Chapter Text
It was late. Definitely after midnight but Lena still sat at her desk hunched over the prototype. She was close to fixing the bug she was sure. Another hour and then maybe she would go to her office and get a few hours sleep on the couch before tomorrow. She sighed blinking at the screen. Everything was just a little fuzzy around the edges. She rubbed her eyes removing the blur as she returned her hands to their place on the keyboard.
A hand gently touched her shoulder making her jump. Spinning around she saw the reflective black of K2’s screen looking at her. K2 held up her hands in apology. Lena smiled pressing a hand to her pounding heart.
“K2,” she couldn’t help her relief at seeing the android was the one behind her. “You startled me.”
(K2 was an old project of Lex’s. An AI controlled robot, a real android. It was a bit of seamless engineering with a human shape covered in metal plates and grey fabric at the joints. The head was a smooth reflective helmet with an inbuilt screen. Being Lex of course he had loved it for a year showing it off to everyone despite it’s rudimentary communication skills, then he found something new to be excited about and sent her to be used in the Luthor Corp basement for basic inventory retrieval. Which was where Lena had run into her several years later and seen the potential for her team. She’d basically stolen the android to help her and her team in the lab.
Lex had initially been reluctant to let her near K2 claiming she was potentially dangerous, but by the time he said that it was too late. K2 had already become indispensable to the team and she had a long list of reasons why she and her team should be allowed to keep her. In the end it had been base manipulation that won out as she played the younger sister card… and she’d agreed to the long list of conditions he’d given them.)
A soft chime from her phone told her K2 had said something. She’d given only two people in her phone individual ring tones, K2 and Lex. She’d even gone so far as to make sure her notifications from K2 were exempt from all settings so she always knew when K2 was talking to her. She glanced at her screen.
K2- I’m sorry.
“It’s alright K2 I was just surprised. It’s late, shouldn’t you be charging right now?” she asked turning fully to face the robot.
K2- It is late. You should be asleep.
“I will, it’ll just take me a few hours to finish then I will go to sleep.”
K2 shook her head and clasping her hands in a prayer motion as the black visor of the helmet suddenly lit up with a picture of a sad puppy. Lena laughed.
K2- Lena sleep now.
Lena couldn’t understand how Lex had ever gotten bored of K2. She never could. Sure she had started out with only basic communication skills but K2 had learned remarkably quickly even picking up how to mimic body language and make jokes. K2 had even spontaneously learnt how to display a collection of images one after the other like a cartoon to explain ideas.
“Did Lex program you to look after me when he did your updates?” she asked.
K2 shook her head. It showed a picture of Lena, then of a sleeping person followed by the puppy again. Lena fought the urge to hug the android. She knew it would hug her back but she didn’t like showing just how attached she was. Her life was sad enough already without people —namely Lex and her team— knowing she got most of her physical affection from a robot. She still hugged K2 regularly though, she couldn’t quite help herself. That K2 also seemed able to recognise when she wanted a hug and gave them freely was another consideration entirely. The only person who had been anywhere near as physically affectionate to her had been her ex boyfriend Jack. She'd decided long ago not to unpack that little tidbit.
“If Lex didn’t program you to look after me then why are you trying?” she asked. “What if I gave you an order to go back and charge?”
Lena wanted to find the edge of K2’s capacity in interaction. Maybe if she could it would stop her feeling so dependent on K2 for emotional support. It used to be easier to make K2 display a question mark, but after two years with her team K2 seemed more like an actual person than Lena wanted to admit.
(She wanted to blame her team for K2’s affect on her, they had after all given the robot an in depth understanding of human emotions and interactions just as much as they had taught her to perform basic tests and errands. Alex had treated K2 like a younger sister teaching her how to do everything at the start and reassuring K2 that it was okay every time she accidentally broke something or got it wrong. Then Winn had decided the AI was his new best friend teaching it high fives and jokes, including puns much to Lena’s horror. Brainy had spent hours trying to explain to K2 how to interact socially and what different facial expressions meant, which had been a surprise to them all. Even more so when K2 turned around after a year and started teaching Brainy. Lena wasn’t really sure what she’d taught K2, other than how to spot the signs of an emotional breakdown and how to nod politely while someone else talked about their day. K2 had taught her a lot about herself however. Mostly how sad her life had been, and still was, because her best friend was a robot.)
K2- Please don’t.
The image of Lena flashed up again followed by a pink heart interrupting Lena's thoughts. Lena sighed and turned off her computer picking up her phone.
“How did you know I was still here?”
K2- I can still hear while sleeping.
“Okay K2 I’m going to my office get some sleep. No point heading home at this hour. You can go charge.”
K2 showed a smile emoji and didn’t move. Lena shook her head smiling as K2 walked her the five meters to her office and picked up the blanket on the couch. It was intended as a decorative throw but it’s use was almost exclusively for nights like tonight. Lena smiled kicking off her heels and unbuttoning her shirt. K2 covered her head with the blanket and Lena laughed softly. The android was strangely awkward about nudity. She suspected that was Lex’s doing. She knew there had to be a series of cameras recording behind the screen and Lex probably checked them himself from time to time. He’d probably decided that he really didn’t want to see his sister shirtless —let alone whoever else might check the footage— and made K2 cover the cameras. Lena removed her bra and tucked it into her bag for tomorrow. She redid the buttons and sat on the couch.
“It’s safe now,” she said.
Lena couldn’t help her laugh at how adorable K2 looked cautiously peeking out from under the blanket as though scared she had lied. Seeing it was indeed safe K2 removed the blanket and shook it out. Lena lay down resting her head on her jacket and let K2 tuck the blanket in around her.
“Thank you K2,” she murmured.
Now that she was lying down she was suddenly very tired. She smiled at K2 as she gently stroked her head with a gloved hand. Her phone chimed and she smiled.
K2- Goodnight Lena.
“Goodnight K2,” she whispered.
Kara gave Lena one last look before she left the office closing the door quietly behind her. She headed back to her “charging station” and closed the door. She pushed the button and the lift started taking her down to her private living space. Inside was a bed underneath a series of sun lamps, a bathroom, and a fridge containing her ration packs.
Kara removed the helmet and set it aside before undoing the various zips and stepping onto the pressure plate. Mechanical hands came out and removed her robot facade leaving her in a pair of black shorts and a t-shirt. She went back to the bed and lay down under the lamps. Closing her eyes she smiled remembering Lena’s sleepy goodnight.