METAL GUARD DOG ⊳ connor x reader

Ch. XI

Almost too cautiously to look natural, Connor slowly approached the person. He felt something wrap around his wrist—(y/n)'s hand, he realized after glancing behind him.

She had shouted something over the music, however her words got swallowed up by the ear-deafening bass. By her expression, Connor deduced she must've been uncertain or nervous about something.

"I got this, no reason to worry!" He shouted back at her and pried his wrist out of her grip. Seconds later, she got lost between hundreds of other silhouettes.

His time to shine.

Connor began looking for the person from before, quickly managing to locate them, on the periphery of the dance floor, languidly moving their body along to the rhythm.

"Hey!" Seemingly hyperaware of his presence, they turned around and greeted him first, wide, playful smile on their features. Without another word, they immediately wrapped their arms around Connor's waist, chests pressed flush against each-other.

"Hello." Connor answered almost shyly, continuing to move to the rhythm as (y/n) had. He could pull this off. He was built with a social relations program, this should be something easily achievable. Yet chatting with this stranger felt like the most difficult thing in the world, words stuck in his throat.

"What's your name, handsome?" They leaned to speak in his ear, warm breaths tickling his jaw. This was wrong. Felt wrong. What was he doing, the very thing he was supposed to put an end to? Stupid. He should've thought this through. He should've made a plan. He shouldn't have gotten into this.

"Arkay." He answered shakily, deciding to go for his fake name, just in case.

"Why so nervous? Wanna go outside and cool down a bit?"

That could be a good opportunity to offer them the goods in peace. And if they wouldn't be interested, he could just go back and look for (y/n). Or go home.

Though he probably shouldn't be abandoning the only person that cared for him, just like that.

"Yes." He finally concluded, only to have the person wrap their fingers around his forearm, giving it a playful squeeze, then pulling him after them, through the masses of people.

Thankfully, because of his rather big stature and fairly wide shoulders, making his way through the crowds proved to be a fairly easy task.

He could've sworn he heard a "Wait!" being shouted over the deafening music, from somewhere behind him, but he could be wrong. This could be what humans liked to call 'paranoia'.

Before he even knew it, him and the other person were outside, their grip around his wrist as tight as a vice.

Which reminded Connor, he hadn't asked for their name. The fact that they knew his but he had no idea about theirs made an uneasy, heavy and cold feeling slither through his abdominal wires.

"What's your name?"

"That won't matter, love." They answered with a smile.

"Why?"

"You sell purple snow, right?" When they noticed his frown, they added. "Axyfomodium?"

Good, at least (y/n) did have a good eye when it came to clients.

"Yes."

"Good, that's all I need to know."

"What-"

Before he knew it, they had slapped something onto the back of his neck, a familiar current starting to course through his body, immobilizing his entire body. Shit. Shit.

The club's back door slammed open, though Connor couldn't see who it was from his current position. Even the attempt to turn his head around caused indescribable pain in his spine. Cold fear, along with the burning current of the device made for an awful combination.

"They're a cop, Connor!"

(Y/n)'s voice.

Connor hadn't ever thought he'd ever be this happy to hear someone's voice.

"Shiiit, if this isn't Velox herself! Or should I say, (y/n)!" They smirked before reaching up to their hair, pulling down a pair of glasses similar to (y/n)'s purple ones from a day ago. "Asking for reinforcemen-"

An ear-deafening bang! pierced through the air, followed by the numb sound of a limp body hitting the asphalt.

Had she just—

"They already put an includo on you? Fuck..." (Y/n) walked around him, putting her hands on the back of his neck before yelping out in pain. "Shit!"

"Remote..." Connor forced out, hoping she'd understand. If this device was the same as the one (y/n) had put on him a day ago, then it should be connected with a remote, correct?

Quickly getting the idea, (y/n) dropped to her knees, patting down the limp body, purple blood oozing out of a wound on its forehead.

"Found it!" She announced seconds later, and managed to deactivate the device. Connor's synthmuscles relaxed, occasionally spasming from the pain as he dropped to his knees. "There."

"Thank you." Connor forced out again, voicebox malfunctioning at the middle of his sentence.

"You need to get up, they already called for reinforcements." (Y/n) explained hastily, rushing to grab his upper arm and hoist him up. "I told you to stop, goddamnit! Why didn't you wait?"

"I'm sorry, I-"

"Lean against me, I need to get the Includo out."

"What?"

"It pierced through the bandage and your skin. And it has a tracker. Running from the police is useless if I don't remove it."

Connor almost fell face first onto the asphalt when (y/n) let go of his arm to move around his frame. Her hands wrapped around his neck as his chin rested on her shoulder. Connor clung to her middle, hoping to find some sort of balance. How could some mere electric current and a small device on his neck weaken him this much?

Caution! Thirum loss increasing! Please visit a Cyberlife maintenance center immediately.

Well, that made sense.

"I'll need you to be silent for me. Squeeze my coat, bite your tongue, whatever it takes." Connor nodded and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He could feel (y/n)'s arm muscles tense against his back, her fingernails forcing themselves between his damaged skin and the device on his nape. "On three. One, two-"

He wanted to be silent. He really did. But it didn't help at all, at least not with the sharp, stabbing pain shooting up his spine, stopping on the back of his neck, turning into a hot pulse that harmonized with his Thirium pump there. This was a different kind of pain, a horrible one.

"Shit!" He grunted against her collarbone, fingernails digging into the black material of her coat, teeth clenching unbearably hard.

The clinking of a small piece of metal hitting the asphalt rang out a second later.

"There."

The pulsing in his neck hadn't stopped, instead it was unbearably hot, pounding against his skull too.

Though the pounding seemed to be a tad too irregular.

Because it was the sound of boots drumming against the cold street, of running steps. Two other figures, police badges on their chests came into sight.

Reinforcements sure were quick in 2064.

"We need to leave, now!"