METAL GUARD DOG ⊳ connor x reader

Ch. V

Her keys rattled, hitting against the wooden surface of the small door. From the other side of it, Connor could hear the clear, yet loud, playful sounds of an instrument. A xylophone?

Was (y/n) living with someone? He found that hard to believe, considering the rather modest size of the boat, and its state.

"Welcome to my home, Connor." She smiled childishly, then turned the knob, ducking to fit inside the cramped space. The deviant decided to wait outside until she had properly entered.

A pitter patter of metal against wood, that was a sound he knew far too well. (Y/n)'s excited, strangely dulcet tone followed:

"Xylo! Good boy, come here!"

Curiously, Connor rested one hand above the doorframe to allow him to bend down and have a look inside the cramped space.

(Y/n) was once again crouching, in spite of not needing to, and patting her thighs excitedly. The xylophone's sounds from earlier escalated and increased in rhythm, and Connor noticed a small, quadrupedal machine approach the young woman faster than he could analyze it.

She took the machine in her arms, holding it in a loving embrace against her chest before turning around to face Connor.

"Come on in, Xylo doesn't bite."

She was cradling a dog, Connor finally concluded. One side of its face, and almost its entire body were covered in white, fluffy fur. The other half half of the face and its left shoulder lacked it, presenting a clean, grey, shiny surface, and blue cables where the shell was missing.

And its bark wasn't, well, exactly a bark. The small creature had been the source of the xylophone sounds.

Connor found himself involuntarily rushing inside the boat too, carefully laying his hands atop the mechanical dog's head.

The small machine moved its snout to brush against Connor's palm, peacefully closing its eyes as its tail still continued wagging erratically.

"He's really cute, isn't he?" (Y/n) smiled, first at her pet, then at Connor.

"Yes." Connor let a lopsided smile slip, unable to hold it back. This creature, machine, whatever it was, it felt real. Its fur was warm, just like Sumo's used to be, he remembered bitterly.

"Wanna hold him while I lock the door?"

"W-Wait-" She didn't wait for an answer, instead only placed him in Connor's arms, who was slowly becoming a confused mess. He held the mechanical pet like a vase, or something extremely fragile, (after all, it was so small!) trying his best to make it confortable.

The dog let out another cheerful ding! , propping its front legs against Connor's chest and climbing up so that its paws and head were rested on his shoulder.

"(Y/n)-!" Connor called out almost desperately, moving his hands up to the small animal's ribcage in a hopeless attempt to keep it from falling.

"You can put him down now, the door's locked."

As slowly and carefully as he could, the deviant picked up the pet from his left shoulder, trying his best not to hurt it or anything of the sort while lowering it to the ground.

"It's just that he always goes crazy at night, so I can't have him leave the ship. Especially since he's not waterproof anymore either."

"Anymore?" Had she modified him? A shudder ran down Connor's spine at the thought. What if she wanted to modify him as well?

"I found him in a dumpster and promised Zlatko half a baggie of Axyfomodium if he fixed him for me. Or at least got him in working order. This is the best he managed." She shrugged.

"So I take it you and Zlatko are friends?" Connor asked and began brushing off the synthetic fur that had gotten stuck on the black coat (y/n) had given him.

"No, he's just some old junkie that's really good with machines. I give him drugs, he does favors for me. Fixes Xylo. Gives my glasses an update. Or, in this case, fixes you."

Connor furrowed his brows. So (y/n) was a drug dealer? It almost seemed hard to believe: Connor estimated her to be roughly 19 years old. Why would a teenage girl be selling drugs?

"Do you offer him Red ice?" The Android guessed.

"God, no. That's so oldschool!" She snorted. "It doesn't work on machine bodies, so it's not exactly trending anymore. Axyfomodium is the big deal."

"Axyfomodium?" Connor furrowed his brows, testing the how the term sounded when he said it.

// searching for "Axyfomodium"

// no results for "Axyfomodium"

"I don't have it in my database." He then added.

"It's only been invented eight years ago, which is one year after the introduction of Memotran bodies." She was quick to catch up on his even more confused expression and shook her head. "Memo...tran. Two different words combined: memory and transfer. It's basically Android bodies that have been designed for humans to buy and transfer their consciousness onto."

That did make sense, actually.

And cleared up a lot of things. That was why Huxley and Zlatko had Android components. They were humans that had transferred themselves onto mechanical bodies. Not deviants. That was why (y/n) had claimed that talking about Androids was taboo.

A numb, empty feeling settled in the pit of his stomach.

He hadn't changed anything. Markus hadn't changed anything.

Androids were still the obedient, docile machines they used to be, and people were using them to make themselves perfect.

Yet (y/n) was a human.

An image flashed before his eyes: the moment he had first seen her, dragged off the operation table by Zlatko, strange device stuck on the back of her neck. The same device he had woken up with.

"Did you want to transfer your memories onto me?" He asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Does it matter?" She asked defensively, hands clenching into fists. (Y/n) took a deep breath as soon as her gaze met Connor's gentle, genuine one. "Yeah, but it went wrong, so...guess not. I'll have to keep looking for another Android body."

"What will happen to me?"

"Well, you're a thirty year old model, a little bit rusty, and have no idea about what the world is like at the moment." (Y/n) trotted over to the only bed inside the cramped space, and plopped down onto it. Connor's guts twisted in an uncomfortable manner, as he could only stare at the floor. Amanda's voice, a distant memory rang in his ears. You've become obsolete. "But you're awake now. And you're still an Android. Strong, tireless, resilient, calculated. And that's precisely what I need. I need someone that's exactly what I can't be as a human. I'll need you to be my guard dog in this shitty, unforgiving, piece of shit world. So what do you say, Connor?"