Homicidal By Design [Hector Escaton]

Chapter 14

A/N: lucife56 gifted me the MOST AMAZING fan art of Hector and Izzy. It's on her AO3 account :) so this chapter is definitely dedicated to her!

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It was midday and Izzy was astonished that QA hadn't come to take Hector away yet. They were always listening, weren't they? That's what her mom believed. Maybe they had lucked out and no one had been livestreaming their conversation. Oh god, had someone watched the night before...ahh. She shuddered as the thought came to her in a flash. Ewww.

Well Izzy hoped they enjoyed the episode because it was never happening again. That was an epically stupid, albeit satisfying, slip up of common sense and normal people boundaries. She was on her way to being one of those people who had sex with androids.

They had spent the first half of the day riding back through the Sweetwater hills to Hector's camp to see if anyone had returned. Izzy had expected there to be some tension, sure; she had not, however, expected the weirdness that had occurred.

The first half of the ride out of town was silent. A peculiar discord hung in the air between them. It was like they were handcuffed together; neither understanding the motivation, but still unwilling to separate themselves from the other. Hector navigated but said nothing. A muscle ticked in his jaw once in a while, revealing the color of his mood. Izzy wondered what he was thinking about—if hosts actually had the capability of independent thought.

Once they reached the foot of the hill, it was as if a switch had been flipped. All of the tension and hostility was unleashed in a stream of calculated questioning. The about-face shocked her.

All of his words had an undercurrent of restraint and deliberation, and Izzy wondered if he really was half as calm as he came off. She was happy to answer all of his questions about her home, her life, and how she wound up in the area. They had been a long time coming.

Fortunately, with him forming the questions, she didn't have to worry about answering them. He would never be able to construct questions outside of his realm of comprehension, outside of Westworld.

Where did she come from? Southern California, a crowded city called Los Angeles. Where had she learned Spanish? University, where she studied to be a lawyer. What was she doing in the area? Her mom owned quite a bit of land here, and because she was sick, could not come see it. She wanted Izzy to see the area that held so many memories for her.

The Q&A session continued until they reached the familiar narrow pass, then Hector lapsed back into silence as he led them through the secret pathway to his camp. Yeah, there was no way in hell Len and Craig would have ever found this. She couldn't imagine any guest did without a guide.

As they had expected, the camp was empty and there were no signs that anyone had been back to collect their belongings. They were all dead, she presumed. When Izzy tried to share condolences, Hector shrugged off the death of his gang members.

"You're sad about Armistice," she stated. She knew Hector was supposed to have a close bond with the other outlaw, even if not the others. Why he was so blasé about the whole thing was curious to her. Was he just that cold and dismissive? Or was it that he was escorting a guest now and his programming overrode any emotions that might interfere with the experience?

Questions to ask her mom when they finally connected.

"We will need to procure a third horse before we head out," Hector commented matter-of-factly as he rummaged around in one of the large tents. It was like she had never spoken, but his mood seemed lighter.