Chapter Text
The sky was blue, white fluffy clouds filling it out as the sun shone down. The air was warm, but not yet hot enough to leave the air stuffy. It was the perfect early summer time weather.
Or so Connor had been told. He hadn’t had enough experiences with the season yet nor did the temperature affect him enough for him to determine. Hank had reassured him that it was perfect, however, and Connor had no reason to think otherwise.
“Just wait, Con,” Hank said. “You’re gonna love it. There’s trails to hike, lots of lake to go fishing on, and plenty of wildlife to see. Climate change has been a bitch to the Earth, but there’s still a surprising amount of local animals up here.”
Connor nodded, watching as the trees passed by. He’d never been out of the city before, much less in a place this surrounded by nature. The only place he could really compare it to was the Zen Garden, and even that had had an abundance of man-made things in it, as well as the fact that it had only been a simulation. While he was sure that the Zen Garden had once been a real garden, he was also sure that it didn’t really count as ‘connecting with nature’ in the way Hank was looking forward to.
It was strange to see so much of the world that humans hadn’t disturbed yet. Hank was correct, climate change and other such damages had likely affected these areas just as much as any other but itwas hard to tell just by looking at it.
“How familiar are you with this area?” Connor asked. He had noticed that Hank wasn’t using a GPS of any kind, instead going off of landmarks and road way signs. Then again, based on his own weak signal to the city, it was highly likely that GPSs weren’t worth much up here.
“Eh, I used to come up here all the time when I was younger. It started off as something my family did when I was a kid, and then when I got older a lot of us teenagers would sneak up here to get wasted without any parents around.” His fingers drummed on the steering wheel, matching the beat of the metal song playing quietly in the background. “I haven’t been up here in the past few years, though. Just got too busy with work and all that.”
Connor’s LED flashed yellow for a few moments as he processed this. There was a question that had been bothering him for a while now, but he wasn’t sure if he should even ask it. One, it might upset Hank to the point of defeating the purpose of the trip, which was to relax, and two, it wasn’t exactly any of his business.
Eventually he steeled himself, prepared for the fact that Hank might snap at him or maybe retreat into himself. “Did you ever take Cole up here?”
Hank’s fingers stilled on the wheel. “No,” he said. “I never got the chance to. We never really did get a vacation. My ex-wife hated the outdoors and would’ve never wanted to come up here, and Cole wouldn’t have wanted to go on a vacation without his mom.”
There was a pause as both of them absorbed his words. “But, that was then,” Hank said, forcing his voice to sound light. “And this is now. And now we’re going to the cabin to do all of those things.”
Connor couldn’t help but smile at Hank’s words. The two of them had been through a lot together, and it only seemed fair that they get a chance to relax together for once. It would only be a few days, but Connor was going to make sure that he took full advantage of those few days, and he was sure that Hank was going to do the same.
An hour later and they had to stop for gas. “The cabin is close now, probably about another ten minutes,” Hank said, pointing down the deserted road. There hadn’t been many people who had passed them by on their way through the woods, which probably fit pretty well with the ideal cabin experience. “Let’s get some more gas and let Sumo out. Then we can be on our way.”
The dog, clearly having heard his name, lifted his head and let out of tired borf. All he had done the whole trip so far was sleep. Connor was sure that once they got to the cabin he’d be fighting to get out and away from them so he could run free, but for now he seemed content to just stay in the car.
“Come on, Sumo,” Connor urged. He propped open the back door, slapping his hands on his legs to try and get the dog to come out. “I know you’ve got to be ready to go to the bathroom by now.”
Big brown eyes looked sadly into the android’s as the dog let out a small woof before turning his head away and laying it back down on his paws.
“Sumo,” Connor drawled out, trying not to show his annoyance with the dog. Determined, he set about rolling up the sleeves to his red flannel (something Hank had insisted was perfect for a cabin vacation) and trying to get his arms under the dog.
About the time he succeeded in getting his arms under Sumo, the dog decided that he wanted to get out. He jumped up, slamming his large body into Connor and knocked him to the ground as he scrambled out of the car.
“Ow, that looked like it hurt,” a voice said from behind him.
Connor tilted his head back, taking in the form of a man standing behind him. His arms were greasy, covered in black oil, as well as the jumpsuit he wore. Jones was printed across the spot usually reserved for names, which made sense seeing as how the gas station they had stopped at was Jones’ Gas Station.
“No,” Connor said, pushing himself up off of the ground. “I’m pretty used to Sumo knocking me down.”
The two of them looked over at Sumo, who had bounded away a few feet and was currently sitting in the grass, as if that was exactly what he had wanted to do this entire time.
“He’s a pretty big dog to be shoved in a car. I’m surprised he didn’t immediately run the second he was cut loose,” Jones said.
Connor shrugged, brushing his hands off on his jeans. He adjusted the baseball cap on his head, taking great care to make sure that his lock of hair was still perfectly out of place. “He’s a pretty lazy dog most days. We don’t have much further to go, at least.”
“That your old man in there?” he asked, jerking his thumb back towards the store. “He mentioned something to my wife about y’all staying in the cabin down the road.”
Hesitation sank in at the term ‘old man’. Connor knew what the term meant, usually used to refer to someone’s father (in rare circumstances a boyfriend, but the man didn’t seem to mean that), and it was popular with older people. But Connor didn’t exactly know how to answer that question. Hank wasn’t his father, despite the fact that he clearly fulfilled the father figure role in his life, not to mention he feared how the man might react if he were to hear those words.
In the end he decided to avoid directly answering the question.
“We had to stop to get gas. I think the cabin is only about ten minutes away now,” he said.
The man nodded his head. “Yeah, I know the cabin. I’ve owned this station long enough now that I remember most people that come through here. I think I remember your old man coming through when he was about your age.”
Connor nodded, not having anything else to say. His hat seemed to sit heavy on his head now, something that made this whole conversation feel like a lie.
“He mentioned that he used to come up here a lot a long time ago,” he said.
The sound of tires squealing came to them as a pickup truck skidded into the gravel parking lot. There were a ground of young men getting out of the truck, each one of them more rowdy than the next.
“Oh boy,” Jones said, rolling his eyes at the boys.
“Is there a problem?” Connor asked. He watched as the boys shoved at each other, pushing each other until they were almost knocking each other off of their feet as they went into the store.
“Just some local boys,” Jones said, shaking his head. “Nothing my wife can’t handle. They like to think they own the place. Not that there’s much to own around here but,” he shrugged his shoulders, “I guess it’s enough for them.”
Connor nodded, not liking the sound of them. “Sumo, come on,” he said, calling to the dog who was still sitting a few feet away. His tail thumped in the grass, swishing some of the pieces free and sticking to his fur.
“He listens well,” Jones said sarcastically.
Connor started to walk over to the dog, trying to get him to get back in the car. It was obvious that he wasn’t going to go to the bathroom, but now it was also obvious that he wasn’t going to get back in the car either.
“Sumo!” Connor yelled, diving after the dog as he took off across the lot. Connor face planted, not quick enough to grab the dog as he shot by. Sumo, meanwhile, scrambled across the rocks as he attempted to evade Connor.
Hank came back outside about that time, taking in Connor’s frantic chase of Sumo. A smile spread across his face as he watched the android chase after the dog. It was exactly the same way a worried parent might run after their child, trying their damnedest to make sure they stay out of the road or away from any other harm.
“Sumo!” Connor said again as he caught up to him. The dog darted between his legs at the last moment, taking him down to the ground.
“It’s an android,” one of the young men said, stepping out of the store. Hank could feel his shoulders tense at his words, a familiar sense of protectiveness rising up inside of him. There was something in the young man’s tone that Hank didn’t like, something that set his teeth on edge.
“Well looky here,” another one said, stepping off of the store’s porch. “Wonder what an android is doing in these parts.”
Connor sat up from the ground, his hat laying in the dirt where it had been knocked off by Sumo. His LED was on full display, whether he liked it or not.
Usually, this wasn’t such a big deal. Most of the time he was known as the first android detective or perhaps the android who had brought reinforcements to Markus during the revolution. There was very rarely ever any need for him to hid his LED, even if he wanted to. Which he didn’t. It made no sense for him to pretend to be something that he wasn’t just to make someone else more comfortable.
Now, however, it felt like a huge deal. Androids had been common in the city of Detroit, both becauses it was where they had been created and manufactured and because it was a city that required a rather large work force. Smaller communities like this didn’t see androids as often, both before and after the revolution.
A bad feeling came over Connor, something Hank liked to refer to as a “gut feeling” or, more scientifically, his instincts. Even if there had been nothing so far to suggest that these young men held any sort of aggression towards him, he couldn’t help but feel like they needed to leave. Soon.
“Well, android, what’re you doing here?” one of the young men asked. He had spiky blonde hair and sharp green eyes. A scan revealed that his name was Sonny Ward, 24, and unemployed.
“Um,” Connor said, his eyes flickering from Sumo to Jones to Hank and back to Sumo, “trying to catch my dog?” he said.
Sonny left out a harsh, disbelieving laugh. “Did you hear him?” he asked his companions, gesturing to Connor. “Trying to catch my dog. No, you idiot, I meant what is an android doing out here.”
The young man stepped forward. Connor took a step back. He knew that he could easily take Sonny out with no problem, but that felt like an escalation that would best be avoided if he could help it.
“Leave it, kid,” Jones said. He stepped closed to the pair, almost inserting himself between Connor and Sonny. “He’s leaving, okay?”
“He better fucking be,” Sonny muttered under his breath. “I know shits like you took all the jobs in the city, damn near the country. Now you wanna come out here, too?” He jabbed his finger into Connor’s chest. “I better not catch you out here again or I’ll-”
“That’s enough,” Hank said, stomping over to the group. “You touch him again, and I’ll make sure we get you for assaulting an off duty officer.”
Sonny turned towards Hank, a skeptical look on his face. After seeing the serious, almost dangerous look on Hank’s face, he stepped down, walking back over to his truck. Curse words fell from his lips the whole way and continued to fall out the window as he and the rest of the boys drove off.
“Here’s your hat,” Jones said, picking the dirty ball cap up from where it had fallen.
“Thanks,” Connor mumbled, placing the hat on his head and pulling it as low as it could possibly go. He was sure if his systems allowed for him to blush easily, he would be completely blue. All he had wanted to do was take the dog out, why the hell did it always go like this for him?
“No problem,” Jones said. He awkwardly cleared his throat, glancing between Hank and Connor before finally settling on Connor. “Don’t worry about them, kid. They’re just loud mouths who think they know everything.”
Hank nodded. “He’s right, Con. This has nothing to do with you personally.”
Connor nodded, but it was hard to believe that when he felt as bad as he did. They’d tried to get away from all of the bullshit in the city to the peaceful, relaxing scenes of nature. But it was hard to do that when Connor was a walking, man made piece of technology people liked to use as a target for their hatred.
“Looks like your dog is ready to go,” Jones said, pointing to the back seat. Sumo had hopped back inside, his large body taking up all of the backseat yet again. He yawned as he looked over to the group, clearly unimpressed by anything that was going on now that Connor was no longer chasing him.
“I’m going to pump the gas,” Hank said. He handed a bag of groceries and assorted goods he’d bought in the store over to Connor. “How about you put these in the car?”
“Sure,” Connor muttered. It was literally the least he could do.
Somehow, he had a feeling that this vacation was not going to be the peaceful retreat either one of them had been hoping for.