"Ma'am," the synthetic voice sounded from behind her, "this one requires maintenance."
She sighed, and swiveled her chair around. "What is it this time," she asked dryly, "another fridge magnet stuck to your chassis? Another spider in your wires, somehow?"
The drone before her had the sensibility to appear chagrined. "apologies, Miss, nothing like that this time." It held up its lower left arm, or what remained of it. The entire length was crushed and twisted like it was tinfoil, fluids dribbling from fractures in the metal.
She made an angry noise, an instinctual reaction to seeing her work destroyed.
"What happened," she growled, already selecting tools from the various cases around her workstation.
"minor malfunction in the processing chamber," the drone answered neutrally.
Her scowl tore into the drone. "And why wasn't I informed of this?" she hissed.
"this one elected to tell you personally as it was already on route, and the issue was minor," the drone said apologetically. "it's already been resolved, with this one being the only actual damage."
the mechanic huffed, holding something thin between her teeth as she removed her light jacket. "C'mere," she grunted around the tool in her mouth.
The drone obliged, maneuvering into position on its back on her workstation, its left side facing her.
She took the tool out of her mouth and plugged it into something, her other hands still moving nonstop as she prepared to work.
She paused with her thumb on a switch. "You know this is gonna hurt?" she asked, looking down at the drone's faceplate.
"yes, this o—"
The drone didn't finish before she flipped the switch and a white-hot light at the tip of the tool severed its shoulder joint like it wasn't there.
The drone screamed with a broken, synthetic noise, a sawtooth wave rubbed the wrong way against a square.
She grinned at the sound. "You drones think you're so invincible, until you have to come crawling back to me," she said, picking at something internal with a sharp tool.
The drone's scream was fluctuating. With no need to breathe, there was no panting, no breaks in the sound.
"But like you say, the job is its own reward, you know," she continued, barely audible over the noises she was extracting from the drone. Her hands switched tools again, this one eliciting a high-pitched whine from her patient.
"This is gonna take a while, you know. Another couple hours."
The drone, barely capable of staying still on the table, turned its head to the mechanic. "can—can—can—" it stuttered, attempting to speak despite the continuing work.
She smirked, still not stopping, and put her face an inch away from the drone's.
"Can what? Hmmm?" she teased.
She jabbed something into the drone's side that made it hiss with white noise, akin to a gasp, then leaned back in her chair, stopping for a moment.
"Something to say?" she asked, still smirking.
The drone tried to speak, processors still too scrambled for complete sentences.
"can—c—this one? please? please?" the drone managed, every word garbled with interference.
"Hmm? Your advanced drone functionality has finally managed to figure out I'm a little pent up, huh?" she said, almost growling.
The drone's arm flailed on the table, and its head twitched in a way that could be construed as a nod.
"You want to please me? Take off your visor," she demanded, her smirk becoming a sadistic leer.
The drone complied, removing its visor with a twitching arm.
The mechanic stepped from the chair to the table in one movement. She unbuckled her belt and let her pants drop, the many pouches and tools clacking against the surface.
Before the drone could stare, she dropped her hips.
"Get pleasing," she growled, and switched on another tool.
The drone didn't hesitate, though the only visible sign was the mechanic's scowl fading slightly. She didn't tremble or pause as she got right back to her repair work, the drone's screams muffled between her legs.
