METAL GUARD DOG ⊳ connor x reader

Ch. VI

"I..." Connor furrowed his brows, and could only stare at the floor. Did he really have a better chance, other than (y/n)? He had no money, was probably deemed useless in the eyes of the company that had created him, and Hank—...who could even know what happened to Hank? It had been thirty years, after all. His only option was to stay with her. But that didn't mean he couldn't negotiate, or at least try to. "Under one condition."

(Y/n) tilted her head from side to side, eyes focused on the low roof of her boat. She was probably weighing out her options. "Alright. I'm listening."

"I demand to be treated as an equal. Take the device off."

"What dev-" She frowned, before her lips formed into an 'o', and her brows raised. "Oh, the Includo. Right, yeah, sorry. I forgot about it."

She stood up from the bed, then gestured towards it.

"C'mere, and have a seat, I'll remove it for you."

Connor scanned her body and expression, identifying her behaviors and scanning her heart rate. Normal heart rate, palms turned up, shoulders slouched back, open body language, She was telling the truth.

He trotted over to the bed, and sat down at the very edge of it, setting his hands on the top of his thighs.

(Y/n) took off her shoes and crawled on top of the mattress so that she'd be sitting behind him, legs crossed.

"So, Connor." He heard her begin, hesitating for a second. "Tell me. About yourself. It doesn't have to be anything important, just...whatever comes to mind."

In tandem with her words, her warm fingers began working over the back of his neck, carefully brushing over the damaged skin.

"I was designed to be a detective, and worked as one for a few months before the Android revolution."

"Really?" She asked, however her tone was absent, and Connor could only guess she was focusing on removing the device. "Shit..."

"Is something wrong?"

"Your skin was damaged before I put on the Includo, and now I'm not sure how to remove it without causing more damage. Do you feel pain, Connor?"

"I-" Truth be told, he had no idea. Did he? He hadn't exactly experienced any reactions to physical factors after deviating, nor when shooting himself in the head. But when (y/n) had put the device on him, (it was called Includo, wasn't it?), and made electricity flow through him, he had. Or could only guess so. "I don't know."

"Let's hope you don't."

(Y/n) puffed air in her cheeks, and Connor heard her toss around on the mattress, as well as the clinking of metal before she returned to her initial position.

"Okay, um...just be prepared. For...anything?" She spoke hesitantly, then proceeded to work a tool similar to a screwdriver into the small space between Connor's skin and the device.

Next thing he knew, Connor was clenching his eyes shut, fisting the material of the black coat, and biting his lip. All because of that burning, fucking sore little spot on the back of his neck, which sent burning sensations through his wires, down his spine, every millisecond. If this was what humans called pain, Connor could definitely grasp why so many of them disliked it.

Then, it stopped. A wave of fragile, cold relief washed over him, and it was bliss.

"Sorry."

Connor could only process (y/n) shifting around behind him, and felt her strap something over the front of his throat. What-

"Your attempts to strangle me will be futile. I have no need for air to func-"

She only chuckled ironically.

"I'm bandaging you, you paranoid terminator. If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't have brought you all the way here and removed the Includo."

Blue blood involuntarily rushed up to his cheeks, though Connor failed to understand why. Maybe because of just how carefully she was trying the bandage around the damaged area, or because he had just realized how utterly stupid his assumption sounded.

"Okay, umm...I'll get you some blue blood, I'm sure I've got some left from that one time Xylo got damaged."

"Thank you."

She slid off the bed, and walked over, into the small kitchen, which was just a commode with a small, electric stove on top.

(Y/n) opened the cabinet and began looking through it, the rustle of different bags and materials audible throughout the entire cramped space.

Curiously, Connor rose to his feet and began pacing around the boat. He found a small fridge, beside which Xylo had fallen asleep, an impossibly small shower, across from it, a sink. All in all, the space was extremely cramped, but Connor supposed it was better than living on the streets.

"Here." He spun on his heels when (y/n) tapped his shoulder, and was pleasantly surprised to find her holding a bag of blue blood and an empty aluminum glass.

Connor took both objects from her with a thankful nod, and unscrewed the lid of the bag.

While he was doing so, he couldn't help but read the title:

Pet Blood

Now with extra Sodium!

"Pet blood?" Connor asked. "It's blue blood, why-"

"It's the only kind still available to the public. Androids are only used in factories and other government facilities, and the Android bodies available for memory transfer function with a different kind of Thirium."

"Oh."

Connor sighed and poured the bag's entire content into the glass. It wasn't exactly a great ego boost to be using pet products, but then again, he supposed he didn't exactly have one to begin with.

Hesitantly, he brought the container up to his lower lip, then took a sip of the liquid. It felt good. Soft, soothing.

So he drank it all in one go.

"Done?" (Y/n) asked as soon as he had lowered the empty glass from his mouth.

"Yes."

Without waiting for another word, she took it from him, as well as the empty bag of blue blood, and disposed of it, then washed the cup.

"You should probably...recharge, or whatever it is that old Androids used to do. Tomorrow's going to be a long day, and I'll need you to keep up."

"I have no need for recharging."

She only smiled and set the cup down on the side of the sink, then leaned her lower back against it, turning around to face Connor.

"Guess 30 year old Androids aren't as bad as I thought."