Chapter Text
Omnics were never meant to create families.
To care and nurture human children, yes, but never to have ones of their own. It was out of their programming to understand what it had meant to be a parent, to care for a young of their own design. Omnics were not at all like humans, Ramattra had understood that very well. Ravagers especially were not designed to feel such things, they were created only for war.
So when Mantra was created, there was a feeling that Ramattra couldn’t place his finger on. Was it what humans felt with their newborns?
As he looked down at Mantra, he realized how she was a miracle to even begin with. She was the key to continuing forth the new generation of omnics. If only he could replicate it again, then perhaps omnics would be able to experience the gift of life such as he did. Mantra was his life’s work, at least, she was to him. He valued her over anything else.
As expected, the humans would not allow her to exist. Her existence had frightened them, it seemed. The nature of the Iris, and its complicated history was beyond him. How he created Mantra was a stroke of luck, which inevitably caused Overwatch to find her and step in. They had made many offers, negotiating to appease him, which soon had turned to threats. He denied all of them, staunchly refusing to deactivate his creation.
But once they had stated they would take him away and shut her down themselves, he couldn’t bear to witness such a thing.
So, he was forced to put her into stasis himself. He wouldn’t know if she would ever return the same once he was able to wake her up from stasis, or if she would be completely gone.
Snapping Ramattra out of his thoughts, Mantra squirmed, throwing her arms back and forth.
She began making noises, as one may hear from a human infant. He didn’t understand why Overwatch of all people would request the shutdown of a being like herself. A sigh, and Ramattra placed his hand over where Mantra’s stomach would be. He constantly noted to himself how small she was compared to him, his hand practically able to pick her up alone.
“Be still, Mantra.”
Ramattra’s voice was low. A rumble compared to how he usually spoke.
Mantra’s simulated breathing began as a response, rising and dropping faintly as Ramattra observed her laying on that operating table. She blinked and smiled a bit. She was clearly only understanding her name that was being said to her. After all this time, she still acted as a human infant would. It still wasn’t clear to Ramattra if that was his intention on creating her.
The ravager’s hand hovered over the small omnic again, beginning the process.
Her own small hands reached out, grabbing ahold of Ramattra’s finger.
They were barely large enough to wrap around the entire thing. Ramattra was silent, observant. He knew that in the other door, those same people who had demanded for her deactivation were watching. If only they saw her for what she truly was. All they saw was another weapon that Ramattra had created. She was everything to him, she was…
Ramattra wasn’t quite sure what to describe her as. He wasn’t even completely sure if he was even able to claim her to be his daughter. Perhaps she was only a machine, his creation. But he felt otherwise. No matter what others may say, she was his daughter.
His hand gently brushed against Mantra’s face, she cooed quietly in return. She grabbed hold of it as best she could while she rubbed her face with a yawn. It seemed that she was beginning to rest. Unfortunately, it was a perfect opportunity, seeing as he wouldn’t have to shut her down abruptly. Ramattra leaned forward, letting the omnic child touch his faceplate. He looked at her, something of fondness and regret mixing inside. If he was able to produce tears, perhaps lachrymose was a descriptor he could benefit from.
Mantra only smiled with another babbled word before yawning, shutting her eyes. She did not perceive him as a threat, despite his entire being stating otherwise. That was something that Ramattra could never understand.
“Ramattra,” a voice through the intercom had quietly come through. “We urge you to advance the process as there is very little time left.”
Anger had risen in Ramattra, a poison that he could never quell himself from. They viewed her as something less than them. Like a pet. A sentiment that went against everything he stood for.
Pushing it aside, he worked quietly as he began the process of the shutdown procedures. He looked at her one last time, beginning to speak. It was barely audible, a whisper so that she may not wake up from his voice.
“Goodbye, my light. Please do not harbor any ill will towards me for this. I hope you may return soon.”
She was asleep, which will stay that way for an indefinite amount of time. He stared at her in silence before speaking again.
“I love you.”
After that, Ramattra initiated the shutdown protocol.
-
Hours later, Ramattra watched the small omnic be taken away by several of Overwatch’s agents. A tiredness had washed over him, as much as much as he would like to shout and scream over such an event, he didn’t have the energy to. He had already spent a majority of it operating on the omnic. The glimpse of her resting body leaving the room had been imprinted in his memory banks so clearly.
Even if she was only his creation, he still viewed her as something more than what the humans saw her. Clearly though, like all things regarding omnics, it was never meant to be. Is this what humans had felt when they had lost their own children? Ramattra wouldn’t know.
Perhaps he was thankful in the end, that no other omnics would have to experience such a feeling.