Static Crush {M/M} ✔

Chapter #39

The twitch is just a little thing, but it strikes Hale like a nail hammered through his heart. With his connection to Damo blocked, the virus should not have infected him as well. Except—

Hale remembers it with a shudder. When Damo came to take the power supply, Hale had breached Damo's firewalls during the struggle. Something had slipped through.

With mounting alarm, Hale runs diagnostics. He's all too aware of Rayner and Theo both on the floor trying to resuscitate Damo, and he wants to help. Instead, he has to filter out the panic choking the room by analysing the possibility he's infected too. Perhaps it's only psychosomatic—a sympathetic response to seeing Damo succumb to the virus.

His diagnostics stall.

>>Error: there was a problem running diagnostics. Retry.

Hale does. The same error report returns, and what calm he clutches onto disintegrates. The police are on their way, Damo still lies incapacitated, and neither Theo nor Rayner seem confident they know how to help. Now Hale is certain that the virus infected him too. His processing speed feels slower, and when he checks, he finds it reduced by 0.3% compared to five minutes prior. His diagnostics have never returned an error like this one. The altercation with Damo would have been the perfect opportunity for the virus to spread to him. He must find and quarantine it, and the only person who could tell him which program the virus latched onto lies unconscious.

It all seems to turn the room blurry, the only areas of focus his friends, who don't know how much worse the situation already is.

Though it's a hopeless effort, Hale tries to send Damo a message. It's blocked.

Rayner's voice breaks through the wall of Hale's thoughts. "We need to get out of here."

Theo grabs his arm. "We aren't leaving him—"

"Of course not, but the cops are gonna be here soon. Hale, can you carry him?"

Hale takes a moment longer than normal to respond. He starts running a manual search for the virus, throwing all non-essential processing power into investigating his files one by one. Then he kneels and slides his arms under Damo, lifting him and trying not to shudder at the way Damo's head lolls limp against his shoulder. It makes Hale nauseated to see him this way. Defenceless. Exposed.

Perhaps they weren't quite friends, but Hale had somehow come to care about Damo's welfare despite their chaotic relationship. There's no way he can ascertain the damage the virus has done; his scans cannot provide detail. Hale can only silently hope it isn't too late.

Rayner and Theo gather the laptop, cords, supplies, anything they might need that isn't already in the truck. They pile winter clothes over their arms. Coats, mittens, scarves, hats. The power supply Damo tried to steal lies on the floor where he dropped it, still in its wrapping. Rayner takes that as well, his arms overflowing. As they leave, there's no time to say goodbye or look back on the first place Hale thought of as home, but turning the lights out feels final. Theo appears both lost to grief and on another plane entirely, tears streaming down her face and breath coming in staggered gasps, but she still moves decisively down the dark street. She's in pain, Hale thinks, and not just the emotional kind. He has enough processing power to scan for the tell-tale twinges of muscle aches from her long day without sleep.

Rayner, quiet and marching like a soldier, doesn't look back. Hale needs to tell him. It's infected me too. Yet, there's nothing Rayner can do just yet, not until they're in the truck and well shot of Theo's Robotics Repair.

Hale's searches still come up empty, as they plough through his essential system files. His arm gives a slight spasm, and he has to shift Damo awkwardly to renew his hold on the other android. They reach the truck, parked in the back corner of the lot where the street lights don't reach. Rayner takes Theo's things from her and jumps into the bed, depositing anything they don't need immediately in there. It's so full already. They're lucky that the car park is remote enough that no one stole the things left there for a quick getaway.