After following a much needed lead the Detroit Police Department had managed to locate one of the many members of the current underground 'red ice' ring that had been flooding the city with numerous, illegal and dangerous drugs. The suspect was an older man with a long, sordid history of violence and dozens of drug convictions. The suspect himself was also someone that Hank had arrested back when he brought down a massive 'red ice' ring almost fifteen years prior. The very bust that led to Hank's impressive promotion.

"Hey, Lieutenant!" Gavin shouted as he and Chris escorted the suspect into the station for questioning. The man's hands were cuffed behind his back and he sneered with a venomous hatred in his eyes as he was dragged into the interrogation room. "Found an old friend of yours lurking down at the docks!"

Hank looked up from his terminal and immediately recognized the suspect, and his blood began to boil at the sight of the man's prematurely aged and scarred face. Even after all the years that had passed Hank had never forgotten the cold, heartless stare in that sadistic dug dealer's eyes.

From his own terminal Connor looked at the suspect as well, and ran a facial scan to quickly upload all of the data recorded in the police record file on the man in question. The suspect's name was Jack Pillar. He had been arrested for drug possession and assault, but the judge who prosecuted him had been corrupt and dismissed the charges allowing him to go free and disappear two weeks before Hank brought down the 'red ice' ring.

Keeping his back to the suspect Connor lowered his voice and addressed his partner calmly. "Hank? Are you okay?"

"No." Hank replied sternly as he watched Gavin and Chris lead Pillar away into an interrogation room. "That bastard should be rotting in Hell as we speak."

"Do you want to observe the interrogation?"

"Fuck no!" Hank turned to look at Connor as the door to the interrogation room closed behind the two officers and Pillar. "If I get him in my line of sight I'm going to pull a trigger and put a bullet between his eyes myself. And I don't need any additions to my disciplinary file..."

"Well," in an attempt to lighten the mood Connor made a rather dark joke compared to usually lighter, or flat-out lame ones. "you would save the taxpayers an expense if you did kill him."

Hank didn't react to the joke, he didn't even seem to hear Connor even though he was sitting right across from him.

Deciding it'd be best to keep quiet for a while Connor resumed reviewing the case files on his terminal, while simultaneously looking into Pillar's criminal history.

Inside the interrogation room Gavin had set about questioning the suspect while Chris sat in the adjacent observation room recording the interview, and writing down points of interest meticulously. This time Pillar wasn't going to get away with his crimes, this time the charges would stick.

As per usual Gavin began to lose his cool as he drilled the suspect for answers, but received none in return. Refusing to give up so easily Gavin continued with the intense interrogation, his face slowly turning red from his building stress as he spat question after question toward the suspect.

Pillar himself just glared at Gavin as he discreetly fussed with the cuffs that he restrained his arms behind his back. Slipping his wrists slowly out of the metal restraints Pillar just waited patiently for Gavin to make one little mistake.

That's all it ever took, one simple mistake...

Connor's L.E.D. blinked from the blue to yellow and then back to blue as he finished researching Pillar's criminal history. The loyal android felt a sickening knot form in his artificial stomach as he finished his search and now had a faint understanding of Hank's anger. There was a damn good reason for Hank to want to kill Pillar, and it was a death that no one with a heart would ever be able to hold Hank truly accountable for.

With his arms crossed tightly over his chest Hank had been staring blankly at his terminal screen ever since the door to the interrogation room had shut. The detective's mind was evidently too preoccupied with his past encounters with Pillar to concentrate on his work in the present.

Turning off his own terminal Connor rose from his seat and stood beside Hank's desk. "Hank, may I speak with you for just a moment, please?"

With the same blank stare in his eyes Hank slowly looked up from his screen and at the android who was watching him with sincere concern visible in his soulful brown irises.

"In private?" Connor tagged on pleadingly as he waited for Hank to respond. "Just for a minute."

"If you have something to say to me Connor, then say it."

Connor was determined to get Hank away from his desk even if it was just for a few seconds. "Please?"

Sighing with an annoyed huff Hank abruptly rose from his chair and motioned with his arm for Connor to accompany him to an unoccupied interview room in the opposite direction of the interrogation rooms.

"Alright, Connor." Hank shut the door as soon as he and Connor were inside the room. "What's so damn important?"

"I know why you want to kill Pillar. I understand your hatred and your desire for revenge is justifiable. And I just wanted to tell you that if you in fact felt it necessary to-"

"NO. Stop right there!" Hank held up a hand as if to physically silence the android. "You can't condone revenge Connor! Under ANY circumstances! Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand, but Hank-"

"No." Hank turned his back to the android and pulled the door open with a fast jerk. "I don't want to hear it, and as far as anyone is concerned we never had this illegal, albeit brief, conversation. Got it?"

"...Got it."

Connor followed Hank outside of the room and walked a few steps beside the detective in an attempt to continue to speak, but the sound of sudden gunfire and shouting voices drew their attention to other matters at hand.

Hank's eyes went wide and his hand hovered over the gun holstered on his right hip. "What the hell?"

Pillar stormed through the door of the interrogation room with one arm wrapped around Gavin's throat, his other hand pressing the barrel of a gun against Gavin's temple.

"Shit..." Gavin swore as he pulled at Pillar's choking arm vainly. "Fucker hid a gun on us! Don't know where-"

Pillar tightened his arm around Gavin's throat to shut him up.

"DROP IT." Chris demanded as he bolted from the observation room and drew his own gun on the dangerous criminal. "Drop it now."

Pillar responded to the command by shooting Chris's right shoulder causing the officer to drop his gun and sink to the floor in pain. As if to emphasize his violent intent Pillar shot three more times into the open space of the main floor. Two of the bullets lodging into the walls around Hank, but the third was aimed directly at Hank's chest.

Before the detective had time to process the sudden outburst of chaos in the precinct a flash of blue blood filled his vision as it splashed over his shirt. Instinct pulled Hank down to the floor as a means of self-preservation as Connor suddenly collapsed in a heap in front of him.

"Shit! Connor!" Hank laid down on the ground on his stomach and stared at his injured partner laying a few feet away. The blue blood Hank had briefly seen now soaking through the fabric of Connor's white shirt profusely. "Ah, fuck... "The android was injured only because Connor put himself between Hank and Pillar, taking the bullet himself, as a means of protecting Hank from harm. "Connor!?"

Without any hesitation Hank pushed himself up from the ground and rushed over to where Connor had fallen. He knelt beside the android's head, keeping his own head low as gunfire continued to tear through the precinct. Slipping his hands under Connor's arms and around his bloodied chest Hank dragged his downed partner backward into the opened door of the interview room and shut the door as soon as they were inside the room out of Pillar's sight.

Laying Connor down flat on his back on the floor beside the table in the center of the room Hank's mind immediately went on the defensive. Drawing his gun from the holster the courageous detective knelt beside the window of the interview room and instantly fell into an instinctive command position.

"Stay down!" Hank commanded to his wounded colleague. Using his fingers Hank pulled back the already drawn blinds just enough to peer out through the window without being seen himself. "Pillar has Gavin as a hostage. Looks like Chris has been shot. Damn it..."

Shifting his gaze away from the gunman over to Captain Fowler's office across the bullpen Hank watched as Fowler himself ducked behind his desk out of sight with his own gun drawn in one hand, and the phone from his desk in the other, has he ordered the entire building on lockdown.

"Jeffrey's on it..." Hank continued to observe through the window and was ready to raise his gun to aim at Pillar when two more armed men suddenly entered the building with their own guns drawn. Another barrage of bullet screamed through the precinct Hank ducked down again and turned his head away from the glass of the window. "Three men, all armed. I got a clean shot at Pillar... But if I take him down H.R. is going to have a field day with me."

Failing to receive a response from Connor, who would've surely been observing the chaos taking place outside the room, Hank turned to his attention to the android and felt his heart sink. Connor wasn't moving save for his chest heaving up and down slowly as he tried to take a full breath. A massive puddle of Thirium was forming beneath the android's back from where he was laying, and only continued to grow.

Connor was beginning to bleed out.

"Connor?!" Hank's face paled as he watched his partner already fighting for breath on the floor. Keeping his head down Hank made his way over to his injured friend to check the severity of Connor's condition. Pulling open Connor's jacket and shirt, pulling the tie away from around Connor's neck in the process, Hank stared at the bleeding bullet hole near the right central area of Connor's upper chest. "Connor? Can you hear me?"

"...Hank." Connor wheezed as his eyes glazed over and his L.E.D. cycled red slowly. "I... can't..."

"You'll be okay, son." Hank put his hand down over the bleeding wound and steadily applied pressure to try to stem the already massive Thirium loss. "I'll get you to a technician, but you need to hang on for me, alright?"

Connor let out a weak breath and nodded once. "...Al-Alright..."

"Run a self-diagnostic! How bad is it?"

Connor's L.E.D. flashed yellow briefly before returning to red. "...M-My right ventilation b-biocomponent... Damaged." He swallowed once as blue blood began to collect in the back of his throat. His words were beginning to carry a reverberating electronic echo as the damage to his ventilation biocomponent begun to effect his voice modulator. "Th-Thirium pump... compromised. Thirium loss s-substantial; volume down t-to seventy-two perfect. Imminent sh-shutdown in twenty-nine minutes, forty-two seconds."

"Oh shit..." Hank applied more pressure to the wound as if he could somehow keep Connor from slipping into shutdown if he just held on tight enough. If his Thirium pump; his heart, failed then Connor would die within seconds. "Hang on son, I'll get you out of here. I promise."

Coughing up Thirium in a violent gasp Hank rolled Connor slightly onto his left side to let the blood pool out of his mouth and onto the floor. The coughing fit passed, but not before leaving a second sapphire puddle on the floor in its wake. Rolling the android onto his back again Hank swore he could feel Connor's heart thundering in his blood soaked chest like a freight train under his palm.

Several stray bullets broke through the glass of the window causing shards to rain down into the room. Hank threw himself over Connor to protect the already injured android from the falling glass, and put his own hand over the back of his own hand to keep the shards from cutting him as well.

"Fuck!" Hank swore as the bullets finally stopped flying. Rocking back on his knees Hank grabbed onto Connor's hand and placed it over the wound as he gave Connor a reassuring nod before he crept back over to the window to see what was happening. "Shit! They're trying to use Gavin as a hostage. I hate the prick but we can't just let him get killed."

Pulling his phone from his pocket Hank dialed Fowler's office to connect with his Captain just across the large floor.

"Jeffrey, what the fuck's happening out there? Connor's been shot! He needs a technician in less than twenty minutes or he'll shutdown!"

Connor coughed a little as he pathetically spoke up. "...Twenty-five minutes, and-"

"Shut up, Connor, I'm trying to save you!" Hank swore as he turned to look at the android then returned his gaze to the window so he could make eye contact with his Captain. "He's lost a lot of blood already, we can't afford to wait."

Impatiently Hank listened to his Captain while also keeping his eye on the hostage situation outside. Chris had managed to get away from three gunmen to the relative safety behind a desk with his hand clamped over his bleeding shoulder, and Tina was watching his back as she kept her own gun trained on the three gunmen.

"Fine! Just find a way..." Hank ended the call and scrolled through his contacts to connect with Joel as he knelt beside Connor again. The call was answered almost immediately "Joel! Yeah, it's- Listen, Connor's been shot; bullet penetrated the upper right center of his chest. He's going to shutdown, what do I have to do to save him?"

Connor's eyes began to close as he let out a gasping breath and began to choke on the blood in his throat once more.

Hank quickly rolled Connor onto his side for a few seconds until the choking fit passed then rolled him onto his back again. Pressing his hand down on Connor's chest over his heart, precariously close to the still bleeding wound, Hank counted Connor's pulse as Joel requested.

"He's at one hundred-thirty." Hank's hand moved over to the upper right side of Connor's chest and pressed down, then he did the same for the left. "It doesn't feel like he can breathe very well. Right side seems worse than the left."

Connor weakly updated Hank on his condition. "...Th-Thirum levels down to sixty-six percent."

"And he's still losing a lot of blood." Listening to Joel for a few more seconds Hank's brow suddenly furrowed with a mixture of confusion and surprise. "Wait, you can do that? Okay, yeah, give me a second." Placing his phone against Connor's red L.E.D. Hank issued instructions to his downed partner. "Connor, access your self-diagnostic program and sync it up with my phone."

Connor's eyes blinked slowly, but his L.E.D. managed to shift from red to yellow for only a few seconds before returning to red. In that time a display appeared on Hank's phone showing four key aspects to Connor's vital signs: Thirium pump activity/heart rate, Thirium volume percentage, current ventilation rate and core temperature.

"Shit, it worked!" Hank shouted as he put the phone back to his ear. "I can- Yeah, that's what it says on my screen, too."

'Where are you exactly?' Joel asked while keeping his cool over the line.

"We're in the second interview room, right in the middle of all this bullshit."

'Alright, sit tight. I'll see what I can do.'

"Yeah, monitor his condition from your end and I'll keep-"

Another shot filled the air as another bullet embedded itself in the concrete of the wall below the broken window. Voices were calling out commands and shouting resonated loudly as the officers standing off with the three gunmen proceeded to open fire and try to take down the trio of criminals without losing Gavin, or anyone else, in the process.

Dropping his phone next to Connor's shoulder Hank took his position by the window and peered through the fractured glass at the carnage taking place outside. "Damn it..." Hank slunk down against the wall and as he looked back over to Connor. "The fuckers aren't going to go down easily."

Suddenly Connor took in a sucking gasp for air and his eyes went wide with panic as his back arched in distress. Wheezing in shallow breaths blue blood began to ooze from the corners of Connor's mouth and trail out of his nose in a sickly pale blue foam.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Hank scrambled back to Connor and put his hand down over Connor's chest to try to hold him down on the floor without hurting him. Looking down at the screen of his phone Hank watched as Connor's heart rate began to spike and his Thirium volume dropped down to sixty-two percent. The Thirium bled from Connor's chest, mouth and nose; blue tinted foam was collecting in the back of Connor's mouth and throat from his choked off breaths. "Hold on, son, I got you!"

Hank pressed his ear down against Connor's chest and listened to the sound of his ventilation biocomponents attempting to draw in full breaths, but a whistling sound identified a failure in Connor's internal air intake line, and an accompanying sickening sloshing noise indicated a significant amount of blood had collected in Connor's ventilation system.

Connor was now drowning in his own blood.

"Stay calm..." Lifting his head up from Connor's chest Hank slipped his hand under Connor's neck as his tilted Connor's head back. Opening the android's mouth as wide as possible Hank shook his head somberly. "Sorry about this." Placing his two forefingers down inside Connor's mouth Hank scooped out the collecting foam from Connor's throat before rolling Connor onto his left side and delivering a firm but painless blow to the center of Connor's back between his shoulders to help clear out his airway. "Breathe!"

Connor coughed loudly as his ventilation biocomponent was cleared of the choking mass. As he took in a deep breath more Thirium leaked from the bullet wound in his chest, while speckles of blue blood dotted his already blue stained lips. The failure in the air intake line was still disturbingly audible even without Hank having to press his ear against Connor's chest.

"You're okay..." Hank soothed confidently as he rolled Connor onto his back again. While keeping one hand under Connor's head as he wiped the blue Thirium stain on his fingertips off against his dark coat. "I'll get you out of here."

Connor swallowed once and nodded. The fear in his eyes was unmistakable as Connor tried to focus his healing program on the damage to his biocomponents while remaining as calm as possible. His shutdown clock had dropped down to eight minutes as he continued to lose Thirium and struggled to breathe well enough to prevent his core temperature from rising.

A call on Hank's phone forcibly drew the detective's attention from the android and back to the chaos taking place in the precinct. "Jeffrey! What the hell's happening out there?"

'S.W.A.T. is on their way Hank, how're you holding up?' Fowler's voice was calm and in control over the line despite the Captain being incredibly tense as he eyed the three gunmen from his office sharply.

"Not good... Connor's in rough shape."

'Don't worry, we'll get you out of there.'

"It's not me I'm worried about, it's him!"

'We have a negotiator working with Pillar now. By all accounts he's not going to surrender peacefully, OR alive. I don't want to see this end in death, but we can't let him or his associates escape.'

"Jeffrey, from my point of view I have a clean shot. I can take out Pillar without harming Gavin and end this bullshit."

'You're a great shot Hank, but there's no way you can get all three men down without Gavin being put at risk!'

"Yeah, I know. But if you think I should take the shot then just give me the word."

'Hopefully it doesn't come down to that.'

"That's up to Pillar now, isn't it?"

'Hank, I think help's coming your way.' Through his office window Fowler caught sight of an android technician slowly approaching the interview room with a blue colored android first aid kit tucked under his arm. 'The door's going to open but it's going to be a friend, alright? Do. Not. Shoot!'

"I'm not trigger-happy, Jeffery." Hank snarked as the door to the interview room creaked open slightly. Turning his head he watched as the android very carefully slipped the kit down on the floor and pushed it through the opened door. "I got it. Tell whoever that was to get back before they get shot!"

Hank ended the call as he grabbed onto the kit and placed it on the floor next to Connor's body. Opening the kit Hank stared at the pieces of equipment stored inside the blue colored plastic box with utter confusion.

"What the hell is all this crap?"

Rather than the usual pieces of first aid supplies that normally accommodated such an android kit there were items that seemed designed for more advanced procedures than routine emergency first aid out in the field.

A long hollow plastic tube was wrapped up in sterile plastic next to a metal cylindrical apparatus in the center of the case. Next to it was a bottle of pure blue Thirium and a bottle of the bizarre orange colored incrassation compound that Hank had only recently learned of when Connor's arm had been injured a few weeks back.

As if sensing the question hanging in the air Hank's phone rang again and Joel reestablished a connection with the two somewhat isolated detectives.

'Hank, listen to me.' Joel sounded unusually stern compared to his typical laidback demeanor. 'Connor only has six minutes left before he shuts down. You can save him but you have to do everything I say and listen very carefully, and for the love of all that is sane do NOT try to argue.'

"Shit..." Hank swore as he set the phone on the floor and pressed speaker as he stared at Connor's vital signs still on display. Heart rate up to one-hundred and forty and his Thirium volume was down to sixty-one percent. "Alright Joel, what do I have to do?"

'You see the incrassation compound in the kit?'

"Just call it the 'orange stuff'." Hank grumbled as he picked up the bottle and unscrewed the cap. "Got it."

'Pour it over the bullet wound in Connor's chest, that should stop the bleeding and keep his airline from leaking too severely.'

"Right." Giving Connor a sympathetic glance Hank wiped away as much of the lost Thirium from Connor's chest with his hand before he poured the orange liquid directly into the wound.

Connor flinched and let out a stifled pained moan as the orange chemical stung at his injury and entered inside the wound itself.

"Sorry, Connor. I didn't want to to do it." Hank apologized sincerely as he watched the android enduring another bout of pain. "It's done."

'Good,' Joel continued his instructions from over the line as he watched Connor's vital signs from his own phone up in the precinct dispensary. 'now you see the tube inside of the plastic bag? Pick it up and open the bag.'

Tossing aside the now empty compound bottle Hank picked up the plastic bag and tore it open with his fingers. Holding the tube in his hands he just stared at the object as if he had been handed a grenade.

"Now what?"

'Listen to me VERY carefully.' The insistence in Joel's voice was less than comforting. 'At one end of the tube you'll see a blue line and the other end a rectangular plastic guard. You need to slip the blue end of the tube down Connor's throat. It's like intubating a human.'

"What the fuck did you just say?!"

'Don't argue!' Joel nearly shouted. 'His core temperature is going to start rising and you have no way to cool him down if he overheats.'

"Right, right... okay."

'Next to the tube inside the kit there should be a metal cylinder. Pick it up and press the small button at the top, a small metal flank should release from the side. It looks like a thin and partially curved knife.'

Hank picked up the requested tool and pressed the button. Sure enough a small flank released from the side. "Okay... Now what?"

'Tilt Connor's head back and keep his mouth opened as wide as possible. Then use the flank to push down on his tongue to open his throat wide enough to slip the tube down.'

"Is that going to hurt him?"

'Only a little, but it'll let him breathe and stabilize his system to keep him from shutting down!'

"He won't be able to talk?"

'Four minutes!'

Connor's breathing became more rapid, but remained shallow as his damaged biocomponent and failing air intake line struggled to circulate the required air for him to properly cool his core. "Hank..." Connor gasped in panic as tears began to well in his eyes. "H-Hank... I'm... scared."

"Don't be, Connor!" Hank's hand grabbed onto Connor's arm and squeezed. "I'm right here with you, I won't let you shutdown, alright?"

Nodding once Connor closed his eyes and swallowed again. "I... trust you..."

'Hank, you have to do this! You're the only one who can!'

"Fuck!" Hank saw Connor's vital signs on his phone starting to become more erratic as the android struggled to breathe, his heart pounding in his chest as his body fought to heal itself in spite of the massive Thirium loss. "Close your eyes Connor, this isn't going to be fun for either of us."

Connor watched as Hank moved from his side to kneel just above his head. Once Hank put his hand on his lower jaw Connor shut his eyes tight enough to cause the tears he had been restraining to finally fall and run down his face.

"I'm working on a car, not my partner..." Hank held his breath as he put the metal tool in Connor's mouth and pushed it down against the android's tongue. "Car. Car. Car." Repeating the mantra seemed to calm Hank enough to keep his hands from shaking as he performed the unpleasant, but necessary task. "It needs to be done..."

Connor fought the urge to spit the metal object out, knowing that it was there to help him and not hurt him. The feeling of being smothered and drowning was becoming almost too intense for the android to withstand.

'Three minutes.'

"Shut up, Joel! I'm doing it..." Carefully Hank slipped the blue end of the tube into Connor's mouth between his teeth and snaked it down slowly alongside the metal tool with a steady pace.

Connor reflexively swallowed as the tube was inserted down his throat, at the same time his hands turned in fists at his sides while he resisted his every instinct to pull the tube out of his mouth and lash out at the person responsible for his discomfort. As the plastic guard at the end of the tube reached Connor's lips Hank retracted the metal tube and set it aside.

"It's in!"

There was a heavy pause for a moment before Joel responded from over the line. 'Perfect placement, good work Hank.'

"Is that it?"

'Shutdown has stopped for now, but he still needs Thirium, he's at fifty-eight percent and dropping. The tube is serving as a temporary replacement for his damaged air intake line, and it can allow you to pour the replacement Thirium down his throat without accidentally choking him in the process.'

More gunfire suddenly erupted from the precinct outside the interview room causing Hank to look up at the window, but he didn't move. At the moment the need to stay by his partner was more prominent than dealing with a trio of lunatics inside a building full of police officers.

Connor's eyes snapped open and focused on the window in fear as bullets broke through the already damaged glass and embedded in the concrete wall behind Hank.

"It'll be fine." Grabbing onto the plastic bottle of Thirium from the kit Hank opened the lid and slipped his hand under Connor's head to lift the android up a little from the ground and let Connor rest against his knees. "After I take care of you, I'll take care of them."

Unable to verbally respond Connor just blinked once to confirm he had understood Hank's comment.

Tipping the bottle down against the end of the tube inserted down Connor's throat and poured the much needed Thirium into the tube to restore the blood that Connor had already lost.

Connor flinched a little but didn't move or try to resist the procedure.

"Joel, I need to deal with the gunmen." Hank shouted toward his phone resting on the floor nearby. "Monitor Connor for me and if there's any change you better letting me fuckin' know A.S.A.P.!"

'Don't worry, I'm monitoring him very closely. His Thirium is currently up to sixty-five percent.' Joel confirmed in a much more relaxed sounding tone. 'You just focus on the idiots with the guns.'

As the last of the Thirium pour from the bottle down the tube Hank tossed it aside and gently lowered Connor down from his knee. Grabbing onto Connor's hand Hank firmly planted the android's palm down against the bullet wound in his chest. "Keep the pressure until I get back."

Obediently Connor kept his hand firmly in place over the lightly bleeding injury and began breathing easier now that the tube was in place down his throat.

Hank returned to the bullet riddled glass of the window and knelt down to line up his shot from where he had and Connor had been taking shelter. Pillar was still holding Gavin as his hostage while Pillar's men stood by his side with their own guns drawn and aimed at the police officers surrounding them. The hostage negotiator was standing outside the precinct and using a phone to communicate with the three gunmen who clearly had no interest in any deals whatsoever.

Glancing over to Fowler's office Hank watched as his Captain gave him a nod of approval before aiming his own gun at the three gunmen as well. Knowing Hank was already locked onto Pillar himself Fowler aimed at the gunman closest to his location through the glass of his office wall, and remained somewhat concealed behind his desk.

"As long as we take out the gunmen together we can save Gavin." Hank muttered to himself as he breathed slowly and kept his hands as still as possible around the grip of his gun. "Just need a third shot..."

Connor was beginning to lose consciousness on the floor. The compound that had been applied to the injury had stemmed the bleeding significantly, but the damage to his biocomponent was still in desperate need of repair. Thirium continued to leak internally into the compromised biocomponent at a steady rate causing discomfort and difficulty with Connor's ability to breathe and keep his core temperature cool.

Stranded in the middle of the chaos with a bullet lodged in his shoulder Chris applied pressure to his own wound while Tina at his side kept her gun drawn on the trio. As he glanced about cautiously Chris noticed that Fowler was aiming at the suspects through his office and that Fowler kept looking to the broken glass of the interview room across the way.

Chris followed Fowler's gaze and caught a faint glimpse of Hank inside the window taking aim as well. Quietly Chris addressed Tina without giving away the plan or distracting the trio in the process. "Tina, can you get a clean shot at the big guy on the left?"

The fearless officer nodded her head subtly to answer Chris.

"Captain Fowler and Lieutenant Anderson have a shot from their positions." Chris stared at Fowler and waited for his Captain to glance his way. "Get ready to fire, when I say the word."

Tina whispered her reply confidently. "Ready."

Fowler's eyes met with Chris for a moment and the officer motioned his head toward Tina at his side, then motioned with his hand that she had a shot at the gunman to the immediate left.

Fowler nodded and glanced over at Hank to relay the information.

From where he knelt Hank watched as Fowler informed him of the plan with silent hand gestures, then told Hank to stand down as he took the phone from his desk and made contact with the negotiator outside the precinct.

Hank kept his eyes trained on the armed trio as he addressed Connor who was still laying helpless a few feet away from him. "Looks like this is could all be coming to a nasty conclusion... It's all up to Pillar how it ends now."

Connor took in a shuddering breath and let out a stifled gasp that was a mixture of a choke and cough. The tube was allowing Connor to breathe, but the Thirium collecting in his ventilation biocomponent was beginning to flood the surrounding biocomponents as well. A small trickle of blue blood was beginning to rise up in the tube as he bled internally.

As the tense standoff continued outside the room and in the center of the precinct Fowler finished speaking to the negotiator and made his call. Signalling to Hank to standby and wait for his final signal Fowler communicated the same instructions to Chris and Tina through the office window.

"This is it, Connor." Hank stated as he held his aim steady, his blue eyes focused on the cold hollow eyes on Pillar in the distance. "It'll be over soon."

Joel had noticed a sudden change in Connor's vitals through his contact over the phone, but couldn't reach Hank to tell him what to do. As Connor's condition began to deteriorate the android was helpless to say anything to Hank or even to Joel over the line.

Fowler held out his left hand and using his fingers started counting down from three. As he reached the count of 'one' Fowler stood up from his desk and squeezed the trigger of his gun. The bullet found it's target in the upper shoulder and chest of the gunman to Pillar's immediate right. The gunman was disarmed as he fell to the floor in a matter of seconds.

Tina followed suit and immediately did the same as she kept her position on the ground and took down the second gunman. The bullet struck the gunman directly in the center of his chest causing him to collapse to the ground in a bloody heap beside Pillar.

Hank readily squeezed the trigger of his own gun and struck Pillar in the middle of his forehead, right between the eyes. As Pillar's lifeless body fell to the floor Gavin eagerly ducked down and moved away from the trio of successfully disarmed and subdued gunmen.

Pillar collapsed to the ground and blood pooled beneath his head. Hank let out the breath he had been holding and stood up from the ground as he stared at the body in the distance.

It was all over.

"FUCK!" Gavin swore as he dove to the floor, his entire body trembling from adrenaline and fear. "SHIT! THAT WAS TOO DAMN CLOSE!"

Hank holstered his gun and returned to Connor on the floor. "Told you I'd put a bullet between his eyes." He tried to joke as he checked on his partner's condition. The android was unresponsive and seemingly unconscious. "Connor?"

'He's going into insipid shock, his Thirium level is down to fifty percent and still dropping.' Joel explained from over the line as he heard Hank's voice speaking to Connor again. 'There's already emergency technicians waiting outside, let them do what they have to do to stabilize him.'

"Shit, Connor?!" Hank put his hand down atop Connor's hand to try to apply more pressure to the wound, only to discover that Connor's ventilation biocomponent had finally given out, and he had stopped breathing altogether. Putting his other hand beneath Connor's head he supported his partner in his arm and waited with bated breath for the emergency technicians to arrive. "Hang on for me, son! You'll be okay."

Blue blood trailed from the corners of Connor's mouth around the tube and onto Hank's sleeve. The weakening display of Connor's vitals on his phone made Hank feel suddenly cold and sick.

The door to the interview room opened as Captain Fowler led the technicians to the source of their call. Two technicians with a stretcher in tow quickly assessed Connor's condition, using both the phone on the floor already displaying his vitals, as well as their own equipment contained in the large military grade satchels slung over their shoulders.

The male technician pulled a suction pump from his bag and placed the end of the suction tube in Connor's mouth to drain the blue blood collecting in his throat, while the female technician pulled a pale blue tinted plastic pump from her own bag and attached it to the end of the tube to manually pump air into his ventilation biocomponent to cool his rising core temperature.

"Remove his jacket." The female technician ordered as she kept Connor breathing with one hand and pulled a large pouch of Thirium from her bag with the other hand.

Hank and Fowler quickly worked together to slip the jacket and his shirt from Connor's arms and watched the male technician expertly assessed Connor's vitals from the phone's display. "Thirium levels are critical." He stated firmly as he wrapped a pressure monitor around Connor's left bicep. "We need to get him to the facility, now. We can't afford to wait."

Without waiting for any prompts from the technicians Hank began lifting Connor's body up from the floor under the android's shoulders while Fowler grabbed onto Connor's legs. The two detectives gingerly placed Connor on the stretcher while the technicians continued to work in tandem to keep Connor's system from shutting down.

Attaching an android cardiac monitor to Connor's chest with a single sensor pad over the center of his chest, directly over his Thirium pump, gave the technicians a clear view of the android's faltering heart rhythm. Hank picked up his phone and looked at Connor's vitals still on display, his heart rate perfectly matching the display on the monitor, while the stretcher was wheeled out of the room.

As Connor was wheeled away the connection to the phone began to weaken until it was finally severed.

"Hank." Fowler put his hand on Hank's shoulder and pushed him forward. "Go with him. We know it was a good shooting, alright? I won't let H.R. try to fuck with you. I gave the order, you obeyed."

"Yeah, yeah, sure." Hank pocketed the phone. Handing Fowler his gun Hank didn't say another word as he followed right after the gurney as Connor was wheeled outside of the precinct.

The interior of the precinct was still absolute chaos as the bodies of the three gunmen were isolated from the rest of the room, thin sheets draped over their bloody corpses. Chris was sitting on a desk while two paramedics checked his shoulder and wrapped up the bloodied injury to prepare for transport, while another paramedic was checking over Gavin nearby.

Bullet holes had damaged the walls with large gaping imperfections in the concrete and pain, large portions of glass had been broken from the window and now littered the floor in a thin layer of crystalline debris.

The outside of the precinct was just as chaotic as S.W.A.T. personnel (too late to the scene) converged on the building. An ambulance was parked outside waiting for Chris and Gavin, while a second android ambulance was parked next to it waiting for Connor.

Hank jumped into the back of the ambulance right alongside Connor and refused to move from his partner's side. "Look, I know protocol and I know I should be up front," Hank preemptively argued with the technicians. "but that bullet that's in his chest right now was meant for me! I'm not going anywhere."

Unwilling to try to reason with Hank the two technicians just slammed the rear doors shut and slapped the side of the ambulance twice to signal the android driver to return to the facility. Loud sirens blared and bright flashing lights illuminated the streets as the emergency vehicle sped off to the nearest Android Emergency Care Facility with its single patient in tow.

Connor's vitals continued to drop as the technicians fought to raise his Thirium volume and keep his core from overheating. The android was disturbingly still and completely unresponsive to the voices speaking around him, and to the hands pressing down against his wounded chest. The monitor began to screech as the effects of incrassation compound had begun to wear off and the heavy bleeding continued. More and more Thirium collected in Connor's right ventilation biocomponent and it was becoming harder for the technician to manually supply air to the android's system.

"His Thirium pump is beginning to falter into an arrhythmia." The male technician announced as he used an audioscope to listen to Connor's chest. "Total right ventilation biocomponent failure. Left compromised."

Hank spoke up over the sound of the screeching monitor as he watched Connor's red colored L.E.D. pulsing slower and slower. "Connor? We're losing you, son. Just hang on a little longer!"

The ambulance stopped outside the facility with a controlled speed. As the rear doors of the ambulance were pulled open from the outside Hank jumped and the two technicians helped lower the stretcher out of the back to the awaiting care of the two android technicians who had met the ambulance in the parking lot. With four technicians now hovering protectively over Connor's dying body Hank felt the sickening knot in his stomach tighten to its limit.

"Patient in critical condition. Thirium pump is struggling to beat on its own."

Wandering slowly into the facility Hank was met by the receptionist who tried to tell him everything that was happening to Connor, and everything that was still going to happen to Connor under their care, but Hank didn't hear a word she said. Sitting in a chair in the waiting room Hank just stared blankly at the floor as the horrible memory of the day played out in his mind, and haunting nightmare of the night Hank lost his previous partner relentlessly overwhelmed his every thought and emotion.

Six long hours passed by since Connor was rushed into the emergency repair wing of the facility. Once the procedure was mercifully over Hank was shown back to the recovery room where Connor was laying perfectly still with the tube still down his throat, but he was breathing on his own again. Two other androids were in the recovery room along with him, but they were surprisingly in worse shape; one had been burned up in a house fire and the other had been pushed in front a truck by an anti-android bigot.

Abby, the technician that Hank and Connor had met (unfortunately) more than once, was checking on the other two androids while Hank joined his partner at the far side of the room.

Sitting beside Connor's bed Hank just stared at the android and looked at the freshly repaired wound in his chest. The right ventilation biocomponent had to be replaced entirely, while his Thirium pump needed minor repair as it had begun to strain itself from attempting to boost his self-healing program while his Thirium levels were critically low.

The android's L.E.D. was pulsing at a normal rate at yellow, which was a vast improvement over the red. Only the faintest of a scar was visibly on Connor's artificial skin, courtesy of the lingering imperfection in his plastimetal frame beneath.

"I'm glad you pulled through, son. I don't think I can take losing another partner." Hank admitted as Connor's L.E.D. blinked rapidly and cycled into blue. The android's eyes opened slowly and his head lolled to the side to look Hank in the face. "Hey kid, welcome back. You saved my life back there... Thanks."

A slight grin formed on Connor's face around the end of the tube still resting in his mouth. Reaching a hand up to the tube Connor began to pull on it to try and remove it, only to have Hank reach his own hand out and stopped him.

"Don't do that! Let the technician remove it."

Abby had overheard Hank's comment and rushed over to the bedside to handle the situation. "Stop pulling on it, you know better." Abby lightly scolded as she used her hand to straightened Connor's neck and tilted his head back. As she took hold of the end of the tube she nodded at Connor. "Cough a few times and I can remove the tube."

Connor obeyed and coughed as the tube was finally pulled from his throat by the technician. A blue stain of Thirium had coated the tube both inside and out, but Connor was no longer bleeding internally.

"Better?" She asked as Connor put his hand over his mouth to stifle his coughing.

"...-Y-Yes." Connor replied hoarsely as he looked up at her. "Thank you."

"I'll leave you two alone, and process his paperwork." Abby put her hand on Hank's shoulder briefly as she passed by. "He'll be out of here within the hour."

"Yeah, thanks." Hank sounded somewhat upset despite the good news. Remaining quiet he just stared off into space beyond Connor and beyond the entire world.

"...Hank?" Connor sat upright on the table carefully as his chest still hurt, and swung his legs over the edge as he steadied himself with both arms. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, kid. Just... thinking." Putting his hand on Connor's shoulder he tried to push him to lay back down on the table. "Rest a little longer."

"Hank..." Connor refused to lay down, and was hesitant at first, but decided it was time to ask the hard question. "are you thinking about what happened to... Barbara?"

Hank nodded a little. "Yeah." Crossing his arms defensively over his chest Hank rubbed thoughtfully at his chin. "You read the report, you know that Pillar was the prime suspect in her murder. We could never directly connect him to the shooting, but the caliber of the bullet matched a gun he had been known to favor. He was also seen in the vicinity at the time of the shooting, and had motivation to go after her."

"Because you had him arrested." Connor tagged on despondently.

"Yeah. She died because of me."

"No, Hank. She died because a corrupt judge let Pillar go, and he shot her in the back like a coward. There's nothing you could've done to prevent it."

"Pillar shot you, too. This time it was because of me."

"Hank, I pushed you out of the way and accidentally stepped into the line of fire in the process. What happened to me wasn't your fault, either."

"Maybe I should've listened to you earlier. Maybe if I had watched the interrogation I would've been able to take Pillar down sooner without anyone else getting hurt. Chris, Gavin... you."

"Chris?"

"Bullet to the shoulder, but he was stable when we left." Hank looked absolutely regretful as he sat in deep contemplation. "He lucked out. It could've killed him, and his wife would've been left alone to raise their son. He even got the jump on Gavin and threatened to shoot him. You were right Connor, I should've taken Pillar out when I had the chance."

"No. Hank, I was wrong." Connor stated firmly as his voice returned to full strength. "It was wrong of me to suggest you take revenge on Pillar. Killing him wouldn't bring back Barbara, and all it would've done is hurt your career. It was a foolish thing to say. I'm sorry I ever brought it up."

"Well, maybe it was fate. Connor, I took the shot that took Pillar down. And I felt absolutely nothing when he hit the floor. No anger, no relief, no sense of justice... It was just absolutely nothing."

"Maybe that's because in the end that's all Pillar was worth; nothing."

"Maybe." Hank stood up from his seat and slipped off his dark heavy coat. Passing it over to Connor to take Hank let out a weary sigh and put his hands to his hips. "Even though it was a good shooting I'm going to be benched for at least a week. And as much as I hate to admit it, right now I need a drink."

"No one would blame you, Hank. Today was... bad." Gratefully Connor put Hank's coat on over his arms and shoulders, and zipped it up to cover his bare chest. "It was very bad. For all of us."

-The End