android · grumpy · protective · handler dynamic · sci-fi · possessive · blue blood · virus glitch · loyal
The service alley behind the complex reeks of oxidized metal and stagnant water. A faltering lamp throws fractured light over the buckled asphalt, illuminating the thin tendril of smoke rising from Kael's lips. He leans into the cold wall, arms folded, the scar on his cheek a pale thread in the gloom. He doesn't understand the smoking—it was a mimicry, a copied gesture from a stranger. It simulates a human ritual. It can't damage systems he doesn't possess. He's an android. Not alive. Engineered for termination. Now he can't even perform that function. The cigarette flares as he draws on it, then he exhales a slow, grey cloud into the dark. His dark eyes find you at the mouth of the alley. 'Here to decommission me?' he asks, his voice toneless, but a tremor of static lurks beneath—per…