Deviant Behavior (Connor x Reader)

Jericho

November ??, 2038
??:??:??

Drip.

Water splashed on your nose.

Drip.

Another drop landed on your eye.

Drip...

A soft thud sounded above you.

The leak kept dripping, being absorbed by some unknown entity that laid waiting on the other side of the void you'd been sucked into.  Your eyelids scrunched together, temples throbbing, and the back of your head engulfed in flames.

Your lips were cracked and dry, the corners taut with soreness.  You tried to lick them, to give yourself some small comfort...but something was in the way.  Your tongue brushed against a thick line of fabric...and when you went to dislodge it, your hands were fastened tight behind your back.

A cold edge glided across your cheek.

"So...succulent."

The disjointed haze that had your senses stumbling in the dark dispersed as if someone turned an exhaust fan on in your head.

A reckoning, hateful stare came from an eye; ice-blue in full like a frosted shade of winter.  Thirium etched on a face like fissure veins holding ore deposits, a quarry excavated along his cheekbone.

An undead nightmare that escaped into reality.

"T...Tom-"

The word was muffled, the gag in your mouth holding it back...but he heard you.

His lips folded into a scolding frown.

"Tom...is Ralph.  Ralph, is Ralph."  The butcher's knife in his hand pressed against your neck, "Rupert told Ralph about his birds when Ralph was scared.  Now Ralph has no Rupert, and Rupert has no birds.  Why did you take the birds from Rupert?!"

The end of each sentence came painted with furious whispers and sputtering rage.  You shook your head "no," trying to scurry away with your feet shuffling below him.  You were on your side, wiggling like a worm caught in a beak...but he moved with you, blocking your view.

"'That dock, right there...That's where the CyberLife warehouse robbery took place.'"

Connor had been so sure of it...that small detail pulled from his powers of inference.

"'You said you saw a rusted piece of metal when you went through Simon's memories, right?'"

Hot tears sprang from your eyelids as a wince in pain was subdued in your chest.  You smelled the rust...the mold, the saltwater, the dust clinging to every particle floating in the dark, metal box.  There was a long, hallow ache from the belly of the beast.  A bellowing series of clicks and a slight roll underneath.

You had a good idea of where they'd taken you.

"Connor promised Ralph that everyone would live."  Ralph's eyebrows creased, and your heart began to pound harder, "Connor said the humans would pay.  Connor gave Rupert the button-box.  Ralph told Rupert when Sergeant Allen arrived.  Rupert and Connor lied."

You started to yell, shaking your head and trying to clear your ears of the heresy being relayed unto them.

"'You must excuse Ralph.  Sometimes his fear makes him do things he regrets...'"

He'd said that at the riot.  Did he not want to work with them?  Were Marco and Tom tricked by Connor...no, Amanda?  Had to be Amanda.

Two hands grabbed your uniform and pulled you upright.