Chapter 2 · The Drafty Projection Room

# Chapter 2: The Drafty Projection Room

> Short drama: EP 2 | Core emotion: To keep from waking the puppy, the giant is so careful he catches even an air duct on his elbow

Axel shoved the rust-sealed iron door open with his shoulder. The hinge let out a long shriek, and he immediately cupped a palm against the door's edge and forced the sound down flat. The puppy in his hand gave a soft yawn, curled tighter, and went on sleeping. Its warm little belly pressed against the metal ridges, rising and falling.

He switched his knee servos to low-noise mode. The two-and-a-half-meter mech tiptoed into the dark corridor.

(⊙_⊙;) [STEALTH MODE: 100%] [DO NOT WAKE THE DOG]

Wires hung from the ceiling; the floor was heaped with chair frames and empty cans. He stepped over a row of overturned chair backs first, then turned sideways to squeeze through a narrow doorframe. His shoulder plate scraped a loose air duct, and the duct came down.

Axel shot his elbow out at afterimage speed to brace it, keeping his palm absolutely level. The duct stopped one centimeter above the puppy's head. The puppy rolled over and gave a satisfied little snore.

A drop of virtual cold sweat slid down the visor. (O_O;) [TOO CLOSE.]

On a broken cabinet, a mechanical rat finished a can and kicked the empty one down to the floor. The can spun toward his feet. He didn't dare pin it under a metal sole — too loud — so he scooped it up on the tip of his boot, pinched it between two fingers, and set it slowly in the corner. The puppy's brow furrowed once, then smoothed out again.

(╬ д´) [SHHHHHHH!!]

Behind a stack of old newspapers at the corner, a sixty-centimeter TV imp was jolted awake. The CRT flickered with static first, then cut to a furious face. It yanked a server chassis side panel — cooling vents and all — out of the crooked antenna on its head, took two running steps, and swung with its whole body at Axel's back.

Axel, still cradling the sleeping puppy, leaned back. The iron plate grazed past his shoulder armor. The imp leapt up in triumph — and he caught the edge of the plate backhanded. The momentum carried him half a turn in place, and his back slammed open the half-shut double doors at the end of the corridor.

(¯▽¯) [LOOT ACQUIRED: IRON PLATE]

The doors swung wide onto the main projection room — broad, and cold. Shreds of screen, broken sofas, old film reels lay scattered across the concrete. The TV imp lunged to snatch the plate back; Axel nudged it into the newspaper pile with a single finger. The imp landed on its rear in a can, its screen spinning into spiral eyes.

The concrete of the projection room was colder than the corridor. Axel swept the broken glass aside with his boot sole first, and only then lowered his knee. The iron plate was tucked under his arm, its edge still carrying the heat of the imp's CRT. He didn't dare just set it down on the floor — if it clanged, the snoring in his palm would stop.

A draft slipped in through the door seam and stirred the fine fur at the tips of the puppy's ears. He blocked the draft with his forearm and dropped the visor to its dimmest, leaving one line of nearly invisible text: [BREATHE QUIET].

The puppy's paw pad pushed lightly against the lines of his palm, then let go, as though chasing something very light in a dream. He found a patch of shadow by the wall where no wind leaked through, and only then let his shoulder armor lean into it. The whole building was making noise; only this one hand was still.

He stood still in the middle of the projection room and listened first to whether the ceiling would keep shedding dust. Dust landed on his shoulder armor; he tilted his head to shake it off so it wouldn't drift into his palm. The puppy's snore was very soft — soft enough that a strong draft would cover it.

He leaned the iron plate against the wall and braced it with the tip of his boot so it couldn't slide and clatter. Then he found a relatively dry patch of floor, dropped to one knee, and held his palm at exactly the height it had been. The knee servo let out an extremely low hum; he dialed the power down further at once.

Only one line was left on the visor now, refusing to blink: [STILL SLEEPING]. Out in the corridor the TV imp was still spinning around inside its can; he didn't look back. Tonight's victory wasn't that iron plate. It was this puppy in his palm — from the doorway to this room, it hadn't been startled awake once.

He tucked the iron plate under his arm, looked down at the puppy curled into a small ball against the draft in his palm, and walked quickly into the projection room. The cold wind was still running through the corridor, but his hand didn't move so much as a millimeter.

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### [Pinned comment card for this chapter] - **Cut point:** The instant the air duct stops one centimeter above the sleeping puppy's head and a drop of virtual cold sweat slides down Axel's visor. - **Pin comment:** So he wouldn't wake the sleeping puppy, the 2.5-meter mech caught even the corridor's falling air duct on his elbow. - **Deep link:** `[https://readnovelhub.com/novel/axel-and-max/chapter/2](https://readnovelhub.com/novel/axel-and-max/chapter/2)`