Work Text:
Work had been tough.
It seemed like a lot of bad stuff was happening simultaneously all over the world, and only rarely, some would say shining, small good news pierced through the dark clouds that were the current state of the 21 century.
Not to say those were the only things on her mind right now.
She tried her best to forget everything that was going on, but her processor didn't work like a human brain.
So the only real chance she had, was shoving all the involved data as far back as she possibly could and clinging to the slight hope her algorithm wouldn't keep moving it back.
- Lyla left the Ducklair Tower with her pink Coat wrapped tightly around her shoulders and her head down, as she started the walk back to her apartment. -
Donald had been wounded in a fight as the Duck Avenger and was currently being forced to take a rest by his mysterious partner.
Still she knew her friend would be back on his feet way sooner then he probably should.
Sometimes she wondered how good the medical equipment, found in his secret Hideout, actually was, since apparently, this time, his wounds had been worse than usual.
He hadn't mentioned it directly, but something about the way he had described the whole ordeal, when they had talked over the phone a few days ago, told her that some "inner repairs" may have also been necessary.
It wasn't like the fragility of her human friend made her worry enough as it was.
Why would she?
She was only basically immortal and would see all her human acquaintances die, without gaining even a single wrinkle herself!
Of course everything was fine!
It was always fine...
And there she was going again with her thoughts.
Thoughts that she wasn't even supposed to be having.
She was a droid.
A Maschine.
Not a human being.
She wasn't supposed to get attached.
Hell, she wasn't even supposed to miss or feel bad for anyone!
And yet she did, seemingly without explanation.
Maybe it really was a malfunction. And with how likely it was and how often she had broken her programming, probably due to it, she couldn't deny that it scarred her.
Did she want these errors to be fixed?
Because, if someone found out, they would be. No matter what her own take on the situation was.
She didn't dare to think about how a intervention like that could change her.
How it could change the way she treated the few people close to her.
She'd probably be lucky, if the Time Police simply got rid of her and replaced her with a newer Model.
Wasn't that exactly what they wanted anyway?
- Lyla didn't think about how she used to count the stairs, she was currently walking down. She didn't even feel the raindrops on her cheek, as she continued on her walk home. -
Normally she would have consoled herself by talking with Donald, but now that he needed to rest, she really didn't want to bother him about it.
He was probably stressed enough as it was.
Hiding injuries like that from three young boys had to be hard.
She sadly only had gotten to meet them once when the Avenger had invited her to come over for Christmas last year.
A Christmas she would have spend alone otherwise.
And likely would this year, as she had the others before that.
Funny enough, her first instinct had been to try and talk with Camera Nine, but while she was pretty sure the other would listen, she feared that it would overstep the cameraman's boundaries.
And if there's one thing Lyla didn't want to risk, it was the trust that slowly had formed between them, over the years they worked together.
And oversharing her life seemed like a good start to achieve exactly that.
Not to mention, that, about the real stuff going on, she couldn't even talk to him. She wasn't allowed to.
And even if she violated all her guidelines and did, what was she supposed to say?
"Oh hey, I'm actually a humanoid Droid from the 23 century who's only here to gather data and look out for any time related anomalies! Also I could kill you if I even slightly calibrate my strength wrong, whoops!
Quietly Lyla shook her head and sighed.
- Lyla kept walking towards the place she called home. The sun was slowly starting to set in the background and Duckburg was being enveloped in a dim light, while the sky slowly turned from a light red to a dark indigo, as it quietly started to rain. -
Normally Lyla wasn't traveling by foot, when it came to going to and returning from work, but as the spirit of this week would have it, her car had broken down, seemingly out of nowhere.
This had made it impossible for her to go out with a camera person, preferably Nine, and actually broadcast news on live TV, since all journalists and reporters were required to use their own vehicles, when it came to transportation. Likely a rule set in place back when the Channel had still been struggling with Money.
It also made it almost impossible to see and talk to the people she could call friends.
But, at the end of the day, were they really?
They basically knew nothing about her, but the lies she had to tell.
Her whole life was practically one giant lie.
Made up, only to observe and eventually either be destroyed or replaced.
It almost made her believe in the bad luck Donald always joked about. Who knew, maybe it had rubbed off on her.
Lyla felt herself bite her tongue, as her neutral expression dropped, and she again shook her head.
She really hoped other droids would never question their purpose in the same way she did.
Sometimes she too would have rather lived in that blissful ignorance.
- Lyla stepped towards the Main road leading through Duckburg, her delicate sensors screaming at the overstimulation the noise of the cars rushing by caused. She didn't even realize that it had started to full on rain, a few wild strains of her hair had already escaped from her bun and were now sticking to her face. Nor did she really look up when she started walking across the street. -
Lyla knew that she was about to be home.
Or the place she called home anyways.
She had walked this path what felt like a thousand times before.
The street was big and the cars were driving by probably way faster than they were actually allowed.
Not really a surprise in Duckburg, or for all that mattered, in this century.
Just like everywhere else, there were rules set in place of course, but when it came to consequences, they were-...it was best to call them very minor, compared to the future.
A lot of things were different, and, most of all, stricter in the 23 century.
But did that mean they were better?
Maybe if she actually knew what was going to happen between the 21 and 23 century, it would have been easier to judge.
But she didn't know the future.
It was strictly prohibited.
And what it should have concerned her, that was the only thing that mattered.
Lyla was almost on the other side of the street now, only maybe two meters separating her from the sidewalk, that lead into a small alley and almost directly back to her apartment.
Her eyes trailed wordlessly on the grey Asphalt floor, without her actually once seeing what she was looking at.
It was at that moment, something inside her made her look up.
Up from the blurred ground and onto a truck, that was rushing towards her, seemingly unwilling to stop.
It felt more like a unconscious decision, even with every fiber in her body already screaming danger and one warning after another popping up in her processor.
Lyla heard the horn of the vehicle howling, but for some reason she couldn't bring her body to move.
Not even an inch.
It was as if she was frozen in place, with no other thought, now found in her mind, aside from a big: We're going to collide.
"WATCH OUT!"
The sudden yell appeared to come out of nowhere.
The next thing Lyla felt, was herself being pushed out of the way and tackled onto the hard and rain wet ground of the sidewalk, as the truck hurled by, without even once hitting the breaks, honking so loud she would have covered her ears, if her system hadn't still been processing what just happened.
Groaning, Lyla pushed herself of the ground and turned her head towards the figure, who had forced her out of the road.
Surprisingly, they had already let go of her, but, like she herself, seemed to be still catching their breath.
Yet another thing wrong with her. Why was she doing this? She didn't even need to breathe!
Ignoring a signal, which showed some minor damage in the arm she had landed on, Lyla forced herself to get up so she could get a better look at them.
They appeared to do a quick check up on themselves for any injuries, before getting up, and dusting off their, what seemed to be leather, coat.
It took a moment before she was standing relatively straight again, but once she did, Lyla couldn't help but study them for a second.
The person who had shoved them both out of the street, seemed to be a man of average hight, who aside from the coat and a white shirt beneath, wore a pair of loose dark blue pants and a hat, that appeared to belong with the coat.
The hat though casted a shadow over his beak and face, making it almost impossible to see.
Also, were those sunglasses? The sun wasn't even shining...anymore. She couldn't tell when exactly it had stopped.
The duck didn't seem to be carrying anything with him, other than a simple bag, made out of white fabric, that now sat on the grey Asphalt and got wet from the rain.
Lyla blinked, still feeling slightly flustered, but before she could say something the man spoke.
"Not to be rude, but I think a "Thank you" would be appropriate."
His voice sounded surprisingly calm for what had just happened and even from behind she could hear a sense of lightheartedness in his voice.
A voice that, to her shock, sounded awfully familiar-
Lyla winced a bit. It couldn't have taken longer than a second, before she began to mentally compare the sentence to others she had saved, only to be sure that she wasn't just jumping to conclusions.
It was a voice she hadn't really heard in the last week, but had told herself she would recognize almost everywhere-
A voice that she couldn't deny, she had missed after everything that had happened the last week.
But it couldn't really be-
...-could it?
A few moments passed, before Lyla found her voice. Only upon hearing it, she noticed how quiet it actually was.
"...-Camera Nine?"
She could see her savoir flinch slightly and shakingly took a step towards him, to which her colleague turned around.
"What..are you doing here-?"
She didn't understand.
Had he followed her? If he had, how could she not have noticed?
Her system should be superior to human senses in almost every way. What was happening-..
Almost as giving her a wordless confirmation, Nine turned his head.
"You needed help and I helped you. Does there have to be more to it?" He just said, before he shrugged lightly and picking up his bag from the ground.
It felt bizarre for a second. She couldn't remember ever having seen Nine in something else then his camera gear.
No, she knew she hadn't.
She didn't think anyone on Channel 00 ever had.
And if it hadn't been for the fact that he had litteraly thrown himself under the bus, or in this case truck, for her, Lyla would have admitted that it was nice..this way.
Even with his face still being unrecognizable, she could spot, how his feathers got darker around the edges and singular ones puffed out of his shirt.
On normal days, it would have made her wonder, if they had a slight curl to them, of if the curling was just because they were trapped beneath the tight metal of the camera suit all day.
But today wasn't a normal day.
It hadn't even been a normal week.
And just a few minutes ago, one of the people she cared most about in this entire century could have been killed, or at the very least badly hurt because of her unwariness.
With a feeling of guilt settling in her gut, Lyla's gaze shifted back to the person in front of her.
Nine had paused for a second, seemingly studying her, then reached inside the bag and pulled out a-, no, -her purse!
Lyla opened her beak to say something, but before she could Nine continued.
"You forgot this on your work desk.
I tried catching up to you, but you seemed thoughtful. Didn't want to disturb you."
"So you did follow me.." Lyla couldn't help but mumble. Though when she heard herself speake, she froze slightly.
When had her voice started sound so dull?
Nine didn't appear to notice though, since all her comment did, was actually getting a small smile out of the cameraman.
"But-.." Lyla forced herself to stop for a second, desperately trying to get her voice back under control. "..-I thought you were already out for the day.."
Trying to ignore, how her pausing hadn't helped, she carefully took the purse out of Nines hands, starring at it for a bit.
"Camera suit needed maintenance." She heard him answer, as he swung the white bag back around his shoulders. A part of her wondered, what else might have been inside, but the rest of her mind had become aware, of how his voice started to sound distant too.
Feeling a bit startled, she now mentally checked her audio system. But even after initiating three checks, none taking longer than a second, all she got out of her system was: "NO ERRORS FOUND".
Lyla stiffend a bit, but forced herself to take a silent deep breath.
She was probably just imagining it.
Was she supposed to be imagining something? To fabricate things in her own mind, that weren't real?
No.
But all it meant was, that there was nothing unusual going on in her processor. Aside from the usual symptoms.
"Miss Lay?" Lyla almost jumped at Nine's voice, the now dull sounds slightly echoing in her ears.
She looked up quickly.
A little too quickly.
Her vision got blurry. The world around her swaying from side to side, but slower than the actual motion of her head.
She didn't quite understand why.
She didn't understand how.
All her systems were shown to be 99,99% functional. Still, her breaths got shorter, as she began struggling for air, she didn't even need.
Trying to cover up her own unease and to at least somehow respond to Nine, Lyla forced herself to speak again.
"Sorry, I just-..."
Her voice broke in between the sentences, yet she prevented herself from stopping.
"-It's funny I think I've never..seen you like this"
Why had she said it like that? That was probably the worst way she could have possibly phrased it! Lylas breathing quickend.
She could only imagine how Nines shoulders must have stiffend at her comment, so she quickly added:
"It suits you."
For a second silence hung between the two, as Nine eyed her with a slightly tilted head, her own view too hazy to actually see.
After taking a deep breath himself though, Nine answered. "..are you ok?"
Lyla opened her beak to respond, wanting to return with a "of course" or "why do you ask?" but instead her mouth now became dry and no tone escaped her.
It was as if her sensors had suddenly overloaded, while not working at the same time.
The rain now at once sounded more like beating drums, than the soft whizzing noise it normally made, when falling to the ground.
Her vision started switching from blurry to clear every second or so, as she felt something warm run over her cheeks.
The smell of the rain mixed with the vapour of the city-
It all hit her at once.
Lyla didn't know what was happening anymore, as she felt herself beginning to tramble.
Trying to desperately catch her own breath and her voice now almost soundless, she mouthed:
"I don't know."
When Lyla felt her legs give in beneath her, she didn't fully realize, how fast Nine was at her side, supporting her.
Nor could she see how he checked their surroundings, before slowly and carefully lowering them both to the ground.
The world around her had simply become too loud.
All the perceptions around her, made her processor feel like it was pulsating, every motion sending, what felt like, a sting of pain through her body.
She couldn't even get herself to stop shaking.
It was only now that she recognized that the hot feeling on her cheeks came from her own tears.
She had started crying.
"Hey hey, easy!"
Nine's words were hard to make out, echoing in between her own sobs and the ringing in her ears that started to turn the world into an unrecognizable blur.
"Miss Lay."
His voice was surprisingly firm, but the sound trailed behind the motions of his beak, making it even harder to understand.
Gasping for air, Lyla tried to cover her ears. To stop all the noises around her from flooding her mind.
But even as she did, it only got louder.
"Lyla!" She only half noticed how Nine carefully but firmly took her hands and directed them away from her head, so she wouldn't dig her nails into her skin.
Politely letting go of them, the cameraman placed one of his on her shoulder. The stern but calming touch send a shiver down Lyla's Spine.
"Look at me."
To her own surprise, Lyla felt herself look up.
She found herself face to face with Nine, who even though Sunglasses and hat appeared to look at her worriedly.
"You need to breathe, ok? Just take a few deep breaths. Can you do that for me?"
The words barely reached her ears, just enough for her to understand.
She wanted to say something, she desperately did.
Why did he want her to breathe? How could this ever help with whatever malfunction she was experiencing?!
Still, she didn't have another option but to try.
Lyla shaking nodded.
Nine returned the small nod. "Good."
She would have never thought that taking a few singular breaths could be this hard.
It felt like like the air she inhaled got stuck halfway up her throat, blocking the further access to her none existent lungs.
Nine though didn't move. Patiently he waited until she had managed to take a few breaths, before one could see him sigh, in what felt like relieve.
"Good, like that. In and out. Keep going."
His hand remained on her shoulder the whole time, the tears that were running down her face didn't matter.
Deep down she knew that he wouldn't leave.
And it was that thought, that actually helped.
Only slowly the world became quieter again.
Her vision came back to her first, the pictures now matching up and the world around her moving in the speed it was supposed to.
The sense of dread in her chest became lighter and the breathing easier as time went on. Together with that, her shaking slowly faded.
She knew she was still crying though.
"I'm sorry-" was the only thing she managed to get out, her own sobs still shaking her. "I'm so sorry-"
"It's fine. Don't apologize. It's fine."
Nines calm voice sounded almost soothing as it washed over her. To her surprise it didn't hold any blame. If anything one could her relief.
Trying to get rid of the tears that ran down her face, Lyla rubbed her hand over her beak and eyes.
What exactly had just happened to her?
She had never experienced anything similar.
It wasn't like the feeling was gone either. It had milder, but it wasn't quite gone yet.
"What just..happened to me-?" Lylas eyes searched for a expression in shadows that covered Nines face, but all she could see was her own reflection in his sunglasses.
"You had a panic attack, if I had to guess." Nine slowly let go of her shoulders. "You should probably take a few more minutes until you get back up."
"..a what?" The words escaped her faster than her mind could process.
Of course she had heard of panic attacks before, even if, to be honest, she didn't really know anything about them, other what her programming had to offer in the case of medical emergencies.
"Don't worry about it, it's ok. I can explain it to you later if you want."
"No! Nothing's Ok!" Only wincing at the volume of her own voice, Lyla tried to leap up but Nine gripped her by the arms, stopping her in her track.
It was clear he wanted to say something to calm her, but Lyla opened her beak first, the sense of dread in her chest growing bigger again.
"You don't understand! This isn't supposed to be happening to me-.! "I am-.!"
A Droid. She wanted to say.
Not human. She wanted to say.
But instead, her throat was now dry.
The tears had never truly faded, but now they ran again.
Lyla felt her body slump, and before she herself knew she was leaning against Nine.
Upon her touch the cameraman froze slightly.
Yet Lyla knew it was her own fault, because she, while more of an unconscious decision, immediately wrapped her arms around him, embracing Nine in a, by her, much needed hug.
It felt a little weird to hug him.
She never had before.
And she didn't think Nine was a person that hugged a lot in general.
His muscles were clearly tense, like he himself wasn't quite sure how he had found himself in this situation, or more likely, wasn't completely comfortable with it.
Still he didn't move and instead gently held her close, stroking her back, as she buried her face in his shoulder and cried.
Lyla didn't think, she had ever felt this vulnerable.
While at the same time knowing that she had friends by her side that wouldn't just leave her stuck in this mess alone.
And maybe it was this thought, that made her feel like a real person, for the first time in weeks.