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Connor clenched his teeth, holding back a pained noise as Gavin’s fist connected hard against his abdomen. He hunched over, only to be met with the other detective’s knee hitting him in the same spot. An elbow collided between his shoulder blades, sending him to the ground. Everything in him told him to fight back, reminded him how easy it would be to make this stop, but he couldn’t. Instead he endured as kick after kick landed all over his chest and stomach. A gasp escaped his lips as he felt one particularly strong blow send a small crack splintering across his left side. Warnings popped up in the corner of his vision, detailing the damage. Nothing critical damaged, but he could feel thirium beginning to seep from the crack.
“Come on tin man, it’s not like you can actually feel pain,” Gavin sneered, stepping back for a moment to catch his breath. Connor lay on his side on the rough concrete of the alleyway behind the precinct, curling tighter around himself.
“Of course not Detective Reed,” Connor tried to keep his voice steady, “I’m just putting on a show for you.”
“Fuckin’ sarcastic piece of junk!” Gavin hissed, moving to kick the down android again, but then he paused. A wicked grin spread across his face as his hand reached for his utility belt, slipping out the taser housed there. He crouched down next to Connor.
“Maybe this’ll teach you not to talk back,” he jutted the device into Connor’s side, and his whole body jerked as the voltage coursed through his body. Though he didn’t have muscles like a human, it was as if every sensor in his body had been set on fire, centered on where the metal prongs jabbed into his side. He was left panting as it was pulled away, and a flood of angry red warnings flashed across his eyes about fried wiring. Gavin was laughing as he looked down at the android.
“Shit, that was something,” he marveled. Connor tried to focus past the warnings clouding his vision, dismissing as many as he could.
“Satisfied… yet?” Connor asked, annoyed at the static that cut through his voice. Gavin looked down at Connor, then to the taser, then his face twisted.
“Nah,” He shoved it against Connor’s neck and pain exploded through the android’s body even worse than before. Then suddenly everything went blissfully dark.
Rebooting in…
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1
Everything faded back into Connor’s senses slowly. First the feeling of the cool concrete against his body. Then the pain, radiating from everywhere all at once, worst of all from his left side and his head. It was like a pounding headache, throbbing behind his eyes and near the base of his skull. He ran a diagnostic, knowing it would be nothing good but still needing to check what to prioritize fixing. It came up with nothing. That couldn’t be right. He tried again, and then a third time but was met with the same results. Finally, he let out a frustrated and pained groan. The electricity from the taser must have fried his diagnostics program. And if that wasn’t working, then it wasn’t likely his self-healing program was going to take care of anything either.
He rolled onto his back, wincing as the pain spiked, and finally opened his eyes. The sky was dark, the half-moon shining overhead to barely illuminate the alley. He abruptly sat up and fought through the pain to push himself to his feet. His internal clock - thankfully still working - and his panic increased when he read that it was now midnight. He’d told Hank that he would be right behind him, not more than a couple of hours. That was at six. He quickly checked for any missed calls and cringed when he saw ten from the Lieutenant and a text from Markus asking if he was alright. Hank must have called him when Connor didn’t pick up. He sent a reply to the deviant leader, telling him that he was fine - no need to drag him into anything - then dialed Hank’s number. The line picked up on the second ring.
“Where the hell are you?” came the immediate, angry greeting. Talking cybernetically meant Hank couldn’t hear the shakiness that would be in his voice, but he took a steadying breath all the same.
“Sorry Hank, I lost track of time. I’m still at the precinct.”
“Don’t bullshit me, Connor, you have a clock in your head, how could you lose track of time? And why weren’t you answering your phone?”
Connor brought a hand up, pushing his palms into his eyes. Keeping the line open to talk was making his headache pound even worse as his components tried to work around the fried wires. What was he supposed to say? He couldn’t tell Hank what had really happened, what had been happening, it would only make things worse.
How could Connor tell him that this was the fourth time that Gavin had done this? It had just been more viscous, more damaging than before. The first time Connor had just chalked it up to revenge for what happened in the evidence room before the revolution. He didn’t fight back because the relationship between androids and humans was still tenuous, and if word got out about him attacking a human it would only make things more difficult for Markus.
The second time he was going to at least try to defend himself, or tell someone, but that’s when the threats started. Gavin had admitted that Hank probably would fight back for Connor, but would the android really let that happen? The lieutenant already had a disciplinary record longer than anyone else at the precinct, anything more and he ran the risk of being suspended, or worse. Connor refused to be responsible for damaging Hank’s career, even if it meant putting up with whatever Gavin had in store for him. He would just have to be smarter, and not get caught alone again. Surely he would get tired of messing with him eventually… Right? He felt artificial tears pricking behind his eyes.
“Connor!” Shit, he’d been silent too long. Hank was still waiting for an answer.
“Sorry Hank I- I guess I was just distracted.” He cursed internally again. It was such a weak answer, there was no way Hank was going to buy it. A quiet sigh came from the other end of the phone.
“Fine, we’ll go with that for now. Maybe later you’ll tell me what’s actually going on?” the anger had faded from Hank’s voice and now he just sounded tired.
“Nothing is going on.”
“Sure…” there were a few moments of silence from the other end, “need a ride home?”
Connor hesitated, then finally gave a small ‘yes.’ Saying no would only make Hank more suspicious, and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to walk all the way home like this anyways.
“Alright. I’ll be there in a bit,” the line disconnected. Connor took a deep breath and then pushed himself into a sitting position. He had to hurry and get cleaned up before Hank got there. He used the wall of the alley to pull himself to his feet before slowly making his way back into the precinct. It was thankfully quiet, with only a handful of officers handling the night shift, which allowed him to slip through the bullpen to the bathroom unnoticed.
He looked at his face in the mirror and grimaced. The right side of his face was dirty from where it was pressed into the ground and his hair mussed up. A thin trail of thirium ran from his nose down his chin. He turned the sink on and cupped some water into his cupped palms before splashing it in his face. He scrubbed, making sure there was no more trace of the blue blood, and also used some to flatten his hair back down. His LED was still cycling a tense yellow from the pain, but there was nothing he could do about it. He just had to hope Hank wouldn’t ask.
Connor moved to leave the bathroom but paused when another flash of blue caught his eye. He looked down to his side and noticed a small blue stain on the side of his shirt. He frowned then undid the buttons, pulling the shirt open to examine the damage. It wasn’t as bad as it had felt, more of a hairline fracture, and the bleeding had already stopped. Thankfully it was only on his undershirt, not heavy enough to seep through to his jacket. He rebuttoned his shirt and then pulled his jacket tighter around himself, hoping to cover it as much as possible.
He left the bathroom, trying to walk without flinching or reaching out for support. The pain had dulled slightly, allowing him to go a few steps before it spiked back up nearly making him freeze in place. It was too late now, but tomorrow after work he would have to go to one of the android clinics that sprang up after the revolution. It didn’t seem like his self-healing program was working since nothing had changed in the few hours he’d been in forced stasis. He made it to the reception area and sat down in one of the chairs, waiting for Hank to arrive.
It didn’t take long, less than half an hour later the lieutenant arrived. Hank walked through the doors, looking grouchy and tired, with dark circles under his eyes. He didn’t leave the doorway and instead motioned for Connor to come on. Connor got up, keeping his face carefully blank as he made his way over.
“Sorry Hank,” he apologized quietly as they left the building, “I didn’t mean to stay so late.”
“Yeah whatever, kid,” he grumbled, waving him off. They got into Hank’s Oldsmobile and began the drive back home. The radio wasn’t on like usual, and with no heavy metal to fill the air the silence felt suffocating. It lasted all the way until they reached home and pulled into the driveway. Hank turned the car off but didn’t get out. Instead he sighed, turning to look at Connor with an expression the android couldn’t quite read.
“I guess you’re not going to tell me why your light’s been yellow this whole time either.”
Connor frowned, reaching a hand up to cover the LED. “It’s really nothing Hank, I’m just thinking about something.” Hank stared at him for another long moment before turning away. He seemed almost… disappointed, and Connor felt like his heart - or the android equivalent - was clenching. He hated lying to Hank, hated to make him upset, but there just wasn’t another way.
“Fine,” Hank got out the car, not even waiting for Connor as he went to open the door. Connor got out, and followed quickly, just barely getting there before Hank closed the door. Sumo ran up to greet him and Connor crouched down to avoid being tackled. The large dog, full of excitement, didn’t care and knocked him to the floor anyways. He gasped, clenching his teeth hard to avoid letting out any other sound.
“Off boy,” Connor ordered, weakly pushing at the dog pinning him to the floor. Sumo huffed, licking his face for good measure before listening and going back to his pillow in the corner of the room. Connor slowly sat up and noticed his jacket had been knocked open, revealing the blue stain on his shirt. His eyes darted up, and he was relieved to see Hank’s back was turned, already heading into the hallway. He hurriedly pulled the jacket closed, before getting back to his feet. He waited until he heard the door to Hank’s room closed before he entered the hallway as well, going into his own room.
The room was sparsely furnished, only a bed and a desk. It had been Cole’s room before… But after Connor had moved in with Hank, the lieutenant had decided to clean it out and give it to Connor, something about wanting his couch back. Connor had tried to tell him that he didn’t mind, didn’t even really need to lay down to go into stasis, but Hank had insisted. Connor smiled a little at the memory. He knew Hank was only mad because he was trying to look out for him, but this was something Connor was going to deal with on his own.
He took off his stained work clothes, wincing as the movement caused his injuries to ache. Occasional bursts of static still went off through him where the taser had connected, causing random spasms of pain in his side and neck. He changed into a t-shirt and sweats before laying down on the bed and closing his eyes. Even if his healing program wouldn’t fix anything, at least stasis would give him a break from the pain.
The next morning saw Connor and Hank waking up agonizingly early. The awkward silence still hung between them and Connor was just hoping for an easy day of desk duty so he could avoid moving around too much. But ate seemed to hate them as the moment they arrived, Captain Fowler notified them they were needed at a crime scene. What had initially seemed like a dispute between two humans, actually involved an android as well. One person was left dead and the other person and the android were missing from the area. When they arrived, Connor felt dread settle in when he noticed the other car parked near the residence.
“What the hell do they need us for if Reed’s already here?” Hank grouched, having also noticed the car. It was the first thing he’d said to Connor all morning.
“We’re the only ones handling android-related cases at the moment,” Connor offered. Hank clicked his tongue.
“Fowler only said people in the neighborhood spotted an android near here, doesn’t mean they were involved.”
“I can check for any traces of thirium, then we’ll know for sure.” Hopefully there would be nothing, then he and Hank would have no reason to be here, no reason to deal with Gavin for longer than necessary, and they could just go back to the precinct.
“Alright, let’s get to it then,” Hank stepped out of the car, and Connor followed close behind. The pain in his head had started up again earlier that morning, faint at first, but now was a throbbing pressure all throughout his skull. The random stabs of static charge hadn't let up either. It was taking all his energy to stay composed and pretend everything was fine.
They walked past the police tape towards the house. It was older but well maintained, and a couple officers milled about the front lawn, watching to make sure no one unauthorized entered the crime scene. As they entered the home, they saw Gavin standing in the kitchen examining the body of the victim. He looked up at them and then scowled.
“Took you two long enough,” he stood up, turning to face them.
“Ahh fuck off Gavin, it’s like six a.m,” Hank waved him off, continuing forward into the house. Connor knelt down to being examining the body, ignoring the other detective. He faintly heard him and Hank talking about what was found so far as he cataloged any evidence. So far there was nothing indicating an android was involved, but he still had to search for-
“Hey tin can, don’t you think you were being a little rude ignoring me like that?”
Connor looked up. Hank was nowhere to be seen, likely somewhere else in the house looking for any evidence. Which left him alone with Gavin.
“What do you want, Detective Reed?” he snapped before he could stop himself. Antagonizing the already hostile detective further was probably the last thing he should be doing, but the pain was making it hard to reason properly.
“Hey, watch it,” Gavin hissed out in a low voice, stepping closer into Connor’s space. Connor took a step back.
“I apologize,” he said, hoping it would make him go away. It didn’t. Instead, he felt a fist connect with his stomach. He grunted and stumbled back a step, back bumping into the counter behind him. Connor wrapped his arms around his waist protectively, LED flashing a brief red before cycling back to yellow.
“You shouldn’t be doing this right now, detective. We’re at a crime sce-” this time the blow was harder, and Connor had to lean against the counter to avoid falling to the floor. He felt the crack in his side reopen, and thirium staining his shirt once more. He stared at the floor, LED cycling red as his stress levels moved into the upper eighties. Suddenly he heard rapid footsteps crossing the floor before Gavin was yanked away from his view.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Hank’s voice was tight with fury as his fist tightened where it was bunched in the front of Gavin’s shirt.
“Just having a little fun, it’s not like it feels anything anyways,” Gavin smirked. Hank drew his fist back, seconds away from swinging, but Connor quickly grabbed onto his arm.
“Lieutenant no!” he was almost pulled forward with the force of Hank trying to continue the movement.
“And why the fuck shouldn’t I!?” Hank roared, furious gaze never leaving Gavin who still had that smug smirk on his face. He’d done this on purpose, Connor realized. He wanted to get caught, wanted to make Hank angry so he could get him in trouble.
“It isn’t worth getting in trouble for,” Connor pleaded. Hank’s arm ripped out of his grasp and his fist connected with Gavin’s cheek in a sick-sounding crack. The detective slammed into the floor with a cry of pain. Then, ignoring the groaning man, Hank rounded on Connor.
“How long has this been going on?” Hank’s voice felt too loud, and Connor looked down, unable to meet his eyes. His stress levels ticked up to the upper eighties. He’d messed up, it was his fault that he’d gotten caught alone with Gavin. Now it was too late, Hank had done just what Gavin wanted and there was no way this was going to end well. It was his fault. His fault, his fault, his-
“Hey! Cut that out,” Hank’s voice was suddenly soft now, and his hands had reached out to firmly grab onto Connor’s wrists. He hadn’t even noticed, but his fingers had been digging into his hair, just beginning to scrape through his synthetic skin. A small drop of it ran down the side of his face mixing with… tears? When had he started crying? He still couldn’t meet Hank’s eyes. The lieutenant let out a quiet sigh.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” he wrapped an arm around Connor’s shoulders, pulling the android against his side and leading him past the still-cursing Gavin on the floor. They left the crime scene, Hank giving some excuse Connor couldn’t hear before he helped the android into the passenger seat of the Oldsmobile. He pulled away from the residence and started driving.
“Hey, talk to me son. What’s going on?” Hank asked after a few minutes. Connor could still feel the synthetic tears running down his cheeks. He couldn’t make them stop.
“Hank,” his voice came out so small and pathetic sounding, “why did you hit him? You already have a long disciplinary record, this will only make it worse… What if they suspend you, or-”
“Then it happens,” Hank interrupted. His knuckles were white where they gripped the steering wheel. “How many times has this happened before?”
“...four times…” Connor said quietly, almost embarrassed at the admission. The car jerked to a sudden stop. Connor yelped as the seatbelt dug into his chest making pain shoot through his body. Cars behind them honked their horns.
“Four- four times!?” Hank’s voice rose to a shout again as he turned to face the android. “I- shit, are you alright?” Hank asked, reaching a hand out to Connor’s shoulder where he sat hunched in on himself. He shook his head.
“I should… probably go to… a clinic,” Connor managed.
“Shit,” Hank cursed again, and pressed back down on the gas. The car jerked forward.
“Ok, hang on son. The android clinic is just a few minutes away.”
True to his word, they arrived in only five minutes, due largely to Hank treating the speed limit as a suggestion. He helped Connor out of the passenger seat and walked the android into the clinic. It was thankfully a slow day and they were brought to a room where a technician was waiting. The young woman had Connor remove his shirt and jacket, revealing the now noticeably larger crack which was still slowly oozing thirium.
“Connor, did that happen just now at the crime scene?” Hank asked.
“No,” he winced as the technician began cleaning the stain of thirium away, “yesterday. Gavin just made it worse.”
“Was that why you were actually late?” Hank asked. Connor nodded.
“What else did he do?” Connor looked ready to protest, but Hank interrupted him, “this alone wouldn’t stop you from answering the phone for over four hours.
“He kicked me a few times and…” well it would have to come out anyways for the technician to fix him, “tased me twice.”
“Jesus fucking Christ!” Hank threw his hands up, “I’m going to fucking kill that bastard!”
“Can you point to where?” the technician interrupted Hank’s ranting. Connor showed her the locations, which only seemed to fuel Hank’s anger more as the lieutenant began to pace the room.
“And what are your diagnostics telling you?” the technician continued.
“It seems the electricity damaged my diagnostics program. As a result my self-healing program hasn’t been working either.” She nodded, spending a few moments writing on her clipboard before she looked back up at Connor.
“Ok, we’ll have to run some more tests to determine the extent of the damage, and then we will probably have to replace some wiring,” she turned to Hank now, “this will probably take a while if-”
“I’m staying.”
“Alright,” she nodded, “but for now we need you to go to the waiting room so we can begin.”
Hank tensed a bit and he looked back to Connor. He placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. “Well, uh… see you in a bit son.” Connor nodded, giving a small smile back. Then Hank left the room, leaving him alone with the technician. He suddenly found himself wishing Hank could have stayed. These new android clinics were far nicer than Cyberlife’s old repair facilities, the technicians much more compassionate. Yet he still felt that old discomfort rising in his chest.
“I’m going to put you into forced stasis mode so we can start, is that ok?” the technician asked.
“Yes,” Connor lay back on the examination table.
“Ok. Don’t worry, you’re going to be fine,” she gave him a warm smile, before tapping a small device against his LED. A few seconds later, he was out.
Connor woke up slowly. The first thing he noticed was that his diagnostic program was thankfully functioning again. He ran a quick diagnostics, testing it out. The new wiring fixed the bursts of static pain he’d been feeling and it seemed the crack in his side was nearly healed as well, though still sore. He opened his eyes, confused when he realized he was back in his room at home. The window was dark and he could hear crickets chirping outside. A quick check of his internal clock told him it was just past eleven. He sat up carefully, relieved when no pain shot through his side.
Looking around, he finally noticed the other presence in the room. Hank was set up in a chair a few feet from Connor’s bed, head tucked against his chest where he slept. It couldn’t be very comfortable.
“Hank?” Connor called out. The lieutenant’s head snapped up abruptly and he almost fell out of the chair.
“Scared the shit out of me kid,” he chuckled, getting up with a groan. He reached his arms above his head, stretching his back with a loud pop.
“What are you doing in here?” Connor asked.
“Wanted to be here when you woke up,” Hank answered, walking over and then taking a seat on the edge of Connor’s bed. “How’re you feeling?”
“Better,” Connor admitted with a small smile.
“That’s good to hear,” Hank reached out, ruffling his hair. Connor fidgeted with his blankets, trying to think of how to word his next question.
“What about Detective Reed… are you…?
“Nah,” Hank waved his hand dismissively, “I made a report to Fowler while you were getting repaired. Told him everything that asshole did to you.”
“Oh.”
“Yea, thanks to those new android laws he's suspended for two weeks. Won’t be getting away with that shit anymore” Hank smirked, “Lucky him. If I have to see him again too soon I really might kill him.”
“What about you?” Connor asked.
“Two-day suspension, and don’t give me that face,” Hank wagged his finger, “I just think Fowler did it to avoid legal trouble, and so I can stay with you while you’re on leave.”
“I get medical leave?” Connor asked. Hank rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, you are an official detective now after all. Besides, the technician said it would take a day or two for those new wires to calibrate or something.”
Connor nodded. He knew that Markus had been doing a lot of work with the government to get android equal rights, but to see it in practice was different. He didn’t think anyone other than Hank would care if they heard what had been happening. To know his captain also had his back… it was nice. And Hank had always been there for him, from even before he deviated. Now that everything was dealt with, he felt kind of silly keeping it from him.
“Thank you, Hank,” Connor smiled at him, “I’m sorry you had to deal with all of that.”
“Nothing to apologize for, son. And next time Reed - or anyone - is messing with you, let me know.”
“Ok,” Connor nodded, and felt a sudden odd sense of sleepiness come over him. He blinked a few times trying to clear it away.
“Go back to sleep, or rest mode, or whatever. Technician said you’d probably still be tired when you woke up.” Hank got up and moved back towards the chair. Connor lay back down, pulling the covers back over himself. Hank sat back down in the chair, shifting around to get comfortable.
“You don’t have to stay.”
“I’m staying.” Connor closed his eyes, Hank’s presence soothing him back into stasis.
“Goodnight Hank.”
“Night Connor.”