Chapter Text
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
The clock in Ramattra’s office was the only sound filling the heavy silence, but by now, he had tuned it out. He immersed himself in his thoughts, trying to make sense of the situation.
It simply made no sense on paper. A human was found circling Null Sector headquarters completely alone. She had no sign of wires or trackers on her, and it didn’t seem like she had been followed. The girl had no connections to Talon, according to Maximillien. Absolutely unprotected and unaffiliated.
Was she an Overwatch member, staking out the area? Possibly. But she was unarmed. She was vulnerable . Almost thoughtlessly, like someone who didn’t understand how truly capable Null Sector was. But Null Sector wasn’t a secret underground organization; they were known for their crimes. To Ramattra, it seemed like she intended to get caught. That, or she didn’t think she had to worry about it, like she’d be fine either way.
A knock on the door drowned out the flimsy sound of the thousandth tick, and the omnic’s head shot up as the door creaked open without further warning.
He saw her first. Shaggy brown hair clung to sweat-streaked skin as the “intruder” panted heavily, eyes wet, sad, and desperate. Then, she was nudged to keep stumbling forward, her shaky feet barely scraping against the carpeted floor. The guard holding her by the chain connecting the cuffs on her wrists came into sight as well.
Ramattra tilted his head at the sight of her. She looked interesting. He waved off the member who brought her over. They nodded and turned to leave quickly, the door clicking shut behind them. Ramattra folded his hands on his lap.
“Take a seat. Can you tell me your name?“ He spoke coldly, and his tone sent a shiver down her spine. Ramattra picked up on it with a tinge of satisfaction.
“It’s, um– Iris, my name is Iris,” the girl stammered out as she shuffled to take a seat, hands still bound behind her.
“Iris.” He spoke her name with an emphasis that made it sound as if it tasted bitter on his tongue. Drawn out, disgusted, as if he were looking down on the nature of the pronunciation alone. Nonetheless, he continued. ”What business do you have here? Are you working for someone?”
“No, not– not really. Not now.” Iris’ voice was husky, hoarse, and trembling. Her hands were bound behind her back, and yet still loudly made their presence known, her trembling impossible to ignore.
“There has… been a misunderstanding.” Her voice was low, and she was still trembling like a leaf. Afraid. Rightfully, or so Ramattra thought.
“Correct. There must be. It’s not every day we have a human seemingly attempt an attack, working alone.”
“No, I’m not-“
He didn’t allow her to speak, continuing with his monologue that sounded so disgustingly scripted. “Tell me, Iris, what were you thinking?”
“Stop– saying my name like that, I said I’m not a human.”
Ramattra fell into a stunned silence when her words sank in. He adjusted his tone. “Ah. I see. So you are…?”
“I, um… I don’t know." Her voice cracked, posture faltering as she sank into herself. "He… called me a fuckbot. But I’m assuming that has a negative connotation.”
Ramattra was visibly taken aback by this description. He grimaced (or something close to it) and leaned back in his seat, voicebox cracking in a sigh.
“I’ve had the displeasure of hearing whispers of such models. You were manufactured by Empathix, yes?”
Iris nodded. “Yeah. I, uh… I think so.” She couldn’t hold eye contact with him, voice shaky and breaking.
He hated to admit it, but it was impressive technology. The way her hands shook as she spoke, the sound of her voice cracking and trembling so naturally that it couldn’t be unnatural. But he didn’t question it further. Humans were unpredictable. Idiots, sure, capable of any fatal miscalculation after all, but not this. He didn’t think they’d be capable of pulling something like this
“Who is this 'he' you speak of?”
He watched her flinch. Soften, even, before she spoke. “Uh… Josh. Josh Beeman.”
“Josh Beeman,” he repeated, his eyes moving to now scan over Iris. “Where is Josh now?”
“I killed him."
For a moment, he thought he had misheard her. Maybe he misunderstood, maybe she was just joking, engaging in the petty humor humans take so much comfort in. In disbelief, Ramattra immediately looked up to attempt to make eye contact once again. But once his gaze met hers, she averted hers, choosing to look back at the floor.
She was… serious? He had heard of the mistreatment of Empathix models, but he had never heard of them going rogue like that. He was almost proud.
“…Very well. I can assume why you’re here, in that case.” Ramattra stood up from his seat, and Iris backed up further into the seat she sat in. She pushed herself against the back of her chair as if she wanted to clip into it, and her eyes were blown wide.
Maybe she did understand what the Null Sector was capable of after all.
“Please, Iris. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I-I’m sorry, I—“
“Don’t be. Please.” He stopped to stand in front of his desk, leaning against it, and looked down at Iris. She looked fragile, weak. Like a human, too much like one. It was unsettling, it made him uncomfortable, uneasy. But he didn’t blame her for it. How could he?
She sat and waited for him to elaborate. Her breath came out in short, desperate gasps. Her breath that she didn’t need to take.
Ramattra could sit and examine her for hours, how uncannily humanlike she was to him. But it wasn’t like the idea of an Empathix omnic was unknown to him. As he mentioned, he had heard a thing or two about them before. Sad, desperate things, but he had heard things.
“You have nothing to be afraid of here. You are safe with me. With us, here.” He managed to tear his eyes away from her, walking back to the other side of his desk and bending down slightly.
Iris didn’t want to stare, but she heard him open a drawer, and she couldn’t help but peer over. Her gaze fell on the glint of a silver key. Ramattra walked towards her, towering over her once again. “Stand.”
A simple command, but one that was understood. Once she stood, Ramattra carefully put one hand on Iris’ shoulder and nudged to guide her to turn around. She did so, and with her back to him, she suddenly felt unsettled. When she turned her head to watch him, he noticed the way her pupils dilated in anxiety, and he “I told you. You are safe with me. I won’t hurt you.” His voice was almost a whisper. Ramattra lifted her hands to unlock her cuffs, but stopped in motion. Iris watched as he lightly ran a finger over the exposed metal structure, where her hand would be.
A beat of silence passed before he inquired, “Are you hurt?”
“No. I’m okay.”
“Are you certain?” His finger stopped in its subconscious circular pattern, probably in some instinctive form of wanting to soothe. Whatever this poor girl went through, for an Empathix model of all things to snap like that, it had to have been disgusting. S he should be afraid. She should be terrified. And yet, here she was, so bravely offering herself up to fight the same cause as Ramattra. To liberate her people like himself, by his side. To make sure no omnic ever has to go through what she had to go through again. He was almost… proud.
“…Yeah. Yeah, I’m sure.”
He didn’t respond. Another beat of silence followed until it was interrupted by the sound of handcuffs clicking open. He got a glimpse of the red marks they left on her skin before she pulled them up to her front, sighing in relief. She quickly turned to face Ramattra, eyes searching his face for… something. But his expression was so static that she couldn’t make anything out. He was so… well, robotic. But to him, she was so human. And he didn’t know how to feel about that.
“We get individuals like you a lot around here. Those seeking refuge and protection after breaking free from whatever they were made for. I assume you’ve come to ask for my assistance.”
Iris parted her lips to reply, but Ramattra didn’t allow her, bringing a hand up to silence her before a word even left her lips. The action would typically seem disrespectful to anyone else, but not to him or her. Not here. He knew Iris must be just as angry at Empathix (and whoever Josh was) as him, if not even more. “If it’s shelter you need, we can provide that for you. Asylum, somewhere to stay, to hide, anything you need. If you want resources to start your own fight, we’re grateful to have the opportunity to sponsor that. If you’d like to join our forces, you’re more than welcome, but there’s never any pressure to do so. We also have people working on the backlines instead of directly being involved with the fight.”
Iris subconsciously glanced down at her pocket. Ramattra noticed but didn’t pry, taking note to ask about it later. He paused and continued speaking, somehow even more softly. “I know that those of your model are capable of being extremely intelligent.”
“‘Ivy League graduate level,’” Iris interrupted to add. “That’s… what they called it.”
Ramattra shook his head. “I’d rather not compare your intelligence to human achievements, Iris. You’re better than that. As omnics, we are everything that humans could ever dream to be.”
“Omnics?” She tilted her head at him. “Do you… mean robots?”
If he could frown, he would’ve.
Oh, my poor, poor child.