A/N: Have an extra long chapter. The inspiration took hold of me and I wrote this gem.
Chapter 28
The next evening after being in the hospital for three days, Connor was finally released much to his relief. His bullet wound was patched up and nearly healed. Hank was patiently sitting in the waiting room looking at an open newspaper.
"Hey," he called to Hank.
Hank turned to glance at Connor with a crooked smile on his face.
"Guess they finally released you huh?"
"For the record, NEVER take me back there again."
"That bad huh?"
"I'll never hear the end of it."
Connor followed Hank to his car. Concern wrinkled his brows.
"Anderson?"
Hank turned to glance at him.
"Captain Fowler just sent us a report about a stakeout."
"Already?" he asked.
Hank snorted.
"I'm an android remember."
Connor laughed sheepishly.
"Listen if you're not feeling up to it I could just tell Fowler to give the case to someone else."
"No," Connor blurted out.
Hank gazed at him with a raised brow.
"I mean I'm fully capable of doing it." Connor said.
Hank glanced at him in disbelief. He seemed quite insistent on following through with whatever Fowler had assigned to them.
"Are you sure?"
"Definitely."
It's a few blocks away from the Chicken Feed," Hank said. "Are you sure you're up for it?"
"Anderson, you're not going to change my mind about it, you know."
"I thought I'd try," he said before looking away.
Connor saw the corners of his lips twitch as if he was trying hard not to smile.
The two drove until they reached an apartment complex. Connor noticed another police car was also parked in front.
"Guess someone else already arrived before us," he pointed out.
Once the two headed inside Hank lead him to the elevator.
"What floor is it supposed to be on?" Connor asked.
"The second floor."
Hank pushed the button to the second floor on the elevator.
Connor glanced at his hips.
'That's right. Hank can't possess a gun can he?' he thought.
"Are you gonna be alright without a gun?" Connor asked.
Hank turned towards him.
"So you noticed."
"Why wouldn't I? You're my partner aren't you?"
Hank chuckled mirthlessly pulling the gun out from his coat.
"Don't worry I got you covered."
"Isn't that illegal to carry a firearm?"
"Cute. Are you gonna snitch on me? Theoretically it is registered under my name."
"No, I won't snitch on you unless you give me a reason to."
The elevator opened. Connor and Hank stepped outside onto green and beige checkered floors. Towards the left was an exit to the roof as well as three other rooms while the right lead to a window.
Immediately something seemed off. Blue footprints stained the floor.
"Looks like there's trouble," Connor said, worry laced his voice. "So what do we know about the suspect?"
"That's the weird part. The suspect, Rupert Travis has no criminal record to speak of but that's not the only thing."
"You sound disturbed," he said.
"Not too long ago, you were looking up names in the military database. He's-"
"Also a prior member of the military," Connor cut in. "He was in my squad."
Hank followed the footsteps up to a room towards the window on the right side. The door was wide open and the footprints were a darker blue as if the blood was closer than ever.
"Anderson, did you find anything?" Connor asked.
Hank was silent giving him the impression something was off.
Quickly Connor ran to catch up with him. Inside was more blood however no one appeared to be there.
Connor made a move to step inside when Hank's arm stopped him. Hank took out the gun from his jacket holding it out in front of him.
"Stay behind me."
"Got it," Connor said.
He followed behind Hank at a close distance. Inside the apartment complex was a long hall with one room on each side. A door stood at the very back of the hall.
Both peeked in the rooms on the sides. On Connor's side, he saw there was only a bed pried up against the wall and a small closet to the left that looked undisturbed.
"Find anything?"
"Nothing of interest," Hank replied.
The two met back in the hall standing out the door in the back.
Cautiously Hank opened it.
No one could have predicted that sight that would greet them. A police officer was on the floor. Blue blood pooling beneath them.
"Holy Sh-t," Hank hissed.
Courageously Connor knelt down and turned the body over. Hank recoiled in horror at the sight of seeing Officer Wilson with a bullet through his head.
"What the-What kind of person would do this? What the h-ll?"
"Whoever did it must still be here or at least they did not go that far."
"What makes you say that?"
"Thirium fades after an hour right?"
"Yeah."
"Yet a trail of blue blood is still here. If the suspect tried to escape the blood would be all over their shoes judging by the footprints in the hall."
"Right."
"I'm going to follow the trail of footprints. See if you can find any information on the suspect," Connor said.
"Will do," Hank replied.
Once Connor was gone, Hank set to work. To the left of Wilson's corpse was a small kitchen with a fridge, a stove, a counter and a couple of cupboards.
Hank walked closer scanning the counters, the fridge and the cupboards. The counters were clean, theshelves were full of MREs while the fridge was surprisingly empty save for a couple articles of food.
MREs according to the data he had collected through the internet had a long shelf life of approximately ten years. It appeared Rupert or whoever lived here had no intention of going outside of this apartment if they didn't have to.
On the right wall was a painted picture of a garden hung neatly beside a small table. There were cracks above where it was hung however upon further scans.
Curious Hank removed the picture from the wall revealing a small hole. Inside was a small black journal.
Carefully he scanned the pages.
"It's been a week since I've come back but something feels wrong. I think someone might be following me."
The more he read the more disturbing it sounded.
"I caught them today. An android in black was tailing me. I managed to disable it before it could do anything. I'll interrogate it when it wakes up, even if it tries to lie I know how to alter it's program to force it to tell me the truth."
Hank read on to the next entry.
"I had suspected it but now I know it. Someone is trying to kill me. I called the police but they're not doing anything. They're trying to arrest me for making false reports. They call me delusional. I can't stay at my old place any longer. I'm thinking of leaving but I'll have to pack extra supplies. I'm uneasy the longer I'm here at my old place with 'them' watching."
Hank closed the journal and put it in his jacket pocket before he returned to Wilson's body.
He grit his teeth before scanning him.
"Registered: RK-800 model 313-966-417 under Detroit Police Department."
He scanned the damage.
"Bullet hole went clean through his head."
'Wait, he's an RK-800 which means he probably had a gun on him. All RK-800s are permitted to use guns. The question is where is it?'
Hank looked around finally spotting the gun next to the fridge. He scanned it.
"A .45 caliber registered to RK-800 model 313-966-417. Two bullets remaining."
It was mandatory for all registered guns to have a maximum of 3 bullets loaded in the gun.
'That means there's a missing bullet.'
Hank loaded up his preconstruction program.
A makeshift figure of Officer Wilson appeared to rise from the body. His right arm was outstretched in front of him with the gun in hand. Across from him was a figure.
Hank followed where Wilson had held out his gun and traced the trajectory to the wall. A bullet was above where the gun was found. It was however above the other makeshift figure was reconstructed.
'Wait, that means he fired at the suspect. The suspect must have shot him back.'
He followed the suspect's line of fire and found the bullet on the floor behind the corpse.
"Bullet identified as a 9mm round from a Glock G19."
Hank tried to connect the bullet with any guns that were registered under Rupert's name and found a match. At least it wasn't possessed illegally.
So what did this mean? Hank was just as puzzled as he was before. With a sigh, Hank left the room to catch up with Connor.
During that time, Connor had traced the footsteps to the left exit on the roof. The footsteps stopped near a dead end.
Maybe Rupert or whoever this person was hopped to the other roof. Even if it looked like a stretch, Connor wondered if it wasn't possible.
He peeked over the roof out of curiosity and saw Rupert. Rupert seemed to realise that Connor had spotted him. Panic appeared in his eyes and he was about to release his grip off the roof when Connor managed to grip his hand.
"No! Wait, hear me out," Connor said.
"No, you're with the police. I don't trust you. You'll think I'm delusional."
"No, I won't. I just want to know what happened. Talk to me."
Rupert was silent and looked down as if determining whether or not suicide was still an option.
"Please," Connor pleaded.
"Alright."
Connor pulled him up back on the roof.
"So what happened?" he asked.
Rupert looked at him with squinted eyes.
"Wait, I know you from somewhere. Your last name is Bourne right?"
"Yeah."
"Major Bourne? I didn't expect to see you again. You're a sight for sore eyes."
Connor nodded in agreement.
"It's been a while. Imagine my surprise when I see you about to jump off the building."
Rupert sighed.
"I'll tell you everything I know."
"Alright."
"You remember how they sent us back to our homes after the war."
Connor nodded.
"Everything was fine for the first two weeks. That was when I sensed I was being followed."
"Followed?"
"Yeah, I eventually discovered I was being tailed by androids. One of them tried to kill me so I called the police but they never did anything about it."
"Why?"
"I don't know but after that it got worse. I knew I couldn't rely on the police. In fact I was beginning to suspect that they knew but were going out of their way to do nothing about it so I hid. Someone must have spotted me because next thing I know two police officers are at my door trying to kill me."
Suddenly a bullet whizzed past Connor barely missing Rupert. Rupert turned on his heel and ran.
Connor turned and saw a female police officer with a gun held in front of her.
"Officer Chen?"
He glanced at her with wide eyes. The gun didn't move from where Tina had held the gun in front of her.
She smiled.
"Hey lieutenant. Fancy seeing you here."
"What are you doing?!"
"What were you doing?" she asked coolly.
"My job. What do you think I was doing?" Connor asked.
"Are you just going to let the suspect get away? He killed Officer Wilson. I saw it with my own eyes," she added hotly.
"Why were you both here in the first place? What was the suspect guilty of?" Connor asked.
"Why does that matter? He just killed my partner."
"It matters," he said coolly." If you have no probable cause to trespass on private property you are conducting illegal search and seizure which is punishable by law."
"There was probable cause," she mumbled.
Connor narrowed his eyes.
"Then what did 'he' do?"
"Are you siding with him?"
"I'm not taking anyone's side."
"Yet it sounds to me like you don't even believe your fellow officer," Tina said cheekily.
"I believe evidence and you haven't provided any. So tell me why were you two here?"
Tina chuckled mirthlessly.
"How heartless can you be?"
"You two came here because you were trying to kill him weren't you?"
Tina moved the gun towards him.
He could lunge for the gun and kill her. It would be justified self-defense. Then again he could also avoid killing her. In the end though he spared her.
Connor ran towards her ramming into her. The gun fell out of her hands.
She grabbed his shoulders ramming her knee into his chest.
Connor grunted from the impact.
Tina swung her right fist at Connor who swiftly dodged it.
Connor tried to kick her but she swiftly caught his leg and pushed him off balance causing him to stumble near the edge of the roof.
It didn't stop her from kicking him in the chin knocking him off backwards. Instinctively he grabbed on the corner of the roof with his right hand. He seethed with the pain radiating from his right ankle.
In the distance he saw Hank step out of the room behind her just as she reached for the gun on the ground. In her haste, Tina had left the door open crediting Hank's silent entrance.
His eyes widened with horror upon seeing Connor cling to the edge of the roof for dear life.
Hank loaded up the statistics of Connor's survival. He could let Officer Chen know he was there but it also increased the odds of Connor's death. The odds of him surviving without his intervention however were less than 50 percent. He could rescue Connor from the roof but that was a death wish and Hank wouldn't do that to Cole no matter how much he liked Connor.
It was then he remembered some information Josh had given to him yesterday. Something about reprogramming androids.
Hank recalled them ordering thirium related drinks at Jimmy's bar.
'That's right. Tina is an android. It might just be a matter of altering her program.'
Tina reached for the gun on the ground in front of her and pointed it at Connor. Quickly Hank sprung into action.
Carefully Hank snuck up behind her grabbing her arms. The gun fired.
Tina attempted to ram backwards into Hank to loosen his grip but he retained his grip on her arms.
Hank finally decided just to remove them from her body.
"You removed my arms," Tina hissed.
Hank clasped her shoulders retrieving a pocket knife from his jacket.
"They were being annoying," Hank growled pulling her backwards until she was seated.
"You'd gang up on a helpless woman."
Hank lodged it in her right leg.
"You've proven that you're the exact opposite of helpless."
He opened the panel on the back of her neck and set off to reprogram her. Some minutes passed before he had finished finally resetting Tina's systems.
Hank carefully got up and helped Connor from the edge of the roof. He winced before glaring at Hank.
Hank saw him carefully move his leg.
'Is he hurt?'
He glanced at him with concern.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Connor bit out.
"What's wrong with your leg?"
"How long were you going to leave me dangling from there? I could have fell," Connor snapped.
"Don't be so dramatic. I didn't forget about you."
He snorted.
"What was I supposed to think. I didn't see you attempt to rescue me."
Hank sighed looking away.
"I had my reasons."
"It's our job to look after each other. Not to leave me hanging from the roof."
"I saved your life. You should be thankful. She would have shot you if it weren't for me."
"It would have been good riddance. Maybe it would make you appreciate me more."
Hank stared off with a distant, yet oddly sad look on his face.
"Maybe," he said with wonder. "If I could make it genuine."
Hank turned to Tina who's eyes fluttered open.
"Hank?"
"Officer Chen."
She glanced from Hank to Connor.
"What is going on?"
"You nearly shot Lieutenant Bourne in attempts to comply with your programming."
Tina's eyes widened.
"What?! Why would I do that?"
Just as she had said it, the thought dawned on her.
"Oh."
"What is it?" Connor asked.
Hank collected Tina's arms and began to put her back together.
"Sorry about your leg, Tina," Hank said.
"I was given orders to stop by Mr Travis' home and to arrest him so Captain Fowler could deliver him to Cyberlife. We were to bring him either dead or alive," Tina spoke.
"Why?" Connor asked.
"That's just it I don't know. Most of the things I did none of it seems logical. I was programmed to act a certain way and carry on underground activities for Cyberlife."
"It's not your fault," Hank said. "Cyberlife programmed you with those operatives."
"How many of us have them though?" Tina inquired pensively. "Officer Wilson also was an android programmed by Cyberlife. If only we hadn't been acting on their orders he might still be alive."
"Judging by what Rupert told me, it's likely everyone in the DPD is acting on Cyberlife's orders," Connor said.
Hank removed the knife from Tina's leg and helped her to her feet.
"We ought to see about getting your leg repaired," he suggested.
"Alright."
Tina frowned glancing at Connor apologetically.
"I'm really sorry about attacking you, lieutenant," she said.
"So what will you do now?" Connor asked. "If others are working for Cyberlife and they find out about you it's highly likely you'll be scrapped."
"That's if they find out. I didn't become a police officer to turn tail when things get rough," she said. "I'm eager to find out why Cyberlife reprogrammed RK-800s to do their bidding. If that means sticking around to find answers then that's what I'm going to do."
Connor got to his feet, pain scrunching his face. He attempted to walk towards the door.
Nearly reaching the door he fell forward.
Hank turned spotting Connor on the ground and he frowned.
"Connor!"
"Don't," he hissed coolly.
'Why is he being so stubborn?'
Hank gritted his teeth torn between helping Connor or helping Tina.
Tina pulled away.
"I'm fine. I've had worse," she said.
With a sigh, Hank knelt down.
"What happened?"
"I just twisted my ankle nothing major."
"Sh-t," he hissed before seeming to come up with an idea.
Hank moved closer.
"What are you doing?"
He carried Connor in his arms.
"Oh my."
Connor's face turned red.
"Put me down this instant."
"No can do. This is much easier than dragging you to the car."
"You're doing this just to spite me aren't you?"
Hank rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, let's go with that."
The three headed back through the apartment. Tina taking it easy on her leg.
"We should get Wilson out of here. He doesn't deserve to be left in a place like this," Connor said.
"I'll get him," Tina said dragging his body by the legs.
Eventually she followed Hank and Connor to their car. Carefully Hank set Connor on the passenger's side of the car. Tina put Wilson's body in the backseat before taking the back seat.
Hank claimed his seat on the driver's side.
He started up the car and they drove off. Connor noticed immediately when they passed by the police station.
"Where are we going, Anderson?"
"Heading home. Cole should arrive soon. He should be able to recover the right parts to repair Officer Chen."
'That won't be awkward.' Connor thought.
As Hank parked outside his home, he got out of the car and walked over to Connor's side.
"Need help?"
"That won't be necessary," Connor bit out. Carefully he got to his feet taking it easy on his right foot.
Hank decided to help Tina out of the backseat.
He scanned the panel outside his door before all three went inside.
Sumo walked up to Connor who eagerly petted him.
"Cute dog," Tina said.
She looked around.
"Nice place you got here," she said.
Hank helped her to the couch.
"Make yourselves at home," he said.
Connor followed Tina to the couch.
"I always thought Anderson was married but you could tell this place is lacking a woman's touch."
"How can you tell?" Connor asked.
"The place would be more lively. A woman loves to customize parts of the house. You might even say the place would be more cluttered with our things."
"I see."
Looking around the living room only had a tv with a small black shelf below and a bookshelf fulls of books. Most of them had no titles.
Connor recognized the scent of fresh stir-fried onion wafting in the air.
"What are you making?" he called out to Hank in the kitchen.
"Don't worry I'm not going to poison you. I'm making Cole's meal separately," Hank said.
After a while, Hank had finished with the meal.
"It's finished," he said before handing Connor his plate.
It was a stirfry. Connor glanced at it in satisfaction.
"Just in case you were feeling vegan," Hank said cheekily.
Tina picked up a piece of broccoli off the plate and slipped it in her mouth.
"Hey hands off. No stealing my food," Connor said.
She chuckled.
"It's just a small sample."
Connor rolled his eyes, his gaze drifting to the bookshelf.
"Even with all the latest programs you weren't programmed to taste it. Not even deviancy negates that."
"Do you think that's gonna stop me? We're programmed with the ability to sample anything we can get our hands on. I'm not going to stop just because Cyberlife wasn't smart enough to realise that would mean everything but the kitchen sink."
She placed the broccoli in her mouth.
"Green Broccoli, 25 percent edible, pathetically low calorie content, all fats are horribly absent, kids dislike it. The cooking makes it 25 percent more edible than in it's raw form. In conclusion that means it's more than likely terrible," Tina said.
Connor rolled his eyes as he continued to chow down on the food.
"Only kidding. I never thought you were a health nut though. Stiff and uptight, yes, a health nut and sassy, no."
Tina turned to Hank
"In all honesty though this looks really good," she said.
"You can't even taste it," Connor retorted.
"I don't have to. That's what the internet is for. All you do is research the kinds of foods humans enjoy. Humans tend to shy away from green vegetables and food lacking a high sugar and salt rate. The cooking is exquisite. I can measure the spice in every dish and calculating the combination of spices it's highly likely that the amount of pepper put in the dish would be a favorable amount for the average population of humans."
"Thanks I guess," Hank replied, his focus entirely present on cooking the meal.
"You never told me you were a good cook or I would have thrown a party at your house."
"He don't always cook that good. Don't catch him when Cole's there or you'll have to endure his painful ramen recipe," Connor said.
"We're not talking about that," Hank said.
"What's this ramen recipe that I'm hearing about?"
"It's nothing," He said shortly.
"It can't be nothing with the way the lieutenant was hyping it up. Come on it can't be as bad as my cooking. Reed couldn't even handle it when we were dating."
Hank tensed.
"What did you make? It couldn't have been that bad," Connor said. "Reed must have been very critical."
Hank snorted.
"You don't need to sugar coat it. Critical isn't the word for it. He's a jerk plain and simple," he said.
Tina frowned looking pensive.
"He wasn't always like that."
"Really I couldn't tell," Hank said.
"What did he describe your food."
"He said it was bland tasting and expressed preferences for something with more meat in it."
Connor snorted.
"You don't think he was asking for meat to compensate for his lack of dick," Hank asked.
"He was once a nice guy really," Tina said. "I mean he really liked my cats."
"If he loves animals, he must be good. Tina, I hate to break it to you but just because a man likes animals doesn't mean that he's good boyfriend material," Hank said. "He could have a ton of good qualities and that still wouldn't redeem him."
"Then what about-" Connor asked before cutting himself off, covering his mouth before he said something stupid. What was he just about to blurt out of his mouth? 'What about me?' Just because Cole seemed to think Hank was interested in him didn't mean that he was interested. Still the way their friendship developed, Connor was certain Hank had only warmed up to him upon seeing how he reacted to his dog.
'Still why can't I stop thinking about that?'
Connor hoped no one saw the red splotches on his upper cheeks.
'I shouldn't be thinking about him that way. The last time we saw each other he was more than twice my age.'
"What about what?" Hank asked curiously.
"Nothing," Connor replied briefly.
"You've been awfully quiet," he said. "Why don't you speak up? I can see why Reed walks all over you. You have no spine."
'How in the world can Cole think his android is infatuated with me?'
"Oh I didn't see you picking any fights," Connor said coolly. "I believe you were the one intending to leave me dangling from the roof."
"Awfully sorry you drama queen but in case it escaped your notice, someone had to save you from getting shot," Hank said icily.
"I could have saved myself. I didn't need your help."
"It didn't look that way from where I was standing."
"Stop it you two. We didn't come here to fight," Tina snapped.
"Sorry," Connor said glaring at Hank from over his shoulder.
Hank returned the glare with a cool stare.
"Sorry."
Around 10 minutes had passed before Cole dropped in. He glanced at Connor and Tina who were seated on the couch before catching Hank in the kitchen.
"Hey dad," Cole called out.
While that was happened Tina approached Connor with what was on her mind.
"Y'know I've been thinking about the situation at the precinct and I think it may be in our best interests to exchange phone numbers," Tina told him.
"Good idea, I agree" Connor whispered quietly taking out his cellphone. "What's your number?
"It's 313-966-119. It's also my model number in case your wondering."
"Do you need my number as well?"
"You're the only one who'd call with a cellphone."
"Reed wouldn't?"
Tina frowned.
"Nah, he hasn't talked to me ever since we've broke up."
"Hey Cole, I finished your dinner. It's in the fridge."
"Lieutenant, you mentioned earlier about Hank fixing a ramen recipe if Cole was there. Hank's a robot though, even if they look similar Hank's not his father yet he calls him that. The reason why he does everything, it's because of Cole isn't it?
"Yeah," he said.
'Unfortunately.' His mind supplied. Something about that bugged him but he couldn't put his finger on why.
"What's with the android?" Cole asked cutting through his thoughts.
"She's in a state of disrepair. I figured since you work on androids you wouldn't mind if I asked you for favor."
"What's the issue with her?" Cole asked as they stopped in the living room. He sat in front of Tina.
Hank followed him in the living room. Carefully Cole assessed her leg.
"Looks like a quick fix. I'll call Cyberlife and see about getting some parts to repair her leg."
The corners of Hank's lips curled into a smile as he glanced at Cole. Luckily Cole hadn't seen it but Connor did.
'He looks happy.'
It surprised him because even if he had seen Hank smile it never carried genuine happiness with it. The smile seemed plastered on his face but the way his cheeks lifted and the way his eyes crinkled, Connor could tell he really loved Cole.
The expression was only there for a brief moment almost as if Hank was stifling it. He looked like he had so much he wanted to say but all that left his lips was one word.
"Yeah," he said.
It was a truly Hank response. When he was alive, Hank rarely said 'thank you' for all the kindness Connor had showed him. Everytime Hank had said it, Connor hated every moment of it. After being treated coolly, he really wanted to hate the man but any kind of genuine acts from the old man made him believe that maybe Hank liked him and it made him angry.
No matter how much kindness he dished out in quest for his approval, Hank made him feel horrible. Yet every time he had wanted to leave, all Hank had to do was show him any sign of approval. Hank was right, he was truly spineless.
Still it didn't mean Hank was faultless. He was looking for approval just as much as Connor was.
Some thirty minutes later, someone knocked on the door. Hank answered it.
"Liz?"
"Cole mentioned he needed some spare parts so they asked me to drop by and deliver them."
Cole joined him taking the bundle from Liz's hands.
Hank was about to speak but nothing left his mouth.
Connor noticed his silence.
'Strange, how does he know her?'
Hank rejoined them as Cole began to repair her.
Occasionally Cole would glare at Connor periodically.
Connor couldn't make heads or tails from it.
"Good as new," Tina marveled as Cole finished the final touches. "You're really good at this."
Cole smiled.
"It's my job."
Tina stood up.
"Well thanks, I really appreciate it."
"You're welcome to come back any time. I'm sure dad wouldn't mind you dropping by every once and a while."
"I'll keep that in mind. I ought to be heading out. It's late. Listen Hank, Connor, I'll see you both tomorrow at work," Tina said before heading out.
"Be careful, alright," Hank said.
"Will do."
"Listen Cole, I'm going to go change. Think you could entertain our guest in the meantime."
"Sure," he said.
Once Cole was certain his father was gone, he spoke glaring at Connor.
"What did you do?" he asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb."
"I'm not. I thought you'd be happy. You were so worried that we got along so well."
Cole snorted.
"That's not what I mean. He's upset. You did something."
"I don't see why it's your concern. He's just a robot you made to replace your dad. You're not really concerned about him."
"How dare you?"
"You think getting angry with me is going to change anything? If you're so concerned why don't you ask him yourself?"
Cole was silent.
Connor had a feeling though he knew what he would have said but Cole's pride was preventing him from saying it.
He probably tried asking him out of necessity, maybe curiousity. There may have been genuine love when he asked the android if he was alright. Connor knew though that Hank would never tell him anything not because he didn't want to.
From his research it would be in Hank's best interests to tell Cole about any emotional concerns no matter how personal they were. Better to be alive without emotional turmoil than to die from high stress levels caused from repressed emotions.
It was clear though no matter how much self preservation Hank possessed, making Cole believe an illusion was preferable than seeing him a shattered mess.
Maybe that was what bothered him. For all he was, maybe a part of him really didn't like to see Hank suffer like this.
He was so much more than a replacement for a dead man.
Hank came back just as Cole stood up. He had a first aid kit held under his arm.
"I'm heading to bed," Cole said glaring at Connor briefly before glancing at his father. "Get some shuteye alright."
"Will do."
Once Cole had headed to his bedroom, Hank spoke.
"So what was that about?" he asked sitting down and opening the first aid kit next to him.
"What?" Connor feigned stupidity.
Hank removed his shoes.
"What are you doing?" Connor asked.
"You sprained your ankle, didn't you?"
Connor snorted.
"That obvious huh?"
Hank glared at him.
"I'm trying to fix it up, smartass. So let me do my job and shut up about it."
With that Connor closed his mouth where it had opened agape with surprise.
As Hank carefully bandaged his foot, Connor winced.
"So are you ever going to tell me about your little feud?"
"Feud?"
Hank tightened the bandage causing Connor to wince.
"You couldn't have missed the way he was glaring at you."
"Who?"
"Don't play dumb. Cole, who else?"
"It's nothing. Sometimes we just don't see eye to eye."
"You weren't trash talking him were you?"
"No, he was just worried about you."
"There's nothing to be worried about. I'm fine."
"Clearly not. You seemed to have alot on your mind. I guess Cole didn't want to program a censor to filter your thoughts."
Hank's eyes hardened.
"You're upset."
"For someone who had the nerve to call me spineless, do you really think you got room to talk."
Hank sighed.
"I assessed the probability of your survival. The RK-800 can simulate probable scenarios based on the situations surrounding them. You didn't have a high possibility of surviving."
"So you weren't even going to try to save me. You were just intending to leave me to die?"
"Of course not," Hank snapped. "No matter how tempting the prospect is sometimes, I would never do that."
Connor glared at him unimpressed.
Hank sighed.
"Intervening in any shape or form had lower odds of your survival. Out of the outcomes 75 percent chance of survival is still better than 50 percent. Reprogramming that android was the only outcome that would end in us both surviving. If I had saved you, I would have died trying to save your skin."
"It would have been better than-"
"Than what? Leaving you?" Hank asked.
"Yeah, all you seem to care about is saving your own skin. How do I know that you aren't trying to kill me to?"
"What are you even saying? You're acting like you're scared of me."
"Don't I have the right to be? With all this talk about rogue androids I was scared. Scared that you might have-"
"Killed you? A probability of 75 percent still leaves room for error. Do you really think I was looking out for my own survival? I never said that you had a 25 percent possibility of death," Hank said. "I never mentioned your name at all. Intervening in any capacity with you may have lowered my odds of survival true but it also raised the possibility of you dying."
"Likely story."
"What kind of person do you take me for?"
Bitterly Connor wondered if he should dwell on his anger or just stop and think.
It probably was better not to take out any personal attacks on him. He was an adult, he could think logically.
Why was Hank saying this?
'He's not a person, he's an android. Yet he sounds sad.'
In the past, Hank had trust. He looked relieved when Connor had come to him for help.
"Surely you can understand where I'm coming from. You don't just leave a person hanging on the roof."
Hank sighed. He sounded defeated.
"I suppose," he said before heading to bed. "Get some sleep alright. We have a big day tomorrow."
Only when Hank was gone did Connor take out his cellphone from his pant pocket.
He called Tina.
"Lieutenant?"
"Hey Tina."
"What's up? I didn't expect you to call me so soon."
"Sorry."
"You don't need to apologise. I'm glad you called, you know. So why did you call anyway?"
"You're an RK-800 android right?" Connor asked.
"Yeah, how did you know that? Besides the blue blood I didn't think it was that obvious."
"RK-800s are the only androids who are legally allowed to carry a firearm. It wasn't a far-fetched assumption to make."
"I can see why you're the brightest officer at the precinct even if you don't have the social skills that comes with it."
"During the confrontation on the roof, Anderson said something strange. When he tried to rescue me from the roof he said that if he intervened that the odds of his survival would be low."
"That doesn't sound strange, I did have you at gun point. Given his character it is logical that he would have tried to step in to save you."
Somehow Connor doubted it after this had happened but he wouldn't question it.
"That's not the strange part." He said. "He said intervening would also raise the possibility of me dying. I want to know what you think."
Tina was silent for a moment.
"Putting our situation through a simulation. Every situation had high odds of you dying ranging from less than 5 percent to 65 percent. if Anderson had intervened at the roof to fight me at close range it would have been an 85 percent chance of him dying. If he dies, your possibility of survival is less than 5 percent. If he had rescued you from the roof, there is a 90 percent chance he'd be dead, a 15 percent chance of survival on the off chance that you could outspeed me. His method of approach where he approached me from the back in every scenario had a 25 percent chance of failure. Your odds of survival however are higher than 90 percent."
"What? How?" Connor asked.
"If everything failed, Anderson could have disarmed me at the cost of his own life giving you plenty of time to escape."
"He lied."
Still deep down Connor knew that wasn't true. Hank never said Connor had a 75 percent chance of survival with his intervention. He just said it was preferable to 50 percent.
It was becoming clear the real reason why Anderson hadn't picked scenarios that ended in his death because if he was dead, Connor would definitely be a goner.
In conclusion, Connor felt like an idiot.
Tina chuckled.
"I guess he wanted to spare you from any guilt you might have felt with his death."
'How could he possibly know that? There's no way he knows me that well. We don't even know each other for crying out loud.'
Yet the sting from earlier said otherwise. The thought of Hank, no not Hank, the android dying for his sake when he could do so much more with his life did upset him.
'Cole', even me, we're both holding him down. How I could I have been so useless? He's been looking out for me all this time and all I have to show for it is my ungrateful behavior.'
"Thanks Tina."
"Don't mention it, Lieutenant. Feel free to call me anytime alright?"
"Alright, bye."
With that Connor hung up his phone.
Carefully he got up and walked outside Hank's door knocking softly.
"Anderson, are you in there?"
No one responded.
"Hank, come out please. I need to talk."
With that, Hank opened the door a crack. He looked coolly at Connor.
"What is it?"
Connor opened his mouth to speak but no words came out.
"Have a good night, Hank."
"Yeah, if that's all I'm heading back to bed. I need to recharge."
Hank closed the door.
"Thanks..."Connor said.
