If I owned Almost Human I would resurrect this awesome show, but I don't, so I'll have to just settle for playing with them. I promise to hand them back in one piece, although they might be a little the worse for wear after I'm done. I apologise for the bad language and the whump, but I never met a cop yet who didn't swear like a trooper when stressed. #sorrynotsorry ;-)

Chapter 1

"Does probable cause mean nothing to you?" Dorian grumbled, but with that half-smirk on his face that told John, rule breaking or no, the android would follow him anyway. John was thankful, he knew his partner had been beyond pissed at him when he'd explained what he wanted to do, but at least he seemed able to put it aside for now. He knew he'd get a strong talking to once they were back in the relative safety of the car.

John grinned back at him as they ran low, weapons unholstered and pointed at the ground but ready to aim if necessary. They'd just climbed up and over a chain-link fence and were now skirting the stacks of dead machinery in the breakers yard as they raced towards one of the warehouses on the property. Private property that they had no right to be on.

"My dad was a firm believer in the Ways and Means Act." He explained. "If something needs doing, you find 'ways and means' of getting it done. You must have been distracted, because I quite clearly saw someone else climbing over this fence and I'm concerned about a break in."

He could see Dorian role his eyes at the obvious lie, making him wonder about the sheer level of detail his creators had put into those facial expressions.

"You talk a lot about your father." Dorian observed in a low voice as they crouched behind an Audi that looked like it had hit a freeway barrier at 90 miles an hour. They looked out towards the warehouse, which was now a mad exposed dash in front of them. There didn't appear to be anyone around, it was after dark on a Friday night after all, but it still wouldn't be a good idea to go racing in without checking it out first.

"And yet you've only ever mentioned your mother once." Dorian continued.

John gave him a look, that even in the dark Dorian should be able to read as 'you're talking about this now?' John shrugged, "Apparently it's difficult raising a small child and being married to a workaholic cop, so she chose something else."

"I'm sorry." Dorian said guiltily, "I shouldn't have asked."

"No, you shouldn't have. But personal space means less to you than probable cause means to me right now. Anyway, it's alright, I don't remember her much and my dad more than made up for it."

"That can't have been easy, I would have thought the shift work would make raising a child difficult."

"He had to work a lot." John admitted, "but if he missed the odd school play or football game, who cares? I knew he had more important things to do, and he more than made up for it with the time we did spend together. A lot of kids don't get that at all, I was lucky."

As they watched the dark building for signs of movement, John could feel his partner's eyes on him. He braced himself for whatever the android would say next, maybe something poignant about how a kid should never feel their only parent had more important things to do, but instead he said, "You were in a school play? Man, I wish I could've seen that."

"Will you concentrate?" John asked.

"I am concentrating." Dorian pointed out. "I have scanned the building. I can see no heat signatures. The security guard on the gate appears to be the only person on site. There are two security cameras at the front of the building and one at the rear door, however there appears to be a window left slightly open on one side. It would be possible to skirt around, avoid the cameras and then we could gain access via this window."

John sighed. Of course, Dorian was paying attention. It was an odd paradox that the more he'd gotten used to working with the android, the more often he forgot that he wasn't human. "Lead the way."

They moved round to the side of the building using Dorian's careful calculations to avoid being caught on camera. When they reached the window that he had been talking about John realised it was going to be trickier than Dorian had made it sound. The window was a small high up window, likely belonging to a bathroom, that had been left open a crack. John had no doubt that he could get his fingers in to release the latch but it still wouldn't open that far. It was going to be a tight squeeze if either of them were going to make it in.

"We will fit, but you'll have to take your vest off. Would you prefer I go in alone?"

"No, this is my crazy theory." John shrugged out of his shoulder holster, padded bomber jacket and black fleece combo that he always wore to work so that he could get to the covert Kevlar that he wore underneath. Dorian had suggested the bulkier, ceramic plated tactical vest for this little jaunt into what his hunch had convinced him was an InSyndicate warehouse, but John had promised him this would be a sneak in, sneak out operation and that his usual attire was fine. Reluctantly he took his kit belt off too, dumping everything in a pile at the wall and leaving him shivering in the cold air in his black vest top.

"It is a crazy theory. And when we're done we are going to have a talk about just what you did to come up with it." Dorian said in a voice that reminded John of being sent to the Principal's office at school.

He allowed Dorian to give him a boost up to the window and then he wriggled through. Once he managed to fit his broad shoulders through the gap, the rest was easy, although he was glad that Dorian had been unable to see his inelegant landing on the floor on the other side. All his gear was passed through the window and by the time Dorian joined him, in a move that appeared frustratingly elegant, he was already redressed and had his weapon in his hands again.

They fell into silence as the two cops left the small bathroom and out into the main workshop area. So far nothing looked any different to any other breakers workshop he'd been in over the many years he'd been a cop. Of course at first glance it was sometimes hard to tell legitimate businesses from illegal chop shops, but with this place supposedly belonging to InSyndicate he thought there would be something. Bomb making materials laid out on display might be asking a bit much but a guy could hope.

He'd been waiting for an opportunity to look into this lead for some time. Three months ago he'd been leaving a session with the Recollectionist and looking for a place to satisfy a craving for prawn itame when he'd seen a man he recognised from the raid. The force of the flashback staggered him, almost sending him to his knees, if he hadn't just been to the Recollectionist then he may never had noticed but the vision was clear. When he recovered, he'd followed the man to a sports bar. He'd been hoping the guy was on his way to a meet with someone, but it turned out he'd just wanted a beer and to watch the game, but John had persevered and followed him home. From his address he could do his research at work, although couldn't find anything on the guy except a shoplifting charge from when he'd been a teenager.

The guy he was tracking, a William Deacon, seemed on file at least to be a perfectly regular phone company employee. He was an expert in electronics, but pretty much anyone earning a decent wage was these days. John was sure though, so he'd stuck with it, spending all his free time tailing the man. Although he was tempted to mention it to Dorian or Sandra, he'd kept it to himself for now, knowing that if he told them he'd have to explain to his two best friends that he was still seeing the Recollectionist, even though he'd promised them both that he'd stopped. It had taken two exhausting months of sitting outside Deacon's house, following him to the store, to work and to the occasional restaurant or bar before he'd finally got what he'd wanted. The man had left his house in the middle of the night and come here, to this warehouse. As tempting as it had been to follow him and get a closer look, a glance through a pair of pilfered night vision googles had shown the place to be crawling with people. So he'd left, promising himself that he'd check it out later.

That later had been a long time coming. He'd managed to get wrapped up in a high profile murder case and it had taken up all his time. That and he'd noticed Dorian taking way more notice of him than usual. The android clearly knew something was up. He hadn't wanted to drag his partner into this, he knew it was becoming an unhealthy obsession, but tonight they'd been on their way back from investigating a home-invasion and had driven passed. John had given his partner as few details as possible, knowing he'd be able to fill in the blanks, and thankfully rather than justifiably raging at him, he'd followed him in.

They completed a sweep of the building with practiced precision, John avoided using his flashlight just in case anyone was watching he didn't want to draw attention to themselves. There was just enough light from the security lighting beyond the windows anyway. John knew that a physical building sweep was one of his many 'old school' habits. Most these days would rely on the scans completed by their synthetic partners to determine risk. It was one of the many things that he hated about the MX's, considering they weren't supposed to have feelings they were frustratingly put out whenever their observations and calculations were questioned. John had explained to Dorian that he would rather continue to sweep the old-fashioned way for two reasons, the first being that if you got out of the habit of doing something then you wouldn't be as good at it when you did come to need to do it, the second being that if they missed something then it should be as much his fault as Dorian's. Thankfully Dorian agreed, which didn't stop John from subjecting him to the well-rehearsed rant about technology causing laziness, illustrated by the abysmal standards of driving since self-parking cars had become the norm.

"Any idea what we're looking for?" Dorian asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I'll know when I see it." John replied and hoped it was true.

"I'm going to find a computer," Dorian told him, heading towards a back room that appeared to be an office.

John nodded his agreement and continued to search the workshop. He watched as his partner disappeared into the small room. He wasn't sure what he'd been hoping for but it didn't seem to be here. Although the question remained why a phone company technician had come to a car breakers in the middle of the night. He stood at a workbench, looking over the mess that had been strewn across it, looking for anything out of place.

"Their accounts all seem clean." Dorian said suddenly, right behind him.

John hadn't heard him come up to him and it made him jump. As he did he knocked the table, scattering a handful of nuts and bolts across the floor.

"Dammit." He cursed, rubbing at his thigh where he'd bashed it before bending down to pick up the strewn bits of metal. As he ran his hand across the ground in front of him, searching for the pieces, his hand caught on the edge of something. He got out his flashlight and turned it on, ensuring the beam was kept down low. It illuminated a square section of the cement flooring that looked different from the rest.

"Dorian look at this." He pointed out, continuing to run his hand along the rough edge he'd found until he found a small depression that he could get his fingers into.

"It's a trapdoor. I can't see through it, it's made of something that blocks my scanners." Dorian confirmed crouching down with him and searching the opposite side until he too found a small depression. He slotted his fingertips in as well so that they had a side each, holding the door in one hand, their firearms in the other.

John grinned, "I knew there was something to this. You ready?"

"If my sensors are blocked I may not be able to request back up." Dorian pointed out, "We should tell someone where we are."

John sighed, "Fine, but not the whole damn precinct. Message Sandra, tell her that if she doesn't hear from us in an hour then she can send the cavalry."

"Half an hour." Dorian corrected, his face flickered blue before John could protest the amendment and he announced, "Done."

"Okay, on three?" John counted it out and on three they pulled. The trapdoor was heavy and groaned under the movement but the hinges were smooth, suggesting it was used often. With a heave, the pair of them lifted the slab of metal and concrete back until it came to a stop, resting just a bit further back than 90 degrees. John shone his flashlight down into the hole and illuminated a rusted metal ladder leading down into a tunnel.

"Lead you in?" Dorian said with a smile, the phrase having become their own private joke for when they were about to do something inadvisable.

John nodded, and kept his weapon trained on the hole as Dorian holstered his and climbed down. He made it to the bottom with his usual efficiency and then covered John as he came down to join him. Once they were into the tunnel, John shone his flashlight around. The tunnel was narrow and made of brick, the walls curved slightly, there was no water in the tunnel but it smelled of damp and other nasty things that made John's nose wrinkle. It wasn't quite big enough for John to stand up in and he made a mental note not to let his head touch whatever grime the place was coated in.

"It's the old sewer system, but it's clearly not in use." John said in a low voice, although he knew that Dorian had probably worked that out for himself. "I'll bet this goes straight under the wall. They were supposed to have blocked everything up so no one could get through."

"I still can't get any readings but I think you're right. We're not too far from the wall right now. It's only a small tunnel, maybe they missed it." Dorian agreed.

"Or someone's put a lot of effort into opening it up again." They set off slowly, weapons raised, listening for any indication that someone might be in there with them, but the sound of something dripping and their own muted footsteps was the only thing either of them could hear.

The tunnel sloped downwards gently as they headed further in, and every so often they'd come to a T-junction and have to make a decision. Although Dorian was still having problems getting any heat readings or transmissions he was still able to calculate which direction they needed to go to reach the wall and so they let that guide their decision-making. John followed behind trying to commit the twists and turns to memory, thankful that Dorian would be able to lead them out as easily as he was leading them in.

As they got further into the maze, John felt more and more tense. He'd never outwardly show it and certainly never admit it to anyone, but he hated exploring places in the dark. As it was he was constantly expecting someone to jump out at him, and the previous experience of that actually having happened before in an incident that had gotten Pelham cracked over the head with a baseball bat, combined with an overactive imagination set his teeth on edge. So when he heard a click up ahead he nearly jumped out of his skin, barely containing a gasp.

Dorian glanced round and grinned at his partner, flashing him a view of perfect teeth highlighted in the beam of the flashlight. John scowled at him to dissuade him from making any kind of sarcastic comment, but even though he opened his mouth, the android didn't have time to reply, because as he took a step forward round the next corner, gunfire erupted, blasting into the android and sending him flying backward.

"Dorian!" John yelled, flattening his back against the wall in a move that was more instinct than thought process. He looked down at his partner, laying flat on his back, his eyes staring at the ceiling with a dead look. His body had taken multiple hits from the short blast, each one oozing purple fluid into his pale grey shirt, but it was the shot to his forehead that had John most concerned, it had hit right between the eyes and had blown a huge chuck of synthetic tissue away. It made John feel sick and he had to remind himself that Dorian was an android and would not have been able to feel it.

Taking a deep breath, John peered round the wall, weapon held high in his right hand, flashlight held underneath in his left. The light shone over someone further down the dark tunnel, he didn't pause to allow his mind to process the image before he fired a series of shots. He heard a yelp as one of his bullets impacted into an assailant but he ducked back behind the wall before he could see what he'd managed to inflict. He heard cursing and multiple voices as they dragged their injured person back and someone else took their place. It was impossible to tell how many were down there but he didn't have to be a detective to know he was outnumbered.

"Dorian!" He tried again, unable to hide the desperation in his voice. The damage was extensive, but he'd seen Dorian badly damaged before and he almost always managed to power through. "Shit!" he cursed when his partner didn't respond.

He gripped the flashlight between his teeth and then crouched down low. Taking a deep breath, he counted himself in and on three he darted out of his cover. Holding his right arm up straight he fired off multiple wild shots down the tunnel while with his left he twisted his fist into the collar of Dorian's jacket and pulled.

Dorian was heavy, he realised, as he struggled to drag the rigid body out of the line of fire. Despite keeping up an almost relentless fire, one of their attackers managed to get few shots in. John felt a burn as a bullet clipped his left shoulder, but he didn't allow it to loosen his grip on his friend. He hauled him out of the way, just that short distance was enough to leave him gasping for breath but he didn't stop, moving backwards, keeping his weapon raised, he put his whole body into dragging the android over the uneven ground, retracing their steps through the twists and turns as best he could. Once he got the momentum going it was easier, but it still made his forearm and tricep burn worse than the bullet graze had, his fingers cramping in the vice like grip.

His retreat was short lived, although if he was honest he got further than he'd expected, before the next assault. Three men, masked up, came round the latest corner and opened fire with semi-automatic rifles. John squeezed the trigger in retaliation but then a thud on his chest that knocked the wind from him and blew him backwards.

He cracked his head on the sewer floor as he fell, still not having released his grip on Dorian's jacket. The flashlight escaped his mouth and bounced once before rolling away and leaving him in almost darkness. He blinked rapidly to try to clear the stars from his vision and tried to draw in huge ragged breaths to his painful lungs.

Get up! He told himself, his inner voice cold and angry. He propped himself up on his elbow and managed to find enough purchase with his boots to scoot himself backwards in a pathetic attempt at escape, still dragging the lifeless body of Dorian with him.

The flashback hit him with a jolt; the smell of gunfire and blood and filth, the pain burning through his lungs, the heavy weight of his best friend at his side… it was all happening again, he realised, and suddenly he felt like he was back in that alley all those years ago, having failed his best friend and lead him to his death. History doomed to repeat itself, he thought angrily, as he struggled to sort the memories from the present. I'm sorry, he thought, to his old partner, to the new one beside him, as he listened to the sound of combat boots approaching him, right before something smashed into his face and he lost consciousness.

As usual, I appreciate you reading my efforts. If you'd enjoyed it, or even if you didn't, please let know what you thought by leaving a review. They keep me motivated to keep writing, so if you want regular updates you have to show the love!