She could still hear the static, it thrummed in her ears to the beat of her heart. Her head felt hot, or maybe she didn't have a head anymore. It was hard to tell, everything hurt ...was she dead? Dying? What was she?

...Burning

...She was burning

Jerking alert, Roxie yanked her helmet off her head, chucking it to the side with a hiss when it zapped her hand. It rolled to a stop next to Robert's helmet, abandoned in the corner.

Wait, Robert- where?

"That was, what the fUCK?!-" He was pacing, head in his hands. Roxie stared in shock, he was-

"Rob, you're bleeding-!" Patches of his hair were soaked in blood, thin lines trailed down his face, dripping onto this sweater. He stopped his pacing for a moment to shoot her a pointed look, before continuing his rambling. She huffed, and wiped the sweat from her forehead. What the hell just happened? Why were Eva and Neil fighting? Why did they look like that? Who the hell was- why the hell was her hand covered in blood?! Oh, oh... Glancing at the forgotten helmets revealed that some of the inner panels had come loose. In the dim light, she could see smears of dark red. Looks like she had her work cut out for her.

"siiigh" Robert wasn't looking at her "SIIIIIIIIIIGH"

"Roxie, saying 'sigh' out loud will change nothing" He was keeping his voice low, getting zapped out of the simulation had bloomed into a major headache. Both literally and figuratively. They'd thrown the blanket over the malfunctioning machine for the time being, neither wanted to deal with the light show it was putting on. With a huff, she went back to fiddling with the helmet currently in her lap. In the corner of her vision, she watched her partner move towards their patients.

Their state was the same as it was several hours ago, shaking and freezing cold. They needed to hurry, the sooner they got them out and in a hospital the better.

"...Their hands are stuck together" What.

"what?" She looked over again at Robert, he was holding Neil and Eva's hands up. Somehow, despite the fact that they were unconscious, he couldn't get them to stop holding hands.

"That is... strangely adorable" Roxie mumbled "aaaaaand, perfect blackmail material!" She snapped a photo before returning to her work.

"Roxie..." Robert started with a disapproving tone, glancing down at their sleeping friends "...at least send it to me, Neil is never going to live this down." She grinned, texting him the photo while trying not to laugh.

The helmets had been fixed for fifteen minutes now, Roxie staring at them apprehensively while Robert looked everywhere except the tech. Neither of them wanted to relive their last disaster of a simulation, the resulting headache would probably put them out of commission for at least a week. Well, better late then never. Roxie grabbed her helmet, hands definitely NOT shaking, and jammed it on her head. She vaguely registered Robert putting his helmet on too, before the room melted away for the second time that day.

As the simulation bled back into her vision, it was immediately clear that something had changed. A solid wall of text stood before them, stretching out in all directions almost endlessly. Behind it, Roxie thought she could see two figures, ever locked in battle. The staticy crackle sounded muffled, but she still found herself tensing up. Robert had grabbed her hand again, his grip so tense it was almost painful. Like he was afraid she'd just dissapear, that he'd lose her. Something in the barrier began to shift. Condensing into something like a blackhole, void of color. It was standing between them and the wall.

Glitched green eyes locked on blue.