Work Text:
Tyler’s head buzzed. Life seemed to be happening too slow and then catching up all at once like a buffering video. He blinked hard because he needed to be doing something right now, but the buzzing spread fast down his arms and back up again.
On the ground in front of him Navarro laid with that thing on her face, its body inflating in time with her stomach. He needed to get it off, but he didn’t move because they’d tried pure strength against it and it had only tightened its hold. They must’ve tried pure strength; he wasn’t sure though, a fragmented memory from moments ago floating in his mind of touching the slick body of that thing.
His stomach turned. God, he couldn’t remember why his head hurt so much. He clapped a hand over his mouth, bile forcing its way up his throat. No one took notice as he stepped aside, hanging his head low should he need to throw up, drawing deliberate, slow breaths in through his nose, the air tickling his knuckles as he exhaled.
Discussion grew louder over his shoulder then quieted again. Andy and Rain kept their voices even, but he couldn’t tell what they were talking about. He knew he needed to be paying attention.
He jumped when a hand landed on his shoulder.
“Oh Jesus, sorry,” Rain said, and he had to look away from her sharp eyes. “Are you okay?”
He nodded at the ground, prying the hand over his mouth away and using it to wipe at his face. “I’m good. I can help.”
She didn’t let go of his shoulder, instead turning him around fully so he faced her. He continued to hang his head low, the lights of the room blurring bright in his vision, amplifying the buzzing in his body.
“We’re gonna try to get that android up again,” she said, voice still even, though he could hear the small breathlessness in it. God, he dragged her into all of this. “Andy is looking over it now.”
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know this was gonna happen.”
“I know.” She moved her thumb back and forth across his shoulder. Such a sad look in her eye. “We know.”
“Fucking hell.” A sharp pain behind his eyes. “My head is killing me.”
“No permanent damage, hopefully?”
He furrowed his brow, rubbing at his forehead. “What?”
“From Bjorn.”
“What’re you talking about?”
Andy called out to them from across the room, kneeling over the ripped-in-half android, giving them a thumbs up. Tyler wondered if it bothered Andy; a dead android.
“What did Bjorn do?” He asked as they moved back toward the group, Tyler crouching to heft the android up where Andy indicated. Another sharp stabbing, but a glance at Navarro made him swallow the pain.
“I mean, one of those… things”—Rain couldn’t help looking toward Navarro too—“was on you. I told him to do something. To help you. And he used that electric stick on it.”
Tyler paused for a moment, Andy tilting his head at the hold up. “Wait a minute, Bjorn electrocuted me in the face? And I don’t remember it?”
“Just here will work,” Andy said, motioning toward the console a few feet ahead. The dead android's body grew heavier as he held it up, his muscles shifting from the unnerving buzzing to a trembling.
“It knocked you out for a minute. You don’t remember waking up?”
He shook his head.
The concern on Rain’s face grew deeper, her hands coming up to hover over his arm like he was about to fall over any second.
“Maybe you should sit down, Ty. We’ll get the android plugged in.”
Stomach twisting again, he carried the android to its place, dropping it loudly, earning the eyes of everyone in the room. People he’d gotten into this situation. He honestly thought they could do it. Thought he could do it.
Years of reading about military missions and Weyu technology and how to work weapons, and now that the actual thing was happening he fucked it all up. With their eyes on him, he worried they could see through him. He needed to be who he pretended to be—the one who would get them out of there. Out of Jackson’s Star. Out of lifetimes of pain and death. Out of this fucking space station.
He steadied himself. “Plug it in.”