Accident Prone - Becoming Human

Abuse

Barely able to focus on anything but his impending shift where everything would surely be different, Connor stood before his mirror mounted in the rear of his bedroom closet and stared at his appearance in the flawless reflection. The look was the same - dark jeans, dark boots, a perfectly pressed white long sleeved dress shirt, a black tie and the gray blazer over top. Even Connor's hair was styled as usual with the single rogue lock hanging down near his left eye. Yet somehow the person who was staring back at Connor felt like someone completely new. It was as if the deviant Connor had once been during the night of the Revolution was now truly his own person and not just a staple in android history.

As he straightened his tie for the ninth actual time Connor finally stepped out of his bedroom and met Hank in the kitchen as the newly appointed precinct Captain poured himself a mug of freshly brewed coffee. Hank seemed to be his usual self but Connor couldn't help but feel as though everything was about to change and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"Hank?" Fighting the urge to pull his coin from his pocket and fidget with it, Connor just stood inside the kitchen doorway and watched as Hank fussed with his light breakfast at the counter. "Are you ready to go to the precinct?"

"Sure." Finishing off his coffee Hank turned around to face Connor and gave the deviant a tentative glance. Hank was wearing a solid colored pale blue shirt with a black tie clipped in place at the top buttons. Like Connor, he was also wearing dark jeans rather than slacks, but he was wearing black shoes instead of boots. "What do you think?"

"Your attire is more appropriate to the precinct dress code, but your hair-"

"Yeah, yeah." Running his right hand through his relatively shaggy hair Hank sighed and gave the deviant a wary glance. "One change at a time." Sensing that Connor was a little hesitant to asked about their future status together at the precinct Hank took it upon himself to answer without waiting for Connor to ask the obvious. "Are you ready to work your first solo shift?"

"Solo? I thought I was to be assigned a new partner."

"You will. Right now there is no one available."

"...I see. Am I still on deviant related cases?"

"Nope. I reassigned that over to Chris and Jack."

"Because Jack is a deviant?"

"That... And because I want to do something to sort of commemorate Chris's promotion to Sergeant."

"Chris has been promoted as well?"

"Yup. And you'll be working homicide starting today. If I could take care of it by myself for a couple years then I know you'll have no problems doing the same. I do want you to start wearing a Kevlar vest when you're in the field at all times from now on."

"That is acceptable."

"Good. Because I wasn't going to change anything around just for you. I have a whole precinct to consider now."

Sumo trotted up to Connor and pressed his cold wet nose against the side of the deviant's hand and wagged his tail.

Instinctively Connor began petting the massive dog's head and tried to sound more confident than he actually felt as he continued the conversation. "We should go. I'm sure the rest of the precinct is anxious to know what has changed and what will stay the same."

"Yeah, sure. Guess I can't show up whenever I feel like it anymore now that I'm the one in charge."

Connor tried to give Hank a bemused smirk but he was still somewhat nervous about handling cases alone. It wouldn't be the first time Connor was required to handle a massive responsibility on his own, however, it would be the first time he handled any cases without his partner watching his back.