A/N: To the anon who asked, no, this isn't a one shot! I expect it to be as long as The Good, The Bad, The Robotic if not even longer!
Makina had never known discomfort. All his life he'd just rolled with everything thrown at him. Blood, gore, violence, certain things he should not have seen - none of it had affected him at all.
Until now, that was. As he watched Medibot pluck his backup processor right out of his system, he couldn't help but feel slightly squeamish. It meant the emotion manipulator in him was running well and fine, but it wasn't a good feeling. Several months ago he had agreed to have am emotion simulator permanently installed into him, and since then he'd been exposed to the wonderful (and terrifying) world of human emotion. It had helped him to relate to the mercenaries better, but it had also left him worn and tired, unsure how to cope.
His old processor had only happened to recognise annoyance, interest, guilt and satisfaction by accident, but now he had seen fear, hatred, joy, surprise, suspense and the like. Makina wasn't sure if he liked it at all.
"Do you think the Admin will let us leave during this break?" He wandered. Medibot's attention was mostly on the metal device on the table, but he made time to hum in response.
"To be quite frank vith you, I don't zhink zhe Admin really cares vhat ve do, so long it doesn't have anyzhing to do vith her or zhe mercenaries and zheir intel. Vhy asking?"
Makina refused to look at the processor on the table. "Well if I have the chance I think I'll go out into town for awhile… take a break or something. There's no reason for me to be cooped up in here. At least you have your research to do."
Medibot shrugged. "Vell if you insist. I'd go vith you but I need to stay and do my research. Just don't get into trouble and let me know before you leave, ja?" With a hard shove, he pushed the secondary processor back into his system. Makina tried not to complain about the unnecessary force applied, simply taking it and getting up.
"Alright." He paused for an awkward moment, feeling a little upset at how Medibot was acting. He must have been stressed out if he acted so curtly. "You take care," he added in before hurrying out of the room.
God, that was awkward. Mulling over the decision to take off when the mercenaries left for wherever they were going, he retreated to the storeroom which had so kindly been cleaned out of useless junk to make space for him when he came over to RED. It was an okay place after all the dust had been swept out, with a single, mostly-boarded up window which he could stick his sniper out of and scope around. He had furnished the place with no more than a chair and a charger plugged into the wall socket for the night. As a robot, he didn't need much and he didn't have a knack for interior design either. All he needed was enough for himself to get by in the night, which wasn't anything more than a chair to sit in so he didn't fall over and a charger to recharge his battery.
As mercenaries passed by the closed door, he could hear discussions. Demoman and Scout mentioned something about taking off to Scotland so he could introduce the lad to even greater alcohols. Heavy mumbled about bring his mother a present when he visited. All around him the mercenaries chattered excitedly over their plans, this having been the first break in a long time.
Sighing, he picked up the old sniper rifle leaning against the wall, carefully poking the barrel out through one of the gaps in the boarded up window that provided little light, and lining up the sight with another gap. The scratched and rusted weapon hadn't been fired in ages - he wasn't allowed to shoot during battles and one could only shoot down birds for so long before getting bored.
Drumming his finger against the trigger, he tracked down one of the large birds of prey that circled the hot, blue sky, endlessly searching for prey that had succumbed to the heat. It moved in languid, fluid circles, never circling the same area twice. Makina found it relatively easy to lock onto his target, what with his mechanised system that had originally been made for tracking and shooting. He found himself in line with the bird, his crosshairs tracing the bird's movements easily. Without thinking, he pulled the trigger, steadying the recoil. The bird dropped from the sky and hit the ground, a thin cloud of dust flying into the air around it before settling.
He stared at the dead or dying bird for a while more. Guilt sparked back up, running down his titanium alloy spine and coursing through the rest of him right to the fingertips. Slowly, he pulled the rifle out of the window and slung it over his back, deciding to go out to take a look at the bird. If it wasn't dead, Medic wouldn't mind healing it right? The RED Medic had always liked birds, constantly surrounding himself with doves.
As he left the base's entrance and out onto the old flower patch which had only recently began to grow again, he passed Engineer who was tending to the small shrubs that were growing despite the sweltering hear. The man didn't so much as look up as the robot passed, focusing all his attention on making sure each plant had enough water to survive.
Makina stepped in front of the bird, staring at the clean bullet wound right through its body. He reached down, grabbing it by a wing and lifting it up. It was completely limp, but he couldn't tell if it was dead or not. He had only been programmed to detect if humans were dead, and the thing in his hand was confirmed not human.
Turning to Engineer, he decided the Texan would better be able to decide if the bird was dead. Engineer automatically flinched as the dead bird was tossed right next to his flower patch. "Well what in tarnatio-"
"Is it dead?" Makina asked, staring at the bird. Engineer experimentally poked it before gingerly holding it by the wing and turning it over. Already it was beginning to turn cold but not stiff yet.
"It's dead alright. Hell, Ah reckon Medic wouldn't mind havin' at it. God knows what that man's ever up to." The Texan shook his head, handing the dead bird back to Makina who simply stared at it in blank confusion. Engineer stretched his back, feeling several satisfying pops before sighing and relaxing. "Y'all should head on back. 'S too hot out here, and that can't be good for the metal." He teasingly tapped Makina's arm.
"Aren't you going to go back inside as well? I can take heat better."
Engineer smiled and shook his head. "Ah gotta take care of the flowers. First time they bloomed in awhile, and Ah'd like to have some colour that isn't red around here. Y'all go on ahead, Ah'll catch up later."
Makina assumed that to be a goodbye and he nodded, readjusting his grip on the bird in his hands and heading back into the base. The air conditioners and fans had all been put on full blast to counter the pulsing heat that had somehow snuck into the stuffy base, and Makina wasn't surprised to see Scout lying on the couch that had been pushed up right under the air conditioner. In his hand he held a notepad and a list of things which Makina assumed to be a packing list, based on the things he was mumbling to himself about extra clothes and stealing Spy's suitcase to fit all of his stuff in.
He didn't have anything to say to Scout, so he simply passed him and went straight to Medic's office. While he spent most of his time over at BLU, he could easily recognise the RED Medic's office, identifiable by the unmistakable red cross on the double doors. Medibot would still be inside, so he simply knocked once and pushed his way in.
"Back so soon?" Medibot asked, pausing when he saw the bird. "Is zhat for me?"
Makina lifted the bird up in his hand, trying to push back the guilt as his eyes roamed the bullet wound and feathers matted with blood. "It's for whoever wants it, I guess. You, the RED Medic…" He tossed the bird onto the table, Medibot eagerly scooping it up into his hands.
"Vell zhank you very kindly for it. I don't have any plans for it, but who knows vhen it vill come in handy?" Medibot seemed excited to have it, turning it over in his hands. Already it was rather stiff, but the robot didn't seem to mind. He continued to look it over before placing it gingerly on the table, picking up a pair of forceps in one hand and digging through the bullet wound for the bullet. He pulled it out with a sickening squelch, to which Makina winced.
Shifting in his spot, Makina did his best to suppress the new, sick feelings that messed with his head. "I think… I think I'll go. Maybe see how Spy is doing. See you." Medibot's reply came as a simple grunt, too focused on his new subject of experiment. As Makina left, he couldn't help but shuffle out to see if Medibot would call him back for company. He didn't.
Loneliness, guilt and disgust were coursing through his system in the form of mixed and confusing signals, stopping several functions and firing up others at the wrong times. His movements were jerky and unstable, and he found himself leaning against the wall soon enough, vision filling up with static and head clouded with errors.
Only that the wall wasn't actually a wall, or so he found out when Spy opened the door from inside his smoking room and Makina fell in.
"Merde-!" Spy flinched as the heavy robot fell right through, crashing onto the floor. Regaining his composure, he frowned. "What exactly do you think you're doing?"
Makina sighed, his vision going black for a second when he hit the floor. At least when it came back, the static was gone and most of the errors had been solved. "…Sorry. It's been a rough day. I thought I was leaning against the wall."
Spy huffed, reaching into his jacket for yet another cigarette. "Well, you weren't. Now get up off my floor, I just had it cleaned." As Makina picked himself up, Spy made sure to notice how odd the robot was acting. "You seem a little… off." Whether the comment had been made out of concern or mockery was up for debate.
"It's the whole human emotion manipulator thing I've got going. I don't know how you people do it."
"Guess we're in the same boat then." Now that he had gotten up, Makina could see that Spy looked incredibly tired, as if he hadn't slept throughout the night. For a moment he considered asking, but knowing the assassin's temperament, decided against it. Spy nudged Makina, prompting him out of the room and sliding out himself, closing and locking the door behind him.
"So… are you going anywhere during the holiday?" Makina asked. He walked alongside Spy as the shorter man headed for the recreation room where Scout still lay.
On instinct, Spy's guard went up at the question. "Why asking?"
"Just curious."
"Non. With everyone else leaving, staying here will be as good a holiday as anything else. A nice, quiet base all to myself." He didn't get two steps past the couch when Scout recognised the sound of his shoes tapping on the polished floor, the younger mercenary flipping around on the couch, awkwardly reaching a hand out to try get Spy's attention. Spy sniffed at the sight of Scout twisted awkwardly on the couch, hands stretched out one way and legs draped on the other side of the couch.
Taking a second to readjust himself so he wasn't so uncomfortable, Scout grinned. "Yo Spy, can ya do me a favou-"
"Non."
"Ya haven't even heard me! Just do me a solid for one day and drive me to the airport tomorrow will ya?" When Spy opened his mouth to reject him again, he pressed on. "Come on, ya get to get rid of me after that."
Spy frowned. "And why can't you take ze bushman's van?"
"He's leaving like, really early man! I ain't stayin' at the freakin' airport for six hours. Come on man, just this one time and I swear I'll never sneak into ya stupid room again." Scout put on the puppy eyes, though to both Makina and Spy it only looked like a bug-eyed Scout.
For a long minute Spy had a staring contest with Scout, who's eyes seemed to get bigger and more pleading with each second. Eventually, Spy rolled his eyes and relented. "Fine. Just one time, but you do not get to touch the radio or anything in the car. And I leave at eight. If you're late, I'm not taking you."
Scout pumped his fist in the air in victory, flopping back around on the couch. Pretending Scout didn't exist anymore, Spy turned back to Makina. "I guess I'm still busy anyway."
"Oh, that's no problem. Actually… I think I'm going to go. I need to recharge my battery." Spy's reply was a nod and a small hmm, and Makina retreated back to his room while the feelings of loneliness crept back into his system. As he dragged himself back to his room, static began to fill his vision again and he barely got the door open before his entire system shut down again.
What a mess these emotions were.
