(I totally forgot to point out before that every time you see a software instability during a non-Connor pov, that's just letting you know that whatever just happened caused Connor to have some software instability.)
~~
I hopped in my car and Connor followed with me. I wasn't very surprised after what just went down in the station. I wouldn't want to be stuck in a small space with someone who just threatened me. But my curiosity still wanted more. So I decided to ask him.
"Connor." I said as I started driving. He turned his head and looked at me.
"Yes Detective?"
"Why did you get in the car with me and not Hank?" I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye and saw him thinking for a moment.
"Well, I was closer to you at the time. And I feel that the Lieutenant could use some time apart from me." He stated simply.
"Oh." I said. So I was right. I felt conflicted. Why was I let down by that answer?
"But," Connor continued, "I also feel that I have yet to get to know you better, Detective. So I thought the optimal time to do so is when there would be no interference." I felt my body lift slightly. It made me happy to know he wanted to get to know me. I figured it was simply for job reasons but I had a hope that I would be able to become friends with him eventually, even if he was an android. I knew that he could be capable of it if all these other androids could.
"Well now's the time to ask. I assume you already know the basics about me but if there's anything else..." I said with a smile.
"Alright. What made you want to become an officer?" He asked immediately.
"Wow." I chuckled, "Starting out with the big ones already huh?"
"My apologies. I can ask something different if you'd like." Connor offered but I shook my head.
"No it's alright. I became a cop because I was inspired by Hank and my dad. But Hank was really the only parental figure I had most of my life. And seeing what he did, I don't know. It just motivated me to help others." I sighed.
"I remember what you said last time we were in the car. You said that the Lieutenant was like a father to you. Is there a reason?" he questioned.
I shrugged, "My mother ran off with another man when I was 3. Who knows where she is. And my father died in the line of duty when I was only 8. Hank was the only one left for me. It was only a year after the incident too so, he kind of needed me as well."
"Incident?" Connor tilted his head slightly.
Shit. I tightened my grip on the wheel. "Nothing." I muttered. I pulled up to the front of a supermarket where a few police stood and Hank's truck was parked. Connor opened his mouth to say something else but I stopped him. "Listen, don't mention anything about that to Hank alright? No matter what your 'program' or whatever says. At least, not right now. You got it?" My tone was serious and commanding. The android held eye contact with me for a moment, his almost human, chocolate brown eyes searching mine.
"Got it." he said finally. I sighed, pulling my body away and opening the car door.
I found Hank finishing up questions with an eye witness.
"Hey. How's it coming along?" I asked. Hank turned to me and rolled his eyes.
"A whole load of jack shit." he grumbled. I gave him a small sympathetic smile and shrugged. I walked around to get an idea of the area. Ben saw me and quickly gave me an update.
"We've got officers sweeping the neighborhood, in case anybody saw anything." I nodded and headed back towards where Hank and Connor were.
"What do we have?" I asked.
"Bus driver saw it at 2:30, seen at a convenience store." Hank told me.
"It stole wire cutters." Connor added on. "There must be a reason."
I gave them both a skeptical look, "Wire cutters?" Hank shared my confusion,
"The fuck you talkin about?"
"I checked the CCTV while you were busy. The android was caught on camera stealing them. It had wire cutters and it was looking for a place to hide." Connor explained.
"So, what's your conclusion, Sherlock?"
"Maybe it didn't go far." He concluded.
~Time Skip brought to you by Kara's spaghetti~
We had told the officers to start looking in the surrounding areas that wouldn't be too obvious. Hank, Connor, and I started looking too. It wasn't long before we found an old abandoned house that looked suspicious. There was a wire fence surrounding the premises as well. I walked around the perimeter and found a cut hole in the fence. I called Connor and Hank over quickly.
"See anything?" I asked the android. He scanned the wires and then nodded.
"Blue blood." He confirmed. Connor hopped over the fence and I followed.
"(Y/n)." Hank said. I looked at him through the holes in the fence.
"Yeah?"
He hesitated, "Be careful, kid." I smiled and nodded.
I found Connor on the side of the house, peering through a boarded up window.
"There's an android inside." Connor whispered to me. I felt my heart rate spike and I gave him a silent "okay." We continued to move forward until we found a door. The door creaked open but the android inside didn't turn to look at us. He simply stood there staring. We straightened up as there was no need to hide but every inch of the air was tense. I had my hand ready on my gun just in case. As I approached the android, I could see the hideous detail of abuse on his face. I could feel my stomach drop. Connor didn't move behind me.
"Who did this to you?" I whispered aloud to him. His eyes shifted to me. I could see fear and wariness. But I also saw that he was hiding something.
"Ralph was tortured for fun." He said rapidly, eyes darting around like a mouse.
"Who would-" I stopped my sentence short. Because I knew that were were hundreds upon thousands of people who could do this without a second thought. "Um, Ralph? I'm looking for an AX400. Have you seen her?" I asked politely. "I don't want to hurt you, or her. I'm just looking for her." The android's eyes widened for a moment before he shook his head.
"No. No. Ralph hasn't seen anyone." I knew he was lying.
"Please." I asked. He seemed to soften a bit but then Connor made a move behind me. Immediately the android tensed up, shaking slightly.
"There's blue blood on the fence. I know another android was here." Connor said strongly.
"Ralph scratched himself coming through. That's Ralph's blood." He explained. Connor didn't ask anything else and instead began to walk around the house slowly. I noticed that there was a dining table set up for not one but three. They were definitely here at some point, if not still. Connor had head up the stairs and I was now alone with Ralph, who I assumed to be deviant. He still hadn't moved which unnerved me a little. I didn't really know what to do from here. So I too began to walk slowly around the room. I made sure not to turn my back on Ralph. I also noted a makeshift bed by the fire.
I eventually made it to the stairs. I scanned it for a moment before alarmingly noticing that there were people under the stairs.
"Holy-" my exclamation was cut off by Ralph lunging at me and holding me back.
"RUN! QUICK KARA!" He yelled. A pair of females ran out from under the stairs. I was shocked to find one of them a small child. They threw the door open and ran. Connor came bolting down the stairs and followed after them.
"RALPH PLEASE!" I yelled but he didn't let go. "I want to help! They are going to get themselves killed!" I said suddenly. He seemed surprised and hesitated before letting me go. I gave him one last look before sprinting after them.
"(Y/n)!" I heard Hank yell. Multiple shouts were heard from cops around us but we didn't stop. Connor was already a great distance in front of me. He suddenly turned a corner. I kept running and when I also turned, I saw Connor stopped at a fence. The pair had climbed over and were heading towards the highway. Hank had miraculously caught up to Connor and he held him there. They were talking but I knew Hank wouldn't be able to stop me. They heard my footsteps and turned. "(Y/N) DON'T EVEN-" Hank began to yell but I had enough momentum. I placed my foot in one of the holes of the fence, and then another, until I gracefully was able to propel myself over the side of the fence. My feet landed with a hard thud on the dirt. I took a look back at Hank. He looked angry and worried. "You will get yourself killed. Do not go after them. That's an order."
"Sorry Hank." I said before taking off. They were already almost to the middle of the highway. I couldn't lose them.
"(Y/N) goddammit!" I heard him exclaim. I ran as fast as I could. The roar of the highway drowned out any other thoughts I had. I needed to focus. The first few lanes were easy enough. I timed it right and dodged quickly. I took a moment to find the two girls. I could see they were about to cross the second half.
"Wait!" I called to them. I just barely made it to the center area of the highway. They were right there. "Please Kara!" I called, remembering the name Ralph had said. The older android looked at me suddenly. Her eyes were wild and the young girl she had by her side looked terrified.
"Just leave us alone!" Kara cried before preparing to cross.
"Wait! I want to help!" I yelled over the cars. She stared at me with fear and distrust.
"No you don't!"
"Yes I do! Please you have to trust me. I know you're alive!" Kara stared at me and then looked down at the girl. Then it clicked. This android was a mother to this girl. "You just want to protect her. You want to be a mother." I said aloud. The understanding in my eyes must have convinced her that I was telling the truth. But suddenly she looked behind me and panicked, grabbing the young girl tightly.
"GODAMMIT CONNOR!" I heard Hank shout. Connor was chasing after me. "Go! Now!" I yelled at them. Kara gave me a nod and I smiled at them. I watched as they barely made it across just as Connor reached me. They ran to the top of the hill where they then disappeared.
"Shit. What happened?" He asked me.
"T-they got away." I stammered, realizing what I had just done. I let them get away on purpose. I could lose my job. As the adrenaline wore off, I took notice that I was in the middle of a raging highway. "Oh my god." I murmured, feeling slightly light headed.
"Are you alright Detective? We need to cross back." he said. I took in a breath and nodded. Connor went first, timing the cars just right before he ran. Any courage I had before was gone now, and I was faced with the crippling reality that I could very likely get hit and die. Connor had made it to the other side where we waited for me.
"I did it before. Why can't I do it again?" I asked myself. With that little mental stimulation, I ran. I was almost there.
Almost there.
And then I tripped. At the last lane. Things seemed to slow down and I realized. Oh shit. But I was able to throw myself into a dive roll and I tumbled into the dirt on the side of the highway. Just barely making it. Connor pulled me away from the traffic as well.
(Y/N)^
𝙎𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 ^^
My breathing was ragged and I felt dazed. I slowly shifted my gaze to Connor's face. His LED was red and his eyebrows were deeply furrowed.
"(Y/n) are you alright?" he asked. He was usually pretty even toned with his voice given that he is an android, but this time he sounded worried. I was especially taken aback by the use of my first name. Since we met, he had been sticking to formalities such as "detective" and "(L/n)."
"Yes I'm fine." I said rather smoothly. He actually seemed to look pretty skeptical of my statement. Though he didn't say anything else, his LED swirled from a red to yellow. Something was obviously on his mind. But Hank came running down from the street as I stood up and dusted myself off as casually as I could. My heart however was still raging a mile a minute.
"(Y/n)!" Hank shouted. I winced. "Jesus Christ kid you scared the fuck out of me. Are you okay?" He grabbed my arm roughly.
"Of course I'm okay, Hank." I told him calmly.
"Don't you fuckin 'of course' me. I saw you almost get hit by a car!" he yelled. "Jesus fucking christ." Hank loosened his grip on my and pulled me into a hard embrace. I was stunned for a moment before returning the hug. I realized how insensitive I had sounded.
"I'm sorry." I whispered. "I'm not actually okay. I was scared." I told him the truth. My heart was still pounding and I felt my legs slightly shaking.
"I understand kid. I'm sorry for yelling. I just can't lose you too." He sighed. We pulled away and I cleared my throat.
"Um, let's get away from all this noise." I suggested. Hank nodded and Connor followed after us in silence. We climbed back up the hill and made our way back to our cars after informing the other officers on what happened. I leaned against my car and Hank stood across from me.
"So what happened out there? I could't really tell." he asked. I paused a moment, wondering if I should tell Hank the truth or omit it.
"Um, well, they got away." I said shortly.
"How?"
"Hey I'll tell you later okay? I'm starving." I brushed off the topic and Hank willingly agreed. I got into my car and to my surprise, Connor followed. "Hey you're back." I said with a smile. Connor put his seat belt on and looked at me.
"Yes. I wanted the chance to talk to you again." He confessed.
𝙎𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 ^^
"Really? About what?"
"I wanted to make sure that you were telling the truth about being alright. The way you were acting after an incident like that was not an average human's reaction." he explained matter-of-factly.
"I didn't want to worry Hank. But he knows when I'm lying so there's really no point." I admitted with a defeated sigh. He seemed to understand.
"What about physically? Are you alright? You took quite a beating on the highway." He commented. I shrugged. I was sure my arms would have a couple bruises and I think I cut my leg. But other than that I was fine physically.
"I'm alright Connor. To be honest I thought you would have known already, considering your scanning." I told him. His LED swirled blue for a moment. "Can I ask you a question?" I continued without waiting for a response.
"Of course, Detective."
"You seemed worried earlier. Like you were scared for me. Is that true? Also you used my first name. What's that all about?" I asked him. He thought about it for a moment. His LED flashed blue again and then returned to its resting state.
"Androids don't feel emotions as we are not humans. The only reason deviants do is because of an error in their program. Whatever you heard then was simply your mind playing tricks on you. You had been through a stressful experience and the noise of the vehicles may have distorted things. And I must apologize for using your first name, Detective. That was very unprofessional of me." He explained very android like. I noticed how much he had to explain why it sounded like he was worried. He was desperate to make sure he never even came close to deviant. Interesting.
"I don't care if you use my name Connor. Don't apologize for that. But it doesn't answer why you used it." I pointed out.
He hesitated, "I thought you would respond better in a time like that to your first name."
"Not because you were worried..." I urged him on.
He hesitated again before clearing his throat, "No."
"Alright whatever you say Connor." I laughed. "We're here." We pulled up to a beaten old outdoor fastfood place called Chicken Feed, Hank's favorite. I didn't move in the car for a moment and Connor waited. "I just want to be clear," I broke the silence and the android turned to me. "you weren't worried about me?" Connor didn't say anything at first. He just looked at me. Then he finally spoke,
"As I've stated before, androids do not feel human emotion. However, the investigation would be... difficult without you, Detective. Is that what you want to hear?" He asked genuinely.
"What I want to hear..." I echoed to myself. Instead of answering, I frowned and got out of the car. I didn't wait for Connor to follow.
𝙎𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 ^^
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