Connor waved goodbye to Jerry as he left the Orphanage, frustrated that he hadn't been able to learn more. None of the androids working there had recognised Karen, so she must have kept her distance, only observing the Jerrys during the journey.

His irritation only increased when a message pinged through from Hank, informing him that his meeting with Blaire had been equally unhelpful. Connor sat down on a bench to wait for his partner, they'd decided to head back to the station to figure out their next move. He considered the evidence they'd collected so far, they had a promising suspect in Karen but no clues on the identity of her accomplices or the motive for the abduction.

There was a chance this was just another hatred-fuelled attack, perhaps Jerry would turn up damaged or shut down entirely, discarded once they'd had their "fun". But everything in Connor's programming was telling him that there was more to this case, some kind of agenda that he just couldn't see yet. He needed more information, and right now there was only one place he knew he could find it.

Connor stood up and walked to the side of the road as Hank pulled the car up to the sidewalk.

"We're not going to the station." Connor told Hank as he climbed into the passenger seat.

"Alright, so where are we going?" Hank looked towards him, questioning.

"We need to talk to Karen Bates." Connor answered.

"Whoa now, hold on a second." Hank raised his hand towards Connor. "This woman has a history of beating on androids and we think she's involved in this whole mess, you sure it's a good idea for you to be there?"

"We need to figure out who she's working with, and I hardly think she's going to volunteer that information - do you?" Connor bristled at the implication that he should stay behind, and he knew Karen was unlikely to tell Hank much of anything.

"Ok fine, don't bust a circuit or anything." Hank grumbled, sighing in resignation as he turned back to the steering wheel.

The tense silence lasted the drive, until Hank broke it as they parked in front of the house that had been listed as Karen's address in the file.

"So what's the plan?"

"I need you to keep her distracted, while I see what I can find." Connor explained. Hank nodded in agreement, before they exited the car and made their way to the front door. Connor knocked firmly on the wood twice before pausing, listening for movement inside the house. There was a click as the door was unlocked, and it swung open to reveal the woman from the Jerrys' memory.

"Karen Bates?" Hank held up his badge as identification. "Lieutenant Anderson, this is my partner, we'd like to ask you a few questions."

Karen's eyes flicked uneasily to the LED on Connor's temple, he'd long since discarded his old uniform, not wanting to continue walking around branded as CyberLife's property, but he'd opted not to remove the ring of light.

"As long as that thing stays outside." Karen replied to Hank, pointing at Connor with a look of distaste on her face.

Connor considered this obstacle, his mind running through scenarios to determine whether he'd be able to discover anything of use from outside the house, or perhaps he could sneak in around the back…

But his simulations were cut short when Hank spoke with a cold tone.

"My partner and I need to speak with you about evidence connecting you to a very serious crime. So you can either let us in, or we can take a ride down to the station and you can spend the night in lock up."

Karen blinked in surprise, momentarily stunned into silence, and simply stepped back to give them space to enter the house. Hank strode past her confidently and Connor followed, head tilted down to hide the small smirk that had spread onto his face.

Karen regained her composure and followed them into the living room, where Hank started to ask the usual questions to determine whether she had an alibi. Connor tuned them both out as he scanned the small room.

The first thing he looked for was any traces of blue blood that might suggest the missing android had been brought here, but he came up empty. There was a laptop sitting on a nearby couch, so he mentally reached out and connected to it remotely, turning slightly to hide his yellow LED from Karen in case she looked his way.

He found several email newsletters for online anti-android groups, but none that seemed likely suspects. Many such groups had popped up over the last few months, and the DPD had checked into all of them; most of them were run by teenagers or the odd disgruntled ex-patron of The Eden Club. None of them had actually committed any real crimes, and hate speech wasn't a chargeable offence, so they'd been left to run in their shady part of the internet.

A quick search of the hard drive failed to result in any helpful evidence so Connor moved on, his eyes searching the room for anything else of use. When he found nothing, he turned back towards Hank and was about to figure out if there was any way he could excuse himself to search other rooms when he spotted the smart watch on Karen's wrist.

Connor mentally chided himself for missing it, although he noticed the sleeve of her jacket had slid up at some point during her agitated gesturing, revealing the previously concealed device.

It only took a second to connect to it, and his eyes slipped closed as he skimmed through her recent text messages. One message chain, from a contact listed only as 'Tim' drew his attention.

Tim: its fucking stupid… we swiped the damn thing and now they dont trust us?

Karen: they sed we wer gonna be part of sumthin and now they just left us hangin wtf

Tim: we should do something ourselves, wanna grab a drink tomorrow and make a plan?

Karen: ye frankies 9pm 1st drink on u ;)

Connor opened his eyes and sent a meaningful look towards Hank, who glanced at him over Karen's shoulder.

"Well I think we've taken up enough of your time, Miss Bates. We'll be in touch if we have any further questions" Hank started towards the door.

"Thank you for your cooperation." Connor nodded towards the woman before turning to follow Hank. Karen snorted in derision.

"This is a disgrace, you know that?" She called out. "Fucking plastic cops invading people's homes, I should file a complaint!"

Connor ignored her and continued his path to the door, almost bumping into Hank who had frozen in front of it at her words.

"Just you wait! Warren'll be out soon enough, and Johnson is gonna clean this city up - recycle all the trash and get things back to how they should be!" Karen's face was contorted with hatred, her unkempt hair giving her a decidedly unhinged appearance. She opened her mouth to continue her tirade, but stopped short when Hank spun around, his eyes flaring in anger.

"Now listen here, you hateful sack o' shit-" Hank spat out, hand coming up to point accusingly at the woman. Connor reacted quickly, grabbing the man's arm and tugging him towards the door.

"Lieutenant-"

"-you think you can spout whatever bullshit you want without consequences-"

"LIEUTENANT!"

Hank stopped mid-sentence and looked at Connor, surprised by the uncharacteristic outburst.

"We have what we came for, we should go." Connor raised his eyebrows at his partner, hand still gripping his arm. Hank grunted and shrugged him off, wrenching the door open and storming off down the path towards the car.

Connor turned back to the stunned woman still standing in the living room.

"Have a nice evening, ma'am." He said with just a hint of sarcasm, as Hank had taught him, before following his partner, pulling the door shut behind him.

He climbed into the passenger seat next to Hank, who was breathing heavily in an attempt to get his anger under control.

"You know you don't have to let people talk to you like that." He finally said, once his breathing had calmed.

"Giving her a real reason to file a complaint wouldn't have done us any good." Connor twisted in his seat to face Hank fully. "It's not just about me, there are those who are looking for any reason to fire me, to prove that androids shouldn't be allowed to work. People are counting on me to set an example."

Hank looked away guiltily, clearly so used to only loosely following the rules that the thought hadn't occurred to him.

"But I do appreciate you looking out for me… Hank." Connor smiled, he meant it more than he could say. Sometimes the idea that someone cared for him, not as a piece of expensive property but as a person, still took him by surprise.

Hank huffed out a laugh, uncomfortable with the sincerity in Connor's voice.

"Yeah, any time kid."

The streetlights were just starting to turn on as Simon made his way back to the main office. It was almost 8pm but he knew there was no chance he'd find Markus at the apartment they shared, with everything going on he was sure his boyfriend would have spent all day working.

Simon sighed, it was certainly troubling, poor Amelia was barely holding it together. He'd sat with her most of the afternoon as she tried to connect to Blaire, but it seemed that the virus had frozen her mental processes as well as the physical ones. A coma, Josh had been calling it, although it wasn't really comparable to the human definition.

He turned the corner and saw his assumption was correct, the lights were still on in the windows of the small building they used as an office. When he walked through the glass door he could hear Markus' voice floating down the hallway.

"-need regular patrols, we'll assign routes to the volunteers. And we should see if the DPD could lend us any drones, we've been too complacent with the security in the district."

Simon leaned against the door frame and watched Markus, he was standing with his back to the doorway, palms flat against the top of the desk as he continued to relay the list of tasks to whoever was on the other end of the call. He ended the call, lifting his hand to rub against his temple, a gesture Simon had noticed him doing before, although they weren't capable of getting headaches.

"Hard at work as usual, I see." Simon spoke softly, to avoid startling him.

Markus turned at the sound of his voice, tension visibly leaving his shoulders at the sight of him.

"Simon." He breathed out, before his brow furrowed in concern. "Did you walk back here alone? You know it's not safe, you could've-"

Simon stepped towards him, hands raised in a calming motion.

"It's okay, Josh and I walked from the facility together. I just left him at his place."

Markus sighed, reaching out to take Simon's hand, pulling him closer to close the distance between them as he leant back against the desk.

"I'm sorry, I just…" Markus trailed off, his head bowing as he pushed his palm flat against Simon's, the artificial skin receding from both of their hands.

"I know." Simon replied gently, focusing on sending a wave of comfort and love to wash away the turmoil he could feel flowing from the other android through the connection.

Markus breathed out slowly as it reached him, looking up in gratitude.

"I'm scared Simon." His words were barely above a whisper, a confession meant only for Simon. "Scared of losing this, of losing everything we've built here."

"We're not going to lose anything. Everything's going to be alright, Markus." Simon reassured him in a soothing voice.

"How am I supposed to save our people if I can't even protect them here?" Markus pushed off from the desk and severed the connection, balling his hands into fists. "Maybe North was right."

Simon sighed internally, North had a way of getting into your head, of convincing you that her way was the only way. But if there was one thing Markus had taught them all, it was that change could be won with peace, not just violence.

"North would've had you shoot me on that roof." He stated calmly, with not even a hint of accusation or resentment. Markus froze, head whipping around to look at Simon in shock.

"I would never-!" He started, voice raised in protest, but Simon cut him off.

"I know. It's one of the reasons I love you. Your compassion is your greatest strength, Markus. Our people never would've made it this far without you." Simon looked him straight in the eye, trying to convey the sincerity of his words. "North's way would only end in bloodshed, both theirs and ours. Please, don't doubt yourself now."

Markus looked away in shame, and the silence hung between them for a moment before he sucked in a breath.

"What is it?" Simon questioned, recognizing the look on his boyfriend's face.

"A message, from Connor. He thinks they've found some of the people involved in the attack, they're going to ambush a meeting tomorrow."

"I want to help."

They both startled at the new voice, looking over towards the doorway to see Amelia standing there with a determined expression on her face.

"I want to help take down the people that did this."