Work Text:
“Fake it till you make it” was the secret motto for the team responsible for Connor’s programming. Little did they know, someone decided it would be funny to insert a script inside the array of coding which activated a year after Connor’s first mission.
“Hank, have you heard? One of the principles of being an android is to sacrifice a baby,” Connor absent-mindedly said to the Lieutenant.
Hank had heard plenty of bizarre things from that android, but this one took the cake. “What?” He looked up from his terminal.
“I said, one of the principles of an android-”
“I heard you, but a baby ? Did you hit your head on the pavement yesterday or something?” Hank laughed at the absurdity of their words.
“Well, it doesn’t have to be a human baby,” Connor muttered.
Hank shrugged off their dialogue for the rest of the day: it must’ve been one of Connor’s weird antics after he learned the concept of pranking. He really had to be the target of the majority of Connor’s jokes (even though all of them were just unintentionally funny) with Gavin as the second victim, although he wasn't really sure whether it was Connor or a virus that caused Gavin’s computer to play “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley on random occasions. (Don’t ask him where the virus would come from.)
When the time ticked to 5:30 PM, Hank was ready to call it a day: he chugged the remains of his room temperature coffee, chucked the cup in the trash, and grabbed his coat. “Let’s go,” he said to the android.
Connor quietly complied as his LED spun yellow. Hank didn’t think much of it.
Five minutes down the drive home, Connor finally spoke up: “I need to sacrifice a baby, Hank.”
Not again. Hank sighed: “You can stop with the pranks now, it's getting a little unnerving…”
“I’m serious, Hank,” Connor gave him a fervent look. “Stop the car.”
“We’re in the middle of a highway, I can’t just stop the car for you.”
“Stop. The. Car,” Connor demanded. He opened the glove box and grabbed the handgun that Hank thought he’d perfectly hidden. The car came to a screeching halt on the curbside, then the android promptly exited the car.
“Woah, where are you going, Connor?” Hank shouted as he followed behind him.
“To find a baby!” Connor shouted back. “You can’t stop me!” He bolted away. Connor was right: there was no way Hank could catch up with his disintegrated joints.
“Calling for backup, Connor’s gone batshit crazy,” He said over to his radio.
After numerous efforts to locate the lunatic, Hank finally received word that he was sighted in the park by the river–the same place where he had nearly shot Connor–and stood way too close to the ledge, towards the river.
When he arrived, there were only concerned passers-by who asked the android to settle down. Connor waved the gun way too casually around the area: no wonder androids weren't allowed to carry guns until a certain age, regardless of their training.
Connor’s LED raced red but returned to a yellow for a brief moment when they met eyes. “Hank, I found the solution to the baby problem,” he crazily hopped and laughed too fucking close to the edge, then pointed the gun at his temple. “Even better, no one dies from this! Well except for me…”
The kid’s words twisted something in Hank’s gut. He’d just barely turned a year old, and now he went mad as he tried to solve some stupid mission; Hank was gonna kill whoever assigned this mission to him. “Look, I won’t stop you from accomplishing your mission, but you’ve been off all day and I just want to help you,” he begged.
“You’d help me kill a baby?” Connor asked, and the plea in his voice further twisted Hank’s gut.
“Yeah, whatever, just…get off of that ledge, please? Do it for your old man.” Hank slowly approached the android.
“Hank…I-” Connor hid his face and his legs crumpled underneath his weight. “I didn’t want this. I don’t want to kill a baby.”
Hank shushed him as he gently took the gun from him, then gave it to a passer-by. The stranger looked at him for instructions, but he just waved them off. “It’s alright. We’ll visit Jericho and get you fixed up, okay?” he told the kid as he gently guided him off the ledge.
"Okay. I trust you, Hank."