Chapter 10

The next morning, Connor got up early at six hearing the sound of running water in the distance. It sounded like it was coming from the bathroom.

He glanced around bewildered.

'That's right I slept at Hank's place last night.'

He picked up his phone on the bedside table and pocketed it before stepping into the living room. He saw Hank sitting on the couch.

"Wow, you're up early."

"Look who's talking. I guess it's true when they say the early bird gets the worm. I guess Fowler was right when he called you the early bird," Hank said. "I'm guessing you'd like some breakfast."

"I'd like to fix my own breakfast if that's alright with you."

Hank frowned.

"I'm perfectly capable of fixing you a decent meal."

"I'm certain you are. Even if you weren't I'd still prefer fixing my meals, I just like it that way. If you feel your skills are inadequate though you can feel free to watch maybe I can teach you some pointers."

Connor smirked at him smugly.

"Smarta-s," Hank muttered under his breath.

Still curiosity won over his pride and he joined Connor in the kitchen.

"Do you have a carton of eggs?"

Hank opened the fridge and pointed inside.

"They're in the back on the first shelf."

Connor reached out and grabbed them before cracking them in the frying pan.

"I'm surprised. Despite being a health nut, I guess you don't mind wracking up the cholestrol."

Connor snorted.

"I eat eggs every once and a while. It's a good source of protein."

"Good for a minute there I thought you were one of those health nuts that go crazy over those gluten free or vegan diets."

"Oh that's a shame. I guess we can't be friends because I'm on a gluten free diet."

"You're kidding."

Connor's lips curled.

"I'm just a normal guy, Hank. I like my red meat and wheat products like most people."

Hank punched him in the shoulder.

"Don't joke about things like that."

Connor winced rubbing his shoulder.

"Ge-z, you punch like a freight truck."

"Did you even graduate from the police academy?"

"Look I'm sensitive alright. You could be a little gentle."

Connor glanced at Hank whose cheeks had turned a dark shade of red.

He looked away from Connor's gaze and shrugged.

"Guess I don't know my own strength."

Connor turned on the burner and watched as his eggs cooked.

Just then he felt his phone vibrate in pocket. He took out the cellphone to look at the caller ID. It was Markus.

"Anderson can you watch the eggs? I need to take this call."

Hank snorted.

"Certainly."

He pressed call.

"Connor? Are you there? It's me."

"Markus? Are you out of the hospital?"

"Yes, but that's not what I'm calling you about."

His voice sounded shaky almost frantic.

'Why does he sound so panicky?'

"What is it?"

"Are you at home right now?"

"That's not important."

Markus was quiet for a moment. It wasn't like Connor to keep something like that secret.

'He must be somewhere else.'

Still that could be a concern for later. For now it was best he didn't know.

"So want to tell me about this new boyfriend of yours?"

It was intended just to be a stock conversation with no intention of singling anyone out. He knew his brother showed no preferences towards any gender and likely wasn't into the idea of having a lover so it was more likely the trackers wouldn't know who he was talking about.

Connor choked.

Hank turned and glanced at Connor curiously.

Strange, it almost seemed like the question had flustered him. Could his brother be interested in someone? The intention with the question was to gauge whether Connor felt safe enough to talk about something like that but this was a whole new can of worms.

"Who? What are you talking about?" Connor asked.

Markus sighed.

'Connor, why of all times do you choose this time to be overdramatic?'

"You know who I'm talking about. I could go into detail about everything right now."

"I don't want to talk about this right now."

"We're gonna talk about this," Markus said firmly. "If you need somewhere more private..."

Connor sighed.

"Alright, alright."

Hank glanced at him with a raised brow.

Connor stepped into the guest room and shut the door behind him.

"How did you know about that?"

"About what?" Markus asked.

"You weren't even awake."

"It was just a fluke alright. See I was having problems myself. You know about that time I was arrested when we were younger and Carl bailed me out?"

Connor sighed.

"Yeah, I remember."

"Remember what you did afterwards?"

"Why did you bring that up?"

"Just thought it might be important. It's been a while since I've reminisced with my little brother with the war and everything. Colonel Stern was quite a good mentor to you wasn't she? Heard she had a daughter."

"Never knew that. Can you hold for a moment?"

Connor brought the phone from his ears and set it on the bedside table before walking out, shutting the door behind him and heading towards the kitchen.

Cole was sitting on the question and Hank was standing in the kitchen next to the counter with his plate of eggs.

He turned and jolted with surprise.

"C-Connor," he stammered.

"Anderson, I need you."

"When you were on the phone, what was THAT conversation all about?"

Connor sighed.

"That's not important. I think someone bugged my cellphone."

"What?! Where do you go off thinking something like that?" Hank asked.

"I was talking with my brother but he was acting strange. He was asking me weird questions and was saying weird things, telling me about the war."

"What did he say?"

"He was talking about Colonel Stern."

Cole glanced at them in curiosity.

"Wait, my boss' last name is also Stern."

"Did she work in the military perchance?"

"No, I don't think so."

"So Amanda had a daughter who works for Cyberlife? Why did Markus want to tell me something like that?"

"Didn't Stern mentor Kamski during his creation of the androids?" Hank asked.

"Yeah, Kamski told me their partnership didn't work out. He said she didn't take it well when he told her he was getting a new partner. I was just a rookie at the time and we were investigating what appeared to be a homicide. Kamski was the main culprit at the time until we had determined that Stern had been accidentally killed by electricution."

"So the rumors were true then," Cole said.

"If Kamski wasn't lying through his teeth," Connor said.

'Still something doesn't seem right. Kamski said he got a new partner? Who could have possibly been his partner? Wait, he knew Carl. Sh-t. She's after Carl. Still if that's the case...'

"What's on your mind?" Hank asked.

'What was Markus trying to tell me? Remember the time in which Carl bailed him out?'

Connor remembered it vividly. Markus had been accused of beating up someone at school by one of the teachers at their high school. When they were going to school, Markus was always around these group of boys that had a bad reputation. Many of his classmates thought they might have been affiliated with gangs.

Only Connor really knew the truth. Markus often told him about some of the boys threatening to beat him up after school unless he complied with their demands.

"If I told Carl, he would probably go to the principal and demand that they expelled from school. I can't do that."

Markus would always buy them whatever they requested be it Red Ice or just stuff that people could buy at a store in the city.

No one really had evidence that it was bullying, Markus wasn't exactly a problematic student even if he didn't have the evidence to show for it. So the teachers couldn't say it was effecting his school performance. He had good grades much like Connor did.

Someone had reported Markus throwing punches with some other kids in the back of school. Two kids had come out with injuries that made it mandatory to send them to the hospital.

When Carl had been called and Connor had been informed, he had immediately thought it strange. Markus had been peaceful, more of a mediator. It's why Connor and him had always got along despite never seeing each other eye to eye. He never fought and Connor was sure even when they were kids it was tempting. He had always made his brother mad getting into fights with other boys and trying to start them with him.

Still Markus never fought them.

"They're threatening to expel him from school," Carl said.

Connor snorted.

What he had done was reckless. After school long after Carl had picked up Markus from school, Connor walked up to one of the boys he had seen around.

It was a tall boy with a puffed out gait.

"You're Connor. You're Markus' younger brother right?"

"I am."

"What do you want?"

"I want information."

"Why should I tell you anything? Much easier to beat you black and blue."

Connor met his eyes, calm and impassive.

"You wouldn't do that on school campus. You don't have the nerve," he said.

"Wanna bet? Wipe that confident look off your face."

"What was Markus doing for you?"

"We weren't having him do anything?"

"Is that what you want everyone to believe?"

The boy lunged grabbing him by the collar.

"Why you!"

Connor glanced at him, unphased.

"We should have beat you up while we had the chance."

Connor snorted.

"You wouldn't have succeeded."

"I would have had you at our mercy."

Connor brought his knee to his chest jostling the boy's grip on his shirt.

The boy glared angrily at Connor, his fist drawn back to punch him.

Before the boy could punch him in the face, Connor caught his fist.

"Is that why you made Markus your errand boy?"

The boy snorted.

"You wouldn't believe the lengths he went to ensure your safety."

"Gentlemen."

Connor turned and saw a teacher standing behind him.

"You two better cease your fighting at once."

The boy blushed. Connor released his hand.

"We-"

Connor cut in.

"I was teaching him the basic mechanics of hand to hand combat. He wanted to see if he had what it takes to join the wrestling team," he said smoothly.

"This is not the time or the place."

"Alright," Connor said. "Sorry."

As they were heading out, the boy spoke.

"Why didn't you tell on me? I was trying to pick a fight with you."

"You were angry. I don't know what you and your friends had against me and I'm not going to pretend to understand. I just know Markus wouldn't want me getting in trouble for his sake and that's all there is to it."

The boy sighed.

"Then I'll tell you the truth. We had originally wanted Markus to join us. We were friends, he was hoping through this we might change our ways. He was concerned that we might flunk high school but Bill threatened to kill him and his family unless he joined our gang. Eventually Markus decided to quit and Bill told him we were planning on beating you up behind the school."

"So why didn't you?"

"We were planning to if Markus didn't show up. Before he appeared Bill had beat up two people from our group. Apparently one of them was supposed to ambush Markus before he appeared and the other one was supposed to have captured you. He was very p-ssed with them."

Connor stroked his chin.

"The moment he appeared though we were told to ambush him and Bill was going to beat him black and blue. Everyone whaled on him but Markus did nothing. When the teachers appeared, all they saw was the crowd of people and Bill on the ground. One of our guys told the teacher that Markus punched him. In reality, I did. I was sick of Bill and I hate Markus. He betrayed us when we needed him the most."

"Maybe it was too much to simply offer you a better way of life. You're right he should have left you to suffer. I'm sure your life would have worked out better in prison."

The boy glanced at him with shock.

Connor merely looked at him as if the whole concept unphased him as if it was just a minor inconvenience, like it had never been a significant part of his life, like this kind of life raised on the streets was normal, that such things like witnessing death was nothing in the grand scheme of things.

"You make yourself really hard to like. I really want to punch you right now."

"I'm not saying it isn't difficult but if you never give someone the chance to help you how do you expect to live in happiness?"

"Maybe you're right. All this time, I always thought Markus had abandoned us. In reality, it's never really been about our happiness though has it. Listen Connor, Markus is planning to meet with Bill later in the evening at Maheras-Gentry park at 5 o'clock maybe you can catch him before he does something dangerous."

"Alright."

That evening Connor had gathered the things he needed just in case there had been a confrontation.

He gone out at around 4:15 in the evening to meet up with Bill.

Bill seen him right away.

"I see, you're Markus' little brother. What's a fragile thing like you doing out so late? Wanted to see what your big brother was up to?"

"Not particularly."

Connor put his hands in his pant pockets.

"Someone told me Markus was supposed to meet you here to do some errands. Why can't you just leave my brother alone?"

Bill laughed.

"I don't see what's so funny," Connor said.

"You really think I'm going to listen to you, a mere pansy? I bet I could wipe the floor with you."

"So why don't you. Do you think my brother should fight my own battles?"

"Your brother didn't want you to get involved. Maybe there was a good reason."

"I know he didn't send those boys to the hospital."

"Yeah, so I did it. Who are you going to tell? No one's going to listen to you."

Bill lunged for him with a fist. Connor swiftly dodged it to the side.

"Everything he did for you is going to be for nothing."

Bill stumbled a bit.

"You think Markus was trying to protect me?"

Connor's voice wasn't timid or naive. In fact, it almost sounded as though Connor pitied him.

Bill turned towards him to be certain. There was no fear in Connor's eyes. In fact it was as if his big boasts about beating him up were just minor inconveniences in his eyes.

"The reason why Markus didn't want me involved is because he doesn't want me fighting at all. If he was trying to protect anyone, he was trying to protect you."

Bill glanced at him in bewilderment.

"What do you mean protect me?"

Connor took his hands out of his pockets and punched him in the face.

"Why you!"

Bill clutched his nose as he tried to kick Connor in his stomach.

Connor caught his leg.

"You're not very skilled at fighting are you?"

The boy snarled.

Connor pulled until Bill fell face forward.

"Don't talk to my brother again."

With that Connor had walked back. He ran into Markus on the way.

"Connor? What are you doing out here so late?"

"Taking out the trash."

"You didn't."

"You were worrying dad. Quit trying to be a hero."

Markus sighed.

"Alright."

What had Connor done after that? What was so important?

The two boys that were in the hospital were in grave condition. One of them died and their parents had threatened to sue Carl for the hospital fees.

Markus was sent to jail for killing one of them until Connor had given the police the cellphone. All the information that prevented Markus from going to jail was on it.

'Maybe that's what he was trying to say. All the information about Markus' call was a plea for help. They were being pursued by Mariah to capture them. If that is the case, she must have sent androids to break in my home which is why it didn't trigger my security system and there were no traces of anyone breaking in my home. If I was someone trying to stay away from Cyberlife where would I be?'

"Anderson, I think my brother might be in trouble."

"Do you know where he is?"

"Yeah."

He ran to the bedroom and took the phone.

"Markus are you still there?"

"Yeah."

"I'm going to have to catch you later."

"Alright."

Once Connor headed in the living room, he handed Hank the cellphone.

"I know exactly what to do with that," he said before handing Connor his eggs.

Connor took the fork off the side of the plate.

"Do you got pepper?"

Hank handed him the black pepper.

"These look good. Not bad for an awful cook."

Connor shook it on his eggs.

"You're just covering the flavor with pepper," Hank retorted.

He took a bite, stuffing his mouth quickly before handing the plate to Hank.

"Can we take your car?"

"Sure."

"I ought to be heading out too," Cole said.

"See ya."

"Later Cole," Hank said.

The two headed out in the car. Eventually making it to the outskirts of Detroit, the rumoured haven for outlaws.

Connor stepped out of the passenger's seat and looked around. Markus was nowhere to be seen.

"Sh-t, we were too late."

"Don't give up yet."

Hank walked towards a brown skinned man with dark brown hair that was walking in their direction. The man was wearing a black coat and a purple t-shirt alongside a pair of grey jeans. His eyes was black and blue and blue blood came down from his nostril.

"Hello, have you seen someone by here?"

"I might've. Were they a friend of yours?"

"No."

"I'm looking for my brother," Connor cut in. "Did you see a man with reddish skin, blue eyes and a buzz cut around here? He was with an old man."

"Oh you're talking about Markus. I just ran into him about thirty minutes ago. He was just rescuing me from the scrap hunters."

"Scrap hunters?"

"Yeah, people that disassemble androids to take their parts. They wanted my thirium tank to make red ice. After he rescued me we got separated after he was trying to take me to Jericho."

"Why are you out here then?"

"I was trying to look for help but Markus told me he was trying to stay out of the eye of law enforcement. He told me though his brother might come by to look for him so I was just waiting around here in case you showed up."

"What's your name?" Hank asked.

"It's Josh."

"Well Josh, our best hope is to find this Jericho and maybe we'll be able to track where he went," Hank said.