Hatchetfield Stories

Wires

I've had this idea since Forever & Always came out and I finally wrote it lmao

TRIGGER WARNINGS:
-Injury

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Emma's body twitched and spasmed as Paul lifted her into the air, her mechanical brain busy trying to find a solution to the gaping hole in her leg. Sometimes, she hated how advanced her technology was. This was one of those moments. It hurt, incredible pain shooting up her leg with every step Paul took, along with the small electrical shocks that didn't hurt much, but were pretty fucking annoying.

Shit, he was going to find out, wasn't he? She'd have to tell him how to patch her up, that stitches alone weren't enough to repair the damage the rebar had caused, and he would realize she wasn't normal.

Paul was frighteningly silent as they made their way to his apartment, but as soon as they made it and he sat Emma down on his couch, it became clear he was terrified.

"This is going to hurt, okay?" he warned her, putting his hand too close to the injury for it to be comfortable.

"Paul..."

"Shhh... Just take a deep breath. On three." His free hand closed around the pipe. "Okay?"

Emma gave a stiff nod, laying her head down and biting down on her tongue, one of the only indestructible parts of her body.

"One. Two... Three!"

Emma's head spun as the pipe was ripped from her leg, and she could feel her wires and mechanical bones shifting, and once again, she cursed at her creators for making her able to feel pain.

"Emma?" Paul asked his voice shaking. "What-"

Emma blinked the tears from her vision, and she could see him, staring at the blood-stained wires coming from her leg.

"Paul, I can explain..."

"What are you? Hell, you're not one of them, are you?!"

"No!" Emma assured him. "I'm a robot. An android, if you will."

"How are you-"

"I'm from the future," she interrupted. "God, I never hated my creators more. Why did they have to make me able to feel pain."

Paul stared at her, trying to make sense of the situation. "Isn't that blood a hazard?" he asked. "You know, with the electricity?"

Emma shrugged. "I guess they found a solution to that."

"I work with computers. I can fix you."

"Paul..."

"I don't know how this... how you work, but I think it'll hurt. Is there any way you can... turn yourself off or something?"

Emma chuckled, "Unfortunately, no. They thought that'd be too unrealistic."

"We sleep too, you know?"

Emma's vision went white as he worked, nothing more than a pained cry making it past her artificial vocal cords for several moments. "Yeah, but you have to fall asleep. Not be out cold within seconds, not able to wake up without human intervention."

Paul chuckled, too concentrated to respond. Emma put her head down, holding her breath to try and make it through the pain.

Emma cried out as Paul welded the wires together with his toolkit, and he hushed her, rubbing his thumb over her knee to calm her, before continuing. Her body twitched as an electric shock made its way through her body, tensing all of her muscles, before she went limp on the couch, still twitching and groaning.

"It's done," Paul told her. "Your skin is still torn, but the wires are connected. Can you move your foot?"

Emma rolled her ankle with great effort. Despite the incredible pain shooting up her leg, her foot moved. "You can just glue the skin with superglue," she groaned. "It'll heal itself eventually."

Paul nodded, standing up and pulling a small box out of a cabinet, taking out a small tube.

He sat down next to Emma, carefully lining the outside of the wound with glue, and pressing the skin together, holding it in place for a minute, waiting for the glue to harden.

Paul nodded. "I'm done. It's done."

Emma sat up, her vision swaying as her body works hard to try and fix itself. "Thanks, dude, I never thought anyone could be that calm finding out my secret."

Paul smiled at her. "I'm very confused, but I could tell your pain was real, so I did the only thing I could do. Help you."

Emma smiled back. "Well, if you have any questions, I'm an open book. It's the least I can do."

Paul chuckled. "Just get some rest first, okay?"

Emma nodded. "Thank you."

Paul grabbed a wet cloth and wiped the sweat from Emma's forehead. "Goodnight, Emma."

"Goodnight, Paul."