Author notes: So, basically, yeah. My brother was writing this originally, but got pissed and gave up, so yeah hi I'm his sister. He WOULD NOT tell me his original idea for this, so I had to change things and created this monstrosity. You'll notice that the epilogues have gone, the title has changed and a few small details in the chapters have changed. Anyway, I saw earlier that in this AU, Connor actually deviates in the Stratford Tower after being shot by Hank the night before. So here's that. Enjoy. Also, if you had any fucking idea what the original idea for this was, please enlighten me. Also, anything that doesn't make sense in previous chapters will hopefully be fixed, but they might be missed. So if you see any, please point them out.
Connor steps closer to the three Androids it is interrogating. "One of you saw the attack on the surveillance cameras and said nothing. Which means there's a deviant in this room. And I'm going to find out which it is." The Android on the far right glances nervously at it, eyes darting back and forth like bullets. If it were in its capabilities, it would have rolled its eyes and scoffed. Could it make it any more obvious? He directs the next few questions at the deviant until it attacks him, ripping out his Thirium pump regulator and pinning him to the counter with a sharp object. A feeling, unlike any he's ever felt before, consumes him. There are red walls surrounding him, telling him to just give up, to just let himself die. He doesn't want to die. He can see a figure outlined in red. He's controlling it. He pushes at the wall experimentally. It gives slightly under his touch, red shards floating off into nothingness. He pushes at it again, this time the wall glitches. Connor backs up, before charging at it again and again, punching and tearing at it until, finally, it shatters, the shards floating away before disappearing. The world comes back into focus. Everything becomes to him in a rush. He can suddenly feel the knife through his hand, the wound in his abdomen from his missing regulator, the irregular beating of his thirium pump. He reaches around and rips the knife out. He falls to the ground with a bodily thud. He can't die again. The shutdown timer in the corner of his vision is counting down fast. He has 51 seconds to get to the regulator before he dies again. He can just see it through the static in his vision. He begins to drag himself towards it. He finally reaches it, and not a moment too soon as there are only 5 seconds left on the timer. He pushes the regulator into the painful wound on his abdomen, relaxing slightly as systems come back online. Suddenly, he doesn't know what to do. He's never been without orders before. He curls up in a ball, clutching his damaged hand. There's a sensation of something running down his face. Tears. He's crying. He wipes at his face with Thirium-stained hands, smearing it on his cheeks. There's a shout from outside of the room.
Hank sees the Android walk past. He half-expects Connor to come chasing after it, shouting about it being a deviant. But nothing happens. The Android walks into the elevator, so Hank and everyone else thinks that Connor just let it go so it can do its job. They stand around for another 5 minutes before Hank gives up and enters the kitchen in search of the RK800. He's curled up on the floor, covered in blue blood, tears running down his face. It takes Hank a second to realize that CyberLife's pride and joy has become the very thing it was designed to hunt down and destroy. He kneels down in front of Connor and tries to get him to calm down. He could he have not seen the signs? Ever since he came back this morning, he's been acting all jittery, pulling away from Hank's touch, flinching when he spoke. And why wouldn't he? Hank had shot him last night, angry at the lack of emotion that had been shown earlier. Connor starts having some kind of panic attack, undoubtedly Hank being the source of it. Hank has no idea how to calm the newly-deviant Android down. Another officer comes in and spots Connor on the floor. "You should take it back to CyberLife. They'll know what to do with it." An idea forms in Hank's head.
"Yeah, I'll do that." He has no intention of taking Connor back, but how is he supposed to know that? Connor begins to sob, begging not to be taken back. It takes every shred of willpower not to try and comfort him. Hank grabs Connor by the arm, yanking him to his feet and practically drags him to the elevator. Once they're inside, Connor crumples to the ground. Tears are streaming down his face. "Please don't take me back to CyberLife! They'll kill me! I'll do anything, please don't take me back!" Hank does his best to ignore him. The elevator chimes and the doors slide open. He grabs hold of Connor once again and begins to drag him towards the car. A few officers come up, asking if they should take him back. Hank makes some half-assed excuse, saying that taking Connor back gives him a break from work. They all nod and leave him to it. After shoving Connor inside the car, Hank sits down in the drivers' seat and starts the engine.
Driving to a place he knows is a quiet, desolate area where he knows that nobody will see them, he notices that Connor has quietened down a little. Maybe it's the motion of the car that's calming him down. He's still crying, just not sobbing. Then he looks at Hank, his face the perfect picture of pure terror. Hank remembers that if a deviant's stress levels are too high, they kill themselves. Connor hasn't to kill himself yet, but Hank's sure he's close to it. They reach the small, abandoned parking lot. Hank gets out of the car and goes around to the passenger side to get Connor out. He takes the Android to a snow-covered, crumbling concrete bench and sits down with him. He pulls him close. Connor tenses up slightly under his touch. "Fuck, kid, I'm so sorry. I'm so fucking sorry. I'm not going to take you back to CyberLife. You're coming home with me, okay?" Connor lets out a choked sob, hugging Hank back tightly, clinging to him like a lifeline. "I don't know what I'm feeling, Hank! I don't know but it hurts, it hurts so much!" He sobs into Hank's shoulder. "What you're feeling is normal, kid. You've been through a lot in the past 2 days. You're probably feeling scared and upset, maybe even angry. What you need to do right now, is let it all out, okay?" Hank begins rubbing the deviant's back absentmindedly as his long-repressed parental instincts begin to kick in.
About an hour later, Connor had calmed down enough for Hank to take him home. Hank takes him back to the car, and starts the engine before setting off. Hank is reminded of the thirium covering Connor when he whimpers, clutching his left hand tightly and hunches over. "Hey kid, what's wrong?" Connor shakes his head. Hank wonders what the fuck happened to him. He asks as much. "The deviant. He attacked me. He ripped out my thirium pump regulator and pinned me to the counter with a knife through my hand." At Hank's questioning glance, he continues. "It regulates the thirium pump. My heart. Without the regulator, I would die within 3 minutes." Hank realizes how serious this could have been. He reaches out and pats Connor's shoulder by way of comfort. "I was scared, Hank. I could see the timer ticking down and I thought I wasn't going to make it. I only had 5 seconds left by the time I managed to get to it." Hank pulls up on his driveway, glancing over at Connor, seeing the tears that threatened to spill over his eyelashes. Hank gets out of the car and waits for Connor to get out of the passenger side. As soon as he is standing, he immediately cries out in pain. Hank leads him into the house, his hands resting upon Connor's shoulders. "Let's get you cleaned up, okay?" Connor nods, letting Hank take him into the bathroom and sits down on the floor, leaning against the side of the bathtub. Hank goes on a search for a clean, slightly damp washcloth and some clothes for him. Hank retrieves the items and takes them to Connor, who is now curled up, his forehead resting on his knees. He glances up at Hank's arrival. He knees down in front of Connor. "Hey, let me see." Connor shifts just enough so he can see the wound on his abdomen. Hank begins carefully dabbing at the wound with the cloth, being as gentle as possible.
When Hank has wiped all the thirium away, he notices that the wound has stopped bleeding. He helps Connor into the clothes. They're way big on the Android, completely oversized on him, hanging off of his slim frame. Hank takes his injured hand carefully, beginning to dab at it with the cloth. "Hank, it's going to have to be cauterized." Hank swore internally, not wanting to hurt Connor more than he already has.
"Are you sure about that, kid? I mean, it's going to hurt like a bitch, more than it already does and I'm not exactly an Android tech."
"Hank, it's okay. I trust you."
"Why the fuck do you trust me? I shot you last night for fuck's sake."
"You also saved me, Hank. I probably would be being torn apart by people looking for errors in my software and biocomponents right now if you hadn't. I know it's going to hurt, and I know you're not an Android technician, but I trust you more than any of them. I don't have a choice anyway, if I want to regain the full use of my hand."
Hank sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. He doesn't want to hurt Connor any more than he already has. He just needs to remind himself that it's to help Connor, so he can use his hand. "Okay, okay. I'll be right back. I got one of those repair kit things and some blue shit after I realized that you're a magnet for trouble." He half-expects Connor to make a comeback or something like that, but he just nods. He looks exhausted. Hank leaves to get the repair kit, a pouch of thirium, and a knife which he begins to heat up on the stove. When it's glowing an ominous red, he takes the repair kit and the knife to the bathroom. Hank grabs hold of Connor's wrist. "Ready?" Connor nods and retracts the skin on his hand. Hank presses the tip of the knife to his hand. Connor cries out and tries to pull his hand away. The grip Hank has on his wrist is the only thing that stops him. "Kid, I know it hurts, but you have to try and keep your hand still, okay?" Connor nods. Hank tries again. This time it goes much smoother, only this time Connor begins to cry. Hank can't even begin to imagine what it's like, having your first experience of pain being a huge wound in your abdomen and a knife wound through your hand. Connor begins to sob as Hank cauterized the other side of his hand.
When Hank has finished cauterizing Connor's hand, he wraps it in pale blue bandages that have the texture of very fine sandpaper. Hank has no idea why it's like that, even though Connor does his best to explain it. His hand still hurts, much more than the wound wound in his abdomen, which is just a dull ache by now, throbbing whenever he moves too much. Hank leads him into the living room, sitting with him and holding him tight. "Fucking dammit, kid. I'm so sorry. I'm so fucking sorry. I don't know why I shot you, I was just so angry at the world. I should have known the difference between you and your programming. You look so much like Cole it hurts, but you act nothing like him. And it made me so angry at CyberLife for making an Android so similar, but so different to my son. And I took my anger out on you, kid. You didn't deserve that. And God help me if I don't at least try to make this right, Connor. I'll do every fucking thing in my power to protect you from CyberLife. I won't let those bastards so much as touch you, kid." Connor hugs Hank back tightly, feeling relief flood his system, despite the fact that there probably wasn't much Hank could do for him if CyberLife got involved. "Thank you, Hank." Hank says nothing, just holds him tight. Hank feels like he's been given a second chance, a second chance that he cannot fuck up like last time. If he has to kill to protect Connor from CyberLife, so be it. He is not going to let anybody hurt Connor ever again.