"Acceptance"
When Markus arrived at the makeshift infirmary, his two technicians had already gotten to work repairing what they could in their patient's chest cavity. Josh and Simon were standing to the side, leaned against the opposite wall, watching the ordeal from a distance. The two of them looked up briefly when Markus entered, noting a grim and distressed look on his face past his determined facade. He joined his friends on the other side of the room, staying out of the way of the two technicians.
"How much time..?" He asked, not daring to look away from the table where Connor was lying.
"A little more now than before." Josh answered solemnly. "They've already repaired one main line and are working on replacing the second one. It should prevent him from bleeding out any time soon. That's all I've been able to gather so far. You'll have to ask Sami." Markus nodded for a moment.
"I'll let her focus on working for now. Even if the shutdown's been delayed, he's still in bad shape."
"He probably should have been dead by now." Simon remarked, "I've seen our brothers and sisters die from less."
"Did you find out what happened, Markus?" Josh asked, "The lieutenant, I mean...did he-"
"No." Markus interrupted, "It was nothing like that. A pair of suspects in a case got to him...Possibly tortured if Lieutenant Anderson's theory is correct."
"What do you mean?" Simon questioned.
"System overload." Josh answered before Markus had a chance. "He was suppressing it, but I noticed as I was carrying him here." He looked to Simon. "He's developed a sense of pain."
"You're kidding." Simon laughed bitterly, rubbing the back of his head with his palm. "I've hardly seen any deviants live long after that happens. Usually you just have to shut them down manually to spare them a painful death."
"We'll discuss it if it comes to that." Markus spoke again, before Simon's suggestions started to become a possibility. "He won't feel anything while offline, so let's just give Sami and Damion a chance to save him."
It was probably 10 minutes before Sami and Damion had stopped working long enough to give Markus some kind of report. The news was less than ideal.
"We've managed to repair the damage to one of his main lines." The female android spoke. "The other required some replacement wiring. It looks like repeated blunt force trauma to his torso and some kind of electrical shock caused the damage. A few biocomponents have some electrical burns on them. He'll also need some plasmetal plate replacements in his legs and chest, as well as some basic rewiring.."
"And his regulator?" Sami shook her head, "The damage is too extensive and the electrical interference has caused it to start burning out." She looked back to Damion, who was still repairing some minor circuitry. "He'll need a replacement, but I couldn't find a whole lot of compatible two are from the same series but it seems his regulator was created specifically for his model." She offered out her arm to Simon who took it, connecting cybernetically for a moment and sending over a list of compatible parts. "These parts may be slightly less efficient than the original, but they'll keep him alive for now." Understanding her request, Simon nodded and motioned to Josh to accompany him.
"We'll go look for one." Simon stated, standing from the wall and leaving the room, Josh trailing behind him. As they left, the human detective made his way into the room, his eyes darting between Markus and the android standing over his partner's opened chest. The look on his face was hard and indiscernible.
"Hank," Markus left Sami and joined Hank, supporting him by his shoulder when he stumbled a bit. He nodded to Sami who grabbed a chair and eased the detective into it. He looked like he may pass out at any moment, and his eyes looked red and bloodshot like he'd been crying. "What are you doing here?" He questioned, keeping a hand on his shoulder and leaving Sami to continue assisting Damion.
"I couldn't just leave him here…" Hank muttered, staring at Connor's unconscious body. "I couldn't tell how much time had passed, and I couldn't sit down there wondering if he was even still alive." The faint red glowing of Connor's L.E.D. brought him a slight bit of comfort.
"Sami and Damion have bought him a little bit more time." Markus stated, trying his best to console the human. "They can't repair his regulator so they sent Simon and Josh to find a compatible part."
"And if they can't?" Hank asked, staring coldly at the ground.
"We'll deal with it if it comes to that." Markus brushed over that question quickly, trying to keep those thoughts out of his own head. He quickly changed the subject. "Connor would be glad to know you're here. You can stay up here as long as you'd like."
"Yeah, alright." Hank muttered quietly, not taking his eyes off of the table where Sami and Damion were working. "Sometimes I forget he's not really human." Hank remarked to himself. "Then I see him all...opened up and shit and it's weirdly surreal. Like someone's just trying to fix some faulty wiring."
"I guess they are in a way." Markus chuckled a bit.
He sat with Hank for a while until he received a cybernetic message from Simon.
Markus, we haven't been able to locate any spare parts that are compatible and won't burn out. They're all for specialized models and must have been discontinued when Cyberlife went under. We'll keep looking, but I thought you should know just in case we have any alternatives.
Okay...I'll talk to Damion. Thanks, Simon.
Markus turned his attention to Damion and spoke to him in a hushed tone. Sami was already beginning to close up the plates in Connor's chest, retrieving a few bags of thirium and setting them to the side for a moment.
"Alright…" Damion responded, a bit louder so that Hank could hear him. "We were going to wake him up for a moment so he can replenish his blood volume, but if you think it'd be better…"
"No, you can wake him up." Markus spoke quietly. "His partner's in here and if there's nothing else we can do then he deserves to have a chance to talk to him for a few minutes."
"What do you mean 'nothing else you can do?'" Hank straightened up and stood from the chair, approaching the other androids. "What's going on?" Markus turned to Hank, sighing heavily.
"Connor's regulator is specialized for his model and the few compatible parts that we have in stock would burn out eventually under the strain of Connor's systems." Markus spoke in a low, strained voice. He kept his eyes trained on Hank's face. "Our people are still figuring out how to manufacture rare parts so I'll try to get our engineering team on it...but...there isn't a lot of time." Damion spoke up next.
"We're going to bring his systems back online for a moment to replenish his blood volume." The android spoke, with a look of pity in his eyes. This wasn't his first time having to do this with a family member and it never got any easier. "If you want to talk to him or if you have anything you want to say, you may want to do it now…"
"If I want to say goodbye you mean…" Hank muttered bitterly. "Just say that if that's what you mean." He looked down at Connor for a second and then back to the android. "Won't waking him up...hurt him? I mean if he might be feeling pain...then it would be better to just…" Sami chimed in again.
"He'll only be partially online. Just enough to be able to replenish his thirium. He won't be able to move much or see any diagnostics, but I've done this before with androids who have developed the ability to feel pain. He won't feel anything, I promise." Hank nodded and dragged the chair over to Connor's side. The blonde android handed Hank two bags of the blue blood.
"Give these to him when he comes to. He'll know what to do but may need some assistance. I can stay and help if you'd like."
"No...that's okay. I'd like to talk to him alone if that's possible." She nodded as the male technician left the room. Markus lingered for a moment as Sami put two fingers to Connor's L.E.D., blinking rapidly. She nodded at Markus and followed the dark haired technician out.
"I'll be just outside, Hank." Markus said, placing his hand on his shoulder. "Just shout if you need anything." And he was gone.
Hank waited a moment while his partner's systems rebooted. The lieutenant was already breathing a bit too quickly and tried to regain his composure, still clutching the bags in his hands.
Slowly, the android blinked awake, turning his head and trying to identify his surroundings, his brow furrowing when he realized he couldn't properly scan the area. He noticed the lieutenant sitting only inches away from him.
"Hank…" He spoke softly, his voice sounding tired and strained. "Where..?"
"The old Cyberlife tower." Hank answered quickly, trying to hide the trembling in his voice. "Markus and the others are just grabbing some extra parts before they keep...working on ya." He lied partially. He wasn't sure he could tell Connor the truth right now. Not while he was still trying to process it himself.
"Okay…" Connor replied, sensing uncertainty in his partner's voice.
"How're you feeling?" He asked, not feeling composed enough to look at Connor.
"I'm...weak." He responded, trying to move his arms around a bit more. "But I'm alright...I feel mostly normal." He looked down at the thirium pouches that Hank had in his grasp. "Are those for me?" He asked.
"Uhh yeah." Hank replied, looking down at the bags and offering them to the android. "I don't really know what to do with them." Connor tried to take one of them but couldn't quite grasp it tight enough. "Here, I got it." Hank muttered, standing from his chair. "Just tell me what to do."
"I need to ingest it, but I may require your help sitting up."
"You need to drink this?" Hank enunciated, hesitating for a moment. "The...uh, blood?"
"That's correct." Connor replied.
"That's fucking disgusting, you're kidding right?"
"I am not kidding. Please, Hank." He pleaded quietly, "I can't move very much."
"Alright, alright, I got it…" he murmured, carefully supporting Connor's shoulders with one arm and holding the opened pouch in the other, allowing him to drink without choking. He did the same with the second container and then carefully laid his partner back down when he was done. Connor took a deep breath in and then exhaled slowly, turning back to Hank who had already sat back down.
"Thanks." He responded, "Sorry if that made you uncomfortable."
"Nah if that's just...what you gotta do, it's fine." After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Connor spoke up again.
"Did you catch the other suspect?" He asked, just trying to make conversation. "The SQ800. He was gone before I woke up."
"Uhh...yeah. We caught him running across the shipyard before we found you. The other officers took him down for booking. We still need to get a confession out of him, but I figured that could wait until morning."
"His partner worked for our precinct…" Connor stated. "He was a PC200 model that was angry with the Detroit PD after being sent to one of the camps...He crippled himself to reactivate the SQ800, so he did all the heavy lifting."
"No shit…" Hank replied, laughing humorlessly. "No wonder he was so pissed off then...he was used by the department and then sent off to be killed." He paused and then looked back at Connor, "I need to know though, what the hell happened back there, before we got there? You looked like you'd been hit with a truck or something."
"The SQ800 had been involved in a Russian military conflict…" Connor spoke slowly, his L.E.D. cycling yellow for a moment. "He was convinced he could feel pain after being shot so many times...I thought he might be delusional or suffering from PTSD…" He hesitated for a moment. "So they beat me, hoping I'd start feeling something as well."
"And..?" Hank bit his lip nervously, wondering if Connor would come to the difficult conclusion himself.
"I...I thought maybe for a few minutes that…" He pushed away the idea and shook his head. "But it must have been something else. I feel fine now."
"Right…" Hank didn't really have the heart to tell the android that it wasn't just in his head. Or that it might be permanent.
Another few moments of awkward silence passed before Hank finally started again.
"Connor," He began, getting the android's attention. He turned his head slowly to face his friend. "You know, back when we started working together… I wasn't really all together, if you know what I mean. I had a lot going on and said a lot of shit to you that I didn't mean...Well, that's not...I meant it, it just wasn't true or fair to you. And I don't think I ever really apologized, and I'm just...I'm sorry, you know?"
"Hank, I know that…" Connor responded, a concerned but amused glance on his face. "You didn't have to tell me."
"I know, I know…" He trailed off. "It's just, you're one of the best detectives I've ever worked with during my career, and without a doubt the best partner I could have asked for...And I...I consider you my best friend…my...family," He faltered slightly towards the end, a break in his voice. He cleared his throat and looked down at his feet, wringing his hands slowly.
"Hank..?" Connor asked, his face hardening. "You're acting strange...What aren't you telling me..?" Hank stayed silent, staring daggers into the floor below him. His eyes were already stinging.
Not now, godammit. Pull yourself the fuck together and just hold out a little longer. Scotch and tears can wait till we get to the house.
"Hank." Connor spoke again, a bit more forceful this time.
"I...I'm sorry, son." He muttered, his voice wavering again.
"I…" Connor trailed off, looking back up at the ceiling, realization hitting him. "I'm not going to make it...am I?"
"Your...um." He cleared his throat again. "Your heart...It's not...It can't be fixed and the replacements are burning out…" His eyes were stinging again and he didn't dare look Connor in the eyes. "Markus and the other guys...they're looking for options but...They...they aren't sure if…"
"Hank.." Connor spoke up again, interrupting his partner's stammering. There was a sad and troubled smile on his face as he reached a weak arm for Hank's shoulder. "I understand...It's okay."
"I'm sorry...I shouldn't be getting so fucking torn up." He rubbed his eyes again and laughed bitterly. "I should be the one comforting you right now. Not the other way around." Connor laughed lightly as well, processing the detective's words slowly.
"Hank..?" Connor asked again, "Can you get Markus for me? I might be able to help?" Hank straightened up and stood from the chair.
"Oh, uh yeah hold on." He turned to face the door, calling out. "Hey! Markus!" Markus ran in seconds later, a look of worry and urgency in his eyes that faded for a moment after seeing Connor staring back at him. "He, uh..wants to talk to you."
"What is it, Connor?" Markus asked, "Is something wrong...is it-?"
"Level sub 36." Connor answered quickly. "One of the rooms on that floor. I was manufactured there. If there's any chance Cyberlife created replacement biocomponents, it would be there." Connor reached out a trembling arm to Markus, presumably to give him the exact location. But that wasn't what flashed into Markus's mind when they connected.
He saw images of the police lieutenant, lying on the kitchen floor, covered in vomit and alcohol. Broken bottles and puddles of whiskey were gathering around him. Another image of a revolver with only one bullet left, and a conversation in a snowy playground about russian roulette and suicide.
Markus let go of Connor's arm breathlessly as the images stopped flashing. He stood stunned for a moment, looking at Connor and then back to Hank. Then Connor sent a quick and simple message cybernetically, holding Markus's gaze.
Take care of him.
"R-right.." Markus stuttered for a moment, "S-sub 36. I'll get Simon and Josh." He stared at Connor whose eyes were uttering a silent plea. Markus looked back to him, regaining his composure and nodding to the other android. "I'll take care of it."
"Thank you." Connor whispered. He was already struggling to remain conscious any longer, his heart beating heavily and unsteady in his chest. It wouldn't be long before it stopped struggling completely and burnt out. In reality, Connor wasn't sure if there would really be a replacement in that room. He just needed reassurance that his friend wouldn't be alone if anything happened...That he wouldn't go home and drink himself to death or try to put a bullet in his head.
"So there's a chance?" Hank asked quickly, unsure if he should get his hopes up or not.
"Maybe." Markus nodded, already turning to leave. "I'll make sure we don't leave until we've turned the area upside down."
After Markus had left, Hank turned his attention back to Connor, who looked like he was struggling to stay awake.
"Hey, Connor." Hank asked, putting his hand on his partner's forearm and squeezing it lightly. "You alright there?"
"I'm fine, Hank." He stated, his voice full of weariness. "I just don't think I can stay awake that much longer. My systems were only partially online when I woke up so my programming is trying to force a reboot."
"Okay...just...try to stay awake until Markus gets back." Hank responded cautiously. "I'm right here beside you, kid." Connor nodded slowly, staring back at the ceiling, lost in thought. The fear of dying had eased slightly from a blind panic to a more harrowing acceptance.
He remembered last year in the old playground when an inebriated Hank had held a gun to his head and asked him if he was afraid to die, and what would happen to Connor after his death. At the time he'd answered yes, and admitted to the detective that there would be nothing left for a machine after being shut down. That strange sense of coming to terms with his own seemingly pointless and inevitable mortality. It had been surprising in the moment and he'd felt uncertain, questioning whether he truly was just a machine that would be replaced like nothing had happened. But facing death again, almost a year after the fact, felt different. Not quite peaceful or terrifying, but somewhere in between.
"Your birthday is next week, Lieutenant." Connor remarked suddenly, his eyesight beginning to blur slightly. He wasn't sure what made him think of that. It was more of a random fleeting thought that had passed through his head. "September 6th."
"Yeah...I guess it is." Hank replied, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand. "So much shit has happened the past few weeks, I guess it slipped my mind."
"When we get back," Connor said, his words starting to slur. "I'll have a drink with you on your birthday." Hank laughed a little too loudly.
"You?" he chuckled, "You're joking." Connor shook his head.
"Just one. And no guns this time. Deal?"
"Yeah, okay whatever you say kid." Hank laughed again. "Never thought I'd see the day. Connor smiled back at him, letting his eyelids fall again. He could faintly hear Hank calling out his name, but couldn't keep his systems online any longer. Maybe Markus would have some luck downstairs in the sub levels. Maybe he wouldn't and Connor wouldn't wake up again. But for just a moment, those worries faded into a cold darkness.
Markus, Josh and Simon stood silently as the elevator took them to the sub levels underneath the Cyberlife tower. Simon was glancing awkwardly between Markus and Josh, both of which seemed lost in thought. Markus had some unreadable glance on his face. Simon finally spoke up to kill the lull in the conversation.
"Level sub 36, right? Does Connor actually believe Cyberlife might have some spare parts for his model."
"I don't know.." Markus answered, "It may have been a ruse. He really just wanted to get a message to me in case we can't save him." The tone in his voice was strangely low and somber.
"But we'll search through it anyway." Josh stated, "At least we can say we did everything we could before he shut down." Simon nodded. The detective and lieutenant had been a huge part in rebuilding Detroit following the revolution. Most of the deviant androids that resided in the tower knew them or knew of them. This situation was difficult for everyone involved right now and everyone was working their hardest to keep the android alive.
When they arrived on the floor, Markus noted that there was only a single door at the end of the hallway.
"This must be the place." He stated. Approaching the door, Markus placed his hand on the panel to open it. The door beeped quietly and slid open, revealing a blue and white room with machines that looked like they were made for assembly purposes. Containers lined the wall with biometric scanner panels and there were several containers lying scattered on the floor.
"Alright…" Markus sighed, "Let's get started. Look for regulators as well as replacement leg supports. Let me know if you can't get into something and I'll try to override the admin privileges."
The three androids looked through the containers for at least 20 minutes before Josh called out to Markus.
"Help me with this, Markus." Markus approached him and found him standing over one of the larger containers that didn't have any kind of electronic lock attached to it. "We'll have to pry it open. Grab that stray piece of metal."
It took them a few moments to loosen the supports on the container enough to pry the top of the container open. Markus carefully pushed the lid off with the help of Josh and peered into the box at its contents.
"Oh…" was all he managed to get out. Lying still in the container was an unfinished RK800 model. It looked like it was stripped bare of white framing and supports, the circuitry and biocomponents showing clear in the android's chest. It was missing its limbs and was only recognizable by Connor's face. The only difference was a gunshot wound stained with thirium.
"Is he...alive..?" Simon asked, joining Markus and Josh. Markus stretched out his arm to the deactivated android and tried to see if he could reactivate him. After a moment of receiving his diagnostics, Markus stepped back and shook his head.
"No...he...was shut down beyond repair. It looks like Cyberlife may have tried to analyze him before the building was vacated...Shut down the last day of the revolution from what I can tell."
"Was he...a replacement or...the original Connor?" Josh asked with some uncertainty.
"Must have been a replacement if he shut down the day of the revolution...our Connor is a deviant. This one wouldn't have had the capacity to deviate so soon." Markus remarked. "I can't be sure what happened since we can't reactivate him. I can't see his memories."
"What about his thirium regulator?" Simon questioned, still shaken by what they had found. "Is it still usable?" Markus carefully removed the thirium regulator from the android and analyzed it.
"Yeah...It'll work."
"I wonder what happened to him…" said Josh, still staring at the gunshot wound. Markus put a hand on the shoulder of his friend.
"We can ask questions later. Let's focus on getting this upstairs first. Our Connor probably doesn't have long."
The three androids arrived to find both of their technicians standing over the injured android, and discussing some last resort plans among themselves. Markus was surprised to find that Hank was nowhere to be seen.
"Markus!" The female android called. "Hank said you went to look for another regulator, but we're almost out of time. His current one has already stopped completely. Did you..?" Markus brought the new regulator to Connor's body without looking at the other androids. His L.E.D. was violently flashing red in protest of the critical damage.
"I've got it. Take out the other one. We've got seconds." Damion quickly accessed the panels of Connor's chest, turning the old thirium regulator until it clicked out of place. It was still glowing a dim red as the android tossed it aside. Within seconds, Markus had placed the new regulator into the open space and waited anxiously for the lights to glow blue.
"Shit.." He heard Damion swear under his breath. "I really thought that was it... You got here just in time." Markus was still watching the unconscious android, monitoring his condition through his L.E.D. and placing his fingers to it before sighing in relief.
"His systems are no longer threatening to shut down." Markus stated, "You can start working on his legs and other lines later. He'll need some time to recover and properly let his thirium power his other biocomponents." He stopped for a moment and looked around the room again before turning to the technicians. "Where's Lieutenant Anderson?"
"He...just stormed off when Connor's systems started to crash.