METAL GUARD DOG ⊳ connor x reader

Ch. XXIV

The park was very eye-catching, in its own way. There wasn't anything particularly prestigious or lavish about it, however it impressed with simplicity. If Connor would've had to chose one word to describe it, he would've most certainly chosen minimalistic.

Simple trees, simple, dried out, clean-cut bushes around them, and a drained fountain not too far away. Perhaps winter wasn't the best time to visit the place, but Conor didn't have anything against witnessing the uglier side of nature as well.

After all, it was still a part of the cycle, wasn't it?

The deviant smiled lopsidedly, letting (y/n) guide him through the park, half-heartedly listening to the stories she told him.

"Oh, and that fountain over there is just the best thing ever during summer, trust me! Me and Ahad used to dip our feet in it and have ice cream from a truck nearby when we were kids. Oh, and that tree over there, see it?" She gave his sleeve an inquisitive tug, and Connor followed the place she was pointing at with his gaze.

A rather big tree, roughly 15 meters tall, its leafless branches spread widely, was in the middle of a field-like space.

"Yes."

"It's where I had my first kiss." (Y/n) snickered. "It was so dumb, we were both having bacon flavored chips. It tasted horrible, never have bacon chips when you're kissing someone, trust me on that."

Connor chuckled at her statement.

And then started to wonder what bacon flavored chips must taste like.

"What else?" He asked.

"Hm." (Y/n) furrowed her brows. "A lot of other things, but just...smaller stuff. Like, nothing worthy to listen to."

"I like listening to y-"

"Look at that, it's Sarah Connor and the Terminator." Connor's gaze snapped away from (y/n), towards the source of the familiar voice.

It was Mikolaj, padding towards them, two leashes wrapped around each of his forearms like two vices, muscles straining against the pull of two collared up dobermans.

"Are you seriously referencing 80 year old movies at me, Mikolaj Jasko?" (Y/n) snorted and shook her head.

"Why not." He answered with a grin, which however quickly faded as one of the dogs pulled hard enough to make him stumble forward.

"Get your animals under control." (Y/n) shook her head with disapproval and amusement.

"Can't, they only listen to mom." The boy answered with a goofy smile, then looked at Connor. "Nice coat."

"Thank you."

"Hey, uh, thought I'd give you your profit, by the way. Y'know, from yesterday."

"It's not-" (Y/n) began.

"It's in cash, just the way you like it." Miko insisted and slithered a hand inside his pocket, pulling out a few 50 dollar bills. "Buy yourself something nice."

"You wish, Miko." (Y/n) scoffed and took the money from him hastily, and stuffed it inside her pocket.

"Well then, see you two around." He smiled politely and gave in to the pulling of the leash, running down the street with the dogs, accidentally brushing against Connor's shoulder as he did.

"He was..." (Y/n) began.

"Suspiciously polite." Connor continued, earning himself a nod from the young woman.

"Wonder why." She huffed, then shook her head. (Y/n) reached inside the pocket of her coat and pulled out the money.

"What are you doing?" Connor asked almost anxiously, rushing to stand in front of her to somewhat cover up the fact that she was literally looking through a stash of illegally made 50 dollar bills.

"I have a burning suspicion." She muttered under her breath, flipping through every single bill like the pages of a novel, stopping at what seemed to be a random one. "Knew it." She smiled cheekily and reached for Connor's hand.

"What exactl-"

"Feel it." She instructed, brushing his fingers over the surface of the bill. There was a small, almost unnoticeable bump on the face of the Ulysses Grant print.

"There's—"

"A small bump, yeah." Her eyes met his through her lashes. "Know what that is?"

Connor furrowed his brows. A fabrication mistake?

"A tracker." (Y/n) spat after a few seconds, taking out the bill and ripping it in two, right through the middle of the face printed on it. A small, thin, chip-like device fell to the floor, so tiny, Connor could've almost sworn it was a little stone.

"But why would-"

(Y/n) stomped over it, moving her shoe back and forth over it. "No idea. And I don't like where this is going."

Without another word, she split the stash in two, and handed one half to Connor.

"Look through it, see if you find any other trackers." She shook her head and chuckled ironically. "At least Mikolaj was kind enough to give us real money still, so I guess there's that."

"But why would anyone be after you, aside from the police?" Connor whispered as he continued flipping through the stash, finding nothing.

"Why wouldn't they? I have the horrible habit of pissing a lot of people off." (Y/n) muttered, feeling one bill, subconsciously shaking her head no and storing it back into her pocket.

"Do you know anything about Mikolaj's relationships?"

"Don't get me started, detective." (Y/n) smiled to herself. "His mom is Odin's right hand after all."

"He's— Mikolaj is Freya's son?" Connor sucked in a breath, in spite of not needing it. Of course, the dogs. They were the same as the ones from Odin's hideout, the one that were sitting at Freya's feet. "What could Odin want from you?"

"Payday's tomorrow, so I honestly don't know." A visible shudder went through her body as she stuffed the entire stash back into her pocket. "Though— Why him? I— Shit, that's..." (Y/n) bit her lip, tapping her foot against the asphalt and ran a hand through her hair. "Fuck, what if I really did piss him off? I'm practically dead!"

She began pacing around, almost running off.

Connor was quick to catch up with her.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that we probably don't have much time left to live if we really did somehow piss off Odin."