Surprise! I have no self-control, so here's a present.
That last chapter threw up an interesting point in the reviews, so I'll just throw it to the floor. People have been asking if there is going to be a Connor romance or not. The honest answer is…maybe. I have a potential plan either way, so I'm going to ask you all now. Yay or nay to the romance?
And, a lot of you seem to want a Katie/Gavin romance. Honestly did not see that coming.
Special thanks for reviews: lordvaatithewindmage, Maria Annette, sarahlucylu, Derpidot, Minecraft Guardiansaiyan, xNarielx, Roseheir, Subtle Shenanigans, Darnea, AnUnorthodoxDecision, Kaguya Amaterasu, Celestic1234, Red 'Allen' Walker, SheNoob, JusTiNSaNiTy and one Guest.
Hank and North sassing each other is my guilty pleasure in life. I couldn't stop myself once I got started on this chapter.
"North, I swear to fuck, if you poke my shoulder one more goddamn time, I'm going to stick a bullet in your ass!"
"I'd love to see you try and reach your gun from there, you old fart."
"I can get very fucking creative."
"If you are that imaginative, why are we here alleviating your boredom?"
"That's not why you're bloody here!" At the raised eyebrow Hank received from North, he settled for flipping her off instead. "Piss off," he snapped petulantly. Markus chuckled from his perch on the other side of the coffee table, watching the verbal jousting match with no small amount of amusement.
It had now been a week since Hank had been released from the hospital, and while Connor may have found life a little more boring at the precinct, the same could not be said for his partner. When Connor had told the Jericho crew about Hank's accident, they all came to check up on both their friend and the injured human. Once it was confirmed that Hank would need some help at home following his release, Markus had volunteered their time to allow Connor a sense of normality back. Connor had agreed readily, Hank had not been quite so keen.
Okay, that was a bare faced lie. He liked having the company, and he actually had a soft spot for all four of the androids which had been dropping in and out of the house. There were just definite pros and cons.
Markus was a good conversationalist, but Hank didn't trust him one little bit. He kept expecting him to do something at Connor's behest, and the sly smiles which constantly flickered across his face did nothing to change that opinion.
North was giving him some good vocal sparring matches, but the bitch kept poking his fractured shoulder and hip. While it may not be causing any more damage, it hurt like a bastard.
Simon and Josh…well, he didn't have anything bad to say about those two, really. They were both as polite and helpful as ever. Even if Hank had ended up learning a lot more about the dynamic between Markus, North and Simon in the past few days than he had ever cared to know.
Androids had no filter when it came to talking about their sex lives, apparently. He cringed just thinking about it: and thanking fuck that Connor wasn't like this. He couldn't handle this every day long term.
It was now late afternoon, and only the three of them were left in the house. While the four androids were not always around, they intended to be there to see the latest instalment of the prank war come about. Hank had been suspicious when Markus came to him with a plan for Connor, wondering what the catch was, but he soon realised there was no ulterior motive.
Apparently, Markus just wanted to see Connor suffer. And Hank would be a lying son of a bitch if he said he didn't love the idea.
Simon had spent a day designing it, but their trial run didn't go so well and ended up with North and Josh stuck together the whole afternoon – accompanied by lots of swearing by them, and laughter from the others. Fortunately, Connor hadn't commented on why only Markus had been at the house when returning that evening. With another two days lost to Connor's request to prank Gavin (and a few tweaks), it meant it had taken a while to get everything ready.
Josh and Simon had returned to retrieve the rest of the prank, while North assembled the first half. Markus was continuing to derive entertainment from Hank's determination to last more than 20 moves in a chess game (the human had given up trying to win after the fifth loss in spectacular fashion).
He might just reach the goal before the number of losses hit triple digits…if he could get past 13 moves, however, that would at least be progress.
"Fuck!" North exclaimed as she jolted herself, attracting attention from the other two. Markus raised an eyebrow as Hank smirked. North glared at the pair of them. "One of you two could give me a hand, you know," she implied, staring hard at Markus.
Markus shrugged. "I'm currently occupied, North. You could just be a little more careful," he replied casually.
Hank snorted. "Doubt it, she's not known for subtlety or being gentle."
North's face morphed into a dirty smile. "Simon never complains, and Markus definitely doesn't."
As Markus tactfully looked away, Hank groaned loudly. "For fuck's sake, North! I did not need to know that!" The female android continued smiling, and wandered over to the dog sleeping in the kitchen. Hank shut his eyes and swore again. "I'm never going to get that fucking image out of my head."
"Fitting seeing as that is what we were doing," she chimed from the other room, roaring in laughter when the human spat out the mouthful of beer he had just taken.
Simon and Josh reappeared at just that moment, looking incredibly bemused when they saw the glass bottle get thrown at the female android with considerable force. She simply caught it with a flourish and tossed it in the garbage. "Dare I even ask?" Josh ventured.
"In a word, no," Markus stated, smiling as Hank finally made his move on the chessboard…only for it to be game over. "And that would be checkmate."
Hank growled sourly. "Damn androids, this is hardly a fair match…"
"You do have three more tries before your losses total 100, Hank."
"You know what, fuck it, I give in. Any other bright ideas on what to do?" Spying the package held under Josh's arm, however, he began smiling. "Think this'll work then?"
Simon nodded as the two went over to the recliner, adding to North's initial work. The blonde android took one look at it, however, and gave North a look. She shrugged in disinterest before going back to petting the dog, at which Simon sighed and began to fix all the errors.
Laughter from outside caught all of their attention: very familiar laughter.
They all swapped wide eyed looks before Markus stood and looked out the window. Sure enough, there was Connor – he was standing next to an unfamiliar car and laughing along to a story Katie was telling as the female android went to the back door, opening it and guiding out her beloved husky. "Shit, Connor's back early!" Markus exclaimed, hoping the detective would not look inside.
"Markus, I need a few minutes!" Simon hissed.
"Then go and stall him!" North snapped. Without missing a beat, Markus stood and walked calmly outside, catching the attention of the other two. Josh slipped in to Markus' place, at least trying to maintain an illusion of being occupied.
Simon had barely finished by the time the door opened again.
Markus smiled and went to stand beside North in the kitchen as Connor entered with a smile. "House-full today?" he asked warmly, stepping inside to allow space for Katie behind him. The female android was suddenly very shy, almost hiding behind Connor as her dog followed suit.
"Yeah, it's been amusing if nothing else," Hank threw back at him. "Hey, Katie, didn't expect to see you here. Who's the furball?"
She semi-appeared again, still hovering around Connor as she petted her dog. "Hi, Lieutenant. This is Dust, Connor suggested I should take her around to meet Sumo after Fowler let him off early for the day."
North raised an eyebrow at the exchange. "Since when did you have a girlfriend, Connor?"
Katie shook her head in amusement as Connor rolled his eyes at the comment. "Hardly, North," he chastised. "Everyone, this is Katie. She's a prototype AR500 model." No introductions were required in the reverse. Katie waved with a small smile, obviously intimidated by current company.
Hank couldn't blame her – she was currently standing in the same room as the five pivotal androids of the uprising. Talk about overwhelming.
Connor continued as the beige husky slowly padded out from behind Katie. "And this gentle hound is Dust. Sumo?" he called, kneeling down to pet the shy dog. Like Katie, Dust was timid around those she didn't know, but the dog had quickly taken a shine to Connor. Being around so many people was scaring her.
Sumo stood and ambled over, Dust shying away with a whine. Katie knelt and cooed at her dog, reassuring her that Sumo was friendly. Hank couldn't help but smile at the exchange – it was nice to see that Connor was slowly socialising more, and he was glad to see that Connor had someone clearly looking after him while he wasn't at the precinct.
After introductions were over, the group dropped into idle conversation. Markus and North stayed at the fringes of the kitchen while Josh remained opposite the coffee table. Hank slapped next to him on the sofa and offered a seat to Katie, who took it graciously. Simon then stood and offered his seat on the recliner to Connor.
There was more than one person fighting a grin when he accepted.
It was just over half an hour later that the Jericho crew decided they should get going, at which Markus made a point of tidying a few pieces around the living room. Josh and Simon kept Connor suitably distracted so that the other RK android failed to notice Markus leave a tiny camera next to the record player to see the end result of their prank. North then strode over and slapped Hank hard on the back as a parting gesture. The human yelped and winced as it jarred his injured shoulder slightly, before promptly trying to find something to throw at her. Connor glared at her momentarily, but she was unfazed.
Needs must when you need to slyly pass over a remote after their plans were ruined by Connor's unexpected appearance. Hank was wishing she'd found a better way than to slap it against his back. Hard.
"Katie, why don't you join us?" Markus offered. "It would be nice to get to know you better, especially as you are in a somewhat unique situation."
Her eyes widened and she looked at Connor for help, who smiled encouragingly back at her. Unbeknownst to him, Markus was relaying the actual reason behind the invitation, and Katie was desperately fighting a bout of giggles. "Okay," she responded quietly with a respectful nod.
She was worried if she spoke any louder it might cause some laughter to come pouring out.
The quintet of androids soon stood to leave, Katie just about managing to wrangle her dog away from Sumo. The pair were curled up together quite happily in the corner of the room – the big St Bernard was clearly a fan of the nervous husky. As they headed outside, Hank rubbed his back, subtly grabbing a hold of the remote. Connor looked at him in concern. "Are you all right, Hank? North didn't strike you too hard, did she?" he questioned.
Hank quickly shoved the remote in his pocket as he fished out some painkillers to cover the action, then waved absently. "Trust me, Connor, that bitch has hit me harder than that in the past. I suppose it's payback for constantly threatening to shoot her – she keeps that up, though, and I just might." Connor chuckled and was about to stand, but Hank realised his intention and tossed over the book which was situated next to him. "I'll be good for a little while, Connor. Just chill a bit."
Connor smiled gratefully and brought his legs up to fold underneath him as he settled in to read. Hank had to smile at the scene; it warmed his heart to see the little 'human' habits Connor was picking up.
And of course, that was when he totally ruined the moment.
Connor's eyes widened as he felt himself be sucked slightly into the chair, trying to move in vain. His legs were pinned folded, his right arm was along the arm of the chair while his left was holding his book. The only thing he could successfully move was his head. A distinctive tingling could be felt through his body and he sighed in aggravation, now eyeing the hand in Hank's pocket in disdain. "Hank."
The human smirked at him as he turned away from the TV he had just turned on. "Yes, Connor?"
"I take it being pinned magnetically to the chair is your doing?"
Hank barked a laugh. "Nah, wasn't my idea. You can blame Markus for this one. Simon too, actually, he's the one who made the whole contraption; even cut a metal plate to fit under the recliner to make sure it was powerful enough. Shoulda seen it the other day when North and Josh got magnetized together by accident, it was fucking beautiful." Connor groaned at realising this had been Simon's pet project when he asked for the tripwire. "At least having the Jericho lot around made planning this a lot fucking simpler."
Connor glared mildly before turning his attention back to his book. He growled when he realised he couldn't even turn the pages, at which Hank laughed loudly. "Nice to see you find this so amusing, Hank."
"Oh come on, Connor. I don't get to see you so flummoxed very often, let me enjoy it." It was then that Hank's bladder decided to make itself known, at which he sighed in irritation. With his injured hip, he couldn't walk any distance unassisted yet. "Shit, looks like you're getting off lightly. Can't stave off nature forever." Connor smiled triumphantly, but Hank soon grew impatient. "Will you hurry it up, Connor? Pissing is awkward enough right now without you making me hold it in."
The android raised an eyebrow. "I can hardly assist until you deactivate the magnets." When the lieutenant looked at him in shock, Connor's face grew to that of concern. "Hank?"
"Please tell me you are joking, Connor." When the android continued to look at him blankly, Hank pressed the button again…and again. "I just tried the button three more times." The pair looked at each other awkwardly, Connor knowing he couldn't move at all as Hank pressed the button all the more angrily. "Piece of shit! Why'd it work the first time and not again?!"
And then...they heard the cacophony of muffled laughter from outside. It soon clicked with both of them that they'd never heard Katie's car leaving.
A car currently filled with five androids watching the pair in great hilarity from the camera in the room.
Connor sighed in exasperation. "You said Markus was behind this idea, correct? You do realise that he caught both of us the last time he instigated a prank. I suspect that it was designed to only work once."
"I'm going to kill that android-Jesus…as soon as we figure a way out of this mess."