METAL GUARD DOG ⊳ connor x reader

Ch. XXVI

Connor wouldn't have expected to feel a rush of nostalgia for things that happened only a few days ago-but he did.

He remembered the entrance to the underground so vividly-where (y/n) had made him put the coat on, then dragged him out into the open.

The moment he had come to know such a wonderful, mesmerizing yet dangerous new world.

"Stay close, I don't want you getting lost." (Y/n) whispered to Connor with a weary, nervous smile, then nodded for him to follow her underground.

Connor trotted behind her, doing another quick scan of her stress levels, satisfied to find out that they were at a steady 30%.

Minutes of wandering through the dark later, taking a few sharp twists and turns, (y/n) stopped in front of an improvised door and looked at Connor, who had almost bumped into her. Zlatko's lab. Or whatever it had been.

"Ready?"

"Yes."

She took a deep, dragged breath, then knocked on the door, normally at first, then switched to banging her fist against it as soon as she realized that nothing was happening.

"Zlatko! Open up!" (Y/n) shouted, earning herself a confused tilt of Xylo's head.

Finally, the door opened, revealing the man behind it. In spite of his mechanical nature, Zlatko seemed somehow...tired. There weren't any grey shadows under his eyes, nor did he seem weak. Just exhausted.

"(Y/n)?" Zlatko squinted at her, his face seeming to drain of blood. "What are-"

"We wanted to give your coat back. And ask of you to take care of Xylo for a while, if that's okay."

"I-"

"He's a mecha dog, so low maintenance. All he needs is attention." (Y/n) insisted, then looked down at the animal in her arms. "Please. It's only temporary. I don't- I don't like this either."

Silence.

For at least five solid seconds, Connor approximated, realizing that he wasn't able to recall it specifically. It felt as if time had solidified, almost.

"Fuck, what am I even supposed to do?" Zlatko finally asked, yet it seemed he was speaking to no-one in particular. Aside from his neon glasses, which flickered blue for just a millisecond.

(Y/n) didn't seem to plan on backing down, judging by her posture. Shoulders rolled back to appear more imposing, feet initiating a step towards Zlatko, chin held up high.

"Just let him stay here." She demanded, then rushed to rephrase her sentence. "Please, Xylo's so small, I couldn't...I'll pay you, if that's what you want."

Zlatko surely had a knack for silence, Connor decided this time. Or was just really slow with words. He couldn't be decide between the two possiblities.

"No, I...I want something else." He began, somewhat perturbed, then looked at Connor. "The deviant."

His stomach did a flip at Zlatko's words, or at least that was the impression he got from it. What was he planning on doing with him? Sell him? Experiment on him? Connor decided to scan his surroundings for the quickest (and hopefully safest) escape route.

"Not a chance." (Y/n) growled before Connor could even speak up. "He's not some kind of fucking product."

"Now that's a sudden change of heart." Zlatko held back a mocking laugh. "I thought you were gonna sell it on the black market."

Connor heard (y/n) scoff visibly.

"And I thought you were going to be helpful, but here we are." There it was again-that snarky mask she seemed to enjoy putting on. "Any other deals in mind?"

"I want to take a look at it." Zlatko insisted, nodding at Connor.

"At what exactly?" The young woman asked, her grip around Xylo tightening as she shifted the animal in her arms to be able to hold it up with one hand only, and reached to the back of her belt to grab her gun with the other.

"The deviancy virus. I want to connect him to a device and look at its coding."

That was...somewhat reasonable.

(Y/n) grunted audibly, then turned around to look at Connor. "Your call."

Connor balled his hands into fists at his sides, jaw tightening as he processed it. Did he really have a choice? He wanted what was best for (y/n), and for Xylo. He genuinely cared for them.

If letting some old junkie take a look at his coding was all that it took, he'd be willing to do it.

"Alright, yes." He nodded curtly. "I agree to your proposal."

Zlatko frowned and rubbed his hands together in thought, then nodded for Connor and (y/n) to follow him inside the bunker.

"Weapons at the entrance." The man added. "Or we're not even talking, much less going through with the deal."

(Y/n) literally growled under her breath, then dropped two handguns to the floor while sending death glares in Zlatko's direction.

"All of them. I know it has some weapons on it too." He looked at Connor, scoffing in his direction before making his way into the main room.

Connor dropped all three guns, then followed the man into the main room, throwing one last glance over his shoulder at (y/n), who had put Xylo down.

She appeared inside the room a few seconds later, followed suit by the little dog, who was walking around her.

Connor saw the tables he and (y/n) had laid on when he had first woken up, and the device he had been connected to.

A message was prompted up on the lens of his glasses:

Memotransmitter.
Year of production: 2059.

An electric shiver crawled down Connor's spine as he was pushed away from the tables, towards a rather imposing platform with robotic arms attached to it. It had once been white, and presumably shiny-at the moment, the elastic joints of the arms had aged and cracked at the edges, plastic turned a light gray. Not exactly inviting.

"Get on." He was told, and (y/n) quickly chimed in.

"What is that supposed to do?"

"Access his coding." Zlatko answered with a displeased grunt, moving towards a keyboard beside the big machine.

"And what does accessing his coding imply?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because he belongs to me."

"Oh drop the act, (l/n). It's so fucking obvious that you've gone soft for this..." He nodded at Connor, look of disgruntlement on his face. "This thing."

Connor could notice her muscles tense, like a coil ready to snap. But she didn't say a word.

Connor felt something grip his wrists-and realized that it was the old robotic arms, moving his hands above his head, pinning them there.

Another mechanical hum could be heard before something was attached to Connor's spine, right between his shoulder blades.

"He agreed for you to take a look at his programming, not some weird BDSM fantasy, you sick fuck."

"That's how accessing an Android's software works." The man answered, then dedicated his attention to a screen nearby, squinting at it.

Zlatko hummed silently in...revelation, or something of the sort, Connor deduced, then mumbled something to himself.

"What?" (Y/n) was quick to trot beside the man and stare at the screen as well, in spite of probably not understanding even a thing.

Zlatko stepped away from the screen, dragging out an exhale before speaking up.

"It's been fun, you two."