Orders and Wonders - Connor/Kara Fanfiction

Interface

Many years ago, Lieutenant Hank Anderson had had a partner. Just around the time when androids were being sold for domestic uses and Gavin Reed had yet to join the force, he had found himself in one of the most agreeable partnerships in his life. Perhaps it had come down to him as a person - he was probably more prone to agree when he was younger and not always under a mild influence of the alcohol. Or maybe life was just much easier back then and everything had been right.

Eventually like many missions, Hank and his partner had undertaken a Class A mission. He had wished goodbye to Cole with a heavy heart and had told Sumo to be a good dog before joining his partner on a perilous and unpredictable journey. His partner never fretted over the dangers of an A class mission, but then again he wasn't a man who had a son counting days for his return. He was young and hotblooded like many his age and longed to make his mark in the police force. Hank had appreciated that, but his partner had a major problem. He carried his heart on his sleeve and that had cost him his life and Hank his best friend. 

And now as the old and greying police officer stood wheezing at the door, he saw the expression his partner had made before he had rushed blindly into a burning church filled with nuns and monks. And his sacrifice had made no difference - no one was saved by his blind heroic acts and the only difference he left behind was on him. His partner's death had changed Hank and transformed him into a better man and police officer. 

He rushed over to his partner's side and shook him out of the incongruous expression. His eyes that had been blurring rapidly stopped and faced him. From the corner of his eye, he watched as the human boy shuffled away in fear while his android blinked back at him, with a small wrinkle in the centre of his forehead indicating his irritation at being interrupted. He had never looked so human to him before. 

"Connor! What the fuck are you doing? Your eyes are-!" 

"Go home, Hank. This has nothing to do with you." He shrugged his arms off and looked determinedly into nothingness again. This time the expression frightened him and Hank was not embarrassed to openly admit it to himself.

"Fuck you, Connor. I come all the way from fucking Detroit to save your lousy ass and this is what I get in the end. You're coming back to the police-!"

"I AM A FUCKING DEVIANT, HANK!" 

Silence and a small gasp was all his mind registered. But maybe his mind was too small to comprehend this fact - maybe androids were something humans were never meant to indulge in, but this small statement had just left him almost . . . blank. He had felt blank when his partner had died, but then had secretly cried silently into the early morning hours when Cole had been asleep. And when his son had died, he had clung to that blankness with an urgency. He had gone into work the next day and acted normal even when assholes like Gavin were extending him fake sympathy and condolences. He appreciated the blank and the alcohol to numb his wounds. But this void that Connor's statement left within him was not to cover up his wounds. It was to cover up the fact that maybe he cared for this machine and the fact that he had changed so dramatically in a matter of few days completely mind boggled him. Or maybe it was the fact that he had always longed for Connor to feel like humans did, but the fact that he had not caused that change somewhat bothered him. 

"Jesus . . . Connor - you . . . you - how?" 

Hank received a deadpan stare as if he had asked an obvious question. His brown eyes were cold like the wind outside, but a fire burned past the murkiness of the colour and almost everyone in the room dreaded the destruction it would cause.

"Is it incumbent upon me to answer your questions, Hank? And that too right now?" 

Not waiting for a reply, Connor dived back into the interface and his last physical memory remained of his body falling backwards and being cradled by a warm embrace. It was strange - he had never felt somatic warmth and had never felt curious about its existence, yet having experienced it for mere seconds, he was now inclined towards it.