Despite his reluctance to leave Connor behind at the hospital Hank knew he needed to focus on solving the case as it was the best possible way to aid his downed partner and potentially save his life. With Markus at his side in the vehicle as his lone passenger and honorary consultant on the case Hank returned to the precinct and parked the Oldsmobile in his assigned parking space in the neighboring parking garage to resume the investigation. Before turning off the engine Hank turned to look at Markus sitting beside him and gave him a wary glance that spoke volumes as the concern came from the very pit of his heart where his deeply seeded paternal instincts still reside.

"Don't you do anything, go anywhere, or intentionally contact any deviant that could potentially make you sick." The caution was firm but not aggressive as he laid out a few ground rules for Markus to follow. "You need to follow my lead and never do anything reckless that could risk your own life. Got it?"

"Yes, Lieutenant."

"Call me 'Hank'." The gruff senior detective insisted as he turned off the engine and pocketed the key. "Now, let's see if we can work together and figure out what the hell is going on with this city."

"I'll remain in cybernetic contact with Simon at New Jericho Tower." Following after Hank as the determined Lieutenant opened his door Markus made sure to keep communication clear and mutual for all of the parties involved. "He's been monitoring the condition of the deviants down and in our care at the sanctuary. North and Josh are working to isolate any possible software flaw or malware that could be causing this bizarre error to happen. All we know for certain is this condition is targeting biocomponents and not software or hardware."

"Good. The more eyes we have looking over the case the more likely we are to finally find a lead."

"The affected deviants had been chronicled at New Jericho Tower so I should be able to compare the downed deviants at the tower to the chronicled deviants that the precinct has identified."

"Make a large list of the deviants on record," Hank stated as he and Markus walked side by side to enter the precinct together and finally make their way into the bullpen to resume the investigation. "get as many details as possible and then start connecting the common details together. There has to be at least one patch of common ground for us to stand on."

"Right. If we can narrow the list down by a single common occurrence between all the victims we might be able to finally figure out what the hell is happening to the deviants in this city."

"Try not to worry, son." The inflection of Hank's voice was impressively calm and collected as he approached the receptionist area and confirmed that he needed a temporary clearance badge for Markus to wear while working with Hank during Connor's absence. "It's hard but try to remain focused entirely on the case at hand and not on our friends being sick. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

"Okay." Clipping the reflective badge with all of Markus's information to the deviant leader's chest Hank gave him a quick reassuring pat to the shoulder. "Let's get working and see how far we get before some other stupid shit gets in the way."

Pausing beside Connor's desk Markus saw that the Thirium puddle that had been left on the floor had been properly mopped up after he had left, but it didn't remove the image of seeing Connor's blue blood sitting on the floor from Markus's mind. With a slow right hand Markus pulled back Connor's chair to sit down while Hank did the same from his own side of the desk.

"Go ahead and turn on Connor's terminal screen." Hank instructed as he turned on his own screen. "His work should still be there since he didn't have the chance to properly log off."

Reaching his right hand to the top of the monitor Markus turned on the terminal screen and glanced over the details that Connor had managed to collect before he had become ill and collapsed. The details were impressive enough even without actually being completed, and with the details on display Markus was able to easily add the records from New Jericho Tower to create a massive list of sick deviants to be analyzed by keen eyes.

"Hank, there's now a total of forty-six affected deviants between New Jericho and what cases have been reported to the precinct." Closing his mismatched eyes Markus received a secondary update from deviant allies at the surrounding facilities regarding other downed deviants. "...Damn. There's even more at the facilities all throughout the city. We're up to one-hundred and four victims in total."

"Holy shit. How fast is this 'error' thing spreading?"

"Very fast. I'm not sure what's causing it just yet, but I might be able to begin piecing together the puzzle just enough to figure out what's happening."

"Do what you gotta' do, Markus. Let me know what I can do to help you out, too."

Back at the hospital Abby continued to monitor Connor's condition and recorded his every vital sign very carefully. The provided Thirium that had been given to him through the lines began to slowly bleed through the corners of Connor's mouth, his nose, mouth and ears again as the strange error continued to plague his systems, and cause one biocomponent to fail right after the other. Carefully Abby wiped away the excess blood from Connor's face while Winona proceeded to hang two more bags of Thirium in place of the now empty ones, but slowed the flow to ensure Connor didn't begin to bleed again.

"This is ridiculous." Tossing the blue blood soaked bandages into the nearby waste bin Abby sighed and pressed the back of her right hand to the left side of Connor's neck again to check his current core temperature. "Shit, he's burning up." Glancing at the monitor still recording Connor's vital signs Abby saw that within the hour Connor's core temperature reached one-hundred and three degrees even. "If he breaks one-hundred and four he's going in the ice slush bath without question."

"I'll add more ice packs."

"And put as much spare Thirium as possible on ice to help the thermal regulator keep every deviant's core temperature lower." Sighing loudly Abby pulled her phone from her pocket and saw a dozen text messages from the neighboring facilities keeping her update on the crisis at hand. Another text popped in informed her that another emergency patient was on their way in. "...Shit. We gotta' another."

Winona nodded as she made notes in Connor's electronic chart before following Abby out of the room. "I'll take care of the ice and meet you downstairs."

"Right. I hope you're ready to work overtime, Winona. This is going to be one long-ass day."

Working diligently and with surprising speed Markus had managed to compose an accurate detailed list regarding every affected deviant who had been downed by the error, and with the list completed he proceeded to locate common traits among those who had been stricken by the error in question. Despite Markus's speed and accuracy it seemed as though the precinct's best chance for a lead had fallen flat on its face once again, and a new lead was sorely needed if they were going to make any additional progress.

"Shit," the deviant leader lamented with a dour tone. "there isn't a single piece of common ground amongst the victims."

From behind his terminal screen Hank gave Markus a truly perplexed look and leaned forward atop his desk. "You've got to be kidding me."

"I wish I was."

"There's nothing that links all the deviants together?"

"No, nothing. There isn't a single common model number, gender aesthetic, software purpose, programming or update that connects the victims."

"There has to be something there." Standing up from his desk Hank walked over to where Markus was sitting and gave the deviant leader a worried glance as he tried to think of an alternate path to take. "This isn't just some passing bug taking down androids like a flu outbreak would do to a human."

The comment had a resonating echo in Markus's mind as he contemplated what Hank had just stated. "...Maybe it is."

"What? How?"

"Maybe the reason we can't find a single link between all the affected deviants isn't because the error is being caused by an internal flaw, but an external one."

"You think there's a 'ground zero' for this thing? Like we got a diseased area in the city, or the android equivalent to a 'Typhoid Mary' who is unknowingly affecting deviants by passing them by?"

"Yeah, something like that." Giving Hank a somewhat confident glance as he could feel it deep down in his heart that they may finally have the right lead to follow. The idea seemed farfetched for humans but entirely plausible for deviants. "The error can't be traced down to a single software glitch, bug or virus; no one has accidentally ingested tainted Thirium and no one has been directly assaulted. But," explaining his reasoning further Markus sent a cybernetic link to Simon back at New Jericho Tower to keep the technician in the loop as he spoke. "if there is some type of external contaminant or even stimuli that can affect android processors through contact then it's entirely possible that deviants can be stricken by a type of epidemic or plague."

Dragging his right hand over his bearded chin Hank contemplated the theory and let out a weary sigh. "Alright, so let's go ahead and assume that there is something or someone out there making the deviants sick and is the direct result of this weird error; how do we find the location or the person responsible?"

Taking the moment to ponder the notion Markus's mismatched eyes lit up quickly with a sense of eureka. "We need to trace the steps of the very first affected deviant. If we can follow their routine before they collapsed then we'll figure out where this whole mess started."

"Sounds good. Where's the first victim located?"

Markus closed his mismatched eyes and asked for Simon to locate patient zero on his behalf. "She's back at the hospital where Connor has been admitted."

"Perfect." The senior detective was eager to continue their work and rose from his desk to head out to the hospital once again. "We can check in on her and stop to check in on Connor at the same time."

Exhausted and ready to go on a ten minute break Abby forced herself to walk back to the critical care unit to check in on Connor one last time before she sat down and sipped at her much needed coffee. Stepping through the sliding door to the room Abby approached the bed and gently put her right palm down over Connor's forehead lightly, pushing aside the partially melted ice pack as she placed her hand down, and glanced at the monitor to confirm that Connor's core temperature had risen yet again.

"Shit, he's about to hit one-hundred and four." Pressing the call button on the wall just beside the bed Abby requested that Winona come and join her in the room to assist with Connor. "Hang in there, Connor." Lightly she lifted up Connor's eyelids to check his glassy pupils once more and sighed. "I know you're still in there, just hold on and we'll get you fixed up."

As Winona entered the room with a fresh bundle of ice picks and semi-frozen Thirium pouches in her arms the monitors recording Connor's vital signs began to screech and Connor himself began to seize again.

"Damn it!" Abby pressed her left forearm down over Connor's chest to hold him down on the bed while using her right hand to pull a leather safety restraint over the deviant's chest and his abdomen while Winona pulled the restraints over Connor's legs to keep the seizing deviant as stable as possible. "His processors are overwhelmed." Taking a second glance at the monitor Abby noted the ill deviant's current core temperature and made a new plan of action to keep Connor alive. "Shit, he's up to one-hundred and four and half! We need to put him in the ice bath, NOW."

Thirium began to ooze from Connor's mouth, nose, ears and eyes as the replenished Thirium began bleed out of his body causing his Thirium pressure to drop steadily once more.

Working together Abby and Winona unhooked the ventilator from the tube snaked down Connor's throat and attached a manual pump before they began wheeling the bed from the room down the corridor, and into the large room at the end of the corridor containing large metal tubs designed specifically for cooling down overheating androids. The doors slid open and the two technicians positioned the rolling bed beside the nearest vacant tub where they proceeded to manually breathe for Connor to keep his core as cool as possible, and manually deactivated Connor's overwhelmed processor one function at a time to stop the seizing just long enough to lift the sick deviant from the rolling bed, and lower him down into the empty metal tub.

The tubs were flat, stainless steel, three feet elevated up from the ground, about two feet deep, five feet across and seven feet long. The head of the tub was slightly elevated to ensure the patients laying in the tub would be spared from accidentally inhaling or choking on icy cold water.

"He's as stable as he's going to get." Abby announced as Connor stopped seizing long enough to be moved, and pulled the small processor stabilizer from his right temple. Removing the restraints one by one Abby put her hands under Connor's arms and around his chest to lift him up from the bed while Winona grabbed onto Connor's legs just under his knees. "On three... One, two, three!"

Fortunately the deviant's lightweight design made it fairly easy to lift him up and place him down despite being unconscious and dead weight. As Connor was placed down in the tub on his back, his head propped up just enough to ensure his airway was clear, Winona used the pump to force fresh cool breaths into Connor's overheating artificial lungs. With Connor stable and in position Abby opened the nearby massive freezers to begin adding ice and water to the tub over Connor's body.

"Remove the scrub top and leave the pants." Abby instructed as she opened up a large bag of ice to be poured over Connor's overheating body. "It can help him cool off."

Winona awkwardly pulled the pale blue colored scrub top, one that had been marred by Thirium and stained dark blue around the collar, up and away from Connor's arms, and then pulled it over his head without tearing the manual pump out from his mouth in the process. As the layer was removed from Connor's top half the deviant looked all the more weak and helpless. His artificial skin was still missing entirely around his left arm, up to his shoulder and mid way across his chest. The exposed white plastimetal frame made Connor's condition appear all the more bleak.

"I always hate doing this." Abby lamented as she placed shredded ice and ice cubes all over Connor's body until there was an even layer over his chest and all the way down to his toes. The ice was quickly melting from Connor's overheating body but as Abby added more ice and turned on the internal faucet of the tub down near the foot of the tub to fill the metal basin in fresh water the coolness of the water kept the ice from melting too quickly. "Deviants hate the cold more than humans do."

Winona nodded as she wheeled a portable Thirial activity monitor over to the tub and synchronized the wireless sensor still on Connor's chest to the new monitor to check his vitals again. "His core temperature is dropping back down to one-hundred and four degrees even."

"What's sad is that high number is an improvement." Pressing her left fingertips to Connor's red and rapidly pulsing L.E.D. and placing her right palm down on the center of Connor's chest Abby manually deactivated the deviant's remained paled artificial skin from over Connor's chest and upper abdomen to help his core cool down even further. The lack of artificial skin seemed wrong but it was the only way to help him cool off quicker. "Okay, let's monitor him closely for the next hour. If his temperature doesn't come down to one-hundred and three point five within the hour we'll add more ice and start a direct line of partially frozen Thirium."

"Right, Dr. Grayson."

Lightly Abby ran her left fingers through Connor's slightly dampened hair and stared at his pale face as Winona detached the pump from the tube and decided to let Connor breathe on his own. "Winona I'm going to go check on the other patients to make sure no one else is getting as bad as Connor. Stay here and keep an eye on him, contact me immediately if his temperature begins to rise again."

"I'll stay right here with him and keep the ice steady." Turning off the cool water once it rose high enough to completely submerge Connor's arms, legs and partially up his abdomen Winona set about rechecking Connor's vitals and updating his electronic chart. "I get the feeling you're going to be needed back out in the critical care unit soon, so I'll watch over him until he cools down."

"Thanks, Winona. I'll be back as soon as I can."

It didn't take long for Markus to hone in on the deviant who had been the first victim of the unknown error as she too was placed in the critical care unit where she could receive proper treatment. The deviant of interest, a 'WP-400' who had begun working as an art teacher in a private high school, had been the first one affected by the error two days prior. She had all the same symptoms as the other deviants and by all account she was patient zero for the mysterious error steadily taking down the deviants throughout the city.

"Do you know her?" Hank asked as he and Markus were shown to the room by a volunteering nurse who was helping to take care of the overflow of the deviant patients in the hospital. The affected deviant was being monitored as well, and she had a ventilator fighting to keep her cool as well. "I don't think I've ever seen her before."

"She was a part of the Revolution, but aside from that I haven't personally interacted with her." Approaching the bed Markus gave the affected deviant a somber smile as he gently picked up her left hand and retracted his artificial skin to connect his mind to her own.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Shouting in protest to stop the interaction Hank reminded Markus of a very serious potential outcome to be wary of. "How do you know connecting your mind to her mind won't infect you, too?"

"...I don't."

"Markus, no. It's too risky."

"We don't have another choice, Hank. Unless we get some answers from this deviant then we can't proceed."

"...There has to be another way."

"Unfortunately, there is not. I have to do this." Keeping his hand wrapped around the unconscious deviant's hand Markus proceeded with the cybernetic connection. As the two deviants connected their minds Markus accessed her memories and trailed her actions back to her school where she had been teaching her final class of the day when an unknown error message had been briefly detected by her system, then automatically dismissed. "...Hank." Gently Markus put her hand back down and patted the back of her hand in a comforting manner. "Her name is 'Camilla' and she had become infected while she was still teaching her class."

"Which school does she work at?"

"The private school near Belle Isle."

Hank's brow arched a little as he dragged his right hand over his bearded chin again. "...And near New Jericho Tower."

"Yeah. That's right."

"Shit. Go ahead and let New Jericho know we may have found our ground zero and to be very careful of anyone lurking near the tower's drive."

"I'm already on it. Josh is going to keep the tower on lockdown and North is going to meet us here with an updated file on the affected deviants for the hospital staff to use."

"Good idea. Until then," taking a step back outside of the room Hank glanced at another room in the critical care unit just down the corridor and sighed. "let's go check in on Connor."

Following after Hank down the corridor Markus recognized Abby as a trusted technician and was surprised when she went out of her way to stop Hank before he entered the room where the senior detective had last seen Connor. Sensing that something was amiss Markus stood at Hank's side as Abby gave him an update on Connor's current condition. Hearing that Connor had been given emergency thermal treatment via an ice bath Markus became worried that his friend wasn't going to survive the mysterious error.

It took Hank a moment to reply as his posture slumped at the news, and he leaned toward Abby as he lowered his voice. "...Can we see him?"

"Yeah, for a moment." Escorting Hank and Markus to where Connor was currently located Abby allowed the sick deviant to have visitors. "He's just down the hall. He's still unconscious and looks rough, but he's stable."

The door slid open and revealed the odd room where the ill deviant was resting and being watched over by Winona.

"Ah, kid..." Hank stood beside the metal tub and lightly put his right hand on Connor's icy left shoulder with a sympathetic gesture. The sight of Connor so pale, so weak and covered under smears of his own blue blood made Hank feel sick to his stomach. "Don't worry, Connor. We found a lead and we're working on it right now. Markus is here and he's the one who found the lead, so with his help I know we'll figure this thing out."

Markus all but dared himself to stand beside the tub as he too looked at his dangerously sick friend's face.

"You're going to be okay, son. Between Markus and myself continuing the investigation, and Abby watching over you, it guarantees you'll make a full recovery sooner than you realize."

Connor remained entirely motionless save for his weak breaths causing his chest to just barely rise and fall in the slushy cold water.

"We'll be back as soon as we figure out what the hell's going on, and we'll find out how to wake you up." As he patted Connor's shoulder lightly Hank noticed a faint trickle of Thirium oozing from the corner of Connor's mouth and he instinctively used his thumb to wipe it away. Most humans were still repulsed by the sight of blue blood but Hank didn't care what color the blood was, all he did care about was keeping people safe, alive and healthy. "Just hold for a few more hours and then everything will be fine. I promise."

Not wanting to leave without saying anything to his friend Markus found his voice and addressed Connor in a low tone. "Your records at the precinct helped immensely, Connor. I managed to narrow down the cause of this error and I know that thanks to your research we'll find out what's happening to our people. Rest well, my friend. I swear we'll be back soon."

Abby smoothed out the melting ice flakes over Connor's chest and down his abdomen to ensure he remained cool as she gave Hank and Markus a worried yet impressively cool glance. "Be very, VERY careful. I suspect Connor's prototyping made him far more susceptible to this error, and I don't want you to get too close to this problem, Markus."

"We'll be careful." Markus stated fearlessly as he gave the skilled technician a confident nod of his head. "As soon as we have an answer we'll report back to you and spread word to New Jericho Tower."

Pulling his hand from Connor's shoulder Hank took a step back and silently motioned for Markus to follow after him. "We'll figure this out, Connor. Be cooperative with the technicians and everything will be fine."

Following after Hank at his own steady pace Markus accompanied the senior detective back out of the hospital and to the car to drive off to the school where the first deviant victim had been found. Opening the passenger side door Markus sat down in the front seat and watched as Hank opened up the driver's side door and sat down heavily behind the wheel.

"As soon as we find the source of the error we'll know how to correct it and we'll be able to save the deviant victims."

"Yeah, I know." Fishing the car key from his pocket Hank put it in the ignition and turned the key quickly causing the engine to roar to life. "I just hate waiting and playing 'beat the clock'. Especially when my best friend's life is on the line."

"I can understand that kind of stress."

"Markus, I gotta' ask you something." As the car pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street Hank powered on his G.P.S. and motioned for the deviant to upload the correct address of the school to search. "Abby said you need to be careful when she was talking about Connor's condition deteriorating. Why?"

"Because I too am a prototype." Pressing his right index finger to the screen of the G.P.S. mounted on the car's dashboard Markus cybernetically uploaded the coordinates and slumped back in his seat. "I'm the only 'RK-200' model in existence, just as Connor is the only 'RK-800' model."

"Shit."

"What?"

"...I wish I had known that before I let you connect to 'patient zero' back at the hospital."

"I'm fine, Hank. And it was worth it now that we know where to go and where to search."

"Yeah, I guess. But I still don't like that you risked your life for an answer." Shrugging his shoulders a little Hank sighed and turned at the next block. "I guess that bullheadedness is another trait you and Connor have in common."

"To be fair I didn't know that prototyping could potentially increase my risk of suffering from the same error that has taken down Connor, but I wouldn't have let the opportunity to connect with the deviant go either way."

"Yeah, you and Connor do have a quite a bit in common personality wise. No wonder it was you two who succeeded with the Revolution."

"Well, there was more than just us involved with the success. North kept everyone strong and in line, and gave me the benefit of the doubt when it came to being a leader. Without her help and her strength without her there holding my hand and pushing me forward I don't think I could've gone through with it."

"Behind every successful man is a strong woman... It seems that old adage still holds water."

Smirking a little at the compliment Markus took the time to send out a cybernetic update to New Jericho Tower to inform Simon, North and Josh of their current progress, and Markus was met with additional information to share with Hank and keep the case moving forward as smoothly as possible. "According to Simon all of the affected deviants at New Jericho Tower have remained stable, though weak. No one has shutdown from becoming sick for this error."

"Well that's some good news I can get behind." Glancing at the map on the G.P.S.'s display Hank noted they were only two blocks away and on the nicer, wealthier side of the city. The houses were all towering, perfectly tended to, each property was immaculately groomed and each driveway had the newest model of vehicle that had been polished to a shiny luster. "Man, just driving through this area makes me feel like I'm trespassing, and I'm a cop!"

"...Carl lives near here." Markus replied in a low voice as the car drove past a large, two story brick house that had a massive glass encompassed exterior room that was used as an art studio. Seeing the familiar house made Markus's mismatched eyes well-up with emotional tears of joy and sadness. "The neighborhood hasn't changed much since the Revolution."

"Carl?" Asking about the person out a sheer curiosity Hank noted Markus's emotional reaction and studied his demeanor closely. "Is he a friend?"

"Yes. I was the personal caretaker, friend and an adopted son to Carl Manfred."

"Wait... The famous painter?"

"That's him."

"Damn. I saw some of his work up close and personal at Kamski's place when me and Connor went to talk to him while we were still investigating the deviant cases. He's pretty good. Not necessarily my taste, but, you know, his work doesn't look like shit."

Laughing at the oddly gruff compliment Markus nodded a little and turned his full attention to the front black irons gates that locked up the main drive to the private school where their investigation would need to continue on. "I'm sure Carl would appreciate hearing that, but until then..."

"Yeah, I know. Let's get clearance into the school and find out exactly what caused patient zero to collapse."

New Jericho Tower was as exhausted as it was tense. Simon was standing outside the emergency repair bay with his head bowed down with frustration and his right index finger and thumb squeezing the bridge of his nose in exhaustion. Deviants weren't immune to headaches and it seemed as though the blond technician had worked himself to the brink of collapse while helping his people in their hour of need. As he stood outside the closed door to the repair bay Josh approached his dear friend and lightly put his right hand on Simon's left shoulder in a comforting manner.

"...Hey?"

Lowering his hand slowly Simon locked his bright blue eyes onto Josh's chocolate brown eyes and offered him a weary but sincere smile. "Hey."

"You should go lay down and get some rest, Simon." The kind deviant encouraged his dearest friend to take a moment for himself. "I don't want to see you work yourself into the ground."

"I'm fine."

"Sure you are. Is that why you're out here and fighting the urge to sit down on the floor, or pass out and sleep?"

"I didn't say I wasn't tired."

Smirking at the comment Josh shook Simon's shoulder and tried to pull him away from the door to rest in his private quarters. "Come on. Go lay down for at least an hour and I'll keep an eye on the repair bay for you."

"Josh, I can make it-"

"No. Go lay down. If you won't listen to me then I'll ask North to intervene."

"Alright, alright..." Not wanting to deal with North's spitfire attitude anymore than necessary Simon quickly relented. "I'll go."

"Thank you. It's not selfish to take a moment to rest after you spent the past forty-eight hours taking care of an entire repair bay full of sick patients."

"Yeah, I know."

Giving Simon's hand a gentle squeeze Josh watched as Simon walked away very slowly and approached the elevator to head up to his private quarters. As soon as Simon was out of sight Josh opened the door to the repair bay to watch over the weak, sick and unconscious deviants under the lone technician's care. Hovering near the center of the room Josh sighed and ran a scan over the dozens of sick deviants and felt his heart ache sympathetically.

"Markus is working on finding the source of this error or glitch, or whatever it is that's causing this problem." Glancing about the occupied exam tables as if expecting at least one of the deviants to awaken, sit upright or acknowledge Josh's presence in any way, the kind deviant's heart went out to them. "Have faith in our leader and our friend, he won't let us down."

Despite the head of the school insisting that the police couldn't possibly find any source of criminal activity on his school's grounds he gave Hank and Markus security clearance to investigate the art classroom where Camilla, patient zero, had initially been infected with the lethal error. The classroom itself was impressive in both size and supplies, and had been left a mess thanks to Camilla's sudden illness preventing her from properly cleaning up the classroom after her classes were dismissed for the afternoon two days prior.

The smell of oil based paints, fresh clay, brand new canvases, chalk and charcoal filled the air as the various art projects that had been worked on throughout the semester laid strewn about the countertops, shelves and walls of the entire room. Small spots of multicolored paint in possibly a thousand different colors stained the floor around the tables, and bits of dried clay that had flaked off the current projects speckled the ground; half of which had been ground into the tiles under student footsteps since the school had opened.

"Man, this brings back memories..." Hank stated as he picked up a rogue paintbrush and ran his right index fingertip over the soft hairs of the brush. "I wasn't the most artistic student, but I appreciated being able to work with my hands and not be expected to memorize a damn textbook all day long."

"Carl would be proud of this classroom." Glancing about the various projects with an intrigued glance Markus could see a lot of passion and pride put into the works of art that went far beyond just trying to get a good grade. The creativity and energy reminded the deviant leader so much of Carl's earlier work, and in turn it brought him a sense of calmness. "The unique styles and personality is really evident in each piece."

"Think that comes from natural talent. or from a really good teacher?"

"Gifted artists are born with talent in their hands and passion in their hearts, well trained students are born with talent in their hearts and passion in their hands."

"Is that Shakespeare?"

"No. It's just something I've observed from my time with Carl."

"Yeah, well, cool. For now," placing the paintbrush back down on the easel where he had first picked it up Hank motioned to Camilla's desk and made his way over to resume his investigation. "we need to continued on our case. Can you see anything that I can't?"

"Maybe." Approaching Camilla's desk Markus gave the space a quick glance and noted that everything seemed to be in its proper place; her laptop was in the center of the desk, a framed photograph in the top left corner showing Camilla standing with her students from the previous year as her class had been recognized by the local news for their talent, a simple white coffee mug in the top right corner that had traces of Thirium from Camilla's weekly replenishment, the top center of the desk had a large rectangular wooden block that had various paintbrushes of lengths, styles and material on display for teaching purposes, and there was an electronic table resting on the left side of the tablet that had the class roster registered for proper grading. "...Everything appears to be normal."

"'Appears', huh?" Picking up on Markus's suspicion Hank pressed the deviant acting as his consultant for a few more answers. "What's bothering you?"

"There's just something... off. It's hard to explain."

"What's 'off'?"

"The desk." Hovering his hands over the desk as he stood beside it Markus's mismatched eyes scanned over the surface again and took a mental inventory of the items on display as he tried to put his finger on the odd feeling that was nagging at him. It was like he was looking at an unfinished puzzle and just needed to turn the final piece the right way to complete the picture. "There's something about the desk that's off."

Thoroughly intrigued Hank walked over to the desk and crossed his arms over his chest as he gave the desk a glance over himself. "Let's see... Laptop, mug, tablet, photograph and paintbrushes. Seems like a typical art teacher's desk to me."

"Maybe for a human teacher, but not for an android."

"Alright, I'm listening."

Markus sighed a little and pointed at the tablet beside the laptop as if it were the missing clue to the mystery. "The tablet is being used to record grades."

"...Riiiiight? What about it?"

"Androids don't need a tablet to keep track of such grades. This would be used for official school records only, and as such it wouldn't be actively on her desk at all times for anyone to touch."

"Yeah, I see what you're getting at. She would keep the grades safe inside her own head and record the final grades at the end of the semester to ensure the students don't tamper with anything." Nodding with contemplation a sense of discovery caused Hank's eyes to light up for a moment. Checking the drawers of the desk Hank confirmed they were all locked. "The tablet was left out because the drawers couldn't be opened up. So why was Camilla using it anyway?"

"Exactly." Making a move to pick up the tablet Markus had every intention of checking out the tablet's information and going from there. "And even so a teacher would keep the tablet locked up at all times, not on top of the desk where anyone could grab it."

"Hold it." Grabbing onto Markus's right wrist with his left hand Hank kept Markus from picking it up as Markus's fingertips brushed over the glass surface. Giving the deviant leader a paternally stern stare Hank made sure Markus knew he was being serious. "If that's the source of the error then I don't want you to get infected, too."

Backing off Markus watched as Hank let his arm go and pick up the tablet for himself. Using a piece of paper towel from the nearby cabinet to keep his fingerprints off the tablet's casing Hank carefully picked it up by the sides and swiped his finger over the surface of the tablet. There was a simple display on the home screen and there were two apps: one for grades and one for addressing school administration.

"...I have no idea what I should be looking for."

"Try looking-" Markus suddenly stopped and his brow knit with confusion. Taking a shaking step backward Markus's mismatched eyes suddenly went wide and he gave Hank a worried stare. A strange pressure filled his head and then seemed to focus down in the pit of his artificial stomach just as a strange warmth flushed over his entire body. "I don't... f-feel right."

As Hank's blue eyes trailed suspiciously up to Markus's face he saw a smear of blue blood dripping from Markus's nose. "...Oh, shit."

-next chapter-