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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Ordem Paranormal (Web Series) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Lila Bonelli & Leandro (Ordem Paranormal), Lila Bonelli & Ricardo Rocha Rodrigues (Ordem Paranormal), Leandro & Ricardo Rocha Rodrigues (Ordem Paranormal) Characters: Lila Bonelli (Ordem Paranormal), Leandro (Ordem Paranormal), Ricardo Rocha Rodrigues (Ordem Paranormal) Additional Tags: Campaign 08: Ordem Paranormal: Natal Macabro, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, shanyqua and nathalia get mentioned, ethical but illegal practices, sentient androids considered non-sentient legally, Hurt/Comfort, repair work, android!Ricardo, human!Leandro, human!Lila, referenced abuse of an android, Lila and Leandro trained as mechanics together, lila fixes people, leandro gets them after they're written off and breaks them down for scrap, is it corpse theft if they're an android?, I guess in this au not legally, Aftermath of Torture, it wasn't for info but we can call it torture yeah, Dehumanisation, major injury (of sorts), aftermath of panic attack Summary:

Leandro grows a conscience. Ricardo wakes up terrified. Lila is a good friend, and that makes both of these things her problem.

(A Natal Macabro Android AU birthday fic for @wsdalt )

Lila knows that something has been going on with Leandro for a while. He is not exactly subtle about it, swinging as he is between asking questions about her charity work, and avoiding her entirely. Still, she had been expecting he was considering a career change, maybe finally escaping the looming presence of his father's empire, not... Not whatever this is.

"Say that again," she asks him, phone tucked between her shoulder and her ear as she shoves random equipment in her toolkit.

"How do I stop an android panicking?"

"Usually by not being an asshole," she runs a hand through her hair, reminding herself that her best friend acknowledging an android as being capable of panic is still an improvement on where they were before. "Try not doing whatever upset them?"

"That's-" a pause, where it sounds somewhat like Leandro is trying to placate someone. "Look, I did what work I could with him deactivated, but you know they need turning on to assess the electronics! And his are clearly about to give in. Let alone the pneumatics."

Pronouns too. God, what has Leandro been up to these last few weeks?!

"Legally speaking," she tells him, keeping her voice calm. If she needs to stage a rescue... "You're supposed to retire and disassemble any android displaying negative responses, and return the parts for analysis."

"Fuck that," he replies, quick as a bolt. "I'm not... Lila, I rang you because you're good at this shit. You know I don't do repairs."

He doesn't do feelings either.

"Just turn the android off; I've got work today, I'll come over and fix it tomorrow."

"About that..." Leandro hesitates, and Lila could kill him. "Can you call in sick...? Food poisoning or something? Some of the modifications on this thing aren't... strictly legal. And I can't get to the control panel with my fingers intact."

Could kill him? She is going to kill him.

But Lila is a good friend. She prides herself on that, and Leandro is clearly trying. This is a step beyond covering for her charitable repairs, the off-books fixes for androids supposed to be decommissioned and the forged safety certifications. This is him barrelling in, like an idiot, trying to do it himself without the skills, contacts, or resources to do it well.

It's also how a lot of people die, and a lot of laws get stricter.

She swaps to speaker phone, and starts texting her boss.

"You owe me dinner and a day's wages," she tells him. "My callout fee. We'll work out for the work once I get there."

There is a relieved sigh, and then, "Lila, you're a lifesaver."

Possibly literally, depending on how he messed this up.

"Let me grab some equipment; can you last ten minutes?"

"See you."

Leandro is the one to hang up.

Lila puts her face to her toolbox, and screams.

Fifteen minutes later, Lila makes it to Leandro's house. She leaves most of her tools in the boot, taking only her basic kit with her. Leandro should have most stuff in his own workshop, but his specialties aren't hers. She does doubt she'll need her spray paints, bur she brought them just in case; the jobs where she gets to spray paint are always her favourites.

Letting herself in, she calls out to Leandro. He calls back that he's in the study; she was expecting his workshop, but she knows his house nearly as well as her own these days.

The door to the study is shut; she knocks, and lets herself in.

In one corner is Leandro, a couple of screwdrivers and a voltmetre in his pocket. In another is the android; his feet are sticking out from where he is hiding between the settee and the wall. Hair too, now she looks, just peeking out over the arm. He's tall, for an android. An older, bulkier model perhaps.

Leandro glances at her, equal parts desperate and thankful, then at the android hidden away.

"Hey, Ricardo," Leandro says. "Lila's here; you remember Lila, right? Can you please let her look?"

Remember...?

Leandro shakes his head at her, and she ignores him. Making sure to keep her exit clear Lila steps around, to where she can see and be seen by the android.

He is... a wreck. Of all the technically salvageable androids Lila has seen Leandro decommission, this one is possibly in the worst state. She isn't even entirely certain “salvageable” accurate, with one arm attached by a single, overstrained bearing. Tapered roller, probably, and it will need replacing if they can reattach the rest. She's somewhat surprised Leandro activated the android without repairing that, but he never did quite grasp how to fix things.

Leandro said remember, but Lila does not recognise the specific android. It might be easier if his synthetic skin were not torn and hanging from the skeleton, leaving gaping wounds of exposed metal. Something in the cheek area is sparking concerningly, but she doesn't think there's anything flammable close by...

The model she does recognise, though; the Panacea R450 series have long been discontinued, but back at university the pair of them had both trained on such androids. If Leandro recognises him, then chances are he's one of those - retired from the university but not scrapped as legally required, but sold on to... Lila has no idea, but the illegal modifications are obvious - one of his elbows has an embedded chainsaw, for Jesus' sake. Pit fighting, maybe?

She hopes it isn't pit fighting. She and hers have tried to save pit fighters before, and sometimes they can, but usually...

Of all the sorts of android that cross her workbench late at night, its the pit fighters she is most rarely able to save. Damage too extensive, modifications too deep, she can only hope...

Point is, if he is an old university android, Leandro had always made it known that he was following his father into inspections and decommissioning. The poor android probably recognises him, if only because he was a prick. It took Nath for Lila to learn to appreciate the humanity of androids, but even before that she was never as cold as Leandro was to them.

"Leandro, why don't you go grab my stuff from the car?" She reaches into her pockets, and offers him her keys. "Just put it in your workshop, I'll work it out later."

"You'll be okay?" He does actually bother to check.

No, but she smiles and nods for him with gritted teeth - the fact he survived a panicky android who probably hates him personally does suggest this 'Ricardo' isn't too dangerous, but Jesus only knows what he's packing.

At least Leandro takes the hint, and leaves.

Lila...

Lila takes a deep breath, and steps a little forwards. She waits for Ricardo to flinch, then backs off a step, and sits down.

He eyes her warily, both eyes working but one devoid of skin.

"Hi," she tries to grin and be gentle, but seriously Leandro, what the fuck - she has so many questions for him later. "Sorry about Leandro, he's kinda an idiot sometimes. I'm Lila, its nice to meet you."

He doesn't say anything, just stares at her. Taking a deep breath, she presses on.

"I'm a repair tech," she says, fishing out and showing her license. "Leandro called me because he doesn't know how to fix you - I don't have a decomm license, don't worry about that. If he was going to scrap you, you wouldn't have been turned on."

A flinch, but nothing else. He doesn't seem too panicky right now, but Lila can see the damage to the furniture; right now he's probably more pained and burnt out, but the chances of stumbling on a trigger...

"Would you come out?" She tries, dear god, she hates this part. "Back to the workshop? I-"

"No!" His speakers are clearly broken, but the growl and fear in his voice are audible nonetheless. That's... it's not legal to make an android that can sound angry or upset.

"No?" Lila bites her lips, twists a ring, assesses. "It would really help? You're going to need powering down to properly assess that arm, and there's circuitry damage in your face. I can't fix that from here."

The growl grows louder, and Ricardo backs himself further away.

"There's..." she struggles. "My workshop?"

"No," he crackles out. "Not powered off. Not again. I don't-"

"You don't?"

"Where am I?" He asks, fretful. "I don't remember- I remember, but I don't, and- it hurts. Powering off hurts. You lose things when the power turns off."

"Or have them added," she murmurs, looking at that chainsaw.

That's.

An android who cannot be powered down without distress is not an android that can be allowed to exist. It's not a kind existence, either, to always be running so low. This one - if he is truly as confused as he appears, chances are there was a shoddy memory wipe. Just enough for the criminals who modified him to hide themselves, she bets, but not enough to grant a peaceful oblivion. One that trips, and takes chunks, not entirities.

"I can just power down sections," she offers, knowing just how much trouble she could be in for that. "You'd still be conscious, and have all your other limbs. But I can't help with the electricity running."

She gets a wary look, not a reply.

It's not a no...

Actually...

Okay. None of the damage she can see is immediately dangerous, though the sparking cheek is close to it. Still, he desperately needs repairing. Lila has no idea if Ricardo can feel pain - it’s a bit hit and miss as to which androids can - but his state cannot be comfortable.

Comfortable...

If he woke up in Leandro's workshop...

Hang on, maybe she can work with this! Leandro doesn't need bedsheets, right?

"Okay," she breathes. "Okay. There's a component sparking in your cheek, I'm pretty sure it's the control board for your eyelid. The missing one. Can I come disconnect that?"

It is a fire risk.

Ricardo must know it is a fire risk - he raises a hand to the damaged cheek, it hovering there a moment. Then he turns his head, granting her easier access whilst keeping his eyes firmly fixed on her.

"Thanks," she tries to smile, but is pretty sure it's forced.

Slowly, letting him stop her if he needs to, Lila approaches. She puts her tools down beside him, fishing out insulating gloves and plastic tweezers. If she is really lucky, the circuit board will have wires she can just unhook. She probably is not that lucky, but with no good way to isolate the board...

She is not that lucky, but she does find a place she can disconnect power to that board specifically. It's not a standard function, but is a university one and only proves her theory about him being a training android.

"Nearly there," she tells him. "Sorry I'm in your face, I just don't want anyone on fire."

Oh, God, this could have set her, him, or Leandro's house on fire - what was that idiot thinking, nor disconnecting it earlier?! Now she is close, as Leandro must have been earlier, she can see the water damage to the circuitry.

Actually.

Water damage on...

It doesn't look like a submersion, or any sensible sort of leak. It looks more like something dripping from inside until it corrodes the iron, but who the hell puts water inside an android's face?!

She does have a vague idea, but refuses to acknowledge it.

As soon as Lila is done, she hands the damaged board to Ricardo, and backs off again.

One eye remains fixed on her, the other desyncs to look at the chip.

"Water damage," she tells him. "Leandro hasn't told me how he found you, but it might have been from that?"

It wasn't, but Lila likes to think positive.

"Do you..." fuck, what now. Oh, right, yes, now he won't set soft furnishings on fire, comfort. "Look, here is pretty shit for repair work. I don't think I have parts for your model, but I can at least stabalise the damage; how do you feel about Leandro's guest bedroom?"

There's a pause, and then a deadpanned "what."

Now the board is removed, Ricardo's face whistles as he speaks, air forced out through the gap in his electronics, and the hole in his skin..

"Leandro's guest room; we can use the bed as a workbench. Much more comfortable."

Most repair techs would not dare, but Lila does it all the time for Nathalia. It's a bit more complicated but, honestly, she's not sure what she can do for Ricardo right now. Make a parts list and tone down the system errors he must be getting, she hopes. That's got to be a headache...

Ricardo seems confused by the offer, working brow furrowed as he stares at the chip from his face. Eventually though, he nods. It is a little hesitant, and with a whistling "I'll need help to stand."

Lila looks at the size of him, and winces. She... Nath is not a big android, and Lila struggles enough with her. Ricardo...

"I'm going to have to ask Leandro for help, then," she winces apologetically. "I won't let him do any nonsense, just... you're kinda big. And there’s stairs."

With the hole in his face, Ricardo's laughter sounds like wheezing.

By the time they get Ricardo to Leandro's spare room, Lila is regretting offering to drag him so far. It is very apparent that most of his joints are barely holding together, and she's pretty sure a bolt in one ankle breaks as they move. Welding is not going to be an option in a bedroom, so hopefully it's one they can just replace.

Or Ricardo doesn't need his ankle, but Lila somewhat doubts that. Especially already missing an arm.

Not trusting either of them to ask, Lila turns to Ricardo, "do you want Leandro to stay?"

Leandro makes a vaguely offended noise at the idea of being thrown out of his guest bedroom, but Ricardo shrugs so... They can sort themselves out.

"Alright," she grabs her dressing gown from the back of the door, and tosses it over Ricardo's shoulders. It will make her job a little more awkward, having to move it to access his limbs and controls, but that's more than made up for by the relieved sagging from getting to cover himself even a little.

It helps; Lila's worked with enough scared androids to know that the first step is treating them like their feelings exist and, even with your hands in their guts, privacy matters.

"I'll start with your legs," she offers; maybe giving him the ability to run back first is dangerous but, again, the more trapped he is the more likely he is to overload himself. "I know there's a snapped bolt in your left ankle, do you know of anything else?"

Ricardo is a bit slow to answer, but when he does it's with a pained expression and a wince, "my sensors are confused."

That... is its own problem. They'll have to find a programmer for that; Leandro and Lila both only work in the physical. They can do basic computer stuff - back up and wipe chips, reformat them too - but not anything they can’t just handle with software and a button. Still, it's not one that's going to kill him, or even render him dangerous. Later problems.

God only knows where they'll find a programmer willing to enter a conspiracy, but there's got to be one somewhere.

"No worries," she tells him, disconnecting his lower left leg from the power, and looking for the broken bolt. It's an easy find, and an easier fix, one part having sheared off and the other quick to twist out. "Leandro - an M22-2.0-40, if you would?"

Leandro doesn't know his way around her toolkit, but he does find the right replacement; she twists it back into place, then manually flexes the foot to test the joint. Once again she gives Ricardo his own, broken parts, before moving on to checking the rest of the deactivated area.

Methodically she and Leandro work through Ricardo's body, repairing what they can, and writing what they need for the rest. Really Ricardo should not be upright with the stress fractures in his spinal plates, but there's not really other options so just... Lila tells him to be careful, and hopes for the best.

His power system is surprisingly intact, at least. Charge might drain a little fast from age, but there is no damage, and no fire risk. Leandro admits to having checked his brain chips already - confirms the partial wipe, but also that those are intact. He also admits to making backups, just in case there was actual damage. Lila suspects Ricardo will, if he stays, eventually take him up on the offer of regular backups - illegal, but lifesaving in the case of data corruption - but for now that's probably too invasive to consider.

Power systems and brain chips are the hardest parts to replace, so that is all excellent news. The rest... less so. The damage is extensive, and most of it cannot be repaired, even if they had the workshop; so many parts are broken beyond repair, and Lila is now absolutely certain in her analysis of pit fighter. Too much of it is damage only born of fighting, and with the number of weapons-based attachments...

Some they can remove.

Others Ricardo begs them to take out, but there's no way to do it without detaching his entire arm.

And it is the only one currently even partially functional, too.

When Lila tries to explain that, Ricardo makes an awful noise; if he were human she would call it crying, but only the most advanced androids are programmed to cry. As it is... Maybe he learnt to mimic it, somehow.

"It's alright," she promises. "We'll get the parts, then replace it. It's not forever."

That does not seem a particularly convincing argument, from how he continues to maybe-cry.

Lila...

"Leandro," she asks, struggling for ideas. "Do you have a first aid kit?"

"Yeah?" He looks at her like she's gone mad.

"Can you grab it?"

Maybe they've both gone mad, or maybe Leandro just wants to escape the agony in the room; he hesitates, but does not question her before going to get it.

"What we'll do," she tells him. "Is pad and bandage it. It shouldn't be too hard to shape around, and it'll both support the joint and stop you damaging anything with it. I've got the parts list here, and hopefully our supplier will get it in soon."

Ricardo's an old model, but he was popular in his time - the parts might still be common stock, there should be plenty owned by poorer folk now.

"Your shoulder, too," she suggests. "Once I'm done with everything else... there's no way I can fix all that, but we can bandage it to keep it together, then sling your arm to keep it still. And where your skin is broken! I can glue most of it, but where bits are missing we can put plasters on it."

"You sure?" Ricardo asks. "I don't bleed."

"I don't have to!" Lila back peddles rapidly. "Just a thought; it's what I do for some of my other clients while waiting for stock, but if you don't want it..."

"It's a waste," he tells her, more confused than anything.

"It's not," she tells him. "If it helps. Being hurt sucks, mate; if a plaster is going to make you feel better it's worth it."

It's not exactly standard practice, but... Nathalia's owners ask Lila to do it, and she fell into the habit. Other androids seem to appreciate it, the being treated a little more human in their pain.

Either way, for the saw-elbow and the shoulder it's a matter of practicality. Those she is gentle as she winds bandages into place, securing them with little clips. Leandro has to tie the sling, Lila having never quite worked out the correct knot, but that works too.

As for the holes in his skin...

Lila digs around in the tin, knowing Leandro for the filth he is. Eventually she finds a few boxes of children's plasters - the patterned ones - and offers them to Ricardo. She does offer the plain fabric ones, too, but... Well, she's never met an android - or a person - who actually wanted the pink ones.

"... Lila?" Ricardo asks.

"Go on," she nudges. "Which do you want? The spot on your knee'll need to be pink, but the rest of the holes are small enough for whatever."

He glances to Leandro, somewhere behind Lila's shoulder, then back to her. Slowly, with his less messed up arm, he points out a box of plasters decorated with sports equipment. She cannot really blame him, given everything else is some flavour of bats or skulls - honestly, Lila blames Shany for the sports ones being here at all.

"Good choice!" she smiles at him, putting the others away.

One by one she glues the holes she can and sticks plasters over the rest, making sure all of Ricardo's components are sealed inside. His skin is a bit of a mess, but there's something somewhat funny about seeing his now hulking frame covered in children's plasters.

"All done!" she eventually says. "Or, well, for today. Hopefully that's everything stable, and... the shopping list will be a while, but we'll do our best."

Everyone in the room knows it's a matter of not just money, but the legality of even repairing him in the first place. It leaves an awkward air, broken by Leandro standing. He pulls something from one of the bags he brought up - a long wire that he offers to Ricardo.

"It should fit," Leandro refuses to make eye contact. "There's an extension cable with a free slot behind the bed, just tug the lamp wire."

A charger, then.

"Thanks...?" Ricardo takes it, and eyes them both nervously.

"I doubt anything in the cupboards will fit," Lila says, knowing it's mostly her's - maybe something from Leandro's father, or one of their exes? "But you're welcome to anything that does. And, keep the dressing down."

The rest... charging is usually a private matter, leaving androids feeling even more vulnerable than before; the blind is already shut, but Lila makes sure to pull the curtains before she does.

"We'll be downstairs if you need anything," she tells him. "You can read the books, too; try not to move too much, but a little walking shouldn't hurt you."

Leandro is already gone.

Lila hesitates a moment, then follows.

"Leandro, what the fuck." Lila slams her hands into the kitchen table as she hisses the words. "Do you know what you're even doing?!"

"It's fine," Leandro replies. "We just don't tell anyone. Once he's fixed nobody will know."

"Nobody will- Leandro, at best it will be months before we can fix him. Physically! Mentally he's a wreck. If he's ever able to survive alone as a rogue android, it's not going to be soon."

"He can stay here," it comes with a shrug. "Only you ever visit anyway. Like this we could even say he's my cousin or something, it’s not like anyone will check."

That never goes well, but Lila... Lila is tired. She flops down into a chair, putting her head in her hands, "how did you even find him?!"

"I didn't," Leandro shrugs. "I hadn't thought about him since uni, but then Shanyqua rang up to say she'd found some broken beyond repair android in a ditch. Asked if I wanted it for scrap. Gave her some money, took it home, and..."

"You recognised him?"

Leandro shook his head. "Ran a scan to check the memory chips before wiping them. I... was bored, so had a look. Just to check nothing was corrupted and I could sell the chips in good conscience. But then I saw myself, and..."

He gestures helplessly.

She runs her hands through her hair and gives it a firm tug.

"Fucking hell, Leandro," Lila's anger is mostly gone, but god is she tired. "Of all the times to grow a conscience. Couldn't it have been over one of your barely damaged decomms? One of those ones a rich ass just replaced for a better model?"

Leandro shrugs, and Lila knows it couldn’t. If it could have been, they would have been having this conversation years ago. It’s not… She’s not unhappy about it, but if he’d just told her from the start rather than needing to do a rush job before things boiled over and just proved the government’s shitty point…

"I'll stay tonight, but I have to work tomorrow," she tells him. "I can't delay Nath's repairs longer than that, it’s not fair to her. I can trust you to ring around for parts?"

"Of course. What do you take me for?"

"A lot of things, but as of tonight I'm not sure they're all true."

Leandro freezes; Lila leans over, and touches his hand.

"A good thing," she promises, trying to push the bite from her voice, bring it back to something softer. "I'm just... What the fuck, Leandro, what the actual fuck."

"I'll get the sofa-bed set up," he pulls his hand away, closes off again. "Take out menus are on the fridge; pick something."

There's a confused, illegally modified android upstairs, Leandro's pushed his emotions too far for the day, and it's only lunchtime. Only lunchtime, and already they're setting up beds and ordering food in.

It's also only Monday.

Lila's just hoping the world doesn't get upending again this week.

#ordem paranormal #ordem paranormal natal macabro #opnm #opnm fanfic #op fanfic #alternate universe #android au

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