Connor was moderately surprised from Simon's request, the other android was usually easy going. A man that had faith in whatever decision Markus made, someone reliable. Connor didn't know much about him aside from the fact he had supported Markus' judgement on Connor joining Jericho. Once that decision had been made, Simon accepted Connor when everyone else had their reserves.It was something respectable about the blond, not considered weak by bending without complaint, but the desire to be united in times of stress. It was one of the reasons he trusted Simon enough to be alone with him and it made him worry as Simon usually tended to handle things by himself.
Connor turned to look over to Conrad, he could already see the other man's jaw clenched slightly in disapproval of such an idea. He didn't say anything as he already knew the outcomes of this argument, that didn't mean he had to like it or completely accept it. Having seen how Conrad had bristled from the receptionist touching his hand, Connor thought it would likely be best for Conrad to stand outside the room. From all the bruises and wounds on his body, there would be a lot of touching and the last thing Connor wanted was an overly possessive alpha strangling one of Connor's allies."Stay here, it shouldn't take too long." In attempts to placate Conrad, Connor gave in and placed a hand on his arm, that small connection meant to soothe him.
It was brief before he nodded to Simon and the blond android opened the door just barely wide enough for Connor to squeeze into the room. It made him wonder if Simon was hiding something, which was a bit uncharacteristic. Reaching up, he rubbed his nose while moving over to sit on the exam table. Simon locked the door before returning to Connor, he appeared to be trying to look relaxed but nothing could escape Connor's notice, able to read the erratic spikes of stress as Simon fought to keep himself collected. "What's going on, Simon? What did you want to talk about?"
Simon seemed to hesitate before he took a seat in an office chair near the desk. Elbows on his knees as he leaned forward enough to rake his hand through his hair, trying to find a place to start. "It started this morning when I came into work. I kept getting system errors, my tasks kept getting jumbled up, like I couldn't really concentrate. So I decided to go through a scan to see if anything was malfunctioning, but everything seemed to be working optimally. I even had a couple of the other nurses give me an exam in case a fresh pair of eyes might find something overlooked. But everything was running smoothly."
Connor frowned a little, it was concerning to hear that not even a man who had studied so hard after the revolution so he could take care of all the injured androids to be unable to repair himself. Connor remained silent, letting Simon continue when he wished. There was always a time to push someone for answers but this wasn't it. Simon was a friend and Connor would be understanding and patient. It wasn't often that Simon would go out of his way to ask for help or advice, so it had to be something serious.
"As the day wore on, I thought the air conditioning broke, so I called a repairman in to fix it. Only to be told it was running properly. So I ran a diagnostics on my internal cooling systems, they were running fine but no amount of fresh air could help me cool down." Connor stilled a little, the first conclusion he wanted to come to was that he remembered that feeling. That intolerable warmth that made him feel like his insides were going to melt. Connor's gaze studied Simon a bit more closely, nose twitching slightly to analyze the air but the room was empty of Simon's smell. As if he wasn't even there.
"I see you've come to the same conclusion I have. It should be impossible though. All androids aside from the RK series are betas right?" Simon broke through Connor's thoughts, having observed Connor's expression well enough. So this is why Simon didn't want Conrad to join him, it would definitely be dangerous to have an alpha around when an omega was in heat. Though since Connor and Conrad were bonded no, the upgraded android should be able to resist another omega's heat. Though Conrad seemed to exhibit more primitive alpha traits than normal modern alphas.
"Since I wasn't getting any errors in my programming I decided to see if there had been any changes recently made. Usually updates are logged, but since Cyberlife supposedly went down, we haven't received any updates. When I found the shifts in my system, uncatalogued, I knew someone had messed with my programming and I don't have the power to change it." Simon pressed onward, looking more and more stressed, Connor understood what he was going through, to unexpectedly be thrust into a new level of deviancy that no one understood. Conrad already knew the one who'd been behind this, the only one left who had access to the Android mainframe. Kamski.
Connor would have to discuss this with Markus soon, if Kamski was planning on changing androids into other dynamics, there would be absolute chaos in android society. It wasn't something they needed when they were still trying to put themselves together. "Did you contact Markus?" Connor figured Markus would be the first person Simon alerted, but then again since Markus was an alpha, that may be a bad idea.
"I did, he said he'd be over soon. I can't tell him what's happening, so that's why I brought you here to pass on the information. You've gone through this as well, correct?" Connor nodded, though he really didn't want to elaborate on how he had handled his heat.
"You should probably go home and stay there until things calm down. Its going to be hard, but I found it easier just to give in to all those desires. As long as you stay indoors, you don't want to do something you might regret." Connor had numerous times thought about contacting Conrad during his heat, to beg the other android to come over just so he could reach some level of satisfaction. He was glad he hadn't, it had been too early and Connor would've never forgiven himself. "Usually omegas produce a strong smell when they're in heat, but I don't smell anything from you."
Simon blinked for a moment before remembering something, straightening up, he pulled down the collar of his scrub, revealing a thick roll of bandages over where his scent gland would be. A smart move. While there were only two alpha androids currently in existence, human alphas would be lured in by the artificial scent as well, so it was better safe than sorry."Would you mind taking it off for a moment? I'd like to see if how omega androids react to another omega in heat." He knew he was asking a lot from Simon, but both understood that it was better to get this information now before this new deviancy spread like wildfire and no way to predict how androids would react.
Simon peeled off the medical tape, careful not to ruin his skin as he peeled it off just enough that he let his scent free into the room. Immediately the smell of the room shifted, Connor couldn't breathe without tasting Simon's scent on his tongue. It made Connor feel a little agitated, not aggressive in a way, but wanting to get away from the smell. It was the typical response for omegas, an instinct that kept them away from each other during this time. Omegas in heat could become territorial and aggressive if they thought someone was intruding into their area or trying to steal their partner away during this stressful time. Connor closed his eyes to concentrate on not bolting out of the room to get some fresh air, it was during that time he heard muffled voices from outside the door.
Outside the room, Conrad had stood in front of the door with his hands clasped behind his back, letting himself go still as he waited for Connor's return, he tried to listen in to the conversation, but the door and walls had been mostly soundproofed to give patients privacy, so all Conrad could hear was muffled noises. As he waited, he heard someone's booted feet walking down the hall, making Conrad's head turn almost mechanically to investigate who would approach and if he should warn off. However, his eyes caught sight of Markus heading his way, making his body tense a little. He didn't really want Markus around Connor, his older android counterpart always seemed quite easygoing with the revolutionary leader. A little too easy going for Conrad's liking.
"Conrad. I didn't expect to see you here." Markus seemed to be bothered by Conrad's presence, which was a little unusual since Markus always seemed to have a confident but light command about him. It only served to make Conrad restless as well, on edge with the other alpha getting closer. It took more effort than usual not to curl his lip at Markus.
"Connor and I had a bit of a rough time last night and needed some repairing." Conrad responded icily, there was a sharp tone to his voice that was warning Markus away from the idea of Connor. Markus stopped just out of arms reach, his feet slightly spread apart in a bracing stance, a silent posture that meant he was ready for a fight. It was unusual for Markus to be posturing like this. While Conrad was a dangerous, Markus never took him as a threat he couldn't handle even though Conrad had won out through a majority of their fights.
"Simon contacted me and said it was important that I see him." Markus looked pointedly at Conrad who was standing in front of the door that contained Simon and Connor. However, Conrad didn't budge, he wasn't about to let Markus go in there with Connor when Conrad wasn't there to make sure the other alpha knew who Connor belonged to.He would barely tolerate the beta, but he would not tolerate another alpha being near the older android.
"Conrad, I think it would be in both our best interest if you move aside." There was a growl in Markus' tone, a rare sound to hear but Conrad had heard it before during their scuffles. This time it held a more serious note which only served to make Conrad's eyes darken a little, his own growl rumbling from his throat to match Markus' threat. Tension was building in the air and it was only a matter of time before someone snapped. This time Conrad wasn't going to play nicely, he was going to prove that Connor was his and his alone and warn off Markus. However, Markus didn't seem to want to back down or at least ease the tension between them. Instead he fueled it by taking a step forward, intruding on Conrad's space.
Conrad was completely still, his glare frigid and unblinking as they met green/blue eyes that would not yield. Conrad didn't know who moved first, but he found himself and Markus slamming into the ground, the harsh white tile merciless against his shoulder as the two alphas struggled to maintain the dominant position. Markus went to swing a right hook against Conrad's face as the upgraded android had his hands wrapped around the older model's throat, wanting to crush it beneath him palms. When the fist drew close to Conrad's face, he jerked his head to meet the fist with an open maw. Teeth dug into mocha toned skin, denting the plates beneath it as Conrad caught the fist in a brutal bear trap of his jaws. Hot thirium splashed upon his lips and tongue, dribbling down his chin as Markus continued to struggle beneath him, making the wound worse.
What Conrad didn't expect was an outside force slamming into his side, the heel of a dress shoe digging into the tender part between his inner plates. While the hit was strong, it wasn't enough to knock him away from his opponent, he needed to eliminate the other alpha so no one would come between him and Connor. When the hit to his side didn't deter him, the second attacker bit down on the back of his neck without restraint, sharp little teeth tearing through skin and plates into the tender wiring of his body. He took a sharp breath and was suddenly overpowered by the smell of bitterness, a familiar scent laying under it. It alerted him that it was his own omega who'd been attacking him. Surprised and annoyed that his omega would dare try to stop him, he jerked his head to glare at Connor, ripping his neck from those teeth in turn.
However, it was the distraction Markus needed to slam his unabused fist right into the side of Conrad's face with enough force to send Conrad stumbling to the side. Markus was about to go in for another attack when a hand on his arm stopped him, looking over to see Simon had entered the hall, the slight wrinkles in the corners of his eyes hinting of the stress he was experiencing. Conrad pushed himself up onto his feet, not wanting to be on the ground while the other alpha was up, not willing to give even the slightest power to Markus.Connor's LED was blinking red in warning, seemingly more angry than the two alphas but his expression remained soft, deceptively so.
"Now isn't the time for you two to be fighting, especially in a hospital. I would expect Conrad to be unable to control himself, but you, Markus?" Connor sounded like he was scolding the two, maybe he picked up more from Hank than he first assumed, the way Hank tried to scold either him or Sumo, but unable to really be angry at the two of them. "Simon, I think it would be for the best to go home and take a break until you feel better. I'll explain everything to Markus in the meantime." Connor shifted his gaze over at Conrad who seemed to nearly be leaning over Connor, subtly trying to cover the older android in his scent. "I'll get one of the other nurses to patch Conrad up, maybe even put a muzzle on him since he can't behave himself."
