[COMPLETED] Corrupted (Connor X Reader)

Repair

You were already showered and in bed when your phone vibrated against your nightstand, letting loose a light ping!

It had been placed there, out of immediate reach, after you'd checked through all your unread messages, unable to reply to the maintenance requests with the answer you wished you could. Sorry, the shop's closed, you'd thought grimly, checking to make sure none of the requests were urgent enough that the android couldn't wait until you replaced your computer. Unfortunately, none of the androids needed anything you could help them with using just the tools you had. After another sigh, you'd placed the phone on its charging plate and tossed back two more anti-inflammatories before curling into the sheets.

And that's when the message arrived.

Connor didn't sign it with his name, nor was he saved anywhere in your contacts, and even if you hadn't recognized the serial number in the sender field, it was clearly from him.

"Hello, I apologize for any inconvenience the lieutenant and I have caused you with the decision to return you to your apartment. Please be advised that I still intend to provide you with a replacement computer. Thank you for your assistance in this investigation."

Then further down...

"I look forward to seeing you tomorrow."

Your fingers pressed tighter into the screen as you reread the message. Warmth spread from your chest all the way to your curled toes as you bit your lip, a futile attempt to stop your ridiculous smile. For a couple of moments, you struggled with how to respond — Honestly? Or would that be too much? Connor's tone was professional, even though anyone could see the care in his words. After three attempts to type a reply that ended in the entire thing being deleted, you settled on a middle-ground — an honest middle-ground.

"I look forward to seeing you too."

You prayed you weren't reading into this too much.

You couldn't remember what time it had been when you finally fell asleep, but it felt like you'd only been out for a couple of minutes when you woke to incessant knocking at your door. God, make it stop, you thought, groaning into your pillow.

It didn't stop.

Blinking against the haze of sleep, you crawled to the edge of the bed before stumbling to the offending noise. Once you'd flicked on the lights (which caused you to wince and shield your eyes), you unlocked the door but left the chain hooked before glaring out at whoever had woken you at this unholy hour.

Hank and Connor stood outside — more accurately, Hank stood and Connor leaned against him, eyes closed and LED slowly blinking red.

Well, I'm awake now, you thought.

"Why the fuck don't you answer your phone?" Hank growled as you scrambled to unlock the chain from the door.

"I—I was sleeping. It was on silent. What's wrong with Connor?!"

You couldn't tear your eyes away from Connor as Hank half-dragged him into your apartment and deposited the android on the couch. There was a large gash through the middle of one of his hands, dim blue lights flickered through the wound, surrounded by drying thirium, but that injury alone wouldn't be enough to warrant standby mode.

"Got jumped at the crime scene," Hank explained, "He said there's damage to the back of his neck — something about blue blood supply?"

Slowly, you reached around Connor's shoulders, pulling him forward to inspect the back of his neck. What you saw made your stomach drop — the plating that normally covered the primary data port at the back of an android's neck was cracked, exposing wires, thirium tubes, and the port, all dented and slightly warped as if they'd been squeezed together. More worrying, though, was the bits of Connor's shell that had melted, gluing some of the components together, likely causing even more problems.