Static Crush {M/M} ✔

Chapter #35

In the brief moment before they climb out of the storage locker, Rayner looks up at Hale with something sheepish and apologetic in his eyes. It's just a passing thing. Hale wants to attribute it to the police nearly finding them, but he has a sinking intuition that it has more to do with the sexual tension that came before.

He doesn't know if he should feel apologetic too. He doesn't. If anything, he feels buoyant. Hopeful.

There's no time to speak of it now though.

They climb out of the locker into the too-bright fluorescent light of the workshop. Rayner stuffs his hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched as he lets out a slow breath.

"Okay?" says Theo.

"Yeah," Rayner says, though he doesn't look it.

Hale nods to confirm his well-being too.

He needs to tell them everything he knows about Damo. The network hack. The threats. The possibility he put his symbiont in a coma. Though Hale wishes he felt eager to finally shed the deceit, part of him feels complicit in Damo's actions. Like it's his fault for not revealing it all earlier.

There's something else too. Something that infects his resolve like a virus. Damo, and all androids, rely so heavily on their symbiont to remain functioning. Alive. For Damo to attack his, render the man comatose...something must have pushed him to such desperate measures.

Damo could be antagonistic—rash, perhaps—but not stupid.

Before Hale can summon the right words, Theo says, "I knew something was wrong. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck." She's already pulling up her HoloPhone. "I need to tell Damo not to come back here. We need to meet him some place else. I don't know if he's even getting these messages, though. And what if they're tracking us now too? I tried to keep an eye on both cops and make sure they didn't bug the place, but sometimes they were in different rooms." She looks close to tears. "What do we do?" she asks.

Rayner sits on a stool at the work table and puts his face in his hands. "I don't know."

"We've got to do something." She looks around at Hale, brows pulled together in worry. "We probably can't stay here long, not if they're starting to crack down on rogue androids like this—"

"I don't mean to interrupt," Hale says, trying to sound calm. "But I may have information pertinent to the discussion..."

Rayner looks up from his hands. His hair stands on end in places. Theo drops her hand from where she'd been chewing her nails.

Hale summons a steadying thought. They're his friends. They won't hate him, surely?

"I should have told you this earlier. Two weeks ago, Damo hacked my firewalls and facilitated an illegal Network connection between us." Hale doesn't allow himself to pause for a reaction, barrelling forward now the truth's out. "He threatened to turn us into the police if I revealed as much to you. He's been communicating with me in the past, though his messages were often hostile or aggravating."

Rayner looks appalled. "He hacked you?"

Hale nods, bracing for an accusation.

"That's horrible," Rayner growls.

Theo, wearing a troubled expression, asks, "What did he hack you for?"

"He gave varying answers," Hale admits. "I don't know which is true. Mostly, he claimed it was to provoke me or entertain himself. There were vague implications he wanted to leverage help or upgrades from us. Once..." Hale wonders whether, given its immediate deletion, this reason is pertinent. He decides that full honesty will be more useful and liberating than continuing to dance around the topic the way he has. "He sent a message about 'just wanting to be friends,' but it was deleted so quickly, I'm not certain it was intended for me."