As an android designed to be able to best interact and adapt to human behavior in order to better blend in with them and make them comfortable enough to talk to him during investigations, Connor couldn't for the life of him figure out why he'd been given this ability to feel nervous.
Of course it wasn't his programming making him feel that way, since like most of the other androids in the country at this point, he was long past the days of being controlled by technicians at computers far away from here. Feeling nervous came from being deviant, and for a moment, Connor wondered if there was some way to switch off his deviancy and go back to being a machine. Because surely anything would be better than having to sit where he was and listen to the lieutenant talk. "-five weeks! All this time when I asked how you were doing and you'd tell me some bullshit about being 'adequate' or whatever, and never once thought to mention the fact that you and robo-Jesus are seeing each other?" Surely there was nothing in the world more nerve wracking than the thought that he'd managed to let Hank down.
In less than a second, Connor flipped through all of the possible ways he could respond, and tried to focus on what would optimize his chances at earning Hank's forgiveness for his egregious error. "I am sorry Lieutenant. I had not been made aware of the rule that partners must share personal information about their lives with each other. Now that I'm better informed, would you care to share personal details with me?"
Hank reached up to scrub a hand across his face before putting it back on the steering wheel. "Christ, kid, you sleep on my couch. I'm sure you would be the first to know if I had any- that's not the point," he grumbled. Connor graciously decided not to mention the fact that androids didn't require sleep. "The point is that after you've been dating someone for over a month, it seems normal to want to talk about it."
Connor tilted his head to the side in a way that was meant to make him look more innocent than he was. "I had not realized you enjoyed hearing about the sexual exploits of androids, but if that is the case, then I can easily share that with you-"
Hank shook his head. "Fuck no! That's not what I meant and you know it. I just- ah nevermind. We're here anyways."
They both got out of the car and started towards the crime scene, and Connor went back over the past few minutes of conversation. He did actually understand what Hank had meant, but the truth was, he hadn't felt comfortable sharing about his new relationship. Not because he didn't trust Hank, or want the man involved in his life, but because he was constantly on edge as he worried each morning that Hank would realize it had been a mistake to let his partner stay on his couch. He didn't want to be kicked out, even though Markus had made it clear that he was more than welcome in New Jericho, and he thought that talking about his life would only annoy Hank. Hank had already done so much for him and didn't need to be bogged down with anything else.
But maybe it was better to not focus on things with Hank at the moment, because it seemed more important to focus on the crime scene. He was more than capable of focusing on the current scene and how things could have gone better with Hank, but he also knew that in general humans didn't like it when androids didn't look like they were paying attention to the world around them, and it was still a world dominated by humans.
Connor and Hank had been called to the scene because they were still the only two detectives in the android crime division, at least for now. So they were standing in an apartment owned by a human had been dating an android. Hank snorted. "Looks like 'domestic bliss' isn't a pipe dream for humans only."
It appeared to have been an intense fight based on the furniture that was broken and knocked around. From what Connor could tell as he wandered around, the HL600, designation Yuri, had won it. HL600s were a model of soldier androids before all the soldiers had been paid for their service and then given the choice to return home. This one had come home, and ended up with a human insurance claims agent, Mira Hopkins, age 35.
Connor looked at the body on the ground, head cracked open and oozing red blood from multiple spots. He nodded towards the book that was partially sticking off the shelf the body was leaned up against. "It looks like Hopkins was attempting to get that book. Helping Loved Ones Through PTSD and Other Trauma Induced Illnesses by Edgar Wrent."
Hank frowned, and then squatted down next to one of the yellow evidence cards. "Thirium. Not enough to kill an android, but definitely more than you'd get from a papercut. Looks like there's some human blood mixed in too."
Connor squatted as well, and started to reach his fingers towards the spilled blue blood so that he could test it, but Hank quickly snatched his wrist to stop him. "Come on, Connor, that's disgusting. I'm sure there's nothing in that that we need to know urgently." Connor nodded once to acknowledge that point, and then turned to face the corpse.
He quickly scanned over the whole body, not wanting to miss any important details. "Bruises on her upper arms. Looks like someone grabbed her from behind. Killed by the blunt force trauma of her head hitting the bookcase. Torn clothing, most likely from a struggle." Then he blinked once as he noticed something particularly interesting. "Human skin cells under her nails."
Hank stood up and took a moment to stretch his back before letting out a small noise of disgust. "Well we may not know the whole story yet, but I'm starting to get an idea of it. Some humans who don't like the idea of androids and humans being together manage to get invited in, and hold back Hopkins while they try to attack the an- Yuri. Probably weren't expecting her to have military training. She fought back, there was a struggle, and at some point, Hopkins ended up getting shoved just a bit too hard. Everyone flees the crime scene, and the neighbors call the police."
Connor frowned. "If she was in the middle of a serious altercation, why would Hopkins be trying to go for a book?"
Hank frowned as well. "Well, there is blood here that seems too far away to have come from the corpse. Maybe Yuri won the fight and the humans ran off, but by then she was already too unbalanced by what had happened?"
"If she suffered from a severe flashback as a result of the attack, it would make sense for her partner to attempt to calm her down with the information from a highly regarded source. If she moved too suddenly or said the wrong things it may had frightened Yuri. I doubt that she had the intention of hurting Hopkins."
Hank nodded in agreement. "Seems like it could be accurate. Now we just have to figure out where she went so we can take her in for questioning."
Connor's frown grew deeper. "And the human attackers? With the skin cells under Hopkins' nails, it should be possible to figure out at least one of their identities. They may not have caused this death, but they should still be charged with assault and attempted murder."
There was a strange look on Hank's face, and then he abruptly headed for the door out of the apartment, motioning for Connor to follow him out. Once they were out of earshot of the officers still milling around in the apartment, Hank turned towards Connor and spoke in a low voice. "Look, I'm going to be honest here. The humans are going to have injuries that they'll most likely came unprovoked. And with another human dead at an android's hands, people aren't going to be very willing to sit around and listen to what happened. In case you hadn't noticed yet, humans aren't the most understanding creatures. I want them to get justice just as much as you do, but I'm afraid that bringing them in will only make the- will only make Yuri look worse."
Sadly though, Connor did understand that. He just didn't like it. He thought of the crushed head on the floor just inside the apartment, and of the way it was too damaged to match the picture of a pretty woman that was on her social media profiles. And somewhere out there was an android who may or may not have even realized that she killed the woman she loved. But that android was the one who would be prosecuted because a jury of humans would see that pretty young face and demand vengeance without caring about the full story. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Markus," Connor murmured.
If Hank was surprised by the sudden change in topic, he didn't show it. He just let out an exasperated sigh. "I wasn't trying to guilt you, kid. I just want you to know that I- I care about your life, and if you ever want to talk about anything that's going on with you, I'm here to listen. And I definitely need to have a talk with this Markus guy to make sure he knows not to hurt you." It was strange to imagine two separate aspects of his life meeting up, but he couldn't deny a small note of satisfaction that came with the thought of Markus and Hank getting along, since they were both very important to him.
Connor furrowed his eyebrows. "I was created to be a detective model while Markus was made to be a caretaker, so I would be able to easily overtake him in a fight, though I can't see why such a thing would occur." He'd assume that it was a matter of humans saying the strangest things sometimes, but he couldn't help feeling like there was a certain strangeness unique to Hank.
Hank just rolled his eyes. "Smartass." Then he walked back into the apartment without another word so that they could continue on with their investigation. It didn't take long for Connor to follow a trail of dried thirium. As they headed upstairs, Hank joked, "Do androids on the run only know how to hide in the attic or something?" Of course that couldn't be true, but, well, there was some evidence to support that.
They got up to the fifth floor of the building before the trail veered off of the stairway and into the halls again. It went to apartment number 505. Connor knocked loudly on the door. "Detroit police! Open up!" The door swung open and Connor was suddenly being tackled to the ground. He recognized Yuri's face both from the file he'd perused earlier, and as being the same face that belonged to hundreds of other HL600s. He didn't want to harm him any more than necessary. With all of the thirium dripping onto him, he was afraid that even a slight injury now could kill her. "You need to stop this! You are safe now! The humans who attacked you aren't here! There's no guns and soldiers, just us!" He was aware of Hank pulling his gun out and shouting Connor's name, but there was no time to focus on that. "We just want to know what happened-" He was interrupted when Yuri grabbed a handful of his hair with a painful yank, and then slammed his head down into the floor a couple of times. Before he could do anything else, there was a knife being jammed into his chest, straight into his thirium pump, and he was embarrassed to have not seen the weapon in her hand in the first place.
The sound of Hank's gun firing seemed to echo down the hallway, and then the soldier was being pushed off of Connor, left to lie on her own back to wait for the officers downstairs to respond to the sound of a gun shoot. He put his gun away and then knelt down next to Connor, reaching out with his hands awkwardly fluttering around the protruding knife, clearly of unsure of whether it was better to pull it out or not. "Connor! Stay with me! Connor!"
For a moment, Connor felt confused. Why was Hank so worried? As an android he couldn't feel physical pain, and he would simply be transferred into a new body and brought back- no, wait, that wasn't right. Cyberlife no longer produced new androids and as a unique prototype, there were no parts for him in production. If he died, then he'd really be dead, and that would be the end of it.
A reason he'd be so resistant to becoming deviant at first (though it seemed to mostly serve as proof he'd been heading towards deviancy all along) was that he did not want to die. He didn't want to close his eyes for the last time, and never be able to see Markus' smile and pretty eyes again, or see how grouchy Hank was in the morning before he got to the coffee machine, or to play with Sumo, who enjoyed flopping onto Connor and pinning him to the floor or couch until he was pet a sufficient number of times. Connor wanted to keep helping androids through his work, and he wanted to keep taking care of Hank in all the ways that made Hank grumble the most.
"Connor? Please tell me that nothing important just got hit."
Connor smiled. "I would hate to lie to your Lieutenant. Total system shutdown in twenty-eight seconds." The alarms and warnings were blaring across his eyes, but he quickly dismissed them, since they didn't actually provide him with any help. "You better not let anyone else start sleeping on my couch."
"Fuckin' androids," Hank muttered, though there was an unmistakable fondness in his voice. "I doubt anyone else would want that ratty old thing anyways." Connor started to nod once in agreement-
,,,
Connor woke up to the sight of pristine white walls around him, and a white ceiling above him. He blinked a few times, despite the action being completely unnecessary for anything other than avoiding unnerving humans. He looked down at his chest. The skin had already healed perfectly, but he made it recede so that he could actually look at the damage beneath.
The white plastic was scratched up, and then he got up to go into the bathroom attached to his room so that he could get a better view of his inner workings as he slid his chest panel aside. He had a thirium pump that looked brand new, and a quick diagnostic check showed that it had been made for an RK800.
"Connor?" He heard the worried sounding voice of Hank, and knit himself back together before stepping out of the bathroom. He could see Hank's shoulders slump down in relief. "You scared me for a moment."
"Sorry." They both stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before Connor decided that the conversation was still 'in his court', so to speak. "Is it…" then he trailed off as he realized that he wasn't really sure what to say. "I'm sorry if I worried you?" he offered, though it was more of a question than anything, not sure if he'd truly worried Hank, or just inconvenienced the man.
Hank crossed his arms over his chest. "You better be fucking sorry. What the hell were you thinking back there? You didn't even try to defend yourself."
He was pretty sure that it didn't matter what he said to Hank here, the man was still going to be angry. But he had to at least try saying something. "I didn't want her to get more hurt."
"Well maybe if you'd actually done more than shout at her, you could've gotten away with her just being hurt. As it is…" his voice lowered and he sounded uncharacteristically hesitant as he continued. "As it is, she nearly killed you, Connor. And she seemed damn content to finish the job. Androids don't get incapacitated by pain, so I had to take the shot that would stop her. She's dead now."
"Oh." Connor wasn't really sure what else to say. Arguing that what had happened hadn't been her fault would only make Hank feel worse, and Connor didn't want to do that.
Then Hank was suddenly stomping across the room, startling Connor by pulling him into a hug. "I'm sorry, kid. I know you wanted to save her. I know you want to save all of them." Connor was about to ask what had prompted Hank to hug him, of all things, but then he noticed the small damp patch on Hank's shoulder, and a quick analysis showed that it had the exact chemical makeup of android tears. A few more seconds passed, beyond what Connor had believed to be the appropriate length of a human hug, and then Hank finally pulled away, not quite meeting Connor's eyes. "Maybe it's better this way? At least now she never has to realize what she did."
Maybe that wouldn't seem very comforting to most, but Connor could understand the logic of that. If Yuri was arrested and given psychiatric help, she'd be forced to live with the fact that she most likely killed her partner. Connor felt bogged down with grief often enough for all kinds of things he'd done, but he couldn't even begin to imagine the guilt and grief he'd feel if he'd taken the opportunity to kill Markus a year ago.
He nodded once. "Maybe. Ah, I suppose I should thank you for saving my life. Though how did you, exactly…?"
If Connor's strengthening ability to recognize emotions was anything to go by, Hank looked embarrassed. "Don't worry about it."
Then someone else walked through the still open door to the room, going straight to Connor to give him a very quick hug. Connor immediately felt guilty for the worry he might have caused Markus when he got injured. "He went straight to Kamski, pounding on the man's door and demanding that he built you a new pump that would be compatible with your system. Chloe filmed the whole thing and sent it to me, if you'd like to see it."
"Why would she send it to you?" Hank growled.
Markus shrugged. "She said that it might look good to the public if they could see a human in such distress over an android. I thought that it would be best to keep it private, though."
Connor looked past Markus so that he could see Hank, shuffling his feet awkwardly. "You did that for me?"
Hank shrugged. "Wouldn't be the same without you. House would be too empty. Ah, Sumo would never forgive me."
Connor smiled. "I'm sorry to have worried you, Lieutenant. But I am pleased that you were worried."
Hank scoffed. "You've been living on my couch for how long now? And you still don't think I'd be-? Just… just don't do anything like that again. Don't think that I won't bring you back to life just to kill you myself if you wind up dead again. And wipe that damn grin off your face!" Markus chuckled, and Hank immediately turned on him. "And you! Don't think we aren't going to be having a very long talk!"
As Connor watched Hank shout and wave his hands around animatedly, occasionally gesturing towards his gun, he couldn't help the warm feeling that seemed to fill him up inside, and he knew that it had nothing to do with the new heart in his chest.