Deviant Behavior (Connor x Reader)

Pack Mentality

They were chasing you.

Every turn – haunted. Every conversation – an exorcism. Every lecture – preaching to the choir.

You'd been dancing for rain to wash away your sins, and now you had the storm...

You didn't account for the flood to sweep through the streets of ground zero.

Keeping your head down now would only serve as a drowning device.

"Hey," Hank barked your last name, "Come over here for a sec."

It was time to come up for air.

You stood. Locked eyes with him, and Connor – who watched you through slits.

That gust of breath was pulled from you like he was summoning it to be his own.

"What's up?" You choked, sitting next to Connor on a folded leg, the other anchored on the floor.

"We're off the fucking case...The FBI is taking over."

"What?" Your brows creased, and you planted a hand on the desk, "But we're on to something. We just need more time-"

"I've said it all, kid. And in Fowler's own words, 'This isn't just another investigation, it's a fucking civil war.'"

"He also said 'we're talking about national security.'" Connor huffed.

"I mean, he's not wrong. He has a point."

"Fuck that." Hank growled, "Can't just pull the plug on something like this. We've been doing good work with what we had..." He ran a hand through his beard, crossing his arms and looking at Connor hopelessly, "We're about to crack the case...I know we can solve it..."

"You heard what he said, Lieutenant...You're back on homicide, and 'the android returns to CyberLife...'"

It was the thing you'd been avoiding the most. The one truth you wanted to stay submerged under while it floated on the surface.

Connor's inevitable confiscation.

"Everybody is terrified their android will turn on them..."

"So you're going back to CyberLife...?" Hank asked what you didn't have the gall to.

His head turned, and his eyes flickered. To you, at you, around you – the constant tug and pull that came with having to work with him.

"I have no choice..."

But the room was crowded, and there wasn't a corner quiet enough for you to even grab him and slip away that would give either of you an ounce of privacy.

"I'll be...deactivated, and analyzed to find out why I failed..."

It'd been awhile since you heard him this defeated. Couldn't remember a time that compared, actually. You wanted to hug him. Kiss him. Give him your keys, savings, everything he needed and tell him to run.

A wish and a dream.

"When the deviants rise up? There will be chaos." His jaw hardened as he "cracked" his knuckles, tie slipping between his knees as he hunched over, "We could have stopped it...but now it's too late."

He closed his eyes, and gave the floor quick, tight headshakes.

"I might not be qualified to judge, but...You're an outstanding police officer..."

His forehead creased as his eyes rose from the floor, peering into the softened heart of Hank Anderson.

"...And a good person."