They were twin sized. It was the cheapest motel Hank had ever encountered (and that says a lot) but he could not believe his eyes when they walked in.

The room was the size of a closet and the two beds were twin sized. And even that description seemed generous.

"At least there's a night stand between 'em," Reed muttered. "I call the bed by the door."

"Fuck off, I'm sleeping by the door you little sneak."

"Lieut- Hank," Connor started. "Perhaps this would be a good time to-"

"What's there to sneak to? The snow?!" Reed said.

"You could take the car-"

"You've got the keys!" Reed sat on the bed by the door with his arms crossed.

"Well, how do I know you aren't gearing up to call the calvary?" Hank said.

"You took my damn phone yourself!"

"How do I know-"

"Hank," Connor said. "He should go back anyway. As soon as the sun is up-"

Reed stood, glaring at them both. "What, call a cab? As if I can get one to drive towards Detroit?"

"Then you can hole up here," Hank said. "But tomorrow me and Connor are continuing on to Canada. Without you."

"The fuck you are-"

"Reed," Connor said.

Reed flinched.

Connor's LED briefly blinked yellow and there was an awkward pause.

"Reed," he tried again. "What do you want?"

Reed licked his lips, glancing at Connor, then at his feet. "Well, like I said... I just wanted to see you, uh, get out of Detroit."

Connor smiled. "I'm out of Detroit." The LED was blue, but it was blinking fast. Hank didn't know what that meant, so he looked at Connor's hands.

His fingers were twitchy.

"Well, yeah." Reed sat back down on the twin bed he'd claimed. "That's... true."

"Originally you planned to stay hidden, didn't you?" Connor prompted. "You weren't going to confront us. You weren't going to stop us."

It was an interrogation, Hank realized. There was no table between them, no wrists handcuffed to a table, but Connor was prying at the detective like a squirrel with a walnut.

Or an acorn, whatever shit squirrel's tried to get open.

Connor sat down across from Reed. They faced each other across the tiny hallway between the twin beds.

"Reed," he said.

And that was all he said.

Hank shuffled his feet, wondering where the heck he should sit.

He settled for leaning against a wall. The other two were ignoring him now. Having some kind of staring match.

"Well, I figured you were going to skip town," Reed said. "Hank wouldn't let you get thrown into a flaming trash heap."

"And you didn't want us to be pursued," Connor said. "You wanted to give us more time?"

"Is that so hard to believe?" Reed said.

Hank wondered what all of Connor's fancy tech was showing him as he looked at Reed. He knew the android could see things like heart rates and freaking BAC levels.

"It isn't," Connor said. "But you could have pretended to look for us elsewhere."

"Well-"

"You could have gone home and taken a nice long nap," Connor said. "In all the chaos, do you think they'd have noticed?"

"What are you getting at, dipshit?" Reed said. He was gripping the edge of the mattress now, leaning forward, scowling.

Connor sat with perfect posture. Fingers tapping on his thighs. Blue LED.

"You wanted something from me," Connor said. "Like that time..."

He glanced at Hank, trailing off.

"The fuck is he talking about Reed?" Hank growled. He stalked forward, a hundred disgusting scenarios suddenly running through his head.

"I don't have the same equipment as an HR400, so to ask me to-"

Abruptly Connor stood and had his arm around Hank's shoulders. He steered them away from Reed.

"That's not what I wanted!" Reed said.

Connor's grip was steel. Hank tried ducking down, but the freaking android algorithm in his head had anticipated the move and Connor ducked with him. Now both of his arms were around Hank and he was dragging them towards the bathroom.

He shoved Hank inside.

"You fucking piece of shit!"

Hank threw himself at the door to no effect. From the other side Connor said, "Him or me?"

"Him!" Hank screamed. "Tell me what the fuck he did and I'll-"

"I need you to calm down, Hank," Connor whispered. "Doubtless your imagination is running wild. Probably in... inaccurate directions."

Hank snorted. "That's a roundabout way of saying it isn't what it sounds like."

"It isn't what it sounds like," Connor repeated dutifully.

"Bullshit-" Hank started, but then Reed lost his shit.

"Okay, first of all," Reed started. Hank didn't have to strain to hear him, it was said loudly.

Reed was gearing up for a shouting match. "You're the one who wanted something. Busting my door down, you fucking- you- you-"

"Tincan," Connor supplied. "Robo-cop. Pile of bolts and plastic-"

"Shut up!" Reed said. "Those were just words okay? They don't mean anything, for fuck's sake."

"I feel the same way about my... experiment," Connor said. "Those were just actions. They don't mean anything."

He was the only one speaking at a normal volume, but he was still standing right outside the bathroom door.

Hank tried to turn the doorknob, which was supposed to lock from the inside. It didn't budge.

Connor was standing with his hand on it, Hank figured.

Bastard.

It took him a second to realize he couldn't hear Reed anymore.

"That's why you should go," Connor said.

Hank kicked the door. What the hell was Reed saying now? He wished he'd go back to yelling.

"It was the Traci's," Connor continued. "I was trying... to emulate them. But as I said, we don't have the same equipment."

Hank got as far from the door as possible (not far, mind you, even standing in the bathtub he could practically hold an arm out and touch it) and launched himself shoulder first, kicking off the wall for more force.

And tripping over the lip of the bathtub. He didn't get enough of a jump going.

Immediately, Connor opened the bathroom door and helped Hank up.

LED? Solid yellow. Blink of red as he scanned Hank for injuries.

"I don't know what you want," he said. "Either of you. And I don't know what I want."

Hank pulled the boy into a hug. "I want you safe," he said. "I want to get to Canada."

They were standing in the bathroom. Connor didn't return the hug. He stood stiff as an ironing board.

Reed peeked around the door. "Jesus," he said. "You gonna kiss him? I'll walk through 10 feet of snow over watching that."

"Fuck off," Hank said. "I'm not a pervert like you."

Hank pulled back to look at Connor, worried he was freaking out again. His LED was red.

Solid red. Not spinning or blinking.

And he was standing perfectly still. Eyes open without making contact with… anything.

Hank waved a hand in front of his face. "Uh, Connor?"

There was a little furrow in his brow. A perplexed frown.

"What did you do to him?" Reed said.

"What did you do," Hank muttured.

But they'd both lost their stream. They just stared at Connor like you might a frozen computer screen. Any second now it might go on as if nothing had happened.

"Is there a way we could turn him off and then on again?" Reed said.

Hank bit his lip. "Do you think Cyber Life shut him down? Like, wirelessly or something?"

"They can't do that!" Reed snapped. "They can't just… do that."

Reed slapped Connor, firmly on the cheek.

"Hey!" Hank pushed Reed out of the bathroom.

Reed was cussing up a storm. The palm of his hand bright red.

Connor hadn't budged. Not even a slight turn of the head. He was a statue.

"No, no, no," Reed said. "He can't die like this."

He sat on the floor glaring at his palm. "We have to do something," Reed said.

Hank could feel himself slowly taking in the situation.

Die? For good this time.

Could Connor die just like this, in Hank's goddamn arms, without a word of warning?

Connor was dead?

Hank turned away from Reed and stared at the LED.

There, a blink.

"He's still alive!" Hank shouted.

Reed stood. "How do you know?"

"His LED blinked."

"What? It's solid."

"It was just for a second." Hank wrapped his arms around Connor and tilted him, trying to get a grip.

"Help me move him," Hank snapped.

They got him stretched out on one of the beds.

"Look, there it is again! It blinked."

"But it's still red," Reed said.

"So? He's alive. He's fighting them."

Reed jumped up. "Should we wrap his head in foil or something?"

"I don't fucking know."

"Or we could add more distance," Reed said. He started putting his shoes back on. "Get him back in the car, drive further away from Cyber Life tower."

"They've got a fucking satellite, Reed." Hank was kneeling against the bed, running his fingers through Connor's hair. Mercifully that part still felt like hair.

"I don't see you coming up with any ideas," Reed said. "You just going to watch him fall apart?"

"He isn't falling apart," Hank growled. "He's fighting it."

"What is he fighting?"

"I don't know!" Hank said. "But I think it's safer to wait it out. We'll sleep in shifts, keep an eye on him, and if he's still frozen when it's time to check out we'll load him in the car."

"Like fucking luggage," Reed scoffed.

Hank looked up at him, surprised by his tone.

They regarded each other for a moment.

"You really did get attached," Hank said.

Reed huffed.

"Try to sleep," Hank said. "I call first watch."