Null Protocol || Ramattra x Reader

Chapter Twenty-One

"They must hold onto grudges mighty tight to go after your brother." It was a poor attempt at lightening the conversation, and he dipped his head.

"They do not take 'no' lightly."

The weight of the conversation seemed to make it harder to breathe, like it was clouding the air with tension and weighing like lead on her chest, so she searched for something else to talk about. "I expected this here ship to be crawling with omnics. I swore you'd have them lining up to help ya." He made it sound like he was more than just a savior to his people, that he led them to freedom and rallied them to his side with a goal they all could get behind, but she'd only seen a single other omnic on the ship.

Ramattra explained, "There are 3 of us. I prefer to operate on my own, but my plans necessitated assistance from others with a...different set of skills."

"Why would you ever wanna fight alone?" At the genuine question, he leveled her with a look she couldn't read. When he said nothing for a long moment, she offered a half smile. "I know I'm just the diversity hire, but you can accomplish a great deal more with help. Neither of us woulda been able to get outta that cave alone, so why would this be any different?" She wasn't completely sure of his plans, but it had to be easier to allocate tasks than to do it all solo.

(Y/n) heard a chuckle rumble out of his chest after a beat, and he shook his head in amusement. "'Diversity hire'. You humans put value in such trivial things. You are here to be my mechanic and aid the production of my warmachines, anything else comes secondary." He was referring to her staying safe from Talon, and she frowned at that.

"Ain't there omnic mechanics? Why wouldn't you get yourself one of those?"

"They do not have your level of devotion to me." Her eyes widened, something in the way he said it suggesting it went deeper than just a life debt, and her cheeks burned as she scrambled for something to say.

"Well, I appreciate you taking me aboard – even if y'all ain't allow humans." The whole thing was a walking contradiction, and while she hadn't fully figured him out yet, she knew that he always had reasons for what he did. She was here for more than one cause, aboard his ship to serve more than just one purpose, and part of her wondered if it wasn't just for her safety or his plans but something more intimate and personal than that too.

Ramattra chuckled, turning to face the console. "It is nice to be appreciated."

(Y/n) followed him, tilting her head curiously. "I figured you'd be used to it. I heard you was liberating plenty of omnics recently in Toronto, surely they were grateful?" She saw him tense up at her word choice, like her surface-level understanding of the event Omme described grossly underestimated what actually happened, but he didn't spare her a glance, instead turning his gaze to the stars as he answered quietly.

"Less than you would think." She let the silence hang in the air, following his stare to admire the twinkling lights. There was no sound save for the whirring of the ship as it sent them on a path to whatever destination Ramattra set, but it wasn't awkward between them so much as comfortable. She didn't need to fill the air with noise to enjoy his presence, and she wasn't sure how long they admired the stars together before he finally moved, startling her at the sudden motion.

"Are you fond of the stars?" (Y/n) hadn't expected such a random personal question, swearing it was the first time he'd ever asked about her with the sole goal of learning what she liked, and she took a second to digest that before she nodded.

"I'd be darn crazy not to be." There was something so profound about what appeared to only be little specks of light in the sky – whether it was the allure of space, the sheer number of unknowns lying outside your tiny world, or the way it seemed to put things into perspective and made your own problems feel small in comparison. Tonight they could see the Milky Way dust scattered among the inky black and pinpricks of white, giving a faint greenish glow to the sky that only made it that much harder to look away.