Deviant Behavior (Connor x Reader)

System Reset

November 6th, 2038
AM 11:37:34

Frost burned your lungs as icy adrenaline coursed through your veins.  It wasn't enough to cool your overheated core that pushed sweat from your pores; mixing with the cold November rain.  Small clouds escaped your mouth, each falling farther behind as you picked up speed.  Your footfalls filled the pauses in your heartbeat, one "thud" trading for another.

You darted past curious pedestrians that were reduced to swatches of color and turning heads.  Your mind was racing as you ran along the bridge's sidewalk, the fence blurring into a translucent line of rust rather than a wall made of thatched holes.

A little girl's scream forced everything to a full stop.

"What are they-"
"Oh, my-"
"Is that-"

The once-passing bodies huddled around the fence, sirens blaring in the distance.

"DCPD – MOVE IT!" You jabbed your elbow between two shoulders in the crowd, prying them apart and pushing to the front.

The AX400 and Alice ran towards you, sprinting along a grass median below.

"CONNOR!  God-damn it!"

Your neck cranked to the left, following the scratchy howl from Lieutenant Anderson.  He punched the fence along the highway.

Connor slid down a muddy slope, his feet splashing as they met a stream formed by the street's drainage...

"Jesus, no, no no no-"

You buckled over, clasping your stomach as you tried to catch your breath.  Your pulse pounded in your head, the crowd's frantic whispering coming like a demonic chant.

"What...what is he doing?!"

Connor ran headfirst into oncoming traffic, leaping with precision only an android could facilitate...and then he jumped.

His hip met the roof of a car as he slid across, his jacket flaring like a matador's cape; taunting steel bulls that charged with horns in the shape of headlights.

He dodged them as they tried to trample him.  Flatten him.  Impale him with bumpers and parade his body around in a gory display of victory.  His side hit the wet road, gliding along the surface – his head missing a tire by inches; a carbon-black hoof with treads that sprayed water on him as it passed.

He'd made it to safety, darting up the median...But the deviant and child had already begun their second round of their run with the bulls.

You couldn't stop watching, even as your feet began to move out of pure instinct.  The scene came as flashes between the backs of heads.  Breaks in the chain links.  Gut-wrenching close-calls and the roars of engines that came too close for comfort.  Your pace quickened, your breaths coming in sharp, short pants.  You met the end of the bridge, given a clear view of the manhunt underneath you.

Every scene, every action taken, every shift in lanes of the figures sprinting across – all of it slowed down to fractions of seconds.  It wasn't so much you were watching, but trying to stitch together what your mind couldn't...didn't want, to comprehend.

The deviant pushing Alice to safety, finally crossing the highway.  Connor grabbing the AX400's shoulders.  How they wrestled in place, their bodies swaying – side mirrors zipping along by a hair's width.  The deviant jabbing her elbow into Connor's stomach.  His stumble backwards, aligning himself with a windshield and a hood and-

No, you didn't want to comprehend his final moments.  There were so many things you had to say – so many things you wanted to hear.  Things you wanted to investigate far worse than anything else.