So, any suggestions for Hank and Connor's rematch? I am all ears for ideas. I hadn't originally intended a follow-up to that prank, but it was the direction the chapter took in the end.
Special thanks for reviews: Mayday Maria, DyeTheSheep, FandomsMJ, Darnea, xNarielx, Celestic1234, inuchara2511, lordvaatithewindmage, DemonSkitty, SheNoob, AnUnorthodoxDecision, JusTiNSaNiTy, KaguyaAmaterasu, Kata, sarahlucylu, xaonrider92, Minecraft Guardiansaiyan and one Guest.
Ps. One of my head-canons is that Traci/companion androids were designed to be able to consume liquids as part of roleplay. Anyone who reads my other D:BH series will be familiar with this idea already, but I'm bringing it across to here as well.
It had been a relatively quiet week at the precinct. For once, the world was not going to shit around them, and people were being half decent to one another. That left the multitude of detectives based inside having to find ways of amusing themselves.
Some were finding other forms of work (Hank had swiftly given up on pestering Connor about being a workaholic when the android pointed out that he was currently obscuring the lieutenant's screen, so that no-one would know what Hank was actually doing), others were subtly entertaining themselves with games – ergo, Chris, Tina and Ben were pretending to work while engaging in an online team quiz (and failing miserably)…
And some were being very blatant about their boredom.
Connor couldn't help but wonder when Hank and Gavin were going to work out that they were actually playing against each other on a versus edition of Tetris that he might have had a hand in fixing… It was far too tempting to manipulate the game system after discovering the two were actually on the same website. At this point, the pair weren't even being subtle about playing games on their terminals; they were long past bored or caring.
When a pair of arms wrapped around his shoulders in a loose hug, Connor sighed and turned to give an raised eyebrow to the mischievous smile which greeted him. "I take it you are struggling to find something to keep you entertained again, Katie?" he asked with bemusement.
This was where hiding her android identity was proving to be a headache for Katie. While most of the other officers were out taking long lunch breaks or finding convenient 'witnesses' to interview, she did not have that luxury. Gavin was quite happy to just sit about the station and drink his way through the coffee machine's entire supply, which left Katie feeling rather bored. At least she could play along with drinking coffee, though she was running out of excuses for when it came to Gavin asking about what she was doing for meals. That was going to end badly if things didn't change soon. She wasn't even speaking to her siblings much as she didn't want to appear distracted.
Her smile turned flirtatious before morphing into a smirk. "Come on, you know you're enjoying the distraction," she teased.
Connor chuckled before shaking his head, giving her a strange look when he noticed her ice-white hair was currently lying over the top of his own and had now fallen into his eyeline. "I'm trying to actually do some work," he shot back, managing to crane his neck enough so that her hair fell on to his shoulder instead.
Katie pouted. "I thought you preferred the fun sides of life," she commented, earning an unimpressed look.
"I may, but that doesn't mean I disregard my job when a quiet moment comes along," he chastised.
The female android's expression turned knowing. "Nice excuse…except I know that you've been staring at that one screen for the past ten minutes. Even you are ignoring work for the moment. Come on, spill. What are you up to?"
Connor contemplated not telling her, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to tease. "Can't you guess?" he wondered aloud.
She smiled again. "More pranks? I already feel sorry for whoever ends up on the wrong end of them."
He laughed in response. "Partially. I'm actually speaking with your brother."
Katie's eyebrow raised. "Richard? Dare I ask what you two are up to?" she asked with suspicion. Connor notably stayed silent as he gave her a wink. She scowled lightly in response. "I make no promises if you two decide to team up on me," she threatened.
After laughing once more, Connor finally twigged what she was up to from Gavin's scowl. "Ah, I get it now. You're over here because you can't bug Gavin, aren't you?"
Her smile turned overly sweet. "He's busy getting his ass handed to him at Tetris, but I'm getting slightly bored of seeing him on the verge of losing and just managing to claw the game back to a stalemate. Thought I'd speed up the process a little."
It was damn well working if the detective's unimpressed face every time he shot a look at the pair was anything to go by.
Connor did not miss the teasing lilt to her voice and smiled warmly at her. "Well, I think it's proving effective. And here I was thinking that you were here just because you enjoyed my company."
Katie stood up fully and stepped backwards towards her own desk, eyes still fixed on Connor. "I always enjoy your company Connor," she purred back loud enough for Gavin to hear, giving him a wink before turning around again. The male android smirked when he saw Gavin staring at the pair of them in blatant anger, but the reaction was swiftly drowned out by him swearing as he then lost the game.
Gavin roared at the defeat as Hank cawed victoriously.
The pair shared a slightly stunned look before Hank smirked and flipped Gavin off. Receiving the same gesture in return, they soon set about a rematch.
Connor laughed to himself lightly: maybe a quiet day at the precinct wasn't such a bad thing after all.
Except it very much was.
He should have known with the prank war not exactly being a secret, that someone was going to try something. Everyone in the building had both the intellect and a dark enough sense of humour to try and enact a prank against a co-worker (or twelve). With things being so quiet, it was almost an inevitability that someone would fall prey.
What Connor didn't expect, was for him to end up the victim. Worse yet, he still didn't have the slightest idea how.
All he did know, was that he was trying to avoid everything around him that was metal or had a positive electrical charge. He'd already shorted out a light and touchpad before realising what was going on.
Someone had statically charged him.
His first instinct was Hank. If anyone was likely to be behind this, it was his partner. Only he knew that Hank was unlikely to do something to him at work, even during a quiet period.
Still, after their stalemate, it was entirely possible that Hank was a bit more flexible about that rule now…
Then his suspicion turned to Katie. The female android was the only person besides Hank that had significant interactions with Connor over the day, but that theory was also unlikely. Katie's android nature meant that she would almost certainly be suffering from the same ailment if she initiated it.
Beyond that, Connor was struggling for anyone to be an obvious suspect. Chris and Ben had frequently been eager spectators to their pranks, but had yet to initiate one: or even show an interest in starting one. Gavin seemed highly unlikely, Connor didn't think the detective would believe it a good investment of his time. He really was beginning to get stretched thin on suspects.
Unless someone planted something on him even before the day started.
Connor sighed in frustration. He was going around in circles: figuratively and literally.
He'd been stuck inside the evidence lockup for an hour after shorting out the touchpad at the side of the door, and even his LED was malfunctioning due to the static. It had only taken Connor two attempts to realise that the feedback which had almost made him see stars (or as close was as possible for an android), as a result from trying to establish a connection, was not worth the end result. He didn't dare touch the table in the centre of the room: the last thing they needed was for that to blow.
So now, all he could do was wait.
In silence and alone.
A thought occurred to him and he tried to pull out his coin from inside his jacket, but even that seemed to spark at him. Connor winced as the echo jolted up his arm, glaring at a spot on the other side of the room.
Okay, so even items which were in direct contact with him were a bad idea to touch.
Frustrated would be an understatement as to Connor's feelings. He hated being forced to do nothing. He was beginning to wish he'd just followed everyone else's example and ignored work in favour of entertainment. His book was sitting just upstairs, which was even more annoying.
"What the fuck? What gives?"
Connor looked up from where he was seated miserably on the floor, only to see Hank looking at him in genuine confusion and concern. "Connor, what's going on?" the human asked worriedly. "Why are you just sitting there?"
The android sighed loudly. "I'm currently statically charged, and my efforts to leave the evidence lockup resulted in me electrocuting the panel. I am locked in, just as you are locked out."
Hank blinked. "Hold on a damn minute. Are you telling me that you are basically a giant static wand right now?"
Connor scowled. "A crude description, but yes." Silence reigned for a couple more seconds before Hank spluttered out a laugh, trying his best to hold it in. Connor rolled his eyes as Hank soon lost the battle against his amusement and let out a deep belly laugh. "I am so pleased this situation amuses you, Lieutenant."
That got the older man's attention. The only time Connor called him 'Lieutenant' anymore was when social decorum demanded it, during an interrogation, or when Connor was pissed off. Safe to say he could work out which one this was. "Don't get your panties in a twist, Connor," Hank chuckled. "Not like you to get so worked up with a prank, you've fallen foul of them plenty of times now."
"Yes, but none of them have left me feeling quite so…fidgety, before."
"'Fidgety'?" And then it clicked for Hank, who smirked. "Oh, I get it. You're bored because you can't do anything."
Connor stared at him, unamused. "Did you just come here to mock me, Hank?"
Hank sighed. "Fun as it is, no. I was actually coming down to tell you that Fowler is letting us go early, but now we've got to figure out how to get you out of that damn box… Ah, fuck it." With that, Hank pulled out his service weapon and fired two shots at the glass. Connor blinked in disbelief for a second or two, watching at the shards fell to the ground in razor-sharp rain. An alarm started blaring in the area, at which Hank punched a button at the side of the room to shut it up. "Fowler's probably going to have my ass for that, but needs must."
Standing up, unsure, Connor just stared at the older man. "Was that really necessary, Hank?" he asked warily, but he was grateful. At least now he was free.
The human scowled at him. "You know, a simple 'thank you' would suffice."
"Thank you, but still…that was little dramatic, don't you think?"
Hank shrugged. "Wasn't just going to leave my son helpless and looking like he's ready to strangle someone, was I? And really, you are asking me about being dramatic, with some of the stunts you've pulled?"
Connor just rolled his eyes and was about to walk past when Hank clapped a hand to the android's shoulder.
Bad move. Very, very bad move.
"Motherfucking Christ!" Hank screeched as he was violently shocked, the discharge shooting right up his arm. He could swear he was almost seeing damn static. "Fuck, that stung!" He saw Connor standing a couple of feet away, holding on to his shoulder with a grimace. "Damn, you good, Connor?"
Connor nodded through his wince. "Mostly. That shock may have rendered my arm temporarily numb."
Hank stared at him. "Define 'temporary'…"
"I imagine I will regain feeling in a few minutes. My systems were not braced for that level of feedback."
"No shit, Sherlock, my own body really didn't like that much. Fuck…" It was then that Hank thought of something. "Connor, how exactly did you end up charged?"
"Honestly, I don't know, Hank. I suspected it was you, but after that little incident, I can't quite see you putting yourself through that level of pain to deflect guilt."
The human hissed as he moved his arm again. It still stung like a bitch. "Much as I'd be willing to do a lot of crap to throw you off a scent, almost blowing my own brains out via a static charge is not one of them." Hank sighed deeply. "Come on, I think there's only one way were going to find out who did this."
Connor looked at him strangely. "You aren't proposing what I suspect, are you, Hank?"
Hank sighed. "Yep, I am. Let's go give 'em a show."
Shocking each other again once they reached the middle of the bullpen was not Hank's brightest idea, but it did give them the chance to analyse everyone's reactions. The shock was a lot less this time, fortunately, but it still made both Hank and Connor take a second or two to readjust. What they didn't expect, was for the recoil to be sharp enough that Connor took a step backwards out of instinct to put some distance between himself and Hank.
And his hand brushed right against Ben's terminal.
The overload caused it to short out, but it also tripped the fuse for the whole precinct.
It plunged into darkness briefly before the emergency lighting came on. Everyone shared shocked looks for a second before laughter started ringing around the room. As people started getting their breath back from seeing Connor single-handedly short out the whole building, completely accidentally, the pair locked eyes on the only ones looking, not only unsurprised, but also smug.
Connor couldn't believe it.
"You've got to be kidding me…" he muttered while reaching up to feel around the collar of his jacket. Sure enough, he found a tiny device which was emitting a low-level static field. With his systems glitching from the static, he couldn't scan himself to check; he felt like an idiot for not thinking of it sooner. He aimed a sour glare at the white haired android perched on her partner's desk, sitting so that her arms were folded over the back of Gavin's chair with her head resting on top of them. The human was smirking from his relaxed position, legs crossed and lounging to the side so that Katie was visible. "This was you two?"
Gavin grinned triumphantly while sticking his middle finger up at Connor. "Payback, bitch."
Katie giggled while playfully swatting Gavin's head. "Sorry, Connor," she apologised between snickers, "it was just far too tempting when Gavin suggested pranking you. Good thing for him I know a thing or two about androids, huh?" she winked over at him.
As much as Connor was annoyed at being caught out – now he knew why Katie was hanging around him, quite literally, earlier that day – he realised quite a few things from that little conversation.
One, it seemed like Gavin and Katie were genuinely becoming friends.
Two, Gavin had willingly embraced a prank which took advantage of Connor's android nature.
Three, the detective's gloating didn't seem as malicious as Connor might have once expected it to be. In fact, it was instead rather…teasing.
Hank made all these same connections too, and the pair shared a look while Gavin and Katie were busy high-fiving each other.
Maybe Gavin finding out the truth about her wasn't going to be so bad after all.