Null Protocol || Ramattra x Reader

☙Chapter Twenty-Eight❧

"Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, there is nothing we can do for him now. He is in Talon's grasp, and it is only a matter of time before he spills everything he knows."

"That's horrible." Even if she didn't care for the omnic, whatever Talon was putting him through couldn't be good – her stomach churned uncomfortably at the thought.

"Yes, well, Laylani is monitoring his condition as best she can." He turned to return to the control room and (Y/n) followed after him, wiping her fluid-coated hands on her pants. She was covered in machinery grease and smelled like oil, and she counted it as a blessing that omnics couldn't smell.

"Did she figure out where he's being kept?" He slowed his strides to keep them in time with hers as he shook his head. "Well I S'Wanee..." He shot her a sidelong look and she wilted, clarifying with a, "That blows, darn."

"Would it pain you to simply use the foul language your kind so adores using in excess?" It would've sounded mocking coming from him before, but now it only sounded like banter – like her being human didn't bother him nearly as much anymore.

"Mama used to smack me with a wet towel if I so much as uttered the word 'dagnabbit'." Sensing his amusement, she pointed at him sternly. "Don't you dare tell her I swore while she ain't around."

"Your worries are so inconsequential." She detected a note of fondness in his tone, like he wished his life's worries were just as trivial, and her smile drooped.

"Well...I worry when I'm gonna see Mama and Pops again, too." Her eyes darted away. "Or if I will."

He heaved a sigh, contemplating what to say for a moment before settling on, "I am working on a communication device that will allow you to video call your family without chance of interception by Talon. It is coming along...poorly."

"Oh, you ain't gotta do that!" Her head swung side to side so fast her hair smacked her in the face.

"You wish to see your family so your concern will be dealt with." To make sure she knew that the discussion about it was over, he reached out to gently take her hand in his, his metal thumb running over the bandages around her fingers. "How do your hands fair?"

After finding (Y/n) in the mechanic bay and placing the food she'd forgotten on the counter and in the fridge he'd provided her, Ramattra bandaged her injured fingers to ensure they healed. The white was tainted with bot fluids and streaked with grease, but she kept it on to make him feel better, not because she actually needed it. Her fingers weren't hurt that badly, just bruised, and she was able to manipulate them just fine as she picked through the Nulltrooper's circuits.

"They feel just peachy when you're holding 'em." (Y/n) couldn't quite meet his gaze as she said it, and he cocked his head with amusement as he inspected her fingers.

"I take it you did not strain yourself while you were messing with my bot?" There was an undertone of accusation in his tone, like a worried boyfriend checking in to make sure his girlfriend ate something today, and she flushed.

"Of course not, ain't no bruising gonna stop me, and 'sides, mechanics are good with their hands."

His head tilted further. "Show me." Any reply she could possibly conjure up fizzled into nothing in her fried brain, and she just about managed to keep walking while stupidly gaping at him for a solid couple seconds before her brain rebooted and she cleared her throat, chewing on her bottom lip as she struggled to think of something, anything, to say.

Thankfully, her embarrassment ended as the two of them finally made it to the dark main control room lit by a couple LED lights and the moon and stars above, where Laylani was monitoring a screen with omnics. She was tapping her chin in thought when the two walked in, and she waved Ramattra over. "The longer your headgear remains on our people, the more desperate they will become." She waved a hand at the monitor, which showed a human trying to wrench the device off an omnics head, nearly tearing its head from its body before they gave up.