Authors Note: Hello my lovely followers and other random nerds on fanfiction! This is my first story for Almost Human! I love this show SO MUCH. So, if you are unfamiliar with my writing I will say this: I am a whump writer, so if anyone in the Almost Human fandom is wanting some whump fics- shoot some requests my way! Look what it got for whumpy224 on Tumblr! This story is for them! So this is an unofficial entry in justwhumpythings Whumpaween tumblr exchange. I will be writing an official Psych whump fic in the next week or so as my official entry, however whumpy224 also unofficially requested for a John Kennex whump story- so here we go! Note, this story was mostly written as a Dorian whump fic a while ago, so today I finished it and added some John whump!
If it hasn't been said enough- JohnWhump! and Dorian!Whump ahead - don't like? don't read! NO SLASH. (although if you ship it I suppose you can see it anywhere... )
Please read and review! (also follow me and the whumpaween exchange on tumblr! My account is whumploversanonymous and you can find the exchange using #whumpaween!)
John let out a sigh of relief as Danica blew up outside. Finally, it was over. They'd store the remaining bits up good this time. Suddenly, John thought of his partner. The last he'd seen of him, Danica was standing over his cowering frame, about to shoot him- but where was he now?
"Dorian?" Kennex called.
No reply.
Tensing himself for what he might find, John crept out from his position and began taking in his surroundings. There were dozens of MXs littered around, piled among the bodies of civilian casualties and rubble, but no Dorian.
He rounded a corner, calling out his partner again. This time there was a quiet reply.
"J-joh..n.."
"DORIAN!?" Kennex shouted upon finally seeing him. He sprinted over and fell to his knees next to the shattered column of the building. In the middle of the wreckage of plaster and concrete, lay Dorian's twisted body. Several lacerations and injuries were splayed across his frame, leaking neon purple "blood", but most alarming was the slim screw-like pole protruding from Dorian's chest.
John reached out, ready to pull it out, but Dorian shouted to stop him.
"No!" Dorian nodded at the pole as a stream of electric waves flowed through it. "Would..kill..y..you.."
"Point taken," Kennex harrumphed. "But -you'll be ok right? Just a little bump, yeah? No need to worry? I've seen you beaten up before and be fine.. It'll be fine! You're gonna be fine!"
"I..will not be fine.." the android slurred, his voice obviously malfunctioning. "Th..the impact has severed several critical fluid containment centers.." He limply gestured to the purple puddle forming around him. "I am...'bleeding out'...I'm sorry John..are you alright?"
"Nonono, you're gonna be fine, you hear me? FINE! Dont do this to me D.. Not now."
"KENNEX REPORT! JOHN! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?" Captain Maldonado's voice came cracking over the coms.
The cop hung his head before answering, "yeah..m'alright..Danica is down.. For good.."
"...and?" The captain prompted, knowing there was something her detective was leaving out.
"I-it..its Dorian.. He's down... Get some help in here.. Like now.. Get Rudy - get Vaughn! He created him, surely he'll know how to fix him!"
Back in the precinct, Maldanado sighed sadly, "Vaughn is gone John.. He snuck out. We don't know where.. I'll send Rudy but.."
With that, John angrily ripped his communicator from its place and tossed it aside, turning back to his partner, now sporadically shivering. "Hey, how you doing buddy?"
"P-pow..r..lev..ls..at 2%..." Dorian slurred. "Detective.. J-John..it..has..been..an ho..nor.."
"Nonono! Dont do this to me you dumb old tin can! STAY WITH ME DORIAN! STAY WITH ME!"
"Did we do good John? Tell me I...did good.. I..wasn't..li..ke..her...right? Wanted...to..be different..wanted..to..be..a..cop." Dorian said, suddenly troubled.
Kennex regained his composure for his partner's sake, despite the few tears that continues to escape his eyes. "hey, hey, calm down. It's ok, it's going to be ok. We'll find a way to fix you. And you're nothing like her. You were a good cop.. One of the best. I'm proud to call you my partner."
"Will...you..re..memb..er..me?"
John paused a moment before chuckling," of course I will.. Never will get a better coffee warmer... Hey listen, I want you to know something, you taught me so much. You showed me that an android can be more than a logic machine that leaves you to die. You showed me that you could have a life- a mind, choices.. And I'm better having known you. I..I'll miss you."
Dorian whimpered his emotions flooding though, "I don't want to die John!"
"Hey, shh," the detective said. "Remember? You're going to a better place!" He gave a sad smile, remembering his and Dorian's discussions about death. "It's going to be alright."
"I...I trust..you..Joh..n.. Thank...you..for..wak..ing..me..up. Good... bye..John...take...care... of..your..self.."
And with that the steady mechanical humming that signaled the Android's life stopped, and his head slumped off to the side. Hanging his head with grief, John sniffed, "Goodbye Dorian."
After a moment, John rose and trudged outside, leaving Dorian's body behind. As he slumped out the door, a police van pulled up and Rudy got out. He jogged over to Kennex, noting his downcast demeanor.
"Dorian?" He questioned softly.
John hung his head and sighed. "He's in there..." He vaguely gestured to the building. Rudy wordlessly ran in to the building, followed by a handful of MXs.
Outside, John sat on the curb, in complete shock. He had "lost" MXs before, he had even killed them himself just to shut them up. But Dorian was different. He had a personality, a life. Dorian had been more than just the mechanical parts inside him. He wasn't a computer, he was like a person. He had had feelings, loyalties, dreams, ambitions. He had been scared. Dorian hadn't just been a bullet-catcher like the rest, he was John's partner. He was his partner, just like his human partners had been before the mandatory android legislation. That was what John was feeling now; not the loss of another emotionless robot, but the loss of a partner, a friend.
The officer was startled from his thoughts by the sharp ringing of his phone. Kennex took it, tempted to just toss it aside, but answered it anyway. "Kennex." He grumbled.
"John.." Captain Maldonado said softly. "How are you holding up..?"
John didn't answer he question, instead recounting what had transpired, "They fought.. She threw him through a pole.. I took her out. I..i couldn't do anything for him. He..he was scared. And...he..died. It happened again! My partner died and I couldn't do anything!"
Maldonado sighed, "I know John.. I was watching his feed, I'm so sorry. We all liked Dorian, he was special."
"...thanks.." John mumbled. "so what now? Back to a bunch of creepy emotionless MXs? I dont think I can deal with that.."
Suddenly, Rudy burst out of the building followed by two MXs, Dorian's limp frame dangling between them. "John!" Rudy called.
"Rudy?" Kennex stood up, turning to the scientist.
"I think we can save him but we have to get him to my lab right now- are you coming?"
"Yeah sure!" He turned back to the captain, preparing to ask for clearance.
She stopped him before he began, "Go, John. I've got things here."
"Thanks." He nodded to her and ran off after Rudy.
The car ride to the station only took minutes, but for John it felt like a lifetime. He kept glancing at Dorian's motionless body sitting next to him, willing him to wake up again. When the group finally arrived at the precinct, they rushed down to Rudy's lab. After they had laid down Dorian's body, the MXs were told to leave, leaving John and Rudy alone in the quiet. Instantly, Rudy began to work, replacing various wires and sacks of mechanical fluid.
John was watching intently, but must have dozed off at some point because the next thing he was aware of was Rudy shaking him and yelling at him to wake up. He jolted awake, instinctively reaching for his gun before remembering where he was. "Ugh, what?" John groaned, his head pounding.
"Here." Rudy said, shoving a rag into his hand. He gestured towards his face. "Your nose has been bleeding- I wouldn't have woken you but it's been an hour and it hadn't stopped..." The scientist shuffled awkwardly.
"Hm." John grunted. "Thanks.." He took the rag and dabbed at his nose. He glanced down and saw that his shirt collar was covered in drips of blood, presumably from his nose.
"Johnn..." Rudy began, slightly uncomfortable. Despite being fairly close to John, through Dorian, Rudy still didn't do well when it came to talking to.. You know.. People. "Are you sure you're alright? From the footage from Dorian and the MXs it looked like you took a few hard knocks there, during the fight."
"Yeah, yeah- I'm fine" Kennex brushed off the comment. "How's Dorian?"
"He's stable- I'm more concerned about you, frankly. Have you seen yourself?" Rudy picked up a piece of shiny metal and handed it to the detective.
Kennex rolled his eyes but glanced at his reflection in the sheet metal. He was shocked to find his face littered with scratches and bruises. The skin on his neck was marred with purpling hand marks where Danica had attempted to strangle him. Dried and fresh blood coated the space between his lip and nose and continued down his chin. He was more than a mess. "Fine, fine. I'll get checked out- but in my defense, my partner dying was a little more pressing at the time."
Rudy conceded the fight with a nod. "Well you'll be happy to find that I think we can repair Dorian. I've repaired much of the internal damage but some things will need replacement parts- which may take a few days. I still need to do a cognitive test to see if everything is still functioning, which would involve waking him up- I assume you want to be involved?" At Kennex hard glance, Rudy simply handed over the powering-up wand.
John stood up and walked over to where Dorian was splayed out. He placed the wand near Dorian's skin, about to shock him back into life when he hesitated. "You sure it's alright to wake him up at this point? Like he'll be able to sustain himself- he won't get hurt more by this right?"
"No, I have him hooked up to all auxilliary functions for now so he won't have to be running any bodily functions- it's like life support for robots, you could say. Ahem.. Well.. Go ahead." Rudy trailed off.
"Here goes.." John steadied himself for the inevitable shock of seeing Dorian gasp awake, and pressed the wand into Dorian's skin.
Sure enough, Dorian's eyes burst open with a gasp. His eyes darted around and settled on John. A smile spread across his face. "John."
"Who else?" John smiled back. He acted cool and collected, but inside he was doing a happy dance. He thanked whatever greater powers that existed that his partner was alive again.
Dorian's face grew serious. "I'm sorry John. I didn't trust you as I should have."
"What do you mean, D?" Kennex answered, confused.
"Back in the club, you told me I was going to be alright. I didn't believe you. I'm sorry." Dorian said, mournfully.
Kennex chuckled, "Well.. I supposed I can forgive you this one time- but don't do something like this to me ever again, you got that? I can't afford to spend my time breaking in a new partner. You're lucky that Rudy was able to fix you."
"Indeed." Dorian commented. Suddenly his eyes narrowed as he took in John's appearance. "John, are you alright?"
"Yeah, yeah- fine." His partner answered dismissively.
Dorian's face glowed blue and his eyes narrowed. "Liar."
"Am not!" John retorted.
"Yes you are!" Dorian huffed. "I just did a bioscan. You have a concussion, a fracture in your nose, numerous contusions and lacerations, 2 broken ribs, 3 fractured ones, and 3 broken bones in your hand." He paused. "And that was just the preliminary scan." He added as an afterthought.
John glared at him. "Fine. You know what, Rudy? I think I'll just get a new coffee wamer," He added to Dorian, "One that doesn't undermine my authority!"
"Just here to help John!" Dorian chuckled.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Fine I'll go get checked out, we happy now?" John rolled his eyes again and started walking out of the room. He turned back at the last second and spoke seriously. "I'm glad you're ok, buddy.."
"You too man.." Dorian smiled.
"Joking aside, I could never replace my coffee-warmer." Kennex winked and exited the room.
"Glad to know that I'm wanted!" Dorian called after him.
"Good night D!" John called, not turning back.
"Goodnight John."
