Work Text:
Gabriel runs his fingers through a shallow slash on his arm. The cut was scabbing by now, and Lust’s light gave it an odd color. Angels healed quickly, at least. Not quickly enough - licking his wounds after the first few clashes with V1 took several hours - but his current injuries, various small cuts and bullet grazes, would heal on their own.
Speaking of the machine, Gabriel glances toward them. V1 sits on a nearby bench and examines their revolver, the weighty weapon turning in their hands.
The angel and the machine had settled into an uneasy alliance. They sparred occasionally, satisfying each other’s need for a fight, an equal match. Afterwards, Gabriel would let V1 “feed” off his injuries, his blood. The angel thrilled in the arrangement, but it had been brief thus far. Not enough to fully trust each other.
Not enough to trust that one day they wouldn’t eventually try to kill each other again.
V1 stands - and the thump of something heavy hits the ground. The angel and the machine both look down. One of V1’s lower wings was flickering, fading. Along with it, the shotgun it stored had fallen out and clattered to the ground.
The machine blinks their single optic and cranes their wiry neck towards their back. The bright yellow of their wing sputtered one last time. Going, going… then gone.
“Machine?”
Gabriel stood and circled around V1’s back. They craned further. The angel supposed he shouldn’t be surprised their neck was that flexible - it made sense for a machine built to self-repair.
Then they both saw it. On the bottom left of the metal plate that housed V1’s hard light wings, they could see a small, clean tear through the metal, black and singed.
“Did that happen during the spar?”
V1 shakes their head. In the last hour, Gabriel had never touched their back. They recall a Mindflayer from not too long ago, though, and a laser attack they thought they had just barely dodged. It must have grazed them after all.
V1 turns to pick up the shotgun and set it on the bench. Then, still standing, they hold up their index finger. Metal shifts and morphs until it transforms into a cross-slot screwdriver. V1 twists again to look back at the plating. Their finger reaches back, feels for a screw, then begins to spin to loosen the plating.
Gabriel blinks behind his helm as he watches V1 work. His gaze does not go unnoticed, though, and the machine stops to glance at him. Stock still. Despite the lack of expression, Gabriel could guess they were wary of him watching them expose a potential weak point. He held up his hands.
“I’m only curious, V1.”
The mention of their name, not just machine , gives them pause. A moment passes. Finally, V1 continues. Four screws later, the back plate comes loose. Gabriel crosses his arms and tilts his head. Under the plating was a set of interconnected tubing and cylindrical pieces that came together like bones, all supplying power to all eight wings.
Well. Seven at the moment. Gabriel looks to the base of the broken wing. Like the singed plating indicated, tubing connected to the wing was blackened, the top layer cleanly sliced through. Inside was two torn, frayed wires. The angel assumes that whatever grazed V1 caused the initial damage - then general exposure eventually tore the wires the rest of the way apart. Their last spar was likely the final strain.
“I see it. The wires. The, ah…” Gabriel brings his hand up and waves it in circles, struggling to find the words. He doesn’t know V1’s inner workings. “At the base. It’s torn.”
V1 strains to get a better look. Their lowest wings were always the hardest to evaluate. Even with the ability to look back with more flexibility than most humanoids, the position was awkward. They reach their hands up to feel for it.
A few minutes pass. Metal fingers feel at the wires and V1 mentally assesses the damage. They try to pull the wires together - but feels them slip from their fingers twice in the small cavity. Their eyes narrow, annoyed. They were experienced with their own repairs, even the awkward ones, but feeling around their own backside wasn’t any less frustratingly clumsy.
Then, they hear Gabriel sigh. V1 glances up just as he kneels down behind them.
“You’re trying to put them together, right?”
The angel is much larger than V1, even without his armor, and kneeling nearly puts him at their full height. Their stare doesn’t go unnoticed:
“I’m aware of my stature,” Gabriel says dryly. “Humans have always been vexingly small, and you’re not much different.”
Their eye narrows. The angel ignores it and gestures to their backside.
“The wires. They’re meant to come together?”
A long silence passes. Gabriel’s hands move down like he could do it, like he wants to try. V1 is tempted to shove him. They weren’t keen to let someone else poke around their insides - much less someone who used to want them dead.
But…well. By now, maybe they’re past that. The fact that they were both alive after their last few bouts could say as much. Maybe the angel trusting V1 enough to let them feed off his blood said even more. To trust him enough to touch them too…
V1’s shoulders finally ease. They nod.
“Alright.”
The unspoken agreement gives Gabriel confidence. His own wings settle. They shift forward, and his large wingspan curls inward toward V1, wrapping the two in blue light. V1 looks forward as the ethereal tips brush against their feet.
“Heaven lights the way in more ways than one. My wings help me see better down here at times,” Gabriel explains. “At least in Lust. Don’t ask me how the damned could adjust to this much purple.”
V1 could imagine him striking down Minos for that reason alone.
The angel leans down. V1 feels his palm on their back, - then warm fingertips touching the inner tubing. Their back straightens suddenly, working wings twitching upward.
“I take it that tickles?”
Something like that. It was mostly…weird. It’s been a long time since anyone touched or examined them like this. Not since humanity was alive. Before they could finish that thought, though, they feel two hands take their wires.
“I’ll have to keep these parts of you in mind,” The angel murmurs. V1 looks back. Their eyes narrow, and their head tilts. Suspicion, or a glare? The angel holds a placating free hand up. “So I don’t damage it further in our future sessions. So what now?”
V1’s head lulls back in something akin to an eye roll. They hold their hands up and mime a twisting motion with their fingers.
“Twist them…together?” Gabriel blinks and looks back down. “Okay...”
The wires start to come together. V1’s body hitches again. The movement feels unsure at first, but slowly becomes sure, consistent. Again, it was surreal to feel someone else in there. Someone V1 had yet to completely trust, but…
They had to admit to themselves: It was nice not having to repair themselves for once. With some stubbornness, they could have likely fixed it on their own eventually. But it was…comforting. Comforting to have an extra pair of hands, extra eyes on the problem - assuming Gabriel even had eyes back there.
Suddenly, they feel a spark of energy. Yellow light catches V1’s eye, and they turn. The broken wing flickers again - first in hiccups, just barely there, and then reappearing at its full strength as they feel the twist of wires become firm, tighter. Gabriel made a sound akin to amazement and looks up to marvel at his handiwork.
“Ah! That was…surprisingly simple.”
V1 flexes their full, working wingspan. They touch the twisted wires too. Not bad. They muse over finding solder to better secure the connection, but…well. Soldering wasn’t something they were ready to teach Gabriel yet. The connection would be fine for now.
“Not bad for my first repair, then,” Gabriel remarks with a smile in his voice.
V1 picks up their back plate and gestures for Gabriel to hold it up for them. Screwing everything back in place only took a few more minutes, and they were done. V1 then fully turns around to face Gabriel, still wrapped in the shroud of his own wings.
They hold out a thumbs up.
Gabriel stares for a moment. Silent. Then he bursts out laughing.