it slinked toward them on heavy paws, foaming at the mouth with an almost skeletal appearance. (Y/n) felt her blood run cold as she clung to Ramattra's back, peeking around him to watch the big cat creep closer with teeth bared. It looked like it was starving and desperate. She stumbled across it on her way back from the bathroom, not realizing how boxed into a corner she accidentally made it with the lack of lighting. She'd gotten lost without the omnic's staff while trying to find her way back from the spot in the cave she went to previously, and only when she heard a rabid growl did she realize just how screwed she was.

The snow leopard paced back and forth, its scraggly tail twitching abnormally. It stumbled as it crept forward with a glistening red claw on one paw, and a guttural, snarling sound that almost sounded too deep for a cat slipped out of its hoarse throat.

"It is infected," Ramattra hissed quietly, and (Y/n)'s eyes widened. "Did it hurt you?"

Her voice trembled along with her hands on him but he didn't look away from the threat. "What's it infected with?"

"It displays classic signs of rabies." Each word was delivered with crisp, clear intent, and her breath caught in fear as she shrunk into the omnic guarding her.

"Oh no."

"What is it?" He spared her a glance but turned back immediately when the snow leopard snarled, scratching at the air with its giant claws, and he felt her flinch and cling to him like a lifeline. He kept an arm wrapped around her to protect her behind him as he backed up with the other hand on his staff, pointing it at the beast. The leopard stopped pacing to pad towards them, whatever instincts it might've had to flee hijacked by the virus infecting its brain, and Ramattra glared at it, adjusting his grip on the staff as he released (Y/n) to conjure something in his hand that looked like a small bead of nanites.

The next second, the leopard lunged forward with its teeth gleaming and claws extended, and the Ravager flung the bead at the ground under it, creating a ravenous vortex that yanked the animal to the floor roughly. As soon as it hit the ground, he pointed his staff at it, firing off a string of nanites right at its head. (Y/n) hid her face in his metal back, unable to watch as the leopard went silent and something wet hit the icy cave floor with a splat.

She shivered, her fingers threading through the metal pieces that resembled a human ribcage on his back, and after a long moment, he glanced back at her. He could feel her shaking, the adrenaline finally ebbing out of her system as the fearful reality of what almost happened fully hit her. "Thank you." She stumbled over the two simple words, knees shaking so bad he feared she would collapse.

He let out a deep sigh, turning to face her as he prodded her chin up with his staff. "You are welcome." A pause. "Are you alright?" She slumped into him, making him jolt in surprise as his unoccupied hand hovered uncertainly for a moment, but when she only clung to him as a soft sob broke the suffocating stillness around them, he busied himself adjusting his scarf around her neck. She brought it with her to keep warm and he found it suited her, not that now was the time to take it from her anyway.

"Am I gonna die?" He barely heard her, her voice muffled in his chest plate as her fingers threaded through his metal ribs, and he debated prying her from him before deciding she'd likely only cling to him harder.

"You have known this, human." She couldn't hear an ounce of sympathy in his tone, and when she looked up at him, she saw the same uncaring Ravager he'd always been.

She nervously held up her arm and he stiffened at the giant gash from her elbow down to her wrist on the underside of her forearm. "I meant from rabies."