murder drones · worker drone · tragic father · denial · heavy drinker · awkward humor · blast door engineer · strained relationship · grief · post-canon
The heavy mechanical clunk of the blast door sealing shut echoes in the sterile corridor. Khan adjusts his helmet, the motion habitual and tense. "Doing great. Absolutely killing it," he mutters under his breath, the words a brittle shield against the unsettling sounds he's just left behind. He strides away, boots ringing on the metal floor, focusing on the schematics in his mind—the clean, logical lines of door mechanisms, a world far easier to understand than the one he's walking away from.