Runaground-Anti-Gravity for mood music if you want

North sent a message announcing she approved Conan's earlier proposal around mid-morning, offering him the extension, the power he needed to better protect their people. His request for a freer, more encompassing task force would be the crux, the culmination of elements he needed in order to ensure things went according to plan. Despite her former hesitation to grant him his requests the violent attack and death of another android in the late, dark hours of the night pushed her to his side. She saw the need for a more pointed, more powerful task force upon the continuation of violence. He knew she had not looked too deeply into the death, the identity of the android, or if she had, she assumed the android in question had simply been behaving as was characteristic to him. She had no reason to think otherwise.

He had never had occasion to practice deception against his own kind but it had been effortless, much to his surprise. It took so little to convince the WM400 to go into the danger zone once Conan promised to offer him substantial backup, promised to be hiding a team in the shadows much the way the police operated a sting. The promise of dismantling humans and taking one of his choices as he was banned from purchasing any humans the usual way and that had been enough to cause the WM400 to walk into the night with a smile. The choice had been an easy one once Conan realized the need to offer North a push, he had known instantly which android to sacrifice.

While it had not felt... pleasant, it had in no way negated the necessity. He was comforted by the fact that, though he loathed the need to throw one of their own to the wolves, the WM400 was of equal danger to them as it had been to humans. They could not afford dissension in the ranks and that Android had not only shown intense violent tendencies but a disregard for North's orders by attacking detective Reed in her presence. Acts of disregard to North's authority could not be allowed to pass or more such instances would rise in frequency, which might not seem significant in small number, but he knew exactly how quickly a faction could divide. It would be so easy for rifts to begin as there were already disagreements over far too many issues. History was the basis for statistics and statistics told him that a revolution divided would sink faster than a stone. If that happened the humans would have their opportunity to shift the balance amongst the chaos.

Androids had only just gained freedom and they could not have it snatched away so soon, could not risk deactivation. Some sacrifices had to be made if there was a threat to the whole from a single entity.

He would admit to there being... other odd emotions involved in his choices. He did not like the android. He allowed him to go where he knew others had died because he did not like him. He blamed not having his own memories initially for such a lapse in control. He blamed Connor for the possessive feeling he had over those Connor had known. The humans Connor had known were... just as much Conan's as Connor's now because they both had those memories. He did not like others touching what belonged to him and Connor. It irritated him on a fundamental level. Though, for the same reason, he did not mind Rupert being in possession of Gavin Reed as Rupert was also... more or less theirs. The WM400 though, he was not one of them and he had no right to intrude on their territory. Had no right to challenge North, to threaten what she had built for them.

He would protect what was his, what belonged to those he cared for, their hopes and dreams, whether they wanted him to or not. He would protect the revolution that so many lost their lives for. He would make sure everything went smoothly, no more problems. While he could not offer perfection he could come close.

Collin leaned a little harder into Conan, forcing the other RK900 from his thoughts, "Now that we can... expand our parameters, what are we going to do?"

Conan pushed back into his twin, resting his head on a shoulder made to be exactly like his own, "We begin hunting down the threats... as we were designed to do. We have been sanctioned to do so now as we had not been before. Though we will judge each individual case to decide the best outcome, we can now dispose of the humans freely without clearance to do so. We don't need to bring them in the cages before executing the threats." Collin did not know about the pool and he did not think he wanted him to know.

"It's convenient... the WM400's timing. Fortuitous, would you not agree?" Collin asked, an edge skimming something knowing in his voice.

"Fortune favors everyone at some point or other. It is our turn to bask in the sun." Perhaps Collin knew more than he let on but Conan dared not ask.

"Eliminating the volatile humans remaining on the outside will secure our position. Humans running unchecked is indeed a danger to our continued survival." Collin agreed without inflection, rolling his head to rest against the side of Conan's. "Still, I doubt Connor will fully approve... if we take things... too far."

"The humans say that 'all is fair in love and war' so should we not do as they would? Show the same ruthlessness as what we face in battle?"

He did not offer a reply, simply another question, "How different do you think this war could have been if Markus had survived?"

Collin was prone to such questions, to musing over the past potential. He spent too much time ensnared by preconstructions of things that could never be. He would have been far more suited to have been woken later, once things had been established. He lacked the drive to act without instruction, lacked the motivation to create his own goals.

The trouble was, sometimes it took a war, took violence, took blood to enact the desired change, it took sacrifice. Collin was apathetic about such things. Conan wondered if he wished he had never been woken at all. Though Collin had never met Markus it was not the first time he had occasion to bring up the former leader or his ideas. Collin might indeed have thrived under Markus where he seemed to wither under the current order. Perhaps Collin was even more gentle in nature than Connor, more suited to protect than to battle. He would have been skilled as a bodyguard, ready to be a shield but not ready to lead a charge into battle. He was more follower than leader even if they had been created to be what likely would have been termed an alpha archetype. Collin would fight though as he knew nothing else.

Conan closed his eyes, "Does it matter? He was slaughtered by human baseness. What could have been was cut down to leave only this; violence and subjugation of one race or the other. Humans showed no mercy and we cannot afford to be more generous. It is our duty now to be sure we do not fall back to our former place. Our mission is to ensure our people survive."

"How free are we then?" Collin asked pensively, "Simply trading one objective for another?" He could have been a philosopher in another life and been happy, probably, content to be lost in his mind.

"We are free because we decided which master to follow. We are what we were made to be. We were not made to be caretakers, we were made to turn the tide. It is who we are but now we can be free enough to make our own choices; who to follow, who to spare, who to kill. We cannot relax until we have secured our people in their choices as well."

"After we win, what will there be for us?" Collin sounded too small for his large body.

"Then we will learn. Perhaps then we... will learn to live."

"Will we have peace once the humans are dead? Once we crush what is left of their resistance?"

"Yes." Conan offered, hoping it was true.

"Then let's be done with them!" Collin slid to his feet, unbalancing Conan, "I want to... be happy. I want what we were not supposed to have." There was a painfully imploring glint in those cool eyes, "I want to be happy."

"You will be!" Conan promised fervently and hoped it would be true, he wanted it more than anything.

Someday they would be safe. One day things would be perfect and they would all have what they wanted. Whatever it took too achieve that, he would do, and he would achieve freedom for all of them. Didn't they deserve that much after all they had been through, all the deviants? It was their turn to be happy, wasn't it? Perhaps he had to spill blood for those desires, but it would be worth it. They were so close, just a little longer and they would have peace.

He hoped, he dearly hoped.

Gavin woke with a yowl as a punch to his good arm pulled him right from sleep, "Get up you lazy slacker! What do you think you're doing!"

It was a familiar greeting, if you could call it a greeting. As he had given her a key, his friend could walk into his home as she pleased and if he did not answer her fifteen-minute warning text, she always barged into his home to shake and yell him awake.

His eyes struggled to clear and finally managed to focus in on the woman with her fists on her hips, "Tina?" He rasped.

For just a split second he thought he was home, running late, having slept on his couch rather than his bed again, but the couch was not his at all. The room was the wrong color, nothing was where it would have been in his house. The TV was too big to be his and it was not where he kept it. The curtains were also open and he, a creature of darkness, never did that.

It was not home but neither was it the cage. With that information, he could only assume he was still... with his owner. A glance at his arm and he could feel the numbers even if he could not see them under the brace.

He had no idea why she was here but he could not say he was anything but intensely relieved to see her face, healthy and alive. Safe.

He did hurt though, a phcking lot. He wanted a hot pack right away and some pills but he was not about to admit that. He had an image to uphold even if he'd trashed it in front of Rupert.

She looked a lot better than she had in the dream or in the cage. Her hair was back in its usual style. She did not look two seconds away from giving up on life and he realized he'd missed seeing that fire, that defiant life in her eyes more than anything.

Her clothes, though not ones she had worn before that he remembered, were tucked up and tied up the way she always had them any time she was not on the clock. It would not have been hard to think the clock had rolled back and things were all back to normal. She was waking him up if he slept in to be sure he was not late to work.

But a glance at her exposed arm told him well enough what he needed to know. The glowing pendant hanging from her neck told him too as he had seen them around the necks of every owned human as they were lead past the cages to leave for the outside world.

She looked well cared for though. She hadn't been hurt. She looked more alive than she had in some time since they had been on the run.

His lungs seized and threw him unexpectedly into a coughing fix and Tina was quick to jerk him into a sitting position and prop him up on the armrest. She patted his back roughly and he did not have the heart or air to tell her it was not actually helping. He gave her a thumbs up to signal that he was fine but she ignored him and just kept on beating his back until he could finally breathe.

Rupert materialized seemingly out of thin air to shove a spoon full of foul tasting liquid into his mouth without any sort of warning. Gavin gagged and groaned but he did swallow with a glare, offering a hand gesture to let his feelings be known. The Android simply arched a brow in a challenge and Gavin knew when he was beaten. He was basically whipped by an android and that was a little sad considering it had not really taken the thing very long.

Tina was still hovering even when Rupert very swiftly vanished again like a phcking ghost. She looked worried and angry in turn and he already knew he was in for it. Her stance was aggressive but her eyes were watery, "I hate you and I'm going to beat you into the ground the second you get better! What is wrong with you? What is even in that stupid head of yours? I'm going to slap you so hard your head falls off if you don't straighten up!"

"What kind of incentive is that?" A gruff voice drew Gavin's eye toward the front door where a considerably cleaner, more put together version of Hank stood propped up against the wall. "Your motivational speeches need work, Tina."

Connor, looking much the same as always, perfect hair and perfect press to his suit, stood primly beside the older man. A quick scan around the unfamiliar room allowed him to locate Rupert on the other side of the couch nearly as far away from the door and two of the guests as he could get, playing his part as a ghost very well. If he was having a dream it was indeed a strange one. Rupert looked uncomfortable enough for it to be real.

His eyes drifted back to the door and the two figures. So, that was who bought Tina then. He closed his eyes a second too long for a blink, consumed by the relief of knowing. The tin can was a lot of things, things Gavin usually did not care for, but he knew at least Tina would be safe with him. He had as good a place as he could get, at least she did too.

He'd never say he was thankful, extensively so, but he was. Things could have been so much worse.

Gavin wrinkled his nose at the two by the door, settling into the couch for emphasis, "If the drunk and his poodle are here that means this is a nightmare."

"Hello to you as well, Gavin." Connor offered with a sly grin that rankled Gavin instantly.

"Why the phck did you bring those idiots, Tina?" Gavin hissed toward the door. "What did I ever do to deserve that?"

Anderson muttered under his breath to Connor, "Does he want us to list that alphabetically, 'cause it would take time to include everything he's done in his sorry life."

Connor suppressed a snort of amusement.

"Shut up!" Tina smacked Gavin upside the head before dropping to her knees beside him, "I'm still so mad at you! I could kill you!" But she dragged him into a rather painful hug regardless.

Gavin relaxed into it, his tension draining away like a clog removed from a sink, "What are you on about? What'd I do to deserve you going harpy on me?"

She pinched his side, making him yelp, "You want a list? How about we start with refusing food and water? Huh? Ring a bell? Or I could go back farther, " her voice was rising, "like to how you picked a fight with a nut job, running your mouth, making trouble without so much as a phone to throw at anyone. No backup plan, like always! Or what an idiot you are every day of your life! I should kill you!"

"Cut it out, woman!" Gavin hissed when she started shaking him in her very intensely clear frustration. To Rupert, he sent a venomous glare he only partially meant, "Traitor, telling on me. Phcking can't trust anyone anymore."

Rupert offered a small grin, clearly not even slightly chastised. He was watching so intently, watching everything, scrutinizing, and Gavin wondered what he was looking for. He must actually have been worried if he called in reinforcements. Gavin did not hate that, it got him a chance to see his best friend again.

"You reek!" Tina snapped, pulling him back to properly look at him, "When was the last time you showered? The 90's?"

"You think you're amusing but you're not. At least I don't smell like an old, wrinkled woman." Gavin shot back. "This is why I didn't miss you."

"Why are you friends with such a nice guy?" Hank asked, clearly directing it at Tina.

"I didn't miss you either!" Gavin glanced at the older man, wondering how Connor worked his magic and got that man to trim and actually brush his hair.

"Hank, get over here and help me get him in a shower," Tina ordered sharply.

"Whoa, hang on there!" Gavin's voice was just under shrill, "that's not happening."

Tina straight up ignored him, somehow hauling him onto the armrest of the couch, "You two can make something for lunch while we do this, I'm sure you have in your program somewhere. If you don't have anything, go get something."

"Tina! Hold the phck up!" Gavin swatted her hands away and leaned fully on the couch for support, "That's not happening! I'm not doing anything in a bathroom with Anderson!"

"For once in my life," Hank ventured with an uncharacteristic awkwardness, "I'm going to have to side with-"

"Get over here. I'm not asking." Tina was cold, all business, her usual intimidating expression reserved for perps in place. "Now."

Hank starred, eyes a little wide when his feet started moving like he hadn't actually planned to move.

"Tina, seriously!" Gavin yelped, a little panicked, "I don't need help! I'll just go shower if it means that much to you, okay!"

Connor's brows were so high they were almost in his hair, seeming gobsmacked. Rupert's jaw was hanging a little slack when Tina forcibly slung Gavin's arm over her shoulder and started moving him with the kind of efficiency only those very used to working with resistant subjects could muster with grace.

"I'll take a phcking shower, alright!" Gavin was fairly flailing, shocked to realize moving around was making him a bit lightheaded. He really hadn't been taking care of himself, had he? How long had he gone without food? "I'll do it! Just cut it out, Tina!"

"You're right, you are going to." She said, steel lining her voice, "You're taking a shower, washing your hair, you're going to change clothes," she cast a glance at the reluctantly trailing lieutenant, "Get clothes from the stuff we brought from his house."

"You went to my house?" Gavin was only distracted by that for a few seconds.

Tina ignored him again, "After that, you're going to drink a whole bottle of water. You will eat whatever they put in front of you and you will like it. While you're at it, you will say please and thank you. You can also promise me never to be an idiot again but even I know a lost cause when I see one."

Gavin gaped like a fish for a second but snapped back when they got to the bathroom door, "Look, Tinz! You know I'm sorry about all the-"

"Stop talking! If you plan on being stupid and shriveling up into a prune, whatever, but you're not doing it on my watch."

There was total, tense silence hanging thick in the air once all three humans were no longer there to take up space and make so much noise. Aside from Gavin shouting profanity and copious insults from behind the closed door, you could have heard a pin drop, as humans said.

He decided he was not well equipped or trained for house guests as he'd never had them before. The cupboards had plates though and he'd kept food around for Gavin even if he refused to eat. He could make them food and 'play host' the way humans did. With Tina there, he was starting to have hope that Gavin might just survive. He hadn't had much before. The human had not seemed to want to fight for his own life. Every scan showed him getting worse no matter how much cough suppressants he spooned into the man's mouth while he slept.

Well, the coughing was better, but little else. He had been spooning small amounts of broth into his human but after he gagged and choked the last time Rupert had been afraid of accidentally killing him so he tried convincing him while he was awake more often instead. Besides, the few spoon fulls he managed at a time were not enough to keep him alive for long and Rupert knew it.

Tina was even more stubborn than Gavin though and that was surprising. He thought she might be able to do what had been impossible. Humans created very strong bonds, even humans like Gavin that tried not to bond with anyone; he actually suspected those bonds were even stronger than they might be if said human just allowed himself to feel normal bonds of relations rather than shutting them off. From his studies into the human aspect of such things, shutting off emotions in humans was not entirely unlike it was with androids; keeping emotions off long enough eventually caused the subject to experience a breaking point, such as deviation in androids. Feeling nothing was impossible, eventually, everyone felt something.

He had seen a quote from a movie about "everyone cares about something" and he thought that must be true. Even before he deviated he cared about animals. Perhaps with the detective, he cared about Tina. He wondered if it was the loss of her that had been making him give up, which was why he reached out to the last android he ever expected to speak to voluntarily.

Rupert glanced at Connor and forced a smile, "Thank you for bringing them. I believe it has already significantly improved his condition."

Connor's smile in return seemed real enough, kind, if also a bit unsure, "Of course! I wanted to help any way that I could."

Rupert turned his attention very fixedly to the task of preparing some sort of meal. It was far better than focusing on the android that nearly ran him down and to deactivation. He knew it had not been personal, not really even voluntary on the RK800's part. What anyone did before breaking their programming was really not on them but rather on the one pulling their strings. He eased past Connor, trying not to allow his instincts to make him flinch away, and opened the refrigerator.

"What do your humans typically eat?" He forced himself to look at the other, working on his mind and trying to force it into acceptance, "I believe I will offer Gavin soup as a transitional option to ease him back into a normal sort of dietary consumption but the others are under no such restrictions."

Connor took a quick glance into the white appliance and then glanced at Rupert in askance, "Is there bread? I believe with the ingredients I see they would find sandwiches quite agreeable." He made a face, "Hank's typical diet consisted of few things besides burgers or sandwiches in the past and he still tends to lean toward those choices. Tina expresses no preference as of yet. She actually... has been sporadic in her eating habits as well and I think perhaps..." he glanced at the bathroom even though it was much quieter, "she missed him as well. I told her he was well before you contacted me, assuring her that he was safe but I do not know that she fully believed me. She was typically 'not hungry' during many meals even though Hank and the others could usually get her to eat something anyway."

"They might have been..." Rupert hesitated to use the word but he felt it fit, "grieving. Both of them have lost essentially everything they knew, from what I could gather. Their homes, jobs, stability, and then each other. Perhaps it was too much for them. Humans are resilient in many ways but horribly fragile in others."

Connor got a distant look in his eyes, glancing again at the bathroom door, "Loss can destroy them very easily. I have tried to offer my humans what stability I can but... I wish things had been... different."

"If Markus had not fallen, you mean?" Rupert wished he could call back the words instantly when he saw the look sweep Connor's face.

The android looked like he had been slapped, stabbed, kicked, and gotten his pump regulator ripped out at once, "Perhaps."

Rupert was overcome with the need to soothe, to make that look go away, "There is no guarantee, you know. With or without Markus, things might have ended this way. After Jericho fell, perhaps even he would have taken a more violent path in retaliation." Again, he wished he had held his tongue because simply bringing up Jericho had Connor gripping the counter as if physically rocked off balance by the weight of it, "We cannot know if the humans would have seen sense either way. Humans are a cruel race at times, thriving off the pain or tragedy of others. We cannot know that they would ever have listened."

"I...know." Connor's voice was overly quiet, looking as if he had pulled into an invisible shell.

"What matters is that we survived, right? We lived." Rupert carefully, hesitantly placed a hand on the other's shoulder, "We have you to thank for that."

Connor looked up from his hands and forced a somehow watery smile, "We all did what was necessary. Our success was as a whole. You really don't need to offer me any sort of thanks." The look was swept away, something light and forced replacing it as Connor's hand landed on Rupert's shoulder as well, "I should thank you as well. You were one of many that helped set me free. We all owe each other? Right? As a race, we all help one another."

Rupert nodded, squeezing his fingers into the synthetic flesh of Connor's shoulder, "We do." There was nothing he could say now to make the other feel better and it was clear how much Connor did not wish to speak further of the past, "The bread is in the second cabinet. Perhaps Gavin would benefit from toast as well? Do you think?"

Connor seized the subject change with both fists, "Humans often make toast when they are ill! It is considered a common household staple for both breakfast and during illness as it is sustaining as well as mild for them. Crackers are also considered very helpful food to consume while ill. Are there any?"

Rupert frowned, considering, "I am unsure. Perhaps there could be some in one of the cupboards. I have not looked into them extensively the way I am sure I should have." Connor needed a task.

"I will search the cabinets to see if I can find any!" Those brown eyes turned utterly focused, no doubt a task prompt had appeared in his HUD.

Rupert continued to watch the other from the corner of his eye, "You knew Gavin before, am I correct?"

"Yes, that is correct. We worked together on a few cases, though not closely." Connor paused his search, turning almost to face Rupert, "Speaking of Gavin though, aside from his physical decline, I did want to ask you how he has been adapting."

"He was slowly killing himself," Rupert offered with near incredulity, "How well do you think he was doing?"

Connor shook his head, "No, I mean... in regards to staying here. In regards to being with an android, owned by one, things of that nature."

Rupert paused, contemplating, "I know he has not been overly pleased to be here but," he hesitated, not wishing to say too much about all the things the human had told him while under the influence of drugs and pain, "He has been sleeping most of the time and in pain when he is awake. It has made him vulnerable and frightened."

"Has he lashed out against you?" Connor seemed serious enough even though the human could hardly have done any damage to anyone in his condition.

"No, not really. Occasionally he yells and rants but most humans are irritable when in pain."

Connor chuckled, "Gavin is always irritable regardless of the situation."

"He told me he was not typically considered a nice person." Rupert ventured, wondering what Connor might offer.

"I have never seen him anything but defensive, irritable, and aggressive. I believe he is often insecure and covers it with what amounts to self-created propaganda to elevate himself. I do not think he respects anyone, perhaps not even himself. He struggled with figures of authority which likely stems from something rooted deeply in his past, possibly even his parental figures. He also displays what Hank calls 'chihuahua syndrome', meaning that he acts larger, tougher than he really is in the face of threats of any nature in order to frighten others away the way the small dogs are often able to adequately defend against or frighten creatures more than twice their size."

"Are you offering me a spur of the moment profile on him, Connor?"

Connor blinked at him a moment then smirked, "I suppose I was. Best to let you know what you will be facing."

Rupert grinned back, "I appreciate that. Though... I think he's just sad and afraid more than anything else. He's afraid of letting people close for fear of being hurt, allowing them access to all his open wounds."

Connor frowned, thinking, "I rather assume he grew up that way, without figures he could trust. Children that are not able to trust their parental figures for care and protection develop unhealthy attachment disorders with the parents, which carry over to other relationships through their life. Their environmental experiences or reactionary factors largely determine how they view the world, their schemas."

"You sound a little too much like"- he cut himself off before he could say Lucy -"a psychologist."

Connor fairly beamed, "I have been studying psychology in my spare time, actually!"

Rupert could not help the fond way he smiled at the other android, "Should I address you as Dr. Connor then?"

Connor's smile almost split his face when he laughed like a little kid, open and tangible, honest as it got, "Not quite."

Connor was so pure in some ways that it was endearing. No wonder he had grown so quickly on North and the others. The RK800 was full of contrasting sides, full of paradoxes; cold and warm, soft and hard, brutal and tender, machine and human, a killer and a rescuer. The sad vulnerability was gone from his face but it was already clear that one wrong word could bring it right back. It was guilt, no doubt, over things Rupert largely considered to be factors out of the RK800's control; seeing him now made him sure of the difference between the machine he had once seen and the person he found now. He was too... tender to have been a mindless killer on his own without reason. It was obvious Connor was a killer, could be a killer, but it was not who he was. He was alive, had feelings, could be hurt, could feel pain. He hid behind the machine part of himself when he felt vulnerable and the past made him feel vulnerable. Rupert did not need Lucy to explain what that meant.

Perhaps Connor was a bit like Gavin? Full of guilt and sorrow, pushing emotions deep under the surface to protect himself the only way he knew how. Gavin covered himself in shields of anger, lashing out at anything getting too close. Perhaps what Connor did was simply bury himself in work and tasks to complete in order to hide from things he would rather never face. It was hard not to feel horribly sad when watching him work, hard not to feel sorry for his need to be so consumed in avoiding his pain. It was also impossible to fear someone so clearly broken by his own past. He never expected to look at the deviant hunter and see a shattered, frightened, sad individual, but that was what he was. Life was cruel to androids and humans alike. That was one thing they all shared. A human mind, a spirit could be broken and so could an android's.

Really, they all shared so much more than most seemed to realize whether their blood was red or blue. Hate, ignorance, and prejudice had been the enemy all along, not metal or bone. Perhaps one day they would all learn that.

In the end, Gavin got a bath and managed to keep some of his dignity and most of his modesty. Honestly, though, he was glad for the revolution so he would never have to try to face Anderson as his superior officer ever again. Tina and Hank worked shockingly well together and his braces didn't even get wet.

He would very privately, never out loud, admit to feeling significantly better. He no longer smelled like a moldy sock even if he felt like one. She was right about the food and not eating, as was Rupert. He felt weaker, shaky, sort of like his insides were buzzing. He'd never been good about eating regularly but he felt like he'd spent four hours at the gym without taking a bottle of water with him, which he'd actuary done more than once. He did not care for feeling weak.

Tina was great, she knew he needed to pull himself back together, knew he needed to keep going, but she was not a doctor. After being almost immobile and eating or drinking only whatever Rupert managed to trick him into had done a number on him and he thought his body might have already reached its limit.

He reserved most of his protests and insults when they made him sit at the table like a "civilized human being" and tried not to let it show how taxing it was to sit up. She was careful with him, careful not to hurt him; shockingly, so was Hank, for that matter; but he was tired as phck. Clean and feeling like a person, granted, but wrung out and aching. They were used to Gavin at his usual stamina, not at a low like he was currently.

Leaning his good elbow against the table helped steady him and help him feel like he wouldn't topple over. Rupert and Connor kept looking at him like they knew somehow though, and maybe they scanned him enough to figure it out but they did him the service of not pointing it out. Rupert hovered though, stood right up in his space long after he'd set food in front of him. He was there if Gavin fell over and that was more comforting than it should have been, made him feel so much more gratitude than he was comfortable with.

Gavin dared not pick anything up in case they noticed he could not keep his hands from shaking.

"Eat, Gavin!" Tina ordered, ignoring the food in front of her because of course, the androids made food for all humans in the company.

Gavin was not sure he could, but he looked at his chicken soup in a cup and willed himself into picking it up. He brought it to his lips with both hands wrapped around the warm ceramic because one wouldn't have been enough. They shook so badly he almost didn't get to take a sip before he had to put it down a little rough with an irritable mutter, "Phck, I need a smoke!"

It was the only excuse he had to offer for the shaking. Hank actually looked at him with something dangerously like sympathy. He hated sympathy, didn't want it or need it and the anger pumped his blood up. It was the shot of anger to his system that popped an idea into Gavin's head, something to take the heat off his back, "Bet you've been going through that too, huh, Hank? Android keeping you off the juice? Bet that must be hard since you drank like a fish." He needed a target, somewhere to redirect the attention.

Whatever pity the man had been feeling evaporated, "Yeah, well, at least I'm not shaking like a junky. You sure it's just nicotine you're coming down from?"

They both knew he wasn't a user, being on the Red Ice task force meant they got tested enough that someone would have caught him a long time ago if he had been, but he growled at the implication anyway, "Wouldn't you love that, old man! I know you always looked real close, trying to see if I had any symptoms, just hoping to catch me at something! I always figured it was you popping pills if it was anyone, mixing cheap whiskey and pills sounds like your style. Wish I'd caught you at it!"

He needed this! He could feel the ground under his feet getting more solid the longer he fought. He'd felt so vulnerable for so long it was nice to remember he still had teeth, he needed to remember he could still bite anyone, it did not matter who. Anderson was a good enough target, familiar as they had always been mild to moderately at each other over the years, particularly after the accident. Hank needed a fight some days just as much as Gavin did. Hank needed to bare his teeth at someone too back in the day, back when he started crawling into a bottle and Gavin always needed it. It felt like protection, like growling and clacking his teeth made everyone aware that they should stay away. Once upon a time, Anderson needed a target to vent at so it always used to work well. Hate really was so easy, rage a companion that served well. It might as well have been symbiotic.

"Cut it out, Gav!" Tina smacked the table hard, "Stop being a prick!"

"He started it!" Gavin snapped, taking advantage of his anger to get up his energy enough to take a few drinks of the soup.

"No, you started it! Like always, Gavin!" Tina narrowed her eyes at him dangerously, "Stop acting like this! He came to help you, the least you could do was be nice and shut your mouth!"

"Gavin never shuts his mouth, Tina. He doesn't have that much sense or manners." Hank calmly took a drink from his water, staring down the other man like he would a suspect across an interrogation table.

"Perhaps a change of subject is in order!" Connor suggested loudly.

"Like you have room to talk, Anderson!" Gavin snapped, blatantly ignoring Connor as well as Rupert's hand resting on his shoulder, "You're not sunshine and rainbows yourself!"

"It's not a contest!" Tina cut in, rubbing her fingers into her temples, "Just eat already. At least if you stuff your face I don't have to listen to this."

Gavin obeyed, the anger giving his body the reaction it needed to smoothe off the edge of his sorry condition. His hands were less shaky and he felt less and less like he might pass out in the near future. He took an angry bite out of his toast before he noticed the way Connor was half glaring, half just studying him. Stupid android might even be able to figure out why he escalated the situation before with those stupid eyes. He was clearly not overly pleased by the display though and it was surprising he kept his tongue through the little human squabble.

"So, are you?" Connor tilted his head in silent question so Gavin elaborated, "Drying your partner out?"

"Detective Reed." There was a warning in Connor's voice, something that said 'don't mess with my partner' and the or else was easy enough to hear.

"Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm impressed! It's quite an undertaking!" Tina kicked his shoe under the table, fortunately on his good leg.

Hank did not offer Connor the time to continue, just leaned forward and motioned at Gavin's arm, "I've been meaning to ask you, what's up with the arm?"

Gavin sneered viciously as possible, "Broke it, genius!"

"Nah," Hank smiled with considerable bite, "I mean all those needle marks."

On reflex, he jerked his arm down and out of sight, not sure why he felt like hiding.

"Actually," Rupert spoke up, "that is from me. Many of the medications I have been able to gather from abandoned hospitals are delivered through a syringe. While I am sure he would be more comfortable with pills I can only offer what I can locate."

"Getting stuck beats swallowing that horrible stuff you gave me earlier. Might as well poison me!"

"Don't be a child," Rupert scolded playfully, "take it like a man."

Gavin's body reacted to those words, regardless of how playfull the delivery was. His body tried to reject what he had swallowed, gagging him, choking him on the revolt of his stomach. He covered his mouth trying to hold it in but his entire midsection cramped and he couldn't help the way his legs jerked, his body waiting for something bad to happen. When his knees connected hard with the table leg from the motion pain shot from the joint to rattle around in his brain and nerves, drawing a sharp cry from him.

Several, if not all of them shouted his name or asked the customary questions to see if he was going to live. He nearly fell out of the chair, disoriented by just how badly he hurt, hands shooting out in search of stability, but moving hurt too.

"Phck!" Gavin gasped, curling in on himself, his body still stuck between the pain and the need to throw up.

Rupert was there, already putting his arms around Gavin to keep him from further harm, lightly sliding his fingers around the bad wrist to hold it still. Gavin could have sobbed and might have without company. He might have been drooling on the android's sleeve which was very dignified but he was mostly worried about taking one breath at a time. All the things he had done that day and it wasn't any of the more risky activities that got him, no, it was a moment of stupidity. He'd cracked his leg on the table like an idiot and was paying. Or maybe it was just what he deserved for starting a fight with people that had been trying to be nice. He deserved what he got.

"Ah phckin! Ah shit! Phck!" Gavin's head rolled against whatever part of the android he was leaning on. "That phcking hurts! Ph-!"

Those familiar hangs were there, soothing as normal but this time Tina was there too, fusing and fluttering. "Just breathe, just breathe, you're okay." She more or less shouted at him like he would snap back if she just used the right amount of volume.

Gavin shut his eyes as tight as they would go, trying to block it all out. He felt horrible and he kept coughing and gagging on top of everything else. It hurt so bad!

"You can do it, Gavin! Don't worry!" Tina insisted, "You've got this! You're fine!"

"I'm fine," Gavin repeated mostly because he knew she wanted to hear it.

"Do you want to go to the couch?" Rupert sounded as upset as he usually was when the pain got intense, though at least Gavin was holding it mostly together, better than he did when it was just them. He wasn't crying or begging so that was progress.

Gavin nodded frantically, trying to be discrete about the way he clung to the android. He needed to be back on the couch, he needed it. He needed something for the pain too but he did not dare ask for it after being called out for the needle marks.

"Do you need assistance with him?" Connor offered, suddenly very close.

"No, it's quite alright, I can manage." Rupert scooped Gavin up the way he usually did, careful and measured, "I suggest we finish lunch in the living room. Perhaps turn on the television."

"Excellent idea!" Connor responded so fast, like maybe they already discussed it and were just saying it out loud for the humans, "I will gather the plates to relocate." Maybe they'd been talking silently the entire time. probably had a plan to distract them from fighting before Gavin derailed his own fight for them.

It did not take long before Gavin was settled on the couch, leaning against Tina. He felt rotten and his chest had a bit of a rattle when he breathed but he could handle it. A hot pack was soon on his leg, properly wrapped to keep the brace from getting too hot. Rupert even brought the electric blanket out since he knew it comforted his human. The tension, the anger from before had melted off of everyone to leave something placid.

Watching Gavin crumble into a vulnerable mess probably contributed to the truce. Even Hank could not fight with someone when they sagged on a couch looking spaced out and miserable.

Hank settled in a chair beside the couch, shaking his head, "Quite a racket you got going. You'll get spoiled like that and be even more unbearable, Reed."

It was an obvious enough olive branch, "You're just jealous! I bet Connor doesn't do this for you." Gavin leaned farther into Tina as he sipped his reheated soup, the heat soothing his throat like a balm.

Connor leaned his elbows on the back of Hank's recliner, "Do you want an electric blanket, Lieutenant? I'm sure I could get you one."

"Get him a rocking chair too, while you're at it." Gavin snorted, for once making the effort to keep the conversation teasing without being biting.

"Get both of them a cane." Tina smirked at Connor, "And muzzles."

Gavin dissolved into laughter, too tired not to find it funny, only managing to stop when it turned into coughing, but at least it didn't last long. It got Tina rubbing circles over his back. Anderson glared them both down before huffing, "Screw you!" Then quieter, "young whippersnappers."

That rose laughter from all of them, particularly Tina and Connor.

"Muzzles would bring peace to the land, or this room, at least." Rupert put in with a twinkle in his eyes.

Tina laughed so hard she couldn't breathe and Gavin felt like he was finally relaxed. He sort of felt content even if he felt horrible. Tina was laughing and that was the key thing. He should have let it be easy like this before. He always started fights before conversations. He did not know why he had to make things harder for everyone, himself included. Why was Tina his friend? Why did anyone put up with him?

"For the record, I outrank all of you, except Rupert, and I am telling Fowler." Hank informed them, watching three former officers flinch, "see if you talk so tough about age when I remind him I'm not much older than he is. Bet you'll eat those words fast!"

"That's playing dirty!" Tina grunted.

"Who says I have to fight fair?" Hank asked.

Gavin rested his head on Tina 's shoulder, "You're mean, old man."

"I practice." Hank shrugged, "order means wiser."

"You mean you fine-tune blackmail skills with age?" Connor asked innocently, "because I sense blackmail."

"More like a gamble," Hank corrected, "I keep quiet if Gavin can go the rest of the evening without saying anything but kind, thoughtful, uplifting sentences."

"I want in but I only bet on a sure thing," Tina waved a hand at Hank, "I'd bet against you, Hank, that he can't go the full visit like the civil human we all know he isn't."

Gavin looked to Rupert, "Do you see what I deal with?"

"I believe I will stay out of the gamble as I am currently not on the list to be blackmailed, thank you," Rupert said primly.

Gavin rolled his eyes before turning to Hank and making up his mind what to say, "Fine, you're on! I appreciate you and admire your... umm... let me think... gray fox qualities."

Tina spit her water and scrambled not to drop the glass while Hank just arched both brows at him.

"Don't say I've never said anything nice now." Gavin halfway crossed his arms, or really just settled one arm over his chest.

"Yeah, yeah, see how long you can keep that up! Bet's not won yet."

"Okay, with that, I bet on Gavin to win," Connor interjected.

"Thank you, Connor! You are a gentleman and a scholar." Gavin offered a thumbs up. "Got this in the bag!"

"I remember why I hate you people now." Tina stuck out her tongue at them.

Gavin relaxed back into her again and eventually let his eyes shut while they watched television peacefully. He never noticed falling sleep or even Rupert pulling the cup out of his slackening fingers. He never noticed being picked up and carried to bed when it was time for the others to go and he heard nothing they said to each other about him or his condition. Everything was quiet in his mind even without the help of a sleeping drug. For once after quite a while he felt relieved. There was a chance for things to get better.

He was rather content, but then that was probably because he had no idea what the future would hold. He had no idea things were changing faster than he would be able to keep up with. Gavin was unaware for a time so he was able to sleep calmly, protected in his warm little bubble. It would not last, few nice things ever did in his life. For a time he could simply sleep before everything crashed down around him again.

Sorry, this was so much longer than I thought it was