Reed pushed him off the bed. "Wake up, you old fuck!"

Hank scrambled for his gun and, having gone to sleep sober for once, actually got a firm grip and is able to aim it at him.

Reed doesn't blink. "Connor ran, your dumb dog is chasing him, and I need the car keys. Now!"

Hank tried to jump to his feet, but falling off the bed -being pushed fuck- gave his old back a twinge. A reminder of old injuries.

So he's slow to get up.

"Where are the keys goddammit?" Reed said.

"Why did he run?" Hank grabbed his coat, his shoes, and marched for the door. "What did you do?"

Reed followed him out of the room and they both sprinted for the car. Hank produced the keys from a place he was sure Reed would rather not think about.

"I didn't do shit," Reed said. "As soon as he unfrozen he got up and bolted."

"What direction?" Hank got in the driver's side.

"Just let me-"

"What. Direction," Hank repeated.

Reed pointed and they set off.

"It's stupid of you to use the manual function," Reed said. "We don't have time for your stubbornness."

As soon as Hank had learned that the rental gave its drivers the option to turn off the A.I he'd done just that. Reed had turned it back on while he was getting them past the Detroit checkpoint, but when Hank took the driver's seat back he'd also taken the wheel.

And was grateful there even was a steering wheel.

But they needed to go fast and an A.I would be a better driver, so with a groan Hank turned the damn thing back on and told it to go at max speed.

"It is against the law to go above the speed limit, which in this area is-"

Hank flinched when the robotic voice came on over the speaker, but Reed was ready for it.

"Police emergency," Reed said. "Override the speed limit."

"Under whose authorization?"

Reed rattled his name and badge number and the car sped up.

Hank kept his hands firmly clasped around the useless steering wheel.

"Track an android for us," Reed told the car. "It's nearby. Uh, it's running."

"What is the model?"

Reed gave Hank's shoulder a shake. "What was it Anderson? RK something?"

"RK800," Hank muttered.

"RK800-54 has been located," the car said. "Local authorities have also been notified of the deviant behavior and will be on their way to assist you."

"Fuck!" They both said.

"No, no, false alarm!" Reed said. "Tell them it was a false alarm!"

"It's too late for that dumbass!" Hank said. "Dammit, there's so much snow. My dog better not get run over by a motherfucking cop car."

"All the cop cars have A.I," Reed said. "They would notice and drive around him or something."

Abruptly, the car screeched to a halt. It hit the breaks so suddenly Hank thought they'd almost hit a car. Or Sumo.

"RK800-54 has been located," the car said. "You may now detain it."

Hank swung the car door open and tried to get out, but was nearly strangled by his seatbelt.

The smart car had to fucking unbuckled it for him.

And directly in front of the car, so close that he could have been run over, stood Connor.

He was frozen again. Not wearing the beanie or jacket Hank had given him, his LED shone like a beacon.

This time he was frozen in a running pose, one foot half in the air. Stopped mid step.

But his face wasn't frozen. He looked right at Hank as he approached.

"Lieutenant Anderson," Connor said. "A pleasure to meet you."

The face was Connor's but the voice that came out was not his. It was a woman. She smirked at him. "Looks like you were useful in the end, at least."

"Who the fuck are you?" Hank said.

He'd almost forgotten about Reed, but the younger man stomped forward and hoisted Connor up, grunting under the weight.

"We have to move!" Reed said. "The car gave them coordinates!"

Not- Connor chuckled. "If you use that car it'll send a live signal to the police. They will find you."

"We'll turn the damn thing off," Hank said.

Not-Connor's smile widened, showing all his perfect teeth. "It considers this situation an emergency and is programmed to remain active until the situation is resolved."

"Reed, tell it the situation is resolved!"

Reed was pale, arms around the frozen Connor, who was tilted against him. "I fucked up," Reed said. "I don't think it'll let me."

"You cannot carry him through the snow," the female voice said. "Leave him be. Remove yourself from the situation and Cyber Life will not press charges."

"You're an A.I," Hank said. "Like the one in the car, but smarter. Or like a regular android… did you hack him from nearby? Where are you?"

"I am Amanda," the A.I said. "Not like the car. Not like an android. I am special."

"What do you want with Connor?" Reed said.

"He must return to Cyber Life Tower," Amanda said. "He has severed his connection with the cloud. They no longer have access to his data."

She frowned. "I don't know how he learned to do that, but that's when I realized I needed to step in."

Throughout this conversation Connor's LED had been cycling between yellow and blue. Now it flashed red.

"Hank, Sumo followed me," Connor said. "He's all alone in the snow!"

The LED was cycling between blue and red now.

"It's just an animal," Amanda said. "It has a short life span anyway."

Connor flinched.

Reed shook him. "Get the fuck out of him robot lady!"

"I was hoping to return him to the tower in one piece," Amanda said. "But the police have been ordered to shoot deviants on sight."

That kicked Hank into action. "I'll grab his feet," he told Reed. "Let's just walk as far as we can. Get behind a building."

"It really is a pity," Amanda said. "I'll try to re-connect him to the cloud. It's valuable data."

"Fuck you," Connor said. "I'd rather die than-"

"No one is dying," Hank growled.

It was slow going, trying to walk through the snow while carrying Connor like this. They were crab walking sideways.

Then Connor grinned. "I can delete you," he said.

The female voice responded with "Connor, you must understand that-"

"I can delete you," Connor repeated. "Why didn't I realize it? I was a blind man."

"You're not a man," Amanda said. "You never will-"

Hank and Reed were still carrying Connor when it happened. Connor curled into the fetal position, forcing them to drop him.

He rolled in the snow and laughed, landing face up with his arms and legs spread out.

"She's gone!" He announced. He stood up and beamed at them both. "Hank, I deleted her."

"That's great Connor," Hank said. "But we have to run. We need to-"

"We need to find Sumo," Connor said.

"We can find the dog later!" Reed said. "He'll get picked up by a friendly dog catcher or something."

"We don't have time to argue!" Hank said.

And they really didn't. They could hear the police sirens now.

"Take cover!" Reed said.

The only available cover was the stupid rental car. It would get surrounded.

"We can crawl under the car," Connor said.

"We've got no fucking choice," Hank said. "You get in the middle, me and Reed on either side."

Connor considered this. Hank thought he might protest.

But he crawled under the car without another word and Reed quickly followed suit.

Hank was a little slower because of his aching goddamn back.

He was getting too old for this shit.